Chapter 80: Whose Home Ground

Sheng Yuanyao even felt that her outburst during the banquet had been too hasty... She herself had hesitated during the banquet about whether to explode, but it turned out that Lu Xingzhou, who seemed to have thought the most and was most likely to "proceed gradually," launched a surprise attack first by offering a toast, and she, Sheng Yuanyao, was merely swept into it to cooperate.

Even Hao Jingchuan's "private talk" was something Lu Xingzhou instructed her to do, just to force this person to act and completely confirm the suspicion.

You have confirmed it, but this battle will not be easy to fight!

This is not Xiazhou; it is the Prefect's home ground. Heaven knows how many people he actually has?

Look at the dense guard outside; even if they are not all demons, under the condition that the Prefect has not visibly demonized, the guard will only obey the Prefect...

In just an instant, everyone fell into a bitter fight; the reinforcements from Zhang Shaoyou and others were barely enough, and the Prefect still had forces outside...

Not far away, the prefectural city gates opened wide, and the sound of hooves shattered the long street.

The third-grade power in the Prefect's mansion exploded chaotically; in the blink of an eye, it tore the entire Prefect's mansion into ruins, with sword qi surging toward the stars. The battle situation quickly alarmed the whole city; the Dongjiang garrison reacted extremely fast, rushing straight into the city.

In the environment the Prefect had cultivated for who knows how many years, Sheng Yuanyao did not even dare to seek help from the Demon-Suppressing Bureau people in the prefectural seat, fearing that even the Demon-Suppressing Bureau people might be demons; let alone the army, which was even more likely to be Hao Jingchuan's top priority for infiltration.

It is visible how fragile her previous statement, "I have the backing of a kingdom," appears here.

When the Prefect is the enemy, the backing of a kingdom is unknown to whom it is meant.

Now, looking across the entire prefecture, aside from her own subordinates, the only ones trustworthy turn out to be Lu Xingzhou's people; even the Incense-Burning Pavilion might be more reliable than others, at least they truly are not demons...

It must be said to be a huge irony.

But actually, Sheng Yuanyao overthought it; Hao Jingchuan's hand could not stretch that far. If both the army and the Demon-Suppressing Bureau were controlled, the Great Qian system would just be a laughingstock.

The truly most easily infiltrated remain the bureaucrats. Over these years, Hao Jingchuan has only infiltrated more than half of the prefectural bureaucratic system, which can be said to be rotten through and through, and his hand cannot yet reach the Demon-Suppressing Bureau and the army, whose responsibilities do not overlap with his. Even subordinate counties like Xiazhou, he had only just started trying when it was destroyed.

It was mentioned before that many disciples sent out by the sects joined gangs or entered the system, very much like graduates in the present world going to various companies or taking civil service exams; among them, many disciples of the Tianxing Sword Sect are at the grassroots level, and even produced a city lord like Xu Bingkun.

So what would be the background of the army's generals at all levels?

Basically divided into three categories: those from various noble families, those who rose from the grassroots through military merit, and... those from the Tianyao Holy Land.

The main general of the Dongjiang Prefecture army, Tu Yugu, is from the Tianyao Holy Land; this is impossible to be replaced by demons.

But the problem is, he could be bribed or deceived... Hao Jingchuan is, after all, the Prefect, and his demon qi is concealed so well; theoretically, the local garrison must obey the Prefect's orders; once he turns and bites, who knows how the situation will unfold.

As a result, Tu Yugu rushed into the city with his crowd at top speed and saw a white-haired girl standing quietly there on the main street of the city gate.

"Whoa~" Tu Yugu's heart shook violently; he reined in his horse and stopped the army, his expression extremely grave: "Your aura is..."

Frosty Sky, Frozen Moon; not many people in the Tianyao Holy Land practice this; this thing will train a person to be unlike a human, increasingly like a glacier. But it does not prevent Tu Yugu from having a general understanding; looking at Dugu Qingli's appearance, he had some suspicion.

Dugu Qingli took out a jade tablet to indicate something.

Tu Yugu was so frightened that he directly flipped off his horse and knelt on one knee: "Greetings, Holy Maiden."

Strange, I haven't heard the Holy Land establish a Holy Maiden; when did one appear... Maybe she is not the Holy Maiden, but this jade tablet representing Ye Tinglan, which looks like the face, cannot be fake; at least she is a direct disciple of True Person Tinglan!

Dugu Qingli said indifferently: "What is the purpose of this journey, Junior Uncle?"

Tu Yugu hurriedly said: "A great battle has erupted in the Prefect's mansion; this matter is serious; we must go and see."

Dugu Qingli said simply: "The Prefect is transformed from a demon; Junior Uncle actually did not discover this for so many years; the Dongjiang army is unqualified."

Calling him Junior Uncle while saying the coldest words, Tu Yugu's cold sweat flowed down.

The Prefect is transformed from a demon? He even drank wine with him, yet he didn't notice a thing!

Tu Yugu certainly could not doubt his own Holy Maiden's judgment; even if the Holy Maiden brought a deer and said it was a horse, he would have to accept it; immediately, without a second word, he patted his chest and promised: "Holy Maiden, rest assured; we will definitely make up for our faults with merit!"

At the same time, at another street corner, A Nuo pushed Shen Tang and blocked the way in front of the Prefectural Demon-Suppressing Bureau personnel. This time, since it involved a great demon, Lu Xingzhou absolutely refused to let A Nuo participate in the battle, so he was changed to pushing Shen Tang instead.

The Demon-Suppressing Bureau crowd looked at Shen Tang wearing the Demon-Suppressing Bureau official uniform and stood there stunned: "You are..."

Shen Tang smiled warmly and took out a token to hand over.

The Prefectural Commander Wan Cheng took the token, and his face changed drastically: "Huo..."

That's right, the Prefectural Demon-Suppressing Bureau Commander Wan Cheng is from the Huo family. This token was taken from Huo Yu; it has no Sixth Young Master's special mark, only proving the identity of a Huo family son.

Shen Tang pointed toward the Prefect's mansion: "Commander Wan, can you not distinguish that one of the people fighting the Prefect over there is the Imperial Attendant Yang Dechang?"

Wan Cheng carefully looked at the sword light over there, his heart chilled, and said solemnly: "I understand. Everyone, follow me!"

As they left, he looked at Shen Tang again, feeling somewhat familiar... Wasn't that the new Sect Master of the Tianxing Sword Sect? So the Huo family sent Yang Dechang to secretly connect and suppress the Tianxing Sword Sect on one side, but actually, they are on the same side behind the scenes? What is going on...

That's right... It is said that at that time Huo Yu investigated Lu Xingzhou because of suspected Huo Shang.

Shen Tang watched the backs of the Demon-Suppressing Bureau crowd rushing to the Prefect's mansion, sighed, turned around, and pinched A Nuo's cheeks: "A Nuo, your master is so sinister; aren't you afraid he will sell you off for candy?"

This is truly sinister; I'm afraid even if Yang Dechang was beaten to death, he wouldn't have thought that Lu Xingzhou entrusted him to act to help Sheng Yuanyao while hiding the intention of using his Huo family identity, and at the same time let Shen Tang do this job, guiding people to interpret it as the Huo family also secretly helping Shen Tang.

Then, whether fighting the Incense-Burning Pavilion next or ruling Dongjiang in the future, there will never be any trouble again. If things go wrong, it might even drive a wedge between the Huo family and the Imperial Prince behind him...

Lu Xingzhou did not use her Princess identity for anything; instead, he first used the Huo family identity to help her. Shen Tang, thinking of this, simply didn't know what mood she was in, feeling her little feet itch a bit again.

A Nuo, with her face pinched, spoke indistinctly: "Whether I will be sold off for candy, I don't know. But I know he has already sold you, and didn't even pay."

Shen Tang didn't hear clearly.

If she had heard clearly, I don't know if she would have found a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Over there, the City Lord's mansion was in a fierce battle; the army and Demon-Suppressing Bureau on both sides rushed to surround quickly. Hao Jingchuan still maintained his human form, even insisting on not revealing any demon qi, just waiting for this moment. Seeing people arrive, he shouted loudly the lines he had thought of long ago: "The Incense-Burning Pavilion has rebelled; I don't know how they incited the Xiazhou Demon-Suppressing Bureau! Everyone, help me suppress them!"

The voice drifted far away, heard across ten li.

Zhang Shaoyou: "..."

So Sect Master Shen did not participate in this battle, only letting us participate, for this reason?

The army and Demon-Suppressing Bureau surged in like a tide; Tu Yugu and Wan Cheng's swords rushed directly toward... Hao Jingchuan.

"?" Hao Jingchuan, the demon, was dumbfounded: "I am the Prefect! The Incense-Burning Pavilion rebelled! Are you mistaken!"

How could the two pay attention to him; they unleashed their ultimate moves together: "Demon, receive death!"

"Swish!" Over there, Sheng Yuanyao's pressure decreased greatly; finally, she chopped down Xie Changshi with one slash, and, exhausted, pressed a small wound on her shoulder while panting heavily.

Looking at the crushing situation in the arena where the wind swept away the clouds, it seemed suddenly she had nothing to do. Sheng Yuanyao panted: "I didn't even dare to find them, fearing I couldn't trust them; even if they are not demons, there's no guarantee they weren't bribed... How did you dare?"

Lu Xingzhou handed over a healing pill: "Bribes cannot be greater than the connections above... I dared to accompany you to the prefectural seat to do this job because I at least confirmed the army could listen to Bai Mao; otherwise, how would I come here with you? Do you think I'm as reckless as you..."

Sheng Yuanyao silently swallowed the pill without speaking.

"The important thing is, you must bring them in; you can only trust them once. Otherwise, the power of speech is in the Prefect's hands; you cannot compete; at that time, the rebel would become you. Only by letting different systems like the army and Demon-Suppressing Bureau participate together can the influence of the head of a prefecture be suppressed. Especially if you still have to preside over the purge afterwards, could you do it relying on your authority?"

Sheng Yuanyao said in a low voice, "So if you hadn't helped me this time, I would have fallen right here, either replaced by a demon or ruined and branded a rebel?"

"Not necessarily... Without me, you wouldn't have gone mad at the banquet yourself. Strange, you didn't know I had other arrangements in place; how did you dare join me in launching the attack at the banquet?"

Sheng Yuanyao said indignantly, "You already launched it, so of course I had to act. If you had dared to launch it recklessly without follow-up plans, I'd bite you even from the underworld after I die!"

Lu Xingzhou said, "You should swap the order of your last four words."

Sheng Yuanyao: "?"

Over there, under the pressure of being surrounded, Hao Jingchuan could no longer pretend. In the next moment, his clothes tore, and a pair of fleshy wings unfurled into the air as he tried to break out: "Sheng Yuanyao! Just you wait!"

Two sword lights, one purple and one blue, stabbed down at his head. Hao Jingchuan never expected that even in this situation, there were still two Fourth-Rank sword cultivators waiting outside to block him. Caught off guard, he was halted for a moment.

In that brief instant, Yang Dechang, Zhang Shaoyou, and others behind him caught up, and two flying swords simultaneously pierced Hao Jingchuan's back.

Demon blood sprayed across the sky. Hao Jingchuan looked down at the sword tip protruding from his chest, still unable to quite grasp what had happened.

How did it come to this? Sheng Yuanyao just came here for a meal, and everything turned out like this... After years of planning, it was ruined by a single meal. The banquet hadn't even started; the wine should still be warm...

The army and the Demon Suppression Bureau, without Hao Jingchuan having exposed any demon qi, stood on the opposite side without even asking a single question. Whose home court was this really?

"Boom," the demon corpse hit the ground, sending a storm of snow into the air.

Hao Jingchuan was executed. The remaining demons could not resist the overwhelming power gathered by these factions and were wiped out in the blink of an eye, all captured.

The hall fell silent for a moment.

After a long while, Tu Yugu returned hesitantly and bowed: "How should this matter be classified?"

Sheng Yuanyao remained silent.

Now that she had calmed down, she felt that her words against Hao Jingchuan earlier were somewhat childish upon reflection. Even if Hao Jingchuan were not a demon but truly just an old bureaucrat, he would most likely have turned hostile.

The fact that most of the officials in a commandery were demons was a shocking case of monumental proportions. If it were truly exposed, it would cause nationwide panic... At that time, everyone would live in fear, suspecting one another, and chaos would engulf the realm.

So her father actually had a vague idea in his heart? Did he know even more? He simply could not expose it, or at least dared not expose it at his level.

Looking around, Wan Cheng of the Demon Suppression Bureau, the army general Tu Yugu, and even Yang Dechang of the Huo family all wore grave expressions. Seeing her look at them, they all averted their eyes.

Sheng Yuanyao looked at Lu Xingzhou with a plea. Lu Xingzhou also advised in a low voice, "It's not appropriate. You can't bear the responsibility; it will cause trouble... and it will affect the entire family. Even your father dares not."

Seeing that Sheng Yuanyao seemed to listen to this "Dogged Captain," Yang Dechang finally breathed a sigh of relief and advised, "This captain speaks reason. This matter cannot be exposed recklessly without considering the consequences."

Sheng Yuanyao said wearily, "Then what should be done?"

Wan Cheng pointed at Mu Feng's demon-transformed body: "Having one demon as the deputy commandant is enough... The deaths of so many officials in the commandery, even the commandant, can all be blamed on it. Using this as a fuse, there is sufficient justification to investigate the entire commandery. I will take responsibility and guarantee not a single one will be missed."

Tu Yugu also said, "The military will cooperate with this matter."

Sheng Yuanyao asked, "What about tracing the source?"

No one answered.

In this situation, what source could you possibly trace? Are you trying to tear open the sky?

We are only responsible for matters in our own commandery; what do other people's affairs have to do with us?

Sheng Yuanyao asked Lu Xingzhou in a low voice, "What about secretly reporting it to Your Majesty?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "When I said it would cause trouble, I meant you secretly reporting it to Your Majesty. They might eliminate you first and then consider this matter slowly... Anyway, as far as I know, the Imperial Princes are suppressing such matters. They dare not guess how their own father would react; how do you dare?"

Sheng Yuanyao: "..."

She remained silent for a very long time, finally sighing wearily: "So what exactly are we in the Demon Suppression Bureau doing this for?"

Meeting her gaze, Wan Cheng turned his head away.

Sheng Yuanyao did not ask him further, simply nodding: "I understand. You discuss and report this matter. I... I will return to Xiazhou first. This time, even the King of Heaven himself cannot stop me from returning to the capital. It's utterly meaningless."

Lu Xingzhou was silent for a moment: "I will escort you."

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PS: Nearly 4k again, requesting monthly tickets~

(End of this chapter)