316: Chapter 316 No More Restrictions

Harboring their own thoughts, the two of them patrolled around Sihai Island.

Many Cultivators processed and packed away the Yao Beast Materials; aside from a portion kept for themselves, the rest had to be turned over to the market in exchange for contribution points.

Right now, the Tier 2 Formation protecting Sihai Island was almost fully repaired.

After defending for many days previously, the Formation barrier was covered in cracks, and several places even had gaps.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, those sea Yao Beasts attacked and killed quite a few Mortals.

Therefore, Sihai Island was currently very desolate.

It wasn't until several days later, after the Guiyuan Sect took the lead in spreading the news that the beast tide had been repelled, that everyone gradually began to relax.

This beast tide chaos had only erupted for about half a month, yet a massive number of Cultivators had died.

Headed by the four Golden Core factions including the Guiyuan Sect, a total of over forty thousand Cultivators were mobilized this time to deal with over a million sea Yao Beasts.

Aside from the initial breakthrough of the island chain, which resulted in over ten thousand Cultivator casualties, among these forty thousand Cultivators, sixteen thousand died in battle and twenty-one thousand were injured.

Moreover, various coastal factions likewise suffered a devastating catastrophe, and most Qi Refining families and Foundation Establishment families were completely wiped out in this sea Yao Beast chaos.

The number of Cultivator deaths alone exceeded twenty thousand.

Take the northern part of the Wuyun Mountain Range occupied by Chenwu Mountain; that was the Wuyue Mountain Range.

The Wuyue Mountain Range spanned two thousand li north and south, and besides four Foundation Establishment families living there, there were also thirty-one Qi Refining families.

Adding up all the Cultivators from these families, it easily exceeded four thousand people; however, apart from a portion who were conscripted or not in the Wuyue Mountain Range, the remaining three thousand plus Cultivators almost all died in the sea Yao Beast chaos.

Among them, the Cao Family had a total of three Foundation Establishment Cultivators; one was conscripted, another guarded the market established by the Family in the sea, and the remaining one simply couldn't defend the territory.

In the end, it was forcibly breached by a large swarm of sea Yao Beasts.

Not to mention the hundreds of Cultivators in their Family, even the remaining Qi Refining families taking refuge in their Family all died here.

The other three Foundation Establishment families had it even worse, as they were inherently weaker than the Cao Family.

In fact, had their territories not been breached a step earlier, perhaps the Cao Family could have held off the beast tide.

Unfortunately, there was nothing left to regret.

Those Cultivators who returned from the sea had managed to survive and come back, only to find their families directly wiped out, instantly howling and screaming everywhere like they had lost their minds.

If it weren't for the fact that the Cultivators of the four Chen Family groups were not transferred away, the tragic state of their mountain range wouldn't have been any different from the Wuyue Mountain Range.

...

Over the Wuwang Sea, several Cultivators were flying above the sea surface, and they were all Foundation Establishment Cultivators without exception.

"Let's head back, our patrol mission is complete," said the leading middle-aged man.

"Understood, Captain." The other four nodded.

"That aside, Captain, is that rumor from earlier true?" inquired one of the young men.

He came from the Guiyuan Sect and was an Inner Sect Disciple of the Guiyuan Sect.

Meanwhile, the leading middle-aged man was an Inner Sect Disciple from another Golden Core Sect, the Qiankui Sect.

And he was even a Personal Disciple of a certain Elder.

"You shouldn't pry into such matters. The more you pry, the less good it will do you."

Although the middle-aged man was not from the Guiyuan Sect, and the Guiyuan Sect and the Qiankui Sect were themselves in a competitive relationship, however, having gone through life and death together several times during this period, they had formed a bit of friendship.

Giving him a reminder at this moment could also be considered a bit of camaraderie as a captain.

If the other party insisted on prying blindly, then whatever happened afterward wouldn't be his fault.

The other three were also somewhat curious, but unfortunately, their status and positions couldn't compare to the two of them, so they didn't dare to interrupt at this moment.

"I understand." The young man nodded and averted his face.

As for what he was thinking, only the heavens knew.

At his question, the middle-aged man's gaze flickered unpredictably.

He recalled how a short while ago, his Sect's Foundation Establishment Cultivator had seen that enormous sea Yao Beast—a sea Yao Beast so huge that neither its head nor its tail could be seen, which at the time had scared those few people so badly they didn't dare make a move.

Later, when they reported it to the Sect, he had also listened from the side while following his Master.

At first, he thought it was fake, but in the following days, the sea Yao Beast chaos erupted, forcing him to believe it.

Furthermore, the Sect did not allow them to spread this news out to avoid causing panic.

After all, a portion of their Sect's income came precisely from these island chains in the sea.

With these factions coming to the sea to hunt Yao Beasts, they could continuously harvest the corpses of these sea Yao Beasts at a relatively low price and then refine them into Puppets.

As for the life and death of the Cultivators at the bottom, it had nothing whatsoever to do with the Qiankui Sect and the other three major Sects.

Anyway, if they died, they died.

However, now that the four Golden Core factions had resolved the sea Yao Beast chaos, they had already transferred some of their manpower back to the inland.

As for the previously established markets, they only dispatched some Foundation Establishment Cultivators to guard them.

He knew these inside stories, but he didn't dare speak of them, even though people within the four major Golden Core Sects had already realized something was abnormal.

The other three didn't know what secrets were between these two; they looked at each other in dismay.

...

In Ying Province, following the dispatch of a large number of Cultivators by the Huang and Mu Families, they had controlled the beast tide a few days earlier than Yan Country and slaughtered a large number of sea Yao Beasts.

During this period, every faction was busy to death, not only having to process these Yao Beast Materials but also rebuilding their families.

A sea Yao Beast chaos had also caused Ying Province to lose quite a few Cultivators.

Among them, a Tier 3 sea Yao Beast even appeared in Guangye City; if not for a Purple Palace Cultivator stepping in to resolve it, Guangye City would have been breached by that Tier 3 sea Yao Beast back then.

Meanwhile, major factions far away in Cang Prefecture were naturally unaffected by the sea Yao Beast chaos.

On this day, Golden Core factions such as the Yuxu Sect and the Biluo Palace announced a piece of news.

The general meaning was that Golden Core factions like the Yuxu Sect would no longer restrict the factions under their command from leaving Yan Country, allowing them to go to other countries to establish families and factions.

Now, as Yan Country recovered some Origin Qi, the remaining territory alone was no longer sufficient for continued development.

Previously, they had not strictly forbidden Purple Mansion factions from leaving Yan Country, because unlike Foundation Establishment factions and Qi Refining factions, Purple Mansion factions had a massive scale and it was difficult to lead the entire faction away.

But now, being willing to let these Foundation Establishment factions and Qi Refining factions leave Yan Country was naturally also to alleviate the upcoming resource pressure.

Now, as many factions recovered their Origin Qi while occupying various territories to develop, sooner or later, without any external enemies acting, they would end up fighting internally.

Moreover, looking back decades or a century ago, their restriction on these factions leaving Yan Country was mainly for control, to ensure their own rule.

But now, following several major battles, Yan Country was beginning to struggle to contain the ambitions of the Cultivators at the bottom, coupled with the fact that the three countries of Wei, Han, and Shu had also spread quite a bit of news in previous years.

For example, that the three countries of Tang, Zhao, and Chu, or even the Five Dynasties, were truly the Holy Land for cultivation.

The grassroots factions of Yan Country, which had always been kept under control, understood very little about this.