Chapter Sixty-Five: Difficult to Cultivate the Power to Pacify the World

"Finally, I've returned to shore." Qiu Mulan had already discarded her greatsword. She spat out the water-repelling pearl from her mouth and gazed at the bustling city of Eastshore not far away.

As the largest port on the Eastern Sea in the Great Yuan, Eastshore's prosperity surpassed her expectations. "Among all the nations, only the Holy Port of the Lafa Empire could rival this place," she mused, her lips curving into a relaxed smile. At last, she could shake off Fei Fengxue. She wondered if that young lord had managed to deal with Fei Fengxue.

"Eastshore is the young lord’s territory, but he won’t return for a while. I should enter the city, gather some news, and leave as soon as possible," Qiu Mulan decided, heading straight for the city.

Not long after Qiu Mulan left, Fei Fengxue also came ashore. His face was grim and dark. "I remember there are some peripheral members of the Underworld Society in Eastshore. With the Bloodstorm Pirates destroyed, if I want to rebuild the crew, I must find a wealthy benefactor to back me." Fei Fengxue restrained his fierce aura. The demon warden who destroyed the Bloodstorm Pirates was likely someone from the Eastshore Demon Suppression Bureau. A single warden was already terrifying enough—how much more fearsome would the commander stationed here be?

He was a pirate. The Eastshore naval garrison surely had detailed records on him. If the navy found him, there would be no escape for him on land.

"Wait?" He sniffed the air, catching a lingering trace of an unusual scent. "Second Sister?" He was incredulous. "How could that be? She wasn’t killed by the demon warden?" Relief flooded him. "Good, good. The Yin Furnace is still there—everything can start anew." Now, he no longer had the resources to create more Yin Furnaces. He had lost everything. If Qiu Mulan was truly alive, it would be a blessing for him. Through Qiu Mulan, his Yin Furnace, he could collect more vital essence from men.

Following the scent, Fei Fengxue took a risk and entered Eastshore.

At this moment, Eastshore was tense and grim. Zheng Yishan, leading the Demon Suppression Bureau, went directly to the heart of the matter, arresting everyone listed in the records.

Yang Shichen, noted in the register as the mastermind behind the largest band of pirates on the Eastern Sea, made Zheng Yishan doubt his own eyes. Yang was one of Eastshore’s premier merchants—even the magistrate would treat him with respect. He was generous and charitable, sheltering countless homeless souls and providing them work and security.

Zhang Shiliang, once a demon warden himself, had been injured in the line of duty and left the Bureau to inherit his family’s business, elevating them into the ranks of the most renowned merchants in the Great Yuan Empire. He was decorated for his deeds, granted the title of baron by the Emperor—a nominal rank, but a special status nonetheless. If he was involved in the opium case, things would become very complicated.

The rest of the list was composed of all the prominent figures in Eastshore, each of whom wielded significant influence even in the broader business world of the Great Yuan.

Gongyang Yan’s intentions were clear: investigate thoroughly. Zheng Yishan gritted his teeth. This was no longer just his own affair—it concerned the entire Demon Suppression Bureau. Orders were issued to mobilize the city constables and defense forces, each led by a senior demon warden, to surround and capture the most illustrious families on the list.

"Taking out a few pawns won’t solve Eastshore’s crisis," Jiang Dongliu’s figure appeared once more in the Bureau’s headquarters.

Gongyang Yan’s expression was as dark as water. Disciples of the Yin-Yang Celestial Sect were moving everywhere in Eastshore, yet he was powerless to intervene. After all, their strength was formidable—even greater than his own.

"I wonder, Young Master Jiang, what brings you to the Demon Suppression Bureau today?"

"Was the demon in Gongping Town truly the ancient Xuanbing Lady, Han Su?" Jiang Dongliu asked. "Have you forgotten that our Gongyang family also participated in the campaign against the ancient Xuanbing Lady?"

The Gongyang family was ancient, its foundations no weaker than any sect. While it was difficult to find records of the campaign within the sects, the family’s genealogy made it clear—an ancestor had perished at the hands of the Xuanbing Lady. Since then, the family had seldom involved itself in sectarian disputes. Had it not been for later generations, they might have faded into the dust of history.

"When I went to Dali Town that day, I sensed great danger and withdrew. Now the ancient Xuanbing Lady has been unearthed; could this be related to the unknown terror in Mount Dali? Do you have any clues, Lord Gongyang?" Jiang Dongliu’s voice was grave. This was a matter of great consequence. Whoever could disrupt Han Su’s ancient arrangements and drive her from Mount Dali must be a being of unfathomable power.

In ages past, Han Su was a notorious master of the demonic path, her infamy rivaling that of her brother, the founder of the Underworld. Even after ten thousand years, the sects still hunted her brother, the notorious Han the Old Demon. Was this terrifying being still alive, or had he gone to the netherworld to establish his own realm, transcending the mortal coil?

"I do not know, nor am I presently interested in knowing," Gongyang Yan replied bluntly.

"That is a pity," Jiang Dongliu said, his eyes fixed on the city where flames soared into the sky. Dozens of figures darted through the air, clashing with the senior demon wardens.

"Since the advent of the Iron Wheel, communication between nations has become easier, but instability among the people has increased," Jiang Dongliu remarked as he watched the battle unfold. The incursion of external cultivation systems was undermining the balance of power between the sects and the Great Yuan.

The tides of change were not limited to the rise of industry but also to the growing ties between nations. The walls of isolation were crumbling, and traditional monopolies of legacy would soon be battered by these waves.

"It’s only a few body-refining martial artists—not worth worrying about," Gongyang Yan said coolly.

"Don’t underestimate them. We do not teach the Primordial Embryo Method, but other countries have similar cultivation paths," Jiang Dongliu warned. He himself had ventured to Sakura Nation and caused a stir, disrupting the destiny of the samurai’s path to supremacy. Yet he knew how fiercely the secret traditions of Sakura Nation’s onmyoji, ninja, warriors, and swordsmen burned. In their pursuit of mastery, they might even consort with demons, borrowing their power. Once such borrowed strength reached a certain level, even the heights of the mountain could be glimpsed. With that knowledge, any number of ancient monsters could break their shackles, unite with heaven and earth, and become martial saints.

This was exactly what the sects would not allow. The flourishing martial destiny of the Great Yuan suppressed that of neighboring nations. To rise to the top, one had to break the suppression from the Yuan sects. The union of spirit and flesh, merging with the Dao of heaven and earth—this realm’s profundity lay in mastering the world and imposing terrifying, unimaginable rules, stifling the development of other cultivation systems.

"The whole reason for the sects’ existence is to guard the threshold of martial ascension," Gongyang Yan retorted. "With martial might above all, the Dao reigns supreme."

"But what if the Great Yuan Empire is battered by storms, invaded by allied armies, and the tide of war shatters the central plains? Then the fate of the human race would be divided among other continents," Jiang Dongliu said, realizing too late how much he was revealing. He fell silent, closing his eyes to meditate and sense the fluctuations of the world’s energies.

Gongyang Yan, ever astute, immediately deduced the sects’ underlying motive. They feared that if the Empire fell to foreign alliances, they too would suffer. Better, then, to start selecting a new human sovereign, to forge a new dynasty.

"If you want to breach the Empire, you’ll have to contend with the blades of the Demon Suppression Bureau first!" Gongyang Yan warned Jiang Dongliu in return.

"The Bureau is not what it once was," Jiang Dongliu replied with a trace of disdain.

"Is that so? As long as the Six Paths of Demon Suppression endure, the Bureau will not fall. Has your sect not tasted the might of the Six Paths before?" Gongyang Yan countered. "A hundred arts fused into six paths. No one has ever mastered all the techniques of the Six Paths to perfection. However many divine powers one learns, one must complete the thirty-six Heavenly Gang and seventy-two Earth Fiend arts before manifesting the True Form of World Suppression."

"Let’s wait and see," Gongyang Yan said, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon.