Chapter 289 - 258 Calamity from the West
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"After the Alliance Army captured Seaside Port, they suffered repeated counterattacks from the demon race but managed to hold their position for a year!"
"The eastern part of Cloud Continent has become a territory of the human race, and one day it will regain its ancient glory!"
"Xiao Martial Saint took action again, crushing the beast tide in the sea!"
"Construction of Seaside Port has officially begun, and it is expected to be completed within ten years…"
News after news flooded all media outlets.
Following the victory of the battle at Seaside Port, the momentum of the Alliance Army was magnificent, and they began to expand southwards and northwards from Xianjing to Seaside Port.
Continuous reports of victories came in—today they captured this mountain, tomorrow they crossed that river, the day after they defeated a certain Demon King. With the relentless barrage of information, nearly everyone believed that the human race was on the rise!
"Most people are nothing but a disorganized crowd, carried along by public opinion and trends!"
Zhou Yi muttered to himself, lifting his head to gaze at the sky, a white rainbow piercing through the bright sun.
According to modern technology’s explanation, this was a normal halo, a circle formed by the refraction of sunlight by water droplets in the cloud layer.
"If it were just the white rainbow piercing the sun, it would be one thing, but last month there was Mars guarding the heart of the sky, the month before that a comet struck the moon, and the month before that stars appeared during the day… What kind of madness has seized the heavens, as if there weren’t enough clear signs of impending disaster?"
Zhou Yi’s brows furrowed. All celestial phenomena have scientific explanations, and even if they occurred more frequently, it would not be particularly strange.
"However, this is the Cultivation World!"
The Nine Continents have more than just technology; they also have the even more ancient and mysterious path of immortality.
The Wanjuan Daozang records many divination techniques. Most are used for self-divining one’s path, safety, fortune, and misfortune. Others, such as Astrology and the secrets of heavenly fate, can divine changes in the world’s great trends.
Successive unusual celestial events had put Zhou Yi on alert.
After performing several divination spells, the results consistently pointed to a disaster arising from the west, but the specific nature of the calamity was unclear.
"After casting a minor Borrowed Luck Technique to divine my own fate, I found no danger, so is this coming disaster targeted at the Nine Continents?"
"The great trends of the world are vast and mighty, concerned with billions of living beings, far beyond my cultivation to divine. However, there are still ways to foresee it, such as the cheeky methods recorded in the secrets of heavenly fate."
"Borrowed Luck Technique!"
Zhou Yi made calculations with his fingers, his gaze turning toward East City.
"If the master has a task, the disciple is at his service!"
He then opened his smartphone, scrolled through his contacts, found Han Chao’s name, and sent a message.
"Little Han, you don’t visit your teacher after returning to Xianjing?"
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East City.
The old Yongning Fang district, now renamed as Area 72.
The pressure from ferocious beasts had turned the ancient Xianjing into a colossal fortress, with all names serving the purpose of war.
1024 Courtyard.
A rare single-family house with an area of over twenty zhang in size, considered a top-level luxury residence in the precious land of Xianjing.
Only in Xianjing, the safest place in the entire human Alliance, were sky and ground sealed off by defensive formations, preventing ferocious and demon beasts from sneaking in to cause destruction, causing real estate prices to soar to the heavens.
To protect more civilians, the Alliance strictly regulated personal living space, with even cabinet members living in cramped apartments.
Only two types of people were exempt from these constraints: ancient cultivators, who required a peaceful environment for their cultivation, and martial experts, who fought to the death against ferocious beasts for the human race.
Both could purchase larger residences based on their strength and contributions.
The Alliance’s policy aimed to motivate people to become stronger. It worked wonders but also attracted much controversy.
Most ordinary people dared not fight against ferocious beasts, yet they could use the banner of equality and freedom to oppose the privileges of their stronger kin, after all, even cultivators were subject to the law!
Take, for example, the owner of this courtyard, True Lord Tang’s second disciple, Han Chao. Having risen from poverty to such status in just a few years, there were already those who secretly spread various rumors about him.
As for Han Chao rushing to the front lines and repeatedly facing death against fierce beasts, in some people’s eyes, this was what he was supposed to do!
The only person the internet dared not slander was True Lord Tang. Whenever anyone made snide remarks, in a few days they would develop sores in their mouth and break their legs.
Combining technology with Immortal Realm techniques, Alliance hospitals could cure ordinary ailments in a day. However, if afflicted by True Lord Tang’s curse, not even medicinal pills could help, and one had to endure the pain until the curse subsided.
Because Zhou Yi cast his spells without any concealment, everyone knew he had a cyber-curse, and he came to be regarded as the perfect cultivator by all.
True Lord Tang was petty, and nobody dared to speak ill of him! n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Han Chao was envious of this cyber-curse. In ancient times, there were no internet cables, hence no spells that work through them to curse people, and despite his requests, he hadn’t been able to learn it.
"My master is always so generous, even willing to lend out the Supreme Treasure Light Dividing Sword, so why hold back such a trivial technique?"
Han Chao’s feelings toward his master, True Lord Tang, were quite complicated, filled with gratitude but also a fair amount of wariness.
Having fought abroad for years, every time Han Chao faced a crisis, just before a desperate fight, a cultivator would always come to his aid. Once or twice was fine, but such consistent help inevitably led to other thoughts.
Especially since Han Chao possessed a Supreme Treasure, no one dared to fully trust him.
"Is it possible that my master’s divination skills, unparalleled in history, have foreseen this?"
With various doubts in his heart, Han Chao had always paid close attention to his master’s words and deeds and, comparing them against records in the classics, found them identical to those of cultivators from the age of the ancient Immortal Realm.
Those natural actions were not the deliberate imitation of a nostalgic cultivator, but as if he had walked straight out of ancient times.
"There are many rumors online claiming that my master is the reincarnation of an ancient immortal. Perhaps the truth lies there…"
Because of this, Han Chao hadn’t returned to Xianjing for years, only coming back to undergo secluded cultivation after completing his Foundation Establishment to form a false core and when his mana cultivation could no longer advance, yet he did not dare to rashly trigger the Heavenly Tribulation.
After several days of flying from Seaside Port, he finally returned to Xianjing.
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