Chapter 6: Review
Chapter 6: Review
The short-distance bus was not only troublesome, but also very slow. It stopped for dozens of seconds to several minutes almost every time it passed through a town or village.
It felt tedious and dull.
The driver was not in a hurry, and neither were the passengers. The driver was used to it, and the passengers did not mind because the distance was short.
Ling Yi was also not in a hurry, because being anxious was useless.
Fortunately, the road was good, flat and smooth, not bumpy at all.
There were not many vehicles on the road, mostly large trucks dedicated to freight.
After taking some medicine from Old Man Chen, his injuries gradually stabilized.
Only the seal on his acupoints remained incredibly solid.
Ling Yi tried to use his cultivation method to draw in spiritual energy to unblock them again, but failed without surprise.
Just as Old Man Chen had said, after acupoints were sealed, it was almost impossible to unblock them again.
After trying several times and failing every time, Ling Yi did not continue being stubborn.
On one hand, his mind was not calm; on the other hand, although there were not many people on the bus, the environment was still not very suitable for cultivation.
To calm himself down completely, Ling Yi lazily leaned back in his seat. He began to analyze the world situation, which he originally had little interest in, and… review the events that had just happened.
Because only by truly calming down could he figure many things out.
The Qin State was a purely landlocked country, with a sizable territory of over four million square kilometers.
The supercontinent where Qin was located was divided into seven nations and one zone. Four seas—East, West, South, and North—surrounded this vast land.
The seven nations were Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, and Qin.
The one zone referred to a huge area where the four nations of Qin, Han, Qi, and Wei converged. That place had been ownerless since ancient times and was called the Chaos Zone by the world.
Among the seven nations, the Qin State was surrounded by the other six.
Looking at the map, Chu was east of Qin, bordering the East Sea; Qi was northeast of Qin, bordering the East Sea and the North Sea; Han was northwest, bordering the North Sea and the West Sea; Wei was west, bordering the West Sea; Yan was southeast, bordering the West Sea and the South Sea; Zhao was south of Qin, bordering the South Sea and the East Sea.
The vast oceans to the east, west, south, and north were dotted with countless islands of all sizes, forming dozens of large and small countries.
Among these countries, some had territories no smaller than the seven nations, with one country occupying a large island and several small ones, and some islands were crowded with two, three, or even more small countries.
Compared to the island nations where wars were constant, the seven nations on the supercontinent had not had a large-scale war for over a hundred years.
The seven nations had existed since their founding over two thousand years ago and continued to this day.
Over the long years, dozens of wars, large and small, had occurred among the seven nations, and the borders of each country had changed at times.
The most recent war happened over one hundred and fifty years ago.
In that war, the originally coastal Great Qin was attacked by Chu and Zhao together. They captured the world’s number one port city, Eastern Sea City, and eventually divided it.
This war also caused the Qin State to completely become a landlocked country.
When the Monarch of Qin first ascended the throne over forty years ago, he was also ambitious and wanted to retake Eastern Sea City.
Unfortunately, after several attempts, not only did he gain no advantage, but he nearly caused Chu and Zhao to join forces to attack Qin again.
Coupled with the constant harassment of powerful demon beasts, and the long-standing hostile gazes from the Qi State in the northeast and the State of Wei in the west, the Qin State, plagued by internal troubles and external threats, had to sheath its claws and turn to focusing on economic development.
Nowadays, the territories of the seven nations were about the same size. Ranked from largest to smallest, they were Qi, Han, Yan, Wei, Qin, Zhao, and Chu.
Among them, the Chu State, with the smallest territory, was now the most powerful superpower!
Not only was it ranked first in the world economically, but its military power also far surpassed the other six nations.
If not for the “Demon Beast Descent” event that occurred a hundred years ago, this world probably would not have been peaceful for this long. The restless Chu State would likely have started a war long ago.
It was that Demon Beast Descent that brought disaster to this world, but also brought a complete transformation to it!
Along with the demon beasts, a large amount of special energy gas called spiritual energy entered this world!
Ordinary people could strengthen their bodies and rarely got sick after absorbing it. Cultivators could absorb and refine it to quickly increase their strength.
The era of universal cultivation also officially began at that time.
Not long after the Demon Beast Descent event, mysterious powerful individuals appeared in this world. They brought people various beginner cultivation methods, guiding them to cultivate to fight against the demon beasts.
Those mysterious powerful individuals called themselves Star Gate Disciples. They were mysterious, powerful, and low-key.
They almost never had much contact with the world.
So what exactly was the Star Gate?
Where was it?
Even a hundred years later, it remained a mystery.
Almost no one knew!
As high-level martial arts experts emerged one after another, the world’s structure gradually began to change.
All kinds of firearms that were once invincible in the world gradually lost their former glory.
However, technology in other areas did not stop because of this and continued to develop rapidly and change with each passing day.
Over forty years ago, when the Monarch of Qin ascended the throne, a group of powerful young experts also emerged in the Qin State. Ling Yi’s adoptive father, the Old Principal of Zongwu, Shen Xiaowu, and General Zhang, whom Su Qingqing had just met, were all young talents who had already shown promise back then.
They had all followed the Monarch of Qin in several small-scale wars to retake Eastern Sea City!
People like Shen Xiaowu and General Zhang, these key military figures, bore the heavy label of “hawks.”
Their attitude towards other countries, especially former enemy nations, was very tough. They believed that peace was not achieved through compromise, nor through cowardice!
Countries like the Chu State, which had the strongest overall power but the smallest territory, needed to be especially guarded against!
They would not be content with the status quo!
They must always be prepared for war!
When Shen Xiaowu was still very young, he once said: Great Chu is a wolf, the kind that cannot be tamed. Once you let your guard down, it could pounce and bite you at any moment!
But within the Qin State, there was another, more powerful force—the Academic Faction!
Their stance was—
They wanted peace and rejected war!
They wanted to cut military spending and weaken the military’s power!
They did not want a group of war maniacs to destroy their world!
Fundamentally, this stance of the Academic Faction was born from the current situation.
Nowadays, there were countless spatial rifts all over the world. According to monitoring data, a second “Beast Tide” could appear at any time and place. No single country had the ability to resist such a beast tide.
Only by uniting all countries and working together sincerely could they truly resist this threat facing all of humanity.
Actually, from a normal perspective, the Academic Faction’s stance could not be said to be completely wrong.
Purely from the starting point, it seemed quite good.
But this world was never one where the weak held the power of speech.
In Ling Yi’s view, the people of the Academic Faction were somewhat too naive and idealistic.
They only thought about cooperating with other countries to fight demon beasts, but never considered whether the people inside those other countries thought the same way!
In the view of the Academic Faction, suppressing the military would not affect national power.
For example, Zongwu University was a place specifically for cultivating the most outstanding young cultivators!
They hoped that such a powerful force would be under their own control, not the Military Headquarters.
The big shots behind the Academic Faction also believed that this force would be better under their control!
The resulting struggles and competitions were naturally abundant.
Overall, the Military was actually at a disadvantage.
After all, most people wished for their own era to be peaceful and free of war.
Moreover, under the propaganda control of the Ministry of Truth on the side of the Academic Faction, the world had many misunderstandings about the “hawks” in the Military.
In reality, most of those tough hawks in the Military were not warmongers. Their thinking was actually very simple, and it could be summarized in one sentence—
“Whoever invades my country, I’ll fight them! Anytime! Anywhere!”
And the Academic Faction was—
“Whoever invades my country, I’ll negotiate with them until I persuade them!”
Regarding this, Ling Yi, who never wanted to think about such issues, also found the people of the Academic Faction quite amusing.
Without strong backing, they could swat you to death with one slap. Who would talk with you?
Talk about what?
Being lazy did not mean being ignorant. He had once wondered, if even he could easily see through the problem, did those big shots of the Academic Faction really not understand?
It was only after everything that happened following the unexpected death of his Adoptive Father this time that he finally figured out this problem completely.
Those people weren’t clueless; they were just pretending to be stupid!
Stripping away all the deceptive outer disguises, what was revealed were actually two ugly words—
Selfish!
No matter the purpose, it ultimately could not escape the scope of these two words.
In those filthy hearts, where was there any true great harmony for the world?
He now even suspected whether the encounter he and his Adoptive Father had on Black Mountain was an accident or a carefully planned ambush!
Before, he thought it was an accident.
After all, that meteorite that fell from the sky was now inside his body.
But now he had a different idea.
First was the identity of his Adoptive Father!
In the past, he hadn’t thought much about it, but now, thinking carefully, back then, his Adoptive Father, as a general, directly took charge of Zongwu Academy and became its head before the Monarch’s will was completely worn down.
For the people of the Academic Faction, this was absolutely a major blow!
His Adoptive Father’s methods were also strong enough; over the years, he continuously reformed Zongwu.
By now, within the army of Qin State, a large number of mid- and high-ranking officers had graduated from Zongwu!
For the Academic Faction, this was absolutely intolerable.
Then back to the incident itself.
A meteorite falling… wasn’t actually all that rare.
Otherwise, where did all those abundant and not-too-expensive meteorite products on the market come from?
Even if this meteorite was special, who knew it was special before it drilled into his body?
A meteorite fall, why could it attract one of Chu State’s top powerhouses, the fifth-level Peak Dao-Entry great master revered by the people of Chu State as the Grand State Preceptor, Lu Qingming?
Before the two sides met, that meteorite had already entered Ling Yi’s body. Lu Qingming didn’t know about this at all!
Why did he believe the meteorite was in his Adoptive Father’s hands and attack without a word?
And those other powerhouses from various countries, what was their purpose for appearing on Black Mountain?
Was it really for that miraculous meteorite that only Ling Yi and his Adoptive Father knew about?
The situation at the time didn’t allow Ling Yi to think. After returning, this series of events happened, leaving him no mind to think.
Now, calming down and thinking carefully, it was terrifying upon deeper thought.
Those people, it seemed, from the very beginning, weren’t after some meteorite. What they wanted wasn’t the meteorite in his body at all.
It was his Adoptive Father’s life!
Then, how did they know his Adoptive Father was on Black Mountain?
Originally, Ling Yi planned to go alone!
Over the years, this guy who seemed exceptionally lazy in the eyes of outsiders had actually long since ventured into those deep mountains and old forests more than once to hunt Demon Beasts.
Otherwise, how could the modest salary of his upright Adoptive Father possibly support a genius like Ling Yi, who progressed rapidly and had huge consumption?
Many people believed Shen Xiaowu must have been using Zongwu Academy’s resources to cultivate his adopted son, but in fact, all along, Ling Yi never used any resources from Zongwu Academy!
Otherwise, those people like Zhao Tianping wouldn’t have needed to forcibly fabricate a groundless charge of causing major property damage against Ling Yi.
They just needed a light charge of misusing academy resources for private use to completely ruin Ling Yi!
The old man always felt guilty about Ling Yi hunting Demon Beasts to sell for money to fund his own cultivation.
That’s why he decided at the last moment to go into the mountains with Ling Yi this time, to help him hunt more Demon Beasts, earn more money, so he could break through to the third-level Meridian Opening Realm as soon as possible!
At the same time, he wanted to use this opportunity to have a good talk with his adopted son, with whom he rarely had chances to communicate.
After all, Ling Yi was about to graduate from the academy and enter society.
So, only a few people knew about this last-minute decision.
Zhao Tianping was one of them.
Then, after his Adoptive Father’s accident, the series of dazzling moves on Zongwu Academy’s side, now that he thought about it, were clearly premeditated for a long time!
“So, was it you? Dean Zhao…” Ling Yi’s narrowed eyes looked out the window at the green fields. In the reflection on the car window, those usually gentle and calm eyes were filled with crimson bloodshot streaks, cold and sharp.