I Can See Your Combat Power-Chapter 1683 - 122: Benefit of the Mare of Chastity

Chapter 122: Mare of Chastity

In Chengzhou, mountains stretch endlessly, yet the most renowned is none other than the divine Gegong Mountain, which spans across the southwest, its great mountain ranges sealing off the moisture from the sea from coming ashore. The land features firm and gentle terrain without springs, while sweet rain is seldom seen from the sky. Across the vast grasslands, spanning thousands of miles, not even shrubs taller than the hipbone can grow.

For tribes living a nomadic life, strict control over the population and pasture size is essential; otherwise, a heavy snowfall could leave them starving, freezing, and injured.

Yet, even with utmost caution, every few winters, small tribes vanish into the depths of the grasslands, some due to natural disasters, others due to calamities wrought by humans.

In the bitter winter, when two nomadic tribes come upon the same grassland, the most brutal conflicts arise; the victors are robust and celebrate with song and dance as they slaughter cattle and sheep for meat, while the losers lose everything and struggle to survive the bitter cold.

When resources are extremely scarce, humans are no different from wild beasts.

In fact, Chengzhou was not always like this. As practitioners blessed with the power of the Visualizing totem and the benediction of ancestors, the Chengzhou herdsmen once belonged to Xiehe, the most ancient and powerful empire.

They never farmed but instead brought their horses to Malong Region at the beginning of each autumn to plunder everything in sight.

During its heyday, the Chengzhou grasslands were home to more than a dozen Golden Tribes, but such glory faded all too quickly.

Speaking of cultivation, the delayed gratification of agricultural civilizations makes it easier to give rise to strong individuals.

With a few exceptions among those with unique bloodlines, the majority of Chengzhou tribe warriors lack the patience to accumulate the power to transform from the mortal plane to the Fierce Realm.

As a result, the martial strength of the tribes on the Chengzhou grasslands is primarily comprised of heroes at the mortal ascendance level and ordinary warriors.

For nomadic civilizations, such a martial structure maintains low attrition while ensuring sufficient aggressiveness, nothing could be more suitable.

Just like all victors, they wish time could stay frozen forever, unchanged.

But those noble families who were plundered now and then would have none of it; either they moved away or forged alliances, and the Golden Tribes swiftly declined.

With the emergence of warriors from the Fierce Realm among the noble families, each raid became a fight for life, with frequent occurrences of an attack by a hundred riders returning only ten. This quickly led to the weakening of the original affluent tribes.

And the formidable aspect of the noble family system is that once a martial advantage is established, the stable cycle of cultivation and harvest becomes very difficult to overturn.

The territories occupied by the dozen Golden Tribes were slowly encroached upon by various noble families of Chengzhou, and eventually, all tribes were driven to the barren Tianshan Grassland.

If at that time the tribes could have set aside their grudges and united, they might have been able to take back a few cities rich in resources from the noble families. Unfortunately, individual strife and accumulated hatred meant that when they were finally driven out, they failed to form a united front.

The Canglang Clan is a descendant of the Golden Tribes and also the most powerful clan under Tianshan.

But such a formidable clan still proves powerless against the noble families; every winter, the noble families send caravans into the East Camp to "purchase."

They take away a large number of cattle, sheep, jade, and salt from the tribes, then leave behind a few bags of grain as an exchange.

If any tribe dares to resist, the strong warriors among the noble families will exterminate all the warriors of that tribe.

"There’s not enough food simply because there are a few too many big-bellied men," said a warrior standing among the piles of corpses, wiping the bloodstains off his hands with a cloth, calmly stating to the countless angry eyes: "With these people dead, isn’t there enough food now?"

Facing the godlike warriors from the noble families, the tribes have no courage to resist.

What the Golden Tribes once inflicted upon the noble families of Chengzhou is now repaid in multiples upon their descendants.

Only the hatred churning in their hearts, like the eternal ice on Tianshan that never melts, makes the already impoverished and backward tribes even more closed off and hostile to outsiders.

Whenever an outsider appears, endless hatred can be seen in the eyes of the young tribesmen; this is fundamentally why Longzhou claims the grasslands are a fearsome land.

For Bartel, everyone outside the grasslands is an enemy.

It wasn’t until that day when the heavenly maiden appeared at the East Camp market that she defeated the naturally-born great warriors of the various tribes, toppling them to the ground.

Three young men believed that Yun Xiu must be a messenger sent by the Eternal Heaven, whose purpose was to save the suffering Canglang Clan.

Especially when the angel could communicate with them in the tribal language, the young people of the Canglang Clan were even more convinced of their own speculation.

The angel said that the debts the Golden Tribe owed to the noble families of Chengzhou had long been paid off;

The angel said there were good and bad people outside, and if they wanted to change the tribe’s situation thoroughly, it could only rely on these young people;

The angel said she would make rice grow on the grassland below Tianshan, and from then on, the tribe would not have to worry about food shortages during winter!

The elders in the tribe said this woman was a demon that came to bewitch the lives of the young, but Bartel and the other young people did not see it that way.

Even though the young people who grew up on the grassland all understood that crops couldn’t grow there, at that moment, they were willing to abandon reason and believe unconditionally.

Dozens of foolish young men followed Yun Xiu to the foot of Tianshan, where they were given tools to dig ditches and canals on a piece of dry, hard land.

No one asked where the water would come from. They just repeated their work every day, yet they felt peaceful and happy.

For the Canglang Clan, who had long been accustomed to despair, the future was something they dared not hope for anymore.

As long as they could continue to stay by the angel’s side, they would be safe and happy. As for those beautiful promises, they dared not believe in them.

The dozens of young and strong members of the Canglang Clan numbly dug the reservoir, as if expecting a hole in the sky to break open and water to fall down.

"Ha... it’s not impossible, right...?"

Bartel said to his companions, who were already growing weary, with no confidence in his voice.

In the eyes of the others who looked at him as if he were a fool, a stream of clear spring water flowed down from Tianshan and filled the reservoir they had dug.

"Gurgle, gurgle"

The young men stared dumbly as the reservoir was gradually filled, murmuring "miracle" to themselves.

In the harshest winter on the grassland, the first crops grew under Tianshan, and feeling the warmth inside the cloud curtains, the group of young men wept without tears.

By digging canals and building several warming arrays on Tianshan, establishing a few tent settlements at the base, and activating the array, the ice and snow from Tianshan would melt into trickling streams to irrigate the fields, and the ground would have warm houses like spring and autumn under the tent. Also, several types of crops suitable for dry land would grow.

The so-called miracles, when spoken of, are just these few worthless things, but for the tribes of the grassland, they represent all their hopes.

The young men ran home barefoot with their harvest, and news quickly spread across the grassland.

Each tribe sent representatives to witness the divine level, and the original young people became leaders, both great and small.

They led their tribespeople to dig on the existing foundation of Qutang, watching as the hard-to-irrigate lands grew larger, and the tribe’s worries grew heavier.

As news spread, the noble families’ spies kept appearing on the grassland, watching the bustling construction site with cold eyes, their hands continuously jotting down notes.

From their eyes, it seemed as if the arduously cultivated land would eventually turn to ashes.

A sense of despair spread from the bottom of their hearts. The angel descending from the mountain took out a flag from nowhere and planted it with full authority beside the water pool.

She comforted them: "As long as this flag is here, the noble families of Chengzhou wouldn’t dare to trouble you."

Bartel, looking at the unfamiliar character on the flag, suddenly felt an immense sense of sacredness, and then asked Yun Xiu: "Angel, what totem is that character on the flag?"