I've already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and you're saying I didn't time travel?

Chapter 146 A First in History! Today!
It took less than two hours for the video of the Karzimbe tragedy to be uploaded online by survivors and then spread around the world.

The news sent shockwaves around the world.

Many countries, including many people, are not only shocked by the deaths and injuries on the scene.

The casualty figures at the scene were not low, with rough estimates suggesting there were as many as 20,000 to 30,000, which is roughly 60 to 70% of the total population of the Kalzinbe tribe. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the entire tribe was wiped out overnight.

But casualties of 20,000 to 30,000 are nothing compared to the horrors of wars like World War I and World War II. Even in the last ten years or so, there have been many wars with casualties at that level.

Especially since the neighboring Da Mao and Er Mao are still fighting, the number of casualties has long reached hundreds of thousands or even millions, and people have long been numb to the casualty figures.

The Karzimbe tragedy still sends chills down the spines of countless people and prompts many countries to issue strong condemnations internationally.

This is because the Shabaki tribe, which took the initiative to attack in this war, broke international conventions and crossed the bottom line for many people.

They actually released cicada nests during the war!
While the entire Kalzinbe was completely unprepared, the cicada nest was suddenly dropped in the center of the tribe. A large number of ghost cicadas flew in all directions, hunting down many sleeping Kalzinbe people. Some adult cultivators at the Transformation Realm or the Innate Realm might be able to keenly sense that something was wrong, but out of the more than 40,000 people in the entire tribe, how many had reached the Transformation Realm or even the Innate Realm?

Most elderly people, children, and even women were drained of their life force by the cicada before they even had a chance to react.

However, once they realize what's happening, it becomes difficult for them to organize a defensive offensive in a short period of time.

The tribe was thrown into chaos instantly.

The Shabachi tribe, which had been waiting outside, launched a surprise attack in an instant, and the entire Kalzinbe was easily defeated.

Shabach easily won the war, severely damaging his long-time adversary with whom he had fought for centuries, and nearly erasing him from the planet Earth.

However, this was not due to their increased combat power, but rather because they deployed cicada nests during the battle.

This marks the first time in human history that a cicada's nest has been used as a weapon.

Given the destructive power of a cicada's nest, it certainly qualifies as a weapon, and is even a weapon of mass destruction with a power comparable to a thermobaric bomb. It is a powerful weapon that many small, technologically underdeveloped countries or even tribes can possess.

Moreover, after deploying the cicada nest, the cicada will only accurately hunt enemies without damaging facilities or buildings, thus preserving enemy assets to the greatest extent possible and truly eliminating people while leaving behind property.

In addition, by preying on the battlefield, cicada nests can produce more cicada sap, which is another huge gain.

It can be said that when Cicada Nest is put into actual combat, it can even make war extremely cost-effective, turning war into an industry where the income exceeds the investment.

Even though cicada nests have so many advantages for actual combat, governments around the world, including the general public, will still strongly resist the deployment of cicada nests in war!

Because cicada nests are an extremely inhumane biological weapon!

Fundamentally, it is no different from bacterial weapons, viral weapons, or even genetic weapons.

If you can accept cicada nests as weapons, then you should also be able to accept anthrax, cholerae, smallpox virus, and so on as weapons.

The prohibition of biological weapons is one of the oldest international conventions.

It's not just because biological weapons are inhumane and can be used indiscriminately against soldiers and civilians, the elderly and children, but also because once they are completely unleashed, if you can treat others this way today, you may be treated the same way tomorrow.

Therefore, resisting biological weapons is one of the most important bottom lines for every country.

But now, the bottom line has been crossed.

You could say that the Shabaki, as members of an African tribe, have a low level of understanding and don't know about international conventions and draft laws, or you could argue that they mistakenly believed the enemy had the ability to deal with cicada nests, but the enemy failed to do so.

But regardless, the damage has already been done, and numerous cases of injury and death have been laid bare before everyone.

This is a foregone conclusion!
Someone has to pay the price for this outcome!

The United Nations immediately launched an international investigation and accountability mechanism to hold the Shabaki tribe accountable for releasing cicada nests during the war, based on the principles of the BWC and international law.

In accordance with Chapter VII of the UN Charter, economic and military sanctions were imposed on the Shabaki tribe, forcing them to surrender their cicada nests.

Humanitarian aid was provided by sending medical teams to support and provide relief to survivors of the Kalzimbe tribe.

That morning, as soon as the live stream started, the chat was flooded with comments from viewers:
"I just saw the aerial footage of the Kalzinbe site. It was so horrific. There were corpses everywhere that hadn't been collected yet."

"In order to win the tribal war, I never expected that someone would be so ruthless as to use a cicada nest."

"After this battle, even if the Kalzinbe clan is not wiped out, they will probably be severely weakened and will find it difficult to resist Shabach in the future."

"Even if we cannot resist, the seeds of hatred have been sown. The grudges of the century-long blood war will continue to extend and will never be resolved. If a weapon of the same type as the Cicada Nest appears in the future, Kalzinbe may very well repeat Shabach's actions today."

"Therefore, it is still necessary to prohibit the use of such weapons in combat. Otherwise, if everyone plays like this, sooner or later everyone's population will be completely wiped out."

"That's true, but there are always some ruthless people in this world. And as humans develop the land and islands more and more, and even set foot on floating continents in the future, similar cases will inevitably continue to occur. There are quite a few tribes or countries in this world that have a long-standing feud."

"Is there any punishment scheme that can restrain this kind of behavior? I don't think the economic sanctions from the United Nations are very effective. The Shabachi tribe doesn't have much external economic activity at all, so the sanctions are practically useless."

"The more modern and civilized a country is, the more frequently it interacts with the outside world, the more significant the power of economic sanctions will be. But this thing has little effect on Shabach. I think the punitive measures should be demonstrated in other ways, such as vigorously supporting Karzinbe and letting them live a better life. Through economic comparison, we can ignite Shabach's internal conflicts."

"Now that Karzinbe is living a good life, won't Shabach try to rob us?"

"Nonsense, there are definitely international peacekeeping forces temporarily stationed here. If Shabach still dares to take action under these circumstances, he will truly be courting disaster. Just because you can't deal with Shabach's people doesn't mean you can't deal with Shabach's ruling class."

"I suggest that the chief and decision-makers of Shabach be brought to trial in the International Court of Justice!"

"If you ask me, we should just seal them up in a room full of cicadas for three days."

"Good heavens, he sucked out even the stones!"

……

While netizens were discussing the matter, Qi Xuan also began today's activities.

He rode his Sunday bike slowly across a gravelly area, carrying a bag filled with pre-prepared cold-served rabbit. Every now and then, he would pick out a piece of rabbit meat and pop it into his mouth as a snack.

Although the Bronze Pool can still yield ordinary items, and most of these items are useless to him now, he can occasionally get some good stuff, such as various spices and seasonings.

Otherwise, in this dull and boring wilderness, it would be a pipe dream to think of making any delicious cold-cooked rabbit.

While chewing on spicy rabbit meat, he said to the viewers in the live stream:
"We've now raided the Zhao family's secret territory, taking away quite a few good and bad items. As for our next move, I'm planning to head towards the Zhang family for now."

"As a major family in the surrounding area, second only to the Nangong family, the Zhang family is naturally quite powerful, barely within my exploration range. If they were much stronger, such as the Yuchi family further away, they would already be beyond my exploration capabilities, even though I have already grasped their approximate location."

"Speaking of the Zhang family, this family has a very radical style, unlike other conservatives. They are a typical example of actively dealing with disease and disaster, but they are too proactive. I am convinced that they will have a hard time surviving."

However, considering their tendency to meddle in everything, I have a vague feeling that we might gain far more from their relics than from other families, and we might even discover unexpected clues.

Qi Xuan kept talking, recounting his discoveries and speculations, and the morning's live broadcast quickly came to an end.

However, even after it ended, he didn't stop and continued riding his Sunday bike leisurely.

To be honest, the Zhang family's location isn't very close to here, and considering the drastic change in terrain, it would probably take two or three days to find the family's location.

During this period, he should be able to successfully advance to the sixth level of Qi Refining and obtain the sixth transformation of Qi Refining.

It might take a little longer to break through from the sixth level of Qi Refining to the seventh level.

It wasn't because of the realm barrier, but because advancing to the seventh level required him to store more spiritual power within his body.

At the current pace of cultivation, if the concentration of spiritual energy around us does not increase further, it will probably take about half a month.

If this data were to be revealed, it would probably make ordinary cultivators green with envy, but Qi Xuan felt somewhat helpless.

In a great cultivation era with extremely high spiritual energy concentration, with his amazing talent, it would probably take him less than ten days to go from the first level of Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment. Now, limited by the environment, he can only take it slowly.

"When will I be able to draw a few second-grade spirit pills?"

"I don't mean to push me to the Foundation Establishment stage on the spot, but at least raise my Qi Refining level by one or two levels."

"That way, when we face those Foundation Establishment patients in the future, we won't be completely powerless to resist."

Qi Xuan was complaining when Sunday suddenly stopped.

Then, as if it had smelled something, it twitched its nose and walked to the side, quickly arriving at a clump of bushes.

It dug around in the bushes and found a round, red fruit inside.

Then, as if to take credit, he moved the fruit to the side.

"These are the seeds of the Mica Flowing Heart Fruit...?!"

Upon learning the origin of the fruit, Qi Xuan was quite surprised.

Mica molten core fruit is the fruit that grows on the mica molten core tree and has very magical effects.

Its fruit can be eaten or used to refine nourishing pills to greatly increase spiritual power, but the outer shell contains a deadly poison and is often used to refine various poison pills and prepare various poisons.

Mica-like trees typically grow in dangerous areas filled with poisonous miasma, absorbing the miasma from the outside world and condensing it into fruit.

Now its seeds have fallen here, and they look like they've already withered and died. There must be a mica molten heart tree nearby.

According to Zhang Xinglan's map, there is indeed a poisonous swamp ten miles to the left, where even Foundation Establishment cultivators would find it difficult to escape unscathed.

That mica molten core tree probably grew in the poisonous swamp.

Qi Xuan wasn't particularly interested in the poisonous swamp, since it was full of poisonous creatures that would be troublesome to fight and yield little benefit.

Now that the Mica Flowing Heart Tree has been discovered, we probably have no choice but to make a trip there.

If he were to discover a mature Mica Flowing Heart Fruit, it might allow him to advance two or three levels at once.

Even unripe fruit has considerable medicinal value.

Qi Xuan urged Sunday to move forward.

He hadn't gone far when he realized it was almost time for his afternoon live stream, so he decided to start it.

"...Let's see if we can find this mica molten heart tree next."

Having just finished introducing the situation to the viewers in the live stream, I saw a strangely shaped forest of vines and trees in the distance.

"It seems that after the drastic change in terrain, that poisonous swamp was also greatly affected, migrating about four or five miles away from here. Moreover, the poisonous miasma and water vapor inside seem to have evaporated during the migration."

Driven to step onto the parched earth on Sunday, he inexplicably recalled the swamp where the Great Octopus had once entrenched itself.

However, compared to the swamp where aquatic and amphibious monsters frequently appeared, this place was much more desolate and barren. Apart from the vegetation and vines covering the ground, there were hardly any monsters to be seen.

Perhaps all those poisonous insects and creatures migrated away with the miasma. Just as I was thinking this, I could vaguely see a huge fruit tree, more than ten meters tall, ahead.

The tree trunk is white, with a few fruits hanging on it. What's most amazing is that a layer of pink mist surrounds it.

Without a doubt, these miasmas are poisonous. They are absorbed by the mica molten core tree and condensed nearby, both to ensure the nutrition for the fruit's growth and to prevent it from being harmed by external organisms.

It can be said that the Mica Heart Tree has worked quite hard for the growth of its own fruit. Unfortunately, under the poisonous miasma, a huge corpse lies crouching, and two shadows are constantly lurking near the corpse.

"Damn it! We've run into two mutated monsters again!

Upon seeing the face hidden in the shadows, Qi Xuan was completely stunned.

These must be twin brothers; they look exactly alike.

The good news is that their strength in life wasn't particularly high, probably only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, a bit short of the middle stage, roughly between Nangong Yaohua and Zhao Yuehong.

This has caused their current strength to drop to the Foundation Establishment stage, and they haven't even reached the Qi Refining Perfection stage yet, probably only around the eighth or ninth level.

If two Foundation Establishment stage cultivators suddenly appeared like Zhang Xinglan, Qi Xuan would turn around and leave without saying a word.

But since they are only two Qi Refining Stage 8 or 9, we have to show them what it means to fight across levels.

At that moment, Qi Xuan rode Sunday straight ahead.

The two mutated monsters spotted Qi Xuan at the same time and charged towards him together.

"--Roar!"

Just as they were about to collide, Qi Xuan immediately launched into a thunderous roar.

On Sunday, they immediately launched a war of attrition.

Faced with the two monsters that were temporarily controlled, Qi Xuan raised his hand and cast a water arrow talisman, instantly blowing the head off the monster on the left. He then pounced down, and the broken blade of his magic weapon directly slashed across the neck of the monster on the right. With one stroke, the head flew off.

On Sunday, it was like kicking a football; they kicked his head off.

Qi Xuan immediately transformed into a master anatomy, dissecting their limbs with the skill of a master butcher.

Looking at the limbs writhing erratically on the ground, Qi Xuan couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

It's so smooth, incredibly smooth.

Simple, too simple really.

Two opponents whose strength surpassed his by a minor realm were defeated in a single exchange, which made him somewhat complacent, and the confidence that had been severely damaged by Zhang Xinglan before returned.

However, Qi Xuan was very clear that he could not overestimate himself. Although his two opponents were strong, they were ultimately devoid of reason and were completely dominated by their bloodlust. Moreover, they were unable to use any of their trump cards, such as spells and talismans.

To be honest, the two of them combined might not even be as good as a normal seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator.

"Don't be impatient, don't get too carried away!"

Qi Xuan reflected deeply on his actions, then casually used his snake bone spear to knock away the cloth bag from the monster's waist.

Upon opening it, one finds a number of odds and ends: identity tokens, talismans, spirit stones, jade slips, letters, and more.

There was very little usable material, but the few bits of information he found inside made Qi Xuan's brows furrow suddenly.

These twin brothers are from the Sun family and came to the poisonous swamp to harvest mica-infused fruits, following the family's orders.

According to the map provided by Zhang Xinglan, the Sun family was located behind the Zhang family and relatively close to the Yuchi family, sandwiched between the Zhang and Yuchi families.

The crux of the matter is that the Sun family collected the mica-infused fruit in order to prepare venom to deal with the Yuchi family.

This is quite strange.

The Sun family's strength was only slightly greater than the Zhao family's, much weaker than the Zhang family's, let alone compared to the Yuchi family.

Where did he get the confidence to deal with the Yuchi family?

In particular, the Yuchi family also gathered together various major families, including the Zhang family and the Han family.

Aren't the Sun family afraid that once their actions are exposed, they'll be wiped out by the Yuchi family?

His family lived between the Yuchi and Zhang families, making escape difficult.

Qi Xuan always felt that there was something strange about this matter, but so much time had passed that he couldn't guess what the truth was back then, nor did he know whether the Sun family had succeeded.

However, the two Sun brothers who came to pick fruit were very unlucky and perished in the poisonous swamp.

There was no way around it; just by looking at that huge, wounded corpse, they knew they had run into a fourth-tier demonic beast living in the poisonous swamp.

Facing a fourth-tier monster with thick skin and naturally adapted to the poisonous swamp environment, and fighting on foreign soil in the poisonous swamp, the fact that the two of them were able to successfully kill it was already a remarkable achievement.

Unfortunately, they were probably seriously injured in the battle, and the surrounding poisonous miasma further eroded them, ultimately leaving them here forever, transforming them into two monsters guarding the Mica Heart Tree.

Qi Xuan thought for a moment, then casually dissected the bodies of the two Sun brothers.

What puzzled him was that the bones of the two Sun brothers, like Zhang Xinglan's, showed no abnormalities or bone spurs, just like those of normal cultivators.

However, this is quite inconsistent with the fact that they were transformed after death.

"Could it be the effect of the Essence Dew?"

"The Yuchi family also tried to win over the Sun family, giving them the Ninghua Dew. However, the Sun family later accidentally discovered that the Ninghua Dew actually had some kind of side effect, so they hardened their hearts and rebelled?"

This guess does make sense.

Whether this is the truth or not is hard to say.

Perhaps the Sun family was too greedy and wanted to harm the Yuchi family to seize the medicine formula.

Both are possible.

Qi Xuan glanced at the scattered corpses on the ground, then shifted his gaze to the Mica Flowing Heart Tree not far away, and strode over.

The pinkish miasma was highly toxic, yet Qi Xuan seemed to be in an uninhabited place, completely unaffected.

The enhanced toxin resistance of the silver-winged goat honey is still working strongly.

When he arrived at the tree, he was dismayed to find that many of the fruits on it had died, probably because the poisonous miasma had spread too much and they were deprived of nutrients, causing them to gradually die.

I wish I could have come sooner.

But then I thought, even if I came earlier, he wouldn't be able to defeat two monster guards anyway.

In the end, Qi Xuan could only pick the one lucky one, a green fruit no bigger than a tennis ball.

"Although it's not fully ripe yet, the pulp inside is enough to push me to the sixth level of Qi Refining and still have some left over."

"Sixth level of Qi Refining, today is the day!"

Qi Xuan turned off the live stream, peeled off the fruit's outer shell, and took a bite.

……

Africa.

Shabachi tribe.

Chief's Room.

The crumpled pistol was carelessly tossed aside, and Thomas walked across the sticky Persian carpet, his black suit almost stained red with splattered blood. Facing a dozen or so tribal warriors, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Chief Sankoche, who was being protected by the warriors.

"Why?!"

"Why do this?!"

"I was already planning to let go of the tribal feud, so why are you forcing me like this?!"

Seeing Thomas's ferocious expression, Sankoche calmly said:

"Hatred does not change according to personal will. You are the only heir of Karzinbe. Once the old chief dies, you will definitely inherit the entire Karzinbe. Once you ascend to this position, you will know that countless people around you will urge, push, and force you to go to war, to plunder, and to destroy the mortal enemies living next door!"

“I had considered reconciliation and even tried to persuade the tribe’s leaders. I was almost successful, but then the news spread that you had become the first Grandmaster in Europe, and all the leaders who had previously supported me turned against me on the spot!”

"No one can bear the thought that the heir of the enemy tribe is an exceptional genius! They fear that you will plunder their wealth, that you will crush their lives, and that you will lead the Kalzinbe in a massive invasion, enslaving the entire Shabach!"

"Even if you can't do it for the time being, even if you don't have this idea for the time being, the mere possibility of it has already tormented countless people to sleepless nights."

"Ultimately, with everyone's tacit approval, the war broke out."

“We received news that you would be returning from Europe with your fiancée. We have arranged everything, including the Cicada Nest. In fact, it was not to slaughter Karzinbe, but to make you save people, to deplete your strength, and ultimately to successfully surround and kill you.”

"But we never expected that you wouldn't be able to come back because of the flight delay. All our plans have become a joke. Even though we won a great victory against Karzimbe, we all knew you would come back. We just didn't expect you to come back so quickly."

Thomas stared at Sankoche in the distance, then suddenly let out a bitter laugh:
“My father spent a huge sum of money to send me to Europe to study, trying to make me a civilized person and keep me away from tribal conflicts. But in your eyes, conflict seems to be engraved in my blood and has never left me.”

"On this day, I should have been receiving congratulations from my people with Ronnie and the child in her womb, preparing for our upcoming wedding, and traveling the world to see a wider world."

"But why...why did you capture me? Why did you drag me into this century-old blood feud?!"

"Why did you kill my people? Why did you kill my father? Why did you kill my wife? Why did you kill my unborn child?!"

Why should I allow hatred to continue to spread within me?!

Why are you forcing me to go on a killing spree?!

Sankoche remained indifferent and silent.

Thomas tilted his head back and murmured:
"I will become the ghost of Karzinbe! To end this century-old blood feud!"

Without further hesitation, he lunged forward.

Sankoche pressed the button, detonating the landmine on the spot.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, Thomas, covered in blood, charged out once more!

(End of this chapter)