Chapter 384: The Robbery of Pang Feiyun (4th edition) (1/2)
Chapter 384: The Robbery of Pang Feiyun (4th edition)
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
In the Four Eastern Regions,
the Central Mainland, Penglai, Yingzhou, Buddhist Abbot.
Among all the lands, the most expansive was the Central Mainland Region with the Penglai Region possessing the most Spiritual Qi. This was precisely because of the breadth of the Central Mainland Region, where the Immortal Palace, Dragon Thunder Palace, Bigwheel Temple, and Jade Pool had chosen to build their sects. And it was precisely because of the fact that the sects of the four major powers were all in the Central Mainland Region that the Divine Wind Palace simply had no means to seize control of the region. Even if they were stronger, it would have been simply impossible to simultaneously compete with the four major powers.
As these sects differed from the Divine Wind Palace, the four major powers did not harbor any desire to fight for territory with the Divine Wind Palace. Hence, everyone lived peacefully together up until the present day.
However, things had taken a turn. In recent years, the world had seen a great deal of change. The Jin Dynasty's Northern Yuan was only a prelude to something bigger. In fact, in addition to the Jin Dynasty, there had been mutual confrontations in other fields. For one or two countries to be destroyed overnight it could still have been said to be an occasional anomaly, but the frequency of such destruction was too high for it to be accepted as normal.
It was extremely abnormal.
It should be noted that although there were many countries in the Seven-deity Regions, the real power belonged ultimately to the behemoth sect, the Divine Wind Palace. The shadow of these sects could be traced throughout the rise and fall of every dynasty.
To make the most straightforward comparison: the Three Great Sects of the Jin Dynasty were all significant spokespersons of these huge sects in the mortal world. As they controlled a place's power and resources on behalf of the powerful sects, they influenced a dynasty's rise and downfall. Therefore, in general, events such as the national annihilation of a country were more or less related to these powerful sects. This time it was obviously not. The demise of Northern Yuan was so sudden that there was no time to react at all. In the ensuing investigation, everyone was surprised to find that the collapse of the great empire of Northern Yuan was entirely caused by a few coincidences and a few men whose only fear was peace in the world. Behind their backs, there was no trace of a powerful sect.
Subsequently, be it the Four Eastern Regions or the Three Western Regions, similar events happened one after another. The next was the emergence of remnants of the Fiery Eyes during a once in a millennium meeting in Taiyuan Heaven and Ye Qingtian's possession of the Fairy Weapon, the North Pole Frozen Wheel. A series of events took place in succession that made even the dullest people aware that this world was on the brink of change.
As the real rulers of the Seven-deity Regions, these giant sects naturally felt more powerful. This sense of threat had not been felt for tens of thousands of years. But as for the exact nature of the threat, no one really knew. Even the mighty people of these powerful sects were not able to discern the source of this sense of threat despite using all sorts of means to do so. However, they all began to take precautions. If the Divine Wind Palace's sinister plotting toward Taiyuan Heaven began a thousand years ago, or perhaps even further back, then they spontaneously decided to focus on the Azure Secret Area after their plot had failed.
Although even fools knew that the Azure Secret Area was perhaps the Divine Wind Palace's backup plan when the plan to seize Taiyuan Heaven had failed, the Divine Wind Palace's response was too hasty. If a common adage was used to describe the situation, it was like eating without manners.
If it were not for the huge sense of threat that they felt, they would not have been so anxious. They could have waited a few decades or even a hundred years to obtain sufficient bargaining chips to negotiate with the big powers that controlled the entrances of the Azure Secret Area and it still would not have been too late.
The Seven-deity Regions was situated in a bizarre place susceptible to strong winds and rain. The Divine Wind Palace's actions were no doubt a prophecy to everyone that a storm was imminent.
When storms approached, it was generally the time when all kinds of conflicts, both external and internal, occurred together.
The conflict of interests among the School of Five Virtues was only a miniature version.
Zhou Bao's formation map of the Yin and Yang Dust Formation was the exact trigger for this conflict of interests.
With the step-by-step expansion of both the land and power of the Wuyang Region, management issues of the entire territory gradually became apparent. Zhou Bao was skilled and powerful enough to suppress all hostile forces, but to be honest, he was not a good managerial talent. Be it internal affairs or diplomacy and the like, he was totally clueless about them. Therefore, he decentralized his territories and handed their matters over to Jiang Xiao. In the beginning, the territory was only a small town, so Jiang Xiao could still manage it. However, the territory had now grown huge and talent issues, especially the management of talent, had become a problem.
Renzhen Cuo used to be a princess. She had a lot of prestige and managerial skills in the northwest region, so to make her a maidservant was a slight waste of talent. Hence, Zhou Bao decided to release her from her post as a maidservant, teach her powerful martial arts, and prepare her to be his subordinate.