Refining the Mountains and Rivers

This was the seventh day since the beast tide erupted.

Only the heavens knew how many demon beast corpses had fallen into the endless ravine in front of Great Deer City. Even so, they remained inexhaustible as they covered the mountains and plains. In the eyes of the abyssal demons, it was like the more they killed, the more that appeared.

Although the city had the advantage of naturally defensive topography on their side as well as the firm and sturdy city walls, the casualty count in these past six days was still terrifying.

Ordinary demons only knew that this eruption of the beast tide was especially fierce. As for the City Lord Mansion who controlled all resources and organized everything to fight against it, they knew exactly what was happening.

In a short seven days, the deaths and injuries in Great Deer City had equaled the average sum of all the previous beast tide eruptions once they had ended.

And according to convention, once a beast tide erupted it would last for at least a month. As time went by, the beast tide would grow increasingly streaking, reaching the peak at around 20 days in.

Not to mention what would happen if the city was breached by the beast tide, even if they managed to withstand it, the final total of casualties would reach an alarming number.

Moreover, what was strange was that not all cities were experiencing such a brutal and frigid beast tide.

On the contrary, according to the reports that were received, the two closest large-scale cities were withstanding a beast tide that was much weaker than prior times.

This was a rare occurrence. But the abyss had existed for countless years and the beast tide had erupted innumerable times. By no means were there no similar examples from the past.

If the intensity of a beast tide increased in a certain centralized area, that was most likely because there was something extremely tempting within the city.

In the ancient records of the abyss, tens of thousands of years ago there existed a city called Sable Abyss. It was the most magnificent creation of the Sable Clan when they were at the zenith of their glory. It possessed incomparably strong defensive abilities and it was said that not even an Abyssal King could capture it.

But during a beast tide it was thoroughly destroyed and plunged into the abyss. None of the hundreds of millions of demons in the city survived.

After an investigation, it was found that Sable Abyss City was using the hearts of three demon dragons to provide an endless supply of abyssal energy to the entire city.

Because the aura of a demon dragon’s heart couldn’t be completely covered, it spurred a change in the beast tide. The size and terror of the beast tide had been over a hundred times greater!

The City Lord Mansion suspected that Great Deer City’s disaster was caused by the fact that something had appeared in the city that held an intense temptation for demon beasts.

Of course, this was only a temporary suspicion. It was impossible to look up the reason for why beast tides erupted in the first place, so who could tell what these crazy demon beasts were actually thinking.

But it didn’t matter why the beast tide had strengthened. It was an immutable fact that Great Deer City was in grave peril.

Thus, the City Lord Mansion believed that the current situation had to be reported to the other forces within the city. Only by uniting all of their forces could they hope to withstand the impact of the beast tide.

Otherwise, once Great Deer City was broken into, while the ruling class might be able to escape with their lives, they would suffer the greatest losses.

The City Lord Mansion’s correspondence was quickly sent out. But the first response left the City Lord frowning.

Black Astral had gone into seclusion!

…

The Merry Forest occupied almost a fifth of Great Deer City. They were a part of the system but at the same time they were beyond the City Lord Mansion’s control, making them a city within a city.

City Lord Blackpool was a flood dragon and python hybrid. The reason he let Blacklight, someone who had a bloodline relation to him, join the Merry Forest and become Black Astral’s trusted subordinate was naturally because he dreaded the strength of the Demon Commander boundary.

Otherwise, if it were anyone else? Humph, our City Lord Blackpool would slap them to death with a single hand!

So when he received a response stating that Black Astral was in seclusion, the City Lord was left helpless. There simply wasn’t anything he could do based on this news, because it was confirmed that Black Astral had gone into seclusion on the day before he sent his message.

That bastard boy, after entering the Happy Forest he really had fallen for Black Astral and become his most absolute confidant. To think that he would maintain such a cold attitude towards his uncle. But in this matter, Blackpool believed that this boy wouldn’t dare to lie to him about something like that.

Without Black Astral, Great Deer City was short a Demon Commander level combatant. This had a great influence on his plans.

But now with the beast tide growing stronger with every day, countless demons were dying. He couldn’t wait any longer. This wasn’t because City Lord Blackpool was kind and benevolent and valued the demons within the city. Rather, his wealth only existed when there were people.

If most of the demons in Great Deer City died off, what would be the meaning of being the City Lord? Or if he thought of a more extreme example, if Great Deer City really was broken through by the beast tide, would the City Lord still be the City Lord?

So when it came to resisting the beast tide, City Lord Blackpool was the most enthusiastic person of all.

The Merry Forest was absent and the Thousand Eyes Temple and Three Lives Pavilion arrived as scheduled. Together with the City Lord Mansion, they were considered the top four factions in the city.

Of course, in terms of absolute strength, the City Lord Mansion which had the approval of an Abyssal King was outwardly recognized as the greatest.

But if everyone really tore apart all pretense of face and started to fight, it was unknown who would be the last one smiling.

After all, the City Lord Mansion might have the approval of an Abyssal King, but it wasn’t like the others didn’t have backers either.

Aside from the unexpected anomaly that was the Merry Forest, whether it was Thousand Eye Temple or Three Lives Pavilion, they were both giant chain organizations that spread throughout the abyss.

Not to mention what sort of formidable strength these two giant influences had on their own, if they could do business and thrive in the abyss, how could they not have a formidable supporter?

In short, on the surface, the City Lord Mansion controlled Great Deer City. Ordinarily, everyone would give them a certain degree of respect.

But when they were all on stage and truly faced each other, they were more or less on equal footing…there was an addendum that had to be added here. At the beginning the Merry Forest wasn’t afforded such status.

After all, as a savage locally grown influence and on the premise that they had no background, it would be a joke to consider them as equals.

The final outcome of this matter was that Black Astral exploded into combat with Three Lives Pavilion’s steward. It was unknown exactly what happened, but the Merry Forest now had their current aloof status.

As for the steward of the Three Lives Pavilion, he was a cold and cunning man from the Pit Viper Clan. From that day on, there was an extra black blindfold on his face that he never took off.

City Lord Blackpool sat in the seat of honor and glanced at the other two. “Everyone, you should know the reason why I invited you here today. There has been a change in the beast tide. To prevent the situation from worsening and devolving beyond our control, we must immediately move to contain it.”

The situation was intense. There was no need to meander and talk in circles. It was time to go straight to the point!

Old Fox frowned. “Although I know that there is something wrong with this beast tide, are things really that bad?”

City Lord Blackpool flicked his sleeves and two demon crystal cards fell on the tabletop. “This is information collected and recorded by the City Lord Mansion. After looking inside, you two should understand what is happening.”

Moments later, after putting down the demon crystal cards, the room was deathly still. The atmosphere was constrained.

Old Fox frowned, a cloudy look on his face. He indeed hadn’t expected that Great Deer City’s situation would be so dangerous.

According to the City Lord Mansion’s calculations, if the beast tide were to continue to grow stronger at this rate, it was highly likely that Great Deer City would be broken though!

Without Great Deer City, the City Lord would no longer be the City Lord. As for his Thousand Eye Temple branch division, he wouldn’t be a steward anymore either.

Old Fox drew in a deep breath and slowly said, “If this is the situation we should take action and intervene ahead of time.”

At this moment, Three Lives Pavilion’s steward laughed out loud. “If Great Deer City is in a critical situation, it is naturally my duty to help. But I cannot figure out why the Merry Forest is staying out. Shouldn’t they be contributing equally to help safeguard Great Deer City?”

City Lord Blackpool furrowed his eyebrows, “Black Astral has gone into seclusion. This was before I sent my message. His absence is only a coincidence.”

“So what if it’s a coincidence? The beast tide has mutated and the city is about to be breached. He might be in seclusion, but can he not temporarily pause it?” The Three Lives Pavilion steward’s laughter became increasingly cold. “My Three Lives Pavilion won’t become the vanguard that dies for others!”

Ever since that battle after which the steward was forced to wear a blindfold with only one eye remaining, there was no peace between the Merry Forest and Three Lives Pavilion. They tried to take advantage of each other at any possible moment and were like fire and water.

It was unknown how many secret battles had occurred between them during this time, but both parties were stained with blood.

So in truth, the City Lord hadn’t been unprepared for this moment. He took out two more demon crystal cards and said, “Great Deer City cannot be lost. This involves all of our vital interests. But as the City Lord, my responsibility is even greater. Thus, these two demon crystal cards list the compensations I have prepared. After the beast tide is over, I will certainly fulfill it.”

The Three Lives Pavilion steward took a demon crystal card. His lone eye immediately lit up. “The City Lord’s compensation is tempting, but…”