Chapter 70: Repercussions
Snake Rat Island.
The deep curtain of night was falling upon the castle, the light coming from the windows were as orange red as roasted meat finally taken from the flame, an indescribable exhaustion seeping from it.
In the castle study, Tan Qiu was still handling official business.
He gazed at the report, it was obviously just a thin piece of paper, however, it weighed heavily in his hands.
Although they had repelled the demons, it had cost Snake Rat Island a lot.
It had all been at the cost of the expenditures Tan Qiu had painstakingly developed.
Immense damage had been done.
“I have to bring people ion. The current slave market price though…”
The demons had attacked the heartland of Snake Rat Island, Tan Qiu’s sole economic center in his territory.
There were two thousand casualties, a hundred buildings ruined, but fortunately, no major facilities were destroyed.
“Should I be glad that Snake Rat Island’s development has been stagnant? If not, the damages would be even more painful!” Tan Qiu bitterly laughed.
“If it wasn’t for the three party deal giving me some people, the circumstances now would be even worse.”
Snake Rat Island’s greatest resource was its underground magic beasts. Likewise, their biggest industry was magic beast hunting. Apart from this, two important pieces of infrastructure that were spared were the lumber yard and mine, because they were in two other villages.
The most important facility in the coastal town. Excluding the castle, was the port.
The port hadn’t been the focus of the demon’s offensive.
“If the port as attacked, the consequences would have been unthinkable.” When Tan Qiu thought of that, he had a little lingering fear.
He continued to carefully think back, and his brows creased when he sensed that Mo Kong’s attack was a little too much of a tiger’s head, but a snake’s tail.
Lan Lu was dead, the demons were routed, and Rou Zang and his crew hadn’t appeared.
“What did the other party do?”
“What was their intentions?”
“Don’t tell me this was only a smokescreen to attract our attention, while in reality, they have secretly arranged something?”
When Tan Qiu thought that his complexion grew uglier.
Underneath his own castle, there had been a nearly gold level magic formation hidden there.
A bomb had been buried under his bedroom.
How awful!
“I have to investigate this thoroughly, the entire castle must be examined!”
Tan Qiu secretly resolved himself.
“Rou Zang, you have wounded me, I will return that to you a hundredfold!” Tan Qiu’s heart was anguished, depressed, and doubtful mixed with a strong indignation and abhorrence towards Rou Zang.
“My Lord, there is a situation.” At that moment, a steward rang the study’s door bell.
“Come in, what’s the matter?” Tan Qiu raised his head.
He looked unperturbed.
If it had been an urgent matter, he wouldn’t be reporting like this.
During the day, there had been a serious demon attack, thus everything that happened after that related to Rou Zang felt like mere trifles.
But the steward looked a little panicked.
“The townspeople have all been roused by nightmares. Many people noticed that they were emitted black smoke, similar to what happened during the battle.”
“The town is already starting a disturbance. Many people have assembled by the castle to appeal to you, my Feudal Lord.”
“Eh?” Tan Qiu went to the window at once and looked down.
Sure enough, he saw a group of people gathering in front of the castle’s gate, and the amount was increasing.
Tan Qiu gazed into the distance, and because of the castle’s high elevation, he saw that many parts of the town were lit up. From time to time, howls of fright could be heard.
The town hadn’t been peaceful and stable after the battle, anxiety had spread.
Tan Qiu’s face grew even uglier.
The port.
The forecastle was shrouded in darkness, only a few strands of starlight peeped from a window.
The big guy curled up his body to hide himself and shrink into a corner.
A faint black smoke emitted from his body.
He was having a nightmare.
In the execution square, Jia Sha, wearing the lordly clothes of Tan Qiu, was proclaiming, “This little guy is guilty, this little guy’s father is guilty, you are all guilty! Beheading, they shall be beheaded!”
The executioner raised his axe high.
Clack.
The axe went down, cutting off Cang Xu’s head.
Clack.
The axe descended again, removing Zi Di’s head.
Zong Ge wanted to resist, but with a clack, his head too was removed.
It was the dragonman youngster’s turn.
“Don’t, don’t behead my father!” The big guy howled, then rushed from the house he was hiding in to attack the punishment platform.
He was quickly stopped by the city guard commander, and couldn’t advance.
The executioner raised their axe up, the ruthlessly swung down.
“No!” The big guy yelled.
Cang Xu was meditating.
Before he knew it, black smoke was wafting from his body.
His tranquil mind was suddenly filled with distracting thoughts.
A luxuriously decorated room.
The Bai Zhen clan elder, “These are two divine artifacts?”
“Correct.” Cang Xu, the dragonman youngster, and the others nodded.
The Bai Zhen clan elder caressed the Green Jade Gold Coffin and the Mermaid Fairy Tale, then looked at a scroll.
It was an endless paper, and inside was listed all of War Merchant’s various alchemy materials.
The Bai Zhen clan elder was enthralled as he read, and clicked his tongue incessantly in approval.
“Can our problem be solved?” Cang Xu asked.
“Not a problem at all!” The Bai Zhen clan elder interrupted, he lifted his head and smiled, “I will immediately recommend you all to a noble, he can perfectly solve your problem and redeem you.”
A bookcase slid open.
It turned out to be a secret door.
A Sheng Ming Church archbishop walked through.
He was accompanied by a group of templar knights,
Templar knights also broke through the window, and surrounded the survivors.
The dragonman youngster, Zong Ge, and the others grew furious.
Zi Di grew icy and questioned, “Bai Zhen clan elder, what is the meaning of this?”
“You think that abducting my son and contributing these divine artifacts can redeem you?”
“Hehehe, you are too naïve.”
“With these divine artifacts, my own contribution will go up, why should I divide this merit with you?”
“They are indeed divine artifacts!”
“I believe that Heavenly Emperor Sheng Ming will surely give me leniency and allow my clan to have more heirs!”
After saying that, needles flew into the Bai Zhen clan elder’s chest.
The Bai Zhen clan elder coughed blood, and incredulously turned around to see his assassin.
It was the Sheng Ming archbishop.
The archbishop smiled, “These are all my merits, Bai Zhen clan elder, why should I divide it with you?”
“Furthermore…” The archbishop looked at the survivors, he brimmed with a legend level aura, “According to the Blood Light Punishment Institution’s information, there is another treasure more valuable than these two divine artifacts. It is called the Bloodcore, hand it over!”
The fantasy seemed to shove Cang Xu into an icy hole, and for a moment, he couldn’t free himself from it.
“Ah!!” The big guy, with eyes closed tight, bellowed and broke through the forecastle.
The collapse of the forecastle roused Cang Xu.
Cang Xu felt lingering grievance, “How did I get caught in a hallucination?”
“That is?” He saw a strand of black smoke on him.
He promptly ran out and climbed on deck just in time to see the big guy wildly smashing the deck with his limbs and head.
Many roused mercenaries were fearfully watching the big guy’s rampage, none dared to stop him.
“Heavens!”
“How awful!”
“He is destroying the ship, who can stop him?”
A red figure flashed by.
The big guy toppled over with a loud bang, and lost consciousness.
“Captain Long Fu!” The mercenaries shouted with pleasant surprise.
“So direct and efficient.”
“That big guy fell over just like that?”
“Worthy of being our commander!”
The mercenaries exclaimed in admiration when they saw how easily the big guy was subdued.
They scarcely realized that knocking the big guy unconscious was something the dragonman youngster was intimately familiar with.
Zong Ge appeared soon after to placate the other mercenaries.
After stabilizing the situation, the survivors held a meeting.
“The situation is untenable.”
“We all had nightmares!”
“Not only us, but it also seems the same is happening in the town.”
After everyone communicated with each other, they noticed that this was the repercussions of their battle during the day.
They had endured the horn devil’s and Mo Kong’s Fear spells, then afterwards, Guang Ke had used the divine spell - Domain of the Light of Contrition
The survivors had burdened hearts, they had killed Jia Sha on Mystifying Monster Island and now bore the sin of it.
The Domain of the Light of Contrition, in addition to the two Fear spells, had left behind deep psychological trauma.
During the day, their minds were clear, thus they could suppress it. But at night, while they were asleep or meditating, their moods could easily be inundated with many thoughts, thus the repercussions revealed themselves.