Chapter 168 The Overall Situation

The great battle at Yunmeng Marsh temporarily drew to a close.

Far away in Xin Province, the fighting was also subsiding.

Yan Po and He Gang withstood the pressure and prevented the Yunmeng Great Ding from being stolen.

Ye Chuxiao personally rushed to support them, killing all the plunderers sent by Xiao Chi, greatly diminishing the strength of the Great Heng Dynasty.

The Yunmeng Great Ding was still returned to Yunmeng Marsh as promised, handed over to the still-living Dragon King Yuan Jia.

From now on, this cauldron was a nail hammered into Xiao Chi's heart.

He would often think about it, but he wouldn't dare to act rashly, fearing another trap set by Ye Chuxiao.

And Ye Chuxiao's goal had been achieved.

Since Xiao Chi liked to "divide his body" and "divide his spirit," Ye Chuxiao would grant his wish, making him divide even more, leaving him unable to attend to everything.

Being able to create a large number of powerful clones was Xiao Chi's advantage and talent, but it was also his flaw and weakness.

Grasping his weakness would allow for a head-on blow.

With this battle completely over, Ye Chuxiao issued a large number of "covenant texts." According to the covenants, those foreign cultivators who had signed agreements with him began to act.

Some relied on their own strength to subvert the local tyrannical rule.

Others simply integrated into a certain force, quietly taking control and stirring up a wave of uprisings.

The national fortune of the Great Heng Dynasty had not yet reached its final years.

However, with rebel flags rising from all directions, they accelerated the burning of the Great Heng's national fortune.

The Great Heng Dynasty's control over the localities from the capital began to weaken.

This meant that the Great Heng Emperor's edicts would become like waste paper once they left the capital.

And these changes were only happening offline.

The online struggle was even more frequent.

Without Xiao Muchen's identity to shield him, Xiao Chi's struggle on the "net" could only be described as a complete mess.

Ye Chuxiao seized territory and further deepened his grasp of this net, repeatedly attempting to overlap and merge the worlds.

Although Xiao Chi managed to stop him with various means.

However, Ye Chuxiao's accumulation and strengthening continued to occur in this process.

About three months later, in the real world, the Great Heng lost two-thirds of its territory. The area it could actually control was only around the capital.

Half a month later, the commanders of the Shenwu and Qianjiao armies in the capital rebelled. Although the rebellion was suppressed, the unbreakable golden body of the capital was already damaged.

The people of the capital, who originally thought it was impregnable, were now panicked.

Many chose to flee the city, even defecting to the rebel army.

Only two days after the rebellion of the two armies, news and evidence of the Empress Dowager's licentiousness in the harem spread throughout the capital.

The entire capital was in an uproar.

The royal clan initiated court discussions to depose the Empress Dowager. The mildest "suggestion" was to abolish her cultivation and send her to Yong'an Temple outside the city to become a nun, spending the rest of her life with the lamp and the Buddha, never to step out of the temple gate.

The courtiers who originally belonged to the Empress Dowager's faction were eager to change sides, making quite a few jokes.

This made the already unstable capital even more turbulent.

Countless clever people were trying to find a way out for themselves and their families at this time.

As a result, those rebel armies that were already gaining momentum suddenly received some powerful support and became even more rampant.

In the end, the young emperor came forward, weeping and pleading to protect the Empress Dowager.

However, the Empress Dowager was stripped of 99% of her power, permanently confined to the harem, and no longer allowed to interfere in politics.

This seemed to be the young emperor's move to seize power, but from the perspective of Ye Chuxiao and Xiao Chi's struggle, it was Ye Chuxiao who, from afar, seized another "possibility" from Xiao Chi.

Ye Chuxiao was forcing Xiao Chi to reveal himself in the identity of the "young emperor."

The young emperor may not be Xiao Chi's only remaining trump card.

But he was the last fortress through which Xiao Chi could obtain the support of the Great Heng Dynasty in the name of "orthodoxy" and refine the world.

Once he lost this fortress, even if he was still alive, he would no longer have the capital to make a comeback.

For someone like Xiao Chi, losing... was no less than death.

A month later, three rebel armies gathered outside the capital, attacking the city for seven days. Countless people died, but the capital remained standing.

On the contrary, the rebel army, because of mutual restraint, experienced some chaos.

If this continued, the rebels’ advantage would be exhausted.

Once the fierce offensive subsided, the court would launch a series of moves to eliminate and co-opt, extinguishing the sparks of the various rebel armies.

At the same time, news came from Yunmeng Marsh that Dragon King Yuan Jia had been killed by the former Old Dragon King.

The Yunmeng Great Ding disappeared with the former Old Dragon King.

The Yunmeng Marsh aquatic tribes were searching frantically, and the internal situation was chaotic.

Various water dragons were fighting for the position of Dragon King, even to the point of bloodshed.

Changes also occurred at the Hanshan Flower Gathering.

Some members began to violate their original intentions, forming cliques and seeking personal gain.

This was an inevitable situation when a loose association transformed into a strictly structured organization with vast interests.

However, the fact that this situation was changing at this time was definitely not a coincidence.

It was not a big deal for some people to seek personal gain.

What mattered was that, for their own interests and to eliminate dissidents, they colluded with external enemies.

This was truly fatal to the Hanshan Flower Gathering.

On the chessboard, Ye Chuxiao had already advanced to Xiao Chi's hinterland, reaching his "great dragon," but was intercepted at a critical moment.

Not only that, but a fire broke out in the rear.

Xiao Chi's counterattack was not fatal, but it was quite troublesome.

At this time, if Ye Chuxiao chose to continue pushing forward, he would be gambling "fate" with Xiao Chi, seeing who could last longer.

If the rebel army could break through the capital in a short time, forcing Xiao Chi to have nowhere to retreat, then he would have to stand up and settle things with Ye Chuxiao.

And from the current perspective of Ye Chuxiao's frontal strength, he would definitely win against Xiao Chi.

However, if the rebel alliance disintegrated, it would be followed by a longer period of mutual stalemate.

In this stalemate, the advantages that originally belonged to Ye Chuxiao would be gradually eroded.

Once he lost both online and offline advantages, then even if Ye Chuxiao was still one step ahead in terms of hard power, he would be unable to do anything to Xiao Chi and could only watch him refine the world and then surpass him.

The situation on the chessboard became increasingly tense.

However, Ye Chuxiao did not seem anxious.

Even though Yan Po had repeatedly requested internal cleansing, Ye Chuxiao remained unmoved.

Cleansing was necessary, but not now.

Pursuing interests was human nature.

It was absurd to expect members of a group tied together by interests to only advocate for so-called faith.

Inappropriate cleansing would only cause internal collapse.

"I don't understand, what are you still waiting for?" Yan Po asked Ye Chuxiao, holding his saber.

Ye Chuxiao placed a chess piece on the board, a piece that penetrated deep into the black pieces' territory, completely resembling a sacrificed piece.

"Of course, I'm waiting for some people to discover the truth."

"The Great Heng Dynasty is not truly Xiao Chi's one-man show. Although he controls many key figures, he cannot replace everyone," Ye Chuxiao said.

In the imperial capital, in the court hall, Yuan Shen, the Minister of Justice, spoke frankly and bluntly.

"Cleanse the Emperor's Entourage!"