Chapter 379: Letters, Opportunities, and the Crisis of Annihilation

A letter from Fucheng, after tossing and turning for several months, finally arrived in Zhou You's hands.

The sender was Li Hao; before he sent this letter, Gongliang City had not yet fallen, so the content was already long outdated.

It was a stroke of luck that it was not lost or burned during the chaos of war; although it looked slightly tattered, after many twists and turns, it finally reached Zhou You.

"To be opened by Zhou You personally..."

In the letter, Li Hao described the environment of Fucheng to him and invited him to move there.

It turned out that Fucheng had recently been flooded with a large number of immigrants, all coming from surrounding cities—Zunyang City, Gongliang City, and so on.

Affected by the Plague, war, and the invasion of the Witch people, everyone was migrating to the more solid and secure Fucheng.

This brought about changes and influences, with the environment of Fucheng changing with each passing day.

In fact, Fucheng was a place that gathered the essence of all directions; it was not strongly regional, nor was it xenophobic like those small and medium-sized cities.

The massive influx of population and wealth enriched the existing environment of Fucheng.

Especially the martial arts hall industry, which presented an even more prosperous scene.

Li Hao, being in the midst of it, knew this was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity and immediately sent an invitation to Zhou You.

Often, for a family to integrate into a strange environment, it takes at least three generations of diligent rooting and survival, such as the Zhou Family in Gongliang City.

Fucheng was larger and more inclusive, with more opportunities; happening upon the turmoil of war, the possibility of integrating into the local area was even greater.

Zhou You finished reading the letter, analyzing it carefully in his heart.

When Li Hao wrote the letter, the news of Zhou You breaking through to Martial Master had not yet spread, so he did not know about this matter.

According to the letter, the uncle Li Hao was relying on in Fucheng worked for a sect and belonged to the external affairs personnel.

Sects had many Disciple members, and going out to handle affairs required arrangements for food, clothing, housing, and transportation, as well as needs for manpower and funds.

If conditions were sufficient in the mountains, these were not issues.

But once they reached the outside world, it was no longer their own territory, and raising resources was quite strenuous.

Thus, the institution known as the Justice Hall came into being.

The Justice Hall, in terms of function, belonged to a sect's external office, commonly known as a branch courtyard or external hall.

Li Hao's uncle was the person in charge of the Wanxiu Mountain Justice Hall, responsible for various external affairs of the sect.

On a daily basis, he was responsible for receiving and sending off Wanxiu Mountain Disciples and members passing through, raising money and grain, gathering information, or sending martial arts seeds with outstanding aptitude up to the mountain.

Being in this position, being well-informed was a must.

Li Hao followed his uncle to practice martial arts and handle affairs, so his information channels far exceeded those of ordinary martial artists, and he even knew about the changes that had occurred far away in Zunyang City.

Dayin Mountain had suffered a great loss, losing a large number of elite Disciples, and was relaxing entry requirements to recruit members widely.

It had almost drained the outstanding juniors of associated martial arts halls, to the point where Ox Fist and Tiger Fist martial artists with any promise were rarely seen on the market, as they had all successively joined the gates of Dayin Mountain.

When one family moved, every family moved; with Dayin Mountain doing so, Wanxiu Mountain, Jueguang Sect, and others followed closely behind.

The Witch people's invasion was a comprehensive front; it was not just Zunyang City, as other border areas of Beixuan Zhou also saw fires of war erupting suddenly.

At this moment, it was a time for using people, and with the sects lacking manpower, they naturally valued the role of martial arts halls even more.

Noble families and sects were at the top of the food chain, while the numerous martial arts halls were the link with the largest share and heaviest weight in the ecological chain, bearing the important role of buffering pressure and supplementing resources.

Therefore, with the tacit approval of both noble families and sects, the conditions for opening private martial arts halls were relaxed, appearing to grow wildly like weeds after rain.

The Martial Masters who fled to Fucheng each had a few tricks up their sleeves; they were either good at escaping and saving their lives, or had the advantage in chaotic battles.

Once they had the opportunity to open a hall and take in disciples, they naturally went crazy carving up the vast market of Fucheng. "Come quickly, if you don't come, it will be too late."

Li Hao's letter could be summarized in one sentence.

He also knew that Zhou You was still at the Qi and Blood stage and was not qualified to open a martial arts hall, but taking this opportunity to find a famous master to rely on had a high chance of success.

The more martial arts halls there were, the stronger the thirst for talent, and the competition for geniuses had almost reached a white-hot degree.

If someone like Li Hao, with his upper-middle aptitude, did not have the background of Wanxiu Mountain, he would likely also be scrambled for and invited into halls.

Fucheng's martial arts halls were also divided into different ranks; the top ones were naturally halls like the Overlord Martial Arts Hall, with three thousand disciples and a hall master qualified for the Ultimate Strong Martial realm, making them a force to be reckoned with in the city.

The weakest were not even as good as those in Gongliang City, guarding a storefront along the street with only a few cats and dogs, and if they didn't do well, they still had to pay protection money.

Li Hao cared about Zhou You's future and hoped he could join a more promising martial arts hall.

The arrival of this letter broke the seemingly calm situation of Zhou Family Village.

Zhou You began to discover that, under the chaos of war, the exchange of news between various places had never ceased.

Letters and verbal messages traveling between places, although intermittent, eventually connected a network of information.

For example, Master Shen also received news about the attack on Gongliang City; after the government troops recaptured it, a lucky surviving manager of the trading firm took over the shop and warehouse, and although the wealth had been looted, the real estate remained.

If there were funds and sources of goods invested, the Shen Family Trading Firm could still make a comeback.

Furthermore...

The martial arts industry in Gongliang City, which had already suffered a devastating blow, had now also slightly recovered.

After the near catastrophe, there were actually a few scattered Martial Masters who had either moved to the countryside outside the city in advance or hidden in the underground of the city, escaping the massacre by the Hidden Charms and avoiding the rebel army entering the city and the government troops recapturing it.

On this ruined land, martial arts halls were being rebuilt one after another, recruiting disciples to teach fist techniques.

When the news came, some joked that if Zhou You went back now, he would definitely be the number one person in the Gongliang City martial arts industry, replacing the status of Wang Laohu.

Of course, this was just a joke.

Although the people of Zhou Family Village missed their homeland, they also knew that Gongliang City had been ruined, with less than one in ten of the population remaining, and what was worse, the survivors were mostly the old, weak, women, and children, with productivity reduced to one percent.

Such a city had its own blood-making capacity nearly exhausted and could no longer withstand the next disaster.

Therefore, the future path to survival still lay in Fucheng.

"Every family, make preparations; feed the livestock well, you must not let them lose weight at this time."

With an order from Zhou You, everyone knew what he meant: it was time to move.

No matter how good Zhou Family Village was, it was not a place to stay for long; it was too small and too comfortable, which was not conducive to future development.

More importantly, without a city to gather people and without resources flowing in, no matter how it developed, it would only be the size of a small village or town.

One night, Zhou You scrolled to a brand-new mission on his interface, so terrified that cold sweat poured out, soaking his clothes from the inside out.

"Trial Project (Six-Star): The Sorrow of the Zhou Family Village's Destruction."

"The specific background is as follows: The Golden Immortal Daoist Kunpengzi conspired to overthrow Gongliang City; the two great clans fled in advance but could not swallow this insult, so they jointly hired a Mighty Warrior to hunt down Kunpengzi."

"Kunpengzi's comprehensive strength is that of a Mighty Warrior, and the shockwaves from his clash with the pursuer are about to destroy the small place that is Zhou Family Village."

"You are caught in the middle of it, and you must lead your subordinates and family members to all escape in order to complete the mission."

Zhou You was practically going insane; what kind of business was this? (End of chapter)