Violence Is the Catalyst for Change

[Note: The Zheer Continent was generated by the system, so it only contains ordinary animals and no native soul beasts (Rus Wang is a genuine Seer Elf). The elf race is also a custom-made indigenous species. As the Zheer Continent merged into the Douluo Planet, it naturally began to produce the heaven and earth energy unique to the Douluo universe's anti-entropy energy system.]

Time slowly passed. On the second day after the conclusion of the third Temple City assembly, Osuen returned home to dally with the daughter his wife, Liana, had borne him. The twelve-year term for village elders, established by Rus Wang, had finally come to an end.

Exhausted, he had no intention of seeking re-election. Amidst the applause of the village elves, he laid down the heavy burden of being an elder. Now, he no longer needed to manage this or handle that, nor did he need to attend the Temple City assembly to endure the verbal sparring matches of elders from other villages. He could truly say he was light of heart.

Suddenly, a strong wind rose. A guard from the current elder's side came rushing over, shouting and gesticulating, to inform him of something that left him quite astonished.

From the guard's account, Osuen immediately understood: Rus Wang had arrived and had personally called for him by name.

After handing his daughter to his wife, Liana, Osuen didn't even bother to put on the red wool robe he had bought from Temple City this year. Dressed in his usual linen clothes, he hurried to the outskirts of the city.

"My King, you have come in person. May I ask if I have done something wrong during my tenure as elder?"

Osuen looked at Rus Wang, who was sitting by the river, deliberately avoiding the crops, and at the current elder standing respectfully to the side. After reaching Rus Wang's side, he bowed slightly to show his respect before straightening up to ask.

"You have done no wrong, Osuen, sage of the first village I sheltered and founded. I am merely troubled. You were a witness to the chaos of the third Temple City assembly; you know it in your heart."

"My King, are you worried about the outbreak of bloodshed once again?"

"Yes."

Rus Wang looked at his own reflection on the river surface.

"The Temple City assembly I held last year, as it turns out, only delayed the large-scale outbreak of bloodshed. There are more and more elf villages in the Levant Region, and the population is growing. The number of conflict incidents has surged; it is no longer at a level I could manage as I did in the first three years. Furthermore, with the existence of various village alliances, although the elves still speak the same language and use the same script, the grudges in their hearts have begun to take deep root."

"My King, does this mean that the days of the past—when we were not under your rule, when we were starving and had to kill each other just to survive—are coming back?"

Osuen was an elf who had experienced those times, as had the others. However, Osuen sought a peaceful life, which did not mean other elves shared the same sentiment. The flammable hay had already been piled up; it only needed a spark to burn fiercely. Rus Wang could naturally extinguish it quickly, but the elves would inevitably suffer heavy casualties in the process.

"I am afraid I must say yes. Even though I have frequently patrolled the Levant Region this year, the bloodshed has only decreased because of my presence, Osuen. They might try to hide it, but my eyes and nose are not blind, and I can smell the scent. In various dark corners, deaths caused by disputes have long been numerous."

Rus Wang looked at Osuen as he spoke, while also praising Osuen's governance of the village.

"Your management of the village is excellent. The specialized handlers for various matters, the Citizens Assembly where the public elects representatives, the statisticians, the recorders, and even the Archon who acts like an elder—in my view, these are all quite good."

"That was merely something I came up with to be lazy, my King."

Osuen dared not be arrogant; he had done this only to spend more time with his wife. Being noticed by Rus Wang was completely unexpected.

"But there is no doubt, Osuen, that you have provided me with a solution. I intend to implement a modified version of this management system throughout the Levant Region. This will be beneficial for the current large population and the isolated, mobile nature of the various villages."

"It is my honor to be adopted by you."

"However, for the next few months, or perhaps longer, I may be unable to spare myself from dealing with those fierce beasts. Once a fierce beast breaks into the Levant Region, it is a situation far more terrifying than a bloody war between the Levant regions. But I have a premonition that while I am not patrolling, certain village alliances—feeling their interests have been damaged by the speed of wealth growth around Temple City—have already reached a conspiracy and are preparing to launch a war."

Osuen stood there, stunned. From his initial confusion upon hearing this, to a look of disbelief, and finally to the terror that welled up when he saw the certainty in Rus Wang's eyes as he looked at him.

Whenever Rus Wang planned a village for the elves he took in, he would warn them. As the true master of the Levant Region, after he took the elves in and sheltered them there, any bloody incident that occurred in the region which Rus Wang deemed an act of war would be considered an insult and a provocation against him. At that time, no matter how those who initiated the war explained themselves, Rus Wang would skip their self-defense and kill them all.

During that first large-scale bloody incident in the Levant Region, which centered on the pricing of salt, a small village alliance had over a thousand people wiped out by a large village alliance in one go, yet Rus Wang had not directly classified it as a war. For Rus Wang to personally utter the word "war" this time, what kind of bizarre existence must that village alliance be, and how many villages must it encompass? In any case, Osuen dared not think too much about it.

"In any case, go back, Osuen. Prepare to protect yourselves with your village's elders and the Archon. When I return, all those who ignored my warnings will face the punishment of death."

As Rus Wang departed, Osuen and the current elder, who had overheard the conversation, looked almost simultaneously at the thin, disconnected wall of rammed earth surrounding the village.

Since Rus Wang had reminded them to prepare for self-defense, their village must have been marked as a target for plunder.

Thinking about the various workshops in their village—which had only slightly fewer functions than those in Temple City—they had already absorbed the wealth of many surrounding villages into their own pockets. With Rus Wang's mention, it was clear that their village's ability to attract wealth was exactly the same as Temple City's, making them an eyesore to the surrounding village alliances.

The two looked at each other and nodded in tacit agreement; it seemed the village's defenses had to be reinforced.

There was no reason for Rus Wang to lie to Osuen when he came to find him; it was true that the wealth of Temple City would lead the entire Levant Region into civil war, and it was also true that he had to go deal with those fierce beasts.

As more and more soul beasts arrived on the Zheer Continent to escape the slaughter of the Spirit Pagoda, the vast heaven and earth energy of the Nanshan Rainforest naturally attracted them to gather there from all corners of the world.

In the process of arriving, they inevitably viewed the elves as humans and sought revenge, so much so that in the eight years from the fifth year to the current thirteenth year, the number of elves fleeing from the south of the Zheer Continent had increased rapidly. The 439 village elders at last year's assembly had now grown to 513, further fueling the internal conflicts of the elf race within the Levant Region.

During the 12th and 13th years of Rus Wang's time on this continent, in order to maintain his comprehensive rule over the northern part of the Zheer Continent, his management of the Levant Region's elves had kept him constantly busy. So much so that later on, his wife, the Female Water Dragon—Thalassa (whose intelligence had grown after one hundred thousand years, making her no different from a normal human or elf)—also joined in the patrols of the northern Zheer Continent.

The large-scale influx of soul beasts into the Nanshan Rainforest brought back unpleasant memories from over three thousand years ago. For the safety of her offspring, she had to join her husband.

However, unlike Rus Wang's terrifyingly large patrol range, Thalassa was only responsible for patrolling the core area of the Nanshan Rainforest, where the heaven and earth energy was most concentrated.

Rus Wang descended from the sky and returned to the deepest part of the Nanshan Rainforest's core circle. Unlike the Life Lake deep within the Star Dou Forest on the Douluo Planet, there were only tall trees here, but the dragon race and intelligent soul beasts that Rus Wang had taken in over these thirteen years had been waiting for their King for a long time.

The lord soul beasts that had first occupied the treasure land of the Nanshan Rainforest were now being provoked by the soul beasts that had newly fled here. As a beast king similar to Di Tian, Rus Wang naturally had to preside over the matter.

Female Water Dragon (Water), Dark Night Dragon (Dark Attribute), Crimson Fire Dragon, Fear Demon Dragon (Mental Power), Earth Rock Dragon (Earth), Heavenly Sun Dragon (Light), World-Breaking Thunder Dragon, Purple Gold Radiant Dragon, Azure Abyss Holy Dragon (Wood), Golden Earth Tiger, Grey Plain Wolf, Wind Spirit Eagle, Mountain-Shaking Earth Ape, Golden-Winged Sky-Rending Peng, Sharp-Tailed Swift.

Rus Wang recited the name of every soul beast lord under his command. It could be seen from this that most of those who were able to come to the Zheer Continent for refuge were those capable of flight, or those who had great perseverance and luck, having dodged the hunting of Sea Soul Beasts to cross the sea and reach the southern corner of the Zheer Continent.

Among the ten-thousand-year soul beasts with intelligence that could be taken in by Rus Wang, the dragon race accounted for the largest proportion. This was normal; since the Dragon God had led the dragon race to rule over all soul beasts in the ancient era, they must have had an advantage in intelligence.

"My King, those soul beast kin who arrived late to this continent are becoming increasingly arrogant."

"I know, Golden Earth Tiger. I have summoned you all here for this very reason. Those latecomers who haven't grown a brain seem to have forgotten the strict forest rules of the past while fleeing from humans. Since that is the case, we shall teach them again."

A slaughter to re-stabilize the existing territory pattern of the Nanshan Rainforest officially began with these words from Rus Wang.