A little rabbit, a scrawny little bird—together, not even enough to fill the stomachs of one or two people. Yet in this mountain stockade there were more than a hundred thousand common folk. Such a meager bit of meat was like a drop in the ocean, utterly useless.
The chieftain of the Miao stockade was an elder, his presence commanding and his authority unshakable. Within the stockade, his word was law. His name was Yu Zhenlin, over fifty years of age. In the Eternal World, thanks to the nourishment of Heaven and Earth's spiritual energy, ordinary people's lifespans were greatly extended. Living to ninety or a hundred was nothing rare.
Thus, fifty years old was not considered old, but still middle-aged. If one had stepped into cultivation, one's life would be even longer.
Yu Zhenlin himself was a cultivator. Yet his hair had already turned white, and his face bore the marks of age. From this, one could feel the crushing weight of the burdens he carried.
The Miao stockade… was suffering.
A bitter heaviness filled Yu Zhenlin's heart. Everywhere famine raged. The land had become barren; the harvests were not even thirty percent of what they had been in previous years. Some fields yielded not a single grain. To make matters worse, the surrounding beasts and birds of prey had grown more violent and savage. Driven by hunger, they repeatedly attacked the people of the stockade. Many had already perished beneath their claws and fangs.
That had been at the start of the Demon Disaster. Now, the numbers of those beasts had already decreased, but those that remained were stronger and more ferocious. To provoke them was courting death. Yet the stockade was often targeted by them, with sudden attacks dragging away villagers to be devoured as blood food. Were it not for the Moon Worship Cult disciples stationed in the stockade, it would have long since been destroyed.
And this was not only true here, but across the entire Moon Worship Realm. In some places the situation was lighter, in others heavier, but everywhere food had become more precious than gold. Each month, the Moon Worship Cult and even the Nanzhao Kingdom allocated some grain to the stockades and towns. Yet even boiled into the thinnest porridge, it could not last a month. Two watery meals a day was all they had—and even then, many went hungry.
Every night, people died of starvation.
Once, the population of the stockade had been more than a hundred thousand. Now, less than sixty or seventy thousand remained.
Nearly half were gone. This was famine.
This was the price of no food.
When the villagers saw the hunting party's pitiful catch, they only fell into silence.
They had seen it too many times. They no longer blamed the hunters; they knew the hunting parties had already done their best. The beasts around them had either fled, been killed, or were too strong to provoke. Each hunt was little more than a desperate hope.
A hope to see even the faintest light of dawn.
"I heard that in the Great Yi Immortal Court, the Demon Disaster is not serious. There is abundant food. Everyone can eat their fill, three meals a day, with meat, with vegetables, with bowls of white rice. I really want to know what kind of life that must be."
"I heard the Great Yi has void trains that appear in various realms to pick up people. But why have we never seen one?"
Eyes lifted toward the void, as though at any moment they might see the legendary void train descend from the heavens and deliver them from this suffering world. At this rate, they would all starve to death.
According to some reports, many stockades had already descended into cannibalism.
Just the thought of it made countless people tremble in terror—yet in their eyes also flickered a glint of desire.
For in the face of hunger, human nature was hard to restrain.
Only those who had never starved could fail to understand that despair. When a piece of meat appeared, eyes would shine with madness.
Recently, more and more news about the Great Yi Immortal Court spread.
Descriptions of the good life within Great Yi were endless: three meals a day, and even midnight snacks; daily meat, fresh vegetables, fine wines, countless drinks, sweets, pastries, and delicacies.
Just hearing these tales made countless villagers drool.
That hunger, that longing, could not be expressed in words.
Hunger was the greatest erosion of the will.
In the Moon Worship Realm.
Upon Goddess Lake, there was a vast island—the seat of the Moon Worship Cult. Palaces rose in splendor, exuding a unique aura.
On the island stood a sacred mountain called Moon Worship Peak, the very core of the cult. Upon its summit rose the Moon Worship Hall, the residence of the Cult Master. Even from afar, one could feel an invisible might pressing down.
At this moment, inside the hall, a middle-aged man dressed in a spotless white robe sat silently, gazing at the void. A full moon was rising, its soft light spilling over the land, yet seeming desolate. Beneath that moonlight, countless lives slipped quietly away into eternal silence.
From his back, one could sense an indescribable aura of benevolence and compassion.
"Cult Master, the king of Nanzhao has sent word. The kingdom's grain is nearly exhausted. This year the harvest has again been disastrously low. The entire Moon Worship Realm has fallen into a state where the people can no longer survive. Many stockades have already descended into cannibalism. If nothing is done, we may have to abandon part of the populace to preserve the rest, in order to endure this crisis."
A young man stood behind him, speaking earnestly.
His face carried a heroic spirit, a talent of his generation.
"Tang Yu Xiaobao, tell me—was my dream truly wrong? Why, when it was about to be realized, did Heaven send down this Demon Disaster to ruin everything? Under my Moon Worship Cult's rule, how could cannibalism still appear? How laughable, how bitterly ironic."
The Cult Master of the Moon Worship Cult took a deep breath, staring at the moon with a dazed expression.
He had wanted to build a world filled with love, where the people under his rule could live happily because of it. He wanted to make this land a paradise, a holy land for the human race.
But reality was merciless.
Everything before him revealed the vast gulf between dreams and reality.
It struck at the very core of his ideals.
Even his faith began to waver.
He had believed that no matter the difficulty, love could be passed to the world—that love could resolve everything.
Yet in the face of hunger, love was worthless.
He possessed tremendous magical power, but he could not conjure food enough to feed an entire realm. The cult had its own secret realm where grain was grown, but its output was far too meager.
Failure after failure, even the Cult Master felt unspeakable weariness and confusion.
"Cult Master, you are not wrong. The fault is only that the time was wrong. The Demon Disaster came too soon. If we had been given more years to develop, with greater reserves, even the Demon Disaster could have been weathered."
Tang Yu Xiaobao shook his head.
"Cult Master, news has come from the Great Yi Immortal Court. They are willing to help our realm. As long as we open the realm barrier, they will send in food and supplies to rescue the people."
Elder Shi Gonghu spoke up.
"Did Great Yi name any conditions?"
The Cult Master asked.
"None. No conditions at all."
Shi Gonghu shook his head.
The Cult Master was silent for a while. Then he looked up at the moon and sighed:
"Pass down my order. Welcome the Great Yi envoys. Allow them into the Moon Worship Realm to relieve the people. Present a letter of submission. Declare that my Moon Worship Cult, with this entire realm, is willing to submit to the Great Yi Immortal Court. For the sake of our shared humanity, may Great Yi fully save our people. Whatever is required, the Moon Worship Cult will fully cooperate."
When his words fell, the Cult Master slowly closed his eyes.
The world did not suffer from scarcity, but from inequality.
The Great Yi Star Network had spread across the Eternal World. The Moon Worship Realm was also connected. Countless people and cultivators possessed star wristwatches. Even if most could only access the outer net, they could still see many videos from within Great Yi—footage of its Immortal Cities, where prosperity flourished.
Even amid the Demon Disaster, Great Yi's suffering was far lighter than elsewhere. Within its cities, the people lived in peace and abundance. Food overflowed. Starvation did not exist there.
The contrast was like a chasm.
Were it not for the relatively benevolent rule of the Moon Worship Cult, the entire realm would already be wracked by rebellion.
Who would not yearn? Who would not hope?
Only after tasting hunger could one truly understand the life of the people in Great Yi.
The hearts of the people had already shifted.
Even without a word from Great Yi, countless souls already longed for the day they could become subjects of Great Yi—true Yi people, enjoying that dreamlike life.
"If I cannot make the world full of love… then let Great Yi bring it to you."
The Cult Master sighed inwardly, feeling a deep sense of defeat.
"I only hope Great Yi will treat our people kindly."
Shi Gonghu also sighed heavily.
Most of the realm was composed of Miao people, of the Jiuli tribes. Now it all depended on whether Great Yi would accept them, whether they would be treated well. But at this point, there was no other way. The Moon Worship Cult had no food. The Nanzhao Kingdom had no food. If this continued, the people would die in masses, starved to death.
This was true famine.
This was calamity.
In the face of disaster, unless they abandoned their people entirely, submitting to Great Yi was the only chance to break the deadlock.
End of Chapter