TL: Etude
The Turtle Breathing Technique, though not overly complex, involved manipulating the Eight Extraordinary Meridians to conceal one's aura. Once one had refined these meridians, they could practice this technique. Ye Tian spent half an hour mastering it, successfully concealing his aura. "Now others can't discern my age and life energy. Finally, I won't attract unwanted attention!" he sighed in relief.
He then continued to peruse the information about the super base, growing increasingly shocked and incredulous as he read. After several hours, he had absorbed all the content. "So this is the origin of the super base!" Ye Tian took a deep breath.
The super base wasn't established by humans over a century ago, but with the help of humans from a mysterious realm. A century ago, when spatial rifts appeared and ferocious beasts descended, human conventional weaponry lost its effectiveness, causing humanity to nearly go extinct. That's when the mysterious realm emerged.
Connected to Earth by spatial rifts, this realm also harbored humans. Long ago, Earth too had some Qi energy, albeit much less than now. Some humans had entered this realm by chance or were drawn into it, seeking refuge from various disasters. Gradually, they settled there, isolated from the outside world.
With Earth's transformation and the emergence of spatial rifts a century ago, the barriers between the mysterious realm and the outside world were bridged. Thus, humans who had undergone mutations and evolutions in the realm appeared.
Like how humans in Earth's uninhabitable regions evolved into different races with varying skin colors, humans in the mysterious realm also mutated and evolved under different environmental conditions. These humans from the mysterious realm, different from modern humans, came to be known as ancient humans.
Ancient humans often possessed special talents. For instance, many of the Three-Eyed Humans had pupil technique talents in their third eye, though such cases were rare. Another example was the witchmen, rumored to be descendants of the Jiuli tribe from the Yan and Huang era, who entered a mysterious realm and continued to thrive till now. Originally robust, they evolved over generations in the realm and eventually became the three-meter-tall witchmen.
After Earth's transformation, sensing the rich vital energy and abundant resources of ferocious beasts outside, many ancient humans emerged from the mysterious realm (actually, the realm's resources had been gradually depleted over generations) and joined modern humans to establish super bases to resist the beasts.
Initially, modern humans relied heavily on ancient humans to repel the beasts. From the beginning, ancient humans had warriors, Elite Martial Warriors, and Great Martial Warriors, even Grandmaster-level powerhouses, making it easier to withstand the beasts, thus preserving a large population in the super bases. For instance, the Zhonghai Super Base had a population of 30 million, three times that of the Demon Sea Base.
The Zhonghai Super Base was not the only one; there were other super bases, just more distant and with little communication between them. In these super bases, ancient humans held leadership roles, but their numbers were ultimately fewer than modern humans, whose talents grew stronger over generations.
Nowadays, the strength of modern humans was comparable to, and even subtly surpassing, that of ancient humans.
But there was something more…
"Wang Yan mentioned something in the document, that among the ancient humans, there seem to be some terrifyingly powerful beings who have lived for many years. No one knows exactly how long they've been alive or how powerful they are, as they rarely make public appearances," Ye Tian murmured to himself.
He smiled slightly, "The super base is even more fascinating than I thought!"
In the information provided by Wang Yan, there was also a ranking of the major forces within the base. The top-ranked power was the Battle-Axe Mercenary Hall, a loosely organized group with far-reaching influence. Most of the residents of the Zhonghai Base were members of this guild, registering as mercenaries and taking on tasks for rewards.
The second-ranked power was the Qin Sect, a sect-based force whose upper echelons were entirely composed of the Qin people, descendants of a group from the Qin dynasty who had entered the mysterious realm and thrived there. The Qin people resembled modern humans, but both men and women sported long hair, making them easily recognizable.
The third place was occupied by the Witch God Temple, established by the witchmen. It was an organization that strictly didn't accept non-witchmen, as they worshiped Chi You, a real witch figure who was killed by the Yellow Emperor. The witchmen had retreated into a mysterious realm after Chi You's death and only emerged recently to integrate with other humans. They tended to be wary of non-witchmen and did not welcome them into their temple, unlike the Qin Sect, which was open to people of all races except for their top leadership.
The fourth-ranked power was the Loose Cultivators Alliance. This was a force beyond sects and families, attracting warriors without affiliations. The Loose Cultivators Alliance facilitated free trade among its members and even allowed seeking help from higher-ups, but always adhered to the principle of equivalent exchange. The Alliance did not give anything for free; everything required an equal trade. Thus, it attracted even king-level loners and grew rapidly.
These four major forces controlled half of the Zhonghai Super Base's power, while the other half was dominated by various large families. When these families united, even the disciples of the four major powers dared not provoke them.
"The Loose Cultivators Alliance seems like a good fit for me. It facilitates trading for resources and treasures as long as you have something of equal value to offer. Even transactions between warriors and king-level individuals must follow the principle of equivalent exchange, or they would be judged by the Alliance!" The more Ye Tian read, the more he liked this power.
Moreover, the Alliance didn't restrict personal development of private forces, as long as they didn't grow to rival the major powers.
"My next goal is to buy a decent property and then join the Loose Cultivators Alliance," Ye Tian planned.
Over the next few days, Ye Tian first obtained a silver-tier card and then sold some materials to acquire a significant amount of money. The currency value in the Zhonghai Super Base was different from that of the Demon Sea Base; one unit of currency in Zhonghai was equivalent to ten in the Demon Sea Base.
After selling his goods, Ye Tian acquired 30 billion in Zhonghai currency, equivalent to 300 billion in Demon Sea Base currency. The Zhonghai Super Base was divided into many districts, some predominantly inhabited by ancient humans. Ye Tian naturally didn't opt for those areas, instead choosing the Jinghu District, mostly inhabited by modern humans, where he bought a large villa for about 20 billion.
After settling down, he purchased some living essentials and also got a pet certificate for Xiao Xue.
With all these arrangements, Ye Tian was truly settled in the Zhonghai Super Base.