Chapter 2729

The Divine Hall has publicly posted these reports on both sides of the steps of Mount Xushan, asking all Lingxu people and distant visitors to verify and investigate, and welcoming the Bekka people to continue providing various clues of divine servants' dereliction of duty; the Heavenly Palace will certainly conduct a strict investigation.

"Truly formidable." Wen Daolun murmured, "This isn't softening—it's the Heavenly Palace's counterattack!"

For years, the Demon Emperor has been sending people to collect outrageous crimes from temples and divine servants everywhere, then releasing them all at once, turning them into a public opinion weapon to strike at the Heavenly Palace's forces.

If the Demon Emperor can sway public opinion completely, even if only a brief east wind overpowers the west wind, he might, as He Lingchuan anticipated, launch a direct counteroffensive against the Heavenly Palace's forces in one go. Because, war and military force—these two great weapons—are already in the Demon Emperor's hands.

The Heavenly Palace, or rather the Heavenly Demon, likely also foresaw this, realizing that what should be done now is not to meet force with force, but to find ways to pacify the people, ease civilian anger, and quell public disputes.

After all, Bekka is still the Nation of the Gods. Four hundred years of tradition cannot be changed overnight just by saying so.

After all, the source of the people's anger comes from the licentious, corrupt, and absurd behavior of the divine servants, not from the gods themselves—the gods cannot descend, and civilians cannot come into contact with them.

This is the flaw in the Demon Emperor's plan: he cannot point his spear directly at the gods, only at the gods' subordinates, the Heavenly Palace and the divine servants. So to the vast common folk, since the gods have punished their corrupt and fallen subordinates, they remain pure and stern.

Justice has been upheld, and it is the gods themselves who have carried it out—should not the believers be moved?

Thus, the momentum of this wave of attack by the Demon Emperor has been somewhat restrained by the Heavenly Palace.

He Lingchuan said: "I saw the Heavenly Palace's execution list; the highest-ranking among them is the Lamp Keeper of Mount Xushan, with a few others in various temples, but compared to the vast corrupt cadre, they are merely a drop in the bucket. The Heavenly Palace is not truly trying to cleanse its own ranks, but merely pushing a few unlucky ones out to be beheaded, to temporarily suppress the people's anger."

Wen Daolun also agreed: "Just a delaying tactic."

"The best way to deal with this trouble is the 'delay' tactic. Delay a few months, and the civilians will have mostly forgotten; delay a few months, and the conflict between the Heavenly Palace and Lingxu City might even be resolved."

Zhong Shengguang spoke up: "Why say it could be resolved in a few months?"

"Have you ever had someone research the 'Intestine-Linking' formula?"

"I have—I gave it to Ling Mountain." Zhong Shengguang said this and suddenly realized, "Yes, according to Ling Mountain's feedback, the time to develop the antidote should not be long. But, how did you know?"

He Lingchuan rubbed his nose: "Xin Yi told me."

Sorry, Xin Yi, I'll have to use you as a human shield again?

The second oddity in the intelligence is that the demon vassal states of E'ling, Bolang, and others under the Heavenly Palace system suddenly responded to Lingxu City's edict, dispatching their own powerful main war legions to the Panlong battlefield!

Originally, Lingxu City used war as a pretext to transfer their main forces to expedition Panlong, precisely to leave these demon vassal states' internal defenses empty. Once the Demon Emperor rises, he will first send troops to capture the leaders of these states, and since they lose their strongest legions, their resistance will inevitably plummet.

The demon vassal kings can also figure this out, so they have consistently resisted Lingxu City's transfers.

But now, Lingxu City instead has grounds to issue a final ultimatum before war, because following the emperor on campaign is the duty of the demon vassal states, unavoidable.

Originally, the situation between the two sides was already on the verge of eruption, and Zhong Shengguang even discussed with He Lingchuan whether Lingxu City would first take down the Heavenly Palace-system demon vassal kings, or directly attack the Heavenly Palace. But several demon vassal kings suddenly changed their minds, complied with Lingxu City's deployment, and thus the latter no longer had reason to send troops to attack them.

Of course, the Heavenly Palace added another condition: that the demon vassal states under the Demon Emperor system must also fully commit their main forces to participate in the western campaign, and can no longer go through the motions as before.

A level bowl of water— the Demon Emperor has no objection.

Thus, the armies of various nations set out one after another, rushing to the Panlong battlefield.

Zhong Shengguang asked He Lingchuan: "These demon vassal kings suddenly abandoned their own safety—what do you think?"

"They are certainly unwilling, but this should be the gods' compulsory order, or even the command of the Lingxu Holy Venerable—they have no choice." The lives of the demon vassal kings are under the control of the Lingxu Holy Venerable, at least until the antidote for 'Intestine-Linking' is developed.

"Did the gods order them to abandon resistance?"

These several pieces of news are all major, and He Lingchuan is also pondering and digesting: "Yes. This way, after the divine servant incident, another major contradiction between the Heavenly Palace's forces and Lingxu City has also been temporarily eased."

"The Heavenly Palace actually lowered its stance—what exactly does the Lingxu Holy Venerable want to do?"

"There must be a plan." Wen Daolun pondered, "If what Ling Mountain said is true, and researching the antidote for 'Intestine-Linking' only takes a few months, then it means the demon vassal kings under the Demon Emperor system will soon break free from the gods' control and follow the Demon Emperor in rebellion. Even if the Demon Emperor does not act then, the gods will not tolerate it."

This is not subject to the will of either side, but an inevitable outcome when power struggle reaches a certain degree.

He Lingchuan thought, if I were the Lingxu Holy Venerable, facing this situation, what should I do?

Zhong Shengguang said word by word: "Bekka is the tool by which the Lingxu Holy Venerable controls the human realm—it must not be allowed to escape. So these few months are a precious window of opportunity. If I were the Lingxu Holy Venerable, I would have to, before the antidote for 'Intestine-Linking' appears, seize back control of Bekka."

"How to do that?" Wen Daolun frowned, "Bekka's popular sentiment is already shattered, a broken mirror hard to reassemble, and the Demon Emperor would never willingly submit—everything cannot return to the original. Hmm, unless—"

He glanced at He Lingchuan: "Is this possible?"

"Nothing is impossible—when power struggle reaches its depths, who hasn't died?" He Lingchuan walked to the edge of the sand table, gazing at the map of Bekka, "The rift between Lingxu City and the Heavenly Demon has become a chasm; the Heavenly Demon's rule hangs by a thread. The Lingxu Holy Venerable wants to fully control Bekka, and now can only eliminate the Demon Emperor. Because it is the Demon Emperor's restlessness that is the root of all this trouble."

"If He wants to deal with the Demon Emperor, why then dispatch the main war legions of those demon vassal states to the Panlong battlefield?" Wen Daolun had the irritation of a bystander caught in the fallout, "Isn't he afraid the Demon Emperor might just take those demon vassal states along the way?"

"The demon vassal states obey Lingxu City, yet carry out the Demon Emperor's orders, showing no signs of rebellion—what pretext would the Demon Emperor use for large-scale conquest?" External conquest always needs a pretext, let alone civil war? "He wants to take down the demon vassal states, needs a more upright and honorable reason."

"But the Lingxu Holy Venerable forcing those few demon vassal kings to dispatch their main war legions must also be making his own abacus beads crackle—he won't let the Demon Emperor get a free ride."

(End of Chapter)