Chapter 2497: Quelling the Internal Turmoil

During Ye Liuyun's cultivation, the Holy Land Dynasty's interior was also precarious.

Because the last time Xiao Muan met Ye Liuyun, he took the opportunity to eliminate many Black Kill elites, and Xiao Qiwu blamed these on the royal family.

Then a wave of retaliatory assassinations was launched.

This caused the Holy Land Dynasty's control over various regions to weaken.

The Holy Land Dynasty, therefore, ruthlessly ordered Liu Kui to lead a large army, pressuring several Black Kill-controlled Leaders to surrender their military authority.

Thus the confrontation between the sides kept escalating, and many areas under Black Kill control were openly rebelling against the Holy Land Dynasty.

In various places, some major forces or bandits seized the chance to engage in looting and robbery.

In this environment, locating the five Foreign Tribes became even harder.

During Ye Liuyun's cultivation, Xiao Muan had already reported to Ye Liuyun.

Seeing that Xiao Qiwu and Xiao Qitian disregarded the bigger picture, Ye Liuyun also prepared to let Xiao Muan take charge of the Holy Land.

He immediately allowed him to continue his previous plan, recruiting more Martial Cultivators and Leaders.

Ye Liuyun would even dispatch Martial Cultivators to support Xiao Muan, seizing the chance to weaken the forces of both Xiao Qiwu and Xiao Qitian, making them serve Xiao Muan.

Xiao Muan's methods were also ruthless: he consecutively assassinated Xiao Muhong, framed him to the Black Kill, falsely imprisoned Xiao Mukun, and removed his Golden Core.

Seeing the situation unstoppable, Xiao Mulin directly surrendered to Xiao Muan.

The other princes also gradually fell under Xiao Muan's control.

He also, leveraging Ye Liuyun's incident, increasingly participated in the dynasty's affairs; the Left Prime Minister, Liu Kui the Grand Leader, and others all counted as supporters.

Because after Xiao Muhong was killed, they all believed only Xiao Muan could assume the great responsibility of dynasty heir.

Xiao Qiwu also gave Xiao Muan considerable support, even thinking Xiao Muan was his man.

Last time, Xiao Muan was merely confused by those guards who concealed his cultivation realm.

Although Xiao Qitian suspected Xiao Muhong's death was linked to Xiao Muan, Xiao Qiwu, to protect Xiao Muan as an inside man, voluntarily claimed it was done by the Black Kill, treating the incident as a declaration of war on the Holy Land Dynasty.

Therefore, afterward Xiao Qitian dispelled his doubts about Xiao Muan and gradually handed many tasks to him.

Xiao Muan was already capable, and with everyone cooperating, handling affairs became very convenient, prompting Xiao Qitian to increasingly value him.

After Ye Liuyun broke through his realm and ended cultivation, he began striking the Black Kill, having spies like Beard and Lone Star who remained inside the Black Kill provide him with target intel, and set ambushes against Black Kill elites.

With their cooperation, they even rushed into several Black Killing Secret Realms, destroyed them, and seized a large amount of resources.

This made the Black Kill unusually compliant for a time, though no one knew who was behind it.

Xiao Qiwu guessed it might be Ye Liuyun, but Ye Liuyun was elusive; he could not reach him, so he could only have the Black Kill relocate and hide as much as possible.

But the effect remained poor; after Ye Liuyun consecutively eliminated several Secret Realms, Xiao Qiwu was forced to start cleaning up the mess.

Ye Liuyun received Xiao Muan's message and withdrew his own people in advance.

But after Xiao Qiwu finished the cleanup, Ye Liuyun captured some Black Kill members, again sending them to scout Secret Realm locations and continue extermination, giving Xiao Qiwu a serious headache.

Ye Liuyun also helped Xiao Muan eliminate many Black Kill-controlled Leaders, allowing Xiao Muan to have his people take over, gaining control of more military authority.

Pressed like an ant on a hot pan, Xiao Qiwu finally, on Xiao Muan's suggestion, decided to go all out against Xiao Qitian.

As a result, Xiao Qitian had stored far too much power in the Space World—much of which even Xiao Muan didn't know—so in a single battle he almost wiped out all the elites in Xiao Qiwu's hands.

Even the Journey of Death no longer had any share for the Black Kill.

All the cities also began to crush the Black Kill with full force, making the Black Kill Secret Realm's situation increasingly dire.

In the end, Xiao Qiwu, forced with no choice, had to temporarily shut down the Black Kill, hiding all Secret Realms to prevent them from being captured en masse.

But by then he had lost most military authority and his eyes within the dynasty; the Secret Realms painstakingly established across the lands were also destroyed by thirty percent.

Although he still possessed some strength, he no longer had the power to compete with the Holy Land Dynasty.

Ye Liuyun seized the opportunity, dispatching his own elites, personally leading troops against Xiao Qitian, ultimately wounding Xiao Qitian gravely, after which Xiao Muan personally struck and killed Xiao Qitian.

"Mother, I have finally avenged you!"

After Xiao Muan killed Xiao Qitian, he knelt and bowed to the heavens, offering a sacrifice to his mother's departed spirit.

Ye Liuyun, though somewhat doubtful of Xiao Muan's actions, also knew the deep grudges between them and could not say much.

He merely covertly helped Xiao Muan ascend the throne.

Later, Xiao Muan lured Xiao Qiwu out, where he was slain by Ye Liuyun's forces.

Then Ye Liuyun took over the Black Kill, seized all its resources, and completely disbanded the Black Kill.

All Black Kill members were taken by Liu Kui into the army, forming a special assassination squad tasked with intelligence gathering, eliminating enemy Leaders, and other special missions.

At this point, the Holy Land Dynasty's internal turmoil gradually subsided.

Later, Xiao Muan ordered Liu Kui to dispatch this assassination squad to eradicate bandits across the lands, fully restoring the Holy Land Dynasty's previous order.

After the Holy Land Dynasty's order was restored, Xiao Muan immediately focused on the Foreign Tribes, heavily rewarding those who reported clues, while the assassination squad dispersed to remote areas to gather information.

With the dynasty's vigorous push, they destroyed three Foreign Tribe hideouts, capturing all three tribes alive.

However, these Foreign Tribes had no contact with each other, and the whereabouts of the remaining two tribes could not be found.

Ye Liuyun also discovered an Altar among the three Foreign Tribe hideouts.

But it seemed they were all collecting corpses to build the Altar.

In other words, the other two Foreign Tribes possessed enough corpses to directly construct an Altar.

Based on the timeline, they should have completed the Altar by now.

Yet they still have no trace of those two tribes, which made him extremely worried.

Ye Liuyun told Xiao Muan to inform Liu Kui: "Begin preparations for war, otherwise if the Foreign Tribes strike, they may catch you off guard.

The army they are mobilizing this time will certainly not be small!"

Meanwhile, Xiao Muan also fully opened the Journey of Death, allowing all dual-natured Martial Cultivators to enter and strengthen themselves.

Of course, such a massive opening would cause heavy casualties among Martial Cultivators, but the survivors would be elite, able to replenish the strongmen lost to the internal turmoil.

Artificers, Alchemists, and Formation Masters reconvened, beginning to forge equipment and pills in preparation for the upcoming great war.