324. A Gentle Reprimand

Xu Yuan once again felt the persecution that this world inflicted on Soul Condensation Realm experts.

He couldn't see clearly, he couldn't see at all.

The sky in the Utterdark Lands, devoid of any light, accompanied by falling snow. Even as a Soul Condensation expert, Xu Yuan could not see the horizon several miles away, despite activating the Blood Origin Heart-Fall Technique.

Back when he Mortal Shedding Transcendent Realm, his perception allowed him to see every detail of everything.

Well!

He sighed inwardly, but Xu Yuan could guess from the general direction of her gaze what the chest-bound princess beside him was looking at.

Chi Feng.

No matter how awesome you were in life, you're dead now. You've been hanging in the sky for so long, it's time for you to fall down.

Lost in thought, Xu Yuan looked at Li Qingyan and confirmed:

"Did Chi Feng fall down?"

Li Qingyan withdrew her gaze and nodded slightly.

"Yes, I must go there."

Xu Yuan looked at her pale face:

Will your injuries heal?

Ancient texts record that sages, though dead, are immortal, and their lingering influence endures.

When he was still Mortal Shedding expert, the reason he left the Barbarian King's corpse hanging in the sky without moving it was because he was worried that the king had tampered with his body before his death.

Xu Yuan still vividly remembers the scheming among the saints Luo Xiran, who used their lives as bait in the Underground Palace ten thousand years ago.

Of course, Chi Feng, being a newly ascended saint, might not possess the methods of Luo Xiran and the others.

But it's better to be safe than sorry.

Since all hope is lost, we can simply wait; why take the risk?

Although Chi Feng's corpse, which had been hanging in the sky, has now fallen down, many things remain uncertain.

Thinking it over, Xu Yuan glanced in the direction of the garrison inside the city and whispered:

"Qingyan, if possible, you'd better let the strongest soldiers go first."

Halfway through his sentence, seeing the expression on Li Qingyan's face, Xu Yuan sighed softly and stopped speaking.

Logically speaking, sending her subordinates to lie in the mines would be the most sensible choice, but given her "follow me into battle" nature on the battlefield, she most likely wouldn't agree.

However, this is probably one of the reasons why Li Qingyan enjoys such high prestige in the army.

As a member of the imperial family, yet leading from the front on the battlefield, valuing the lives of these lowly peasants as his own—who wouldn't be willing to die for such a general?

Li Qingyan smiled gently and said:

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Xu Yuan's eyes flickered. He truly wouldn't take any risks unless absolutely necessary, and he suggested again:

"By the way, you just mentioned that Marquis of Martial Achievement is about to head south. Why don't we wait until he returns before dealing with this?"

Are you sure?

"Um?"

"If we wait for Uncle Mu to return, he might confiscate everything the Barbarian King owns~" Li Qingyan's graceful waist moved lightly, like a butterfly.

Xu Yuan licked his lips, his eyes looking strange:

"It can't be that bad. Marquis of Martial Achievement is a renowned military genius of the Great Yan. It would be too beneath him to do something like this."

Li Qingyan thought for a moment and said, "Changtian, do you know what the first lesson Uncle Mu taught me when I was a child was?"

Xu Yuan felt a sense of foreboding. "What?"

Li Qingyan rubbed the Sumeru Ring on his fingertip, mimicking Mu Zhenbei's tone from back then:

"Why should I return what I 'borrowed' through my own abilities?!"

"." Xu Yuan.

broken

"Qingyan, my twenty boxes of Strength Qi Pill..."

"How stingy you are."

Looking at Xu Yuan's constipated expression, Li Qingyan couldn't help but chuckle, her eyes sparkling with a smile that seemed to be filled with stars.

"Don't worry, Uncle Mu is Uncle Mu, and I am I."

As he spoke,

Li Qingyan leaped and landed on the tall courtyard wall:

"Changtian, your cultivation is too weak right now. You may wait here for me."

With that, she vanished from Xu Yuan's sight in a flash.

The courtyard was quiet, and the snow fell silently.

Xu Yuan stood in the courtyard, lost in thought.

Suddenly,

A slender figure cautiously peeked out from the doorway, staring at the man in tattered, blood-stained clothes for a few moments before suddenly calling out softly:

"Young master, you've regained your human form?"

"."

The sudden sound made Xu Yuan shudder involuntarily.

He's back, everything's back. Grandmaster could come and go without a trace before a Soul Condensation expert like him.

With a calm expression, Xu Yuan turned his gaze to Bai Muxi.

Bai Muxi changed out of the purple silk robe she wore in the Underground Palace, and put on a peach-pink brocade shirt and a pearl-white crepe skirt. She was also covered with a white velvet brocade coat, and a wide pearl-white ribbon was used to lightly tie up her long, flowing black hair that reached her waist, making her look like a delicate lotus flower.

The clothing perfectly suits the image of a downtrodden, tea-loving person.

"Um, what brings you here?"

Bai Muxi's eyes flickered, and she stepped out from behind the door. Her dark pupils swept over the room, and after confirming that Li Qingyan had left, she said softly:

"I sensed your presence upon emerging from seclusion, so I came to visit you."

Xu Yuan gave her a deep look and smiled without any hesitation:

"You've come to ask me to fulfill a promise you made?"

Bai Muxi's bright eyes flickered, and she nodded slightly, looking a little nervous.

"Um"

"Don't be nervous, this is just a deal between us."

Xu Yuan let out a long breath and beckoned with his finger. "Come inside."

Bai Muxi was silent for a moment, then pursed her lips and obediently followed behind him.

Entering the side room in the courtyard again, Xu Yuan walked casually to the stone couch and sat down, while Bai Muxi stood somewhat awkwardly in the center of the room.

She realized she might be getting a little too hasty.

But when they came out, some Strange Ghost still remained in the Underground Palace. The terrifying Strange Ghost deep inside the Underground Palace, which were so Law Power, made her completely uneasy.

However, the young man before her seemed to have guessed what she was thinking, and his voice was very calm:

"With your intelligence Mu Xi, you should be able to see that I am at odds with the forces behind Qingyan. Our current cooperation can be seen as a compromise based on shared goals."

Bai Muxi's delicate body trembled slightly, her skirt fell to the ground, and she knelt down directly, her head bowed.

"Mu Xi was too impatient."

"Oh"

Xu Yuan chuckled softly; he could tell what Bai Muxi was thinking.

She wanted to use the Beifeng Army, which was here to wipe out the Barbarian Tribe, to save the 400,000 people in the Underground Palace.

The problem is, if the Beifeng Army rescues them, will the descendants of those promising military talents in the Underground Palace bear the surname Xu or Li?

This is a very real problem.

Lost in thought, Xu Yuan raised his eyes to look at the Grandmaster kneeling before him, a Soul Condensation expert, and said softly:

"Lift your head up."

Bai Muxi slowly raised her head. Her snow-white skin was spotless, yet it carried a hint of unease.

"Young Master."

Xu Yuan bowed slightly, rested his hands on his knees, clasped them together, and gave a forced smile:

I'm very satisfied that you came to me first regarding this matter.

His father granted him the authority to freely access the Prime Minister's Mansion's internal documents, so Xu Yuan was well aware of one thing: the production capacity of resources for cultivators in this world exceeded the demand—because the top echelons controlled the number of cultivators to maintain the stability of their rule.

Of course, this is also due to the extreme scarcity of people capable of cultivation.

The ratio of people capable of cultivation to the total population in the Great Yan Dynasty is roughly one in several hundred to one in a thousand.

This sharp pyramid structure prevents various factions from actively expending significant manpower and resources to investigate and recruit apprentices.

The Underground Palace is different.

Of the 370,000 inhabitants of the Underground Palace, there are 7,000 cultivators, and these 7,000 cultivators are basically all at the seventh-grade Bone Tempering.

This is a terrifying number.

Because most of the Source Qi in the Underground Palace was transformed into life energy by the Black Death Fungal Mat of the Strange Ghost, it was still possible to cultivate to the seventh rank in such a place where resources and Source Qi were extremely scarce.

Therefore, as long as supplies are sufficient, they can quickly become a fighting force after systematic training.

and,

According to Bai Muxi, a quarter of the people in the Underground Palace have cultivation aptitude. Even if this proportion is concealed and exaggerated, it is still nearly 100,000 reserve soldiers.

But there was something else that really appealed to Xu Yuan.

That is the mentality of the people living in this Underground Palace. Their lack of access to information has led to a near-blind worship of theocracy within the Underground Palace.

Theocracy is a terrible thing, but it also represents absolute loyalty.

If used properly, they can be even more fanatically loyal than the systematically brainwashed Black Scale Army!

With the support of a powerful force possessing a complete closed-loop system, these people could potentially be transformed into an army of fanatics in just a few years.

Now that the Strange Ghost in the Underground Palace have been eliminated, how many people in the world wouldn't be tempted by such enormous benefits with almost no risk?

Given the princess's personality, she wouldn't actively interfere, but if Bai Muxi went directly to Marquis of Martial Achievement...

When you encounter something with low investment and high returns...

That marquis would most likely first express his gratitude for nature's bounty, and then devour everything in the Dead Silence Underground Palace.

Thinking of this,

The bloodlust in Xu Yuan's eyes intensified, and his gaze towards Bai Muxi turned colder as he chuckled softly:

"I am not an unfeeling person. If you are truly worried about your people, I can offer you another option."

"Would you like to hear about this option?"

"."

Bai Muxi shrank back upon hearing this.

Although the young master in blood-red robes before her was only at the Soul Condensation Realm, she had clearly witnessed his companionship throughout their journey in the Underground Palace and his methods of severely injuring a Saint.

The methods were bizarre, the vision was broad, and the intelligence sources seemed to predict everything.

If she says she wants to hear it.

Thinking of this, Little White shook his head like a rattle drum:

"No, I don't want to."

Seeing this, Xu Yuan smiled nonchalantly, stood up, walked over to Little White with a cheerful smile, reached out and pulled him up, his voice gentle yet tinged with a hint of reproach:

"Why are you kneeling? I've already said I don't need these formalities."

As he spoke, Xu Yuan pulled Bai Muxi up, his narrow eyes smiling:

"Actually, you can listen to this. Although I hate betrayal, we have been through thick and thin together after all."

As he spoke, he held her delicate, boneless fingers and gently caressed them for a while:

"Mu Xi, you know me. I'm not some kind of devil. Even if you betray me, I would never do something like sending people to massacre the Underground Palace."

"."

Bai Muxi's delicate body trembled slightly, and her jade-like legs beneath her skirt went weak, almost causing her to kneel down again.

Xu Yuan tried to stop him, but couldn't.

The Grandmaster's strength was far beyond that of a Soul Condensation expert; he almost stumbled and fell to the ground.

Bai Muxi knelt down, her fair forehead slamming onto the ground with a thud, her voice trembling but swift:

"Young Master, Mu Xi and the people of the Underground Palace have received your kindness and gifts, and will never have any disloyalty in this life."

Xu Yuan stood there, looking at the Little White beneath him, which resembled a quail.

Once on the surface, Bai Muxi naturally had more options, especially since the Strange Ghost in the Underground Palace were almost completely wiped out, and he needed to teach them a lesson.

"Well"

A soft sigh echoed in Xu Yuan's heart. Luo Xiran, inside the Blood God Stone, watched everything outside. "Kid, if the woman in this Underground Palace truly betrayed you, would you really send people to slaughter the Underground Palace?"

Xu Yuan's eyes widened in surprise. After a moment of serious thought, he softly replied in his heart:

"No, I cannot give orders to slaughter innocent people for profit."

But after a moment's pause, he whispered again:

"But I will tell my father and the others about this information."

This information was relayed to the high-ranking Prime Minister's Mansion, including Lou Ji and the others, to exterminate the wolves.

As for what that old aunt Lou Ji will do.

The fates of Li Erzhu, who had always been by Zhou Xiaohe's side, and those innocent people who knew his identity, speak volumes.

After going around in circles, the result was the same.

However, this order would be issued directly by Lou Ji, Zong Qingsheng, or his father.

The ruthless officials of the Prime Minister's Mansion would not tolerate betrayal, nor would they allow such enormous profits to fall into enemy hands.

Luo Xiran silent for a moment, her gentle voice carrying a hint of sigh:

"You little brat, you're really being pretentious."

"Self-deception is shameful, but at least it can provide some comfort."

Xu Yuan chuckled and said:

"But given your personality, Xiran, you don't seem to mind this approach?"

"Rejection?"

Luo Xiran murmured, her tone tinged with complexity. "This kind of thing happened far too many times during the Great Strange Ghost of the Otherworld ten thousand years ago. My naiveté back then caused the deaths of many people, so although I don't approve of this approach, I can understand it."

"Those who cannot be used by me, those who harbor ulterior motives, and those who betray me—death is their best end."

Xu Yuan gleaned some story from his older adopted sister's voice and whispered:

"It seems, Xiran, you were badly beaten down by reality back then?"

"Those who wield heavy weapons should protect the weak." Luo Xiran said matter-of-factly, then added with a touch of helplessness, "Unfortunately, most people, once they wield heavy weapons, turn their blades against the weak. I don't have the ability to change that."

Xu Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, and he gently shook his head, thinking to himself:

"The idea is good, but it's basically impossible—no, it's utterly impossible—to fully realize it. At best, it can only be relatively realized."

Luo Xiran snorted coldly:

"Of course I know that, I don't need you to remind me, kid."

Xu Yuan sighed softly:

That's not what I meant. I have a stepsister.

"Tsk, kid, you..."

"I wasn't talking about you, stop being so narcissistic."

"." Luo Xiran.

Xu Yuan carefully considered his words:

"I have a stepsister who's about as smart as you were back then. When we get back to the Capital City, why don't you spend some time with her and teach her?"

Luo Xiran felt that this brat was cursing her, and she said it bluntly:

"I don't accept apprentices."

Xu Yuan's mind conjured up images of his adopted sister, Doraemon Yao, and he spoke with a mocking tone:

"You? If you take her as your disciple, won't our generational hierarchy be messed up?"

"." Luo Xiran.