Free Web NovelChapter 337: Chapter 66: Strange Pollution
Nanlin Road, Ning’an Prefecture.
Compared to the other prefectures along Nanlin Road, this one was a bit poorer. Most of Ning’an Prefecture was surrounded by mountains, leaving pitifully little arable land. The only road in or out had been carved out by the Earth Vein Cultivators of the Pingdong Sect using their Magical Power.
For all these reasons, even after two hundred years of peace and prosperity, Ning’an Prefecture had only developed a population of just over one million.
With the turmoil on Mozhou Road, a great number of refugees flooded into Nanlin Road. To alleviate the pressure on the various regions, the Inspectorate assigned nearly two hundred thousand refugees to Ning’an Prefecture, likely intending for them to head into the mountains and clear new farmland before spring arrived.
The problem was that there were too many refugees, and most couldn’t get enough to eat. The Inspectorate hadn’t dispatched any special officials to manage the situation, simply leaving each County Government to make its own arrangements.
Perhaps it was jealousy, or maybe the bitterness of having been driven from their homes, but conflicts between the refugees and the locals were inevitable. It was the autumn harvest, and the new fields cleared by the refugees had not yielded enough. Watching the locals haul cart after cart of grain into their granaries, some began to harbor malicious intent.
At first, there were only minor skirmishes, which the County Government quickly suppressed. But on the afternoon of the third day of the tenth month, two villages under the jurisdiction of Ganhua County were jointly holding their autumn harvest ceremony. A refugee villager snuck in and made off with the mutton prepared for the sacrificial offering, only to be caught red-handed at the village entrance.
The enraged villagers beat him to death on the spot.
A massive conflict erupted. The Ganhua County Magistrate, for some reason, must have thought he was a Celestial God descended to earth. He actually went to the site of the armed brawl to mediate and was killed on the spot.
Afterward, the three Chiefs who had led the refugee villagers in the riot were sentenced by the County Government to be executed after the autumn harvest.
On the very night the verdict was delivered, Ganhua County was surrounded by more than five thousand refugee villagers. The final outcome was that the city walls fell, and every official in the County Government was slaughtered.
They then looted the County Government’s armory and granary, rising up in rebellion. Overnight, they plundered all the villages and towns under Ganhua County’s jurisdiction.
Later, perhaps due to accumulated resentment and jealousy, they dug a massive, deep pit. They threw the tens of thousands of captured locals into it, intending to starve them to death to quench the hatred in their hearts.
The next day, the Prefecture City received a military report. However, they chose to conceal the matter, hoping to resolve the problem before reporting it higher up. Under these circumstances, one thousand Government Soldiers were hastily dispatched to Ganhua County without proper battle preparations.
The final result was predictable: not only was the entire force annihilated, but all their armor and weapons were also delivered straight into the hands of the Rebel Army.
Fortunately, a disciple of the Pingdong Sect discovered the situation in time and reported it to the sect.
Just as the Pingdong Sect was preparing to dispatch disciples to quell the chaos, a dense Taiyin Aura shot up into the sky from the direction of Ganhua County. In an instant, it plunged more than half of Ning’an Prefecture into darkness.
But in the next moment, it was as if a gigantic, invisible dome descended from the sky, trapping the darkness and the soaring Taiyin Aura within it.
A quarter of an hour later, several figures shot up into the sky from Ganhua County, turning the clouds inky black. They then sped off toward Mozhou Road. A short while later, two figures descended over Ganhua County Town. One was Yunshan, the other Hongyuan.
As the two steadied themselves, several more Entering Cultivators gathered by their side.
"This pure Taiyin Aura... It’s Cultivators from the Taiyin Sect!"
Yunshan’s voice was laced with anger. Below them, the county town was now like something out of folklore’s Avici Hell. The town had vanished, replaced by a dark, deep pit filled with a black, viscous liquid. Countless corpses, drained of their flesh, blood, and spirituality, floated on its surface.
Around the pit’s edge, the ground was also pitch-black, as if coated in a layer of paint. It must have been from the liquid sloshing and overflowing from the pit.
There were still some living people around the pit—no, that’s not right. They were the living dead. They were down to their last breath, their bodies devoid of spirituality, their minds devoid of humanity.
These living dead were brawling with one another; some were even locked in embraces, gnawing on each other. What gushed from their wounds wasn’t blood, but the same black, viscous liquid from the pit.
"They are Taiyin Evil Cultivators, not the Taiyin Sect!"
Hongyuan corrected Yunshan with extreme gravity.
Yunshan just snorted coldly. He was clearly displeased but, after glancing at the other Cultivators to his left and right, he didn’t voice his thoughts.
Just then, a bolt of lightning fell from the cloudless sky, striking dead a creature on the ground that had begun to evolve after devouring too many of the living dead. It was a life form that heaven and earth would not permit to exist.
"A Sacrificial Array of the Taiyin Evil Cultivators, mixed with some kind of otherworldly substance."
As Yunshan spoke, his hands formed a Spell. A curtain of light appeared beneath his feet. The next moment, it swept through the ground below, passing through the bodies of all the still-moving living dead. They were then dismembered, and even more of the black, viscous liquid splattered across the land.
At that moment, two streaks of cyan light shot in from the distance, landing in front of Yunshan and Hongyuan.
It was Wang Ping and Zi Luan. Both simultaneously looked down at the horrific scene, then turned their gazes to the clouds above. The spiritual contamination here had already spread into the cloud layer, something that could not be perceived by Cultivators who had not yet formed a Primordial Spirit.
Above the clouds, countless Spiritual Creatures had grown frenzied and agitated. They instinctively devoured one another, letting out shrill cries that drew in even more distant Spiritual Creatures, assimilating them into their madness.
"Greetings, Daoist Changqing!"
"Greetings, Daoist Zi Luan!"
Yunshan, Hongyuan, and the Cultivators behind them all bowed in unison.
Wang Ping waved his hand and ordered Yunshan and Hongyuan, "Return and guard the Daoist Scripture Hall!"
"Yes!"
The two did not hesitate. Upon receiving the order, they flew decisively toward Jinhuai Prefecture City, and the others followed suit.
After everyone had left, Zi Luan flexed his facial muscles and smiled. "This energy is corroding the spirituality of the land and space. It seems to be spreading, too. We need to assimilate it as quickly as possible."
"Mm."
As they spoke, Zi Luan flew up above the clouds, while Wang Ping descended to the ground.
When Wang Ping’s feet touched the ground, a dense Wood Spirit Qi manifested around him. Upon contact with the Wood Spirit Qi, the black, viscous substance vanished at a visible rate, like fire meeting water.
"This substance is very strange. It’s... how should I put it?" Yu Lian said with some uncertainty from her perch on Wang Ping’s shoulder. "It feels like the core of a Star God, similar to the ’corruption’ we encountered when we took the Holy Heart Grass. But this has clearly been modified by a certain demonic weapon!"
"We’ll know once we find it," Wang Ping said. With a thought, all the black, viscous matter in the surrounding area vanished into thin air. He then tossed out some Spirit Grass Seeds, which grew rapidly and soon restored the region’s vitality.
But the people who had died could not be brought back to life.
Wang Ping strolled to the edge of the great pit. He couldn’t help but frown as he looked down into it, for the sacrificial ritual before him was simply too cruel.
