Translator: Misty Cloud Translations Editor: Misty Cloud Translations
The first thing that the Nine Temples did after the unification of the Middle Realm was to crush all the other forces. No matter the size of the force, be it big or small, the Nine Temples annihilated them in one fell swoop, disregarding if they surrendered or not. Even those small forces had not been spared, let alone those hidden family clans that had been around since aged old times. Each and every single force had been uprooted by the Nine Temples!
After seizing the Middle Realm with such thunderous means, the next order issued by them was to ask the entire population to build over hundred palaces!
There were as many as one hundred and eight palaces to be built and the scale of each Palace was enormous. All the young and middle aged had been enlisted at that time as they started the never ending construction. The Nine Temples sent people to supervise them and if any semblance of laziness had been discovered, only death awaited.
Let’s not mention rebellion, if anyone even dared to raise any objection to the practices of the Nine Temples, not only their sect be exterminated, even the entire family of nine generations would not be spared.
At the beginning of that period, a bloody hurricane had swept through the entire Middle Realm. How many people died the hands of the Nine Temples? The corpses that piled up were high enough to form a mountain!
It was also this maniacal suppression that no one in the Middle Realm dared to mention the Nine Temples at will. People were petrified at the mere mention of the Nine Temples.
The middle aged man was the first batch of labours who had been enlisted. When the Nine Temples issued the order, they only said to build the Palace. After the Palace had been successfully constructed, they would give them a certain amount of compensation and take care of their family. Forced by the Nine Temples, everyone could only come forward.
However, they did not know that coming forward would take years. Over the past few years, those who survived had long forgotten the faces of their loved ones.
Every day, from the moment the sun had risen till the sun had set, they only had ten minutes of rest at noon for lunch and rest. The rest of the time was spent continuously moving large boulders to the front of the Palace. Those boulders were so large and heavy that it needed seven to eight men to work together to move just one. Under the strenuous work and over exhaustion, many people had been crushed beneath it during the process of lifting it.
Despite that, the dead person would simply be directly dragged away while the rest of the people did not even have the chance to mourn but be driven to continue carrying the blood stained boulders and continue working.
Toiling throughout the day, yet those that had managed to survive did not feel lucky but despair.
“I don’t know.” The middle aged man let out another sigh as he returned that youth’s hopeful gaze with a look of helplessness instead.
That youth was at a loss as he lowered his head and fiddled with his dirty clothes.
“Uncle Liu, I’m afraid…” This youth had just joined them on the construction of this Palace just over half a month ago. Because of the heavy casualties, the construction speed had been seriously delayed so the Nine Temples brought a new batch of people over. This inexperienced youth was one of the people that had joined this project not too long ago.
“I miss my parents already, they said that…as long as the construction is completed, I will be able to go home…” The youth whispered, in his voice, there was a hint of fear as it trembled slightly. Over the past half month that he was here, all that he had witnessed had already made him feel that he had entered hell instead.
The middle aged man looked at the youth and could not help but feel a hint of worry. This child was still not old enough, he should not have appeared here. Yet the Nine Temples had even brought along such a young child, it was obvious that they were starting to feel anxious.
Over the past few days, they had been pushed to work even harder as the whip lashes came down on them even more frequently. From the tone of the supervisors, it seemed that they could not wait.
