Chapter 130: The Nine Provinces

Yan Xia's journey was a form of relaxation, a way to unwind.

He couldn't remember the last time he felt this way, yet he still cared about many things.

"How is Chu doing?"

Strictly speaking, Chu wasn't Yan Xia's opponent in Xingcheng. Over thousands of years, they had been using each other.

The reason for Chu's eventual defeat was that he underestimated Yan Xia and failed to understand his true intentions.

This underestimation didn't imply arrogance or anything else on Chu's part; it was just that the gap between the Olive Branch Civilization and the Civilization Federation was already terrifying. Even now, with Xingcheng divided and in chaos, the Civilization Federation as a whole wouldn't dare provoke them.

Ella wore a tight-fitting leather jacket and pants, not the exquisite kind, but rather a weathered adventurer's outfit, giving her a touch of wild beauty.

"Information is constantly being sent to the Kunlun Number, and I've received data from 200 years ago."

"200 years ago, Chu began planning to integrate Xingcheng. He didn't seek help from the other administrators."

"An individual's capabilities are limited, so he decided to start small. He chose the weakest of the Xingchengs and took in individuals fleeing the wars, gathering around 2 billion individuals, making it the strongest force in that Xingcheng."

"He's waiting for an opportunity to take over the smallest Xingcheng and enter the fray. Otherwise, once the conflicts in the Xingchengs end and a new administrator emerges, he will completely lose the chance to regain his identity."

"He's received some help from us, and he doesn't reject it. Instead, he treats it as a transaction, knowing what we want."

What do we want?

Peace!

Prevent any alien race from invading the Civilization Federation.

As the strongest nearby civilization, both Yan Xia and Ella were concerned that the Olive Branch Civilization might suddenly attack the Civilization Federation.

Even now, Yan Xia and Ella's route was closer to the edge of the Federation's star domain, rather than heading towards Tiancang.

After tens of thousands of years of changes, Tiancang had long been reduced to a secondary administrative galaxy, no longer the capital galaxy.

This change was beneficial for evading the gravitational weapons of the Olive Branch Civilization.

Although they had the "False Starry Sky," in reality, it only investigated past star maps and then made calculations, making it easy to determine the location of Tiancang.

"With Xingcheng in chaos, we estimate that we can gain several thousand years of development time."

"However, Yan Xia, the only thing we need to pay attention to now is the Silk Civilization."

"Xingcheng and we simultaneously attacked the Silk Civilization, so they might launch a counterattack against us. Since 287 years ago, I've lost contact with the fleet heading towards the Orion Nebula."

The Civilization Federation did indeed send a fleet to the Orion Nebula to continue the Holy Grail Project.

If Xingcheng was all that the Olive Branch Civilization had, the Civilization Federation could recall its fleet now, but that's not the case...

The Holy Grail Project remains a constraint on the Olive Branch Civilization.

"In other words, they might have been destroyed."

Yan Xia frowned slightly. He and Ella were walking through a forest, having reached the ground and moved away from the scenic area.

To the left of the forest was a desert, with a towering tree reaching into the clouds. Its branches were on fire, and at the end of the branches, a silver orchid with a diameter of over one meter was growing.

This was the Fire Tree and Silver Flower.

At this point, their location resembled a swamp, and every step they took on the ground, they could feel the softness and water seeping through.

"At this point in time, the battleship should not have reached the Orion Nebula yet."

"It's possible that the Silk Civilization sent a fleet towards us, or their controlled area might be much larger than we imagined."

Neither of these was good news.

Yan Xia thought: "Gather the fleet at the border and deploy more probes, at least within 100 light-years."

At least we can find out if the enemy is coming or not. If they do come, we'll be prepared and won't be caught off guard.

In the distance, a giant bird with a wingspan of over 50 meters flew down from the sky, its claws grasping a low-flying flying snake. It was about to fly away with its catch when a huge crocodile leaped out of the water, swallowing both the giant bird and the snake in one gulp.

This was a giant crocodile, not some mythical beast.

"What is the prototype of that crocodile?" Yan Xia asked curiously.

Ella replied, "There is no prototype. It should be a magical beast from the Western Fantasy World. The Ring World is connected, and the North-South Ring and East-West Ring can be traveled between."

"However, some creatures in the Ring World have territorial awareness. This swamp crocodile is probably lost."

"It's easy to die from overexposure."

In an ordinary world, a crocodile with a mouth over 100 meters wide would be an invasive species wherever it went. But here, being so conspicuous...

Yan Xia's gaze caught a shadow that pierced through the crocodile's skull.

The shadow was tiny, not even one-hundredth the size of the crocodile's eye, but it did pierce the crocodile. The giant crocodile thrashed violently in the swamp, but within an hour, it gradually stopped moving and became completely still.

"That's a Sky Sparrow, which feeds on brains. It's not a mythical creature, but it mimics the Great Tit. However, the Sky Sparrow's skull is very large, with a long and sharp beak as hard as iron. When they hunt, they dive from tens of thousands of meters high, using gravity to plunge and pierce their prey's body, then eat the fat-rich brain."

A true example of small prey taking down a larger one.

Ella had created a magical world.

After walking for about a month, they finally left the swamp and entered a plain, which was part of the Nine Provinces.

"This is Jingzhou, and unlike the distribution in myths, the Ring World's Nine Provinces are in a row. Jingzhou covers 874.8 billion square kilometers, with 182 countries and a population of 38.76 billion."

The population density here is too low, only 0.44 people per square kilometer. It's equivalent to having only 65 million people living on 1.49 billion square kilometers of land on Earth.

After walking for about 2 million kilometers, Yan Xia finally reached a man-made road.

This ancient dirt road was filled with traces of horse-drawn carriages, and dried horse manure could be seen on the side of the road.

"To defend against magical beasts, some humans live in groups."

"We're about to reach a pass ahead."

Without Ella's explanation, Yan Xia could see a black snake connecting one side of the sky to the other.

Because it was a Ring World, there was no horizon, and the farther away the land was, the higher it rose.

Yan Xia had thought the distance wasn't far, but it was still 140,000 kilometers away.

When they reached the pass, Yan Xia looked up and saw two large characters on the gate—Jingmen.

The Jingmen Pass was not as small as the ancient passes on Earth. The plaque with the two characters was hung 300 meters high, and the lowest point of the pass was over 500 meters tall.

"This is beyond human capabilities, isn't it?" Yan Xia didn't think this was built by the natives.

As expected, Ella said that some of the buildings here were constructed during the early stages of creating the Ring World.

They headed towards the city gate, and the people there seemed to ignore them, allowing them to pass through the checkpoint.

Behind the Jingmen Pass was a bustling city with ancient-style buildings, except for the towers, which were no taller than 10 meters. Standing on the street and looking into the distance, it was a lively scene with people bustling about. It was so crowded that even walking was difficult, let alone driving.

The shops on both sides of the street were bustling, with street vendors selling food and performers swallowing iron balls, steel needles, and swords without any harm. Several people formed a human tower taller than the surrounding buildings, and there were even people who had tamed wild beasts to act like pets. The various wonders attracted a lot of attention, and the applause and cheers were endless. Some young masters gave a few copper coins as a reward.

Yan Xia and Ella's clothes were made of liquid metal, imitating ancient attire, not the luxurious robes of the nobility, but rather ordinary clothing.

As they walked through the busy streets and reached a quieter area, they happened upon a wedding procession. A red-draped palanquin was carried by porters, and the palanquin resembled a sedan chair. The seat was heavily draped in red silk, and the bride could be vaguely seen in the center. She wasn't wearing the Xiuhefu dress that Yan Xia had seen in TV dramas when he was young, but instead, she wore a phoenix crown and a red wedding dress. The gold and silver ornaments on her head gently shook with the movement of the sedan chair, reflecting the bride's mixed emotions and the festive atmosphere of the drums and gongs.

The children accompanying the sedan chair scattered red sugar, and Yan Xia even caught one.

"This is truly different."

This society was completely different from the modern world Yan Xia was used to.