Chapter 267: Sword Douluo Crippled, Xun Yu Governs the State

Just as Nan Feihuang was making a name for himself in Slaughter City, relying on the Ghost God Halberd, the Overlord Halberd, and the Dao of Body Halberd Unity.

Inside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Sword Douluo was undergoing his daily cultivation.

There was no issue with his meditation, but just as Chen Xin wanted to practice his sword technique, an anomaly occurred.

"Seven Kill Sword Technique, Slash!"

In the woods behind Seven Treasure Mountain, Chen Xin channeled his full soul power, preparing to unleash this strike.

Although the Seven Kill Sword Technique is not a soul skill, it is an ultimate technique that requires a massive amount of soul power to unleash its full might.

When executing the strongest "Slash" character of the Seven Kill Sword Technique, the consumption of soul power is no less than that of a Spirit Avatar.

As a result, just as Chen Xin raised his soul power halfway, a sharp pain suddenly struck his heart.

Chen Xin was, after all, Chen Xin; sensing something was wrong, he immediately dispersed the gathered soul power.

"Ugh!"

Yet even so, Chen Xin could not help but fall to his knees, vomiting blood in large mouthfuls.

Moreover, this blood was extremely strange; first, it was like magma, melting the ground, then it began to drop in temperature rapidly, completely ice-sealing the corroded area.

Chen Xin's body was the same; one moment it felt like he was at the center of a scorching sun, the next like he was in the Nine Nether Cold Prison, the Ice and Fire Power torturing him until he wished he were dead.

"How could this be? Could it be from that time?" Chen Xin clutched his chest, suddenly recalling his battle with the Profound Ice Douluo.

That burning Ice Phoenix had astonishing power, yet it vanished the instant it was struck by his Ninth Soul Skill.

At the time, he hadn't paid it any mind, assuming his soul skill's attack power was simply too strong, completely shattering the opponent's Ice and Fire Power.

But looking at it now, that was not the case at all.

I fear that the reason Lan Xue stopped at that time was because she had foreseen his current predicament.

At this moment, Chen Xin dared not raise even a sliver of soul power; any movement made his whole body feel as if it were trapped in an ice and fire hell.

Sitting cross-legged, he spent a full hour calming his breath before he could barely stabilize himself.

A wave of panic rose in Chen Xin's heart; ever since he advanced to Title Douluo, he hadn't felt such unease in a long time.

Could it be that from now on, he was finished?

"Jian Yeye, Jian Yeye."

Just then, a crisp voice rang out; the only one who would call him that was, of course, the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong.

Not wanting his granddaughter to worry, Chen Xin stood up, pretending nothing was wrong, "Rongrong, Grandpa is here."

"Hee hee, I knew it, Jian Yeye must be practicing his sword here again," Ning Rongrong ran over with a giggle, "Jian Yeye, someone bullied Rongrong just now, hurry and help me beat him up."

Unlike the original work, the current Ning Rongrong had not shed her little demoness habits at Shrek at all.

Because the relationships at Shrek nowadays were nowhere near as close as in the original period.

Firstly, during the Star Dou Great Forest incident, due to Nan Feihuang's intervention, they did not experience any major life-and-death trials together.

Secondly, due to the loss of the Immortal Herb, Dai Mubai initially saw no hope of defeating his older brothers and sisters, and Ma Hongjun could not cure his own evil fire; both remained regulars at the brothels. It didn't matter when they first met, but as time went on, seeing the two of them in this state, as a girl, it was inevitable that she would feel disgust. After all, who would want to be friends with men who only knew how to whore around all day? This also led to her having a poor impression of Oscar.

In her view, anyone who hung around with these two scoundrels all day couldn't be any good.

As for Tang San, he was far less outstanding than originally portrayed, and since he had done her no favors and his appearance was plain, with his heart only on Xiao Wu, she couldn't be bothered to care about him.

Since the little demoness had no intention of being friends with them, how could she change herself for their sake?

Thus, upon returning to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, she became the nightmare of the sect disciples once again.

If anything displeased her in the slightest, she would torment them until they cried and wailed.

Ning Fengzhi was also helpless; although he had the heart to discipline his daughter, unfortunately, for every word he said to Ning Rongrong, that pair of Sword and Bone would refute him ten times over, causing his deterrent power as a father to be infinitely close to zero.

Fortunately, Ning Rongrong's mischief had a limit, and she didn't cause any loss of life, so as time passed, he stopped bothering to manage her.

Sword Douluo looked at his darling granddaughter pulling on him with a complex expression, his heart filled with bitterness; in his current state, he feared he could no longer continue to protect her.

He had the thought of begging the Profound Ice Douluo to help him undo this Ice and Fire Power, but he quickly dismissed it.

His dignity would not allow him to beg a woman, and the events of the past had caused deep friction between the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Gu Lei Kingdom.

Once he went, he would inevitably have to pay a great price to get the Profound Ice Douluo to act.

And the price paid would likely not be worth what he gained.

At this moment, doubts also arose in his heart; was Ning Fengzhi's desperate choice to save the Tang Family father and son truly the right decision?

The result of angering the Profound Ice Douluo was that he saved the Clear Sky Douluo but crippled the Sword Douluo.

No matter how you look at it, it was a loss.

After all, Sword Douluo truly belonged to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, while for the Clear Sky Douluo, one could only hope he would repay the kindness in the future.

Sword Douluo sighed, deciding to first try his best to resolve this Ice and Fire Power himself; if it really didn't work, at worst, he would die.

As a Title Douluo, Sword Douluo was certainly not afraid of death; what he cared about was dying without value.

Regardless, he had to at least hold on until Ning Rongrong found a place to belong.

As for the Gu Lei Kingdom, Lan Xue had completely forgotten about the Sword Douluo matter. Anyway, she knew that if he didn't come to find her, he was definitely doomed, so she couldn't be bothered to pay attention to it. Recently, their royal family had been busy.

On one hand, they had to pray for the safety of their son who had gone to Slaughter City every day; on the other, they had to send people to keep an eye on the movements of Dian Wei and Nan Feiling, who were training on the continent; and they also had to teach their daughter-in-law how to practice.

Nan Tianchen also had to collect information on the Tianshuang Principality.

Xun Yu's excellence exceeded his expectations; having been there for only a month, his powerful administrative ability had the Tianshuang Principality's court singing his praises.

The Tianshuang ruler even wanted to poach him, asking if he could give Xun Yu to him. To this, Nan Tianchen only replied with two words: Dream on!

At this moment, in the court of the Tianshuang Principality, standing before the many civil and military officials, Xun Yu spoke eloquently about his strategies for disaster relief and resolution.

Xun Yu stated that in years of great disaster, the reason riots easily occurred was because the victims had no food or clothing, and secondly, they had nothing to do. After the disaster year, they had no way to arrange for the next year's spring plowing, so they were filled with despair. A small pretext could trigger a great riot, which had always been the most headache-inducing issue for the imperial court.

His policies were mainly aimed at this. Although the content was extensive, it could be summarized in these few points: primarily, let the victims get enough to eat, and then, according to the actual situation of each disaster-stricken area, arrange for the people to engage in other side businesses to survive the famine.

For example, towns near the Gu Lei Kingdom had slightly warmer climates, moist soil, and lush water and grass, producing an abundance of rushes. These could be woven into bibs, tea cozies, straw mats, and other textiles, which were then transported by officials into the two major economic kingdoms of Silves or Hagen Dazs, where they were extremely popular with the common people and could be used to earn funds.

Then, using these funds, they could purchase grain from the people of the Gu Lei Kingdom to provide relief.

At the same time, he sent people to the Blazing Academy to sincerely hire fire-type Spirit Masters to help. With many fire-type Spirit Masters acting together, even if they couldn't do something as grand as changing the Heavenly Elephant, warming up a small area was still possible.

Then, the imperial court would organize them to build roads and bridges, dredge river channels, reclaim mountains, and open mines, allowing the able-bodied disaster victims without skills to exchange labor for wages; in some places that do not freeze, work can even continue until the spring of the following year.

Seed grain for spring plowing in disaster areas is allocated by special state funds; farmers without seeds can come to collect them, with all taxes for that year exempted, and if the following year is a harvest year, the cost of the seed grain is added to the taxes and repaid without interest.

Calculating all these various factors, the disaster victims benefit more than in previous years, while the amount of Spirit Coin spent on relief is significantly reduced; most people have work to do, and even if they cannot be completely self-sufficient, it is still better than begging for food everywhere, starving, or sitting around waiting for the state to grant a bowl of life-saving porridge. As long as the arrangements are appropriate, the suffering of the disaster year can be greatly alleviated.

Hearing these policies, the officials in the imperial court sighed at his great talent.

Xun Yu was somewhat speechless; these domestic policies were basic, must-learn knowledge in his previous life, so how did they become signs of great talent in this world?

At first, these officials truly did not understand these things; they only knew that when a disaster struck, they should give as much money and grain as possible to help the victims survive, until the kingdom had little money or grain left, at which point they would borrow money and grain from the allied Hagendas Kingdom and Gu Lei Kingdom.

But after all, they were only allies, and it was impossible to lend money and grain without limit; otherwise, wouldn't it become a bottomless pit?

What to do at such times? These officials indicated: just let it be.

They had no other way; their own money and grain were exhausted, and everything that could be borrowed had been borrowed, so the rest could only be left to praying that the Tianshuang Principality would be fortunate enough to survive the disaster year.

Regarding these fellows who only knew how to give a man a fish but not how to teach him to fish, Xun Yu also felt weary; he could only handle everything personally and slowly teach them how to do things.

Now he somewhat understood why his lord told him that the end of Zhuge Liang was being worked to death.

Handling everything personally is truly not something a human can do.

Fortunately, he has a Summoning Type Spirit Skill, which allows him to order soldiers to go out in all directions to work, and with the support of Ye Lingling's Nine Heart Begonia by his side, he at least won't end up like Zhuge Liang, "dying after his utmost efforts."

(End of this chapter)