Chapter 429 Buzhou (1)
As they listened, Shan Shui discovered that around the spiritual veins, there were many tiny, seemingly still-living roots. Like little insects, they captured the spiritual energy overflowing from the veins and slowly grew and moved in the soil.
Shan Shui guessed that it was a broken root left by Ji Rongshu, but now that His body had grown too big, He could no longer enter the spiritual vein to investigate. He could only immerse His mind in the power and push the spiritual flow around in the underground veins.
Seeing that the roots, though showing signs of becoming trees, were only growing in the soil and not penetrating the spiritual veins, He stopped interfering.
He thought to himself that if he really wanted to know what it was, he could only wait for Ji Rong to return to confirm it.
Unlike the bustling Central Plains, on the shores of Bitter Water Lake, at the border of the Western Plains and the Central Plains, Ji Rong and Jiao Jue, leading five thousand soldiers, were facing off against a large group of cultivators across the lake.
The creatures of Buzhou, due to years of turmoil, have become resolute in their minds, and the pressure of cultivation level is not absolutely effective in Buzhou.
Although these ruthless people are individually weak, when they come together they form an extremely powerful aura, making them incredibly audacious.
When Ji Rong and his group left the Danxue Mountains, Shan Shui said that the atmosphere in Buzhou was bad, rotten inside and out, and the worst place in the Nine Provinces. It not only harmed the cultivators within its own territory, but also often infected the surrounding tribes, causing innocent cultivators to fall into depravity.
After Ji Rong arrived here, she finally understood why the benevolent and gentle deity had made such a comment.
Where did these natives who were confronting Ji Rong come from? They came from the mountains and rivers of various provinces.
Upon hearing from their leader the news that the sovereign was about to arrive, they followed their leader and gathered under the pretext of welcoming the sovereign.
Upon meeting, before even paying their respects, they rushed ahead and demanded money from Ji Rong in unison.
The more powerful leaders hidden among them chimed in, explaining, "Sir, that's how things are in our province. Anyone can become the new leader, but since this is your first time here, you'll need to pay."
"If you don't pay us, we won't recognize you as our leader..." and so on.
Yes, the leaders of the various states, whether they are from outside or born from within, will scatter many spirit crystals when they make their proclamations, creating a grand spectacle of all spirits scrambling for food.
Because the leaders changed so quickly, sometimes if you threw money away today, your head would be smashed on the ground like a melon the next day. For the lower-level cultivators, this meant many days of easy living. Over time, everyone became happy to do it.
The spirit crystals that fell from the sky caused an insatiable abyss of greed to grow in the hearts of the cultivators of Buzhou. Together with those in power, they accelerated the corruption of the land of Buzhou.
However, only free, low-level cultivators can participate in such grand events of collecting spirit crystals.
The slaves could only catch a glimpse of those free creatures happily picking up spirit crystals on the soft ground when their masters took pity on them and released the restraints from their cages.
Ah! How wonderful! Such a scene is a dream that is unattainable for those caged flesh and blood!
Those powerful families that once created plays are long gone;
But the story of this grand drama remains on the land of Buzhou, inherited and passed down by generation after generation of new leaders and free people.
Nowadays, these cultivators who keep referring to "our continent" as Ji Rong have a somewhat special, yet unremarkable, identity.
Many of them, who were just recently imprisoned and waiting to be sold, were released and had their slave seals removed after the arrival of the Mountain and Water God, thus regaining their freedom.
But in this world, those uneducated wild cultivators, after going through countless hardships to escape the fate of being flesh and slaves, do not first use their brains to think about how to escape from this bloody world, but eagerly plunge into the ladder of their former dreams, striving to become new knives that cut the weak in this broken world.
Those with stronger cultivation levels turned around and, in accordance with public opinion, became the new leaders, both big and small, in the blood and flesh slave trade.
Those whose cultivation level was insufficient also eagerly volunteered to become the henchmen of the new leaders.
Besides these newly reborn slaves, those who had gathered around Ji Rong and her entourage at the shores of Bitterwater Lake...
There were also a small number of remnants from various ethnic groups who were stirring up trouble within the ranks.
The rest were the wild people of Buzhou.
Because the mountain gods of the continent suddenly turned against the local tribes and killed them all, in just three days, the wild people who had no land and were wandering around noticed that the powerful people who used to hunt and fish were no longer coming out. They knew that these oppressors were dead!
They no longer need to hide and flee!
At first they were very happy and rushed around;
After the initial joy, he fell into a deep, bewildered state.
After a period of uncertainty, they were swept up by the tide and eagerly joined the various gangs and factions that were newly emerging in the province.
There's no other way. If they don't join a faction soon and obtain a legitimate identity, they will once again become savages who can be captured, eaten, or sold by anyone.
These low-level monks, struggling to survive, had long lost faith in peace. Unable to become leaders, they seized every opportunity to become accomplices.
They used to live a life of hiding and running, but now that the world has changed, they have transformed into guides, leading their henchmen to familiar places to search for flesh and blood.
These eight thousand or so cultivators of varying abilities were gathered here by the new leader using stories from the past, with the beginning and end cut off. They hoped that the new overlord would be like the cultivators in the stories who came to rule the continent, and in order to gain the submission of the continent's land and people, he would respect the continent's customs and shower the first group of people who came to welcome him with many treasures.
They felt this was a gift from heaven, so those with a little guts from the bandit, thief, smuggler, and fake gangs all came.
Jiao Jue looked at the group of arrogant cultivators by the lake, narrowed his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Colorful Bird, these scum are so greedy, they don't know what's good for them. Kill them all."
Ji Rong shook her head at the horn-shaped jade pendant and said, "There are so many. If we kill them all, how can we possibly finish eating them?"
Besides, look at the skinny kids they're carrying on their backs;
Look at the black scabs on their legs;
So destitute and unhygienic, his flesh is probably rotten and stinking; he certainly wouldn't taste very good.
Jiao Jue sneered, "You're soft-hearted again."
Ji Rong sighed, "Brother, I've heard a saying: 'Poor mountains and bad waters breed unruly people'."
I've also heard the saying that children who grow up under oppression will inevitably become the new oppressors;
Because they only learn various methods of oppression during the most important moments of their lives, they may hate those who oppress them, but given the opportunity, they will surely surpass their teachers and oppress other weaker individuals.
The older generation in front of us can't be taught anymore, but the new ones might be.
Let's intimidate them first; if they don't repent, then it's not too late to kill them!
Having said that, Ji Rong drew the three swords from his leg and declared, "Anyone who blocks my way will be executed as a traitor!"
Upon hearing this, the five thousand soldiers behind him all shouted, "Anyone who blocks our path will be executed as a traitor!"
The powerful momentum caused the eight thousand rabble on the other side of the lake to retreat, but they were quickly driven back to their original positions by the low howls of tigers and wolves.
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