That night, a moonlight appeared in the Tianshu Palace of the Dinghu Sect, manifesting the figure of Tianxuan.

"Just at dusk today, the Taiping Sect breached Liangzhou's Luchuan County and Guangyang County."

Tianxuan looked around at the people in the palace and said, "The demonic people of the Taiping Sect have acted perversely, driving refugees to assault the city. The Prefectural Governor Zhang Pan ordered the shooting of refugees, leading to the Taiping Sect forcibly breaching the city and afterward, using Zhang Pan's corpse to declare their flag, claiming that officials forced the people into rebellion."

"Guangyang County closed its city gates and held a defensive stance but was breached by a Fifth-Grade Practitioner infiltrating among the refugees, and the entire city fell."

Tianxuan's true form was still in Liangzhou, and with the unrest in Liangzhou, she naturally was the first to know, thus she immediately convened the high-ranking officials of the Dinghu Sect to relay the news.

The Six Hall Elders from the sect, together with Jiang Li acting temporarily as the Yaoguang Elder, made up four of them. Additionally present were the True Disciples Gongsun Qingyue and Yun Qiuchi, and with the magic array activated to connect with the Heavenly Origin Cave Heaven, the Supreme Elder of the sect also listened on, gathering a majority of the high-ranking officials.

Following Tianxuan's appearance, another divine light suddenly emerged, casting the imposing figure of a man in a yellow robe.

After listening to Tianxuan, Elder Tianquan immediately said, "Guangyang is in the west, Luchuan in the east, located on either side of Liangzhou. There should be a force moving through the middle, heading directly towards the Divine Capital. They must have divided their forces into three."

"Using refugees, this strategy is immensely cruel; regardless of whether they are killed or not, it will push the refugees towards the Taiping Sect," Elder Tianji added, "in my view, the number of refugees in the central route should far exceed the other two."

That was the crux of the matter.

The Taiping Sect could drive the refugees to charge and break through, but the court couldn't indiscriminately kill, yet they could not simply let them pass, and that was the dilemma.

To kill or not to kill, both would end up benefiting the Taiping Sect.

"Don't those refugees realize the Taiping Sect is using them as cannon fodder?" Yun Qiuchi couldn't help frowning and asked, "Is it possible to recruit the refugees and use them for our own purposes?"

"Of course, they know, there must be wisdom among the refugees. But when people can't even survive, what else can they think of?" Gongsun Qingyue replied, "Although the Taiping Sect spreads its beliefs widely, it's the survival issues, not the beliefs, that drive the vast majority to rebel, just like the Mahayana Sect in Yong Province nearly a hundred years ago."

Hearing this, everyone subconsciously recalled the records of the sect and then fell silent.

Nearly a hundred years ago was precisely when the Buddha Country first advanced eastward, and although it ceased due to Daoist Lord Li Boyang traveling west, prior to this, the Buddha Country had already stirred up a great turmoil in Yong Province.

Yong Province was teeming with rebels because it was a land of a Thousand Miles of Barren Land, impossible to transform using Divine Power and Techniques, attributed to the presence of a third-grade Drought Demon Ba.

Nearly a hundred years previous, a fourth-rank expert from the Buddha Country entered Yong Province with the Dragon Flower Treasure Tree carrying the Maitreya Dao Fruit, establishing the Mahayana Sect as a pathway for the Buddha Country's eastward advance. In the name of faith, the Mahayana Sect quickly gathered massive followers and caused great disturbances.

Because the Mahayana Sect viewed the world as an ocean of suffering and the common people as unable to escape from it, their doctrine was to liberate the people, to kill their bodies to free their souls, and to proceed to the Pure Land for peace and self-realization.

Killing people was considered a way to save them, bringing boundless merit.

—Kill one person, and you are one Bodhisattva; kill ten, and you are ten Bodhisattvas; kill ten thousand, and you achieve Buddhahood on the spot.

This absurd doctrine led countless people to follow, killing indiscriminately because one might not certainly become a Bodhisattva by killing, but they could receive rewards from the Mahayana Sect, given food, which according to the sect, was an offering to the Bodhisattvas.

And this was because Yong Province was experiencing a great drought at the time, and the populace was struggling to survive, nearly resorting to cannibalism.

Just like then and now, the refugees in Liangzhou were indeed struggling to survive, or at least those gathered by the Taiping Sect felt that way. Under the drive of survival instincts and beliefs, nothing they did would be surprising.

Even if they clearly knew the Taiping Sect were not good, there was no choice but to survive.

'Not to mention Ji Jiji is inciting all this.'

Jiang Li knew more and thought broader. 'A hundred years ago, Ji Jiji was also in Yong Province, and he even confronted the Daoist Lord. Now after a hundred years, the situation repeats, with Ji Jiji behind the Taiping Sect...'

Such situations, recurring individuals, it was hard to say they were unconnected.

Even Jiang Li speculated that Ji Jiji was behind the Mahayana Sect a hundred years ago, appearing precisely at the time the sect caused an uprising.

'But if he had wanted to make the third step from the "Yin Talisman Scripture" a hundred years ago, why does he still need to plot for the Heaven Creation Device a hundred years later? He should have obtained the device long ago...'

Before Jiang Li could ponder further, Tianxuan had already issued an order, "This palace has received a decree from the Divine Capital, as the Princess intends for Jiang Li to go to Liangzhou to assist in quelling the unrest. I also agree with this intention. As for Tian Ji and Tianquan, you two aid the Supreme Elder Gongsun Yang in guarding the sect and may activate the Yinglong Daoist Artifact if necessary to prevent any unforeseen circumstances."

Elder Tianji and Elder Tianquan, along with the middle-aged man in the yellow robe, nodded simultaneously.

Judging by the divine might he bore, this man was indeed the Earth Deity who enveloped Dinghu under his Divine Domain; it was just unknown which Dao Fruit he harbored.

"Will we be short of manpower?" Gongsun Yang asked.

When they returned, it was Jiang Li and Gongsun Qingyue, and when they left, they also only took disciples and ordinary elders; Tianquan and Tian Ji stayed behind, and they didn't bring extra fourth-grade combat power, fearing it would hardly impact the overall situation.

Although low-grade cultivators could restrain higher grades by joining together and forming an array, if there weren't high-grade cultivators leading the array, the restraining effects would be quite limited.

"Luu Tianpeng betrayed us, and the Sect's situation is also not good. It's better to keep more people here, and as for manpower… Feng Manlou brought a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers, which is basically enough, and when I leave, I will take that supreme treasure," Tianxuan said, shaking her head and cautioning.

If Tianpeng himself was innocent, then they could still take one or two fourth-grade experts, but with Tianpeng's betrayal beforehand, they couldn't continue to draw combat power.

Upon hearing this, Gongsun Yang first froze, then silently nodded, no longer speaking.

"Let's leave it at that, and later Jiang Li and Qingyue should come to the secret place."

After speaking, Tianxuan's figure dispersed into moonlight and vanished without a trace, her form having been gathered from the Moonlight.

As for her primordial spirit, it was still on the secret island managing the array. Otherwise, Gongsun Qingyue wouldn't have been able to engage in the relentless battle against Jiang Li here.

People dispersed one after another, and Jiang Li and Gongsun Qingyue headed to the secret island.

Tonight was moonless and windy, hardly a glimmer of light, but within the secret place, frost brilliance shone everywhere, and a moon hung in the center of the island.

Tianxuan, reclining leisurely on the moon wheel, glanced at the man and woman who had arrived.

"Finally willing to see me, your master, Qing Yue?"

She spoke softly, her gaze landed on Gongsun Qingyue's waist, almost palpable, making Gongsun Qingyue's legs involuntarily go weak.

There was no helping it; Jiang Li's combat power last night was too exaggerated, leaving Gongsun Qingyue exhausted, and she still hadn't recovered. When the look fell upon her, her weakness showed.

"This isn't your disciple's fault."

Gongsun Qingyue steadied her legs, smiled slightly with the air of a victor, and said, "If you have to blame someone, blame your junior brother. If he hadn't asked the disciple to practice, and accidentally injured the disciple, I would have come to see you sooner."

Another face change?

Jiang Li was done with his elder sister's aggressiveness, but he couldn't help but smooth things over.

He couldn't just say that he got too excited seeing his elder sister wearing their master's clothes and overdid it, right?

"It's the disciple's fault for not holding back enough," Jiang Li admitted.

"It's your sister's incompetence, you can't be blamed," Tianxuan commented nonchalantly, then suggested, "Your strength is comparable to fourth-grade; if you want to practice in the future, come find me so you can fully utilize your skills."

This suggestion was quite sensible, but for those in the know, it seemed a bit... not quite suitable.

At least Gongsun Qingyue felt it was inappropriate, yet she couldn't really object.

Jiang Li, however, felt the atmosphere was quite strange; it was a simple statement, yet it added layers of complexity.

Simply using "You know I know that, and I know you know but the elder sister doesn't know" couldn't explain the complex relationship between the three, so they just had to take things one step at a time.

Thus, Jiang Li temporarily set aside this topic and inquired about important matters, "May I ask what instructions you have for calling your disciple and elder sister here?"

"Nothing much, just wondering how to deal with this small island."

As Tianxuan spoke, she gently waved her sleeve, and array patterns appeared around them, "to integrate this small island into a fragment of the Heavenly Mirror for you to carry around."

The ground began to tremble, trees shook visibly around them, and with a loud noise, the island soared into the air.

"It's a bit large; bear with it."

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