Chapter 239: Unceasing Turmoil

As the Great Xia Three Sages completely perished, the relevant statues in the temples dedicated to these three Sages in various places in the human world shattered one after another at the same time.

Seeing such a change, many ministers or common people who were still loyal to Great Xia immediately cried and wailed as if the sky had fallen.

For them, the Great Xia Three Sages were the last hope. In the past, when the statues were intact, even if those three Sages could not manifest divinity, there was still a glimmer of hope in their hearts.

But now, as the statues shattered, that last glimmer of hope in their hearts also dissipated...

Southwest Xiangzhou, the news of the shattering of the Great Xia Three Sages' statues reached the ears of the current Southwest local emperor, Mu Wang, for the first time.

The earth-shattering battle that broke out in the Floating Corpse Cave yesterday already made this Mu Wang scared, and now the shattering of the Great Xia Three Sages' statues made him even more worried and unable to sleep.

It was true that he wanted to fight for the world, but he was more concerned about his own life and the current glory and wealth.

The struggle between him

But now that those three great pillars of support have collapsed with a crash, without these three saints, what essential difference is there between these Great Xia vassal kings and those rebels who have raised armies to revolt?

"My King, your subordinate has already investigated the events of yesterday. What can be confirmed at present is that the Floating Corpse Cave has been destroyed, and the former dynasty's great southwestern sect, the Corpse King Sect, has now completely vanished into smoke and clouds!"

Within the Prince Mu estate, a fair-faced, beardless man who appeared quite effeminate knelt and bowed before Prince Mu, reporting the information he had uncovered.

"Was it truly that Great Sage Equaling Heaven who took action yesterday?"

Hearing his subordinate's report, Prince Mu, who was also a middle-aged man, felt his clenched hands tremble involuntarily, and he proceeded to confirm the matter with his subordinate once more.

"Reporting to the King, that is indeed the case!"

"Yesterday, three existences comparable to saints took action, and according to what your subordinate knows, two of them should both belong to that Great Sage Equaling Heaven."

"Furthermore, the news transmitted back from Jiangzhou is the same; yesterday, Jiangzhou displayed the heavenly omen of two suns crossing the sky. In the current Jiangzhou, only that one person is capable of causing such a phenomenon!"

Hearing Prince Mu's inquiry, the fair-faced, beardless man immediately replied to him.

"Hoo~ I already know! You may withdraw first!"

"Yes! This subordinate takes his leave!"

Once the man had left, the expression of Prince Mu, who sat upright on his throne, suddenly became complex.

Yesterday, the world had suddenly turned dim and lightless; that indescribable terror had seeped into his very marrow, and the subsequent scene of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood had truly frightened him deeply.

"Now that those three ancestors have met with disaster, the only plan for now is to exhaust every effort to befriend that Great Sage Equaling Heaven!"

Accompanied by a shift in his gaze, Prince Mu quickly made a decision in his heart. Since the three greatest pillars of support had already collapsed, if he still wished to preserve his own power or even advance further, he had to find a new pillar of support.

"Someone, come!"

"Yes!"

"Take out all of my personal treasures from the treasury, then immediately arrange for men to send them to Xinglong Ling in Jiangzhou, and say that this is a small token of my sincerity!"

After pondering for a long while, Prince Mu gave the order to his subordinates waiting outside the room.

He had now begun to rejoice in his own wise choice back then to support the Jiangzhou Inspector in time; no matter what, it could be considered that he had established a connection with this saint.

"This subordinate obeys the order!"

The people outside the room understood the deep meaning behind his words upon hearing this, and thus immediately began to set about making arrangements.

——————

The next day, within the Incense Offering Tower belonging to the Incense Temple, the statue of the Five Blessings God suddenly released rays of light while the common people were burning incense and making offerings, a spectacle that seemed like a divine manifestation.

Seeing this omen, the believers who had come to worship immediately knelt on the spot and kowtowed to the statue.

These believers all had frantic expressions, constantly shouting phrases like "The Five Blessings God has manifested," "Divine blessing," and "The God bestows fortune."

At the same time, this news spread wildly within the territories controlled by Prince Li, and the common people who received the news immediately gathered in groups and rushed to the temple to burn incense and pray.

It was as if by burning incense and making offerings to the deity in this way, they could obtain a beautiful life and future...

Mingzhou, Prince Li's estate.

"Bang!"

"Trash! You are all trash!"

"Dare not touch Jiangzhou! Difficult to take Linzhou!"

"What use do I have for the likes of you?!"

"..."

At this moment, Prince Li was in a fit of rage. Ever since he raised his army, his eastward campaign had been constantly obstructed, and the various omens that had occurred one after another over the past two days made him feel an inexplicable sense of terror.

Others might not know, but he could not be unaware that the power he possessed today relied almost entirely on the all-out support of the Incense Temple.

But as time went on, he had gradually discovered that the actions of the Incense Temple were somewhat wrong. For some time now, the common people within his territories had gradually stopped engaging in production and labor, spending their days obsessed with praying to gods and burning incense.

At first, he didn't think much of it, but as time went on, even if he were more foolish, he would have gradually begun to understand that the final outcome of continuing like this would absolutely be self-destruction.

However, he was powerless to change the methods of the Incense Temple; his only path to survival was to constantly expand outward, hoping to seize more territory to replenish his own consumption.

Unfortunately, several large-scale offensives had ended in failure, and instead, his own side had constantly suffered losses of troops and generals, with his strength gradually beginning to suffer heavy damage.

How could he not be anxious and angry?

——————

Through the corpse-collecting Zhiren distributed across various locations, Lin Feng naturally noticed the special situation occurring at the Incense Offering Tower.

"The Incense Temple has actually caused such a big stir this time? Could it be that the Incense Master has already broken free?"

It was not at all strange for him to make such a guess; ever since he learned through various channels that the Incense Master had clashed with the three Great Xia saints in the netherworld, he knew that this day would come sooner or later.

It was not that he did not believe the three Great Xia saints could ultimately win, but rather that the Incense Master's methods had struck at the vital weakness of the three Great Xia saints from the very beginning.

They themselves had suffered a regression in strength due to merging with and suppressing the Ghost Prison, and in the end, they were completely isolated from the entire Great Xia Dynasty under the schemes of the Incense Master.

Even if Lin Feng did not know the specific details of the battle, he could understand that the Incense Master, having prepared so many methods, could never have failed easily.

Now it seemed his guess had been fulfilled; he just didn't know what kind of waves the victorious Incense Master would stir up next.

"The situation in the east will likely undergo a massive change next. Can the current me deal with an Incense Master who could defeat the three Great Xia saints?"

By examining the memories of the Corpse Lord, Lin Feng had learned quite a bit of secret information from hundreds of years ago.

Back then, even at the Corpse Lord's peak, he could not defeat the three Great Xia saints, and the fact that the Incense Master could do so was enough to show that the Incense Master's strength was even greater than the Corpse Lord's.

"However, the current me is not the me from before. At present, I possess three Calamity Gui in my hands, as well as that sword..."

Thinking of that broken sword, Lin Feng's brow could not help but furrow. Although he had successfully suppressed the sword, how to use it remained a problem.

Through research, Lin Feng now had some understanding of the sword; in essence, it was a more powerful and special Gui weapon.

It possessed extreme sharpness and the ability to turn surrounding objects into gray mist, but besides these two characteristics, there was another point: this broken sword seemed to possess its own consciousness!

Otherwise, this thing would not have been able to attack autonomously and even trade blows with him.

So the trouble lay here: to use this sword, one must completely tame it; otherwise, keeping it in one's hands would sooner or later turn it into a bomb!