There is a progress bar in my cultivation of immortality

Chapter 579 Changes (Part )

Wang Ping's spiritual consciousness followed Yu Lian and Yang Rong's figures and expanded to the surroundings of Qianmu Temple.

There were great changes outside. The first thing he saw was a huge city, the city of Hui County. Except for the Taoist temple built by Qianmuguan and the red boats on the two artificial rivers in the county, the buildings in other urban areas were completely different from what Wang Ping remembered. The urban area was at least three times larger than before and was divided into inner and outer cities.

The county government office in the inner city looks even more imposing than the governor's office. Next to it is the Zhonghui College. Today, the Zhonghui College looks more like a sect, which not only teaches the doctrine of "Humanity", but also teaches disciples to practice magic.

Apart from the county government office and Zhonghui College, the largest barracks in the inner city is the county soldiers' barracks. It is built on the inner city's 瓮城, has independent parade grounds and training grounds, and can accommodate at least three thousand soldiers.

The outer city is mostly markets, workshops and houses, but its scale is a bit too large, and it can be compared with the Shangjing City before its destruction.

The Wang Family Manor, which was originally located in the suburbs, is now also included in the urban area, and it is an independent urban area. Its layout and architecture are not luxurious, but compared with the crowded other urban areas, the Wang Family Manor appears particularly spacious.

In the suburbs, near the city walls, there are various temporary markets and thatched pavilions for rest. Further away are various farms that have been developed relying on waterways. They stretch for dozens of kilometers. On the other side of the river that separates Qianmuguan, the hills that were originally full of trees have all been developed into continuous terraces, and there are man-made water wheels at regular intervals on the terraces.

The original Yongshan County has disappeared, replaced by a number of large mansions. In the nearby mountains and forests, there are more than a dozen Taoist temples marked with the Qianmuguan seal.

There is a straight road paved with rammed earth heading south from the city. It is particularly conspicuous in Wang Ping's spiritual consciousness because there is a sentry tower camp every ten miles.

Its end is the city of Shang'an on the seaside. The fields around the suburbs of the city are all overgrown with weeds, and it is obvious that they have been abandoned for a long time. This is impossible for an agricultural civilization unless there is a war.

Looking inside the city again, it turned out that the entire city had become a military fortress, with an elite force of 20,000 stationed there. The dock was full of fortresses, and there were 10,000 aquatic soldiers standing near each fortress, closely observing any movement on the sea ahead.

There is a small fleet patrolling in the distant sea, with three incoming monks in charge. Judging from this posture, they should be preventing a sneak attack from the fleet of the Southeast Islands.

When Wang Ping saw this arrangement, the first thing he thought of was that the civil war in Linshui Prefecture had spread to the Zhongzhou continent.

Towards Wudaofu, a hundred miles away from Zhonghui County, the scene suddenly became completely different. Except for some small villages gathered along the river, there was no county town at all. In Xinhu County adjacent to Wudaofu, there was only a Taoist temple established by Qianmuguan, and other areas were all jungles.

Entering Huaifu County of Wudaofu, it is similar to Xinhu County. There is only one Taoist temple called Qianmuguan. There are a few scattered villages on both sides of the river near the temple, and other areas are uninhabited.

Continuing to go deeper into Wudaofu, the questions in Wang Ping's mind were answered, because he saw traces of fighting between the inbound monks in many places.

This is the world after the second-level cultivators were restrained as mentioned above. It seems that order has been achieved, but hidden beneath the order is a greater chaos. Moreover, this chaos is out of control, turning the Zhongzhou world into a political structure like the Hushan Kingdom.

Continuing deeper into Wudaofu, we finally found people living around Baishui Lake. It is a city built on the bank of Baishui Lake, and its scale is equal to the previous prefectural city!
"After the Chu court was defeated, the new emperor, faced with internal and external troubles, had no choice but to follow the advice of his ministers and delegate power to various prefectures and counties. He appointed dozens of military governors in just two years, and the effect was very obvious. Soon, the internal rebellion was effectively suppressed, and the external debts were repaid by the major families." Xia Wenyi was introducing to Wang Ping the major events that happened in Chu during his seclusion. "After that, everyone lived in peace for more than ten years, and the emperor gradually gained control of the court, but his decrees were only effective in Nanlin Road. No one paid attention to him outside of Nanlin Road."

"This is almost the same situation as before Master's retreat. Taoist Ziluan wanted to repeat his old tricks, but unfortunately after more than ten years of recuperation and with the lessons learned from the past, the major families took the lead in launching a coup to sideline the emperor and announced in a high-profile manner that they would establish a new emperor..."

"Master Ziluan was naturally unwilling to give up, and secretly gathered dozens of monks who had entered the country, including several of our disciples. However, the other side was well prepared. The two sides fought for more than ten years, destroying hundreds of sects, but hundreds of sects stood up again."

Wang Ping immediately understood and asked, "Is there a monk from another region secretly supporting them?"

Xia Wenyi said affirmatively: "Of course there are, otherwise we would have killed them all long ago. But there is nothing we can do about this. We will also support some sects and forces in other regions, such as the nearby Liangjiang region."

Shen Xiaozhu continued, "This fight is an unsolvable situation. In the end, it is the ordinary people who suffer. After more than 20 years of fighting, the territory of Chu was almost completely emptied. Then, no one expected that the Southeast Islands would suddenly attack us. Shang'an Prefecture City was once occupied by them."

Xia Wenyi sneered, looked at the silent Liu Shuang, and said: "I don't know if those people in the Southeast Sea are crazy. They actually landed in the southern and northern cultivation worlds at the same time. So, we temporarily put aside our grudges. After more than ten years of war, we finally drove them out of the Central Continent. Then, we have the current situation."

Wang Ping picked up the teacup and asked, "The unusual movements in the southeastern sea area should be related to the civil war in Linshui Prefecture, right?"

Xia Wenyi answered again: "Yes, according to the information from Taoist Yuanzheng and Uncle Guangxuan, the sudden attack on the Central Plains by the Southeast Sea was launched by the Seventh Prince of Linshui Prefecture to plunder supplies. Almost all the cities they captured were plundered, including the population."

"In addition to the years of war, many places in Shang'an Prefecture are no longer inhabited. In addition, some inbound monks act recklessly. Even though the court issues a land reclamation order every year to encourage the people to reclaim wasteland in uninhabited areas, few people respond."

Wang Ping couldn't help but sigh at the complexity of the situation. The situation he was facing now was something he had never encountered before even if he had read through all the thousands of years of history he had read in his previous life. It could only be said that this was indeed a world of cultivation.

But on second thought, the situation is not that complicated. As long as those behind the scenes can sit down and have a good talk, and redivide the Zhongzhou pie clearly, then maybe it will only take more than ten years for Zhongzhou to be reunified.

But it’s probably not the time yet!
While he was thinking about this question, he looked up at the sky. Yang Rong and Yu Lian had returned, and Hu Qianqian was following behind them.

Then, another breath came from the other side.

It’s Xuan Ling!
Wang Ping couldn't help but ask, "Where is Taoist Zuo Xuan?"

The other three were silent for a while, and finally Liu Shuang answered: "Senior Zuo Xuan failed to advance to the third realm twenty years ago. Finally, with the help of fellow Taoist Ruan Chunzi, he used her last life energy to help junior sister Zuo Liang advance to the second realm. Not long after that, she passed away in her own Taoist temple."

(End of this chapter)