"So much time has passed, wasn't it supposed to only take one day?"
In the North Sea Dragon Palace, the youngest son of the Duke of Wei was pacing back and forth anxiously, which made another old sorcerer beside him smile wryly.
"Second Young Master, please don't be so anxious. You martial artists have large lung capacities, which already consumes a lot of water. If you continue to be anxious, you'll consume even more. It's not that I can't hold on, but I need to conserve some spiritual energy for when things change!"
"Uh..." The little guy was taken aback, scratched his head, and gave a bright smile, clearly a little embarrassed.
Under his father's tutelage, his family placed great importance on the sorcerer community. The children were regularly taught basic sorcery knowledge to facilitate cooperation with outstanding sorcerer families. In this respect, the Northern aristocratic families did the best.
This is why the Northern aristocratic families, with their rigid system and extremely blocked channels, still possess formidable fighting power, capable of nearly overthrowing the imperial court while simultaneously resisting the Kingdom of Guhuang in the Northern Frontier.
Only in this world are the families of sorcerers and the families of warriors united like never before!
As the youngest son of the Duke of Wei, he naturally grew up with the Duke of Wei's excellent education and was familiar with many techniques. He had used the underwater breathing technique quite a few times, often in surprise attacks on northern pirates and by some elite units.
In short, it combines water and wind techniques to form an internal cycle, but the air for this technique comes from the sea surface, and the deeper you dive into the seabed, the more difficult it becomes to perform, requiring extremely high spiritual power.
According to the old gentlemen, they were already hundreds of thousands of feet above the sea. To draw air from the sea and navigate the chaotic currents of the Dragon Palace Mystic Realm at this distance was extremely difficult. Even for First Rank sorcerer, maintaining their oxygen supply would be a huge challenge!
"Looking back now, sending our children to study in Jiangnan was truly a wise move!"
An old sorcerer in black sighed, "In certain special circumstances, the savings in manpower and magical energy are more than tenfold."
The other sorcerers nearby nodded in agreement.
The Wind Jade in Jiangnan can store a massive amount of wind magic energy. With some modifications, it could be used in the present day without consuming the precious spiritual power of First Rank sorcerer.
In a war, such a disparity in attrition would be fatal!
"By the way, how many students from the North were admitted this time?" the youngest son of the Duke asked curiously.
"Uh..." The moment this topic was brought up, the old sorcerers' expressions turned quite grim.
The results of the Jiangnan Examination had already reached the north a few days prior. Among the quotas for visiting sorcerers, the imperial court had the most slots, with over a hundred students entering the Jiangnan Academy. From the most difficult Heaven Academy to the most practical Yellow Academy, the number of students admitted exceeded seventy. Many discerning students also paid attention to the Earth Academy, the rune academy, and quite a few changed their minds at the last minute to take the exam there, reportedly with over a dozen students admitted.
On their side, their performance was inferior not only to the imperial court, but even to the Northern Frontier.
Of the thirty-odd people who took the exam this time from the Kingdom of Beihuang, half passed, with fifteen being selected. Five of them were from the Earth Academy. Clearly, these students from the Beihuang Kingdom not only valued Neo-Confucianism but also had a long-term vision, and did not blindly rush into the Heaven Academy.
On the other hand, there were as many as three hundred people taking the exam, which was not much different from the number of people in the imperial court. However, fewer than ten people were admitted, and eight of them were desperately trying to get into the Heaven Academy!
However, upon closer examination, these experienced elders naturally understand the reasons behind it.
The north was plagued by constant warfare, so the sorcerer families placed great importance on their offspring with the talent to inherit the family business. In contrast, the commercial environment in the north was far inferior to that in the south and the capital, and the offspring in charge of general affairs had a status that was no different from that of household servants.
In this environment, how could a son of a commoner with a strong foundation in Neo-Confucianism not be targeted by the legitimate heirs if he wanted to rise in rank?
Those who finally have the chance to take the exam at the academy are so focused on their own combat strength that everyone tries to get into the most difficult Heaven Academy —how can they possibly achieve good results?
As for the Rune Department of the Earth Academy, the Engineering Department of the Mystic Academy, and the Bai Family Schools Department of the Yellow Academy, although they are extremely practical, in the eyes of these children who have been oppressed for many years, they are nothing more than high-level logistics. The logistics children in the North have low status, so even if they are high-level logistics, how much can their status be improved?
This is also a drawback of family dynamics.
It seems I'll have to find a way to reform things and make more promises when I get back this time in order to motivate those children to take the college entrance exam.
Otherwise, given the current situation, within ten years at most, the North will completely degenerate into a barbaric and depraved place.
Like this time, if they had enough Rune Stone, all those First Rank warlocks would be at full strength by now. How could they be like this, heartbroken to see the Second Young Master needing even a little more oxygen?
Just as they were sighing, an old man in black who had been keeping his eyes closed suddenly opened them, startling everyone.
Even the usually composed Duke Bai Sang was startled and stood up. "Sir?"
The old man in black was one of only two Above First Rank sorcerers among those who came from the Duke of Wei. The first one, Ghost Mr. Mirror, was currently presiding over the Dragon Transformation ceremony, and no one dared to disturb him. The other one was the Supreme Elder of the Dugu Family, the head of the sorcerer families in the north: Dugu Yifang!
The aged man opened his cloudy eyes, his voice unusually somber. "The North... Something's happened!"
Dugu Yifang, who was already three hundred years old, rarely got so agitated. His gloomy expression almost foreshadowed the seriousness of the situation!
"Mr. Dugu," Bai Sang suppressed his unease and quickly asked, "What happened?"
" The Lu Household has opened the Ten Thousand Snakes Valley!"
"Has he really gone mad?" The expressions of several sorcerers changed. A terrifying evil god lived in the Ten Thousand Snakes Valley. In the past, the largest kingdom in the Northern Wasteland was the Zhulong Kingdom, which was a being that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the demon kingdoms of the Southern Barbarians.
There is the most terrifying evil god, and also the strongest family of Earthly Fiend Spells in the North, namely the Zhulong Spell Family.
This is a notorious and fearsome family; Heavenly Capital the Zhang Family from Tiandu dared not provoke them when they went to the north.
Afterwards, the four feudal lords joined forces and destroyed the Zhulong Kingdom. The Zhulong Family was slaughtered, and the magic techniques came into the possession of the Xiao Household family. It is said that the Xiao Household secretly cultivated one at that time, who is now the head of the Ten Great Court Magicians.
Besides the terrifying Zhulong Family, what is even more frightening is the terrifying evil god from the Southern Barbarians branch of the Ten Thousand Snakes Valley: the Earth Mother!
It is said that the snakes of the Ten Thousand Snakes Valley live in the lowlands all year round. They are enormous and can only hunt the huge monsters in the underground world. They also moved to the north because the north is more suitable for hibernation.
These snakes are dormant for years, and any one of them is a demon of the Third Rank or higher. It is said that when the Zhulong Kingdom was destroyed, the king sacrificed tens of thousands of warriors to awaken the monsters underground with their blood. Terrifying Earth Serpent came out, each one tens of thousands of feet long. When they coiled up, they could surround the entire city gate. They were extremely terrifying and spectacular on the battlefield. Their power alone was enough to make cavalrymen who were not Dragon Horse horses dare not move.
On that occasion, Bai Sang personally witnessed the evil god Earth Mother. It didn't even show its face; it just stirred things up underground, yet it could cause earthquakes that stretched for hundreds of kilometers. It's hard to imagine how big that thing is!
In the end, it was the King of Qin who intervened, using some kind of secret blood to lure the Earth Mother to the present-day Earth Dragon Valley and seal her away. The Ten Thousand Snakes Ritual was also interrupted at that time.
Otherwise, as predicted, if all these Earth Serpent were awakened, the entire north would be completely devoured.
The key to the Ten Thousand Snakes Valley is in the hands of the Lu Household.
Back then, the King of Qin trusted Lu Ming immensely. This man, capable of destroying the northern region, had been under the control of the Lu Household for fifty years. And the terror that had struck the north was completely forgotten by the people of the north thanks to the King of King of Qin's Heavenly Moon Plan.
Now that Lu Household Lu Ming is gone, everyone thought the Lu Household would go crazy, but no one expected them to go this crazy!
What is the point of doing this?
The moment the Lu Household opens the Ten Thousand Snakes Valley, they'll probably be swallowed whole by that terrifying Earth Mother, leaving not a trace.
Harmful to others and not beneficial to oneself?
But the Lu Household such a large clan, surely there were no sensible people among them who tried to stop it?
"How is the situation now?" Bai Sang asked, taking a breath.
" The Earth Serpent have already begun to awaken," Dugu Yifang said grimly. "Many martial artists from aristocratic families have been assassinated. A mysterious force is constantly assassinating high-level martial artists, clearly collecting their life essence in an attempt to awaken the monsters slumbering underground once more!"
"A mysterious force?" Bai Sang frowned. "What mysterious force? Assassinating the entire northern aristocratic family? Could the Lu Household be involved with such a force?"
"I didn't know that His Highness the Crown Prince was also assassinated yesterday and seriously injured. The situation is extremely dire now!"
Bai Sang looked up, a rough guess forming in her mind. But if that were the case, things could get even more complicated than they were back then. There was no second King of Qin to turn the tide now.
It seems the world is truly about to descend into chaos!