The road is vague

Chapter 319 Little Zhen Island

Next, Li Mo and Zhang Xiuning chose to board this cargo ship and head to Xiaozhen Island.

Through the self-introduction of this man who only wore an apron around his waist, Li Mo learned that his surname was Zhu, his given name was Wu Nian, and he had escaped from the lost continent thirty years ago.

Zhu Wunian is very lucky.

After his birth, the local deities paid little attention to managing their human subjects, focusing instead on cultivating by refining the essence of the sun and moon. This led to the formation of a simple martial arts system in the area, as well as the seclusion of some escaped and wild cultivators.

This led him to discover that he possessed spiritual roots after reaching adulthood, and by chance, he began his cultivation.

According to Zhu Wunian.

Most gods regard their humans as property. From birth, humans are not allowed to leave their village, or they will surely die. Once they reach adulthood, priests will take them away, randomly assign them a partner to establish a new family, and stipulate the number of children they will have.

Each deity's church manages humanity in all aspects of life, including clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, and tries to increase the population.

The vast majority of humans on the Lost Continent are no different from livestock, with no freedom whatsoever. They can be bought and sold freely, and are always at risk of being eaten, sacrificed, or manipulated as commodities...

Only a very small percentage of humans become evil gods through various means.

In losing their human identities, they also gained the opportunity to join the mainstream society of the Lost Continent.

"Ugh."

Zhu Wunian let out a sigh.

"In order to escape, I don't know how much suffering I endured. I witnessed people being captured by slave ships, some being devoured by sea monsters, and many more succumbing to temptation and completely abandoning their human identity..."

According to Zhu Wunian.

The reason why those ethereal blood dragon clans formulated such a policy was that they hoped that countless humans hiding in the edge of the sea would perish on their own.

In fact, their strategy did achieve remarkable results.

The human cultivators of Dabao Island could no longer endure the suffering and prepared to sacrifice the human cultivators of the other three islands to convert the island's inhabitants into heretical believers, thus granting them normal identities in this sea area.

But Li Mo gleaned another piece of information from Zhu Wunian's words.

Besides the orthodox pantheon composed of mountain spirits and water monsters, and the evil pantheon composed of various mutated humans, demons, and monsters, there is also a so-called outer pantheon in the deep sea. The vast majority of these are sea monsters who have achieved great cultivation. They have the characteristic of eating people and will constantly attack the humans on various islands to accelerate the refining of the essence of the sun and moon within their bodies.

In this remote corner of the world, all kinds of demons and monsters are trying their best to suppress humanity.

Li Mo seemed to vaguely see countless pollutants striving to erode the order of the Mountain and Sea Realm.

"Sigh, it's all in the past now."

The true demon clone comforted the other party.

Li Mo was truly grateful for Zhu Wunian's big mouth. If it weren't for his endless chatter, Li Mo, as a refugee from the mainland, wouldn't have known what to say. However, what the people here considered the mainland was still just an island in the eyes of the people of the Central Plains Main Continent.

We're almost at the dock!

"Prepare to unload!"

The sailors got busy.

Looking out into the distance, Li Mo could see a small port city on the coast, with many ships moored there, none of them very large, and many people busily working.

Zhang Xiuning smiled and looked at Li Mo.

"Let's go, I'll introduce you to the Island Lord. Your cultivation level has already reached the Foundation Establishment stage. As long as you get the Island Lord's permission to join Little Treasure Island, you will automatically become an elder of Little Treasure Island, receive a large sum of spirit stones as a stipend every year, and enjoy the right to participate in the island's council..."

Hearing Zhang Xiuning's strong recommendation, Li Mo couldn't help but feel curious.

When he heard that the large sum of spirit stones the other party mentioned was only one hundred spirit stones a year, he was immediately speechless with astonishment.

No wonder the cultist he killed earlier had such a poor storage bag, even worse than most Qi Refining disciples in the Central Plains. This shows that the situation of cultivators here is extremely difficult and it is not suitable for him to cultivate here for a long time.

The two had already flown over the port town while they were talking.

However, Zhang Xiuning mistook Li Mo's astonishment for the generous reward of the position of elder of Xiaozhen Island, and immediately covered her mouth and laughed.

Although they hadn't spent much time together, she had developed a strong liking for her savior. Coupled with his extraordinary strength, she couldn't help but feel a stirring in her heart, and her gaze towards Li Mo became somewhat fiery.

Li Mo was naturally aware of this.

Compared to her former naivety and reserve, Li Mo has now become much more mature.

His gaze moved from the other person's delicate face with slightly dark skin to her graceful and alluring body, glancing briefly at the key parts covered by these exquisite seashells before his eyes met hers for a brief moment.

Just as Li Mo avoided her gaze and looked at the vast expanse of farmland that had been cleared, preparing to change the subject, Zhang Xiuning suddenly said, "How about coming to my room tonight?"

Even though Li Mo thought he had already seen things clearly, his eyelids twitched uncontrollably when he heard the other party's ravenous words.

However, Zhang Xiuning seemed unconcerned and continued to look at Li Mo with undiminished enthusiasm.

"Only a man as outstanding as you is worthy of me."

cough cough.

Li Mo understood the open culture here. He neither agreed nor refused, but instead changed the subject to the farmland.

"There are so many farmlands on the island, how many ordinary people live here?"

"About a hundred thousand. When I was born fifty years ago, I heard there were only twenty or thirty thousand people here. At its peak, there were over two hundred thousand people a dozen years ago. However, in recent years, due to the frequent raids by Da Bao Island, many people have died, and many others have fled to Coral Island and Rainbow Shell Island. The population has obviously decreased a lot..."

Several hours later, the two arrived at the highest peak of Agate Mountain on Little Treasure Island.

This is the center of Little Zhen Island, and also the meeting place of the island's elders. On the steep mountaintop stands a spacious and simple stone palace.

Based on this calculation, the island's area is roughly equivalent to one-tenth of Hua'an Town, and it is also the smallest of the four islands.

After the two arrived here using levitation, Li Mo noticed that some mortals were trying to climb up the steep mountain wall.

Zhang Xiuning explained with a smile.

"Only true warriors who are not afraid of death can leave Xiaozhen Island."

During this brief stop, Li Mo witnessed someone fall off a cliff, but Zhang Xiu Ning ignored it and led Li Mo toward the palace.

Hardship, openness, courage, and confusion.

Li Mo gained a more direct understanding of the people here.

Zhang Xiuning looked at the two Qi Refining cultivators who had been stationed here year-round.

"This is a rogue cultivator from the mainland that I brought back from an outer island. He is preparing to join Little Treasure Island. Hurry up and report to the island lord."

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, the two looked at Li Mo with delight. One of them immediately entered the palace, and soon an elderly cultivator wearing a feathered hat came out of the palace.

He also showed delight when he saw Li Mo's clothes.

"Please come in quickly!"

The island lord's ribs were clearly visible. Apart from the feathered hat on his head, he also wore only an apron around his waist. After seeing Li Mo's clothes, he confirmed Li Mo's identity.

After Li Mo followed the island lord of Xiaozhen Island into the palace, he was led to a weapon-refining furnace.

This Island Master Lu naturally sat down in front of the weapon-refining furnace, continuing to refine weapons as if no one else was around, and proudly introduced them.

"If it weren't for the war on Dabao Island, Xiaozhen Island would never be in its current state. In the past few years, Xiaozhen Island has made tremendous progress. Not only has it acquired an underwater spirit stone vein, but it has also developed an iron mine overseas, which can extract several kilograms of iron essence every year and refine dozens of magical artifacts..."

At most, magic artifacts made from refined iron can only be low-grade or mid-grade magic artifacts.

The dignified lord of an island spends his days holed up here, desperately refining magical artifacts. Li Mo has gained a more direct understanding of the harsh survival conditions on this small, precious island.

The matter of him, the Foundation Establishment cultivator from outside the two of them, joining Xiaozhen Island was naturally and smoothly completed.

After all, in their eyes, Li Mo had nowhere to go at the moment, and Xiaozhen Island was in dire need of powerful cultivators to protect the island, so the two sides hit it off immediately.

Li Mo reported his cultivation level as mid-Foundation Establishment.

After the island lord finished refining the weapon, he shook his head slightly in disappointment when he saw that the magic weapon was just a low-grade flying knife. Then he led Li Mo to the map of Little Treasure Island.

The map is densely marked with hundreds of villages and more than a dozen cities.

He eventually pointed to a small coastal town called Turtle Shell.

"This Turtle Shell City was plundered by cultists from the Great Treasure Island five months ago, and a large number of residents were abducted. Now it can be said to be depopulated. Fellow Daoist Li, why don't you take on the role of the city lord and be responsible for maintaining the safety of this place?"

On Koh Zhen, a population of a few thousand is considered a city.

The political system here is somewhat similar to that of a tribal system. In addition to the most capable person being in charge, the leader can also be elected and abdicated to become the nominal overlord of the island.

As for remote towns like Turtle Shell City, with a population of just over a thousand, even smaller than many villages in Muzhou, the so-called city lord held little appeal for Li Mo. However, it was enough for him to try to integrate into the community.

"I will do everything in my power to protect the safety of this city."

Next, Li Mo will make some preliminary plans for the future.

The primary task is to attempt to hunt down those so-called cultists and cultivate the evil god grass on the island where the main body is located.

Upon hearing this, Island Master Lu smiled with satisfaction.

He immediately marked Li Mo's name on the map at Turtle Shell Island.

"On the tenth of the first month of each quarter, the elders on the island will gather here for a meeting. Elder Li, please do not forget..."

Next, at the island master Lu's enthusiastic invitation, Li Mo frowned as he looked at the feast in front of him.

It seems that there is no food culture at all on Koh Jin Island.

In front of Li Mo was a huge leaf with a black roasted taro on it, a few fruits unique to the island, a pickled fish, and a handful of beans—that was all.

Island Master Lu and Zhang Xiuning chatted and laughed, enjoying the sumptuous feast before them.

night.

Zhang Xiuning actually barged into Li Mo's room, walked up to Li Mo, grabbed his hand, and placed it on her chest, causing the True Demon clone's eyes to widen in surprise.

"This! Fellow Daoist Zhang, this is the Agate Palace, wouldn't this be disrespectful to the Island Lord...?"

Li Mo's reserved attitude only made Zhang Xiuning even more excited.

She whispered in the ear of the true demon's clone.

"I like hearing you call me Fairy Zhang."

Zhang Xiuning kept urging Li Mo to call her Fairy.

"Fairy?"

When the true demon clone slowly uttered the words "fairy," Zhang Xiu Ning's fiery passion immediately made Li Mo realize the unbridled enthusiasm of the female cultivators in the Lost Sea, who were insatiable and had no moral or shame constraints.

The true demon clone, initially tense, gradually succumbed to the temptation, seemingly symbolizing its initial adaptation to this place.

(End of this chapter)