Chapter 1936: Panlongcheng's Methods

Today's round was ultimately passed through with a scare but no real danger.

Walking out of the Gan Ge Hall, He Lingchuan stretched lazily; Zhong Shengguang glanced at him from afar, gave a slight nod, and walked straight away.

He Lingchuan, however, was thinking: why exactly did the Red General choose this moment to go into seclusion?

Earlier, during the great battle with the Between Between Between Beijia army in eastern Xianyou, she had also been injured, but not seriously — not to the extent that seclusion was required.

He vaguely felt that the Red General's seclusion this time seemed a bit unusual.

Just then Xu Shichu walked out, and He Lingchuan called out to him: "Director Xu, please stay."

The weather was a bit hot; Xu Shichu rolled up his sleeves: "Just the person I wanted to find."

All attendees were busy people; the two walked and talked.

Xu Shichu: "After the campaign to attack and destroy the Xianyou capital ended, the Red General sent word that she killed Xianyou's Grand Preceptor Shi Mantuo exceptionally smoothly, without any twists; the Grand Preceptor's backup plans were not unleashed."

"What's strange about that?" Being targeted by the Red General on the battlefield is like being stalked by a fierce tiger on a cliff edge — one can imagine there's no way to survive.

"The Red General examined his corpse afterward and discovered that this Grand Preceptor Shi had already activated a substitute doll, but it failed to work."

"That shoddy?" He Lingchuan frowned. "I mean, is the doll's craftsmanship poor, or was his luck just too bad?"

Xianyou is a powerful nation; its Grand Preceptor's level shouldn't be too low — how could he fail to use even a doll in time?

"The Red General searched three more substitute dolls from his person; purely in terms of craftsmanship, there was no problem." A grand Grand Preceptor wouldn't carry inferior goods. Especially at the critical moment when a substitute doll could be used, Grand Preceptor Shi Mantuo had no reason not to use the best. "The strange thing is: when tested on other captives, they likewise had no effect."

He Lingchuan immediately said: "Could it be related to the deity they contracted falling? I once encountered a bandit who used a substitute talisman bestowed by a Heavenly Demon, which could negate one fatal injury. But he didn't know that Heavenly Demon had already perished, so the substitute talisman didn't activate, and he was still beheaded on the spot."

"This wasn't an accident, because —" Xu Shichu said softly, "After receiving the Red General's special transmission warning, we also conducted many experiments. Including substitute dolls, including injury transfer, and so on. You also know that the principle of substitute-type spells and injury transfer is actually the same — both transfer received damage to another target to bear, merely a difference in degree."

He Lingchuan's interest was piqued: "What were the results?"

Xu Shichu sighed: "All failed."

He Lingchuan stopped abruptly: "Even injuries can no longer be transferred?"

"Yes. I'm afraid from now on, whoever receives an injury keeps it on themselves — it can't be shifted away." Someone nearby greeted him; Xu Shichu gave a slight smile in response, then continued, "We tested three types of substitute dolls and substitute spells, seven types of injury transfer spells — not a single one succeeded."

Failed, huh? He Lingchuan stroked his chin: "That's fine too — fair for everyone."

"To rule out geographical factors, I sent people with several sets of substitute dolls and talismans to try in Xiluo or Between Between Between Beijia." Xu Shichu spoke seriously. "The experimental results may take several months to feed back."

"But I'll make a preliminary deduction first: probably some laws of heaven and earth are changing again." Osmanthus fragrance filled the way; Xu Shichu sniffed. "Laws have never been immutable; it's just that they moisten things silently, rarely changing as drastically as after the Immortal-Demon War."

"There must be a reason, right?" He Lingchuan frowned. "What cause triggered these changes?"

Xu Shichu laughed: "You young people always think human effort can exhaust all cause and effect. Haha, some 'whys' can't be figured out in a lifetime."

He Lingchuan touched his nose. Xu Shichu's meaning was that this fundamentally had no starting point for investigation.

Who would you go to demand this cause and effect from? There isn't a shred of a clue.

Heaven and earth's laws shifting — this is a macroscopic change; tiny individuals don't even have the qualifications to probe it.

"Is this what the Shu Min Academy has been researching recently?"

"Not only that; this is just one of the more certain changes. After I run more tests and verify without error, Commander Zhong will issue a notice so you generals commanding troops have a clear picture." Xu Shichu sighed. "Pull one hair and the whole body moves; changes in heaven and earth's laws always happen in a chain — they won't stop at just this one item. Conversely, perhaps this is merely the most insignificant link in the chain of laws currently changing."

He Lingchuan pondered: "Could it be related to the many Heavenly Demons that have fallen recently?"

"Commander Zhong and I also suspect this, but there's no way to verify." Xu Shichu said solemnly. "Actually, the increase in heaven and earth's spiritual energy density, fertile soil and water, flourishing plants, and the dramatic increase in living beings — this is equally a change in laws."

"Those who first grasp the pattern of change, who first utilize the new laws —" He Lingchuan understood — "will reap enormous dividends!"

This is why Zhong Shengguang and Xu Shichu attach such importance to changes in heaven and earth.

Three thousand years ago, the Tianluo Star brought the new phenomena "Di Liujiang" and "Yan Qi"; immortals and Xian Sects didn't take them seriously, and as a result Heavenly Demons seized the initiative and gained the upper hand; later, the Da Fanghu brought the new law "Yuan Li"; immortals and Xian Sects strongly resisted, and as a result human nations rose, forcing Xian Sects to decline further.

Precisely because of such precedents, Panlongcheng hopes to seize the initiative when new laws appear, at least not to fall behind Between Between Between Beijia.

The price of falling behind is extremely terrifying.

No mistakes, first time, every word, every bit of content inside, all in one look!

He Lingchuan nodded: "I'll also pay more attention. If there are any clues, I'll report them to the Shu Min Academy."

"Very good, very good." At this moment someone ahead called for Xu Shichu; the latter nodded to He Lingchuan and hurried away.

Within a few days, the Panlong army withdrew from Xianyou in succession.

News spread fast, shaking the surroundings. Because although Panlongcheng's withdrawal took a long time, the final pullout was extremely clean — they truly left without looking back, not leaving a single soldier.

But before the Panlongcheng army left, it actually did a few things:

First, Zhong Shengguang designated the former Xianyou King's sixth son to serve as the new monarch, and drew lots to assign him a set of administrative personnel. Because this Sixth Prince had once guarded the secondary capital, when the Red General led troops to attack, he surrendered the city without resisting for long.

So this was Panlongcheng's "reward" to him.

Second, the Panlongcheng army distributed all grain stored in the former Xianyou state's official granaries, military granaries, ever-normal granaries, commercial granaries — any warehouse belonging to the former Xianyou state — to the common people, not keeping a single grain.

Finally, the Panlongcheng army conducted a large-scale raid on households throughout the whole of Xianyou.

Whose households were raided?

Gentry, wealthy merchants, officials.

Wealthy people from the capital down to the localities were all cleaned out by Panlong's great army.

A large portion of this money was publicly distributed to the local commoners.

The raided tyrants were actually escorted to the scene to watch with their own eyes, but constrained by the fully armed Panlong army, they could not act out.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Is the big dish for tonight ready at your homes?