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“Young Master, the nine households that originally agreed to stay in the Pavilion have reneged and have scurried away at the news of the flood. I wasn’t able to persuade them to stay, please punish me,” Hua Ji said with a dejected face.

Understanding the situation, Tang Luo replied directly, “That’s human nature, nothing to do with you. Go find them again and tell them that the Star Pavilion will cover all their food, clothing, and other needs during the flood. Gather all nine households, then escort them, along with Ying Hongyuan, back to Tang Mansion.”

“I am on my way!” Having received these orders, Hua Ji ran towards Fengqing Alley.

Tang Luo turned to Ying Hongyuan again, “Ying, please take care of the nine star tokens in the Star Pavilion and escort Hua Ji back to the mansion.” He was not worried about the arrangements at Tang Mansion. Although his mother Xu Shuhui had always borne the title of matriarch, Uncle Fu, the steward, handled most of the household affairs. After his father Tang Sen became the First Head of the Martial Hall and took over the complex management of the Hall’s food and accommodation, he assigned the various chores of the mansion to several stewards and enlisted himself in the Martial Hall as one of them.

Although Xu Shuhui had taken Xu Ping and Chang Le, two of the stewards, to visit her relatives in Yuanzhou, he was sure that with Uncle Fu in charge, the mansion would be able to respond swiftly. That was a certainty.

Floods are not as terrifying as they seem. If you look at the big picture over a span of hundreds of years, you would find that floods occur as frequently as the weather changes from rain to shine.

One moment an area is inundated, the next moment another one is submerged. It’snotarare occurrence at all.

This can happen along the coast, beside rivers and lakes, and at the foot of snowy mountains.

In terms of probability, if you settle in a place where there is water, you will eventually be flooded. It’s a certainty.

Many martial artists like to dig in the ground because when they explore deeper into the earth, they discover layers upon layers of civilizations buried underneath. Many of them were wiped out by devastating floods.

Silt destroys civilizations, and new ones are built over the old. Then another flood comes, and another civilization is built. All civilizations are created in this cycle of flooding. Even the histories that Tang Luo had read mentioned many ancient nations that were destroyed by floods. Some of these floods were so massive that even the Fierce Realm would have run out of energy trying to deal with them. The scale of the flooding and its change of course in Longjiang, were catastrophic for Xiling, but in the grand scheme of history, it would be considered below average.

Earthquakes, floods, droughts, famines-if you look at the whole continent, you’ll find that such ‘once-in-a-hundred-years’ or ‘once-in-a-thousand- years’ disasters happen every single day. There’s no need for despair when facing a disaster because they happen quite frequently!

Most of the time, people die in natural disasters not because the disasters are irresistible, but because they are unforeseen.

Any disaster that can be predicted can’t cause horrific casualties, especially on this continent where almost everyone practices martial arts.

Thanks to Tang Luo’s warning, even the most ignorant people in Xiling have started running to the mountains. However, as in any era, there will always be fools – some people thought they could avoid the flood by sealing their doors and raising their walls. Tang Luo couldn’t help but applaud such brave but futile defiance of nature.

There were also some refugees who thought they could seize the moment and steal food from the fields of the clans. But they were mercilessly killed instead Many refugees didn’t die in the flood, but perished under the swords and axes of the nobles due to their own foolish actions.

And then there were those who mounted animals and ran towards the inland. It was a smart move, but Tang Luo doubted that a fully laden cart carrying the whole family and all their possessions would outrun a relentless flood.

Regardless, thanks to Tang Luo’s warning, all of Xiling was able to prepare. Compared to Xiang Tongcheng which was wiped out without any preparation, the number of people in Xiling who would directly die in the flood should be minimal.

Despite a few who decided to act alone, the vast majority of the commoners chose to follow Tang Luo’s advice and flee to the Red Cloud Mountain. A long line of refugees stretched for miles, slowly moving towards the east.

While common people might be humble, they were free. The clans, on the other hand, had very limited options.

All the clans large and small across Xiling had only three choices – to go to the northern mountains where the Tang Clan was located, to go to the Southern Beast Valley where the Mi Clan was located, or to move their entire clan, far away from Xiling.

The Tang and Mi Clans were still at odds with each other, crouching only to jump higher, withdrawing only to strike harder.

Each patriarch saw the situation clearly, yet hesitated to take sides. The strengths of the two clans were too evenly matched, and the outcome uncertain. Choosing between such evenly matched sides was the hardest decision, because the probabilities of success and failure were equal, and no matter how prepared they were, they felt uneasy.

No one expected that when all the patriarchs of Xiling were hesitating, Pan, Bie, Bai, and Wan-the four great families-as well as Feng, Wu, Liu, and Feng,’ the ’ four smaller families from West City, a total of eight noble families, publicly announced that they had joined the Mi Clan and were moving their entire families to the South Beast Valley.

It caused quite a stir among the noble families of Xiling. They couldn’t understand why these eight families made such a move. It was just a flood, and the Tang and Mi Clans were still at a stalemate. Even with the added strength of these eight families, there wasn’t much change in the overall power balance. Why would they be in such a rush?

In particular, Pan, Bie, Bai—the three new noble families—owing to their daughters’ engagement to the Xu Clan, were expected to become vassals of the Xu Clan. Logically, they should have been closer to the Tang Clan. It was a surprise that they chose to join the Mi Clan.

Did the Mi Clan now have a higher chance of winning? Otherwise, how could one explain this abnormal behavior of these eight families?

Though puzzled, the striking public move of the eight families had undeniably attracted the attention of the heads of all the noble families in Xiling. Especially for those who were close to the eight families-they had personally visited to find out what was going on. But the heads of the eight families, appearing as if they had conspired, held their tongues. Their evasive responses only convinced the heads of all the families even more that the Mi Clan must have a winning strategy.

The smaller noble families, who had originally intended to delay their decisions, were swayed and started extending olive branches to the Mi Clan. Although they couldn’t meet Mi Jin due to their lower status, they did find Mi Shen, the young clan leader, in the South City’s new city hall. With a target in sight, the small noble families began flooding the Mi Clan’s new city hall with requests for appointments with Shen.

While everyone’s attention was focused on the four powerful families switching sides to join the Mi Clan, Tang Zhi, the clan leader of the Tang Clan, quietly sneaked through the secret tunnels of the Xiao Clan’s territory to meet Xiao Jinlin in a side hall.

The two of them sat in front of a painting of a ferocious tiger, drank tea, and burned incense in a serene atmosphere as if unconcerned about the impending flood that was about to hit Xiling.

After the third cup of tea, Tang Zhi washed up a new teapot. As he waited for the tea to boil, he said to Xiao Jinlin, “Plans have changed. I ask that Clan Leader Xiao lead the Xiao Clan to the Red Cloud Mountain and refrain from revealing our alliance.”

Xiao Jinlin sipped his tea and nonchalantly asked, “Eight clans have gone to South Beast Valley in a single day. Clan Leader Tang is not worried at all?” “To make it fail, one must first help it go mad,” said Tang Zhi as he poured the freshly brewed tea into the cup in front of him. “Let Mi Jin feel confident in his victory, and he will lose his caution. The more clans join the Mi Clan, the faster it will collapse. Clan Leader Xiao, please.”

Xiao Jinlin took the cup of tea, savored it, finished it, and said with a face full of admiration, “Excellent strategy, Clan Leader Tang, and superb tea-making skills.”