Essence Devouring Art

The season in the Southern Border had advanced into late autumn.

WHOOSH—

The abnormal weather grew more severe with the arrival of the cold season. Light snow fell in the morning, which turned to heavy snow by noon, and became a blizzard by night. The sky was filled with an endless flurry of falling snow.

Looking out across the land...

The saying ”a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of drifting snow” truly did it justice.

It was a bitter, cold, and desperate landscape, devoid of life.

After unifying the Southern Border, Prince Nanyang naturally did not stand idly by. He issued a series of policies.

The first was to gather the population for centralized protection.

In the desolate countryside, isolated mountain villages, and remote strongholds...

In such harsh weather, more than half the residents of any ten households would freeze to death. Survival was impossible, to say nothing of finding food.

Moving these people, who could not survive on their own, to county towns and County Cities to huddle together for warmth and help one another offered them a path to survival.

Of course, simply gathering the population together was meaningless on its own.

Those who were meant to freeze would still freeze, just a few days later at most.

To preserve the lives of the common people, Prince Nanyang issued a second policy.

All towns, Counties, and County Cities were required to have a certain number of Innate Extraordinaries stationed there to regularly clear the snow in the city and its surroundings, ensuring that normal life and production could continue.

As for the food problem, the Immortal Sects within Prince Nanyang’s faction contributed Immortal Grain Seeds that were resistant to extreme environments and had short maturation periods.

The common folk traded their labor for food.

This more or less solved the problem of famine.

Then there was the third and most important point.

Merchants were strictly forbidden from hoarding goods, speculating on prices, and profiteering from the disaster!

Not only were prices for all clothing and food supplies not allowed to rise, they even had to be appropriately lowered.

Furthermore, relief rations were to be distributed at regular intervals to those unable to work.

Anyone who dared to feign compliance while secretly disobeying would face beheading for a light offense, or the confiscation of their property and extermination of their clan for a serious one.

After these various policies were implemented and enforced by strict laws, the merciless natural disaster was finally thawed by the warmth of human compassion.

The Southern Border was vast and rich in resources.

Coupled with the efforts of the Extraordinary Influences from behind the scenes, this great snowstorm, which would have surely been an apocalypse in an ordinary World, was brought under control in just half a month, its damage reduced to a minimum.

Although Prince Nanyang had not yet fulfilled his revolutionary slogan of ”equal birthright, shared longevity,” his benevolent and righteous deeds, which showed his deep concern for the common people, still earned him the praise and reverence of both the common folk and the Jianghu, who hailed him as a living Saint, saving the people from fire and flood.

Many places even erected longevity temples in his name to pray for his well-being and express their gratitude.

「One month after the battle of Mingquan Pass.」

The Southern Border, once in turmoil from the natural disaster, was gradually stabilizing under the efforts of the Nanyang King Group.

The majority of the populace, with the help of the Extraordinaries, had mostly been relocated to towns, Counties, Prefectures, and various major cities.

Alternatively, cities were being rapidly expanded.

A large number of houses were built outside the city walls to accommodate them.

Go to any of these places on any given day, and you could see cultivators braving the heavy snow, working with fiery enthusiasm to level mountains and dig earth, performing miracles with their brute strength.

In just a short while, the construction site would produce ’components’ for stone houses, wooden houses, and earthen houses as if they were pressed from a mold. These parts were then manually transported to the cities to be assembled for the refugees with astonishing efficiency.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground trembled, and accumulated snow burst into the air.

A line of bare-chested, brawny men, each carrying housing components weighing several, or even more than ten tons, sprinted along the solid main road. They were like moving furnaces, bringing a bit of warmth to the passing refugees.

WHOOSH—

A wave of masculine heat blew the carriage curtain aside.

From within the carriage, a long, slender, jade-like hand emerged and gently pushed the curtain fully open. A snow-white sleeve slid down, revealing a wrist whiter than frost and snow, and a face of such stunning beauty that it would inspire pity and protectiveness in any who saw it.

”What impressive-looking men~”

Her limpid autumn eyes stared at the vigorous and powerful men passing by. The beautiful woman in the snow-white palace dress unconsciously stuck out her small, pink tongue and licked her cherry-red lips.

Inside the carriage, there was also a quirky young girl of about sixteen, with her hair in a bun and an unusual shock of snow-white hair. Hearing the comment, she too poked her head out for a look.

After seeing the Tokens on the brawny men’s waists, which were engraved with a ferocious-looking Fierce Beast, the girl shrank back in fear, stuck out her tongue, and said:

”Lady Xue, you mustn’t! These men are members of the Overlord Whale Alliance, who are as powerful as the midday sun in the Southern Border right now. We absolutely cannot afford to provoke them.”

The Overlord Whale Alliance...

Hearing this, the beautiful woman in the palace dress, who was like a ripe honey peach, seemed to recall something. A look of apprehension appeared in her beautiful eyes, and she withdrew her greedy gaze.

Humans have their way, and rats have theirs.

Every intelligent species has its own social information network.

And Lady Xue had long heard rumors of just how brutal and violent the Overlord Whale Alliance was.

For creatures like them, the Alliance was no different from the death-reaping Imps of Impermanence. If they caught so much as a whiff of their scent, they would hunt them to The Ends of the Earth to bring them to justice.

To say nothing of the one standing behind the Overlord Whale Alliance.

To Alien Species, he was King Yama himself. The mere mention of his name made them turn pale with fright. They couldn’t hide fast enough, let alone actively provoke him.

”This place isn’t under the Overlord Whale Alliance’s jurisdiction, is it?”

Leaning languidly against a chaise lounge in the carriage, Lady Xue looked at the young maidservant massaging her legs and asked uncertainly.

The young maidservant shook her bun-adorned head and replied:

”To answer your question, My Lady, the Overlord Whale Alliance only governs the two prefectures of Guangqing and Wanshan. Guyang isn’t in their jurisdiction. These members must have been dispatched to assist with the disaster relief. However...”

At this point, the young maidservant paused for a moment before adding a reminder:

”Guyang may not have the Overlord Whale Alliance, but it does have the Bai Ze Bureau. So, My Lady, you must still be extremely careful in your actions and not go too far.”

”Aren’t you the clever one...”

Lady Xue poked the young maidservant’s tender, bun-like cheek with a jade-like finger, then sighed melancholically. ”If it weren’t for these damned heavens herding all the sheep into one pen, would we have to take such risks?”

”Don’t worry, My Lady,” the young maidservant said with a grin. ”We aren’t of the Demon Race, whose innate Demon Qi is impossible to hide.

Yu’Er has already made clear inquiries.