Chapter 590 - Leywini Leyan

Chapter 590: Chapter 590 - Leywini Leyan

While Leyvi was focused on his cultivation in the Leyan Family estate, the world outside was slowly beginning to change.

With the emergence of the Red Eye Craze phenomenon, more and more places were being attacked by crazed demonic beasts.

As the attacks became increasingly frequent, more and more regions turned unsafe, especially mortal settlements that simply lacked the strength to defend themselves against such powerful demonic beasts.

Despite the serious efforts to uncover the cause of this mysterious phenomenon, nobody was able to pinpoint where it came from or how it began. It remained a complete mystery that baffled everyone investigating it, including all the Cloud Continent Protectors.

Without finding the source, there was no way for them to solve the problem.

Weirdly enough, the phenomenon did not seem to affect demonic plants, humans, or spirit beasts. Only wild demonic beasts could fall into the Red Eye Craze.

As time passed, even the cultivators who usually accepted jobs protecting these settlements became increasingly reluctant. The risk of losing their lives was simply becoming too great.

As such, the Protectors had no choice but to keep increasing the pay for these guarding jobs while also assigning more cultivators to each location.

It was not just the mortal settlements. Many other important locations also required stronger protection, including resource sites, research facilities, special cultivation grounds, and many more.

With so many places across the entire continent requiring protection at the same time, the total expenditure rose to an astonishing level. The amount needed to pay all these cultivators eventually exceeded the continent’s defense budget.

To keep everything running, the Cloud Continent Protectors had no choice but to temporarily increase the territory and resource taxes imposed on cultivation families, sects, and every organization that had been granted territories or resource sites to operate.

While most people accepted the temporary tax increase, some became dissatisfied with the decision. They complained that they should not have to pay more just for the sake of protecting mortals.

They argued that even if the mortals died, they would eventually repopulate once the Red Eye Craze phenomenon was over. So why should cultivators care about their survival and spend so much money protecting them?

Those remarks enraged one of the Protectors.

Normally, if he heard such out-of-touch opinions, he would simply ignore them.

But this was not a normal situation.

The continent was facing an ongoing crisis, and if the Red Eye Craze continued to worsen, chaos would eventually descend upon the entire Cloud Continent.

The fact that they had been forced to raise taxes for the first time in over a thousand years was already proof that the continent was in a state of emergency.

During a crisis like this, he could not allow people like them to undermine the Protectors’ authority or encourage others to resist the emergency measures. Someone had to become an example.

He picked the most vocal family among them and publicly announced that the Protectors would no longer provide them with any protection. From that day onward, whatever happened to them would no longer be the Protectors’ responsibility.

The announcement immediately frightened the family. They wanted to apologize and beg for forgiveness, but it was already too late.

On the very night of the announcement, all the opportunistic vultures lurking in the shadows finally made their move.

For years, those evil forces had remained hidden because they feared retaliation from the Protectors. Now that the family’s protection had been stripped away, they attacked without hesitation.

After the family’s grand formation was breached, earthshaking battles erupted throughout their territory, but they ultimately failed to defend themselves.

Three Soul Formation Realm cultivators, dozens of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, and hundreds of Core Formation Realm cultivators, the very backbone of the family, were all slaughtered. Their treasures, resources, and wealth were looted without mercy.

By the time dawn arrived, the once prosperous family estate had been reduced to a lifeless wasteland.

Not a single survivor remained.

Only those who had been away from the family territory survived the brutal massacre. When they received the news later, they were horrified. With their family gone, they no longer had anyone to rely on and could only hide themselves, not daring to appear in public. Without their family’s influence, they were nobodies.

In just one night, a top-tier family from the Central Region had vanished from the face of the continent. Every valuable resource and treasure within their territory had been looted.

Just as the Protector had declared, nobody ever came to investigate the family’s destruction. The culprits were never pursued, nor were they held accountable.

This was his warning to everyone who thought too highly of themselves. If they believed they could disregard the lives of mortals simply because of their superior status, then he could just as easily revoke their protection and disregard theirs.

The news shocked the entire continent and sent chills through countless cultivators. Those who had been the most vocal earlier immediately fell silent. None of them dared to voice another complaint, fearing they might become the next example. Some even paid the increased taxes voluntarily without waiting to be asked.

Once again, everyone was reminded why the Protectors existed and why they had been paying taxes for thousands of years.

The only reason they had been able to develop peacefully for so long was because of the Protectors, who upheld law and order throughout the continent.

Their mere existence was enough to deter most evildoers from acting openly. Even those who committed crimes in secret still had to worry about the Bureau of Investigation tracking them down.

Without the Protectors, every cultivation family, sect, and organization would have to rely entirely on themselves to survive. Yet even a top-tier family had been wiped out overnight. If they could not survive on their own, what chance did everyone else have?

Perhaps only organizations with Soul Transformation Realm powerhouses would be capable of standing on their own without the protection of the Cloud Continent Protectors.

This incident made one thing painfully clear. They had never truly been safe. Dangerous people had always existed, lurking in the shadows and waiting for an opportunity. If the Protectors were to disappear overnight, chaos would undoubtedly erupt across the entire continent.

The various factions finally learned their lesson. Even if they genuinely believed mortal lives were insignificant, they should never have voiced such opinions publicly. They had forgotten that the Protectors were righteous figures, the very heroes who had once saved the continent.

After this shocking incident, everyone obediently paid the increased taxes. No one wanted to suffer the same fate as that unfortunate family.

While this commotion unfolded across the continent, none of it reached Leyvi.

He remained completely focused on his cultivation.

Although Anda, Caterina, and Layla were aware of everything that had happened, they deliberately chose not to tell him. There was no need to disturb his cultivation over matters he could do nothing about at the moment.

They would handle everything else, allowing Leyvi to cultivate in peace.

...

In the blink of an eye, more than ten years passed.

Inside the Leyan Family Mansion, four children had gathered for a secret meeting, quietly plotting something together. There was one young boy and three young girls.

The young boy, who resembled Leyvi and had a parrot perched on his shoulder, was none other than Leylin Leyan. He was now a little over eleven years old.

Two of the girls were, of course, the adorable twins of the Leyan Family, Leyana Leyan and Leyina Leyan, who were also eleven years old.

The twins looked exactly alike and even shared the same mannerisms. The only reliable way to tell them apart was by the color of their dresses. Leyana wore pink, while Leyina wore yellow.

So who was the last girl?

The mischievous-looking nine-year-old with a noticeably darker complexion than the others was, of course, Leyvi’s fourth child, Leywini Leyan.

She was Nala’s daughter, who had finally decided to come out after remaining in the womb for an astonishing ten years.

Nala cried tears of joy the day Leywini was finally born. She had exhausted every possible method to coax her daughter into coming out. After carrying a round belly for so long, she had almost forgotten what it felt like to have a normal figure again.

The other ladies were equally happy for her. They had all been worried that something might have gone wrong with the pregnancy. In the end, everything turned out fine, allowing everyone to finally put their worries to rest.

However, they were puzzled when Leywini showed no obvious signs of possessing an extraordinary physique after her birth.

Aside from a few unusual traits, such as being able to understand human language from birth and recognizing people by their voices, she displayed nothing particularly remarkable. She had no early spirit root awakening, nor did she possess any unique heavenly physique.

Still, no one minded.

She was, after all, another precious child of the Leyan Family.

"Brother, didn’t you say you can tame a demonic beast now?" Leywini asked with a mischievous grin. "Let’s go tame one."

Unlike her older sisters, who had a more adorable appearance, Leywini was quite the tomboy and preferred wearing pants instead of skirts.

Leylin shook his head, and the parrot on his shoulder immediately copied the motion.

"There are only demonic bisons and demonic bighorn sheep around here. They’re already so tame that it wouldn’t be fun. I want to tame a flying demonic beast."

Leyana and Leyina’s eyes sparkled.

"Flying demonic beasts? Yay! We can ride it together!"

The twins exclaimed happily, speaking in perfect unison. Even their tone and timing matched exactly.

"I’m not talking about inside the city." Leywini leaned forward with an excited smile. "Let’s go to Bara Forest instead. There are a few flying demonic beast species there. Let’s go!"

"What? Outside?" Leylin and the twins exclaimed in shock, immediately turning to look at one another.