Although he claimed that he was' ashamed ', there was not the slightest remorse on his face. He was even releasing his intimidating aura blatantly in front of Qi Zhongdao, as if he were about to start a fight the moment Qi Zhongdao disagreed with him.
"The man is Duan Yuanwu, the young leader of Roaring Tiger Hall. He and his father, Duan Tiande, are the rarely-seen Yuanying in the world of Cultivators. The younger one is in the beginning level of the Yuanying Stage, and the old one is in the middle level of the Yuanying Stage."
Dan Fengzi introduced them to Li Yao in a low voice. "As the saying goes, father and son are connected. The father and son have been practicing very delicate joint attacks. When their Yuanying are combined, their combat ability is equal to that of a high-level Yuanying Stage Cultivator. They are scared of nobody in the Tiger Apparitions Array. Even Master Righteous One will have to think twice if he wants to break through the array on his own."
"Leader Duan was heavily wounded and mentally deranged when he fought against the natural disaster."
Qi Zhongdao pulled a long face in midair. "Is that true?"
"Is that true?"
Duan Yuanwu did not even blink as he said coldly, "If Master Righteous One does not believe me and insists on meeting me, we can talk inside the city. I'll take you to where my father is training in seclusion."
Hundreds of Crouching Tiger Cannons and Gold Crow Ballistae had been set up. There were also two Yuanying Stage Cultivators and ten Jin Dan Stage Cultivators in the city. Even Qi Zhongdao would find it difficult to walk right into the trap. Pondering for a moment, he said, "In that case, please take a good rest, Leader Duan. The Grand Mystery Sect will certainly offer you generous gifts later to help you recover. If you have anything to say, you can talk to Young Leader Duan directly."
"Please feel free to speak, Master Righteous One."
Duan Yuanwu clasped his hands and said, "I will try my best to help you."
"Alright."
Qi Zhongdao pointed at the dense disaster victims below his feet. "The febrile typhoon just passed, and the Sorcerers' River is flooding. The prosperous land in the southeast has turned into a land of water. Many disaster victims have been displaced and struggling at the edge of the deepest level of hell. If they are left alone, there will be great chaos soon. Plagues, riots of refugees, or armies of ghouls. The situation will be out of control once it is out of control.
Cultivators like us naturally have the heart to uphold the righteous path and help the people. The Roaring Tiger Hall is one of the top righteous sects in the West River State, and it is also responsible for guarding the land and herdsmen. Young Master Duan, please open the city gate quickly and let these disaster victims in to take shelter. "
"Master Righteous One."
Without even blinking, Duan Yuanwu said loudly, "It is not that Roaring Tiger Hall does not want to help the disaster victims, but the city is too small. Almost a hundred thousand local disaster victims have been accommodated when the febrile typhoon passed the day before the flood arrived. All the facilities and assets have reached their limits. We are not capable enough to accommodate more disaster victims.
If the city gate is opened right now, countless disaster victims will rush into Roaring Tiger City without enough food, medicine, and assets. Roaring Tiger City will only be turned into a giant graveyard, and everybody will die together.
Roaring Tiger City is just a small city. How many disaster victims can it accommodate? If you really want a way to survive, you'd better ask Master Righteous One to guide the disaster victims to East Peace County, which is one of the most famous cities in the entire Great Qian Dynasty. It is more than enough to accommodate millions of people. "
There was not the slightest expression on Qi Zhongdao's dark face, but his tone was even more indifferent. He nodded and said, "Alright. It does make sense that Roaring Tiger City is too small to accommodate so many disaster victims. Then, would you please allocate some assets from Roaring Tiger City and ask the disaster victims to set up tents outside of the city for temporary shelter against the wind, rain, dampness, and cold? Then, distribute some food so that everybody can be fed and clothed."
Duan Yuanwu shook his head and said, "There are no tents. No food, either."
"Hehe. Hehehehe. Roaring Tiger Hall is the biggest sect in the West River State. Not just in the southeast, it is famous and wealthy even in the entire Great Qian Dynasty."
Qi Zhongdao was even more displeased. "It is well known among the Cultivators that more than half of the farmlands in the West River State belong to Roaring Tiger Hall. Every state nearby has a thousand square kilometers of fertile land, and the flag of Roaring Tiger Hall has been raised there. Right now, the Grand Mystery Sect, the Purple Pole Sword Sect, and many other sects, including Master Bitter Cicada of the Stupa Sect, have all come here after a long journey for the disaster in the southeast. Roaring Tiger Hall, as a local sect in the southeast, is not offering any food to the disaster victims in the southeast.
"Forgive me, Master Righteous One, Fellow Cultivators," Duan Yuanwu said in a dignified tone. "Roaring Tiger Hall is definitely not turning a blind eye to the disaster.
"Blessings never come in pairs, and misfortunes never come alone. Before, Roaring Tiger Hall had prepared to bring out all the stored food for the disaster victims. Even the rice and the wheat that the Cultivators ate had been carefully melted with drugs into a paste that the ordinary people could eat. It was a pity that the granary caught fire the day before yesterday, and all the stored food was burnt to the ground because of a moment of carelessness on a dark and windy day."
Qi Zhongdao's voice was even colder than before. "Of all times, the granary caught fire when the disaster victims were coming?"
"Who could have foreseen that?"
Duan Yuanwu gestured at the bottom of the Black Tiger Fortress. A few muscular Cultivators wearing robes made of tiger skin carried a few large boxes of black objects up.
Duan Yuanwu kicked the few baskets over and shouted, "Please take a look, fellow Cultivators."
The few baskets were filled with broken black foam, which was emitting a weird smell of burnt food. Blown by the wind, the black foam sprayed into the air. It turned out that they were all food that had been burnt to a crisp.
"The fire has burnt up the food that Roaring Tiger City collected over the past couple of years. Right now, more than a hundred thousand disaster victims are still waiting to be fed in the city. Everybody in Roaring Tiger Hall is worried. We were planning to borrow food from Master Righteous One and the fellow Cultivators here shamelessly. How can we offer any food now?"
Duan Yuanwu sighed. Even his golden beard was somewhat lackluster.
"Young Leader Duan!"
Qi Zhongdao was shaking in fury. "Now is not the time to consider the personal interests of a certain sect. This is not a matter of the Grand Mystery Sect, the Purple Pole Sword Sect, the Gold Armor Clan, or Thunderstorm Valley. It is not even a matter of Roaring Tiger Hall. It is a matter of all the Cultivators in the world.
"Right now, the Grand Mystery Sect, the Purple Pole Sword Sect, the Gold Armor Clan, Thunderstorm Valley, the Monster Taming Pavilion, and Flying Spirit Island, as well as dozens of other sects, have all mobilized tremendous food. They are being shipped here as fast as possible. In a couple of days, or even a day, they will certainly be delivered to Roaring Tiger Hall. As long as we can provide some food for the disaster victims to live through the most difficult days, it will be a great merit.
"Humans are not plants. How can we be heartless? If there is really food, not just one or two days, Roaring Tiger Hall will certainly help you for ten days to half a month."
Duan Yuanwu slapped his thigh, with tears in his eyes. "What can we do? What can we do?"
"Young Leader Duan!"
Qi Zhongdao burst into fury. His voice became as tough as iron, with a hint of threat. "Have you not thought about it? So many disaster victims have gathered in front of Roaring Tiger City. If anything goes wrong, a lot of disaster victims will die, and an overwhelming army of ghouls will be formed. Roaring Tiger City will be the first to suffer."
"Haha. Hahahaha!"
Duan Yuanwu wiped his face. His face, which had been weeping and sighing a moment ago, immediately turned into one of dominance. He grinned hideously and glanced at the dense disaster victims in disdain, before he shouted, "Roaring Tiger City is a mountain of blades and an ocean of fire. It is impregnable. Which blind ghost is bold enough to attack Roaring Tiger City? Let him have a taste of the toughness of the Tiger Apparitions Array and my fists!"
The words "blind ghosts" were obviously not referring to the victims who were struggling on the brink of death.
For a moment, the atmosphere was even more intense than before. The two parties were at loggerheads. Even the air was cracking slightly.
Duan Yuanwu, who was in the beginning level of the Yuanying Clan, and Qi Zhongdao, who was at the peak of the Yuanying Clan, were confronting each other in midair. Protected by the Tiger Apparitions Array and the hundred Crouching Tiger Cannons, Duan Yuanwu was not intimidated at all.
Li Yao was rather surprised by the negotiation. He could not figure out a lot of questions.
It was not convenient for him to ask Dan Fengzi directly why Roaring Tiger Hall refused to open the barn and release the food, which would seem that he was too concerned about the disaster victims. Rolling his eyes, he chuckled in a different way. "I didn't know that Master Righteous One, the leader of the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty, would be so useless. Even an insignificant Yuanying in the beginning level of the Yuanying Clan is bold enough to show off in front of him and refuse to release any food."
"Of course, he can't do that," Dan Fengzi said in a low voice.
Dan Fengzi said in a low voice, "Releasing food is a bottomless pit. Once it's released, the whole sect will be eaten up. At that time, not to mention Master Righteous One, even if Emperor Phoenix is here — no, even if God himself is here, he won't be able to do anything but fight to the end."
"Okay."
Li Yao blinked and said, "I really don't understand why you people from central plateaus are beating around the bush. Although there are a lot of disaster victims here, Roaring Tiger Hall is the largest sect in the West River State with fertile farmland. Is the food that they have not enough for them to survive the famine? Why are you so calculative and even willing to piss off Master Righteous One, Master Bitter Cicada, and us?"
"Elder Spiritual Vulture, you don't know the whole story. It does make sense. The Southland of Sorcerers is vast and sparsely populated, and there are bananas and sweet potatoes in the forests. I don't think that large-scale natural disasters and famines have ever happened here, have they?"
Dan Fengzi explained. "If there are only hundreds of thousands of disaster victims here, the assets that Roaring Tiger Hall has accumulated are more than enough to cope with them.
However, the disaster victims have legs. Once the news that Roaring Tiger Hall is opening the barn to release food is spread out, the millions of disaster victims in the dozens of states nearby will swarm to Roaring Tiger Hall under their survival instincts.
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