What did your family say?
At a restaurant in Yanyun City, several young men and women gathered together. Among them, besides Murong Qingxue, who had just returned home not long ago, was another leader from the Northern Wasteland family: Beiyu!
"My family is alright. The Grand Elder and several important elders insisted on moving to Jiangnan, away from this place of trouble. What about you?"
"We..." The boys exchanged glances, including Beiyu, whose expression was not good.
If only their elders were as clear-headed as the Murong Family.
But it was clear that those greedy fools had been completely controlled by those giant snakes!
"In just a few months, all the aristocratic families have willingly become human sacrifices, even slaves. But that's still..."
"More than just slaves?" one of them sneered. "I've heard that many noble families are running out of slaves and have already started to turn to unscrupulous means, even targeting innocent people!"
"No way? Even respectable families are being targeted?" The others gasped in shock. "Really?"
"What won't move? People are driven by self-interest," Beiyu sneered. "Good people, once they're abducted, aren't they just slaves? Abduct them, move them to another place, you sell mine, I sell yours, we all exchange them, and good people become slaves, don't we? Aren't there enough women and children missing these past few days?"
"This"
"Are you crazy?" Two of the boys were so angry their faces turned red.
Having spent the better part of half a year in Jiangnan, I had grown accustomed to the peaceful interactions and laughter among people. But upon returning to my hometown, I found it even worse than before, with some aristocratic families resorting to despicable acts like trafficking women and children. I was filled with both shame and anger.
If my classmates find out that my family has done something like this, I really don't know how they'll view them!
And the thought of those trafficked women and children ending up as snake feed sends chills down my spine.
"However, this method of human trafficking cannot last. If it continues, everyone will live in fear, and the government will have to hold someone accountable." Beiyu sighed. "And if the government wants to quell public anger, it will inevitably shift the blame to neighboring countries. Public resentment needs an outlet, and that will provide a pretext for war."
"The eldest elder of the Murong Family is right. If human sacrifices are necessary, all countries will run out of slaves. The only way to gather enough slaves is through war. At most, the Northern Wasteland will be engulfed in war again in two months. This is probably what those giant serpents want to see!"
The boys beside him nodded slightly.
The academies in Jiangnan have changed again. The academy in Liuzhou has become a junior academy, mainly used to lay the foundation for new students. Those who want to inherit the knowledge at a higher level need to enroll in the Dragon Palace Academy!
The current headmaster of the Dragon Palace Academy is Master Ziyue.
Master Ziyue would come to inspect the school once a month and select outstanding students to advance to the Dragon Palace Academy for the project to be passed on. Six of the students from the Northern Wasteland were selected. It was precisely because of their outstanding academic performance that they were valued by Master Ziyue and were granted an application to be teleported back to the Northern Wasteland.
Master Ziyue will not only teach them the secrets of the Dragon Palace, but will also give all sorcerers a general lesson on the current state of the world.
Six months ago, Chen Qing of Jiangnan was fully recognized by the imperial court and was granted the title of King of Qin!
According to Master Ziyue, half a year ago, the King of Qin seized the West Sea Dragon Palace from the Four Seas Dragon Palace for the sake of Jiangnan, thus opening up a new lineage for the students of Jiangnan.
Now, the four seas have been reorganized, and a mysterious force has occupied the East Sea Dragon Palace. It is said that the countries of the East Sea have been protected. As for who is behind it, no one can say for sure, including Master Ziyue, who has always remained tight-lipped.
The imperial court has occupied the South Sea, while the giant serpents in the north control half of the North Sea Dragon Palace!
Why only say half?
This is the main point of contention in Jiangnan today. Jiangnan accepted one billion northern people. Back then, the Duke of Wei used his dragon blood to open up North Sea City, allowing Jiangnan to create a passage in the North Sea. With the Mystic Ice Grand Formation of the North Sea Dragon Palace, the ice road left by the Duke of Wei was continuously frozen, and the North Sea Dragon Palace was divided.
The current situation is that the giant pythons from the Jiangnan and the north are facing off on either side of the North Sea Dragon Palace, a situation where one side is equal to the other!
Ziyue never hid these things from her students, teaching them meticulously and encouraging them to actively share their views on the situation. Not only the situation, but all the sorcerers who entered the Dragon Palace would learn the true secrets of this world.
That's about the theory of Earth Spirit!
Beiyu: "According to Master Ziyue, the Earth Spirit are attracted by the death and suffering of our human race. Those giant snakes generously hunt high-level demons for the human race and even protect the people of the Northern Wasteland, not because they are truly kind-hearted, but because they know very well that once the human race is killed too quickly by those grown demons, and the Earth Spirit recede, they will have to slumber in the Heavenly Python Palace again!"
"Therefore, they feed humans demon flesh in order to make the human race strong quickly, so that it has a certain ability to protect itself, and ideally, to increase its birth rate as soon as possible. They are consciously enhancing the reproductive ability of bloodline families. With enough flesh and blood, bloodline families can continue to reproduce without any scruples. At most a hundred years, the number of bloodline descendants will probably increase more than tenfold!"
"But the war must continue." Murong Qingxue nodded and said, " The Earth Spirit need the pain and death of war to attract them, so continuing the civil war among humans is a must. I'm afraid, just as Teacher Ziyue said, these ancient forces will first control the human race after they open up, and then deliberately instigate internal wars among humans."
"If that's the case, we must get our families out of the Northern Wasteland as soon as possible." Beiyu said with a grim expression, "Once the war starts, the outcome is unpredictable, and He Family could become a slave!"
"Why do you say that?" someone asked doubtfully. "Shouldn't only the lower-ranking soldiers be enslaved?"
"Heh," Beiyu sneered, "The demons won't sit idly by and let their families monopolize the war. Only fierce competition can catalyze internal purification more quickly. Do you think they'll let small-scale skirmishes and the deliberate creation of slaves be tolerated? No way. Once the fighting starts, those giant snakes will definitely intervene and escalate the conflict instantly. Right now, those powerful families might still be fantasizing about controlling the war, but how could we let them do that?"
"What should we do?" The others frowned. "We're still young. Even if we bring resources from Jiangnan, we can't expect the family to listen to us."
Upon hearing this, Beiyu also silently bit his fingers. Now that Murong Bingyun is gone, there are no longer any young people who are qualified to negotiate with the older generation.
It's unlikely that they can persuade the family to stop.
Should we just give up like this?
"Oh, by the way, I just heard some news from the capital."
"Hmm?" Beiyu looked at the boy who had spoken, and asked in confusion, "At this time, what does the capital have to do with us?"
The others also looked over in confusion.
"Does your family even have the leisure to gather intelligence about the capital?" Murong Qingxue asked curiously.
The others also looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
They also learned some current information about the capital city through Teacher Ziyue's introduction. The capital city is now a den of demons. After the Dragon Palace incident, the royal family of the capital city began to build temples on a large scale, and cruel human sacrifices began to be practiced inside the temples!
Moreover, the Central Plains are now teeming with ghosts and monsters, and many landlords and scholars want to sneak into Jiangnan, making it extremely chaotic!
However, given the current dire situation in Northern Wasteland, it's truly surprising that he still has the mind to investigate the capital.
"Um... cough cough." The young man said embarrassedly, "Doesn't our family have a connection with the Wang Household of the Central Plains? Half a year ago, the giant serpent from the north attacked, it was so terrifying that all ten kingdoms planned to relocate to the Arctic. Naturally, my family didn't want to follow the kings to explore that Arctic land, so we decided to take a gamble and see if we could break through to the capital."
"At that time, we sent our assassins to try to break through to the capital to request assistance. However, to our surprise, the assassins were not attacked by those giant snakes when they arrived in the Northern Lands and traveled safely. Therefore, few people know that our family is actually maintaining contact with the Wang Household in the capital."
"Huh?" Everyone's faces twitched. Such a thing actually happened?
"What intelligence, that you need to present now?" Beiyu frowned, because even so, the intelligence in the capital right now probably didn't have much to do with them, did it?
"The intelligence report states that Wutu Muer, the young lord of the Southern Barbarians Uzi Kingdom, is seeking the hand of Princess Xiao Mingxue of the Great Jin Dynasty!"
"What did you say?"
Beiyu was stunned, his face turning grim. "Are you sure?"
The others' expressions were not good upon hearing this. Chen Qing is now the ruler of Jiangnan, and Xiao Mingxue, who is engaged to Chen Qing, will be the future mistress of Jiangnan!
What is the imperial court trying to do?
Was this a test?
Because some people know that Prince Chen Qing of Qin hasn't shown his face in Jiangnan for half a year!