Immortals Clash, Mortals Suffer

Light and fire collided.

The flames exploded upon being struck by the beam of light, scattering all their distracting thoughts. The very front of the flames, like snow under the Blazing Sun, melted away rapidly.

Upon seeing this, the Golden Crow Daoist revealed a look of delight. "Excellent! You have such a formidable formation, yet I never expected it to still be a method of the Soul Dao. As long as it's Soul Dao, how can it withstand the Solar True Essence?"

As the words were spoken, the beam of light continued to bombard the flames of will, causing the Thoughtfire to retreat steadily. However, the beam of light was also rapidly depleting and thinning, a sight that made the Golden Crow Daoist's heart bleed.

These Solar True Essence are priceless; collecting even a single drop requires immense effort. They are the treasure of the Golden Crow Sect, said to have been passed down from High Antiquity, and are considered invincible in warfare.

This time, Golden Crow Daoist, entrusted by Prince Yan, was no less than an enemy of Qiu Yan. He had gathered information about Qiu Yan beforehand, though not much, but he knew that the other party was no ordinary person. Therefore, at the beginning of the battle, he used his trump card, hoping to trap Qiu Yan and then take him down in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, Qiu Yan saw through his ambush and forced him to this point, forcing him to unleash the Solar True Essence without reservation. Even so, the situation remained deadlocked, with Jinwu Daoist only having a slight advantage.

"Where did this scholar come from? With such cultivation, it's impossible for him to be unknown in the cultivation world. And what kind of technique is he using? The giant ape phantom he conjured can actually contend with the Solar True Essence! Fortunately, it's only a temporary stalemate, since he can't truly resist the true essence. However, he wasted so much true essence, and Prince Yan must make amends for it afterwards."

As the Golden Crow Daoist was pondering, a flash of light appeared before his eyes, and nine Divine Senses flew out from Qiu Yan's body, releasing different realms. Each of them revealed an ancient figure and expounded different principles, but the logic behind them was consistent.

Then, the nine Divine Souls plunged into the Thought Fire, and the fire surged suddenly. Then it contracted, transforming into a vortex of fire, unleashing a powerful educational aura!

This artistic conception expands, spreading the pillar of light, radiating a pulling and attracting force, as if treating this pillar of light as a mischievous child, to be taught etiquette and knowledge, to impart the mysteries of the world, and to Transforming Nature and Developing Artifice!

Immediately following, the Golden Crow Daoist's Divine Soul suddenly changed color, and the blood-red color within his soul was drawn towards the pillar of light.

This startled him so much that his Seven Souls Three Souls trembled. He knew that this blood-red color originated from his physical body; it was a nurturing bed of Yang Qi, the foundation for the future unification of his soul and spirit. If it were shaken even slightly, it wouldn't be as simple as damaging his cultivation; it could very well sever his path forward, leaving him with no further progress!

"This person has actually condensed ten Divine Senses! And each one is incredibly malevolent. They want to seize my Yang-Forming Foundation! Oh no! The Solar True Essence!"

Just as Golden Crow Daoist anxious, an even greater crisis emerged. He suddenly felt a sense of unease, realizing that his control over the Solar True Essence was weakening and that the Solar True Essence, which was considered the lifeblood of the sect, was showing signs of breaking free and flying away!

This is unacceptable!

Seeing that the Thought Fire Divine Sense, under Qiu Yan's control, had escaped its disadvantage and turned the tables, and with many threats appearing against him, the Golden Crow Daoist had no intention of continuing to fight and immediately decided to flee.

The stronger his desire to retreat became, the looser his control over the Solar True Essence became. The pillar of light was already rapidly shrinking and thinning, and now, as the Golden Crow Daoist's will wavered, it began to shake completely. Then, a giant hand reached out and grasped it!

It was the giant shadow of the Heart Ape that stretched out its arms and grabbed the pillar of light!

Where the beam of light met the palm, bursts of cracking sounds erupted, and sparks scattered. One could see the giant ape's palm constantly collapsing and reforming—this was the disintegration of the chaotic thoughts that made up the giant ape's flesh and blood, which was being impacted by the supreme yang and yang energy of the beam of light, but was constantly repaired by the immense power of the Heart Ape, in an endless cycle.

And so, amidst the collapse and rebuilding, the Heart Ape roared, its body bulging as if it were about to tense its muscles and unleash its power. In reality, it was mobilizing all its thoughts, channeling them into its arms, and with a sudden pull, it lifted the entire pillar of light up!

The Golden Crow's Divine Soul, which was originally connected to the pillar of light, suddenly felt empty, as if its soul had been emptied. A great panic arose in its heart. Realizing the situation was dire, the Golden Crow Daoist finally released all distracting thoughts and, in a desperate gamble, sent a thought towards the pillar of light—

"The Solar True Essence, a supreme treasure of the Golden Crow Dao, how could I allow you to take it away!"

The next moment, the beam of light trembled, releasing a blinding light that filled the surroundings, intensely hot and scorching, before erupting with a deafening roar!

Wherever the light reached, the Heart Ape's Giant Palm instantly vanished into nothingness!

Boom!

On the outskirts of the Eastern Capital, the ground shook violently, affecting two nearby villages. Houses swayed, and poultry and livestock in pigsties and chicken coops at the village entrances and exits panicked, running and jumping around.

What happened?

"Earthquake!"

In the chaos, the villagers were either confused or panicked. Some rushed out of their houses, while others swayed unsteadily along the ground.

This shock came suddenly and subsided even faster.

Before long, the surrounding area calmed down. If it weren't for the various objects lying on the ground, many villagers would have thought that the tremor was just their hallucination.

Suddenly, a noisy sound came from afar; it was several boys running barefoot towards them, shouting and yelling.

"Father! Mother! A piece of the sky at the village entrance has cracked!"

"Big brother! Big brother! There's a new sun on earth!"

"Fire! Fire!"

These boys, neither too young nor too old, were full of energy. They usually ran around the village, climbing trees to steal bird eggs and catching fish and shrimp in the river. Like newborn calves unafraid of tigers, they always seemed fearless. But now, they were all flustered and talking nonsense, saying things that left the adults in the village completely baffled.

Soon, the boys' families came forward, either scolding them or questioning them.

Not long after, the people who went to investigate returned, all of them pale-faced, and the news they brought back shocked the villagers.

"Several acres of land outside the village have all withered and died, and there are even scorch marks. Even the stream at the entrance of the village has dried up and stopped flowing for some unknown reason!"

"What?"

Upon hearing this news, the villagers couldn't sit still any longer and flocked out of the village. When they arrived at the place the boys had mentioned, they were met with a scene of utter devastation, as if it were a year of drought.

But the strange thing is that this drought is limited to a small area. Within this area, crops wither and die, the ground cracks, streams dry up, and you can even feel the scorching heat when you touch the ground.

"My land! My land!"

Immediately, someone let out a heart-wrenching scream, followed by sobs. Several farmers were wailing, and several women were wiping away tears with their sleeves.

They were farmers cultivating this land, but the land did not belong to them. It was the fertile land of the wealthy people in the town and city. These farmers only rented it to cultivate, and they had to pay rent every year. It was already difficult for them to have any surplus grain, and they struggled to make ends meet.

With all the farmland destroyed, not to mention the anger of those wealthy landowners, there was no harvest at all, yet they still had to pay land rent. With their meager savings, the only option was ruin.

After the Great Rui, it implemented the policy of "no land establishment system" and "no suppression of land annexation", allowing the free sale of land. Over the decades, the result of this policy was the rapid growth of the landlord class, especially the bureaucratic landlords who held power, who were able to use various means to annex land.

During this period, the imperial court issued several "land restriction orders," but they were only effective for a short time and could not last. In the end, they all became empty words. This year, an official named Zhao Gui said, "Although the laws are strict, there is no way to stop their momentum."

Moreover, Great Rui relies on land and has many taxes, which can be mainly classified into five types: taxes on public land, taxes on private land, taxes on city walls, taxes on the population, and miscellaneous taxes. Each type is further subdivided, and agricultural tools and oxen are also subject to taxes. The burden on farmers is quite heavy, which will be a major concern in the future, but we will not go into details here.

Seeing the withered and yellow ground, the families knew that disaster was imminent, and they howled and cried, creating chaos.

Others who witnessed this inevitably felt compassion, but most of them were small farmers or tenant farmers, so they could only sigh and could do nothing to help.

The village elders also shook their heads and sighed, equally helpless. Moreover, with such a bizarre incident, the plight of the few families was secondary; the most urgent task was not even to find out the cause of the incident, but to prevent the impact from escalating.

The elder looked around and slowly said, "Perhaps a few households have angered the Lord of the Land, which is why this disaster has occurred. Quickly prepare offerings and choose a day to perform the sacrifice."

Such a thing was so bizarre and unpredictable that, in everyone's eyes, it could only be divine Divine Ability. They immediately felt awe and dared not say anything more. Even the weeping farmers and women suddenly lowered their voices.

This shows that the gods held an indescribable authority in the hearts of the people.

"Ah Qi, hurry to the town and the city and inform those wealthy gentlemen. Such a big thing can't be kept secret; after all, this land belongs to them..."

This elder was a man of great prestige, and he managed to calm himself down and handle the situation appropriately.

After hearing his series of instructions, two or three people quickly followed them and ran away.

"Alas, if these gentlemen still insist on pursuing this matter, who knows what trouble might ensue." After making the arrangements, the elder glanced at the several distraught figures, shook his head, and sighed repeatedly.

Homes may fall apart every year, but this kind of unexpected disaster is hard to let go of.

A somber and oppressive atmosphere enveloped everyone.

Just then, a sneer suddenly came from the side.

In this moment of universal sorrow, the laughter sounded particularly jarring. Immediately, someone looked in the direction of the sound and, upon seeing that the source of the laughter was a ragged and disheveled Daoist priest, glared angrily at him.

"You heartless Daoist priest! You gloat over a natural disaster!"

Unexpectedly, the disheveled Daoist shook his head, reached into his robes, scratched his head, and chuckled, "After all, we are just mortals, unable to distinguish between natural disasters and man-made calamities. What a pity, what a pity! When gods fight, mortals suffer..."

As he spoke, the Daoist priest swayed to his feet and, under the angry and bewildered gazes of the crowd, walked towards the parched land...

ps:

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