The Red and Blue Fire sect is also facing this problem. They too are struggling to make the necessary arrangements needed to get away from their region safely.
They are busy talking to some people for negotiating safe passage. This is why they haven't arrived in the Five Veins region yet, even though everyone that matters knows that they want to invade the Purple Flower sect.
If such a powerful sect is also tied down by their neighbors, then the only way out for the Purple Flower sect is to fight the Red and Blue Fire sects and resist them. This is obviously a dead end, as they can never defeat the Red and Blue Fire sect. Since they can't win, they should just give up.
She wanted to give up. But she decided to capitalize on the Blood Skull sect's dislike for the arrival of a rival predator in their territory. This was why she asked a junior elder of her sect to talk to the junior elders of the Blood Skull sect about making an alliance.
The Blood Skull sect knew that if they said no to the alliance, the Purple Flower sect would cave in without a fight and make it very easy for the Red and Blue Fire sects to gain a foothold in the Five Veins region.
In order to avoid this, they accepted the request for alliance. Not only this, but they are also in the process of forcing the other sects to work with them to resist the Red and Blue Fire sect.
She knew that by making her willingness to give up without a fight clear, she had denied the Blood Skull sect the benefit of sinking their teeth into the Purple Flower sect and taking a large bite out of them and forced their hand.
So she expected a retaliation of some sort. The fact that an avatar of Lady Evergreen sneaked into the sect proved to her that the Blood Skull sect is up to something and that she was right to expect a move that will benefit them in one way or another.
And by the way, the Blood Skull sect is taking the cooperation seriously; she can guess that the Blood Skull sect is doing all of these in order to turn the Purple Flower sect into a sharp and powerful blade capable of weakening the Red and Blue Fire sects.
So at the end of the day, the Blood Skull sect had decided to use her as a tool to weaken their true enemy and then take a large painful bite out of the Red and Blue Fire sect.
The fact that Lady Evergreen offered to accept them if they lost the war against the Red and Blue Fire sect only served to reinforce this idea in her mind. But she doesn't mind because this is truly the only way that the Purple Flower sect can survive this situation.
So their only two favorable outcomes are to successfully resist the Red and Blue Fire sect or join the Blood Skull sect. This means that Pale Shadow was somewhat right to suggest joining the Blood Skull sect.
This is also why she could only sigh. She couldn't berate Pale Shadow for saying the truth.
In fact, her thoughts were more radical, especially after the matter with Purple Vine.
She said to herself, "What use is the sect if I die? Why die for a sinking ship?"
She used to be an extremely logical person, like Purple Vine, and is sure that if she were in Purple Vine's shoes, she would have done the same thing.
Even now, when she has cultivated a body refining technique and gained some emotions, the emotions she has are not enough for her to be willing to die for the Purple Flower sect like Green Viper is.
She loves the Purple Flower sect and would have fought for it if there was a chance for victory, like she is doing now. But if there was no chance, she would have run away silently and escaped with her life.
Of course, she knows that running away and leaving the sect will make everyone in the sect defenseless against the assault of the surrounding sects. And while she will pity them, it won't be enough to change her mind and make her willingly lay down her life for the sect.
Green Viper had said something about how bad it would be if he and Pale Shadow became the last golden core cultivators. But she doesn't think that will matter at all when she is dead.
In fact, she is willing to join the Blood Skull sect right now without fighting. But Lady Evergreen has made it clear that the Blood Skull sect wants her and the other sect to fight the Red and Blue Fire sect first.
It has been made clear that only when she and the Purple Flower sect have contributed to wearing down the strength of the Red and Blue Fire sect will they receive sanctuary and safety from the Blood Skull sect.
If not for this slim chance of hope and if not for the fact that the avatars of Lady Evergreen and the avatars of the other nascent soul cultivators in the region are lurking around and watching her every move, she would have chosen to run away from all of this.
She sighed again and said, "At the end of the day, it is all because I lack strength."
Ironically, Arthur was thinking about this too as he gazed at the vast Purple Flower sect receding away from his position on the flying ship.
He looked at the Purple Flower sect and tried to estimate how many materials they would have that he could use to build formations and let the formation breaker practice on them.
Unfortunately for him, no matter how many materials his estimations conclude that the Purple Flower sect possesses, the fact remains that he can't get any material from them.