However, everyone was not against the idea of rebellion; they just felt that the timing was not right. After all, surviving was the priority for now.
And Mingguang Dust also knew that on the notice from Jing Chu, this island known as ’Liucui Island’ within the Cave Heaven held other humans and smart races.
In the Great Wilderness Realm, ’human’ is a self-proclaimed term for all intelligent life. Those who resembled foxes called themselves human, as did those who looked like tigers, and Mingguang Dust had long become accustomed to the term ’Human Clan’ as referring to humans as well.
It was just a matter of how they addressed one another. They would call each other ’Spiritual Fox Clan,’ ’Fierce Tiger Clan,’ and ’the Straight Ape Clan.’ If relationships were better, they would be referred to as fox people, tiger people, ape people—giving each other the courtesy of ’person.’
Yes, in the Great Wilderness Realm, humans were referred to as ’straight apes’ by other intelligent races, and the official term was ’Spiritually Wise Ape.’ The group had the advantages of early intelligence, great endurance, and a fairly good adaptability.
And within the power struggle of the Myriad Tribes in the Great Wilderness Realm, in addition to fighting for territories and lands, they were also competing for the title of ’Leader of Ten Thousand Spirits,’ which is also the designation for the ’Human Clan.’
Tianyu spans in all directions—with Dragon Snakes to the west, Qilin to the north, Phoenix Birds to the east, and many smaller clans squeezed in between. To the south lay the Heavenly Sea Archipelago with diverse residents, and here on Liucui Island...
"Our ship’s cargo was originally meant to be sold to that group of Ratmen on the island."
The captain, now looking at the water-soaked ledger in his hand, scratched his already somewhat bald head even more baldly: "These Ratmen must be in cahoots with the corrupt officials back home, this is also part of settling accounts. We must be wary of their surprise attacks."
"Yes," the others also said anxiously: "These Ratmen don’t believe in Candle Light but worship their ancestors or some other mountain spirits, Earth Spirits... Will they offer us as sacrifices?"
"May the Flintfire Zhu Zhao Mingzhou God bless us..." The others were instantly frightened by this possibility, and they all looked up to pray towards the Great Sun in the sky.
Candle Light? Flintfire Zhu Zhao Mingzhou God?
Mingguang Dust, being a Martial Artist, suddenly realized that he might have missed some information just now, and he couldn’t help but look up, joining the group in gazing towards the sky.
Like a candle flame, a purplish-green sun embedded within a triple-layered Lotus Formation was gleaming.
Was that the Flintfire Zhu Zhao Mingzhou God?
Is this... a Divine Dao world?
But this format of address is not that of an ordinary god.
Mingguang Dust was very clear that this format and terminology were quite similar to the official title of ’Supreme Grand View Huai Xu Immortal Venerable.’
And together with the language of the Dao Courtyard, this world was indeed related to the Dao Courtyard!
Mingguang Dust soon started another round of inquiries and quickly learned the relevant information.
In the Huai Xu Realm, one begins with Qi Refinement in Cultivation, followed by Fate Pattern Martial Arts. Although there was the presence of Divine Dao, it was not mainstream. It was still a mix of Immortal Path and Martial Arts, so he was not particularly sensitive to it.
But after understanding more, Mingguang Dust discovered that this world was dominated by Divine Dao!
Intelligent beings in the Great Wilderness Realm were not foolish; in fact, they were extremely smart. They had long discovered that whether executing the Art of Magic or Cultivation, as long as they harnessed the power of Spirit Qi, it would activate Demonic Qi, causing people to become increasingly anxious and mad, and even transform into evil demons.
In such an environment, Cultivation is an extremely terrifying thing.
Therefore, Divine Dao flourished from this.
The Myriad Tribes and nations of the Great Wilderness Realm worshipped their respective Heavenly Gods and Earthly Spirits. The more powerful the deities, the better they could suppress the interference and backlash of Demonic Qi. Their Priests also became the most important members or even royalty of their countries.
In addition, without a Priest, there would be no place for assemblies.
They said to be careful to guard against the sudden attacks from the Ratmen tribe, but in reality, it was already good enough if these shipwreck survivors could live.
As the sun gradually set, the dangers in the Great Wilderness Realm gradually revealed themselves.
Mingguang Dust learned from these people that this world was very dangerous: wind, water, fire, earth, starlight, forests... anything between heaven and earth could be extremely dangerous and take human life.
Earlier when the sun was still up, a few people were sucked dry by flying insects on the beach, bitten into large boils, or even had their fingers bitten off without noticing.
And when the sea breeze blew, it was indeed like a knife, shearing off the tops of any moderately tall trees, with only the strong Spirit Plants radiating Spiritual Light able to withstand it.
Those who approached the bushes, saying they wanted to investigate the forest, were nearly brought down by the tentacles extended from trees along with their poisonous miasma. If not for Mingguang Dust’s inability to just stand by without doing anything, and his intervention, those few people would not have been able to walk a few steps before becoming fertilizer for the forest.
It was Elder Huang, a man of great virtue and respect, who was a Flintfire Priest of Candle Light.
He used his own blood to ignite the purplish-green ’Candle Light Flintfire,’ raised a bonfire on the beach, drove away the approaching venomous insects and snakes, deterred the roots of the living plants, kept the man-eating giant crabs and glowing jellyfish in the sea at bay, and even made the increasingly cold, bone-piercing sea breeze gentler.
Under the radiance of firelight, Demonic Qi reverted to dormancy, and Spirit Qi became manageable again.
Only the blessed power of a god could block the creatures distorted and twisted by Demonic Qi.
Blending in with the crowd, Mingguang Dust gradually came to know about many things beyond the understanding of an Otherworld person like him, which, however, were common knowledge to the people of this world.