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"He thinks he can turn black into white with just an imperial edict, as if it were that easy!"

"Let those Buddhist monks stabilize their people and spread the truth. This is the perfect opportunity to undermine the imperial authority and extinguish the Jiang family's Incense Fire!"

The old man with the cane bit his teeth as he spoke.

Spreading the truth... The woman with purple patterns felt that these two words together seemed somewhat odd.

Nevertheless, she quickly agreed and left with the young man in the black robe.

However, just as they were about to retaliate, suddenly, traces of top-tier demonic forces appeared in various states.

These demonic forces raised their banners high, commanding spirits of mountains and rivers and other demons, bypassing the border towns, infiltrating into the states, and attacking the cities where Buddhist disciples gathered.

"The Buddha Lord is dead, Dayu shall fall!"

"Your Buddha Lord has been slain by our Demon Emperor; surrender at once!"

"Kill, exterminate them all!"

Among these demonic forces were remnants of Gragon Gate, leftovers of the Holy Palace, the Ancient Demon Palace, and the Star Moon Academy, which, like Dayu Hanlin Hall, was widely influential among demons in teachings and fostering demons.

Star Moon Academy had always remained neutral among the demonic forces. Unlike the Great Void Realm, which secluded itself, the Star Moon Academy never involved itself in conflict, not offending Dayu Divine Dynasty and vice versa. But now, they had come down from the mountains to wage war against Dayu.

Leading these invading demons were Great Demons of the Three Immortal Realms, second in status among the top demonic forces only to the elder Demon Kings.

Raising their flags high, they commanded the assault with a formidable force.

As city after city fell to devastation, with the demons' onslaught, those previous allegations from the high-ranking Buddhists, accusing His Majesty of cronyism, were shattered in an instant.

An imperial decree could only win the trust of the world, but the ravaging demons before their eyes made many Buddhist disciples realize that their Buddha Lord had indeed been killed by demons!

After all, the demons were flagrantly proclaiming it!

They couldn't help but believe it.

...

In Youzhou, the Xia Family.

Numerous secret reports arrived from various states and cities. In the council hall, Xia Linglong, having received a heart-calming pill from the Eunuch, had returned from the Imperial Palace.

At this moment, the demonic forces were causing chaos everywhere, raising their banners high, seemingly ready to launch a full-scale attack on Dayu, causing widespread fear and panic.

"Was it really the Demon Emperor who struck?"

In the council hall, many from the Xia Family were surprised; they had thought it was the young man who had killed him, not realizing there was more to the story.

Xia Yuanwu and several other elders had a look of shock in their eyes. Their family had done many things for His Majesty, and that Elder sister-in-law was skilled at taming demons. There were some secrets they had only heard through the grapevine and could not reveal.

But now... the current events seemed to validate the rumors they had caught wind of previously.

Xia Linglong was somewhat lost in thought. The heart-calming pill the Eunuch had given her reassured her, but the current situation... Was this the safety net that His Majesty had prepared for the Haotian General?

Her thoughts were interrupted until the discussion below concluded, and someone asked how to deploy troops to deal with the demons invading the cities where Buddhist disciples congregated in Youzhou.

Xia Linglong snapped back to reality, her mind rapidly turning over the situation before finally speaking,

"With the demonic forces causing chaos, we need to be wary of other places. Have the city guards there cooperate with the Buddhist disciples to hold out, send your troops to protect the other cities, and don't let the demons cause misdirection."

The crowd was astonished and gave puzzled looks at Xia Linglong.

Not aiding the cities under attack but instead reinforcing other unaffected cities?

The decision seemed odd and unlike the kind of poor strategy Xia Linglong would come up with.

"This..."

Someone hesitated, sparking a dispute.

Before Xia Linglong could speak, Xia Yuanwu glared and said, "Didn't you hear clearly? Do as the Family Head says. Do you know more or does the Family Head know more?"

Seeing that the elder generation also felt this way, those who had been skeptical fell silent at once, realizing that there must be another reason.

After all, the intelligence they saw was different from what the Family Head had.

And as someone with a military background, he knew that having the right intelligence was having the advantage, and only decisions based on intelligence were the right ones. Otherwise, rushing to help merely on passion might disrupt the upper echelons' strategy and ruin everything. Find adventures at freewebnovel

They had experience in warfare and had heard countless military cases, such as using thousands of soldiers as a bait in a desperate situation, counter-attacking from the city, et cetera, ultimately securing a complete victory.

In war, there were always sacrifices, not just in charging into battle but also in baiting, ambushing, and employing dead soldiers, among other tactics.

Hence the saying goes: the first requirement in the military is obedience!

With no further objections in the council hall, as everyone left to carry out their orders, Xia Linglong exchanged glances with a few uncles and saw the thoughts in each other's eyes.

Xia Linglong said nothing but went to the deeper part of the Xia Family to meet the old lady living in a farmhouse.

"There are indeed His Majesty's spies among the demons."

This old lady, sitting in a rocking chair with a face full of wrinkles, shockingly revealed this secret to Xia Linglong.

She had had a hand in the matter but had not disobeyed the Emperor's orders, and had never disclosed it even to Xia Linglong, the current Family Head.

It wasn't that she mistrusted Xia Linglong, but first because the matter was a secret command from the Emperor himself, not to be leaked, and she did not wish to secretly contravene it; second, knowing this would do the Xia Family no good, only harm.

Because when one knows about something, pretending to be ignorant is quite taxing, and the reactions made during the long-term military commands would eventually reveal some flaws.

The third reason is, although she knew that among the demons there were those who had surrendered and were controlled by His Majesty, she did not know which ones they were, so speaking of it was meaningless.

Hearing the old lady's revelation, Xia Linglong, despite having had her suspicions, could not help but have her complexion greatly change when they were confirmed, and her shockingly beautiful cheeks were filled with astonishment.

It was actually true!

Who would dare believe this?

If the word got out, many a person's worldview would shatter!

The Emperor of the Human Race, to have dealings with demons—put nicely, some demons are undercover; put harshly, it's collusion with demons.

This assault was clearly His Majesty's own doing.

Those demons who attacked the Buddha Lord were also commanded in secret by His Majesty!

If not for having access to ample intelligence, feeling something fishy, Xia Linglong would have thought the Buddha Lord truly died at the hands of demons, with the Haotian General having nothing to do with it.

"Now, for that child, His Majesty has even deployed dark chess pieces that had been hidden for a thousand years; that truly is deep affection…"

The old lady rocked her rocking chair, let out a slight sigh, and a hint of envy flashed in her eyes.

Under the entire heaven, who could receive such favor from the Emperor?

Perhaps not even his several brothers and those princes have ever been cherished as much…

Xia Linglong was somewhat dazed and did not respond.

The old lady glanced at her and said softly, "Do you find it unbelievable? When His Majesty summoned me to discuss this matter, I was just as shocked as you are now, but soon after, I was left with nothing but admiration for His Majesty."

Xia Linglong gazed intently at her.

The old lady continued, "Can all demons in the world ever be exterminated? Obviously not. If we say the Dayu Divine Dynasty is a piece of succulent meat, then there will always be flies coveting it."

"But if this piece of meat is already surrounded by flies, will more new flies join?"

"No, they won't…"

Xia Linglong was stunned, feeling goosebumps rising, her whole body's hair standing on end.

This, is this His Majesty's grand scheme?

"Those demonic forces…" she said, slightly opening her mouth.

"If I'm not mistaken, they mostly have His Majesty's spies; he can always keep tabs on demons' movements. His Majesty's plan is for the spies to one day directly replace the demon leaders; if I'm not wrong, that Star Moon Academy... must be the deepest chess piece His Majesty has placed," the old lady said softly, with a gleam in her eyes.

Xia Linglong felt her scalp tingle; she had never imagined the Emperor could be so terrifying.

"Since His Majesty has such spies, then why, in recent years with the wars waged every year, has His Majesty never…"

Xia Linglong's thoughts churned, she slightly opened her mouth; if His Majesty had utilized the information from these spies, their casualties could've been greatly reduced!

It should be noted that among them was the fall of strong warriors from the five great Divine General Mansions.

The old lady shook her head slightly and said, "It is precisely because the losses were so heavy, that's why these spies were buried so deeply. I fear even the Buddha Lord would never have imagined His Majesty's heart could be so ruthless."

Xia Linglong was taken aback.

"If it weren't for that ninth son of the Li Family, being naturally unbending and loathing evil, breaking through alone and forcefully making his way out of the border, he wouldn't have fallen. That time His Majesty showed traces of having moved his dark pieces, but alas…"

The old lady slowly shook her head, she had always paid attention to these matters, especially when she knew some of the inside stories; observed again, many traces invisible to ordinary people would come to light.

"So, it means the Buddha Lord truly was killed by the Haotian General, but His Majesty... still favors him, even now going so far as to expose these millennium-old dark chess pieces for his sake?"

Xia Linglong felt it was unbelievable; what kind of favor could warrant such action?

To slay the second strongest powerhouse in the world without suspicion or fear, instead exposing many years of hidden spies for him, even the most favored Crown Prince of the current court might not receive such indulgence!

A trace of complexity flashed through the old lady's eyes.

"It is indeed an extremely biased favoritism, but besides that, it's also because that youth is irreplaceable. With such talent, if he doesn't become a Saint, then no one in the world can attain Saint status. The hard-to-understand part is, how can the Emperor trust so easily to leave this world in the hands of that child? He must be treated by the Emperor as the future of Dao Tong."

"The future Dao Tong!"

Xia Linglong's pupils contracted, her blood seeming to surge throughout her body.

The weight of these few words was immense!

The Buddha Lord had schemed for two thousand years, spreading Buddhist Halls across all cities, all for a single stick of incense.

The years of contention between Buddha's Path and the secular world were all just to become the Dao Tong of Dayu, inheriting all the Dayu's worship and incense fire.

Now, the Haotian General was to replace the True Person of the Daoist Palace, becoming the future object of worship for the entire world?

The old lady glanced at Xia Linglong, the complexity in her eyes not fading, and spoke in a low voice:

"Do you know what this also signifies?"

Xia Linglong came back to her senses, looking at the hint of sorrow in her eyes, she paused, then abruptly came to an understanding, feeling like her heart sank to the bottom of a valley.

With the emergence of the future Dao Tong, does it also mean that the current True Person... is about to be no more?

...

Beyond Youzhou, in various other places, many figures were also observing the chaotic demon attacks across the land.

A few old-timers, cryptically contemplating the traces behind the demons, didn't dare to be certain.

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Perhaps only by inquiring with the Xia Family could one confirm, after all, they are well-versed in locking onto the demons' lifeline.

But this kind of testing was obviously not to be dared; dragon whiskers cannot be touched lightly.

While demons were attacking the Buddhist congregations in various places, the Arhats within the Buddhist communities were both shocked and enraged, seething with frustration.