532: Chapter 532 Bunir!

Nie Ning gazed at the city before him, unable to help but feel a twinge of emotion.

He hadn't expected that after all his wandering, he would still need to return to city life.

However, compared to the relaxed and comfortable Blood Rainbow City, the environment here was much harsher, as this concerned the very purpose of their visit.

To establish a school!

Nie Ning had to admit, Liuguang City was impressive!

In reality, for the major factions, even if they did nothing at all, they would still attract various exceptionally talented newcomers.

Yet the emergence of Liuguang City had broken this tradition.

There was no helping it; Eva was too strong, so strong that she made all the major factions feel a sense of crisis.

Furthermore, the root cause of the problem was intimately linked to Eva, yet simultaneously distinct from her.

Because Eva was not a normal human; she was a biological weapon created by humans, and her creators were not limited to Transcendents—there were ordinary people among them as well!

To the various factions, what were ordinary people? They were merely the most basic form of resource!

Liuguang City had disrupted the long-standing survival environment, to the point where the major factions couldn't easily make a move.

Because no one knew how many Evas Liuguang City had created, nor how many magical technological weapons comparable to divine artifacts they had produced.

Even if the number couldn't be too high, no one dared to test it lightly.

If they failed, they would inevitably become 'fodder' for other factions.

The various factions knew they couldn't resist the torrent of the era's development, so they chose another way to solve the problem: if you can't beat them, join them!

As long as they kept those exceptional individuals firmly in their grasp, they could naturally limit the development speed of other factions.

The main strategy was to focus on quantity.

However, Nie Ning didn't think much of this approach.

The main issue was that doing so would inevitably infringe upon the interests of the smaller factions, squeezing their living space.

Top-tier factions like the Extreme Phase Demon Palace were not nations, so naturally, they couldn't go around exterminating those smaller factions.

Doing so would only disperse their own strength and require more effort to manage those cities.

After all, places with more people had more dangers like Corruptors, and the top-tier factions only wanted to keep high-end resources firmly in their own hands.

Of course, there was another critical point.

If they formed factions like nations, it would be easier to get entangled in various conflicts, and once a war started, it wouldn't be a minor skirmish.

Conversely, wars between small regional factions had absolutely no impact on the top-tier factions; if it became serious, the top-tier factions could even intervene to mediate.

Given the deterrent power of the top-tier factions, even if the small factions were unwilling, they had no choice but to compromise and cease hostilities.

But now that the top-tier factions were entering the fray to poach talent, the small factions held no advantage whatsoever; their own legacies simply couldn't compare to the major factions.

Perhaps there would be no impact in the short term, but over time, it would inevitably stir up dissatisfaction among the small factions.

And small factions didn't mean they lacked experts; they just didn't have as many as the top-tier ones. Once united, they were still a force that couldn't be ignored.

According to Nie Ning's own conjecture, at least one major war would need to occur before things could stabilize, and then, by utilizing human adaptability, new rules of survival would be integrated.

For now, Nie Ning only hoped that these top-tier factions wouldn't go too far.

His own situation was already not optimistic; if he were to have friction with those small factions as well, he would truly be surrounded by enemies on all sides, with nowhere to hide.

After all, there weren't many innocent Transcendents; if you pushed them to the brink, wouldn't they fight for their lives?

...

As the group entered the city, they were soon greeted by the city lord.

Although the city lord was a ninth-rank powerhouse, facing a behemoth like the Extreme Phase Demon Palace, even though the strongest among them was only Amanra at the peak of the seventh rank, he dared not show any slack.

He not only threw a grand banquet to host them but had also already selected a building site for the academy.

Likewise, the Extreme Phase Demon Palace did not send any higher-ranked Transcendents because there was a ninth-rank Transcendent present here.

The reason was simple: if anything happened, the ninth-rank powerhouse serving as city lord would naturally protect them.

After all, a lone ninth-rank Transcendent could not contend with the Extreme Phase Demon Palace, nor could they afford to offend such a top-tier faction.

However, nothing in the world is absolute; Nie Ning felt that this trip would not be peaceful.

It was possible that someone would deliberately cause trouble in the shadows to obstruct the Extreme Phase Demon Palace from establishing the academy.

Unfortunately, Nie Ning was of low standing and little influence, and the Extreme Phase Demon Palace seemed to have other plans.

Nie Ning even suspected that their group was merely bait, intended to draw out those troublemakers so they could be used to make an example of them.

...

After spending half a day dealing with the city lord, Nie Ning and the others successfully arrived at their station, a place where green mountains and clear waters intertwined.

The entire area covered about fifty thousand square meters, and what they needed to do now was to build an academy here.

Nie Ning felt quite helpless about this; after all, this was a massive project.

Thinking back to the camp established in the Lata World, compared to this, it was practically child's play.

According to preliminary estimates, this academy would need to accommodate at least twenty thousand students, so one could imagine how many buildings would need to be constructed.

Fortunately, nearly one hundred of them had come, and the weakest among them were at least mid-fifth rank.

Furthermore, the Extreme Phase Demon Palace had already prepared the construction materials, so they only needed to proceed with the normal construction process; the only difficult part was constructing the defensive barrier.

Of course, that had nothing to do with Nie Ning, though he wouldn't exactly be having an easy time either.

...

Nighttime.

Nie Ning walked from Amanra's room to the balcony.

Gazing at the stars filling the sky, he felt an inexplicable sense of relaxation and peace.

Sitting on the chair placed in the corner of the balcony, Nie Ning rarely took the time to enjoy this moment of tranquility.

Because for Nie Ning, the days ahead would not be peaceful, so he would enjoy what he could while it lasted.

Yet, after resting for less than five minutes, Nie Ning suddenly opened his eyes, a look of inexplicable astonishment appearing in them.

"I have something to do and need to head out."

After Nie Ning finished speaking, without waiting for Amanra's response, he jumped off the balcony and disappeared into the darkness.

...

In a secluded alley, a black cat walked along the wall, leaping toward an inn not far away.

As the black cat leaped onto a streetlight, its gaze landed inside a window on the second floor.

In the room, two men were discussing something.

Looking at one of the men, the black cat's eyes revealed a look of astonishment.

When Nie Ning had sensed the other party's aura just now, he had thought it was a hallucination caused by too much pressure.

After so long, Nie Ning hadn't expected to see Bunir again!

Yes, it was none other than Bunir, Lilith's old flame and the holder of the key to the Eye of Astral.

Back then, he had suspected that Bunir was the offspring of some member of the Eye of Astral.

However, the other party had suddenly disappeared, and after a search yielded no trace of him, the matter had to be dropped.

Looking at Bunir, who had already reached the third rank, and the other fifth-rank man, a hint of killing intent surfaced in Nie Ning's eyes.

Back then, because of Lilith, he hadn't finished him off in time.

Now that it appeared the other party's identity was not simple, he could definitely not leave this scourge alive!