Chapter 331: The Hero
Beside Wuji Village, on top of a towering rock.
Jie was alone, sitting cross-legged, looking deeply into the distance, as if he was concentrating on thinking.
"Hey." A voice sounded behind him.
The one who came was Yi.
Although he and Jie had only known each other for three days, after experiencing a life-and-death battle at Yipu River Port, they could be considered friends who had entrusted each other with their lives.
Now Master Yi is still a young man who is full of curiosity about the outside world. He has not experienced the tragedy of his family being broken up and his sect being destroyed in the "future", so when facing outsiders, he still has a kind of frivolous and familiar temperament.
"Jie, what are you doing here alone?" Without caring whether Jie was willing to pay attention to him or not, Master Yi sat down next to this stern man.
“…” Jie looked at him in silence.
Then he looked at the village house in the distance that was used as a meeting room by the leader, from where the sound of heated discussions could be heard from afar.
These sounds are vague to ordinary people, but they are clearly audible to extraordinary people like Jie and Yi.
"I'm listening to the leaders' meeting." said Zed.
"Eavesdropping?" Master Yi raised his eyebrows.
"They know I'm here." Jietou didn't even turn around: "Don't forget. Mr. Levi is more powerful than you and me."
"Haha...that's right." Yi smiled.
However, looking at Jie's cold face that seemed to have remained unchanged for thousands of years, he suddenly didn't know what to say. After thinking about it again, he decided to get up and leave in boredom.
But at this time, Jie called him: "Wait, Yi."
"What?" Yi sat back in confusion.
"I want to ask you a question," Zed said. "A question I'm thinking about."
Then he asked, "If the Noxians are driven away, are you still prepared to follow the Leader?"
“This…” Yi knew why Jie asked him this question.
Because their situations are actually quite similar.
He is the representative of the Wuji Sword Sect, while Jie is the leader of the Yingliu Sect.
Strictly speaking, they are all independent forces, but they have temporarily come together for the common goal of fighting against the invasion of Noxus and protecting the people of Ionia.
Now that the massacre crisis in Barue Province has been temporarily alleviated, Jie has to think about the next step in cooperation with the Leader.
Continuing cooperation is certain, but when will the cooperation last and to what depth?
"Hmm..." Yi was a little hesitant about this question.
To fight the Noxians with the Leader, he would definitely sign up to join the team without hesitation.
But the problem is that in addition to driving away the Noxians, the Leaders have another ambitious goal, which is...
"Seize the political power in Ionia." Jie said meaningfully: "When they held the meeting just now, they did not hide their emphasis on this point again."
Seizing power in Ionia, this simple sentence contains countless bloody storms.
You have to know that Ionia is now full of militias and rebels, and there are countless independent forces of all sizes. To seize the entire Ionia regime from them...
It was almost obvious that after the Noxians withdrew, Ionia would usher in an even more chaotic civil war.
"..."Master Yi became even more confused.
Their Wuji sword art emphasizes not being stained by worldly matters and not getting dirty with blood.
He had already violated the sect's rules by bringing his fellow disciples down the mountain to resist the Noxian invaders.
How could he possibly follow the Leader, interfere in Ionia's civil war, and use Wuji Sword to fight the Ionians?
but……
Somehow, after getting in touch with the leaders these days and witnessing their ideals, enthusiasm and endless energy, Master Yi instinctively joined this team again.
So he was so confused that he simply threw the question back: "Zhe, what do you think?"
“Me…” Jie thought for a moment, but only gave an ambiguous answer: “The situation I’m facing is more complicated than yours.”
His previous betrayal of his master and split of the balance were all planned by his master, Master Ku Shuo.
Therefore, although his Shadow Sect is an independent force that is absolutely loyal to him at present, it is not that independent.
Master Ku Shuo has now changed his name and become the leader of the Navoli Brotherhood.
In fact, his good disciple had been secretly following the orders of Master Ku Shuo, and working indirectly for the Navoli Brotherhood with his Shadow Sect.
However, the Navoli Brotherhood's increasingly extreme behavior in recent years has secretly alarmed Jie.
So subconsciously, he had already thought about breaking up with Master Ku Shuo and completely changing his sect.
So, there are 3 options before Jie:
Continue to hang out with the Navoli Brotherhood, work alone, or... follow the leader?
Jie couldn't reveal these secrets to anyone.
So he just said pointedly: "After Noxus leaves, civil war is inevitable in Ionia."
"What should the Wuji Sword Sect choose at that time? Should it keep to itself, or follow the leader, or the Navoli Brotherhood?"
Master Yi was given a headache by this question that was thrown back to him.
Returning to the mountains and keeping to oneself is undoubtedly the most in line with the Wuji spirit.
However, the active life he had been experiencing in the past 20 days had already given him a passion to participate in “worldly affairs” and to change the world.
Now Yi no longer wants to stay in the mountains for the rest of his life. He also wants to make Ionia a better place through his own efforts.
But……
"Can this only be achieved through war? Is there no option to avoid war?" Yi asked.
“Impossible.” Zed smiled at this innocent question. “Ionia can never go back to the Ionia it once was.”
Ionia has been ravaged by Noxus and has developed a sense of national identity. Various forces are also rising rapidly in the war.
They have changed from being sect elders, clan leaders and local tyrants to now commanding armies, holding great power and dominating their own regions.
Even if the war is over, they will not be willing to give up their power and regress back to their original positions as elders, clan leaders, or village chiefs...
Even more ambitious:
"Just like the Navoli Brotherhood now." Zed's expression became complicated when he thought of his teacher who was suspected of having a corrupt mind. "They want to unify the entire Ionia and make Ionia a huge empire that surpasses Noxus. Make Ionia great again."
Unconsciously, the Master of Balance, who used to hesitate for a long time before killing a chicken, now wants to become the first emperor of Ionia...
There are definitely more than one ambitious people like Master Ku Shuo in Ionia, which is now full of kings.
Now there is a new leader in Ionia, a new force that is determined to control the entire Ionia.
Civil war was almost inevitable.
After careful consideration, Jie discovered:
"If we don't want to stay out of trouble, then in the future we will have no choice but to follow one of the leaders or the Navoli Brotherhood."
"This..." Master Yi was puzzled: "Why are there only these two sects?"
"I've heard a lot of news from outside the mountain recently. The strongest resistance force in Ionia right now shouldn't be..."
"The Presidian resistance that defeated the Noxian army head-on?"
"The Presidium Resistance?" Jie couldn't help but laugh at Yi's naivety again: "You mean, that little girl named Irelia and the troops she led?"
"Yeah." Yi nodded.
Irelia is the legendary hero who defeated the Imperial Marshal Swain.
The Presidian resistance she led is now the strongest anti-imperial force in Ionia.
The most important thing is:
She is a traditional Ionian with a peaceful personality. She opposes war and violence. Unlike the Navoli Brotherhood, she is ambitious and advocates restoring Ionia to its past peaceful environment.
"This is where she is destined to fail." said Jie.
He had analyzed before that Ionia would never be able to return to its original state.
Therefore, Irelia's so-called "return to tradition" is, to put it bluntly, just lying down and letting things go, and she has no political proposition at all.
"We followed her through thick and thin, but we didn't expect to abandon our power, retire and go home to farm after driving the Noxians away."
Maybe some people would think so, but there are definitely not many people who are so simple and free and easy.
More people, like Master Ku Shuo , have slowly tasted the sweetness of power in the process of resisting the imperial invasion.
They won't let go.
"Irelia is a person without ambition, which is admirable."
But a person without ambition can only be a hero, not a leader.
A hero just needs to sacrifice for others.
But what a leader needs is to seek benefits for his followers.
If you can't do this, you will be sidelined by your subordinates.
"This little girl is only 15 years old, she is still too naive." Jie said: "In fact, even in the current Presidium resistance, she doesn't have much say anymore."
"Irelia is more like their spiritual idol than their actual leader."
"How can an organization without a leader, a program, or clear political stance achieve anything?"
Although the Navoli Brotherhood is very ambitious, and their political ideas are almost copied from the Noxian Empire...
It's like a good student who, after being beaten up, learns to become a gangster.
But no matter what, at least they have political views.
Those who followed the Brotherhood knew that what they wanted was a great Ionian Empire, one that would give them back land and privileges.
But Irelia just wants to go home and farm after the battle... How can everyone agree with her?
“That’s why I said that the only ones who can accomplish anything in the future are the Leaders and the Navoli Brotherhood,” Jie concluded.
The four major sects in Ionia, the Koten, the Eternal, the Shojin, and the Monastery of Silana, are nothing more than guard dogs that adhere to traditions.
Irelina has a great reputation but no ambition and is not enterprising, so she will never achieve anything great.
The heroes of the world are only leaders and brothers.
"This..." Yi was stunned.
He thought carefully about what Jie said, and said, "Jie, if there are only two options, Leader and Brotherhood..."
“Does this even need to be chosen?”
The answer actually already appeared deep in Jie's heart.
It's just that he was concerned about the relationship between him and Master Ku Shuo as a disciple and didn't want to face it.
The Brotherhood's mission is to establish an Ionian Empire.
No matter how great this empire is, its ceiling is only the Noxian Empire they copied.
So, are the people of the Noxian Empire living well now?
In contrast, the political stance of the leader is...
At this moment, Levi's firm voice at the meeting just happened to be heard by the wind:
"The first step in our transformation of Ionia is to carry out a thorough land and social reform—"
"We want to make the untouchables no longer untouchable, the poor no longer poor, the tillers own the land, and all the oppressed Ionians stand up and become masters of their own destiny!"
