Chapter 4529 — True Purpose
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Though the human sects were formidable, in the Southern Sea waters alone, all the human cultivators put together were no match for their spirit beast clan. A few powerful spirit beasts sent out at random would be enough to suppress every human cultivator in those waters—of that there was not the slightest doubt.
So once the order was given, the fate of these human cultivators in the Southern Sea waters was sealed. Confronted with a colossus like the spirit beast clan, they had no strength to resist at all. Any who refused would be ground to dust and splintered bone.
For the spirit beast clan this was a venture with no investment at all—a slab of fat, dripping with grease, hung right before their eyes. One word from above, and they could swallow it whole at any moment.
Listening to the voices rising and falling all around, the Azure Dragon turned and exchanged a smile with the Vermilion Bird. This was a plan they had arranged long ago. Levying taxes was only the first step; and judging by the reaction in the hall, this crucial first step had plainly succeeded.
"Just as I expected. That ambitious creature the Vermilion Bird truly has no notion of what it means to be content. No sooner has he seized control of the spirit beast clan than he begins raking in wealth on a grand scale. The scoundrel is far too greedy. If he is allowed to run rampant like this, the spirit beast clan will be doomed, alas..." the ghost-thing sighed helplessly.
Wei Zhao nodded in agreement. Levying taxes on the human cultivators of the Southern Sea waters—on the face of it, that sounded reasonable enough, and not unreasonable at all.
After all, the Southern Sea waters were attached to the Southern Isle and, in theory, really did belong to the spirit beast clan's territory. Even renting a house required paying rent; how much more so when this many human cultivators lived and multiplied in the Southern Sea waters?
But the problem was that the human cultivators had not come to the Southern Sea waters only in the last year or two. For a thousand years and more they had dwelt here generation after generation. Their understanding of and identification with the Southern Sea waters was, if anything, greater than that of the spirit beast clan. Judging purely by the span of time, one could call them the masters of these waters without any exaggeration.
For a thousand years, the human cultivators of the Southern Sea waters and the spirit beast clan of the Southern Isle had been separated by only a stone's throw, yet the two sides had always lived in peace. Now that rule was being broken for the sake of the Vermilion Bird's private ambition—could this multitude of human cultivators in the Southern Sea waters possibly accept it?
As the saying goes, every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost. For the sake of spirit jade, a mere worldly possession, many would cut down even their own blood brothers without a moment's hesitation. No one would willingly hand over the spirit jade in his grasp! Even if a human sect came to enforce the taxes, the Southern Sea waters could not avoid turmoil—let alone when the tax collectors were the spirit beast clan, their born adversaries...
Once the levying of taxes began without warning, it was foreseeable that a bitter fight would be unavoidable. Even if these human cultivators of the Southern Sea waters were no match for the spirit beast clan, when truly driven to the point where there was no retreat, there would always be those who could not help but rise up in revolt.
With the spirit beast clan's overwhelming strength, crushing these human cultivators of the Southern Sea waters would be more than easy!