Chapter 271

But these cities are not the most miserable. The most miserable one is Yicheng.

Since Yicheng's covert support for the Xi family's failed bid for power, it has gradually realized that Heng's family relies on Yucheng. Therefore, its private relationship with Yucheng has always been quite ordinary.

While other cities have established connections with Yucheng, with increasingly frequent trade and study teams at the Yucheng Academy driving development back in their own cities, Yicheng has never had a connection with Yucheng, with minimal trade activities and no study teams.

The Great Witch of Yicheng said, "Nine out of ten cities have established connections with Yucheng, but we haven't. Now we are becoming increasingly isolated from the other cities."

When Yucheng and other cities established connections, those cities that had already established connections with Yucheng also commissioned Yucheng's road-building teams to connect them with each other.

As a result, the exchanges between the other nine cities became more convenient and close, while Yicheng seemed to be isolated, without any connections to other cities.

In a situation with more convenient transportation, everyone naturally prefers to use such means. Since Yicheng has no connections, traveling there involves crossing mountains and is inconvenient for carriages and horses. Under these circumstances, unless necessary, no one wants to go to Yicheng, and gradually it is being left behind.

At first, Yicheng was quite stubborn, expressing its unwillingness to establish connections with Yucheng.But when they saw that the other cities were living better because of the connections, they regretted it a bit, but they couldn't bring themselves to ask Yucheng for it.

The Lord of Yicheng was furious, "Yucheng has never taken the initiative to propose a connection with us. They are clearly targeting us."

The Great Witch of Yicheng said, "Our support for the Xi family has offended Yucheng. If it were just one or two cities connected to Yucheng, it would be fine, but now all nine cities are connected, except us. This is not good for us."

The Lord of Yicheng said, "I will never take the initiative to ask Yucheng for this."

The Great Witch of Yicheng also didn't want to, but apart from the connections and trade, it was said that the study teams sent by the other nine cities to the Yucheng Academy had learned a lot of useful things, benefiting those cities. Even the previously lower-ranked Lishui City was now being compared to Yicheng because of this.

The Great Witch of Yicheng felt this was a dangerous signal.

If Yicheng didn't make changes quickly, it might not be able to maintain its position among the ten cities.

The Great Witch of Yicheng said, "We must have connections and study teams as well. Prepare for a trip to Yucheng."

The Lord of Yicheng frowned, "You go, I won't."

He would never go to ask Yucheng for this.

...

Yucheng.

The Yucheng Academy was very successful. After the winter, the students returned to the academy one after another, none were left behind, and all returned on time.

At this time, Yusu heard that the Great Witch of Yicheng was coming to visit.

Luyan said coldly, "What are they coming for?"

Yusu said, "Perhaps they can't sit still."

Yicheng has been excluded as it doesn't have a share in the connections and trade. It is becoming more and more isolated.

If he were the Great Witch of Yicheng, he wouldn't be able to sit still either.

However, the treacherous Yicheng frequently made secret contact with the prominent families of Fengcheng, wanting to overthrow the Heng family and support their own candidate for power.

This touched on Yucheng's interests, and Yusu didn't want to deal with Yicheng.

So when the Great Witch of Yicheng visited and expressed a desire for connections, trade, and even sending people to study at the Yucheng Academy, Yusu found excuses to refuse them all.

The Great Witch of Yicheng looked somewhat ugly, "Great Priest Yusu, our Yicheng is the second-ranked city among the ten cities, with abundant iron ore resources. It is more suitable than Zhubi Village to be your partner. Why not give each other a chance?"Yusu directly said, "The iron casting technology of Zhutie Village is more exquisite than that of Yicheng. We have had a long-standing relationship with Zhutie Village, and we will not abandon them to choose another partner."

The Great Witch of Yicheng said, "That's impossible. No city's iron casting technology can surpass ours in Yicheng."

Yusu also directly had someone display various exquisite objects cast in Zhutie Village, including various advanced tools cast after improvements based on the drawings Yusu gave them.

"Does Yicheng have this technology?" Yusu asked.

The Great Witch of Yicheng looked at those things, his expression becoming increasingly unpleasant.

Indeed, Yicheng did not have any of these things.

Where did this small iron casting village get such exquisite technology?

The Great Witch of Yicheng couldn't understand.

He talked with Yusu for a long time, but in the end, he returned empty-handed.

Before leaving, the Great Witch of Yicheng looked back at the prosperous city of Yucheng, then left with a heavy heart.

...

"Yucheng is clearly doing this on purpose." After returning empty-handed, the Lord of Yicheng was angry. "Quecheng doesn't even have enough ore, yet Yucheng is willing to connect and trade with them. Claims of insufficiently exquisite iron casting technology and full quotas for the academy are all excuses!"

"Since Yucheng is unwilling to connect with us, we won't go ask them," he added.

The Great Witch of Yicheng's expression also turned cold. He didn't expect Yusu to be so disrespectful.Lord of Yicheng: "We want to maintain our position. Yucheng is not the only path we can take."

The Great Witch of Yicheng looked at him.

Lord of Yicheng: "The chief of the Snake Clan came to us two days ago. He hopes to cooperate with us and attack Yucheng."

The Great Witch of Yicheng's eyebrows twitched, "Attack Yucheng?"

Lord of Yicheng: "If we agree, the Snake Clan will help us train the Shadow Guards like they did during the time of She. With the Shadow Guards, it won't be a problem for us to take down Fengcheng."

The Great Witch of Yicheng hesitated, "Can the Snake Clan deal with the divine warriors of Yucheng? Don't forget how She and the others died. The Snake Clan and the Sea Clan all died at the hands of the people of Yucheng."

Lord of Yicheng: "The chief of the Snake Clan said they have something that can restrain those people of Yucheng."

...

"Squawk—"

A falcon flew back from the north, bringing important news to Yusu.

Luyan noticed that Yusu's expression changed after communicating with the falcon and asked him what happened.

Yusu said, "Yicheng and the Snake Clan have been in frequent contact recently. The falcon doesn't know what they are discussing, but their collusion definitely bodes ill. I've instructed the falcon to keep an eye on them."

Luyan: "I'll send someone to infiltrate Yicheng and investigate."Luyan sent a Five Elements Warrior adept at concealment to Yicheng. After some time, this person sent back a message through a messenger falcon, saying that Yicheng was secretly capturing children.

Yusu frowned, "Capturing children? What are they up to?"

Luyan: "It may be related to the Snake Clan."

Yusu thought of something, "When She was mixed with the Snake Clan, they also secretly captured many people to feed the snake gu and refine the Shadow Guards."

Did Yicheng also want to train Shadow Guards? Training Shadow Guards would cost so many lives. If Yicheng was really trying to train Shadow Guards for their own selfish desires, they were truly ruthless.

After two days, the scout sent another message back, confirming that Yicheng did indeed want to train Shadow Guards, and they also wanted to use those Shadow Guards to deal with Fengcheng.

Yusu was angry, "They really won't give up. The children are so innocent."

Luyan: "I'll go with people to rescue those children first and investigate what they are up to with the Snake Clan."

Luyan went to Yicheng on his sword, concealed his presence, and sneaked into the temple of Yicheng. He quickly figured out the purpose of the Snake Clan colluding with Yicheng—they actually wanted to unite and attack Yucheng.

Luyan immediately felt murderous intent.

...

On the other side, Yusu received Luyan's sound transmission talisman and also learned about the purpose of the Snake Clan and Yicheng.

Yusu told Luyan to rescue the people first.

Those children were being held in an empty house in Yicheng, guarded by someone.The ordinary guards were no match for Luyan. He directly concealed his presence and struck the temple of Yicheng with a sword, then took the children away in the chaos.

The sudden destruction of the Yicheng temple shocked everyone, causing a commotion.

At this moment, Yusu arrived.

His comprehensive elf scan informed him that someone from the Snake Clan equivalent to the Foundation Building stage was nearby and had sensed Luyan's disturbance while he was destroying the temple. The person had already come over.

Yusu instructed Luyan to take the children out of the city and meet up with the supporting scout, while he stayed behind to distract the Snake Clan member. After leading the person to a forest outside the city on the other side of Yicheng, he killed the Snake Clan expert.

Dealing with a Snake Clan expert at the Foundation Building stage was more challenging than encountering those in Fengcheng.

Yusu took some time to deal with the Snake Clan member.

When he reunited with Luyan, the commotion inside Yicheng had not subsided yet.

The Grand Witch and the city lord of Yicheng were terrified. They had no idea what had happened, as the temple was suddenly destroyed by an unseen force.

"After a flash of white light, the roof of the temple was cut off."

"It's terrifying. This must be a divine punishment."

"Quick, ask the Grand Witch what happened. Why would the gods punish us!"

The Grand Witch was surrounded by many people, constantly asking him what had happened.

The city lord of Yicheng initially wanted to find out what happened with the Snake Clan expert, but then discovered that the expert had disappeared.

"Could it be the work of the Snake Clan?" the city lord of Yicheng said gloomily.

First, the Snake Clan deliberately approached them, and then deliberately destroyed their temple?

"City Lord, Grand Witch!"

"The children are missing!"

The Grand Witch and the city lord of Yicheng immediately looked extremely grim.

They both felt that it must have been someone from the Snake Clan who had taken the children.No one thought to go to Yucheng.

At this time, Yusu and Luyan had already taken the children away from Yicheng.

There were more than thirty children, all kidnapped from surrounding villages.

Yusu, Luyan, and the scouts spent some time returning them to their respective homes.

"What should we do next?" Luyan asked Yusu.

Yusu replied coldly, "Go to the Snake Clan."

The Snake Clan had set their sights on Yucheng and would definitely not give up so easily.

Since that was the case, they might as well take the initiative and deal with the Snake Clan first!