Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 427 Zhao Dian
"Could it be Fellow Daoist Li?"

Before long, a middle-aged cultivator dressed in fine clothes appeared on the city wall. He took the token from the guard, glanced at it twice, and then shouted, "Fellow Daoist Li, please wait a moment!"

As he spoke, he personally flew from the arrow tower to the gate under the gate tower and opened the city gate.

As soon as the city gates opened, mortals from outside flocked in.

The middle-aged man in fine clothes instantly darkened his expression. With a flick of his sleeve, a strong wind swept through the area, and dozens of people running ahead fell to the ground. Those behind were also caught in the crossfire, falling over as well.

"Are you all trying to break through the pass and rebel?"

The middle-aged man in fine clothes spoke coldly, but when he faced Xu Jin, he offered a fawning smile: "Fellow Daoist Li, this way please!"

Upon seeing this, Xu Jin quickly waved his hand, and the miners behind him were overjoyed, rushing into the city gate in two strides.

"No rush, no rush."

The middle-aged man in fine clothes chuckled, but as Xu Jin drew closer, his expression suddenly froze. The person in front of him was seriously injured and had low magical power. He was not a Foundation Establishment cultivator stationed at the Maojing Mine by the Li family at all!
"Wait a moment!"

The middle-aged man in fine clothes hurriedly shouted.

But by this time, most of the miners had already entered the city, and the city gates were wide open as well.

Before the richly dressed middle-aged man could react, Xu Jin quickened his pace, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "I am Xu Jin, greetings to Steward Zhao!"

Zhao Dian took a few steps back, his face extremely ugly, and loudly questioned, "You're not a cultivator from the Li family? Who are you, and how do you have the command token of a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Li family!"

Xu Jin immediately explained, "Although my surname is not Li, I have worked in the Li family's service office for many years. I have been ordered to escort these miners to Yuanmen Town for refuge. I hope Deacon Zhao will be lenient!"

"Accommodate?"

Zhao Dian roared, "Everyone is shoving people into my Yuanmen Town, but have they ever considered that Yuanmen Town is a new city? Not only do I lack food, but I also lack water, salt, and firewood. How can I support hundreds of thousands of people? Once the monsters besiege the city, Yuanmen Town will fall without a fight, and I will bear the responsibility in the end. If I make allowances for you, who will make allowances for me?"

Xu Jin remained silent. As far as he knew, Yuanmen Town was located in Dainan and was under the actual control of Shengyimen.

However, because it is too far south and quite a distance from Lingyue Peak where Shengyimen is located, and because Shengyimen has limited energy due to the war, it does not interfere much in Yuanmen Town. It only promotes some local officials and lets them govern themselves.

When Puxian County was hit by locusts, Yuanmen Town was left desolate and littered with starving corpses because it did not receive timely assistance from Shengyimen.

A few years later, the unremarkable Yuanmen Ferry suddenly rose to prominence, changing the fate of Yuanmen Town.

Shengyimen occupied the ferry crossing, set up checkpoints, and collected customs duties from passing ships, which brought them considerable profits.

Afterwards, Shengyimen carried out sweeping reforms at Yuanmen Ferry.

However, Yuanmen Ferry was just a ferry crossing, and it lacked both manpower and resources. Therefore, Shengyimen set its sights on Yuanmen Town, intending to develop it into the largest settlement in Dainan to support the development of Yuanmen Ferry.

Several years later, Yuanmen Town was finally expanded and became a large city that surpassed Xixiang City.

Shengyi Sect even specially dispatched an outer sect steward to guard the city.

To facilitate management, Shengyimen relocated all the ordinary people from the surrounding villages of Yuanmen Town to the city, resulting in a large amount of farmland being left uncultivated and a food shortage in Yuanmen Town.

Fortunately, the Shengyi family was large and powerful, and they managed to transport supplies from Lingyue Peak to Yuanmen Town in an orderly manner, thus supporting hundreds of thousands of people.

Despite the heavy burden, Sheng Yimen envisioned that this situation would not last long.

Because of its advantageous geographical location, Yuanmen Town not only boasts abundant water resources and distinct seasons, but also sits on an alluvial plain with exceptionally fertile land. While the expansion of the town may encroach on the original farmland of the residents, given two or three years, Yuanmen Town will quickly become self-sufficient.

Who could have imagined that the monsters in Puyin Mountain would suddenly rampage?
Currently, Mount Dai, especially the Dainan area, is teeming with roaming monsters, many of which have already invaded human territory. Sooner or later, Yuanmen Town will also become a target of monsters.

Regardless of whether the monsters can breach the city, if the supplies from Lingyue Peak cannot be delivered in time, even if the monsters besiege the city without attacking, Yuanmen Town will still be a precarious city, unable to be defended.

But Xu Jin was helpless; his miners, responsible for repairing the road, were also attacked by the monsters. Of the four hundred men, only a few dozen survived.

Rather than leading the miners on foot across the dangerous wilderness and back to the Maojing Mine, it would be better to hide in the nearby Yuanmen Town, where at least there are city walls and fortifications!

Xu Jin exhaled and slowly said, "Deacon Zhao, we are not many people, and we have brought our own food. We can stay for three to five days without any problem. All we need is a place to stay."

"What about in three to five days?"

Zhao Dian's eyes widened. "You're not going to eat? Or am I just going to watch you starve to death?"

His enthusiasm just now was probably because he saw the token and thought it was the Li family's Foundation Establishment Ceremony in person.

With a Foundation Establishment cultivator stationed in Ape Gate Town, the pressure of defending the city is greatly reduced.

But all that came was Xu Jin, a mere Qi Refining Level 3 cultivator.

How could he possibly be satisfied?
However, in the end, he did not order the miners to be driven away. Instead, he asked, "Judging from your injuries, it seems you encountered a monster? How many monsters are there in Daishan now? Is it a beast tide? Have they advanced towards Yuanmen Town?"

Faced with this series of questions, Xu Jin shook his head repeatedly: "I don't know either! There were only about sixty demonic beasts that attacked us, and the leader was a leopard demon in the mid-stage of the Spirit Awakening Realm. It doesn't seem like a beast tide. But on the way to Ape Gate Town, I met some passing cultivators who were also attacked. According to them, the demonic beasts seemed to have split into many groups and were active all over Dainan."

"Multiple demonic beasts?"

Zhao Dian's face immediately turned ashen.

If it were just one or two groups of demonic beasts causing trouble, it could be considered a coincidence.

However, the simultaneous appearance of multiple groups of demonic beasts undoubtedly indicates that they were organized and premeditated.

Pu County was originally the homeland of the Nanbin Demon Clan, and it only fell into the hands of the Heng Kingdom a hundred years ago.

The demons of Nanbin harbored a deep grudge about this!

Although they were no longer able to mobilize all their forces to form a massive alliance of demonic beasts to fight a decisive battle against the human cultivators.

However, some powerful demons were still unwilling to give up and would incite their followers from time to time to return to Pu County and cause trouble.

Decades ago, animal tides were a common occurrence in Puxian County.

To prevent a counterattack from the demonic beasts, the Wuliang Sword Sect specially left Nascent Soul cultivators stationed in the Pu River area, while the Hengyue Sect dispatched more than ten Golden Core cultivators to be stationed in various parts of Punan.

In addition, the Longyuan Sect, the Suxin Sword Sect, and the Shaoyang Sect each sent two or three Golden Core cultivators to assist in the defense.

Therefore, the beast tides stirred up by the demons of Nanbin were often wiped out before they could even take shape.

It's like loud thunder but little rain.

Some aggressive Golden Core cultivators, such as Xuanling Zhenren, even dared to venture deep into the demon lands to kill the Tribulation Core stage demons behind the beast tide. However, the Foundation Establishment stage demon kings of the Nanbin demon race, who were comparable to Nascent Soul cultivators, became cowards after the battle and turned a blind eye to it.

As time went on, the powerful demons could no longer withstand the losses and began to lie low.

Puxian County soon entered a long-awaited period of peace.

To this day, Puxian County has not experienced a beast tide for thirty years.

If this monster uprising is actually a beast tide...
Zhao Dian became increasingly uneasy. Back in the Pushui camp, he had personally witnessed the beast tide with the Shengyi Sect and knew all too well its terror and the bloodshed that followed.

It was simply impossible for Yuanmen Town to hold out amidst such turmoil.

(End of this chapter)