Chaotic World Book-Chapter 478 - 465: Rise of the Spirit Clan

Wuding estimated the situation, realizing that it was impossible to capture Lei Zhentang or Wang Daozhong before they could consolidate their forces. Even quick assassination had become difficult.

He made a swift decision to retreat quickly. Before leaving, his fierce and ferocious gaze fixed on Wang Daozhong, almost as if he wanted to bite a chunk off him.

Zhao Changhe, light as the breeze, thought to himself, "Old Wang is getting the blame, bite him if you want, but Zhao Changhe has nothing to do with this..."

Up ahead, Lei Zhentang, clutching the wound ravaged by Sword Qi, struggled forward and said, "Thank you, Wang..."

He hadn’t finished his words when "Wang Daozhong" struck again with his sword, viciously piercing his other rib. "Wang has OCD. Just evening things out for you. No need to thank me."

In the midst of the stunned Black Miao, Wang Daozhong ran towards the other direction where Wuding had escaped.

The Black Miao forces arrived at the scene. "Clan Leader, which way should we pursue? Clan Leader, Clan Leader? Quick, save the Clan Leader!"

Zhao Changhe did want to kill Lei Zhentang, yet he worried about how the Chaotic World Book might report it—would it report Wang Daozhong or Zhao Changhe? Normally Vermilion Bird and Xuanwu reported aliases like Snow Eagle and Ying Shuang. It could be an alias if he made one up... but Wang Daozhong was a real person already listed. What if it really reported Zhao Changhe? Everything would collapse then.

He hesitated for a moment and chose to wound but not kill. After all, Lei Zhentang, severely injured, probably wouldn’t cause much trouble anymore...

It seemed like Old Wang had offended everyone severely. Hopefully, he wouldn’t enter Miao Region in his lifetime.

...

The Black Miao wanted to retaliate, but their leader was seriously injured before they could achieve victory, and internal power struggles were not known to outsiders.

What was visible on the surface was that the earlier agreement among the five tribes to drive out but not kill the people of Xia at least within the territory of Black Miao wasn’t being genuinely upheld. They were mostly using the "resistance" excuse for a fierce massacre, but at that moment, Black Miao was in chaos, and surprisingly, no one was managing the situation.

However, the deportation of Xia people had already begun on a broad scale, including the Bai Yao tribe driving out Xia people, whether they were traders or those who had long settled there, expelling them all from their territory. It was tolerable considering those who hated the Xia began slaughtering them since the law did not hold everyone accountable. Would the five tribes’ joint council really trouble us about it?

Temporarily, the Xia people in Miao Region were under dark clouds of despair, with numerous incidences of families ruined and lives lost.

Xia people began to disguise themselves in local clothing, escaping places where their faces were recognizable, attempting to start anew elsewhere, but where could they go in such a short time? Under the consensus of numerous tribes, no matter where they escaped to once recognized, they couldn’t settle down.

Actually leaving Miao Region? With elderly and children dependent on them, even the effort of the journey which even strong men found arduous could prove fatal to their families.

When they were out of options, a rumor swiftly spread through Li Si’an’s trade networks in Miao Region and quickly radiated to remote areas around Erhai:

Among the five tribes’ council, only the Spirit Clan stood by the Xia people, willing to shelter and accept fleeing Xia people. As long as you claim to be part of the Spirit Clan and abide by their rules, following the management of the Holy Daughter, it was manageable. A number of Xia people had gathered near Xizhou Town, forming a new village named Taoyuan Town. Once there, it was a sanctuary for the Xia people of Miao Region.

The Black Miao didn’t have the leisure to attend to this matter. Though the Bai Clan and the Yao Clan despised the Xia, their hostility hadn’t reached that extent. Seeing many Xia being slaughtered, they felt somewhat sympathetic and turned a blind eye, allowing Sisi to protect them.

Unnoticed, the Spirit Clan explosively expanded from a few hundred to several thousand and swiftly exceeded ten thousand, with more expected from remote regions.

Miao Region was vast—large enough to be a significant country on its own, with Dali and the surrounding areas of Erhai just a small central region. Although sparsely populated, if brought together, these people could obscure the sun.

The sensitive Clan Leaders realized that this was an excellent opportunity to expand and strengthen their influence. However, having missed the initial opportunity as Xia people only trusted the Spirit Clan, others were unable to persuade the Xia to trust them with their families, leading to minimal success in absorbing Xia, and they watched astounded as a large number of Xia fled to Taoyuan, with even some from their own territories escaping.

They hadn’t maltreated them, yet they couldn’t retain them... Now that the initial expulsion had started, the Xia no longer trusted them.

Dao Qingfeng and Pan Wan looked at each other, a bit fearful of the situation.Article did not load properly. They wondered who would be the most powerful tribe in Miao Region after the storm passed. Now, they realized they were utterly powerless to stop this tide.

The momentum was like an unstoppable tide. They were responsible for initiating this situation. If they had not started driving people out, none of this would have occurred... They essentially forced out a terrifying force.

"For now, let’s not panic," Pan Wan advised a worried Dao Qingfeng. "So many people need to eat. The Spirit Clan also have to figure out how to help them settle down."

Miao Region, unlike the Central Plains, had fertile land but insufficient development. The vast area was riddled with mountains and miasmic forests, and with mostly pastures in the plains, it wasn’t the agricultural season, and it was too late to start clearing fields. Most Xia there were from businesses, craftspeople, or running martial arts schools, generally incapable of producing food. Feeding so many was impossible.

When Lei Ao from the Black Miao heard the news, he scoffed, "That young girl knows nothing, just a pretty face... and feet... absolutely no brains. I’m just waiting to see her so-called Taoyuan turn into chaos, biting itself back."

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, come May, the population of Taoyuan continued to grow, yet without any signs of disorder.

Contrarily, Sisi had amassed considerable wealth, organizing manpower to start reclaiming land, and it looked like they might truly be self-sufficient by the next year.

Even after the Xia craftsmen started crafting their own weapons and armor.

The various clans were dumbstruck and sent people to inquire, and the intelligence they received was even more baffling: Sisi had really produced countless amounts of food, as if she had conjured it out of thin air.

The food wasn’t given for free, as the people of Xia basically had money at hand, so they just bought the grain at the normal market price, which mysteriously made Sisi extremely wealthy and the area exceptionally stable.

Where did this grain come from?

Of course, it came from the Ancient Spirit Secret Realm in Sisi’s own backyard. The Ancient Spirit Secret Realm was not willing to come out fully, but there had always been no objection to some trade dealings, and the output of a single secret realm wasn’t that abundant, so it was normal to engage in trade. The weather in the secret realm was favorable, with no natural disasters ever mentioned, and though the stored grain wasn’t too abundant, it was still okay to use some for trading, which helped them through this pressing crisis. ƒгeewebnovёl_com

At the same time, Li Si’an’s merchant group had also returned, and Jingxiang was set, already resuming production, with food no longer as scarce, plus Jingnan also had routes leading to this area. The next round of visits would coincide with the autumn harvest, promising another large exchange of grain.

Once the reclamation was completed, it wouldn’t take long to enter a proper cycle.

This news spread and triggered other chain reactions.

Sisi had said before that what she could strive for wasn’t just the Xia people but also many other unknown clans. Hearing that this place was secure, many voluntarily came to seek refuge and citizenship, diverse as fleas. If nurtured properly, they truly could see themselves as people of the Spirit Clan...

Though there might be spies... In any case, this force was visibly becoming a major clan force...

These days, Sisi was too busy to stop by and talk with Zhao Changhe, who also basically didn’t meddle in these affairs, as internal affairs were not his forte, and meddling would be futile.

What he was concerned with was something else: what was Wuding, who had fallen out with Lei Zhentang, up to now?

On the surface, the destruction these swordsmen could cause was far lesser than Lei Zhentang’s, but Zhao Changhe didn’t dare underestimate a Sixth Earth List ranker.

He didn’t believe that Wuding relocating to Miao Region was purely for cooperating with the Black Miao... That kind of vigorous cooperation was implausible. Even if it was to conceal their practices of the Sword Slave Skill for fear of being recognized, they wouldn’t need to move the entire sect, just some Sword Slave Skill practitioners separating and moving to the Miao Region would be enough.

The reason for relocating the entire sect here definitely had other intentions, and merging with the Black Miao was just one of many goals achieved; thus, the fallout didn’t have much impact.

During previous contacts, he hadn’t seen many disciples from the Sword Pavilion, indicating they had already rooted elsewhere. What were they doing?

Now, with the surge of the Spirit Clan’s power and more capable hands available, Zhao Changhe organized a group of Xia martial artists to investigate the whereabouts of the "White-clothed Swordsmen."

While Sisi was gradually stabilizing internal affairs, Zhao Changhe also received news about Wuding.

"Protector Sisi, a few days ago, people who fled from Lijiang said they saw many White-clothed Swordsmen around Jade Dragon Snow Mountain."

Zhao Changhe, who was practicing swordsmanship with Yue Hongling, sheathed his sword, and the couple exchanged glances. Zhao Changhe said, "They must be plotting something. If we don’t understand what’s going on, their destructive power might not be less than the Black Miao rebellion."

Yue Hongling said, "But we are no match for Wuding... Do you have any ideas? It seems unrealistic to ask Sisi to send troops to Snow Mountain."

"Unrealistic, but we still need to rely on Sisi."

"...Is that why you went knocking on Sisi’s door amidst her busy schedule the other day?"

Zhao Changhe coughed dryly, "I had real business with her..."

"What business?"

"She once did something that wronged a certain elder, who, although magnanimous enough to forgive her, left her too ashamed to return. This time, by saving so many Xia people, though the elder might not care about such a thing, it was a good pretext for her to present a gift and apologize. I suggested she send envoys to apologize to the elder and also ask the elder for a little help."

Yue Hongling looked at him sidelong for a long while: "You all have many secrets, don’t you... things I don’t even know about..."

"Not at all? Actually, the elder has already arrived quietly, and recently has been enjoying drinking in the village."

"Which elder? There aren’t many who could defeat Wuding..."

"I actually think Wuding is going to be unlucky... Especially since he’s sneaking around, up to something, and likely has some treasure, this elder is particularly interested in such matters."

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