Chapter 701: Traveling in the Outer Sea (Part 2)

Things were actually fine in the Great Desert. The Cultivators there, while a bit hot-tempered, were still reasonable. It wasn’t until he came to the Outer Sea, this lawless land, that Lou Yuan’s hard days truly began.

“Why do they have to exterminate an entire sect, not even sparing the mortals? This is a complete island massacre! The lives of thousands—children, the elderly, women—all thrown into the sea to be fed to beasts. Isn’t that just too cruel?”

Jiang Wanqin truly couldn’t understand. In her view, it should have been enough to just eliminate the enemy Cultivators. Mortals had no Spirit Roots and couldn’t wield power, so they posed no threat to Cultivators. Why was it necessary to eradicate them root and stem? Why kill every single one?

The thought of thousands, even tens of thousands of people, being driven into the sea crying and screaming, with swarms of bloodthirsty sea beasts circling below, was more than Jiang Wanqin could accept. Although she had heard of such customs in White Mountain, hearing about it and seeing it were two completely different concepts.

Call Jiang Wanqin a bleeding heart or say her sympathy was overflowing, it didn’t matter. The fact was, she truly couldn’t bear to see so many lives taken at once. Even though she was in White Mountain, a place so ruthless it devoured people whole, the Qingyuan Sect’s status was special. Since its founding, it had never been involved in any wars. With the Great Zhou Academy protecting it from above, the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect supporting it in the middle, and Fang Qingyuan’s own powerful rise from below, Jiang Wanqin had always lived a peaceful life within the sect’s gates. How could she have ever witnessed such a scene?

Now, the violent, tragic images were shattering her worldview. The fact that she could still calmly discuss it with Lou Yuan was already a rare sign of progress.

This was perhaps the difference in mindset between Male and Female Cultivators. Lou Yuan had fought his way up from the very bottom. Even with the Master of Ten Thousand Spiders’ help, he had walked the line between life and death several times. Therefore, when it came to his perspective on life and death, he saw things far more clearly than Jiang Wanqin.

“It’s because of resources. An island only has so much arable land. If you don’t get rid of the original mortals, how can you move in a new population to live there? If it wasn’t for the land, why would anyone risk their lives to engage in a life-and-death battle?

You don’t think a war of sect annihilation is child’s play, do you? You only see the fate of the losers, but the victors’ losses aren’t necessarily small either. So, to win and not claim land, not claim resources… how is that possible? If you have to blame someone, blame their own Cultivators for failing to protect them.”

Lou Yuan analyzed the logic for Jiang Wanqin. Unlike the sects on the mainland, which had fertile soil, the land on islands was often barren due to the environment. On the mainland, one mu of land could support one person. On an island, it took the harvest from three mu to support a single mortal.

Furthermore, islands were also short on fresh water and lacked various supplementary food sources. On smaller islands, the ecosystems were very fragile. If too much land was cleared for farming, the entire system could easily collapse.

Even Cultivators were not omnipotent in the face of nature’s iron laws. Until one becomes an Immortal, they can’t dream of reshaping the world. They simply do not possess that kind of mighty power.

“But they can go fishing, can’t they? The island’s resources are scarce, but the sea’s resources are abundant. Hunting one sea beast would be enough to feed thousands. Why ignore the generous ocean and fixate only on that little bit of arable land on the island?”

In response to Jiang Wanqin’s idea, Lou Yuan stood up and said:

“Come. I’ll take you to see the actual situation. The Outer Sea has operated this way for ten thousand years; there’s bound to be an underlying logic to it. You have to understand that behind every rule lies a very profound, intrinsic reason.”

Jiang Wanqin also rose gracefully. She was very curious to learn why competition in the Outer Sea was so brutal. No wonder the Outer Sea People were all desperate to put down roots on the mainland, even flocking to a place like White Mountain.

Only after Lou Yuan and Jiang Wanqin left did the Shopkeeper wipe the cold sweat from his brow. For a moment there, he thought the two of them might, on a sudden whim, start fighting and tear the whole place down.

With the pair’s departure, the fierce-looking diners nearby began to speak louder, discussing the man and woman’s origins and concocting all sorts of scandalous dramas in their heads.

…..

Eight thousand li from the Quicksand Islands, a fishing boat about twenty zhang long was struggling against a sea beast.

“Quick, release the ‘Reversing Water Halberd’! Keep feeding Spirit Stones into the Array! If this ‘Qi Deficient Spearfish’ breaks through our hull, we’re all going to die!”

Someone on the boat shouted the command. For a fishing vessel, this boat had ventured too deep into the sea.

The Qi Deficient Spearfish before them was a sea beast at the Early-stage Foundation Establishment level. But combat power wasn’t determined by cultivation realm alone. As a massive sea beast, this fish’s power in the water was generally considered a full tier higher.

In other words, the fishing boat was currently facing a huge sea beast equivalent to a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Furthermore, the beast had several Lifebound Talents and immense resistance to all kinds of Water Magic. This meant that unless they could overwhelm it with sheer power, it would be incredibly difficult to take this Qi Deficient Spearfish down.

The battle between them had already raged for hours. It mostly consisted of the Qi Deficient Spearfish trailing the boat, then launching a surprise attack with its Lifebound Talent, the ‘Qi Deficiency Flowing Spear’, and ramming into the vessel.

“Damn it, how did we run into a beast like this? Did it stray into these waters? Or have we overfished this area?”

The captain was full of misgivings. Fishing at sea was all about luck. If you were lucky, you’d catch plenty of fish. If your luck was bad, you’d come back empty-handed. Even worse was running into a situation like this one.