Chapter 408: Chapter 176: I Come From Yongyi!_2

After entering the Ancestral Temple, he had already observed Shen Can, but he couldn’t perceive anything clearly.

Shen Can also sensed the newcomer.

Of course, it was the aura he deliberately released that attracted this person.

He appeared strong, but his inner aura was chaotic, barely holding it together.

"Luyang from Star Mountain, may I know from which Inheritance Mountain or Dharma Transmission Grotto Heaven does the distinguished guest come?"

Luyang clasped his fists and bowed, his muscles tensed, and his feet were firmly grounded, ready to respond at the slightest disturbance.

Even though he knew that anyone entering Star Mountain like this was beyond his ability to deal with, he wouldn’t surrender willingly.

"I come from Yongyi, Blazing Flame Division!"

"What!"

With just one sentence, Shen Can shook Luyang’s body as his aura tensed.

Yongyi!

The vast region to the south of the Nanyue Mountain Range.

Clang.

The elder who had previously pointed his knife at Shen Can trembled, and the knife fell to the ground.

"You have finally arrived."

The elder muttered, hands trembling, showing some confusion.

"Are you truly from the Yong Region?"

Luyang quickly recovered and stared intently at Shen Can, not out of disbelief.

But because he was too shocked.

For many years, they only knew that south of Nanyue there was Yong Region, but they never encountered anyone from Yong Region.

Shen Can raised his hand and displayed the Great Derivation Profound Qilin Palm.

"Do you recognize this Divine Technique?"

Actually, he wasn’t sure if the man in front of him recognized this Divine Technique passed down from the predecessors of Dai Land.

"Great Derivation Profound Qilin Palm, a legacy of Jiangyang Grotto Heaven."

Luyang spoke, somewhat excited, as this technique was one of the Township Divine Techniques of the Jiang Yan Clan.

Soon, within the ear chamber of the Ancestral Temple, three figures took their seats.

Some beast meat was placed on the table.

"The conditions are limited, please understand."

After serving the meat, the Elder Witch Priest sat to the side.

Through Luyang, Shen Can gained a clearer understanding of the changes in Dai Land.

Shortly after Marquis Yongshan disappeared, the Earth Ant Race broke through the Jiangyang Bo Division established by the Jiang Yan Clan.

Jiangyang’s status and Yongshan’s status in Yongyi were alike.

The strongest Human Race Bo Division was broken, subsequently making the Earth Ant unstoppable, systematically wiping out the Human Race Bo Divisions one by one.

Although the Earth Ants were destroying the Human Race’s heritage, the Human Race was not idle and kept extracting their legacy.

Thanks to this legacy, five Inheritance Lands and two Grotto Heavens emerged in Dai Land.

Jiangyang Grotto Heaven was one of the two, established by the branch descendants of the annihilated Jiangyang Clan who discovered the Grotto Heaven left by the Jiang Yan Clan.

The other Grotto Heaven, called Yuezai, was also established after being discovered by someone lucky enough to find it.

The remaining five Inheritance Lands were established at the sites of the extinguished Human Race Bo Divisions.

These seven Inheritance Lands retained a relatively complete Martial Dao heritage but constantly faced the threat of hunts by Earth Ants and Spirit Monsters.

This was Shen Can’s first time learning about such a thing as a Grotto Heaven, but considering that even Innate Spirit Race could be born, it seemed perfectly normal to nurture a Grotto Heaven akin to a ’Small World’.

The embedded attacks of the seven Human Race inheritances under the siege of Earth Ants were just barely held together.

Like here at Star Mountain, only Luyang as a Divine Treasure supports it.

It has always been regarded as the weakest among the seven Inheritance Lands.

Its preservation was due to its location at the southern edge of Dai Land, while the true core territory of Earth Ants lay in the northeast of Dai Land.

...

Shen Can also spoke about the situation in Yongyi, including the death of Marquis Yongshan, making it impossible to assist Dai Land.

Thus, relying on the Yongyi Human Race was almost impossible.

The ear chamber grew silent.

"We’ve become accustomed to it, as long as the heritage remains, the blood of the Human Race will not perish."

After a while, the Elder Witch Priest spoke.

No matter how they burrow into mountain caves and live like weary rats, they will persist.

Shen Can had considered this on his way here; there was no need for concealing anything, as the current Blazing Flame already has the foundation of a Bo Division and is no longer a small tribe not worth mentioning.

The rise of Blazing Flame began with emerging from the mountains to conquer Xiaoyang.

Coming to Dai Land to fight the Earth Ants is no different; both are Alien Races.

Of course, before this, certain issues need to be clearly communicated.

There could be no cooperation; Blazing Flame would annex Star Mountain and become its behind-the-scenes master.

Star Mountain currently has four Commanders, each overseeing a mountain peak, with a combined force of over ten thousand War Soldiers.

These Clan Soldiers rarely venture out to campaign, mostly guarding various checkpoints against Earth Ant attacks.

The number of additional farming people amounted to over thirty thousand.

The total population of over three hundred thousand has remained stagnant for a long time, not due to unwillingness to increase but because it cannot be increased.

Poor environmental conditions made large-scale farming impossible, even though scattered young outsiders constantly joined, resulting in significant casualties when combatting Earth Ants and Spirit Monsters.

Despite this, the proportion of Martial Artists born under such circumstances is quite high.

Lacking in strength, they dared not spread the Cultivation Technique excessively, only to remain trapped in these poor mountains and rivers.

As for teaching Cultivation Techniques, it’s quite simple, one could directly print numerous copies and throw them into various settlements under the cover of night.

This had been tried before.

Such actions couldn’t escape the Earth Ants’ notice, and Cultivation Technique training takes time, not something that can be instantly accomplished once the technique is obtained.

Given time, eventually, it would be spread.

In Dai Land, numerous Ant Slave Tribes existed; these tribes were established by Humans pledged to the Earth Ant Race, numbering thousands for small ones and tens of thousands for large ones.

In contrast, Human race small settlements reduced to fewer than a thousand, without Martial Dao heritage, are no match for these Ant Slave Tribes.

To curry favor with the Earth Ants, these Ant Slave Tribes are ruthless against their own kind, and sometimes even more cruel than the Earth Ants.

Any settlement receiving printed Cultivation Techniques would be eradicated in its entirety.

The closer a settlement was to an Inheritance Land, the more an Inheritance Land would face Earth Ant attacks.

Over thousands of years, several Inheritance Lands have been extinguished.

This situation made settlements fearfully avoid openly accepting Martial Dao heritage, while Inheritance Lands dared not expand outward on a large scale.

...

"Talk of helping Dai Land is somewhat exaggerated now, but helping Star Mountain is feasible."

Shen Can spoke while looking at Luyang, who’s aura fluctuated severely, indicating grievous injuries.

An energy was constantly eroding his flesh, devouring his vitality.

Luyang hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "What must we pay?"

"Become part of my Blazing Flame Division."

"Of course, it’s best not to expose the name of Blazing Flame Division in the short term, nor mention things related to Yongyi, to avoid Earth Ant notice."

Luyang nodded, as the mountains were populated, not everyone possessed the ability to fight to the death against the Earth Ants.

Just as he arranged personnel in many settlements and Ant Slave Tribes outside the mountains, he did the same for the Ant Slave Tribe inside the mountains.

"The Nanyue Mountain Range is vast and wide. Have you already found the route?"

Shen Can didn’t respond, needing to re-evaluate the route he traversed as it seemed convoluted.

He intended to locate the underground Dark River.

This idea emerged from speaking with a captured Earth Ant Spirit Monster, who described the situation in Dai Land, mentioning a vast Giant Marsh in the eastern part as well.

Mountains north and south of Giant Mountain have Giant Lakes, seeming coincidental yet surprisingly normal.

However, the Earth Ant Spirit Monster mentioned that more than ten years ago, the water level in the eastern Giant Marsh suddenly dropped for a long time.

Calculating carefully, that was precisely when the Golden Crow passed through.

At that time, the Blazing Flame Division was still small, located near the Great Marsh Wild, and the entire Great Wild Marsh directly dried up.

Concurrently, the water level of the Great Marsh eastward quickly dropped and dried.

Eventually, the river’s wetlands had water again.

With Giant Mountain standing north and south as barriers, the southern wetlands drying up, and northern wetlands declining, all within the same time frame, it likely indicated the existence of an underground Dark River connecting north and south of the mountains.

If the Dark River could be found, the north-south passage would become more convenient.