Bai Ji curled up on the rock, assuming a sleeping posture. Seconds later, a terrifyingly powerful will awakens within her body.

At that moment, all beasts of the forest and birds in the air fell silent—some prostrating themselves on the ground, others wrapping their wings around their heads.

The pressure from this higher being made nearby creatures tremble as if facing doomsday.

At the partially collapsed main peak of Dog Rong Mountain, the old warrior Kou Yang Zhou sensed something and frowned, looking into the distance.

*Such powerful demon essence, that white fox by Xu Ning Yan’s side…* He gazed intently for a moment before slowly withdrawing his attention, no longer concerning himself with it.

Meanwhile, after the powerful will descended, Bai Ji opened her eyes. One eye emanated clear light, while the other remained bright and innocent.

“Your Majesty!” Bai Ji called out in a sweet voice.

Then, speaking again, her voice changed to the magnetic timbre unique to mature women:

“The Xu fellow isn’t here. Little female, what do you have to report?”

Bai Ji’s voice seamlessly switched back to a young girl’s tender tone:

“Your Majesty, I’m currently at the Martial Alliance in Sword Province. There was just a battle here over dragon essence, involving the Buddhist Sect, the Rain Master of the Shamanic Deity Cult, and an Artificer from Cloud Province.”

The mature, magnetic female voice fell silent for a moment before laughing: “It must have been quite intense for you to seek me out proactively.”

Bai Ji nodded vigorously, saying sweetly: “Officer Xu won! The Buddhist Sect suffered heavy losses this time.”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox replied with a smile: “What was the outcome?”

Bai Ji said: “All the Vajra warriors died!”

After hearing this, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox fell silent for a long while without speaking. Bai Ji couldn’t help but call out:

“Your Majesty?”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox finally spoke: “Tell me the details of what happened.”

Bai Ji recounted everything she’d heard from Xu Qi An, giving a complete account to Her Majesty. She spoke rather briefly, as Xu Qi An’s account had been succinct, only covering the general course of battle.

“I can imagine how thrilling it must have been. With Du Nan Du’s death, the Buddhist Sect’s high-rank combat strength now consists only of the Bodhisattvas Jia Luo Shu, Guang Xian, and Liu Li, along with the Arhat Du E.

“In just over a month, the Buddhist Sect has lost more transcendent experts than in the past five hundred years. Truly worthy of one who carries half the nation’s fortune.”

Hearing the joy in Her Majesty’s voice, Bai Ji raised her paw to pat the rock, saying sweetly:

“It’s time to counter-attack the Ten Thousand Mountains and reclaim our Beast Kingdom’s territory!”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox sneered:

“Your mating season hasn’t even arrived, yet you speak so boldly. Newborn fox cubs know no fear of Buddha.

“Still, you’re right—the opportunity to reclaim the Ten Thousand Mountains isn’t far off.”

After a pause, she didn’t continue this topic, instead sighing:

“I never expected the Overseer would be willing to bear heaven’s backlash for him. I’m beginning to doubt the Overseer’s motives.”

From Bai Ji’s report, she hadn’t seen any signs of Xu Qi An suffering from backlash.

Bai Ji tilted her head: “Heaven’s backlash?”

“The Shamanic Deity Cult’s ‘Consecration’ divine ability can summon ancestral spirits and spirits entangled with one’s karma. Usually, one can only summon spirits of the same rank—anything higher requires external power.

“In the Battle of Jing Shan City, Wei Yuan used the Sage’s Knife and the Sub-Sage’s Crown to summon the Confucian Sage’s spirit. He had to pay a price for this.

“The price isn’t just the vessel’s physical body being destroyed by higher-ranked power, but also heaven’s backlash, as such actions violate the rules.

“Whether or not Wei Yuan succeeded in sealing the Shamanic Deity, he was destined to die.”

Bai Ji suddenly understood and was shocked:

“Then Officer Xu…”

The Nine-Tailed Fox laughed: “The Founding Emperor wasn’t a Sage, so the backlash isn’t as severe. The Overseer as a First-Rank Artificer could bear it, but if it were Third-Rank Xu Qi An…”

Even with his thick fortune, while he might preserve his life, he would still pay an unbearable price.

“Then would Du Nan, who bore the Vajra Dharma Body, also suffer heaven’s backlash?” Bai Ji thought of Du Nan, who had similarly “cheated.”

“That doesn’t count as summoning spirits, so there’s no heaven’s backlash. However, as a Third-Rank Vajra bearing a First-Rank Dharma Body’s empowerment, he would pay an unimaginable price afterward. Kill a thousand enemies, harm yourself eight hundred—that’s all.

“Additionally, he could only bear Bodhisattva Jia Luo Shu’s blood essence because he was also a Vajra. An Arhat couldn’t have manifested a Vajra Dharma Body.

“Hmm, summon me again tonight—I have something to discuss with him.”

Bai Ji obediently nodded.

Having finished discussing business, she asked sweetly: “Your Majesty, have you found any of our kind overseas?”

The Nine-Tailed Fox shook her head:

“The overseas regions are vast, the ocean endless. Finding our kind is like searching for a needle in the sea. However, I met a descendant of the Divine Demons and learned something interesting from it.”

Bai Ji eagerly asked: “A Divine Demon descendant?”

“The one that appeared in White Emperor City in Cloud Province. It told me some secrets from the Divine Demon era, and subtly hinted at the true reason why the Divine Demon descendants originally fled the Nine Provinces continent.”

Before Bai Ji could ask further, she said with a smile:

“Heaven’s secrets cannot be revealed. Your current cultivation level isn’t sufficient to pay the price for knowing the answer.

“Now then, take me to see him.”

…

Wen Cheng Bi returned to the council hall, pushing open the door. Cao Qing Yang and the others immediately stopped their conversation, turning to look at him.

“What did the Patriarch say?”

Cao Qing Yang’s gaze lingered on the Vice Leader’s face, smiling:

“It seems the Patriarch’s response was to your liking.”

Fu Jing Men and others immediately pursed their lips. Wen Cheng Bi had advocated for building the headquarters on the mountain—building a city on flat ground versus constructing headquarters in the mountains were entirely different matters.

Wen Cheng Bi smiled: “The Patriarch said that with great chaos approaching, the headquarters must be built on the mountain to hold the terrain advantage.”

Qiao Weng of the Sword Province Merchants’ Association massaged his temples, smiling bitterly:

“The Patriarch doesn’t manage the household—he doesn’t know how expensive rice and oil are. Everyone, don’t expect too much. We’ll have to tighten our belts from now on.”

The gathered Fourth-Rank sect leaders and gang chiefs frowned deeply.

It wasn’t that they were unwilling to spend money, but jianghu organizations couldn’t collect taxes like government officials. They had their businesses to manage.

Due to natural and human disasters, their businesses had been severely impacted, and trade was poor, yet they still had to support those who relied on their organizations for livelihood. Additionally, they had to coordinate with officials for disaster relief and food distribution.

The financial pressure was enormous.

Now they had to bear the construction costs for the headquarters—one could imagine how difficult times would become.

At such times, having too high moral standards became a burden.

If they were ordinary jianghu sects, who would care about common people’s survival? That was the government’s worry.

Seeing everyone’s dejected faces, Wen Cheng Bi’s lips curved upward:

“Don’t worry, everyone. Building the headquarters faces two main difficulties: manpower and silver. If we solve these two problems, won’t everything be fine?”

Fu Jing Men glanced sideways, sneering:

“But we can’t solve the money problem. Can you conjure it out of thin air?”

Everyone stared expressionlessly at the Vice Leader.

Wen Cheng Bi remained calm, speaking steadily:

“All our gangs and sects must contribute money and grain, coordinating with officials for disaster relief.

“Since that’s the case, we might as well gather the disaster victims and have them build our headquarters in exchange for relief. This solves both the manpower issue and doesn’t require us to spend extra money.

“This is called, um, work relief.”

The council hall fell quiet for a moment as the gathered leaders were stunned. The discussion suddenly erupted.

“That might work—we won’t need extra silver since we’re spending on disaster relief anyway.”

“Right, right, right! With so many disaster victims, we might as well use them. No need for extra silver, just keep them fed.”

“Work-relief… was this the Patriarch’s idea?”

The logic was simple and immediately understood.

They hadn’t thought of it not because they were stupid, but because their thinking was limited by the era. In this age, when the court needed to build infrastructure, commoners were obligated to work without compensation.

This was called corvée labor.

In other words, infrastructure projects originally didn’t need silver—it was the people’s responsibility to bear.

Since they could get free labor, who would voluntarily spend money?

It wasn’t that they couldn’t think of work relief, but that it simply wasn’t needed.

As for why no one had thought of similar methods during disaster periods, it was again due to the era’s limitations.

The reason was simple: the court wasn’t infrastructure-obsessed, maybe not even repairing city walls or roads for decades.

Since it wasn’t needed, there was no background for work relief to exist.

But now, this idea perfectly solved the Martial Alliance’s predicament.

The situation had suddenly turned around.

“As expected of the Patriarch—living long brings wisdom, making him smarter than us.”

“The Patriarch has experienced chaos—he’s truly wise.”

Qiao Weng, Yang Cui Xue, and others didn’t spare their praise, faces full of joy. A headache-inducing problem had been easily solved by the Patriarch.

Wen Cheng Bi was stunned, waving his hands repeatedly:

“This wasn’t the Patriarch’s idea…”

Everyone looked at him suspiciously: “Yours?”

Wen Cheng Bi still shook his head:

“Not mine.”

Xiao Yue Nu’s eyes immediately lit up.

Sure enough, they heard Wen Cheng Bi say:

“It was Officer Xu’s idea. He happened to be talking with the Patriarch and casually suggested it to me.

“Tsk tsk, worthy of Officer Xu who’s versed in military strategy, poetry, and both civil and martial arts—he has a true talent for governing.”

Ah, Officer Xu… everyone looked at each other, feeling a sense of “Oh, it’s him—then there’s nothing to be surprised about.”

“If we’d known, we wouldn’t have racked our brains—we should have just asked Officer Xu.”

Fu Jing Men slapped the table in amazement.

With such a divine figure present, they had been blind to ignore him and argue for so long.

Yang Cui Xue sighed:

“He truly has a talent for governing. Officer Xu is Wei Yuan’s disciple—the student has surpassed the master.”

The atmosphere in the council hall suddenly became relaxed and cheerful.

…

Rong Rong, along with her Wan Hua Lou sect mates, was responsible for brewing medicine and directing soldiers to clear away ruins, helping the military garrison restore order quickly.

“Master, why are you so gloomy?”

Rong Rong turned her head to look at the beautiful woman sorting medicinal herbs.

While the Martial Alliance’s catastrophe was certainly sad, the enemy had been successfully repelled, Officer Xu had shown his brilliance, and the Martial Alliance disciples had witnessed this world-shocking battle. Except for those who had lost close friends and family, most people were quite excited.

Especially disciples of affiliated forces like themselves—their mindset was relatively more relaxed.

After all, the headquarters wasn’t their own sect’s mountain gate.

But the beautiful woman had been frowning ever since the battle ended, clearly troubled by something.

“Your master is fine. Don’t be nosy here—go do your work.”

The beautiful woman frowned as she scolded.

Rong Rong pouted, helping sort medicinal herbs while muttering:

“I looked around but didn’t see Officer Xu. He probably doesn’t live in this area.”

The beautiful woman’s frown deepened as she spoke earnestly:

“Rong Rong, don’t harbor impossible fantasies. Girls like Officer Xu are as numerous as fish crossing the river, but you can’t handle a man like that.

“Would you be willing to be a servant or concubine?”

Saying this, the beautiful woman’s face showed deep sorrow.

Seeing this, Rong Rong was shocked, her flowery face losing color:

“Master, I’m not even sad—why are you sad? Could it be… could it be you also have feelings for Officer Xu? He could be your son!”

The beautiful woman grew angry and was about to speak when suddenly sword light flashed overhead. Several figures flew by on swords, landing somewhere in the military garrison.

The beautiful woman stared at the sky, her expression complex.

…

In a courtyard on the south side of the military garrison.

Chu Yuan Chen, Li Miao Zhen, and Li Ling Su landed lightly in the courtyard, drawing back their flying swords.

In the courtyard, a plain-looking woman sat on a small stool, washing clothes.

She gave them a casual glance before turning to call toward the house:

“Hey Xu, your drinking buddies are here.”

*How dare she speak like that…* Li Miao Zhen’s face showed displeasure.

*The Princess Consort?* Chu Yuan Chen studied the plain-looking woman repeatedly, unsure of her identity.

He knew the legendary Northern Garrison Princess Consort had been wandering the world with Xu Qi An.

But the utterly ordinary face before him was hard to connect with Da Feng’s greatest beauty.

Xu Qi An, who had been changing bed sheets inside, came out upon hearing the call, his smile unchanged:

“Everything taken care of?”

His gaze lingered briefly on Dong Fang Wan Qing.

Li Ling Su “coughed” once, saying:

“Brother Xu, Sister Qing had no intention of being your enemy—we were just serving different masters…”

Xu Qi An waved his hand: “For your help, I won’t make things difficult for her.”

Dong Fang Wan Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

His main enemies were the Buddhist Sect and Xu Ping Feng. During this jianghu journey, though the Dong Fang sisters were also enemies, they had little interaction.

Compared to her sister Dong Fang Wan Rong, Dong Fang Wan Qing’s presence was extremely low.

Xu Qi An didn’t harbor much hatred toward her—actually, she just wasn’t skilled enough to catch his attention.

Li Ling Su stood with hands behind his back, appearing distinguished as he smiled:

“Sister Qing, I told you to trust me. I do have some influence.”

Xu Qi An glanced at him, and with an expressionless face, turned to call into the house:

“Chai Xing Er, come out for a moment.”

Li Ling Su’s expression instantly froze!