Chapter 852: The Splintering of the Shennong Clan

The Shennong Clan was declining day by day. Linkui discovered that his control over the Shennong Clan was worsening with each passing day. Originally, after annexing the Lieshan Clan, the power of the Shennong Clan had grown significantly and recovered much, which gave Linkui the illusion that there were no problems with the Shennong Clan.

However, the benefits gained from annexation were, after all, short-lived. Various conflicts reappeared within the Shennong Clan, the living standards of the tribespeople became worse and worse, and more and more tribes were unwilling to submit to the jurisdiction of the Shennong Clan anymore.

Originally, the Shennong Clan was the most powerful ruler in this territory. The Shennong Clan, the Dongyi Tribe, and the Suiren Clan were the three most powerful tribes on this land. But the Suiren Clan, after a brief period of explosive growth, rapidly headed toward decline. Its most glorious period was first when the first-generation Suiren founded the tribe, and then during the reign of Baoxi.

But now the power of the Suiren Clan had plummeted. Such news naturally reached the ears of the Shennong Clan, while the Xuanyuan Tribe, after Xuanyuan took charge, grew continuously stronger and eventually replaced the Suiren Clan, becoming one of the three most powerful tribes.

The Dongyi, or rather the alliance of several tribes in the east, had close relationships, were brave and skilled in battle, were adept at forging weapons, and had abundant food on the banks of the East Sea, lacking no food throughout the four seasons; therefore, they were the tribe that was secretly developing and growing strong.

Perhaps the Shennong Clan, Xuanyuan, or even Baifeng had never thought about this matter: that in the future, their greatest enemy should be the Dongyi.

In history, even Xuanyuan, who had already defeated the Emperor at the Banquan Battle, after incorporating the Shennong Clan under his own jurisdiction, faced nine defeats in nine battles when confronting Chiyou, despite having such a powerful tribe.

And the so-called term "Nine-Five Supreme" also originated from this event. As the saying goes, "Nine-Five, Flying Dragon in the Sky, it is advantageous to see a great man." The Qian Palace Hexagram has a total of six yao, all of which are yang yao. Nine is the Yang Number of the Extreme. The fifth yao of the Qian Hexagram is the Nine-Five. The final yao, the Upper Nine Yao, has the Hexagram Judgment: "Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets."

After nine defeats in nine battles, Xuanyuan finally defeated Chiyou in the Zhuolu Battle. From this, it can be seen that the Dongyi Tribe is now the most powerful tribe on the entire Huaxia land.

And Huaxia, which borrowed the name Huaxia, although still powerful now, was only known to be powerful in the ears of the Suiren Clan and the Xuanyuan Tribe. The Shennong Clan did not know that beside the two powerful tribes, there was such a rapidly rising tribe without any foundation; even if they knew, they probably would not take Huaxia seriously.

And the Shennong Clan, under such an environment, also began to change. Perhaps it was some kind of push from the unseen; the powerful Shennong Clan faced various problems one after another, and this generation's Shennong did not have the sufficient ability to solve these various kinds of problems.

Instead, it made his personality become even more tyrannical and unbearable. Various bloody sacrifices were incessant, and various harsh demands were imposed upon the tribes under his rule.

Because the leaders of those small tribes did not recognize the ability of this generation's Shennong, they also hoped to take this opportunity to expand the power of their own tribes.

Thus, the mutual warring within the entire Shennong Clan began, and Linkui, as the ruler, could not make them stop, so he also participated in this chaotic battle.

After all, as the greatest leader, the power he grasped was not something those small tribes could resist. He first attacked those tribes that did not obey his orders, and then proceeded to even more brutally conquer other small tribes. He hoped to use such violent means to achieve his goal of consolidating his rule and restoring the strength of the Shennong Clan.

Xingtian also made a name for himself in these successive wars. He used his wisdom and martial strength to win one battle after another, fighting for more territory for the Shennong Clan. The Shennong Clan also maintained its power under such circumstances, but just like the Suiren Clan of the past, once it stopped the pace of conquest, or made a single mistake, it would face complete collapse.

Those tribes initially only resisted the conquests of the Shennong Clan individually; after all, they were also warring among themselves. Seeing their rival tribes being struck, they would certainly be very happy, but they would never think that they would be the next.

But at this time, there was no other path to take besides war and resistance, because the current Shennong Clan leader had already become extremely cruel. Once such Tribal Chiefs failed, they would only have an extremely miserable ending, and their tribespeople would not have any good days to live either.

This was not alarmist talk or news deliberately released by someone to split the Shennong Clan, but something every tribe had personally felt. It was getting harsher year by year; they were all forced into a corner, which was why they did this.

After long-term warring, the remaining tribes, seeing the current situation, realized there was no need to fight alone anymore, so they decided to unite to resist the Shennong Clan together. As a result, the split of the Shennong Clan had become a foregone conclusion.

But after all, the Shennong Clan was far more powerful than those small tribes under its jurisdiction, and with a sufficiently rich foundation, plus the resources continuously squeezed from those tribes, even if these small tribes united, they had no way to resist the Shennong Clan.

They had already foreseen their own tragic ending, so now there was only one way: to seek help from the Xuanyuan Tribe.

The Dongyi were too far away from them, and because of the reasons of the previous generations of Shennong, they had also fallen out. Even if they now had a common enemy in Shennong, if they went to seek help, the Dongyi might not necessarily believe them, nor would they necessarily take action; after all, only by having the Shennong Clan war internally could the power of the Shennong Clan be better consumed.

And even if they really went, the current Dongyi, the Sanmiao Tribe, etc., or rather, a new Dongyi Tribe alliance newly formed with Chiyou as the head, had no time or ability to help them resist the Shennong Clan.

Chiyou and Xuanyuan had close ties; he was very clear about how powerful the Xuanyuan Tribe was now. The Xuanyuan Tribe had already been listed by him as a powerful opponent. If he went to attack the Shennong Clan at this time, it might instead allow the Xuanyuan Tribe to discover that his own power was empty, and they might take the opportunity to unite with the Shennong Clan to attack him.

After all, the Xuanyuan Tribe and the Shennong Clan were more like one family, while their entire Dongyi alliance was one family.

Besides, the Dongyi Tribe was currently in a period of expansion and did not have such serious internal conflicts like the Shennong Clan. They were more united among themselves because their union was voluntary and not achieved through war.