Four months later.
By the sea,
heat waves rolled,
under the blazing sun, the azure sea seemed to have shattered countless suns. Damp, salty sea winds blew in, waves surged onto the beach, and seabirds cried faintly in the distance.
Xia Yan sat on a cliff by the shore. Behind him stood groves of coconut trees, their broad leaves shading clusters of ripe green coconuts.
August was midsummer, when they were at their sweetest, their flesh full and their flavor at its richest.
This was the South Sea of the Star Luo Empire. The water was clear, and the sunlight was scorching.
For three quarters of the year, the weather remained warm. Summer was absurdly hot. In such a climate, venomous insects naturally infested every corner, and miasma filled the air.
If inlanders came here,
they might die of acclimatization within half a month without even needing venomous insects to get involved.
Yet it was precisely this year-round warmth that provided endless food. There was something to eat everywhere, allowing furry creatures like Wolf Bandits to reproduce steadily here.
Wangmasala Province alone had a sparse population, treacherous roads, and an area roughly equal to Balak Province, yet more than fifteen large Wolf Bandit packs roamed its lands.
Every large pack contained over a hundred Wolf Bandits.
It was utterly ridiculous.
But once Xia Yan took action, there were naturally no surprises. Within fifteen days, he had wiped out fifteen large Wolf Bandit packs—nearly two thousand Wolf Bandits.
They had all become corpses, buried within the Demon Suppressing Pagoda as nourishment.
Seabird cries carried on the sea breeze. Xia Yan looked out over the ocean, where a huge flock of white seabirds soared with spread wings. Each bird had a wingspan of four or five meters, with sharp gray beaks.
They