Chapter 2725: The Rotten Scars Beneath the Splendid Robes

Lingxu City would naturally dispatch the Wang Ting grand army to suppress the rebellion, and the surrounding vassal demon nations would also have to join the punitive expedition!

Back then, this was exactly how Lingxu City dealt with the Yuan Nation.

He Lingchuan had already thoroughly studied this segment of history, and knew that even the Baoshu King, who sympathized with the Yuan Nation, ultimately had no choice but to dispatch troops to participate in the encirclement and suppression.

Once the Demon Emperor pinned the charge of treason on the Heavenly Palace faction's vassal demon kings, what followed would likely be a great army pressing to the borders.

No need to think — the Lingxu King's army would inevitably fight to the death, fighting until the Heavenly Palace faction's vassal demon kings were toppled.

This is called seizing the opportunity to create trouble.

What could the Heavenly Palace say?

The Lingxu Holy Venerable demanded the destruction of Panlong, yet these vassal demon kings refused to exert their full effort in sending troops; consequently, Lingxu City launched a punitive campaign against them — lawful and legitimate, and all the people of Bega saw it with their own eyes.

"Truly worthy of the old Demon Emperor, methods are brilliant." He Lingchuan exhaled a breath.

This whole combo of moves struck down, and the Heavenly Palace faction's vassal demon kings had suffering they could not voice, only able to swallow it into their bellies.

How did He Lingchuan feel that this second Demon Emperor instead cooperated with him even better?

Much stronger than its son.

"Old Demon Emperor?" Wen Daolun didn't understand — was the General trying to say old demon? The current Demon Emperor is indeed very old.

He Lingchuan patted his shoulder: "Don't be discouraged. The two pieces of intelligence you obtained today, from the long-term view, are both good news for Panlong."

In the short term, the pressure borne by Panlong would still surge drastically. He didn't elaborate on this point; Wen Daolun already understood clearly.

Dawn is right ahead; as long as Panlong can break through this final, deepest darkness, the war with Bega might perhaps welcome a turning point, and Panlong's soldiers and civilians could also fight for a sliver of survival.

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and regained rationality: "However, would the Heavenly Palace or the Heavenly Demon really just stand by with folded arms, watching the Demon Emperor clean up those few vassal demon kings?"

"Of course not. Once those few vassal demon kings fall, the Imperial faction within the vassal demon nations will rise to power; even if they accept the Heavenly Palace's bestowal of blessings, they can turn around and use the 'Qinchang' antidote to dissolve the life-and-death shared curse. In this way, the Demon Emperor can completely seize back control of Bega, and the Heavenly Palace would also lose its power." He Lingchuan paused, "This has been the cherished wish of Bega's third — ah, two Demon Emperors for many years; the Heavenly Palace naturally cannot let it have its way, so there will certainly be new moves in the near future."

Wen Daolun smiled until crow's feet appeared:

"The more fiercely they fight among themselves, the less they have the mind for a western expedition, and the smaller the pressure on Panlong."

Regardless of how long this internal strife lasts, if the Demon Emperor wins in the end, Bega will no longer need the Great Fanghu, and naturally won't need to conquer Panlong again. If Bega wants to expand its territory, there are plenty of soft persimmons to pinch all around; it doesn't have to gnaw on Panlong specifically, wearing down its teeth.

Even if the Heavenly Demon and the Heavenly Palace win, Bega will inevitably be riddled with internal injuries — how much strength would remain to attack Panlong?

"This is our strategic objective." He Lingchuan gazed at Lingxu City on the sand table, "However, the Demon Emperor's layout can at most move those few vassal demon kings — that is, the Heavenly Demon's claws in the mortal world. If the Demon Emperor wants to reclaim complete control of Bega, it cannot bypass this massive boulder that is the Heavenly Palace. Yet up to now, I still haven't seen its method for dealing with the Heavenly Palace."

Later generations of Demon Emperors also didn't produce corresponding strategies, so they have always been very passive. He Lingchuan was curious — what would the second Demon Emperor do?

"The Demon Emperor's method for dealing with the Heavenly Palace?" Wen Daolun pondered for a long while, shook his head with a bitter smile, "Not a single clue."

"Wait and see." He Lingchuan said solemnly, "What we must do is persist, fight for Panlong, until the contradiction between the Heavenly Demon and the Demon Emperor fully erupts — then Panlong will welcome a brand new turning point!"

Hope lies in the not-too-distant future; he didn't tell Wen Daolun, it should not exceed half a year.

……

Not long after, the wind rose.

It was the wind of rumors.

All across Bega, including the various vassal demon nations and Lingxu City, massive scandals of the Heavenly Palace and its subordinate institutions suddenly broke out!

Including but not limited to bribing local officials, seducing women and children, corruption, murder, sucking the marrow from believers' bones leading to countless families ruined and lives lost.

Even the wife of the Grand Marshal of Qing Prefecture in the Shanjun Nation was deceived by the master of the local Heavenly Palace station, the Liu Shan Shrine, and gave birth to two daughters. The Grand Marshal was kept in the dark, and had always raised them as his own flesh and blood.

Every time the Grand Marshal brought his family to the Liu Shan Shrine to meditate and worship, while he himself knelt devoutly in the quiet room, his wife was in a secret chamber not far away, copulating wildly with the shrine's master — no, it should be called offering up all her spirit and flesh.

Even more terrifying, the two daughters reached the age of young maidenhood, and also kept running to the Liu Shan Shrine one after another. The Grand Marshal had previously been quite delighted, thinking they were influenced by the family atmosphere and devoutly revered the gods; upon learning that green hats had been placed on his head one after another, he instantly went mad, his heart holding only a single thought —

Damn them, they all deserve to die!

He controlled Qing Prefecture's military, with many troops under his command; thus he first killed those two bastard spawn, then led his army charging into the Liu Shan Shrine, personally beheading the master under his blade, and executing all nearly thousand shrine attendants and cult members on the spot!

There were still nearly a hundred believers in the shrine who tried to step forward to stop him; all were hacked to death.

In the enraged Grand Marshal's view, these were all accomplices, all deserved to die.

But in the eyes of the Shanjun Nation's capital, this was a top-tier massive headache.

The Liu Shan Shrine enshrined Jialou Tian, a true god ranked near the front in the entire Heavenly Court; the Shanjun Nation's Grand Marshal dared to kill even Jialou Tian's subordinate master?

The Grand Marshal did not raise troops in rebellion; after burning down the Liu Shan Shrine with a fire, he disbanded his guards and surrendered himself. After the Shanjun King imprisoned him, he faced the thorniest problem:

How to dispose of him?

Destroying a shrine, harming divine servants — light punishment: severing hands; heavy punishment: death sentence. The Grand Marshal killed so many divine servants, so naturally he should be sentenced to death, dead beyond dead.

But he was originally a devout believer; his sudden madness — could it not be considered extenuating circumstances? The common people sympathized.

If he is not dealt with, how can the Heavenly Palace let it rest?

Fortunately, the Qing Prefecture Grand Marshal incident was not an isolated case; within just twenty-odd days, scandals of the Heavenly Palace system bloomed everywhere across Lingxu City and the various vassal demon nations, emerging one after another in endless succession.

Such things weren't unheard of before, but one or two cases, ten or eight cases, placed in the vast Bega couldn't stir up much of a splash; moreover, communications were undeveloped — even if some place exposed it, the common people in Bega's other cities wouldn't know.

And Bega's officialdom had a consensus of four hundred-plus years: as long as it involved the Heavenly Palace and shrines, it was a major event, a major headache — so it was all handled low-key, either helping to cover it up, making big things small and small things vanish.

But this time it was a nationwide concentrated outbreak, one finishing as another took the stage, the main theme being to dazzle the eyes and leave the Heavenly Palace overwhelmed.

The Heavenly Palace wanted to put out the fires, yet discovered it didn't know where to start extinguishing.

Wen Daolun praised: "I truly never expected the Demon Emperor could be this decisive, seizing the initiative before the Heavenly Palace's move, striking first and smashing the Heavenly Palace's years of credibility and prestige into a thousand holes and a hundred wounds."