Ling Mingji only sneered at Xiangyu's words, giving no reply.
He had been careless and fallen into the monk's scheme, losing the prefect's seat that should have been his. Now a bitter grudge stood between them.
But the matter was already beyond repair.
An imperial appointment, once issued, was nearly impossible to reverse.
And even if it could be reversed, it was hardly worth wasting time over a mere eighth-rank appointment, a sesame-seed-sized title.
Still, after working so long in Hunzhou, laboring and scheming for a breakthrough, just as he was about to reap the rewards, an "air-dropped" insider had come down to steal it away.
To say he wasn't seething with rage would be a lie.
Ling Mingji drew out the bronze seal of an eighth-rank official, polished it once in his hand, then crushed it to powder with a surge of force.
Going to Youzhou to take office? He had never even considered it.
Giving up the Li Dragon? Even less possible.
So, it's better to shatter the seal and walk away. Let whoever wants this "Lingguan" position have it.
Ling Mingji was no ordinary functionary; he was the direct disciple of the Feathered Gate, one of the academy's twelve great lineages, a proper Spiritual Construct Child.
Now that he had advanced to the Spirit-Suppressing Realm, he could always return to his sect and still have a way forward.
His face set and stern, he lifted a finger and jabbed it straight toward Xiangyu's nose, an act of open insult.
Then he declared:
"Temple of carrion, monks of no spine, how dare you try to deceive me!"
"If you want my Li Dragon, then come and take it by force!"
At that, his body flickered, vanishing back into his Divine Roc Armament.
The ruined remains of the Prefectural Office, still lodged in the Li Dragon's tongue, were flung violently away, hurled onto Hunzhou Island with a crash that left the structure even more broken than before.
The officials still sheltering within were forced to leap into the waters of the suspended Hun River below.
Meanwhile, Ling Mingji, relieved of all burdens and hesitation, unfurled the full might of his Divine Roc. Cloaked in dazzling light, he hovered high in the heavens, dragon-lance in hand, his aura surging like a heavenly war god.
Xiangyu only shook his head, pitying the man's rashness.
In his eyes, Ling Mingji's defiance was mere self-destruction. The empire's bureaucracy was vast, its weight crushing; who cared for the temper of a mere sixth-rank cultivator?
To refuse obedience within such a system is childish.
He dismissed the provocation, turning instead to the surviving officials:
"Colleagues of the Prefecture, let me first reforge Hunzhou itself. Afterwards, we may discuss the rest."
"Do not be overly concerned. The empire is vast, and order will always prevail.
Ling Daoist has lost his wits for the moment; let him vent his temper."
As he spoke, the trunk of the Divine Elephant rose like a colossal dragon, sweeping toward the ruins of the Prefecture.
Though shattered and battered, the Prefectural compound still contained formations that bound it to the ley-lines of Hunzhou Island. Wherever it landed, it remained the core of the prefecture's power.
Now, with the Elephant's vast spiritual might, Xiangyu infused the ruins, seizing all wards and functions into his control.
As the newly appointed Prefect, his authority was absolute, and his cultivation and backing ensured that his grip surpassed even Luo Yaozhi's.
While the Divine Elephant reforged the Prefectural core, Xiangyu himself rose into the air.
As a disciple of Wuchang Temple, he held more than one spiritual construct. Against Ling Mingji, a single one was enough.
A Buddha's radiance bloomed across his body, filling with power until it coalesced into flesh. In an instant, a towering Elephant-Visaged Maitreya loomed forth, the weaponized manifestation of Xiangyu's path to enlightenment.
Thus did the two great cultivators clash: one blazing white, the other blazing violet.
The seas trembled as their powers collided. This battle of Manifestation Armaments was the true might of Spirit-Suppressing-rank beings, far beyond the earlier struggle of the Roc and the Serpent.
Jing Qian, cautious as ever, had already stowed away the Dingyuan ship, ready to flee at any moment. Only then did he dare hover in the sky, silently watching the spectacle as if it were a grand play.
The victor mattered little to him. Better still, if one died, so he could pick up the spoils.
Meanwhile, the colossal Divine Elephant worked even faster, reshaping the Prefecture.
From its ruins, it conjured a seven-tiered White Jade Pagoda, planted firmly upon Hunzhou Island's tallest peak.
The pagoda's foundations fused with the island's ley-lines, reawakening what little remained of the Prefecture's furnaces. Of the many Life Furnaces once housed there, only one Blue-Rank and two Azure-Flame furnaces had survived. Now they rekindled, glowing once more.
These three were embedded into the pagoda's first tier, forming the new root of Hunzhou's administration.
And still, the Divine Elephant did not cease.
It lowered its massive head and began to ram violently against the floating island of Hunzhou itself.
Jing Qian's pupils shrank to pinpoints as Worldly Insight whirled at full speed, recording every detail of the overwhelming scene before him.
When the Divine Elephant lifted its head for the third time, he clearly saw eighty-one strands of strange Sanskrit glow within its radiance, each stroke drawing directly from the leyline essence of Hunzhou Island.
Boom!
Ancient moss-covered rock strata shattered; colossal boulders tore free of the mountainside, only to be pulverized into dust midair by the Elephant's force.
Its trunk swept up tidal waves that slammed into the slopes, the entire island groaning like a dying beast.
In the midst of his duel with Ling Mingji, the White Elephant Maitreya suddenly pressed its palms together. A third-grade lotus platform bloomed beneath its feet, blocking head-on the purple thunder lance that pierced through the void.
"Heaven on my back, earth beneath my feet unshaken through ten thousand kalpas!"
Xiangyu's chant split the clouds.
The falling rubble froze midair, every fissure filled with milky-white Buddha light.
When the Divine Elephant rammed the mountainside for the seventh time, the peak that bore the jade-white pagoda slowly rose, cleaving the entire Hunzhou Island in half at the waist!
At the fracture, countless bronze chains were revealed in the tangible form of Hunzhou's buried ley lines.
Jing Qian caught the faint scent of incense seeping from the shrine atop the Elephant's head.
He watched as the leyline chains twisted within the Buddha's radiance, reshaping into sixty-four Sanskrit prayer banners that drove themselves into the Elephant's back.
The pillars of heaven toppled!
As the island tilted down onto the Elephant's spine, the surrounding sea boiled away, coalescing high above into the spectral forms of the Eight Heavenly Dragons.
Ling Mingji's lance streaked across the sky, leaving a scar upon the jade pagoda, but could not halt the island's descent.
When the dust settled, the spectacle stunned all:
The entire Hunzhou Island, once anchored deep into the oceanic crust, had been severed.
Yet the island did not collapse. Instead, it rooted perfectly upon the Elephant's back, its leyline system intact.
Every channel of qi now wrapped the beast like chains, circulating through its colossal body, rising back up into the island, and finally converging in the pagoda-prefecture at its peak.
The Elephant had become a living conduit for the island's vitality!
Though vast, the Elephant was still dwarfed by the island itself. It looked like an ant staggering beneath a grasshopper many times its size, yet it stood unshaken, immovable.
Jing Qian, awestruck, could only marvel at the scale of such cultivation might.
This Divine Elephant Construct was no ordinary secret, an exclusive heritage of Wuchang Temple, a Fifth-Grade Earthfiend-class Spiritual Construct.
Xiangyu, though only at the Subjugator realm, wielded his power to fight well above his level. Even without it, he was already matching Ling Mingji blow for blow.
He even had the leisure to taunt between strikes:
"Ling Daoist, I've long heard the Feathered Gate breeds nothing but feathered fowl. Whether plucked and steamed, or roasted with their down still on, they taste equally delicious."
"You've feathers, you've scales, best mind yourself, or the lords above may stew you into a fine dish of Dragon and Phoenix Delight."
"If memory serves, your Feathered Gate hasn't produced a Spiritual Construct Disciple in this generation, has it? Last I recall, you were the only one in the previous generation as well."
"Be careful, Daoist. If you die here, your sect's lineage may crumble entirely. The Pure Yang Ruins have already fallen from the Twelve Lineages; perhaps next will be your Feathered Gate."
Ling Mingji gave no reply, only striking harder.
But he was fresh to the Subjugator realm, his sect's secret arts not yet fully mastered. His power was not enough.
Several attempts later, his Divine Roc Armament still gained him no advantage. Finally, he ceased resisting and chose decisively to disengage.
The great roc soared upward, vanishing northward into the horizon.
Ling Mingji had stumbled upon the Subduing Dragon Construct, securing his breakthrough at last. His long centuries of toil in Hunzhou had achieved their purpose; he had swallowed the Li Dragon and advanced.
But now Xiangyu had seized the chance to oust him, driving him from the land he had cultivated for centuries. His rage smoldered, but the outcome could not be undone.
The path of cultivation was endless competition; hesitate for a breath, and you paid dearly.
He had lingered too long in Hunzhou; his vision had grown narrow. Now, forced to leave, he would return to his sect. It was not all lost. In time, should he reach enlightenment, he would settle matters with Wuchang Temple.
But for now, with Ling Mingji gone, the remaining Prefecture officials were left like lambs before the butcher.
If even Ling Mingji could be handled so easily, what chance did the rest have?
The Wuchang master withdrew his manifestation, descending lightly back to the Hun River's suspended lake.
The surviving officials had not fled.
Aside from the four ninth-rank officials Zhu Shou, Li Yuan, Wu Liuyuan, and Jing Qian hovering in the air, the others remained on their treasure ships.
Xiangyu swept his gaze across them and said:
"Ling Daoist has wisely returned to his sect. Do any of you intend to follow his example?"
"Zhu Daoist, will you do the same?"
Zhu Shou shook his head and answered:
"The Northern Frontier is no ordinary posting; it is a military summons. I cannot refuse.
Still, I had not thought Wuchang Temple's influence reached so far that even the Northern Frontier would heed its call."
"I will report as ordered. As for Hunzhou, you may shape it as you please."
With that, he transformed into the Jingwei manifestation and vanished into the distance.
Unaware that this Northern Frontier summons had little to do with Wuchang Temple and was driven by other causes, Zhu Shou left.
Xiangyu did not bother to explain. He simply turned his gaze back to the others:
"And the rest of you, what say you?"
Wu Liuyuan suddenly spread his metallic wings, pulled out his own ninth-rank bronze seal, and crushed it to dust. Without a word, he drifted away.
As a Master of the Hundred Forges, finding a new post would be simple for him. The bureaucratic title of Divine Officer meant little. And with his close companion Ling Mingji already forced out, he had no reason to linger in Hunzhou.
Li Yuan, on the other hand, stood frowning, silently calculating for a long while before finally deciding to stay.
The rest of the officials were all rogue cultivators who had clawed their way into the eighth and ninth ranks. The most valuable thing they possessed was their official title; none of them dared abandon it.
In the end, including Jing Qian, only forty-three veterans of the Prefecture remained.
If not for the great utility of his Academic Overseer position, Jing Qian himself might well have cast off his seal and left as well.
Xiangyu glanced over those who remained and spoke again:
"Civil Affairs Office and Artisan Bureau, step forward."
Li Yuan led twenty-four of the forty-three men out.
Xiangyu nodded slightly, then tossed him a small, ornate cloth pouch.
"In here are one hundred seeds of ninth-grade Moonlight Melons, my Divine Elephant's favorite food.
"Li Daoist, take the Civil and Artisan officers into the island's plains, dig pools, and grow them. From today onward, no killing in Hunzhou, only melon farming.
"The outside world is no longer your concern. None of you may leave the melon fields without my permission. Go."
Li Yuan's face turned dark, but he bowed nonetheless. With his subordinates, he steered their treasure ships away. It was a blatant act of stripping them of authority, and their ships would likely gather dust from now on.
Then Xiangyu called again:
"Maritime Office, Military Office, where are you?"
Everyone left besides Jing Qian belonged to those two branches. With their leaders gone, they were headless and powerless, forced to obey.
"You will form a fleet," Xiangyu ordered, "and open a new route through the Sea of Resentful Souls, connecting Hunzhou to Haizhou.
"Hunzhou hangs isolated off the coast. With poor links to the mainland and no trade, how could it ever prosper?
"If you carve a path through the Sea of Resentful Souls, the journey into Haizhou's heartland will be shortened by three hundred thousand li. Then we can do real business."
His finger suddenly pointed at Qian Yuan.
"You will command this expeditionary fleet. Do not hesitate, depart at once.
"Oh, and leave behind these two seventh-grade warships. The rest of the vessels, take them with you."
The Civil and Artisan officers, though stripped of power, at least still lived. But for the Military and Maritime officers, the loyalists of Ling Mingji and Zhu Shou, this was a harsher purge.
Sent into the Sea of Resentful Souls with not even a single Longevity-stage cultivator to lead them, their survival was all but hopeless.
Yet under Xiangyu's pressure, none dared speak out. They gathered together and, sailing down the freed Hun River, vanished into the open sea.
Watching them go, Jing Qian felt a flicker of unease. He knew these men well; likely, they would scatter the moment they reached the sea, rather than march into certain death. In effect, it was a self-imposed exile.
But either way, Xiangyu's aim to purge opposition was achieved.
In this system, without a powerful backer, you were nothing more than floating duckweed, swept away at the first gust of wind.
With a few deft moves, Xiangyu had reorganized the Prefecture's ranks. And still, he was not done.
He guided the Divine Elephant to open its colossal mouth, releasing a tide. Upon that surge sailed one seventh-grade treasure ship and six eighth-grade vessels.
Each was packed with monks in gray robes, all cultivators of varying strength, more than a hundred in total. Seven were Longevity-stage, the rest all Dragon-Elephant adepts.
Xiangyu had not come alone; he brought an entire retinue.
The depth of Wuchang Temple's foundation was on full display. This force alone could sweep Hunzhou clean.
From the mass, only ten monks remained by Xiangyu's side. The rest commandeered the Hunyi and Hunliang warships, then took the fleet downriver into the distant seas.
Their mission was clear: to move against the twelve remaining Fate Islands of Hunzhou, cleansing them one by one.
In a single stroke, Xiangyu had seized total control of Hunzhou. With his high birth, his strength, and his overwhelming power, he had treated this remote military prefecture like autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves.
Through it all, Jing Qian remained silent, merely observing. Only when Xiangyu finally turned his gaze upon him did he smile faintly and say:
"Impressive authority, Prefect. I have only just taken the post of Academic Overseer; everything shall be as you command."
Xiangyu inclined his head.
"At least you know the times. You are a Divine Officer now. So long as you remain obedient, I will not trouble you.
"Go to the pagoda and guard Hunzhou's Life Furnaces. This is a heavy responsibility. Do not leave the pagoda without my leave. Do I make myself clear?"
Jing Qian bowed.
"As my lord commands."
Jing Qian agreed with disarming obedience, slowly drifting toward the direction of the pagoda-prefecture.
He slipped into the first floor, whereupon the pagoda's seals suddenly flared, cutting off his retreat and locking him inside completely!
Before him burned the three Life Furnaces of Hunzhou, each one linked to the Divine Elephant's filtered, channeled earth-vein energy, blazing fiercely.
Jing Qian seemed entirely unbothered by the imprisonment. He simply sat cross-legged on the ground, quietly regulating his breath.
Then his figure flickered strangely.
Look closely, and you'd see his image begin to blur, no longer solid, merely the Little Ghost's incarnation.
The real Jing Qian had already slipped into the dimensional void, easily bypassing the pagoda's seals to appear right beside Xiangyu.
He regarded this decisive, domineering monk with genuine curiosity.
The man's behavior suggested he cared little for Hunzhou's actual value, ruling crudely, without subtlety. What, then, was his true aim in scheming so hard for the Prefect's seat?
After suppressing all the Hunzhou Prefecture's cultivators, Xiangyu waved his hand, formally granting his monks bureaucratic posts, assigning them to take over mundane governance across the island.
He himself merely hovered high in the heavens, silently waiting for something.
Jing Qian remained hidden in the void, patient as well.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before a change came.
A streak of blood-colored light tore through the clouds and stopped before Xiangyu, revealing none other than the newly advanced Blood River Sect scion Lord Wujian, a fresh Spirit-Suppressing Realm.
After appearing, Wujian spoke at once:
"Senior Brother Xiangyu, I have searched the entire Hunzhou Sea Region, yet found no trace. Did you discover anything?"
Xiangyu replied evenly:
"I crossed the sea from Haizhou, passing through the entire Sea of Resentful Souls. I, too, failed to detect even a wisp of Yanfu Dao cultivator aura.
"To seek someone on the open sea is like finding a needle in the ocean. We must find another way."
Wujian nodded. "If someone really drew the notice of the Yanfu Palace, it must be a mere novice someone at the Fatebiding stage, just entering the Sea of Spirit-Fate."
"Now that you control all of Hunzhou's Life Furnaces, you should be able to check the identities of every ninth-rank cultivator who burned their body this Yin Year.
"From there, tracing step by step, we may be able to flesh them out."
Xiangyu did not deny it, but only nodded slightly.
Wujian continued:
"But even if we cannot find them immediately, it matters little.
"If someone truly holds the Yanfu Dao legacy, to condense a Dharma Manifestation, they must inevitably rely on a Yin Pit.
"And in thirty thousand li of sea territory, I know of only two such places, one in the Sea of Resentful Souls, one in the Sea Clan's domain.
"You and I need only squat on each Yin Pit, waiting a few years if need be."
"I have ways to set some bait, to draw this Yanfu disciple early to the Yin Pit's location."
Xiangyu smiled faintly. "Junior Brother Wujian, your preparations are thorough indeed. I shall profit from your foresight.
"Just as you say, let us each take one Yin Pit. You work your lures, and I will be ready.
"As for the Sea of Resentful Souls, I am familiar with it. I shall keep watch there."
The two Spirit-Suppressing Realms finalized their plan, then sped off in opposite directions.
For cultivators of the sixth rank to scheme against a mere Fatebiding novice, it was like holding victory in their hands.
Yet they could not possibly imagine that the very target of their plotting was hiding right there in the dimensional void, rubbing his hands together and eavesdropping on their entire conversation.
Jing Qian had not expected this sudden upheaval to throw Hunzhou into chaos, affecting so many lives, only to realize it had all been stirred up by his own hand.
Now the two strongest Spirit-Subduers in Hunzhou were lying in wait… for him.
For a moment, he felt almost flattered.
But he still had much work to complete before condensing his Dharma Manifestation. Let them wait a little longer. He already held the initiative, and who knew who would end up hunting whom?
The next instant, Jing Qian tugged on his beacon, vanishing into the void, returning once more to the first floor of the pagoda.
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