After arranging everything, Jiang Liu led Murong Yin, Feng Yue, and the others back to the mansion by the mountain.
Knowing that Jiang Liu had returned, Qin Bailian and Yi Yue also came to Jiang Liu's place at the same time.
Upon their arrival, Jiang Liu received them in the council hall.
Upon seeing Jiang Liu, Yi Yue immediately said with shame, "My lord, it is because I failed to manage my subordinates properly that I was unable to prevent even greater losses."
Jiang Liu waved his hand and said, "There's no need to blame yourself. No one could have predicted something like this. And judging from the way the newcomers attacked, there must be at least a few Grandmaster among them."
"Even if you were there, you couldn't stop it from happening."
"Moreover, your sect only has a Minor Grandmaster there, so he can't stop things from happening at all."
"However, you have indeed been living quite comfortably these past few years. You've become complacent because you think there are no enemies around. You need to work on that."
Jiang Liu's last sentence was clearly directed at Qin Bailian and Yi Yue.
Yi Yue and Qin Bailian quickly bowed to Jiang Liu and replied, "Yes, we will strengthen our defenses."
Not long after, Li Xuewu, Chen Qiansong, Lin Chi and others also arrived at Jiang Liu's place.
"My lord!" The three of them bowed to Jiang Liu together.
Of the three, only Li Xuewu still occasionally makes public appearances. Chen Qiansong and Lin Chi have completely disappeared from the public eye.
Li Xuewu is currently active in Xun Province, mainly assisting Listening Wind Pavilion in monitoring the situation Xun Province.
Chen Qiansong and Lin Chi were maintaining the normal operation of the Dark Star Hall and the Assassination List, and were also constantly setting up intelligence networks in other states.
Over the past few years, Dark Star Hall and Assassination List have absorbed all their previous personnel and further expanded their influence.
However, Jiang Liu did not interfere much, allowing them to develop freely. He simply sent people to manage the finances of the Dark Star Hall.
All the bounties on the Assassination List were issued by the Dark Star Hall.
As for Ning Zhongze and Cong Buqi, Jiang Liu has already agreed to their requests and is gradually withdrawing from both organizations. He will no longer interfere with where they want to go.
However, Jiang Liu left their ultimate fate to Chen Qiansong and Lin Chi; he no longer cared about it.
Jiang Liu nodded and said, "Sit down!" Then he said to Li Xuewu, "You should discuss with Uncle Chen about temporarily withdrawing the people in Tianyun City to the inland."
Li Xuewu nodded and said, "Sir, since the incident in Sea Gazing City, Leader Chen has already begun to take action."
"Alright! For now, let's abandon the four coastal cities of Yunzhou Xun Province for the time being! As for the civilians and martial artists who have been affected, you should organize and allocate more funds from various places to provide compensation."
"Let the compensation come from the portion paid to Yuncheng!"
The taxes collected normally, the portion paid to Yuncheng, are used to maintain the operation of the Listening Wind and Gentle Rain Pavilion and cover the expenses of Jiang Liu's people.
If Listening Wind and Gentle Rain Pavilion were to continue expanding across the entire country, its expenses would certainly be considerable.
However, these tasks have now been handed over to the Dark Star Hall and Assassination List, and these two forces will generate their own profits, so the amount of investment required is not much.
Therefore, the taxes that have been continuously paid to Yuncheng have resulted in a surplus.
Now, it's not a problem to use these surpluses to subsidize the victims of this incident.
"Yes," Yi Yue and Qin Bailian bowed and replied.
Currently, the tax revenue of both states is handled by two individuals, while Listening Wind Pavilion is only responsible for auditing the accounts.
Of the taxes paid, the majority now comes from the various businesses operating within them, while ordinary people and martial artists only account for a small portion.
That's why there are rumors that the people and independent cultivators living in Yunzhou and Xun Province are the most comfortable in the entire world.
Afterwards, Li Xuewu, Lin Chi, and Chen Qiansong began to tell Jiang Liu about the reactions of the people and martial artists in the two states and other states in the world during this period.
Now that such a thing has happened, it has caused everyone in the world to feel insecure.
At the same time, it also serves as a reminder that there are still dangers lurking outside, always watching us with predatory intent.
One wrong move and you could fall into the abyss.
Therefore, the martial artists of Xun Province and Yunzhou, who were previously on good terms, have become extremely enthusiastic about cultivation during this period.
Everyone is thinking about improving their own strength to protect themselves, so that they won't be just lambs to the slaughter when danger strikes.
After handling all these matters, Jiang Liu told them to go back and do their own things as arranged.
For the next period of time, Jiang Liu spent his time learning the language of Blood Demon Island and also occasionally learning about the construction of the ships.
Jiang Liu completely ignored the outside disturbances, just like when he was focused on advancing to the Peak Grandmaster and cultivating relentlessly.
In response to this tragedy, the Flowing Cloud Sect and Star Moon Sect sent people to offer their condolences and allocated some funds to comfort the victims.
This can be considered as winning a good reputation for both sects in the hearts of the people.
After learning about Jiang Liu's situation from Gongsun Haoyue, Flowing Cloud Matriarch did not come to disturb Jiang Liu.
During this time, they also sensed that their cultivation of the Star Cloud Saint Art was progressing rapidly, as if they might advance to a higher level at any moment.
They were also wondering what caused this. Could it be that Jiang Liu's advancement to the Peak Grandmaster was the reason for this situation?
This greatly boosted their enthusiasm for cultivation. If they could advance to the Saint Realm, would Blood Demon Island still be a problem?
If Jiang Liu knew what they were thinking, he would scoff at it. They were dreaming if they wanted to advance to the Saint Realm.
After so many years of exploring and cultivating the Saintly Sky Art, Jiang Liu finally understood that advancing to the Saint Realm was truly beyond his control.
Although having Data Panel can be helpful for advancing in rank.
However, it lacks the most important thing.
Even now, Jiang Liu still doesn't understand what exactly is missing.
Perhaps this is the real reason for the decline of the Saint Heaven Sect.
However, now is not the time to figure these things out. Jiang Liu knows that he is still a long way from advancing further.
It's likely that there are no Saint Realm experts on Blood Demon Island; otherwise, they would have already launched a counterattack against the Great Qian Continent.
Will they continue to cower on those islands? Will they still fear their former enemies?
Therefore, Jiang Liu was still full of confidence about entering Blood Demon Island.
If given the chance, he wouldn't mind wreaking havoc on Blood Demon Island.
After all, they needed to avenge the warriors who were slaughtered in Sea Gazing City and vent their anger for the warriors who were kidnapped.
After waiting for more than a month, finally, good news came: the large ship had been built.
As Jiang Liu requested, Piao Han had written down all the characters and pronunciations of the Daqian language he knew, along with the language of Blood Demon Island.
Now all we need to do is get people on board, and we can set off for Blood Demon Island.