Chapter 241 - 216: Fairy Disaster_1

Lu Yan rode on the Blood Slaughter, overlooking the earth.

As far as the eye could see, brown and barren stretched uninterrupted.

Flowers wilted, trees withered.

This was true whether it was mountains, hills, or plains.

Even the vegetation by the lakes and rivers were just the same.

As the Blood Slaughter flew over a mountain, Lu Yan saw some animal carcasses in the forest below, all starved beasts, mostly rotten, emitting bursts of foul smell.

This was a rather remote area, in forests close to the villages, the wild animals had long been captured and eaten.

The scene here was strikingly similar to what had happened in Wo Ye City in Qingfeng County once upon a time.

Next, the Blood Slaughter flew near Changfeng City.

The crops in the villages near Changfeng City were all dead.

Especially in mountain villages like Kaoshan Village, the majority of the villagers there were refugees, all living in terror.

They had experienced a great drought, and knew its horrors. During their flight, they didn’t know how many people had died on the way.

Would they have to be displaced again?

Lu Yan knew well that if relief was not timely provided, countless lives would be lost.

Although he was not a saint, he might not be able to help everyone.

However, as long as it concerned the people under his rule, he would try his best to give them a secure life.

Perhaps this was one of the reasons why he wanted to establish his power base.

Although he might not have a grand ambition to restore peace to the world just yet.

But deep down, there was always something he wanted to do, and he had taken steps for it.

Then, Lu Yan inspected several Blood Land Veins outside Changfeng City, including the hidden secondary Blood Land Veins.

The Energy of Earth Blood on the Blood Land Veins was indeed dissipating, much thinner than the last time he visited.

If this continued, it wouldn’t take a few years for these Blood Land Veins to disappear.

"What is going on? The normal drought is just lack of rain, there shouldn’t be any reason for the Blood Land Veins to be affected as well."

Lu Yan pondered the question but couldn’t find an answer.

Later, he temporarily settled in Changfeng City.

Relief food was quickly sourced from various places.

At this time, Lu Yan controlled almost two counties, with dozens of large and small cities under his command, which made the distribution of famine relief food relatively easy.

Once the relief food was distributed, the people gradually settled down.

The people enduring this chaotic era were resilient. As long as they had something to eat, they could survive, weather through the natural disaster, weather through the drought.

Before he knew it, Lu Yan had been in Changfeng City for half a month.

The drought was not getting any lighter, on the contrary, it was deepening.

In a fortnight, there had been not a single drop of rain.

Now it was not only the crops that were dying. People even had problems getting drinking water.

Lu Yan assembled the troops to assist the people in digging wells, each well being dug as deep as tens of meters to solve the water problem.

But this was not a long-term solution.

If the drought persisted for half a year to a year, the wells would dry up.

Moreover, the scope of the drought was expanding from Changfeng City as the center, already affecting the nearby Qingyang City.

Lu Yan personally visited the master-level feudal lords for advice. However, these master-level feudal lords couldn’t provide any meaningful explanation either.

According to what they said, such severe droughts had rarely occurred in the six counties of Lingdong.

The one in Qingfeng County, was the first in a hundred years.

Lu Yan consulted Guan Shan next.

Guan Shan furrowed his brow in deep thought after hearing the situation. He then shook his head and muttered, "Impossible, I’m just overthinking."

"Senior, what’s impossible?"

Lu Yan asked for a clarification.

"A dreadful drought is not necessarily caused solely by natural disaster. It can also be due to a disaster caused by immortals."

Guan Shan explained.

"Disaster caused by immortals? Related to immortals?"

Lu Yan asked.

Guan Shan nodded in affirmation: "Exactly."

"Senior, what exactly are immortals?"

Lu Yan continued asking.

He had swallowed several pieces of Immortal Bone and he was very curious about immortals.

Could they be just like the immortals from the legends, humans or beasts, attain immortality through cultivation, earning a position in the immortal ranks, and living forever?

"I’m not exactly sure what immortals are, but I do know they are a unique kind of being. Regardless of their strength or size, they are all referred to as immortals. They have vast divine capabilities and unique methods, making them the natural nemesis of demons."

"However, for humans, immortals are not necessarily a good existence, because they plunder the heaven and earth. As soon as they appear, they would bring about various disasters. The impact they have on humans, or other beings, is far worse than that of demons."

"In history, there have been several severe disasters caused by immortals, turning multiple counties and even entire provinces into hell, causing billions of casualties."

"But after the establishment of the Da Chu Dynasty, immortals have become very rare. They mostly hide in the Fairy Ruins. In the peak period of Da Chu, there would occasionally be ’Hunting Immortals’ gatherings, in which martial arts practitioners would be invited to hunt down immortals in the Fairy Ruins. Such grand events are hard to come by nowadays."

That was Guan Shan’s explanation.

"So, that’s what immortals are?"

Lu Yan frowned.

It was nothing like what he had imagined.

"The drought in Changfeng City appears to share some similar characteristics with a disaster caused by immortals, but it’s still uncertain. We need to observe more. Lu Yan, if you see any peculiar signs, let me know immediately."

That was what Guan Shan advised.

Lu Yan nodded in agreement, left Kunwu Mountain, and returned to Changfeng City.

However, shortly after returning to Changfeng City, he received news that the ruins in the city had experienced an earthquake, mountains had collapsed, and cracks had formed in the ground.

"An earthquake?"

A jolt hit Lu Yan’s heart, instantly recalling his experience when he first joined the Red-clad Guards. Two years ago, an earthquake had hit the ruins in Changfeng Mountain, causing mountains to collapse and revealing the hidden ruins. That’s why the Liu and Wu families had sealed off the ruins, declaring them off-limits.

Has another earthquake occurred after so many years?

Could that be a coincidence?

Lu Yan immediately inquired if an earthquake had occurred in Changfeng City. The answer was no.

"That’s not right. An earthquake wouldn’t be limited to a specific area. It should spread to the surrounding regions. Even if Changfeng City wasn’t the epicenter, it should have experienced some impact. How could there be no trace of it at all?"

Lu Yan pondered. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was amiss.

He decided then and there to go to the ruins in Changfeng City.

As expected, several mountains had collapsed.

The area near the first-level Hidden Blood Land Vein was even more severely affected, with even larger cracks appearing on the ground.

Next, Lu Yan ventured into the second-level Hidden Blood Land Vein.

The second-level Hidden Blood Land Vein, where a castle once stood, now half of it had collapsed.

Fortunately, the people who lived there had already evacuated. Otherwise, it would have resulted in a heavy loss of life.

In the center of the Blood Land Vein, a massive crack had appeared, multiple meters wide and too deep to see the bottom.

"What was the trigger for the earthquake and does it have any correlation with the drought?"

Lu Yan speculated, standing at the edge of the crack and looking down into the bottomless black depths.

"What exactly lies in the depths of the Blood Land Vein? Why are the fumes of Earth Blood constantly billowing out?"

Lu Yan pondered this question that had intrigued him for quite some time. However, he hadn’t seen any information about this in the books. Even the Grandmasters he had inquired didn’t know the answer.

But there was a consensus—the deeper you go into the Blood Land Vein, the more dangerous it becomes. The high concentration of Earth Blood could cause a certain qualitative change, leading to extremely dense blood poison. Throughout history, there have been people who have attempted to explore the depths of the Blood Land Vein, but all without exception ended up dead from blood poisoning.

Even those at the peak of the Grandmaster level were no exception.

As for whether those at the True Body Realm could penetrate deeper is unknown, as there seems to be no one in Lingdong who has reached that level.

After contemplating for a while, Lu Yan decided to go down and take a look.

Of course, it was not himself but his Avatar.

With a thought, his Avatar Cloud Walk appeared and then jumped into the abyss, quickly falling. After a drop of several dozen meters, it used an outcropping rock to break its fall and continued with the descent.

Likewise, the Cloud Walk Avatar kept falling a few hundred meters before finally landing at the bottom.

In the depths of the ground, the fumes of Earth Blood were extremely thick, almost like coagulated blood.

Quite certainly, any Grandmaster who came down would be doomed.

Fortunately, Cloud Walk, being an Avatar made of energy and some special constituents, was not affected by blood poison.

Looking around, Cloud Walk Avatar discovered a vast subterranean space in the depths of the Blood Land Vein.

Lu Yan moved forward in this subterranean area which was extremely wide, extending more than ten miles across and its length was indeterminable.

It seemed like a vast tunnel that continued onwards. Lu Yan had already covered a distance of more than ten miles, yet the end was nowhere in sight.

Considering the Avatar could only be ten miles away from the main body, Lu Yan had to keep moving along with his Avatar in order to always stay within that range.

"That is...."

Suddenly, Lu Yan’s eyes narrowed.

He saw a massive beast squatting ahead.

It was a giant lizard, somewhat similar to a Blood Armor Lizard, but much larger with two fierce horns on its head.

Its body, over ten meters long, was laying there, its height hard to estimate.

The body of the giant lizard reminded Lu Yan of a vortex, constantly drawing the surrounding Earth Blood towards it and absorbing it within.

Not just Earth Blood.

Lu Yan vaguely felt that other forces were also being drawn towards the giant lizard.

"Could it be that the earthquake is somehow connected to this giant lizard?"

An idea popped into Lu Yan’s mind.

The massive lizard’s eyes suddenly snapped open, and a terrifying aura swept towards Lu Yan like a tidal wave.

This aura was far stronger than any other master that Lu Yan had encountered, perhaps ten or even a hundred times stronger.

Lu Yan’s body felt like it had been rammed by a mountain, sending him flying hundreds of meters backward. After tumbling for several dozen rolls, he managed to stabilize himself, but his body was in a battered state.

Greatly frightened, Lu Yan immediately started running.

Meanwhile, his main body above the crack, startled by the sudden turn of events, also sprinted away towards the opening.

Roar!

The giant lizard stood up and roared. Its body began to swell at a rapid pace.

Initially only ten meters long, the lizard’s length increased exponentially to a whopping hundred meters.

With every step, it shook the ground and created tremors.

Roar!

Another roar echoed, and the soundwave transformed into numerous sharp blades surging at Cloud Walk Avatar.

With a bang, Cloud Walk Avatar was immediately torn to shreds and turned into dust.

Roar!

The colossal lizard roared incessantly and started to run. With each whip of its tail against the wall, the ground shook, causing rocks and debris to fall.

Above the Blood Land Vein, horror was written all over Lu Yan’s face. He pushed his speed to the absolute limits and managed to reach the exit rapidly. Climbing out of the exit and summoning his mount Blood Slaughter, he didn’t dare to breathe easy until he had flown a kilometer into the sky, finding himself bathed in a cold sweat.

Thankfully, the giant lizard did not pursue him.

"What exactly is that thing? An Alien Beast? Or is it the so-called ’immortal’ as mentioned by Senior Guan Shan? It’s terrifying. Its strength is unfathomable and beyond any measure."

Lu Yan quietly thought to himself, still greatly shaken.