Chapter 1455: Pressure Surges

The barrage of revelations was more than Yuan Fang could fully digest, but what little he understood was already enough to shake him badly.

At the very least, one thing had become clear: latching onto Yuan Se was nowhere near as safe as he had imagined.

That final shout frightened him so badly his legs went weak. With a thud, he dropped to his knees on the spot.

Niu Youdao looked down at him from above. “What are you doing? Did you think no one knew you’d thrown yourself under Fatty Yuan? Did you think that if you kept quiet, I wouldn’t know?”

At first, he truly had not known. If Lü Wushuang had not explained it, he could have racked his brains bloody and still never imagined that the lofty Sacred Venerable Dayuan had come for the food.

Yuan Fang clutched at Niu Youdao’s clothes with both hands, utterly panicked. “Master Dao, I had no choice! I didn’t want to either! Yuan Se forced me. I couldn’t refuse! I was only trying to preserve our strength!”

Niu Youdao said, “And that was your excuse for putting on airs and showing Hongniang your face?”

“I...” Yuan Fang looked ready to cry. “Master Dao, I was wrong. I lost my head for a moment. But Master Dao, you weren’t here anymore! I thought you were gone. Look, the moment you appeared, I immediately told you about Yuan Se.”

“I don’t like talking to people who are kneeling.”

Yuan Gang immediately strode over, seized Yuan Fang by the ear, and hauled him upright. Yuan Fang grimaced in pain and clutched at the side of his face.

Niu Youdao raised a hand and brushed Yuan Gang’s grip away, then idly flicked Yuan Fang’s beard. “If you hadn’t seized your last chance and named Yuan Se just now, I wouldn’t still be wasting words on you. If you had kept quiet, do you think you could have left Nanzhou alive without my permission? Who do you think has the final say in Nanzhou? Without my permission, do you think you could have left Yan alive? Who do you think has the final say in Yan?”

“Stand straight!”

His hand suddenly slapped Yuan Fang’s shoulder, startling the bear demon into snapping rigidly upright.

Niu Youdao clasped his hands behind his back. “Talk. What have you told Fatty Yuan?”

Yuan Fang shook his head frantically. “Master Dao, I didn’t tell him anything. I really didn’t tell him anything!”

“You think I don’t know what happened back at Zijin Cave? Old Bear, you’re full of faults. I tolerate you because I can overlook little matters, but you cannot be muddleheaded over something important. You’ve followed me for this many years. If we’re going to part ways, I’d still rather we part on good terms. Do you know what you should do next?”

“I know, I know.” Yuan Fang nodded repeatedly, then froze. After a beat, he ventured, “What should I do?”

“I already told you. I drew Fatty Yuan here because I wanted you at his side. If he wants to take you to the Sacred Realm, I permit you to go. If he takes you to Dayuan Sacred Land, then follow him there. Whether you’re in the mortal world, the Sacred Realm, or Dayuan Sacred Land, someone will contact you and tell you what needs doing.”

Yuan Fang understood.

Master Dao wanted him to become an inside man.

Fear immediately rose in him. Acting as an inside man beside Yuan Se—how could that possibly be safe?

Niu Youdao knew exactly what he was worried about. “There’s no need to be afraid. He doesn’t know I’m alive. If he did, he wouldn’t let you stay beside him. As for the annex, since you’ve already shown Hongniang that face of yours, keep acting the part. You’re not stupid. I trust you understand what I mean.”

He raised a hand and patted Yuan Fang on the shoulder. “All right. You still have work to do and can’t stay here too long. Go back. Think it through slowly after you return. Hongniang will communicate with you about what comes next. Wipe the blood off your face.”

Yuan Fang was still dazed and had yet to recover his wits. He could only nod meekly.

After he left, Yuan Gang moved closer to Niu Youdao. “Master Dao, wasn’t it too risky to tell him so many secrets?”

Niu Youdao shook his head slightly. “Monkey, that isn’t how you keep accounts. For us, what secret carries more risk than the fact that I’m still alive?”

Yuan Gang froze.

The point struck him awake instantly.

Right. Master Dao was alive, and that fact had now been exposed before Yuan Fang. That alone was the greatest risk.

Killing Yuan Fang would be easy, but there would be no explaining it to Yuan Se. If Yuan Fang suddenly vanished, Yuan Se would inevitably become suspicious. Everyone throughout Maolu Annex might be placed under control immediately, and perhaps even the Prince’s residence would be dragged in.

Could they have Hongniang and the others evacuate?

Could they even evacuate?

The moment they fled, it would be the same as confessing that something was wrong with them.

A sweeping investigation would then unfold around the matter. A few people might escape in advance, but far more people throughout Nanzhou would have nowhere to run. If Maolu Villa was found to have a problem, Zijin Cave, as the power standing behind it, would inevitably be implicated. The affair would keep expanding.

Only now did Yuan Gang more or less understand why Master Dao had refused to uproot Yuan Fang, that fence-sitter.

Pull one hair and the whole body moved.

Master Dao had thought farther and deeper than he had.

In other words, so long as Yuan Fang could be intimidated into obedience, the other secrets were no longer important...

When Yuan Fang walked out of the shop, he was still badly unsettled. After climbing into the carriage, his shoulders sagged completely.

Everything that had just happened felt like a dream, and it had frightened him half to death.

Master Dao was still that all-capable Master Dao of Maolu Villa after all. Even the Sacred Realm had failed to do anything to him. Master Dao was actually still alive.

And Yuan Gang too. Hadn’t one of his arms been cut off before he was captured? Yet the man standing before Yuan Fang had been perfectly whole. First he was captured into the Sacred Realm, then somehow became the Holy Son of the Demonic Sect.

The more Yuan Fang thought about everything, the more unfathomably deep the waters seemed.

At the very least, Master Dao was clearly playing a larger and larger game now, one already far beyond Yuan Fang’s imagination.

The mere fact that he could fake his death inside the Sacred Realm and come and go from it already said enough.

...

Nanzhou’s forces had seized the corridor between Yan and the Qin territories under occupation. Shang Chaozong’s power was visibly expanding at tremendous speed, yet the Yan court made no move.

Many people were astonished, though not entirely surprised. Everyone could see Han’s role in obstructing the court and assumed that was the reason.

Han believed the same thing. Otherwise, how could the Yan court possibly remain motionless? The fact that Emperor Shang Jianxiong had previously gone so far as to send away the woman he loved seemed proof enough.

Shang Chaozong did not care what outsiders thought.

As his territory expanded, he recruited troops throughout the lands under occupation while implementing the new policies introduced by Lan Ruoting, placing able-bodied young men onto the military rolls.

Once entered onto the rolls, those men became Shang Chaozong’s soldiers.

The measure helped stabilize local sentiment and prevented anyone from gathering groups of young men to create unrest. More importantly, it allowed agricultural production to be organized under centralized authority so the occupied territories could recover as quickly as possible.

For the time being, these newly registered men were not intended to march off and fight. Their immediate purpose was to organize agricultural production throughout the region.

Although Lan Ruoting presided over civil administration, he discarded the ordinary framework of local bureaucracy outright.

Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures.

He placed the crucial matter of agriculture directly under military administration and used military orders to force the policies through.

Meanwhile, the grain and material reserves Nanzhou had accumulated over the years poured out like water, all of them thrown behind the recovery of the occupied territories.

What was spent now would return even greater rewards from far broader lands in the future.

At the same time, Lan Ruoting used tax exemptions and numerous other incentives to encourage merchants to participate. To mobilize civilian resources and draw greater supplies and capital into operating and rebuilding the occupied regions, he even offered monopoly operating rights over key local industries as bait.

Every favorable measure that could be used was pushed forward together.

The army under Shang Chaozong did not remain idle either. It simply cut off supplies to the Yan court’s forces inside the occupied Qin territories, intending to force them out completely and swallow the conquered lands in one stroke.

Han noticed Nanzhou’s vigorous recovery measures in the occupied territories and simply copied the pattern, following suit almost move for move...

Niu Youdao, living in a cave in the mountains, could not share in the excitement.

The rapid expansion of Shang Chaozong’s power merely laid a convenient foundation for the future. To Niu Youdao, it was not the most important matter.

The urgent danger lay with Misty Pavilion.

According to the information Sha Rulai sent, combined with reports from Lü Wushuang’s eyes and ears inside Misty Pavilion, the various sect inspectors had used every means available to uncover a long list of problems, only for the Six Sacred Venerables to abruptly suppress the punishments halfway through.

With one incident after another erupting, even Lü Wushuang and the Holy Rakshasa had begun making waves. The Six Sacred Venerables had clearly realized that this was no time to insist on purging the inside before dealing with threats outside.

To stabilize morale within their own ranks, whatever the sect inspectors had uncovered was set aside unless punishment was absolutely necessary.

The inspectors stationed by the various sects at Misty Pavilion were all dismissed and sent back to their sects. Even those stationed inside the Sacred Realm were withdrawn.

Yan Li of Zijin Cave had already returned to his sect. Astonishingly, he and the inspectors from the other sects had all escaped disaster.

Everyone throughout Misty Pavilion breathed a sigh of relief.

With those restraints removed, the internal investigation triggered by the theft of the Wuliang Fruit immediately accelerated. At the same time, Misty Pavilion had begun drafting plans to investigate the various sects themselves.

The pressure on Niu Youdao surged.

On one side were the grim consequences rapidly approaching. On the other, the Six Sacred Venerables had personally taken command in the mortal world and were spreading their net.

With the Six Sacred Venerables personally coordinating their respective forces inside Misty Pavilion, exchanging information and casting aside all mutual obstruction, the threat became enormous.

Misty Pavilion’s operational efficiency rose at a frightening rate.

The movements of personnel from every sect and faction now had to be reported daily to the nearest All-Under-Heaven Money House.

Whether those reports were truthful would be checked against Misty Pavilion’s watchers inside the sects. The moment a discrepancy appeared, Misty Pavilion personnel stationed nearby would rush over and demand an explanation.

All independent cultivators beneath Heaven were forbidden from wandering freely.

Each had to place himself under the supervision of a nearby cultivation faction, and that faction would be held responsible for his movements.

This immediately left Yuan Cong—Zhong Guzi beneath his false identity at Jia Wuqun’s side—with nowhere to hide.

He could not run either. The moment he fled, Jia Wuqun would be implicated.

With no other choice, Niu Youdao’s side urgently coordinated with the Shangqing Sect and placed Zhong Guzi under its responsibility and protection.

At a moment like this, Niu Youdao could only be grateful that he had helped the Shangqing Sect before and maneuvered it over to Jia Wuqun’s side.

Otherwise, Zhong Guzi would have been exposed immediately.

Niu Youdao himself was somewhat easier to handle.

On the surface, his identity as Wang Xiao already belonged to Zijin Cave’s sphere of influence, so his movements naturally fell under Zijin Cave’s responsibility.

The difficulty was that Gong Lince had to file those movement reports without letting Misty Pavilion’s watchers inside Zijin Cave discover the lie. That alone was enough to give him a splitting headache.

Worse, Yuan Se had occupied Maolu Annex, leaving Niu Youdao and Yun Ji unable to return.

Their movements had now become a major problem.

If they remained away too long, anyone would begin to suspect something.

And once Misty Pavilion grew suspicious and ordered Zijin Cave to summon them back, what was Niu Youdao supposed to do?

Die again?

Nor was his side alone in suffering headaches.

There were many cultivators beneath Heaven who, for one reason or another, could not withstand the light of scrutiny, much like Zhong Guzi. Now all of them were suddenly being forced into the open.

The consequences were easy to imagine.

Misty Pavilion’s enormous network, both open and hidden, had begun operating at full strength.

The power it revealed was astonishing.

Terrifying, even.

[End of Chapter 1455]