met free Chapter 223 3 years later
Chapter 223 3 years later
Chapter 223 Three Years Later
Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye since the Battle of Refining Heart City.
In the battle of Lianxin City back then, both the Martial Elders Association and the Clan Alliance suffered considerable losses.
In this battle, the Martial Elders Association lost all five hundred martial artists, including three Grandmasters and more than a dozen Grandmaster-level martial artists, which can be said to have caused them considerable damage.
The alliance suffered even greater losses.
Although they only lost one Grandmaster, Sheng Chunshui, in this battle, and the number of martial artists they lost was not as many as that of the Martial Elders Association, most of these martial artists were students from various academies.
Many of these students are outstanding scions from various prestigious and wealthy families, and are the kind of students that these families are striving to cultivate.
After this battle, some super-powerful clans fared well, but among the second-tier clans, many clans lost their lineage and never recovered.
Those martial artists who survived the ordeal in Lianxin City that day remembered it vividly. In their hearts, Lianxin City was a living hell.
Every street and alley was piled high with the corpses of martial artists, but even more were civilians. According to those who later cleaned up the battlefield, many low-lying areas were filled with blood, and corpses could even float on them; it was truly a scene of blood flowing like rivers.
Those martial artists who were lucky enough to survive will not forget that, apart from City Lord Sheng Chunshui, who perished with two Grandmasters of the Martial Elders Association, they owed their survival to two other people to a great extent.
One is Master Xu Mingyang, who threw himself into the city's protective formation at the last moment, and the other is Master Xiao Chong, Master Xu's disciple.
If it weren't for Master Xiao desperately holding off the last remaining Grandmaster of the Martial Elders Association, using his own flesh and blood to delay the opponent for a short while, Xu Mingyang probably wouldn't have had the chance to activate the power of the city-protecting formation.
Everyone who sees or hears about Master Xiao single-handedly blocking the breach in the city's protective formation at the city gate, his blood gushing out, is filled with respect and gratitude.
Yet, when the battlefield was being cleaned up and the dead were being counted after the war, no trace of him could be found.
Also missing were four companions who fought alongside Master Xiao.
Of Master Xiao's four companions, people only remember one handsome young man named Long Wu, while the other three are not well remembered.
A chubby boy always addressed Master Xiao as a brother, a skinny little girl seemed to be Master Xiao's maid, and the last boy was the oldest, but he left the most vague impression on people.
The survivors could only keep Master Xiao's disappearance firmly in their hearts, because they had no time to grieve. They had to continue fighting against the Wu Lao Association and avenge the relatives or friends who had died around them.
The Clan Alliance and the Martial Elders' Association have now formed a blood feud, fighting for years with endless battles. Every possible place has become a battlefield for both sides, a truly irreconcilable situation.
However, as the battles progressed, the situation gradually turned against the alliance.
The reason is that although the Clan Alliance represents the interests of most people in the Tianyun Continent and has many warriors under its command, it has always been at a disadvantage in terms of high-end combat power.
The Martial Elders' Council has controlled the fate of martial artists on the Tianyun Continent for many years, and its influence is unfathomable. On the other hand, almost half of the martial artists above the Grandmaster level in the Clan Alliance have been summoned away by the Martial Elders' Council and their whereabouts are unknown.
While some martial artists from various powerful families disobeyed the summons, most of them were forced to retreat into seclusion within their families and never venture out again, lest they be targeted by the Martial Elders Association.
Martial artists can only grow stronger through constant battles. Among these martial artists who cultivate in seclusion within their clans, although there are many with profound cultivation, their actual combat strength is often inferior to that of martial artists of the same level in the Martial Elders Association.
Therefore, although the ethnic alliance has achieved some victories in certain local areas over the past three years, it has adopted a defensive posture throughout the war, and the overall situation is worrying.
Fortunately, many warriors who survived the Battle of Refining Heart City during this protracted war gradually grew into capable generals who could stand alone on one side of the clan alliance. They were the new hope of the clan alliance, such as Sheng Xueyan, Hengfeng, and Helian Tieshu...
They were filled with justice, gratitude, and longing. While leading their troops to fight against the Wu Lao Association, they secretly investigated the venerable Master Xiao.
However, Master Xiao remained elusive, as if he had vanished from the face of the earth, and no further news about him could be found in the martial arts world.
……
War can destroy a city, but it can also give birth to a new one.
In the flames of war between the Martial Elders Association and the Clan Alliance, many prosperous cities disappeared overnight, while other previously unknown small cities slowly rose to prominence.
Because people have to live, many who have lost their homes need to find a place untouched by war to resettle.
The Martial Elders' Council generally doesn't interfere with emerging cities that aren't controlled by large families belonging to the clan alliance. Even if they are domineering, they don't want to turn every city into a ghost town, as that wouldn't be in the interest of any party.
There is another important reason for allowing these cities to develop freely: everyone knows that all wars consume resources.
Therefore, due to the intentional or unintentional neglect of the Martial Elders Association and the Clan Alliance, these emerging cities all quickly became transit points for various war resources.
Baisha City is such an emerging city.
It is located in the south-central part of the Tianyun Continent. Because it is close to the Southern Wilderness, few people used to visit it.
Before the war between the Wu Lao Hui and the Clan Alliance broke out, the city had a population of only tens of thousands and was surrounded by a wasteland where you couldn't even find a rabbit dropping.
But after the full-scale war broke out between the two sides, a large number of homeless people began to flock to this place, and in just three years, the population of White Sand City had reached one million.
Every day, a large amount of war supplies are gathered in this city and flow to the front lines. Of course, the vast majority of them end up in the Martial Elders' Association, as the Martial Elders' Association has become the de facto controller of White Sand City.
These are chaotic times. If one wants to struggle and survive in such a chaotic world and gain a glimmer of hope, learning martial arts for self-defense is essential.
Therefore, in this bustling city, besides the merchant guilds that traded large quantities of strategic materials, the most prosperous businesses were the numerous martial arts dojos established by martial artists who specialized in teaching martial arts.
To establish a dojo and make a name for yourself in such a chaotic place, the owner needs to be exceptionally capable to survive, unless you don't compete with others for disciples.
But for any dojo, disciples are the most important resource.
Imagine someone opens a martial arts dojo but no students come to learn. What's the point of keeping it open? In the long run, wouldn't the owner and the instructors starve?
Therefore, the competition between the various dojos has always been fierce, with new dojos appearing almost every day and old dojos disappearing every day, changing like a revolving lantern.
Among all the dojos in White Sand City, the idea of one remaining standing forever is just a legend; opening today and closing tomorrow is the norm.
However, there are always exceptions. For example, the Nameless Dojo was established when White Sand City was just emerging, yet it still stands stubbornly amidst the storms.
The reason is simple, even funny: the Nameless Dojo never competes with other Dojos for disciples. There are only six people in the entire Dojo, five of whom are Masters, and there is only one disciple.