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Chapter 290: Dragon Resides with Snake

With Ying Huo reduced to ashes in Mysore, high-ranking officials from several nations, who had been closely monitoring the local situation, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Even from satellite observations alone, the monster, which had spanned an entire city for less than two hours, still sent tremors through them.

Unlike the Ghost Kings that had appeared in major cities years ago, Ying Huo was observable – a single tree spanning tens of square kilometers, forming a forest all its own. Its visual impact was on a completely different plane.

Over eighty percent of human perception comes from sight; the impact on the eye is paramount to shaping impressions.

What was even more critical was that this tree also fed on humans. In a mere ten-odd minutes, it had already consumed over half the population of Mysore City. This news truly shocked the world.

The complete destruction of the capital and the collapse of the entire national core plunged Maysuo into a considerable state of anarchy. Especially with the backlash from the faith system, the cleric group, who had rapidly grown strong by relying on Faith Power, were stripped of their power overnight, losing the military foundation to maintain their rule.

Large numbers of fanatical believers could not accept the collapse of their faith and chose to commit suicide. On the very night of Ramdo's death alone, over five thousand people ended their lives in various ways.

Other underground Ability User organizations, which had been strongly suppressed by the One-Wheel Cult and could only develop slowly in the shadows, now began to emerge, seizing power in city after city.

While Ramdo dominated the nation, these Ability Users, unwilling to join the cleric group, had hidden themselves away like rats underground. Some had even fled abroad, becoming part of the wanderer community. Now, upon receiving news of his collapse and death, they all surfaced, ready to seize their own share of the spoils.

Similarly minded were other wandering cultivators from around the world. To them, Maysuo, rich in resources yet utterly devoid of order, was simply paradise. Before the shocking battle in Mysore, they had been wary of the one residing in his Divine Kingdom, but now, they were celebrating a carnival of chaos following the breakdown of order.

However, a carnival is, after all, just a carnival; it could not last forever. Two days later, the six major powers—the Huaxia Federation, Yamato, Russia, the European Union, the Luminous Holy Church, and America—signed the "Treaty of Frankfurt" at the European Union headquarters in Frankfurt.

According to the treaty, respecting the principle of national self-determination, the former Maysuo would disintegrate into twelve nations to satisfy the surging desire for independence among the local populace.

From then on, Maysuo, the great theocratic nation spanning millions of square kilometers across Eurasia, fell apart, becoming a conglomeration of small countries, much like Xiangdu. The name Maysuo became purely a historical term.

The six major nations, at the conference, divided the spoils according to their respective strengths and established their new spheres of influence, bringing the meeting to a successful conclusion. Huaxia, having contributed the most secretly, ultimately secured over two-fifths of the total benefits.

Afterward, some criticized it as a blatant spoils-sharing conference, a severe violation of international conventions, and a disguised war of invasion. They also demanded that the Huaxia Federation publicly reveal the true cause of the massacre in Mysore and provide an explanation for the over one million lives lost in the city.

Seemingly a very reasonable demand, yet those who voiced such opinions quickly vanished without a trace.

The powerful individuals who had ascended to the upper echelons in this new era, relying on their own strength, generally possessed extreme arrogance and had extremely low tolerance for criticism from those beneath them.

Often, someone would finish ranting online that very day, only to be found dead in their home the next, as if someone had literally crawled through the internet cable to beat them to death. Freedom of speech? Non-existent.

Ten years ago, they were merely ordinary people, not ancient immortal cultivators who had lived for millennia and could view everything with equanimity. The sudden acquisition of immense power constantly amplified their desires, making them likely to do things they had only dared to imagine before.

"Curse me? One palm strike, and you're dead. Look down on me? I'll punch your face until it's swollen. You dare to covet my woman? I'm a man of my word – if I say I'll kill your whole family, I'll kill your whole family."

The phrase "a dragon has reverse scales" was interpreted to the fullest by these power parvenus. However, the power in their hands had greatly amplified their sensitivity, turning almost their entire bodies into reverse scales, such that even a casual touch would cause an eruption.

If there were only one or two such individuals in society, it wouldn't pose too great a problem. Even the widest social circle rarely exceeds ten thousand people; for a society numbering in the hundreds of millions, they would merely be small ripples, far from enough to affect fundamental stability.

But the problem was, to this day, the total number of powerhouses worldwide who had reached the Fourth Tier and could casually crush ordinary people was nearing seventy thousand. Even if only one-third of them had this "dragon's reverse scales" flaw, it was still a terrifying figure.

Over twenty thousand powerhouses strutting around in various cities... the lives of ordinary people had become quite difficult. Dealing with a group of monsters who could kill you with a single thought was in no way a comfortable experience. Every day felt like risking their lives; even with legal protection, it was instinctively hard to accept, and the law itself didn't seem too reliable.

The proverb "a dragon does not live with snakes" is, in fact, good for both parties. However, the so-called "dragons" of this new era might have been small snakes just a few years ago, still maintaining close ties with many ordinary people around them. It was not realistic for them to detach from this society, and this was precisely one of the roots of sharp social contradictions.

It was difficult for anyone to view beings who could crush a heap of lives with a single thought as their equals, even if they outwardly belonged to the same species. When they lived together, many problems would inevitably arise.

However, for now, everything was still well; contradictions had not yet escalated to the point of eruption. Under the strong suppression of a ruling class that wielded absolute power, the forces of resistance had no possibility of taking any discernible shape. Ordinary people could only silently endure, waiting for the song of the Internationale that might one day ring out in the future.

Following the finalization of the Treaty of Frankfurt, armies from various factions began to enter the area to restore order, driving out the hyenas that had been wantonly plundering. Simultaneously, large numbers of geological survey personnel also entered Maysuo to commence various resource exploration endeavors.

Meanwhile, the instigator of it all, the one who had brought profound suffering to countless people, had long since returned to Tianqing with all his gains.

Whether it was suffering, sin, or hatred, none of these were issues Bai Mo concerned himself with. As someone fundamentally solipsistic, he paid no mind to anything that didn't happen to him. As for what happened to others? That was their concern.

He neither understood the empathy of others nor required others to understand his own thoughts.