Chapter 323: The North-South War
Chapter 323: Chapter 311: The North-South War
Continent Island is primarily divided into two parts: the Northern Continent and the South Sea.
The Northern Continent was the home of the Zhouzhou People. They foraged, fished, and hunted. They knew how to work with leather and wood, prepare simple herbal remedies, and had established villages from a very early time.
The Zhouzhou People once developed rapidly. At their peak, their population reached one hundred and fifty thousand. Docks dotted the capes and beaches of the Northern Continent, and a network of roads connected every village.
Full of ambition, they sought to conquer the ocean and leave the mark of the north on every island.
The sea became the Zhouzhou People’s hunting ground and highway. Their ships sailed deep into the southern ocean, probing the very limits of the world.
However, during the transition to a new Era, the Zhouzhou People suffered a devastating blow.
The new Era brought a population explosion of a creature called the Sea Toad. The Sea Toad had been an inconspicuous small animal that typically hid in the shallows, feeding on insects. It was highly venomous.
As the Sea Toad population grew, they began to come ashore in search of food.
The toxins they carried caused the livestock raised by the Zhouzhou People to die in droves. People who came into contact with the toads were also Poisoned and died one after another.
The Zhouzhou People had no choice but to recall their seafarers and focus all their efforts on eradicating the toads from the Northern Continent.
The Sea Toads reproduced quickly and liked to hide in the sea, making them incredibly difficult to completely exterminate.
This war between the Zhouzhou People and the toads was a protracted one. It wasn’t until the next Era, when a creature called the Weaving Bird grew in number and began hunting the toads, that the plague was finally brought under control.
But after this disaster, the Zhouzhou People were left severely weakened.
The toad’s venom directly or indirectly caused over 30,000 deaths, the vast majority of whom were the elderly among the Zhouzhou People.
The successive deaths of the elderly created a major gap in the transmission of knowledge among the Zhouzhou People. Society lost the crucial link and buffer between the old and young generations, becoming extremely unstable.
To fight over resources, frequent conflicts and slaughters broke out between Zhouzhou People from different regions. Their civilization even entered a brief period of regression.
Meanwhile, the Merfolk in the deep southern sea were rapidly growing in power.
Unlike the Zhouzhou People, who had developed a civilization early on, the Merfolk had lived like beasts for thousands of years. Their Enlightenment came from consuming the corpses of the Zhouzhou People and making use of the shipwrecks on the seabed.
The Zhouzhou People practiced sea burials. The living would place the dead in small boats and set them adrift on the ocean. They believed that through the ocean currents, the dead would return to the north in another form.
These sea-buried corpses all became food for the schools of fish.
The toad plague disaster caused tens of thousands of Zhouzhou corpses to float into the sea, allowing the Merfolk to gradually gain Wisdom as they fed and observed.
In the past, the Merfolk would flee and hide whenever they encountered the Zhouzhou People, afraid of being pierced by their fishhooks and spears. But after eating so many corpses, they grew bolder. ‘The Zhouzhou People aren’t so strong anymore.’
Long ago, the Zhouzhou People had been very interested in the Merfolk, as the undersea creatures had a humanoid form. The Merfolk, in turn, regarded the ships of the Zhouzhou People with curiosity and respect, and would trade pearls for their livestock and fruit.
During their golden age, the Zhouzhou People would gift the Merfolk food and teach them how to weave with rope and vines, displaying the regal air of a people who commanded the world.
At that time, the Merfolk were genuinely reverent. They would always take the initiative to greet the ships of the Zhouzhou People and guide them into safe waters.
But now, the Zhouzhou People were weakened and lacked for everything. They had lost their former verve.
The Zhouzhou People began hunting the Merfolk, shackling them with ropes and hooks and forcing them to search the sea for pearls and coral.
Strong Merfolk became underwater laborers for the Zhouzhou People, while the weak were used as feed for livestock. The corpses of Merfolk were used as bait to lure out more of their kind.
The rage that had been suppressed for years finally erupted.
The Merfolk began a frenzied counterattack. They scuttled ships, destroyed docks, and dragged the Zhouzhou People underwater to drown. They raised large numbers of Sea Toads and threw the venomous creatures into the villages and settlements of the Zhouzhou People.
As soon as a ship of the Zhouzhou People entered the southern waters, it would be attacked by the Merfolk, resulting in it sinking or being assaulted by some Deep Sea Monster.
The hatred between the two peoples deepened with each passing day.
It was then that Suo Liweng finally intervened.
This God who ruled the world dispatched his Apostles.
The Apostles announced an Oracle for the two races to coexist in peace, thereby ending the long and drawn-out war between north and south.
Another two Eras passed. Hatred was gradually diluted by time, and the Zhouzhou People and the Merfolk began to cooperate.
They engaged in Trade with one another. Fruits, grains, and livestock from the north were shipped to the south in exchange for oysters, fish, seaweed, pearls, and coral from the sea.
The Merfolk learned simple hand-weaving and leather processing from the Zhouzhou People, while the Zhouzhou People learned from the Merfolk how to navigate at sea and avoid dangerous waters.
The land provided livestock, fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs not found in the sea, while the sea supplied the land with an abundance of fish and various ores.
The two peoples of land and sea entered a honeymoon period. The Red Coral Mirage was both a testament to and a creation of this era.
The existence of the Red Coral and the Illusory Mirage allowed the Zhouzhou People and the Merfolk to see each other from across the sea. The mirror formed by the Mirage Refraction made their respective worlds clearly visible to one another, making trade and communication much smoother and faster.
The northern land and the southern ocean were connected in a way never before seen.
Later, the God Suo Liweng became a Subordinate God of the Dragon Race, and the Nine-Grain Pillar was fixed to the seabed beneath Continent Island.
The Dragon Race, in all their various forms, began to appear in this world.
Their mere presence brought a series of changes and opportunities to the world. The existence of the Dragons also made the Zhouzhou People and the Merfolk more cautious, causing them to band together for mutual protection.
This was also the most peaceful and stable time for Continent Island.
In the 6th Era, the God and the Dragons suddenly departed from the Nine-Grain Pillar. Subsequently, the Nine-Grain Pillar was destroyed, and the world’s Fire of Faith was swiftly extinguished.
The fall of the God came without warning, but a drastic change in the world had already quietly begun.
In the 7th Era, the entire world entered an age of extreme cold. The northern lands were covered and buried by heavy snow. Icicles grew from the capes, and the surface of the coastal waters turned to thick, solid ice. Land animals died in the cold in vast numbers, and trees continuously withered and fell.
The ocean became the primary food source for the Zhouzhou People. They chiseled through the ice to catch fish and, at the same time, pleaded with the Merfolk for help.
It was then that the Merfolk’s long-simmering resentment and ambition to conquer the land were no longer hidden. They refused the Zhouzhou People’s request, blockaded the coastline, and forbade them from setting foot in the sea.
Trees grew increasingly scarce, and the fuel needed for warmth quickly ran out. The Zhouzhou People desperately searched everywhere for food and firewood.
But the reserves on land were a drop in the ocean. In the end, the Zhouzhou People were completely wiped out during this long and cold Era.
A new Era dawned. The solid ice melted, and the land and ocean once again grew warm and humid.
The Merfolk celebrated amongst themselves. They had finally ended the humiliations of the past and utterly destroyed the Zhouzhou People, becoming the world’s sole civilized rulers.
However, the temperature continued to rise.
In the 8th Era, the entire Continent Island was plunged into extreme heat.
Red and green algae floated on the surface of the sea. These algae spread throughout the waters, causing fish to die or fall ill in large numbers. The Merfolk became Poisoned and infected from eating these fish.
Without the medicinal treatments of the Zhouzhou People, the Merfolk could not heal themselves, and their numbers continued to dwindle.
As the Merfolk grew weak, a ferocious, small, merfolk-eating fish appeared in the sea.
Their will to survive was incredibly strong; they ate seaweed and all kinds of poisoned fish. Even with only half a body left, they could still swim for a long time.
These merfolk-eating fish began to hunt the weakened Merfolk in packs, for the oil of the Merfolk was delicious and provided great strength.
In this hot and bright Era, the Merfolk either died or fled.
In the end, they failed to survive this difficult period. They became prey for Deep Sea Monsters and regressed to the basic, bestial instincts of survival and procreation.
And so, the once-flourishing civilizations of the north and south came to an end, one after the other, in the annals of the world.