Sword Shatters Stars

Chapter 185 The Harvest Was Hard-Won
Lin Xiufeng accompanied Lin Qiru, floating on their backs on the water, drifting slowly with the current.

The torrential rain continued to fall from the sky, landing on their heads and faces, feeling cool.

Lin Qiru suddenly asked, "Why don't you like going swimming with me?"

Lin Xiufeng knew that Lin Qiru was puzzled by this, so he said it directly:
"I went with you twice, and almost every guy there was staring at you. It was really annoying."

"Maybe he's still too young. He'll be better when he's more mature?"

"However, with the rainy season continuing until now, this problem seems to be almost cured."

Lin Qiru smiled and said, "My father once said something similar."

"I overheard them chatting under the sun umbrellas and on the deck chairs on the shore as I quietly walked around them."

“My mom said, ‘You should be proud and smug, because everyone else can only see me in my swimsuit, and they can only look, not touch.’”

“I think it makes sense.”

Seeing that Lin Qiru's face turned red after she finished speaking, Lin Xiufeng laughed and said:
"That makes a lot of sense. I was just too young back then."

Lin Qiru, not knowing how long she had been floating on her back like that, suddenly asked:

"Isn't drifting along like this a waste of time?"

Lin Xiufeng said with a smile, "My dad once said that time is meant to be wasted. It just depends on how you choose to waste it. Being able to waste it happily is the greatest fortune."

"My uncle's perspective has always been a bit unique." Lin Qiru was deeply impressed by this.

“I’ve always felt this way since I was little, but he himself doesn’t think so at all, saying: ‘No matter what kind of person you are, there are plenty of similar people in the world. You only feel unique and unparalleled when you’re young.’”

When Lin Xiufeng talked about her parents, she still felt a pang of heartache.

However, there were no longer any enemies he hated.

This made him able to accept the fact that his parents were gone, and he was no longer so afraid of remembering them.

While the memories are painful, they are also accompanied by the simple happiness of the past.

Before revenge can be taken, all happiness will turn into resentment towards the enemy!

Therefore, when recalling the past, there is no happiness left, only the pain of losing parents and the pain of revenge.

Revenge is useless; for Lin Xiufeng, that was indeed nonsense.

Lin Xiufeng even suspected that these words might have originated from a certain religion and were then used as a form of psychological comfort by people who had grudges but dared not or could not take revenge.

Lin Qiru accompanied Lin Xiufeng as they reminisced about the past, floating on their backs on the water, chatting...

Time is passing, but they don't care.

It seems that rushing things won't do any good.

When Lin Xiufeng and Lin Qiru arrived at the third search point, they were still faced with waterlogged land formed by the rain years.

The water level has dropped considerably, and due to the terrain, there is not much silt accumulated.

Lin Xiufeng looked down at the water flowing down the hillside, where it branched into many streams, and said with a smile:
"There's no hope here either. Looking at the map, I'm afraid the mutated fish that obtained the beads will eventually drift into the southern sea."

Lin Qiru had conducted searches in the sea surrounding Guwang Volcano and knew the difficulty involved.

Larger mutant beasts have a wider range of perception, and they usually change direction and avoid other large mutant beasts as soon as they detect them approaching.

Unless they encounter a powerful mutated beast like Thor, they don't consider the King of the Snakes a threat.

"It's more difficult at sea; we'll need more manpower. Let's confirm the original target location first."

Lin Xiufeng looked at the map and felt that some targets could be canceled, saying:

"Place targets with significantly lower elevations in the second priority, and focus on confirming the targets with higher elevations."

"Hmm." Lin Qiru had no objection; adjustments were indeed necessary.

They were looking for the beads, and Zhao Youyue was most likely also searching, perhaps even with more people. Zhao Youyue had originally planned to do so.

However, the first location where she confirmed the death of the giant mutated beast turned into a watery land due to the rainy year.

This fact made her realize with a start that the gains would be far lower than expected, so low that it wouldn't be worth revealing the secret of the Soul Bead to others.

Therefore, Zhao Youyue arranged for multiple groups of people to disperse and confirm the target locations of the planned search, and to record those locations that had not turned into water.

Originally, Zhao Youyue did not plan to participate in the search during this period, but instead continued to cultivate the Breaking Sky Team in the plan.

According to Zhao Youyue's initial plan, destroying one village per week on average would allow three to five members of the Breaking Heaven Group at the ninth level of Heavenly Martial Soul to break through to become Heavenly Martial Warriors.

However, the actual process was far from ideal.

The other Heavenly Warriors in the Breaking Heaven Group simply couldn't use Heavenly Martial Power as precisely as she could.

So much so that when other Heavenly Warriors attacked Tianwu Po's Achilles tendons, the Heavenly Warrior power they poured in directly blew Tianwu Po apart.

Those with exceptional control also managed to blast Tianwu Po's leg.

It may have looked like only one leg was blown off, but in reality, the Heavenly Martial Power within Tianwu Po's body was almost completely exhausted by this attack.

There was simply no Heavenly Martial Power left for the members of the Breaking Heaven Gang to kill and absorb.

The original plan to bring out a few Heavenly Warriors to help a group of members break through was not actually realized.

Furthermore, a significant proportion of the members of the Breaking Heaven Gang, who were at the ninth level of the Heavenly Martial Soul Realm, simply could not accept this approach.

Of the initial group members, eight or nine out of ten left, and the dropout rate is still just as high among the newly recruited members.

Because of the propaganda spread by members who left the group, Zhao Youyue's method of massacring the village quickly became known, making it very difficult to recruit new members.

The members of the Heavenly Martial Gang in the central city all regarded the Broken Heaven Gang as devils, demons, butchers...

Members of the Fanpo Tiantuan were not welcomed wherever they went, and their former friends distanced themselves from them.

A significant number of members left the group because they couldn't stand it.

The Breaking Sky Team quickly became unable to maintain full strength, and despite continuous recruitment, the total number of members kept decreasing.

What angered Zhao Youyue even more was—

A significant proportion of the Heavenly Warriors trained have run away!

The reasons were all the same: they couldn't stand being isolated and looked down upon as members of the Potian group, they remembered her kindness, and they would definitely repay her when they had the chance.

Then, he was transferred to another branch in Dream Continent!
Yes, not only did he leave the group, he also went to another branch!

Despite the infamy, Zhao Youyue nurtured many warriors in the Breaking Heaven Group, but they gradually left the group and went to other branches!
Of the nine Heavenly Warriors trained so far, five have left the group and three have been transferred away.

Each of these realities dealt a blow to Zhao Youyue, but the departure of the Heavenly Warriors from the group was an even heavier blow.

Moreover, this made Zhao Youyue extremely angry!
However, Zhao Youyue did not lose her mind. Even though she hated the Tianwuzhe's withdrawal from the group, she still took new measures in time.

Zhao Youyue announced in a friendly tone that the Heavenly Warriors of the Breaking Heaven Group could leave at any time and choose other positions within the headquarters.

In this way, although it might not prevent the Heavenly Warriors of the Breaking Heaven Group from leaving the group, at least it would prevent them from running off to other branches.

It was precisely because of this measure that the two Heavenly Warriors who were the last to leave the group were not transferred elsewhere.

Zhao Youyue was angry with those who left the group, but she had to act as if she had no grudges.

She even went so far as to say that they were, after all, members of the Breaking Heaven Group, people she had personally cultivated, and people she trusted more than anyone else, her most trusted confidants.

These actions reassured the other warriors in the Breaking Heaven Group, making them feel that there would be no harm in leaving the group and staying at headquarters at any time.

These realities forced Zhao Youyue to readjust, temporarily slowing down the progress of cultivating the Breakthrough Team.

The setback in the development of the Breaking Heaven Group is actually a good thing for the Anti-Heaven Organization.

(End of this chapter)