Chapter 609: Flooding the Land, Intensifying Conflicts

Haiming Zhou, one of the Northern Six Prefectures, was submerged by seawater, resulting in countless deaths.

When news of this catastrophe reached Fucheng, it caused a massive, earth-shattering sensation; something major had happened.

Haiming Zhou was near the sea, its border a long coastline; although it suffered from tsunamis every year, damaging crops and farmland, it had maintained its territorial integrity, embedded like a nail by the sea.

The terrain formed over millions of years created a balance point between land and ocean, not something that could be easily submerged.

Yet, this unprecedented natural disaster happened nonetheless.

According to what people said, the seawater backflowed, the sky collapsed and the earth cracked; thousand-meter-high waves rushed forward like galloping horses, and even a martial master could not withstand them—they were either slapped to death by the crests or swept into the seawater to soak into floating corpses.

Although the city walls built by the Earth Sect blocked the invasion of seawater, the residents in the cities were swept away by the rising tide, and the number of those drowned was beyond count.

Routes such as rivers and canals were all backflowed and polluted by seawater, and many massive marine water beasts invaded.

The result was that after the seawater receded, half of Cangji Zhou was exposed as land, while the other half remained buried deep underwater, becoming a paradise for fish and shrimp.

Unlike the previous fall of city after city, Haiming Zhou was the first prefecture to suffer such a large-scale, extinction-level natural disaster.

"The overseas regions have changed; the tides rise and fall without pattern, and the islands that could originally provide shelter have all been destroyed, leaving nowhere to stay."

"Martial artists from the sea were forced to migrate back to land; they exhausted their wealth to create the Thousand-Face Hall just to act as an advance guard."

"This time, dealing with Du Taiyue is because the environment has deteriorated, leaving them no choice but to strike to seize living space."

The truth was out! It was as if the ocean had suddenly become irritable and erratic, with waves raging everywhere, often easily rising to heights of a thousand or ten thousand meters, smashing an island to pieces with ease.

Some giant seagoing ships built by sea nations could not survive the endless waves that came one after another, and were eventually beaten into fragments, with everyone on board who was trying to escape buried in the bellies of fish.

The fickle oceanic climate was far less safe than the land, so migration became inevitable.

"The environment in Beidi has further deteriorated, and the birth rate of the Witch tribes has declined."

"Hutiannu has already found other leaders, calling for a full-scale invasion of Zhong Yuan and to tear down the boundary markers across Beidi."

Misfortunes never come singly; the Witches, who had only just quieted down, were starting trouble again.

It turned out that another reason for the Witch invasion was that the already barren Beijing was trending toward deterioration, unable to accommodate the survival of countless tribes, to the point where the rhythm of Witch reproduction was interrupted.

This time, the other side was playing for real.

Hutiannu was a Heaven Sect-level Witch expert, with a status even higher than the Fucheng Monarch; the scale of the mobilization this time was not only aimed at the eighteen prefectures of Beixuan Zhou, but also affected the other two prefectures.

For a time, the Northern Six Prefectures were ablaze with war, with crises everywhere.

Fucheng was in chaos, with commoners everywhere hoarding grain and rushing to buy supplies.

Shops and martial arts halls were closing one after another, starting to take precautions to deal with the coming chaos.

As for the Fucheng Martial Arts Association, because there was no leader after Yan Wanjun's promotion, there had been multiple proposals to elect a president.

Various forces were competing for this position, pulling people in, paying visits, and offering bribes—they used every trick in the book.

Originally, Zhou You was also one of the candidates, but he did not want to join in the excitement and announced his withdrawal.

Consequently, the large martial arts halls became hot commodities, and all sides wanted to win over Zhou You's vote to support themselves.

Seeing that a great war was about to begin, they could not remain in this indefinite stalemate any longer...

"Ahem, after the recommendation of all parties in the Martial Arts Association, the new president is..."

"The master of the Qili Martial Arts Hall, Li Qixiu."

Li Qixiu, a high-level martial master, came from the Wanxiu Mountain faction and had once been ranked as one of the 'Many Talents,' qualifying him to have the character 'Xiu' (Talent) in his name as a martial master. This was equivalent to a fierce general from Dayin Mountain opening a martial arts hall after retirement.

As previously mentioned, because of the advantage of being close to the water, most of the martial arts halls in Fucheng were branches of Dayin Mountain and Wanxiu Mountain, the two strongest groups.

Yan Wanjun was of the Vajra lineage, but his family had accumulated wealth for generations, and he happened to be an unworldly martial arts genius who surpassed his peers, winning the position of Martial Arts Association President in one fell swoop.

Since Yan Wanjun's promotion and the expulsion of his successor, the Overlord Martial Arts Hall had been somewhat lacking in successors.

After several rounds of competition and tug-of-war, the president's position fell to the Wanxiu Mountain camp.

Li Qixiu stood up and bowed to those around him, "I appreciate the kindness of my fellow peers; I, Li, will certainly not fail your expectations and will work for everyone."

He subconsciously glanced in Zhou You's direction, thinking to himself that he was lucky; if Zhou You hadn't been on such bad terms with the Tiger Fist, he feared he wouldn't have been able to sit in the president's chair today.

Wanxiu Mountain and Dayin Mountain were originally evenly matched, but Zhou You's Daqian Martial Arts Hall was linked to several powerful martial arts halls like those of Pei Li, Qin Lie, and Yang Kuoqiong, counting as a rising force.

It is no exaggeration to say that whoever Zhou You chose to support would be the one to win.

In the end, the Wanxiu Mountain side had the slight edge; although they hadn't won over Zhou You, they weren't like the Tiger Fist lineage, which had already had a falling out with him.

Li Qixiu made up his mind to interact more with Zhou You in the future to build a closer relationship.

The new president's seat was not yet warm when he heard a shocking piece of news.

"Led by Chi Riqianli, the Thousand-Face Hall has already snuck into the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop last night and is currently in a great battle with Du Taiyue."

What, they started fighting? So fast?

Zhou You knew clearly that Haiming Zhou was originally the base camp for sea martial artists on land, through which they infiltrated toward the interior.

Now that half of Haiming Zhou was submerged and the land buildings were destroyed, the sea martial artists were bound to move further inland; the Thousand-Face Hall had to use thunderous means to eliminate Du Taiyue and seize the market of the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop.

This was a battle of life and death.

"President, how should we respond?"

Someone mentioned, "How many innocent people did Fu Manlun kill after entering the city? Which martial arts hall hasn't had people poisoned to death? This blood feud cannot be let go like this."

"Ahem!"

Li Qixiu encountered a huge problem as soon as he took office; it wasn't hard to be tough, but what to do afterward was the difficulty. Did they really have to fight the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop? He suddenly slapped his thigh, "Isn't the opportunity here? Those who follow the Dao receive much support, those who lose it receive little; Du Taiyue has acted against the natural order, and now his end has come."

"Our Fucheng Martial Arts Association cannot miss this, but the situation is not yet clear, so it is better to send people to observe first."

The last time the Thousand-Face Hall went, they returned in defeat; there was no guarantee they wouldn't follow in those footsteps this time.

He was cunning and old-fashioned, firmly refusing to take a stance, and handled it coldly under the pressure of the crowd.

After all, the battle between Chi Riqianli and Du Taiyue was at the Strong Martial Level; martial masters going there would be of no help.

Li Qixiu's reasoning was not without merit, but some martial masters also thought that the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop was a behemoth, and once it fell, there would be plenty of profit even if they could only eat the scraps of meat on the corpse.

After the meeting adjourned, many martial masters either sent their trusted subordinates or rushed there themselves, and in an instant, everyone was gone.

"Hall Master Zhou, are you not going to join the fun?"

Pei Li asked him with a smile.

"Not going anymore, heading home to sleep."

With Lu Zhigang at the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop, was there even any need for him to go out himself?

(End of chapter)