World of Cultivation - Chapter 748

Chapter 748
Chapter Seven Hundred and Forty Eight – The Beginning of Expansion

The re-appearance of Zhong De was akin to an earthquake for all of the Four Realms .

To the young people, this name was unfamiliar . But for those older, they all changed expression when they spoke of him . When people found the life history of this old general from the records, their hearts shook, they stopped breathing, and their lips tasted the thick tang of blood . The heart-shaking battle campaigns, even after fifty years of dust, still caused people’s hearts to beat frantically .

The first thing that Zhong De did after returning was to make a great cleansing of Xi Xuan . He killed so many of the upper ranks that it had never happened before in the history of the Four Realms .

Xi Xuan was dyed in blood, and the central region of Xi Xuan, the Central Plains, was soaked in blood .

Countless Xi Xuan battle generals heard of this, and hurriedly fled in the night .

The outside world learned later that in the span of a short moth, the commanders of thirty nine battalions had disappeared . And in the unprecedented cleansing process, the true number of people from Xi Xuan that were executed was thirty thousand, and not seven thousand as previously believed .

Under Zhong De’s iron fist, not even one rebellion occurred .

Soon, Zhong De whose hands were covered in blood once again showed the world his cruel and vicious style . He did not wait for the sect to finish reorganizing, did not care about the instability of the sect . He suddenly led the Abyss Prison Battalion to appear on the borders of Xi Xuan .

In a lightning fast campaign, he destroyed three factions .

This was a retaliation . The three factions destroyed were the three factions that had recently defeated Xi Xuan’s battalions .

This seemingly normal retaliatory action shocked the world again-

-because the cities were massacred!

Even though fighting had occurred for so many years, massacring everyone was rare, even in battles between the xiuzhe and yaomo .

The seventeen cities of the three jie became a desolate land .

Such cruel actions caused condemnation from the rest of the Four Realms . Crowds of people were furious . They called him cruel, blood-thirsty, savage, and emotionless, butcher and all sorts of other words to describe the old general . But no matter how they criticized, no battalion dared to advance on Xi Xuan . The people were filled with deep terror and fear of this inhuman battle general .

When enough blood had been split, there naturally would be peace .

These became famed words spoken by Zhong De .

All of Xi Xuan trembled . The factions surrounding Xi Xuan trembled .

No one dared to say that Xi Xuan was the second Xuan Kong Temple . Even people who hated Xi Xuan had to admit that Xi Xuan’s rise could not be stopped . Even if its rise was by struggling up from the mud and mired in blood .

Sweeping away its decline, Xi Xuan was at peace again .

However, after five years at rest, the major sects that had focused on their own development had now finished their preparations to fight again .

This time, Kun Lun moved first .

———

Kun Lun had begun to move .

Zuo Mo’s expression was grave . In front of him, everyone else was grave as well . They knew that one day, Kun Lun would become an enemy they had to face . The indescribable pressure of Kun Lun always was a stone weighing on their minds .

“Our present holdings are sixty nine jie,” Gongsun Cha said calmly . “After digesting Xuan Kong Temple, Kun Lun’s dominion is about one thousand and three hundred jie; Tian Huan holds one thousand and one hundred jie; Xi Xuan has not developed much and holds about eight hundred jie; the nine great dhynana sects hold about six hundred jie; Gu Liang Dao’s faction controls one hundred and forty two jie . These are the public numbers and the numbers of those jie controlled secretly are hard to calculate . Also, each faction have always been working to take the surround factions to strengthen themselves . If we face them now, we have no chance of victory . What is fortunate is that between us and Kun Kun there are the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, Tian Huan, and Xi Xuan . While Mo Cloud Sea is slightly remote, there are no strong enemies around, this is our advantage .

The jie map on the wall clearly showed Mo Cloud Sea’s boundaries . Of the entire Four realms, it was a tiny piece .

While everyone was familiar with these numbers, they still inhaled sharply . The enormity of Kun Lun and Tian Huan was suffocating .

He Ming stood up and then said, “In the past few years, our strength has grown quickly . Abundant resources in addition to our great production abilities, as well as our mature trade channels . Our wealth accumulation has been good . The front line battalions have all completely been refitted with the new [Mo Cloud System] shen equipment . It is one of the top battalion shen raiments on the market and the inventory we have is satisfactory . ”

When he spoke of this, the battle generals present nodded and were full of confidence .

This was true . While Mo Cloud Sea was not large at present, but its equipment was among the best of the world . As shen power developed, talismans had gradually left the world’s stage to be replaced by shen equipment .

Shen equipment was the lesser version of shen devices . It was not as powerful as shen device raiments but it did not strain the user as much as shen device raiments did . Most importantly, it was not as expensive to create as shen device raiments .

Mo Cloud Sea’s [Mo Cloud System] shen equipment had always been one of the outstanding shen equipment on the market . Together with [Kun Lun System] and [Tian Huan System] it was ranked as the top tier and collectively were called the three great shen equipment . Even Xi Xuan’s [Xi Xuan System] and the nine great dhyana sect’s [Dhyana System] were on a lower level .

The level of the shen equipment required understanding of shen power, skill in forging, and rich resources .

In the short term, no one would be able to shake the status of the three great systems .

In reality, while Mo Cloud Sea’s territory was not large, there were rarely people who would think of them as a small local power . They produced top level shen equipment, had two top battle generals, they did not have a large territory but had abundant resources . No one dared to look down at them . Inside Mo Cloud Sea were strong beings that were full of confidence and didn’t know what fear was .

Everyone turned to look at Zuo Mo . No matter if it was Gongsun Cha’s analysis or He Ming’s words, the one who would make the final decision would be Zuo Mo .

“We need to expand . ”

When Zuo Mo spoke, everyone became energized, especially the battle generals . They had fought in the past with Lil’ Miss, and felt rusty after being inactive for so many years .

In truth, everyone knew that in the present situation, expansion was their own option .

While Mo Cloud Sea looked as steady as a rock, that was because there was the Nine Great Dhyana Sects in the between them and their enemies . If they waited for Kun Lun and Tian Huan to grow bigger, when the time arrived, they wouldn’t even be able to protect themselves . While the jinzhi defense line was strong, but if Kun Lun and Tian Huan disregarded the loss of life, it would not be difficult to overcome .

Mo Cloud Sea could rival them in elite battalions, but was lacking greatly in normal battalions . Just a battle of numbers was enough to destroy Mo Cloud Sea several times over .

Only by expanding Mo Cloud Sea and strengthening itself, could they possess the power to fight back .

Maybe other people were willing to submit to the other powers, but for the core members of Mo Cloud Sea, this was definitely impossible . The first to disagree would be Zuo Mo . He had great grudges to settle with Kun Lun, Tian Huan, and Xi Xuan . He was fated to only have the path of fighting to the end .

The reason they hadn’t chosen to expand before was that their foundation was shallow . It was easy to conquer territories, but they didn’t have the ability to digest it . Blind expansion would cause internal problems and weaken their defense against other factions . However, after the past several years of development, the present Mo Cloud Sea had the ability to expand now .

“The present question is, which direction do we expand in . ”

Zuo Mo threw out the problem, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became fiery .

“Nine Great Dhyana Sects! They look like they have a lot of people, but they definitely cannot fight . Other than Yang Yuan Hao, they don’t have anyone else . ”

“Yes, the Nine Great Dhyana Sects . I heard that they were fighting among themselves, this is a good chance … …”

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects were the fourth greatest power in the xiuzhe world but their inner conflicts were fierce . Their system was similar to the Yao Council of Elders . The nine sect leaders formed a sect leader council to govern the entire region together .

Since the Nine Great Dhyana Sects were about the same in power, internal conflict had never stopped since the day they formed . It was only a loose alliance that was not united enough .

What was most fatal was that they lacked top battle generals .

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects only had one top battle general, Yang Yuan Hao . This was not equal to their status as one of the four great xiuzhe powers . In comparison, Mo Cloud Sea possessed two top battle generals . No one dared to underestimate them .

If Xi Xuan hadn’t been extremely weak before Zhong De had come back, the Nine Great Dhyana Sects would be the faction that people had the worst outlook on .

Listening to the people chat, Zuo Mo thought inside . He had been pondering this question a long time ago . This kind of strategic decision would directly affect their future development .

“No, we will not fight against the Nine Great Dhyana Sects . ”

Zuo Mo spoke . Everyone immediately closed their mouths to listen carefully .

“The Nine Great Dhyana Sects are like a shield, as long as this shield is not damaged, we do not need to directly face the superpowers like Kun Lun . We should not attack them, rather, we should support them so they do not have to worry about their rear . The best scenario would be for them to fight against Kun Lun and Tian Huan . That is most beneficial for us . ”

Gongsun Cha and Bie Han nodded . Zuo Mo’s analysis was reasonable .

“Hadn’t they always wanted to purchase our [Mo Cloud System] shen equipment? Sell to them! We need to support them as much as we can so they will fight with Kun Lun and Tian Huan . Yang Yuan Hao is very strong, and they will likely be fighting a defensive war on home territory, they the advantage . It will not be easy for Kun Lun and the others to win . ”

Many people nodded inwardly .

“Then where do we expand?” Someone asked in puzzlement .

Other than the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, the others were all small factions . While it was not costly to fight, the benefits were also small .

After taking down fifty six jie in one go, they did not care about these little pieces . These little factions were small in land and scarce in resources .

“We will expand towards the mo territories . ” Zuo Mo’s answer was unexpected .

Everyone stilled but many people’s expressions started to turn existed . The mo territories had vast lands, rich resources . People like A Zha Ge, Shi Dong, and Yi An had desired to expand into the mo territories .

Yet Zuo Mo had always seemed uninterested in the mo territories which had disappointed them .

“Who do we attack first?” Lei Peng’s eyes were bright .

“The Mo Marshal Alliance!” Zuo Mo said unhesitatingly .

Gongsun Cha and Bie Han were slightly surprised . In the Hundred Savage Realm, the Mo Shen Temple was the strongest, followed by the Mo Marshal Alliance led by Marshal Di, then the Heroes Alliance at third . Everyone thought that Zuo Mo would first start with the weakest, the Heroes Alliance, but Zuo Mo unexpectedly targeted the Mo Marshal Alliance .

“Our goal is Hundred Energy Jie . ” Zuo Mo’s heated gave was full of desire .

Translator Ramblings: Mo Cloud Sea is a tiny little thing . Bigger than before but still very small in comparison to the major powers .