Chapter 37: Chapter Thirty-Six: Mastering the Education of One Prefecture, Two Merit Clouds

The capital of True Strange Kingdom.

The Crown Prince's residence.

Fully armed, waiting for the True Strange Crown Prince, his expression shifted and a hint of joy appeared in his eyes.

"Good, once the fortune of Guqi Prefecture is cut off, plus the three prefects I've bribed, only fifteen prefectures remain."

"After another three prefectures' fortunes are cut off, the father king will lose more than one-third of his fortune support."

"In that case, will the father king's Longevity Secret Art still succeed?"

Thinking of this, killing intent surfaced.

"It's not that the child is unfilial, but letting the father king continue to ruin the nation's fortune, which has endured thirteen generations of forefathers and hundreds of thousands of years of the realm's lands and altars, will likely be destroyed in an instant."

"Since they won't give it willingly, for the sake of the realm's lands and altars, the child can only seize it."

……

Outside Guqi Prefecture.

The three neighboring prefectures of Xuanqi, Lingqi, and Yuanqi.

Among them, the prefects of the three prefectures at the Divine Transformation stage, and three sect Divine Transformation experts.

Originally, they were in a stalemate.

At the moment the Guqi Prefecture prefect died, they all sensed Guqi Prefecture, and after a Divine Transformation expert died, the disturbance caused by the falling of the Primordial Spirit.

After sensing the disturbance in Guqi Prefecture's fortune and falling into turmoil, they also realized it was likely the great sect's branch, the Green Thunder Sect's Azure Bamboo True Lord, who caused the Guqi Prefecture prefect's death.

In that moment, the hearts of the three prefects sank.

Meanwhile, the other three sect Divine Transformation experts, besides being startled, felt a hint of joy.

Among them, the Supreme Elder of the Treasure Talisman Sect from Xuanqi Prefecture, the Treasure Talisman True Lord, even burst out laughing.

"Daoist friend, the situation in Guqi Prefecture is now settled; once Fellow Daoist Azure Bamboo frees his hands and comes to Xuanqi Prefecture, you may face the danger of falling."

"Please hand over the prefect's fortune seal and remain neutral."

"Hmph, I don't believe Azure Bamboo will come unharmed; do you still expect him to come to your aid?"

The two Divine Transformation experts continued to remain in a stalemate.

……

Half an hour later.

Guqi Prefecture's government office.

Chen Daoxuan's mind recovered as his vague insight into the Slaughter Dao faded.

His face was full of reluctance.

In just that short half hour, he not only entered the Slaughter Dao, but also grasped and condensed two strands of Slaughter Dao Law Imprints.

"Following heaven and responding to people, in the cycle of all spirits of heaven and earth, slaughter is indispensable."

"In ordinary times, wanton slaughter reduces merit and fortune, creates karmic ties, and accumulates karmic force."

"But in this calamity, following heaven and responding to people, carrying out heaven's calamity, directed slaughter is the will of heaven and the execution of heaven."

He gathered his thoughts and put away the Great Seal of Guqi that contained Guqi Prefecture's fortune.

Chen Daoxuan's divine sense began to scan the entire prefectural office.

He sensed that inside the office there were several remaining Nascent Soul cultivators, but they were not contaminated with calamity qi.

Chen Daoxuan understood they were neutral and had not helped the True Strange King prolong his life.

Accordingly, Chen Daoxuan did not act against them; he merely instructed them to maintain order in the office, then continued to manifest the Green Thunder Sect's Dharma Aspect and left this devastated prefectural office.

……

Starting directly from Iron Sword County where the Iron Sword Sect resides, he inspected the entirety of Guqi Prefecture's eight counties.

"Paying respects to the True Lord, I, the Iron Sword Sect, request to surrender!"

As Chen Daoxuan descended upon Iron Sword County.

The entire Iron Sword Sect, under the leadership of Nascent Soul cultivator Sword Qiu Ming, opened its mountain gates and submitted to Chen Daoxuan.

Furthermore, they directly offered the sect's Merit Dharma Realm, a portion of the Merit Object core, and half of a Merit Iron Sword.

"Good!"

Seeing the Iron Sword Sect's timely awareness, Chen Daoxuan nodded in satisfaction.

He accepted the Iron Sword Sect's submission.

From then on, the Iron Sword Sect, like the six sects of the other six counties, became a half-subordinate branch of the Green Thunder Sect.

The merit of education it could obtain would be at most half of what it previously had; the other half of the educational merit would all go to the Green Thunder Sect.

……

Having taken the half Merit Iron Sword, in his thoughts Chen Daoxuan linked his golden Rendao Gongde Lianchi Fajie with the Merit Bamboo Forest Dharma Realm of the Green Thunder Sect.

He directly sent this portion of the Iron Sword Sect's Merit Object core, the half Merit Iron Sword, into the Merit Bamboo Forest Dharma Realm.

In an instant, with the Iron Sword Sect's submission, the Merit Bamboo Forest Dharma Realm absorbed the half Merit Iron Sword.

Chen Daoxuan then clearly sensed that, in the unseen, the Green Thunder Sect's Merit Bamboo Forest Dharma Realm was rapidly giving rise to numerous merit qi.

Even outside his Human Dao Merit Lotus Pond, strands of merit appeared out of thin air.

Until the manifested merit condensed into two golden merit clouds did it stop.

Chen Daoxuan knew this was a fortuitous opportunity arising after fully mastering the educational authority of Guqi Prefecture.

And this happens only once.

Afterwards, even if one occupies the educational authority of several prefectures, such merit will not occur.

If he wishes to increase merit in this way again, the only way is to support the Green Thunder Sect to become the True Strange Kingdom's state teaching, taking charge of the nation's educational authority, which would then cause merit to surge.

Moreover, within tens of thousands of years, even if the Green Thunder Sect perishes and a new sect occupies the educational authority of a prefecture, it would be difficult to have such a fortuitous opportunity.

Unless it undergoes a baptism of tens of thousands of years, causing all traces of the Green Thunder Sect to disappear.

……

It took an hour.

Chen Daoxuan inspected all the land of the eight commanderies of Guqi Prefecture.

He displayed his sanctity before the people, stabilizing their hearts.

During this period, he slew two Nascent Soul commandery governors who bore Calamity Qi and had aided the True Strange King in defying fate to change his destiny.

He exterminated three demonic path Nascent Soul cultivators hidden in a Mi Jing, as well as dozens of demonic path Golden Core cultivators.

He eradicated more than ten man-eating Golden Core demonic beasts.

……

After doing these, he sensed that the fortune of Guqi Prefecture had restabilized, following its suppression and control by Yuan Xundao.

Only then did Chen Daoxuan leave Guqi Prefecture, which he had swept clean.

Manifesting the Green Thunder Dharma Aspect resembling the Heaven-Reaching Thunder Bamboo, it went grandly and openly toward the capital of the True Strange Kingdom.

Since you wish to become the Nation's Teaching of the True Strange Kingdom and take charge of its education, you naturally cannot hide.

Moreover, you must display the power and virtue capable of taking charge of a nation's teaching.

Now the only Return to Void in the True Strange Kingdom is the True Strange King, who is in the midst of prolonging his life and unable to move.

Furthermore, the Nation's Fortune Great Barrier has been opened, sealing off inside and outside.

Moreover, the True Strange Crown Prince has not yet ascended the throne.

In Chen Daoxuan's view, now is the best time to become the Nation's Teaching and gain the authority to take charge of a nation's teaching.

Opportunity must not be lost; once lost, it will not come again.

Otherwise, whether waiting for the True Strange Crown Prince to ascend the throne, fully taking hold of the nation's fortune, having the fortune infuse his body, and achieving Return to Void...

or, after the Nation's Fortune Great Barrier is gone, external great sects and great powers could intervene.

All of this indicates that the opportunity now has passed.

By then, if one still wishes to make the Green Thunder Sect become the Nation's Teaching of the True Strange Kingdom and take charge of its education, it will be far more difficult than now—by a hundredfold or more.

……

As he left Guqi Prefecture and entered the neighboring Xuanqi Zhou, Chen Daoxuan sensed the two Divine Transformation cultivators who were facing off against each other.

At the same time.

Within Xuanqi Zhou, those two Divine Transformation cultivators also sensed Chen Daoxuan's arrival.

Among them, the Supreme Elder of the Treasure Talisman Sect, the Treasure Talisman True Lord, showed a look of delight.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Xuanqi Zhou reacted oppositely, his expression tightening and his complexion becoming extremely grim.

Although he had not yet seen the person, merely from sensing that vast Primordial Spirit pressure, he discovered that Chen Daoxuan, this Azure Bamboo True Lord, was actually unharmed, without a single injury.

An intangible pressure welled up in his chest.

……