Ecological Balance, Dao Resonance Guards an Everlasting Spring

After the reclusive beings integrated into society, resource development and utilization efficiency across the Hongmeng Great Land greatly improved. The Rock Spirit Race's metal-and-stone craftsmanship made mineral vein extraction more efficient, the Mermaid Spirit Race's water-controlling arts ensured irrigation and shipping, the Wood Spirit Race's growth-accelerating arts caused the yields of spirit herbs and crops to soar, while the strange spirits' power of the stars drove innovations in artifact refining and energy conversion techniques. Yet excessive development and exploitation soon placed pressure on the ecology of the Hongmeng Great Land.

In Cold River City of the Northern Territory, in order to expand the planting area for cold-resistant spirit grain, the people felled vast stretches of native forest under the guidance of the Technology Hall and reclaimed them as farmland. At first, spirit grain yields indeed rose sharply, but before long, the land deprived of forest cover began to desertify. The winter winds grew increasingly violent, destroying many fields; in Green Cloud City of the Southern Territory, demand for spirit herbs was immense, and the Wood Spirit Race continually accelerated their growth, excessively draining nutrients from the soil. Some spirit herbs began to wither, and even varietal degeneration appeared; at Black Stone Mountain in the western region, the extraction volume of Starlight Spirit Mine increased day by day. Although the Rock Spirit Race reinforced the mineral veins, excessive mining still caused the surrounding spiritual energy to thin. Many small living beings that depended on the veins for survival migrated away, fracturing the ecological chain; on Starfall Plain in the Eastern Territory, strange spirits absorbed vast amounts of energy from Starlight Spirit Mine and spirit water to increase their strength, causing spirit water in some areas to dry up and starlight vegetation to wither.

Signals of ecological imbalance flowed without cease through