Chapter 171: Not a Natural Disaster, but a Man-Made One

Jerry was in the middle of Cultivation this day when the Great Elder suddenly arrived.

Under normal circumstances, the Great Elder would basically never come to find Jerry unless there was some special matter.

"Great Elder, has something happened?" Jerry asked.

"There are two things. First, a drought has suddenly broken out this year; it hasn't rained in the Wuhun City region for over six months. We originally had Spirit Masters with the Water Attribute perform artificial rain, but for some reason, the rainwater evaporates very quickly. We don't know how long this drought will last, and now there aren't even enough Spirit Masters with the Water Attribute."

"Second, the matter of the Heaven Dou Empire. They have been making small moves behind our backs and have even imitated many of Wuhun City's development policies. It seems there is an expert guiding them from behind the scenes. Furthermore, according to reports from spies, the Heaven Dou Empire is researching a weapon even more formidable than the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow."

"Moreover, the Heaven Dou Empire is imitating the Spirit Hall. Farmers tilling land no longer pay cultivation taxes. Any Spirit Master registered with the Empire enjoys a Spirit Master subsidy issued by the Empire. Therefore, many farmers and ordinary Spirit Masters have now changed their views on the Empire."

After Great Elder Qian Daoliu finished speaking, he let out a sigh.

"Great Elder, is it only the Wuhun City region that is experiencing a drought?" Jerry suspected someone was up to no good; looking at the current weather, it didn't seem like it should be a drought at all.

"Yes, the climate in Wuhun City right now is not even as good as it is here in your desert. By the way, when I arrived just now, I saw that an oasis had formed outside your courtyard, along with a lake."

"You set up a Barrier, and many animals and Soul Beasts that used to live in the desert have gathered outside the Barrier. I feel that before long, this desert region will directly turn into a forest region," the Great Elder said.

Jerry was also surprised; he had been Cultivating inside the Small Courtyard for this period of time and hadn't gone out to look at all. After hearing the Great Elder's words, Jerry suddenly wanted to see the situation outside.

Subsequently, Jerry and the Great Elder walked out.

Wow! The outside had changed drastically!

Previously, Jerry had only planted vegetation inside the Barrier and dug a large pit.

Now, all the plants were growing lush and green, and the large pit was filled with water.

Moreover, this large pit could no longer be called a large pit; it should be called a lake.

This large pit was originally dug in the sand. Because of the water, the sand at the edges had been carried into the pit; although the large pit had become shallower, its area had grown larger.

The increasingly larger area was spreading directly toward the edge of the Barrier.

The Barrier Jerry set up only blocked outside creatures from entering, but it did not block things inside from going out.

The large water pit spread directly outside the Barrier, nourishing the desert outside.

With moisture in the desert outside, the plants from inside the Barrier also slowly grew outward.

As time passed, an oasis formed directly outside. Many creatures in the desert discovered this place and tried to enter the Barrier, but they all failed, and then they settled in the oasis on the periphery of the Barrier.

Because of the oasis, many passing birds would also stop here to rest.

Some of these birds carried seeds of other plants on them, which directly took root here.

That was why there was the lush scene outside now.

No! Jerry suddenly thought of something.

How much Water Attribute soul power would it take to form a lake?

Jerry hurriedly went to check his water-collecting device. This device was still operating normally, and this device was initially set to absorb soul power from the air, convert it into water, and then spray it out.

Looking at it this way, it was indeed perfect, but time proved this was a wrong setting.

The perfect setting should have been to initially absorb the Water Attribute soul power from the air, convert it into water, and then spray it out.

Once the moisture inside the Barrier reached a certain amount, it should stop absorbing Water Attribute soul power from the outside air and switch to absorbing it from the inside. This way, the moisture inside would form a cycle.

The ideal state was like this, but Jerry hadn't thought that much at the time, so this device had been absorbing Water Attribute soul power from the outside air the whole time.

If Jerry had noticed and come out to turn off this device, the current oasis would not have appeared.

But Jerry had been Cultivating for too long this time; from making bombs to coming back and attempting Cultivation, it had been nine months in total.

This device had been running for nine months.

After it drained the Water Attribute soul power in the desert, the density of Water Attribute soul power in this region decreased.

Even counting the evaporation rate of the lake outside the Barrier, it was not as fast as the absorption rate of Jerry's device.

With the density lowered, the soul power from the outside would begin to diffuse over. After all, soul power in the air always diffuses from high-density regions toward low-density regions, and it would only stop once it reached equilibrium.

Nine months of time; this range was too large, and the closest place to here was Wuhun City.

Most of the Water Attribute soul power in the Wuhun City region flowed toward the desert; this was the reason why the drought occurred.

So the culprit was himself.

Looking at the lake before him, Jerry's mind went blank; this was exchanged for the drought in Wuhun City.

"Haha, Great Elder, I don't know if I should say something or not?" Jerry said with a smile, wearing an innocent expression.

"Put away that look of yours; it looks ill-intentioned at first glance. If you have something to say, just say it." Seeing Jerry's expression, the Great Elder felt that Jerry was up to some bad idea.

"Alright, but after hearing it, Great Elder, don't get excited!" Jerry gave the Great Elder a heads-up in advance.

"As long as you aren't testing bombs, what else could I get excited about? If you have something to say, say it quickly; stop dragging your feet!" the Great Elder urged.

"Alright, then I'll say it. Great Elder, you must not get excited! It's that the drought in Wuhun City is related to me here; the lake outside is the culprit behind the drought," Jerry said, and without waiting for the Great Elder to react, he ran directly into the courtyard.

"The drought is related to here? The lake is the culprit! The lake? Water? Rainfall?" The Great Elder suddenly thought of something, and seeing Jerry run directly into the courtyard, he suddenly understood.

Then the Great Elder wanted to find Jerry to ask for an explanation, but Jerry had already opened the courtyard's protective shield.

"Jerry, come out and explain this to me!" the Great Elder shouted from outside.

"Great Elder, this was an accident. I originally just wanted to improve the environment inside the Barrier, so I made a device to collect moisture. Then I was Cultivating the whole time and forgot to turn it off. Wuhun City is the closest to here, so the moisture all flowed this way. I really didn't do it on purpose. I just stopped the device, and the drought can be recovered from very soon," Jerry explained from inside the courtyard.

"You little brat Jerry, so it was you who caused this. I shouldn't have let you do research within the Wuhun City region in the first place."

"Even in the desert, you can still affect Wuhun City. Do you know that for these months of drought, everyone in the Spirit Hall has been worried sick? Now you want to escape responsibility with a single 'I didn't do it on purpose'? You get out here right now!"

The Great Elder was truly angry this time.

The drought problem directly implicated everyone in the entire city, so he had been busy for months, and the matter that hadn't been solved until now was actually caused by this little brat Jerry.

If it weren't for the fact that there was no other way, he wouldn't have come to find Jerry today; otherwise, it might not have been discovered for another few years.

Wuhun City was performing artificial rain, while you were absorbing it wildly over here. Good, all that hard work was just a futile effort.

"Great Elder, it really was an accident. I can make amends," Jerry said.

"Then why don't you come out and make amends quickly? Do you know the impact of the drought? Time is of the essence!"

"Let's agree first: if the Great Elder doesn't make a move, then I'll come out!"

"Come out, I promise I won't lay a hand on you!"

"Swear it, swear it to the Angel God!"

"I swear it, hurry up and come out; if you don't come out now, I'm going to take action!"

"Fine, I'm coming out!"

Jerry then deactivated the Defense Array of the Small Courtyard and walked out.

The Great Elder was currently staring fiercely at Jerry with an angry gaze; Jerry could feel that the Great Elder had been holding back, and if he didn't resolve this well, the Great Elder would take action at any moment.

"Great Elder, look, it's this device; its function is to absorb the Water Attribute soul power from the air, convert it into moisture, and then spray it out."

"Previously, in order to activate it quickly, the range for absorbing moisture from the air was set to a radius of ten thousand meters."

"The moisture in the air within a radius of ten thousand meters would all be absorbed. Then, once the concentration of the Water Attribute in this area dropped, it would be replenished from the outside. Wuhun City is nearby, and I forgot to turn it off, which is why it caused a drought!"

"However, Great Elder, if I modify the spraying range, you can just place this device on the Floating Small Courtyard at a high altitude, and it will automatically bring rain."

"I'll make a few more, and that should be enough to cover the entire Wuhun City area."

After finishing his explanation, Jerry breathed a sigh of relief.

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(End of this chapter)