Chapter 2454

Even if the immortal dynasty's tax revenue could no longer sustain even the most basic army and official salaries, it would be fine—immortal sect citizens don't care much about that.

What truly enrages immortal sect citizens, making it utterly unacceptable, is that the tax revenue they receive keeps declining—from the generous welfare of twenty million years ago to today, where it barely sustains cultivation, making life difficult; many citizens have no choice but to labor just to survive.

Moreover, they may not even find suitable work, and unemployed citizens are everywhere.

One could say that in this war-torn era of fiscal exhaustion, immortal sect citizens' welfare has dwindled to mere subsistence—food and clothing—and any remaining cultivation resources can only be obtained through competition.

If this had happened twenty million years ago, or even ten million years ago, how could such a thing possibly occur?

From birth, citizens are destined to be noble, towering over countless beings, never worrying about cultivation resources, able to pursue their dreams their whole lives without compromising for reality—hence they have proliferated across dozens of star domains, their population spreading across countless worlds.

Thus, the finances have therefore been exhausted.

Even without war, even if the immortal dynasty's finances operated normally, they still couldn't support so many citizens; vast numbers of immortal sect citizens would inevitably fall into dire poverty, unable to receive sustenance.

From the lowest commoners to the highest immortal sect cultivators, every cultivator harbors accumulated dissatisfaction and resentment.

This is the origin and immense driving force behind the immortal dynasty's new policies reform a hundred thousand years ago—even if a few immortal sect citizens know it's wrong, they cannot stop this surging tide of public opinion like a flood.

Amid poverty and hardship, immortal sect citizens can no longer bear to allocate vast amounts of heavenly treasures and immortal dynasty tax revenue to groups like the Tushan Maiden Corps and the Tai Shang Great Sun Sword Dao Soldiers!

All of this should belong to the citizens!

All of this should belong to the most noble, most representative of advanced productivity in the starry sky—immortal sect citizens!

What if they refuse to submit?

Then let them refuse!

Now, immortal sect citizens number in the dozens of star domains, with outstanding talents emerging in abundance; their military strength is unprecedentedly powerful, their citizen fleets boasting ten great deep-space extermination fleets and three hundred sixty deep-space fleets, each capable of single-handedly subduing a region, every soldier in these deep-space fleets being a citizen, with political reliability beyond compare.

Many citizens even think, they want them to rebel!

If these forces don't rebel, if they aren't thoroughly purged, where would the living space for immortal sect citizens come from—to sustain massive welfare expenditures and the vast cultivation resources for high-level cultivators?

This is deliberately forcing them to rebel!

The citizens' calculations succeeded.

The Tai Shang Great Sun Sword Dao Soldiers, the Tushan Maiden Corps, the seven great super-tier elite Dao Soldiers, and numerous Qingmu Xianzong holy land families indeed rebelled—all under heaven rebelled, everywhere beacon fires.

Then, an unexpected event occurred.

The immortal sect fleet could not easily crush the enemy before them; after several victories, the front lines stalled, and now defeat after defeat keeps being reported.

This plunged many citizens who had been supremely confident before the war into fear, shifting from extreme confidence to extreme fear with astonishing speed.

"Should we negotiate peace?"

"At worst, we'll just reaccept the Tushan Maiden Corps—they're our citizens' maidens, how dare they oppose us?"

A citizen representative gritted his teeth and said.

This citizen representative, before the war, was an extreme war hawk, famous for his impassioned speeches, gaining support from many immortal sect citizens and being elevated to the Ziwei Tian Shu.

Yet now, he actually says such things.

Instantly, in the Ziwei Tian Shu, all fell silent.

Indeed, many citizen representatives' eyes flickered with a moved expression.

"Damn it!"

"Supreme Righteous One, you're courting death!"

At the same time, many citizens showed furious expressions: "How could someone like you appear here as a representative? You should know—if this were the founding era of the immortal sect, people like you would be dealt with by military law!"

"You shouldn't have such qualifications!"

"If we fight, fight to the end!"

"If we seek peace, don't start fighting at all! You, this vacillating person, will bring the immortal sect to the brink of extermination!"

At this moment, many citizens felt deeply disappointed.

People like the Supreme Righteous One are not isolated cases, but occasional fools.

Throughout the immortal sect, in its vast fleets, everywhere are such people—twenty million years of comfort and privilege have produced astonishing numbers of good-for-nothings.

Before the war, many citizens were supremely confident, because they regarded the citizen fleet as the ancient emperor's citizen fleet in his prime, with all data showing as much.

But when the fighting truly began, it was nothing but a sham!

The citizen fleet, which in the past was synonymous with the top-tier Dao Soldiers, a pure citizen army had never been weak—its only flaw was insufficient numbers.

Now, numbers have been made up, and many have grown arrogant, thinking they can single-handedly sweep the world.

Reality dealt them a heavy blow.

Front Line · Zhinü Star Domain.

The star domain capital, Zhinü Qianqian World, is surrounded by layer upon layer of immortal dynasty formations, orbital cannons bombarding continuously, fleets launching one after another, blasting toward the great armies in the starry sky.

These great armies consist of the True Dragon Immortal Clan, the True Phoenix Immortal Clan, and various other clan armies, with even larger human armies forming the rear echelon behind them.

At the center of this mixed myriad-clan great army, a force numbering only three hundred billion, yet with an exceptionally terrifying and sharp aura, silently suppresses the battlefield—like a sword always ready to be drawn into battle, constantly exerting immense terrifying pressure on the immortal sect central army group; the five deep-space extermination fleets stationed here dare not move rashly.

This is today's most eye-catching battlefield in the boundless starry sky!

The revived three hundred billion Tai Shang Great Sun Sword Dao Soldiers command the vast myriad-clan great army, firmly pinning down over half of the immortal sect's main forces in the Zhinü Star Domain.

—

Meanwhile, on other battlefields, the Tushan Maiden Corps and the seven great super-tier elite Dao Soldiers continue attacking cities and seizing territory, engaging in fierce offensive and defensive operations at all times.

At the center of the Zhinü Qianqian World, layered with formation rituals and canons, a heroic middle-aged cultivator coldly observes the battlefield.

"Yuan Ri Di Zun!"

"The 2231st Army Group Fleet has suffered defeat, with losses exceeding half, and has already withdrawn from the frontline combat sequence."

A staff officer hurriedly arrived here and reported.

"Cause?"

Yuan Ri Di Zun said lightly.

This assault order was issued by him personally; in theory, it should have secured a partial local advantage—a rare opportunity.

However, it failed.

"The army corps commander — command error, many officers and soldiers of low military quality, and the soldiers' coordination — also poor."

"Especially being ambushed by a hidden sword cultivator unit that charged straight into the fleet's front, many officers and soldiers were completely panicked, in utter chaos, which is the main cause of casualties."

The staff officer spoke with a stiff upper lip.

"Heh heh."

"Again like this, again like this."

The Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty's expression remained unchanged, speaking lightly: "These years, the army's quality has declined to such an extent that even a peerless genius" came up with the great invention of shielding the central battle spirit computer's monitoring, everyone slacked off, everyone feared hardship, everyone feared death — such as them, where would they get the courage to provoke war actively!

"Where would they get the courage?!!!"

His voice was full of killing intent, angry.

The surrounding group of staff officers lowered their heads, not daring to speak.

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