Chapter 230: Explosion

"The Dao Realm?" Meng Chuan looked at his wife, filled with joy. In these chaotic times, he naturally wished for his wife to be as powerful as possible.

"Thanks to that Phoenix feather you gave me, Chuan," Liu Qiyue said with a smile. "Ever since I absorbed its power, my divine bloodline has grown stronger, and I feel a deeper affinity for fire. Today, I finally broke through to the Dao Realm."

Meng Chuan nodded and chuckled, "Keep up the good work. Hopefully, you'll be able to condense your primordial spirit and become a Marquis soon."

"Phoenix flame possesses the power of life. It can heal itself and even nurture the primordial spirit," Liu Qiyue explained with a smile. "Even without delving into my true self, it would naturally nurture a primordial spirit over ten or twenty years."

"That's too slow. Aim to condense your primordial spirit within three years," Meng Chuan urged.

"Alright," Liu Qiyue smiled and nodded, though she knew that condensing a primordial spirit was not an easy task.

***

At a fortified village.

"Clan Chief," a Ground Net officer advised, "our intelligence network spans the entire world. I can tell you definitively that demon monarchs attacking fortified villages will become increasingly common. With thousands of people gathered in a fortified village, demon monarchs will undoubtedly make it their primary target. So, abandon the fortified village. Move out and let your clan members disperse and live separately."

The Clan Chief and several clan elders exchanged glances.

"Our Li clan has resided here for over a thousand years. How can we easily abandon our ancestral land?"

"Demon monarch attacks have been rare lately. If a demon monarch comes, we can hide in the tunnels, and Godfiends will come to our rescue."

"If we leave the fortified village, where will we live? Can we enter the city?"

The Clan Chief and elders spoke one after another.

The Ground Net officer sighed, "Land prices inside the city are soaring. If you wish to move into the city, you must rely on your own means. Moving out means dispersing your living arrangements... a large fortified village can be broken down into hundreds of smaller villages. We are currently persuading all fortified villages, and many have already begun relocating."

"After all, the number of demon monarchs is very small compared to mortals. Within a single county, attacks are only occasional. The possibility of them specifically targeting a small village is even lower."

"This is the only way," the Ground Net officer insisted.

"Small villages? So, it's just a matter of fate then? If a demon monarch targets us, we'll surely die," an elder commented.

"Within a county, there are tens of thousands of small villages, scattered everywhere. The chance of encountering a demon monarch is very low," the Ground Net officer explained. "This is already the safest method. In fact, the more dispersed you are, the lower the chance of being attacked. The more you gather, the easier it is to encounter demon monarchs. Gathering together only makes it easier for demon monarchs to slaughter."

"Thousands of people scattered everywhere makes it difficult for demon monarchs to find you. Gathered together? You'll be wiped out quickly," the Ground Net officer continued. "In the face of demon monarchs, a fortified village is useless; it's merely a large graveyard."

"Let's all move," someone said. "Yuanchu Mountain is advising all fortified villages to relocate, so there must be a reason behind it. Let's move first. If we find in the future that it's not as dangerous as Yuanchu Mountain said, we can always move back. As for our fortified village... I don't believe anyone will occupy it."

"Let's move."

"You young ones can leave, but I'm this old; I'll die in my ancestral land," an elderly voice stated.

"The few of us old folks won't move either."

In recent days, fortified villages across the land were being persuaded to relocate. Yuanchu Mountain, Two World Island, and Black Sand Grotto-heaven held very high prestige within their respective dynasties, and the vast majority of villagers in fortified villages began to move.

Those with means moved directly into the city. After all, large fortified villages of thousands of people also had some skilled individuals within their clans.

Those without means completely dispersed, breaking into hundreds of smaller villages. Some even dispersed more drastically, with three or five households living in seclusion deep within the mountains, which was also considered normal.

***

On July 19th.

Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue still went to the mountain forest outside the city early in the morning to cultivate.

*Whoosh whoosh.*

The couple streaked across the sky, flying out of the prefecture city. As they exited, they saw numerous houses outside the city walls. Clearly, many people from fortified villages couldn't move into the city and had settled directly outside.

"Yuanchu Mountain has been urging fortified villages across the land to relocate for the past few months. These people couldn't get into the city, so they settled outside," Meng Chuan remarked.

"Living outside the city isn't easy either. They also need to buy food. Food is incredibly expensive now; in just a few months, it has more than doubled from its already high price," Liu Qiyue said. "Many people within the city can barely afford to eat. More and more are willing to risk their lives cultivating food themselves."

The two landed in the mountain forest.

"Several small villages have moved into this mountain forest recently. There's a small village of over ten households about two li east of us," Liu Qiyue mentioned. "I expect more people will move here. This mountain forest might not be suitable for our cultivation anymore in the future."

"We'll find another place later," Meng Chuan said, standing beneath a tree. With a thought, the tree's leaves rustled and fell. Meng Chuan instantly drew his saber and slashed out.

His wife reaching the Dao Realm also spurred Meng Chuan on. He cultivated with even greater diligence.

*Whoosh, whoosh.*

Saber light whistled.

Yin and Yang rotated as saber strikes followed one another, incredibly fast.

During this process, Meng Chuan vaguely felt a peculiar rhythm of 'Yin-Yang transformation.' Under this rhythm, at the extreme of Yin, it transitions to Yang; at the extreme of Yang, it transitions to Yin! His saber strikes became even faster, the power of the previous strike drawing out the next, making it extremely swift as well.

"Hmm?" Meng Chuan stared blankly at the fallen leaves split on the ground. This time, the number of split leaves was a full half more than before.

"Just that feeling." Meng Chuan excitedly tried to perform the saber technique again, but he couldn't find that rhythm anymore.

"If I can execute it once, I'll have the chance to do it ten or even a hundred times. I finally see hope for the Saber Dao Realm," Meng Chuan thought to himself. Before, he was completely at a loss, but now he had finally touched upon that feeling.

At that level, the saber technique was terrifyingly fast, yet perfectly under control.

Yin and Yang coexisted within his heart, an exquisitely wonderful sensation.

"Hmm?"

Meng Chuan practiced his saber technique repeatedly. Half an hour later, he suddenly felt a burning sensation in his chest. His expression immediately changed, and he pulled out his inspection token. He saw one area on the token 'light up,' followed by a second area 'lighting up.'

"There are two places requesting aid," Liu Qiyue also flashed to Meng Chuan's side, holding her own inspection token.

"Let's go," Meng Chuan said. The moment he spoke, he was startled to see a third area on his inspection token 'light up.'

The couple exchanged glances, both sensing trouble.

Such dense distress calls... It was highly abnormal.

"Move," Meng Chuan said, taking his wife and immediately flashing through the sky to rush to the rescue.

As they traveled, Meng Chuan noticed his inspection token heating up repeatedly. The couple personally witnessed the illuminated areas on the token increase: three, five, ten, twenty, thirty...

"Over thirty calls for aid already, and they're still increasing! The demon race is launching large-scale attacks on almost all county cities," Liu Qiyue said, her voice tinged with panic as she looked at the inspection token.

"We'll sweep through the county cities in order of proximity," Meng Chuan understood. His master's intelligence was correct; the demon world had indeed sent one tenth of their Third-Heaven Demon Monarchs into the human world. This desperate wave of rescue requests also made him understand why the Godfiend teams had to be disbanded and reorganized, and why all fortified villages had to relocate and disperse.

The war between humanity and the demon race was truly entering its most frenzied phase only now.