Chapter 395 - 389: Port Uprising, Who Is the Rebel?
In his past life, Su Ye had heard a story.
A woodcutter went into the mountains to chop wood. He saw two boys playing a game of go and, on a whim, stopped to watch.
When the game finally ended, the woodcutter was startled back to his senses. He turned to look at his axe and saw its handle had rotted away. After returning to his village, he learned that a hundred years had passed and everyone he knew was long gone!
The woodcutter in that story is known as the "Rotten Axe Handle Man."
But who would have thought.
That one day, he, Su Ye, would get to experience what it felt like to be the Rotten Axe Handle Man?
HUMMM.
The icy-silver light in Su Ye’s eyes gradually dimmed.
He used his Divine Sense and his strange new Pupil Technique to thoroughly examine the resource point several times.
’I can basically confirm it.’
’It’s definitely not the effect of an Illusion Technique. At the same time, I can also rule out causes like plagues or curses that might make the local residents age rapidly...’
’They simply... very ordinarily... lived through three years...’
Su Ye’s expression was strange. An answer formed in his mind, and he frowned.
"The Mist Forest Divine Kingdom..."
"Its flow of time... is different from the outside world?"
He was right. That was exactly it.
The flow of time in the Mist Forest Divine Kingdom was slower than in the outside world. One month inside was equivalent to more than a year outside.
This special temporal flow was determined by the characteristics of the divine kingdom and the environment of the Far South Continent.
As realms where deities reigned supreme, the Southern Deities could pay a certain price to adjust the flow of time within their divine kingdoms, making it faster or slower.
In ancient times, the Southern Deities would almost always choose to make time flow faster. After all, deities had endless lifespans, so farming resources at five times the speed was quite a comfortable setup.
But now.
The Southern Deities had, without exception, chosen to slow the flow of time.
After all, it was true that deities had endless lifespans.
But the current Southern Deities were all plagued by karmic backlash, which was like having a debuff that caused continuous health loss. The faster time flowed, the higher the total damage from the backlash!
Run it at five times speed?
Were they not afraid of death?
Thus, the God of Mist Forest also played it safe and slowed down the flow of time in his divine kingdom.
And that was why, though Su Ye felt he had only spent two or three months in the Mist Forest Divine Kingdom, he discovered upon leaving that three years had passed in the outside world!
...
"Three years."
Su Ye muttered to himself.
A somber look crossed his face.
It was a period of time that wasn’t exactly long, but wasn’t short either.
Compared to the centuries-long lifespans of high-stage cultivators, three years was but the snap of a finger, hardly worth mentioning.
However.
’Three years...’
’There’s no way the news of my disappearance could have been kept secret...’
’I wonder how Nanyaoguang Corporation has fared during the three years I’ve been missing?’
A hint of worry appeared in Su Ye’s eyes.
He knew very well that the faction he had assembled was quite loosely held together.
It was purely a coalition of several major powers that he had forcibly suppressed and brought together by his strength alone.
Of course, this form of faction wasn’t uncommon in this world. In the Spiritual Mechanism Immortal Dao, all great power ultimately rests with the individual!
Having a high-stage cultivator at the helm was more effective than any organizational method.
But at the same time, this organizational structure had a very obvious weakness.
The organization’s stability was entirely dependent on one person!
Once that high-stage cultivator ran into trouble—such as reaching the end of their lifespan, passing away, or suffering grievous injuries—the organization under their command would inevitably face turmoil!
With Su Ye missing for three years... Nanyaoguang Corporation?
The several Crystal Perfection cultivators within the company had all been forcibly subdued by him with restrictive seals.
If they didn’t take this golden opportunity to bite back, even Su Ye himself wouldn’t believe it. That would be underestimating the rebellious spirit of high-stage cultivators; those guys were anything but docile subjects!
At this thought, he rubbed his temples, a headache coming on. "I just hope everyone is okay..."
He could let go of what happened to the faction.
With his level of strength, he could simply rebuild it if it was destroyed.
But it was his dao companions that he was worried about, especially Luo Qing’e. She was his official dao companion, gentle on the outside but tough on the inside, and very career-minded.
She had an extremely strong sense of responsibility toward Nanyaoguang Corporation, and Su Ye was deeply concerned that she might do something irrational to preserve the faction’s existence.
"Tsk..."
Su Ye narrowed his eyes.
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became!
"Damn you, Mist Forest! You really deserved to die!"
Su Ye cursed, grinding his teeth with a dark expression.
But on second thought, the main culprit, the Withered Wood Elder, had already had his soul obliterated. Even the Mist Forest Divine Kingdom was completely destroyed!
Even if he wanted to desecrate the corpse, he couldn’t do it without the ability to pull someone from the river of time...
At this thought.
Su Ye was speechless, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Sigh..."
He gathered his thoughts and continued piloting the spirit ship toward Hope Port.
...
「Meanwhile.」
Hope Port.
At the harbor.
A fine drizzle fell, like drifting silver threads.
Over ten sharpened wooden stakes were planted in the ground, and on each stake was a severed head!
A jet-black crow stood on one of the stakes. It cocked its head, pecking an eyeball from a head’s socket, feasting contentedly!
Within the city.
Pedestrians were few and hurried on their way, a grim and murderous atmosphere hanging in the air.
In the cracks between the street’s flagstones, dark red blood had clotted, so thick that even the rain could not wash it away, and it emitted a nauseating stench.
At that moment, a man in a gray cloak could be seen carefully skirting past the patrol guards and arriving before a low-built house.
He reached out and knocked on the old wooden door in a specific rhythm.
A moment later.
CREAK.
The wooden door opened a crack.
A faint, secret spiritual light flashed, pulling his figure inside.
The low house seemed cramped, but it contained a rather spacious basement.
Inside the basement, over ten cultivators sat in silence, their eyes closed in meditation.
HUMMM.
Countless talismans, like wind chimes, floated along the basement walls, warding off any detection.
Just then, the man’s return drew their attention. Among the cultivators in the basement, an old man strode forward and asked eagerly.
"Mr. Zhang, you’re back?"
"How did it go... any news from the Governor’s Mansion?"
Mr. Zhang cupped his fist and replied in a low voice, "Reporting to Mr. Wu, the instigation of the native rebellion was a success. The cultivators stationed at the Governor’s Mansion have already been dispatched to quell the unrest."
"Well done!" Mr. Wu’s eyes lit up, and he immediately clapped his hands.
"There’s no time to lose! Let’s move now!"
Immediately after, Mr. Wu turned around.
He bowed respectfully to a masked cultivator in the basement.
"We ask Mr. Xuan to act, and for the sake of our Spirit Control Sect, execute the traitor!"
"But of course!"
Mr. Xuan nodded, his voice filled with righteous indignation.
"That is precisely why I have come! The Spirit Control Sect’s thousand-year lineage has been thrown into chaos by such a scoundrel. It is truly lamentable!"
"Today, I shall right this wrong and restore the righteous path!"
As he spoke.
A fluctuation of Magical Power radiated from this Mr. Xuan.
This masked cultivator of hidden identity and unknown origin surprisingly possessed a Mid-Stage Crystal Cultivation!
Who was he?
And where did he come from?