Shanqing was a bit in a hurry. Not so much so that he couldn’t even talk with his friend for a moment, but too much in a hurry to go through the whole introduction to the two juniors behind Fengyu. At most, he’d talk to them next time.

So, hearing Fengyu ask him, he told him shocking news - "The Beast Tide... will come in at most six months!"

"What?!" Fengyu asked in surprise, the serene atmosphere instantly destroyed. Fortunately, they had used the soundproofing spell, so other people weren’t bothered.

"Just as I said, the tide will happen in at most six months." Shanqing repeated himself.

"But... according to my calculations, it should happen in two to three years. Even if it happens early, we should have at least one year to prepare..."

"Brother Fengyu, didn’t I think the same?" Shanqing sighed, then elaborated on his news, "I went to the core of the inner city. It’s not separated from the inner city, but we call it the core because this is where the most important members of the city reside.

My Liu Family’s Grand Elder, the strongest person of my Liu Family, also resides in the core city with his lineage.

Today he called me and other Liu Family youths to inform us about this danger..." he sighed for a moment, his expression one of exasperation.

As a descendant of a founding family, he naturally had his own lineage. But each lineage south of the gate would send their most talented members into the city.

After all, compared to learning on your own, learning in the city under the tutelage of the Grand Elder would be best. Anyways, either you enter early or later - there is no case of powerful members staying in the family. Bound to the city, they had their own responsibilities. The south was extremely safe, so having too many powerful people staying there would be a loss to the city.

Shanqing sighed because although he was nominally better off, in fact, the tutelage meant he had to work even harder than others to keep up with the Grand Elder’s standards. Only because he was among the top three Liu descendants was he able to stay longer in today’s meeting, learning an additional piece of news. That was also why he stopped when Fengyu called him...

"The Grand Elder told us that the Beast Tide this time is just a few short years earlier. It’s not too unusual for a Beast Tide to be five to ten years earlier, or five to ten years late...

But the issue with this Beast Tide is that the attacks started early, a sign of an early tide, yet there was no tide all along. Even now, although it’s earlier than the average, after all, the average is just an average of all Beast Tides, not the real calculation.

Regardless - their attacks started early yet the tide is basically on time. This can only mean one thing - this tide will have more beasts.

The quantity of beasts is a way the city judges how harsh the Beast Tide will be...

Although the Grand Elder didn’t specify what the city said, he told us that this tide might be the largest in the last three tides."

Fengyu listened attentively. Worry appeared in his eyes when he heard this. His mind connected the dots when he heard it.

That’s right - the Beast Attacks started early. Even when he checked them when he was in the village, they were quite large. During the time he was in the village, there were two Beast Attacks and right after leaving he heard about a third happening.

This was shocking, considering that their village and the whole Green Plum Mountain were considered to be among the inner mountains, facing the city directly.

So, how many beasts were there in total?

His mind had been too occupied with everything he had to do lately that he had neglected such a piece of information!

"Then, fellow daoist, what should I do?" he asked in confusion. He should go prepare... but this tide seemed very dangerous.

"There is another piece of news the Grand Elder gave me-" Shanqing lowered his head, his mouth hidden to ensure no one could read his lips.

Seeing him being so careful, Fengyu listened attentively.

"The Grand Elder told me that the Beast Tide being large like this would always lead to three things - first, all the fields in the north will be trampled in days. Usually the fields would get the mission to withstand the beasts and the cultivators would get rewards for the beasts they slay and the number of days they lasted. This time... those that take this mission will be guaranteed to die.

Such a huge amount of beasts would then directly go east and west! The pressure on the NE-District will rise extremely early. Compared to the previous years where the NE joined around the second or third wave, this time they will be attacked in the first wave directly!

The second matter he told me is that the west will directly have to use all their forces to defend the whole waterway, leading to the west being too weak to withstand the beasts coming north... because of this, the south will send half of their personnel to assist in the NW-District.

Finally... he told me that when this happens, it means that there are usually many spies and saboteurs in the city. The outer city will no longer be safe, and the inner city will block entry for everyone, even sending out the inner citizens who aren’t residents..."

A barrage of information entered Fengyu’s brain, his shock making him fall into silence -

North, north-east and west... all of them will be attacked. The city will have enemies, people who were your neighbours, turn on you...

The south... with less than half the personnel, they will barely be able to protect themselves. The south was safe on the surface, but who knew how much they had to do? Since only half the personnel went, this meant that the other half had their own responsibilities...