Expansion

Incidents like this frequently occurred across the southern continent. Leaders of tribes—those at the Martial God realm—often felt helpless, with no choice but to abandon their people in times of crisis; it was the usual practice, the best way for long-term survival, and was widely accepted.

The Martial God realm is the strongest in the path of martial arts practitioners, but even they are at best as strong as half a rank 13 beast; if one plans on going beyond that power, there are two ways: one is to expand the practice of martial arts beyond martial god realm, and the other is to cultivate the soul path; however, both paths are borderline impossible.

Cultivating the Soul Path is exceptionally challenging, as it requires possessing an evolving soul, which is extremely rare. Tribes fortunate enough to have a talented individual with such a soul invested all their resources in them, hoping to help them reach the Soul Body realm. A cultivator at the peak of the Soul Body realm could defeat a rank 14 beast; however, they would have to flee when confronted with a rank 15 beast.

As for trying to expand martial arts beyond Martial gods, who knows how many tried, but all without exception failed.

Tribes and settlements with a Soul Body cultivator are much more at east; at least they wouldn't have to flee when faced with rank 13 beasts; of course, when faced with rank 15 beasts, even Soul Body cultivators have no choice but to flee, but such beasts are exceedingly rare, and one would need to be exceptionally unlucky to encounter one. Beasts above rank 13 are mythically rare, with perhaps only a few hundred across the entire continent.

Small tribes are not entirely out of luck; some were fortunate enough to be in an area with few beasts. Larger tribes had more power but also attracted stronger beasts due to their size; not having powerful practitioners didn't necessarily equate to destruction, and having martial gods as protectors didn't necessarily mean survival.

...

Ten years passed.

Master Green had successfully stabilized the area in and around the city of Wide Forest. A few rank 12 beasts invaded but were swiftly dealt with by him. White Forest City became a refuge for countless survivors from destroyed settlements. Thousands of Martial Gods and tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of Martial Saints flocked to the city from all corners of the southern continent.

Only tribes and settlements near White Forest City managed to evacuate all their members. Those farther away could only bring their Martial God and Martiqal Saint practitioners.

Transporting millions or billions of weak people across the continent to the Wide Forest city is incredibly challenging, maybe impossible in the current environment. Previously, airships could have facilitated this, but now, no one dares to fly in the air. Space rings and sort could not carry living beings; the kind of space magic that could enable the carrying of living organisms is prohibitively expensive, even for Martial Gods.

Attempting to place a living creature in a space ring would result in its death upon reemergence, making such means unviable.

The population of Wide Forest City surged to an unprecedented level, reaching hundreds of billions. The city expanded over five hundred times its original size and was still overcrowded. Master Green generously opened the city gates, allowing everyone to enter, which solidified his reputation as a benevolent spiritual master.

Although other spiritual masters were present, Master Green remained the strongest cultivator, as no one else had attained the Soul Nucleus realm.

Master Green emerged as the primary beneficiary of this influx. His spiritual affairs department expanded significantly, with many newcomers joining. With so many Martial Gods and Saints, it is said that even a rank 15 beast would find it challenging to destroy the city. They formed groups to explore and search for survivors, hoping to bring back those who hadn't reached the safety of Wide Forest City.

News of the city as a refuge spread thanks to payment portals, which could be used for long-range communication.

As time passed, the city's population approached a trillion and eventually stabilized. The city expanded over a thousand times its original size while the beasts gradually returned to their territories, and the world began to find its previous peace.

But then, the zombie plague appeared.

This new disaster marked the second of five calamities. Random zombies began to emerge in the city, turning mortals into the undead. The surviving Martial Gods from the last disaster tens of thousands of years ago were aware of the impending threat and prepared accordingly.

One should never underestimate a zombie outbreak; a single bite could transform a Martial God master into a Martial God zombie; a zombie bite could bypass all defenses; even a mortal could infect a Martial God.

The most alarming aspect is that Martial God zombies are stronger than their living counterparts due to their infinite stamina, making them much harder to kill.

Consequently, everyone became highly cautious; when a zombie appeared, they didn't just eliminate that one—it was imperative to eradicate the entire area.

If left unchecked, the outbreak could turn the city into a wasteland, posing a threat even to Martial Gods. Rank one zombies would not remain in their original state; they would merge and advance in rank. The risk is clear: if the population turns into zombies, they will create a breeding ground for high-ranking.

But that is not the only crisis; while ordinary beasts no longer attacked, zombie beasts were already present in the forests, occasionally launching assaults on the city; over time, zombie beasts could become a more significant trouble than the last beast tide.

Based on past experiences, the only way to survive the zombie disaster is to gain immunity. This required killing a zombie of the same rank; once immunity is obtained, one would no longer be infected or be attacked by zombies.

These zombies were terrifying; they would relentlessly pursue their target to the end of the world. Unlike the slow-moving zombies depicted in stories, these were fast—sometimes even quicker than the living of the same rank.

The plan was straightforward: contain the zombies within the city as much as possible and gradually eliminate those of the same rank in the forests where the zombie beasts roamed; the most critical task was to immunize the martial god practitioners.

...

Varkun entered the spiritual department building and went to the task assignment area.

Over the years, as the number of martial arts masters in the city increased, the spiritual department gradually expanded; many other branches were built throughout the city, and the system became automated. Master Green created artificial intelligence for task assignments; nowadays, no human judgment is involved. The artificial intelligence creates the task, issues a reward for it, and assigns the task to members according to the rules. If a task is assigned forcefully, the reward would increase by 100%.

Fortunately for Varkun, he had never been assigned a mandatory task until now. Mandatory tasks are usually those with great danger that nobody is willing to take; once the task is assigned, the person cannot refuse to carry it. If they do, they would be expelled from the city.

Becoming a member of the spiritual department used to be voluntary, but a while ago, Master Green declared that all martial art practitioners of Martial Domain and above must become members; if not, they would be expelled. As a result, nowadays, virtually all strong martial artists are members.

Varkun went to the screen and started scrolling, looking for a task.

"Monitor district 53B for signs of zombie activity – duration: 365 days, renewable – reward: 7,300,000 RM – level: Radiation Realm – danger: Standard."

"Monitor district 53B for signs of zombie activity – duration: 365 days, renewable – reward: 73,000,000 RM – level: Martial Domain Realm – danger: Standard."

"Monitor district 53B for signs of zombie activity – duration: 365 days, renewable – reward: 730,000,000 RM – level: Martial Saint Realm – danger: Standard."

"Monitor district 53B for signs of zombie activity – duration: 365 days, renewable – reward: 7,300,000,000 RM – level: Martial God Realm – danger: Standard."

"Join the exploration team – duration: 15 days, non-renewable – reward: 450,000,000 RM – level: Martial Saint – danger: Very Dangerous."

"Join the exploration team – duration: 15 days, non-renewable – reward: 4,500,000,000 RM – level: Martial God Realm – danger: Very Dangerous."

"Act as the civilian police – duration: 365 days, renewable – reward: 73,000 RM – level: Innate Realm – danger: Standard."

"Act as the civilian police – duration: 365 days, renewable – reward: 730,000 RM – level: Radiation Realm – danger: Standard."

"Secret task – duration: 365 days, non-renewable – reward: 3,650,000,000,000 RM – Level: Martial God – danger: Deadly - call Master Silver for further details."

"Catch zombie beasts – duration: N/A – reward: Depends on Rank and the power of the beast – Level: N/A – danger: N/A."

The rewards were based on the difficulty of the task and the level. Tasks of Innate Realm pay 100 RM per day, tasks of Radiation Realm pay about 1,000 RM per day, tasks of Martial Domain pay about 10,000 RM per day, tasks of Martial God pay 100,000 RM per day, and tasks of Martial God Realm pay 1,000,000 RM per day; these are the base pay. If the danger is higher, a multiplier would apply.

The difficulty has a few levels:

Safe: Tasks like office jobs, where the chance of encountering danger is no more than that of an average citizen; the multiplier is x1.

Standard: Tasks include guarding the interior of the city and similar roles, where the risk of encountering danger is higher than that of an average citizen but still overall safe; the multiplier is x2.

Dangerous: Tasks include guarding the outer city and forests nearby, where there is a much higher chance of encountering beasts. The fatality rate for dangerous tasks is much higher but still within an acceptable range; the multiplier is x50.

Very Dangerous: Tasks involve joining exploration teams to find survivors where the risk of death is very real; the multiplier is x300.

Deadly: These tasks are infrequent. As evident by the name, those who accept such tasks are gambling with their lives; the multiplier is x10,000.

Money is crucial in the city; even mandatory tasks can be evaded if one is willing to pay. As long as one has enough money, one can live in the city center and enjoy a luxurious life while cultivating martial arts with abundant resources.

Master Green is the one paying all the money for the tasks; his diamond card is the treasure providing most of the funding for the entire city. The currency, RM, is issued by the Queen; there is no inflation regardless of the amount of money in circulation. Everyone can easily access the central shopping portals provided by the queen to buy whatever they want in endless quantities—food and even cultivation resources.

Cultivation resources were not provided through the queen's shopping portal, so when they appeared, everyone was surprised. This availability essentially put many cultivation resource providers out of business.

The disaster for the weak turned into a golden opportunity for the strong, allowing them to earn money while training and strengthening themselves; before the disaster, there was no way to earn so much money in such short time.