Massacring civilians?
Wang Lu was inwardly horrified, but then he thought that the key to the group of immortal tombs was too precious for everyone that, although the elite sects have obviously screened their members who came to the Western Continent, among those second and third-rate sects, there were bound to be crooks among honest folks. Thus, the occurrence of low-quality events was only to be expected.
After all, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals couldn’t possibly maintain law and order in this foreign Western Continent. Moreover, this place also didn’t have the terror of calamity lightnings from the Ninth Heaven. Thus, killing and burning, the plight of the people and other important matters could be brushed aside. They completely were not affected by the cause and effect of the Nine Regions, no consequences for their actions at all.
Could the Western Continent people also organize a group to go to Nine Regions for revenge?
From the first contact between the eastern and western civilization, similar things have happened, it was just that a massacre of this level was really rare. Even if the Western Continent didn’t have the calamity lightnings, but after they returned to the Nine Regions, were they not afraid of the Demon Heart calamity? Or were there demon sect people that joined the fray?
When he thought about it, Wang Lu couldn’t help but feel that this lowered the limit of where Nine Regions people could stoop to. Although his Spirit Sword Sect has never been an order maintainer in the Nine Regions, after encountering this kind of thing, Wang Lu couldn’t completely stand idly by. But, he needed to clarify things first.
Tsk, massacre, this is something that is rarely seen in Nine Regions, yet this actually happens in Western Continent!
"Therefore, please forgive him for his rudeness. After the Storm Wind City incident, the perception of the people in the nearby cities about the natives of Nine Regions are quite extreme. Thus, their aggressive attitude is really hard to avoid…"
Although the initial exchange with the knights was unpleasant, along the way to Deep Earth City, the Deep Earth Guardian repeatedly apologized to Wang Lu, which made it really hard for him to get angry. Before long, the group returned to Deep Earth City and met the Master of Deep Earth City in a thick fort, Sir Haddock.
Haddock was a standard official knight of the Western Continent. From the several wrinkles that have chiseled in that meticulous face, he looked about forty to fifty years old. Yet, his trim and neat beard, short hair, and sparkling eyes showed that he still had great energy.
When he met them, he only wore casual clothing. In addition to the decorative sword on his waist, there was no armor or other equipment. Yet, Wang Lu still felt that his presence had brought him formidable pressure. This Master of Deep Earth City was at least a high order profession. Moreover, he was also quite strong in that high order profession category. He was even stronger than the whole main guardians combined.
However, this was also the norm among the city-states on the Eastern part of the Western Continent. Most high order professions were inextricably linked with the common people. The Master of the city-state or even the ruler of a country was usually a high order or even legendary profession. This was very different from the separation of immortal cultivation world and mortal world in the Nine Regions. Thus, when he met Sir Haddock, Wang Lu was not surprised at his strength.
But when this knight opened his mouth, Wang Lu was indeed startled.
"Everyone, I already know what happened to you."
These words were spoken in fluent Nine Regions language. In contrast, even Aya who lived in Nine Regions for decades, still has some accent when speaking.
Seeing the surprised face of Wang Lu and the others, Sir Haddock patiently explained, "I found out that when deali
ng with your Nine Regions people, if I speak with some Nine Regions words, I always get unexpected concessions. Your emphasis on cultural identity is much higher than ours. Later on, it turned out that apart from being a knight, I was also gifted with innate talent in language."
As a trade hub, the matter regarding trade between the two continents was of utmost important to Deep Earth City. Although Sir Haddock was a high order profession, he was also the Master of the City. Thus, he conscientiously studied the language of Nine Regions.
After a moment of digressing, Sir Haddock said, "I believed that on your way here, my men have told you about the situation. In the recent months, solely on the Deep Earth City territory alone, there have been more than twenty Nine Regions cultivators that have been killed. In fact, only the few of you managed to survive. This situation has seriously affected the order within the Deep Earth City, but Deep Earth City alone is not enough to solve this problem. I will need more help. Of course, I will not let you do things for nothing."
Sir Haddock went straight to the point, not wasting time for small talks.
That being the case, Wang Lu also cut to the chase and said, "You are the Master of Deep Earth City, with power controlling a large amount of area, how could you not able to solve the security problem in your own territory?"
Haddock said, "If this is only a matter within Deep Earth City territory, I naturally can solve it. But there’s a deeper power behind this. I am sure you can also guess that the bloodstained scroll is not something that ordinary people can make."
Wang Lu replied, "Yes, it looks like some forces are trying to target our Nine Regions people. Sir, do you know something about this?"
"The origins of the bloodstained scroll is mysterious, and there are not many conclusive clues… Half a month ago, my men infiltrated one of these bandit adventurer groups and met with a scroll merchant. A scroll that can suppress Nine Regions cultivators can be bought by mere five hundred magic coins. The price is incredibly cheap."
For low order professions, five hundred magic coins per scroll were indeed expensive, but for high order professions, it was nothing. If by using the bloodstained scroll they successfully kill the Nine Regions people, the harvest would be ten to twenty times as much, so naturally, many would be attracted to this.
However, Wang Lu had a hands-on experience with how overbearing the bloodstained scroll was. The means to use the Western Continent law to suppress the Nine Regions people were not something that five hundred magic coins could buy. At least in Nine Regions, with Wang Lu’s current cultivation base, he didn’t expect to be able to manipulate the world’s main path. Only the elders of Heavenly Sword Hall have this ability; they could manufacture a scroll, but it would cost more than a thousand spirit stones.
Since five hundred magic coins are five hundred spirit stones, then the bloodstained scroll was basically sold at a loss.
"They should not want to expose their existence," Wang Lu speculated, "so they use the scroll to attract the neutral adventurers to ambush the Nine Regions people while they just hide behind the scenes. But what are the benefits of doing so? Moreover, if the Nine Regions people are successfully killed, the loot would be owned by those adventurers, while they can’t even get their capital in selling the scrolls back."
Haddock said, "At first, I was also confused. In general, there are only two kinds of people who are willing to do so. The first one is the extremists who hate everything about Nine Regions. But in recent years, these extremists are increasingly rare. Moreover, if they do things, they would not hide their accomplishments. Instead, they would want people to witness their deeds, so that more people know about their ideas. The other one is a certain evil god follower; they try to please their god through certain rituals. However, there are also many things that do not make sense with this. It wasn’t until ten days ago that I realized I was confused; I actually didn’t notice the more obvious clues."
Wang Lu asked, "And that is?"
With a wry smile, Sir Haddock took a report book from his desk. "This is the latest data of the trade between our people. Over the last few days, the trade has actually fallen over seventy percent! Apart from the situation in the Endless Sea, the biggest reason is the rapid deterioration of law and order in Deep Earth City. So many merchants and cultivators of Nine Regions are very uneasy. Although the storm on the Endless Sea has yet to subside, many people have decided to return to Nine Regions. Likewise, many people have also migrated to the inland area in the west, where there has never been a killing of Nine Regions people.
Wang Lu froze for a moment, and then he said with a smile, "So innocent bystanders are also affected?"
"In short, I suspect that this behind the scene people are trying to incite disharmony on the relationship between Nine Regions people and our Deep Earth City. In fact, this is not only happening in our Deep Earth City, almost all of our eastern City States have encountered a similar situation. Even if the incident did not happen within their territory, it happens near enough that the panic effect is still the same."
Wang Lu asked, "That being the case, who can benefit from this? What are your eastern City States’ old enemies?"
"Our eastern City States are generally dependent on trade, doing business to make friends. We generally are not trying to make enemies with other people. But… speaking of enemies, we indeed do have." Haddock pondered for a moment and then said, "Have you ever heard of Holy Light Religion?"
Wang Lu thought for a moment. "Is it some kind of welfare organization that specializes in the study of the inside of women’s skirt?"
Haddock gawked for a long time before helplessly explaining, "The Holy Light Religion is the largest religious organization on the Western Continent. Their power is mainly concentrated in the western part area. They believe in Holy Light. Generally speaking, they are an upright organization, however, in recent years, they have shown a very strong aggression, and they have no tolerance for mercy for the heretics. In order to expand their influence and power, they committed all sorts of crimes. Those who could be conquered by force are conquered in the name of holy war. If not, they would carry all sorts of means to destroy it from within. For example, this bloodstained scroll is very likely to be made by them. On the understanding and manipulation of the continent law, no one is better than Holy Light Religion. At the same time, they have also been trying to annex the Eastern Kingdom, they merely failed at doing so."
"So that’s why. Since you have pinpointed the real culprit, why don’t you immediately unite the Eastern Kingdom and the various city-states, forming an allied army and roast those Holy Light believers on stakes and so on."
Haddock said, "The power of the Holy Light Religion is too strong, we can’t spare our force except for defense. It is to court death if we take the initiative to attack. On the surface, solely on the legendary level alone, they have five of them, far above that of the Eastern Kingdom."
"Five legendary level people? Tsk, tsk." Wang Lu repeatedly shook his head. If converted to Nine Regions term, legendary level was equal to supreme of peak Deity Stage, or even Unity Stage. A religious organization with five legendary level people, it was basically the Five Uniques of Union of Ten Thousand Immortals! To provoke such an opponent, wouldn’t that be looking for bad luck?
"Incidentally," Sir Haddock continued, "Your destination, Taobao City, is one of the holy places of Holy Light Religion, with strict management and rule...Therefore, for all of you, clashing with Holy Light Religion is all but inevitable."
What the! Aya never said this thing!
Aya also frowned. "Is there such a thing? More than a century ago, Taobao City is still governed by the League of Nations, when did it become the holy place of Holy Light Religion?"
Haddock replied, "Eighty years ago, the current pope received an oracle, saying that Taobao City is the Holy Place of Holy Light Religion and then dispatched a group of Holy Light Knights to attack and take over Taobao City."