Li Ding's warning that the overall situation was about to fall apart was no alarmist talk.
A little thought made that clear. Zhang Xing had only just left, and Li Ding had immediately encountered military resistance on such a scale. And according to him, unrest had broken out everywhere around them, effectively paralyzing every branch of the Demon-Suppressing Guard. There had to be other reasons behind it.
Listening closely, they realized these were clearly existing internal problems within the Demon-Suppressing Guard, forcibly torn open by this affair until they erupted.
Specifically, the Demon-Suppressing Guard had always had internal divisions. That was perfectly reasonable: conflicts over geography, economics, faith, and centralized power were easy enough to imagine with one's eyes closed. But one of the major conflicts was precisely that between the local branches and the Great Director of Fate... For a long time, because the guards were geographically separated, actual military and political power had rested with their local Commanders of Fate. Yet the Great Director of Fate's cultivation and the orthodox authority of the Immortals' Cave were beyond question, so his influence was also an objective reality. Within each guard, opponents of the Commander of Fate would naturally invoke the Great Director of Fate and the Demon-Suppressing Guard's central administration to constrain their own commander.
Zhang Xing's maternal uncle Huang Ping, formerly of the Iron Mountain Guard, counted as half an example.
When a conflict like that suddenly encountered an order to surrender bearing the Great Director of Fate's personal authority, it naturally intensified, resulting in internal paralysis.
Of course, to be fair, what Li Ding had done to Duke Luye's entire family... including what he had done to the Duke of Willow City's entire family while Zhang Xing was away, and Zhang Xing's taking Commander of Fate Zhu