Longzang

Chapter 1053 Minor Oversights
The scene was so bizarre that Cangwu even doubted his own eyes for a moment, and King Ji simply thought he was hallucinating.

Just as Cangwu was about to take another look, several invisible and intangible spider silks suddenly floated down from the void and directly attached themselves to Cangwu and Prince Ji.

Cangwu's expression changed drastically. The spider silk did not exist. The reason for this feeling was that their act of entering the formation had already been entangled in karma. These spider silks were actually fishing lines.

Cangwu has never seen such a high and unpredictable fishing line before. The next step will surely be an earth-shattering strike along the fishing line!

Cangwu didn't need to see it with his own eyes; common sense told him he had no chance of withstanding the attack and needed to find a favorable location. And at this moment, the most advantageous location in the Ji Kingdom was undoubtedly within the royal palace. Cangwu lifted the Ji King and vanished instantly! After several flashes in the void, he rushed into the royal palace in a terrifying manner.

At the same moment, Wei Yuan, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly opened his eyes. He clearly sensed the arrival of Cangwu and Prince Ji. This time, the sensation was exceptionally clear, as if a pair of eyes were looking down from above, seeing everything clearly.

Moreover, it wasn't just "seeing" them, but also a clear "lock-on." Wei Yuan felt that any attack he made at this moment could land accurately on the two of them.

Without hesitation, Wei Yuan immediately summoned the small sword formed from the fourth grotto-heaven. However, since the small sword was formed from the grotto-heaven, it was extremely heavy and had several floating islands on its own. Using it was like an ordinary person wielding a weapon weighing over a hundred pounds; it was incredibly powerful but slow to wield.

Before Wei Yuan could fully unleash the sword, Cangwu and Prince Ji vanished instantly, like cats whose tails had been stepped on, leaving Wei Yuan petrified and bewildered.

With the powerful array providing cover, Wei Yuan was unlikely to be exposed. Even if he were, the power of this sword strike would be far less than the one he used to slay an immortal with the help of billions of people's luck; at most, it would only cause his opponent minor injuries.

But the immortal seemed to be fleeing in disarray, leaving Wei Yuan completely bewildered. Was his sword strike really that powerful? Had he recently been habitually underestimating his own ferocity again?

The immortal had fled, but Wei Yuan dared not be careless. Now that the immortal had begun to roam the mortal realm, he could launch a sneak attack at any moment. Wei Yuan prepared to withdraw the scattered troops and begin the second step of his grand plan: to lure the enemy to the Guantun defense line.

……

Upon returning to the Ji Kingdom's palace, Cangwu's face was grim. He said, "Indeed, there is a powerful force secretly obstructing us! But I remember you were ordered to issue a decree to abandon Guantun County and remove it from the Ji Kingdom's territory. Why do I see Guantun County still entangled with the Ji Kingdom and still part of its territory today?"

Prince Ji was also puzzled: "I issued the decree half a month ago, it should have been completed by now."

Cangwu gritted his teeth and said, "Investigate! Investigate tonight! Investigate to the very end!"

Moments later, a large number of Embroidered Uniform Guard spies rushed out of the yamen and into various parts of the capital, dragging hundreds of officials, large and small, out of their beds and taking them back to the Embroidered Uniform Guard for interrogation that very night, investigating each step of the investigation step by step. Before dawn, the results were already in.

Originally, there were no major problems with the drafting, sealing, and issuance of the imperial edict. However, there were many miscellaneous matters in the palace, and the rebel army had just defeated Xiao Jingyuan, causing chaos throughout the court and the country. As a result, the edict was delayed by one day when it arrived at the Ministry of Rites. At this time, the rebel army was advancing rapidly, the Ministry of Rites was in a state of panic, and there were many and complicated matters to prepare for the New Year's grand sacrificial ceremony. In addition, the national treasury was empty, and there were daily arguments with the Ministry of Revenue, so it was delayed by another day.

Up to this point, everything was still relatively normal, and the delays were understandable. However, when it came to the final stage—registering and officially removing Guantun County from the map—the official in charge of the registration from the Ministry of Rites received the devastating news of his father's death the day before and left the capital to return to his hometown to observe mourning.

At this time of war and chaos, the Minister of Rites simply sent a letter to the Ministry of Personnel requesting the selection of replacements and then set the matter aside.

The Ministry of Personnel's selection process was naturally not quick, and could potentially drag on for several more months. Thus, up until now, from the King of Cangwu down to the Minister of Rites, everyone believed that Guantun County was no longer within the territory of the Ji Kingdom. No one could have imagined that the whole matter would be stuck at the very last step, the smallest detail, and that Guantun County hadn't been removed from the list in time.

When the interrogation results came out, Cangwu was furious, his face turning blue. King Ji immediately ordered all officials below the Minister of Rites imprisoned, and even the official who had returned home to observe mourning was sent back by fast riders to arrest him and behead him. Now the matter was clear. Wei Yuan, for reasons unknown, only occupied Guantun County within the territory of Ji State, using all the boundary stones he plundered in the mountain people's areas, thus enclosing a vast territory. Moreover, he not only relocated over two million people from neighboring counties to the mountain people's areas, but also brought in a large influx of people from who-knows-where, allowing them to multiply and thrive.

Previously, Cangwu only regarded Wei Yuan as a potential rival and never paid attention to Guantun County, let alone the territory that Wei Yuan was causing trouble in the Mountain People's Domain. Moreover, once divine sense left Ji Kingdom and entered the Mountain People's Domain, both its scope and precision would be greatly reduced, so Cangwu usually didn't bother to check on the situation in the Mountain People's Domain.

In this world, it is customary for those seeking to explore unfamiliar lands to spend the first ten years struggling to survive. Only after ten years, when the land has matured and the boundary stones have been nurtured and strengthened, can people begin to reproduce and multiply. From the moment a boundary stone is erected to the point where a prosperous land is filled with life, it often takes hundreds of years.

Wei Yuan had only been running the business for less than two years, who could have imagined that Guantun County would have become such a magical place!

If Guantun County is like this, one can only imagine the situation in the mountainous areas behind it; the number of people in the millions is not an exaggeration.

The problem is that the vast majority of the population lives in the mountainous regions, and Wei Yuan's entire territory is not centered in the State of Ji; he only occupies one county within Ji. But it was this county that caused the disaster!
When the Great Array of Absolute Heaven and Earth Refining the World was deployed, because Guantun County was still under the jurisdiction of Ji State, the array automatically included all of Wei Yuan's people in the Mountain People's Domain, intending to cover them. As a result, it provoked a counterattack from 20 million people, and the array failed to be deployed.

The one who concealed the secrets of Guantun County was undoubtedly a highly skilled individual. The official in charge of the final registration at the Ministry of Rites suddenly fell into mourning and left the capital the day before the imperial edict arrived; this was most likely also the work of this person.

With such effortless skill and ability to manipulate the big picture from the smallest details, this person's mastery of feng shui is unmatched, even by Cangwu.

Cangwu forced himself to calm down. The only downside to the path he was currently cultivating was that his Dao heart was particularly prone to problems. The advantage, however, was that his Dao techniques were mysterious and unpredictable, and extremely powerful.

Cangwu pondered carefully. Actually, the situation wasn't so bad. The grand formation had only failed once, resulting in the loss of some immortal-grade formation materials. With another five years of preparation, it could be set up again. Of course, before that, they had to eliminate Wei Yuan, this scourge.

Cangwu scanned Ji Wang with his divine sense, but found no clue as to what the king was thinking. Cangwu frowned slightly, sensing that this was another troublesome individual, and thought to himself: Could it be that he knows the principle behind the Soul-Driving Pill?

To completely sever the reincarnations of his ancestors, King Ji poisoned his favorite son. Although he deeply hated these reincarnated ancestors, Cangwu had a vague feeling that King Ji might have sensed something.

After the Soul-Driving Pill kills the reincarnated body, a new soul will slowly appear within it. However, this soul is not born from the body itself, but rather is a reincarnation of another soul. The soul that truly belonged to this body was destroyed when the reincarnated body possessed it.

Therefore, the son of Prince Ji had actually died long ago. Taking the Soul-Driving Pill was simply a way to summon a reincarnated soul for this body.

However, the die was cast, and regardless of whether King Ji could guess the truth, Cangwu had no choice but to continue cooperating. If another mishap occurred, the Lord would likely not let him off easily.

Cangwu's divine sense swept across the land of Ji Kingdom. Several giant eagles had already flown in all directions, and all the troops in Ji Kingdom had been mobilized. At the same time, he took out a red jade gourd, poured out three dusty gray beans, and threw them into the distance.

Three beans landed in different places and immediately exploded into a cloud of smoke. One by one, gray-brown Taoist soldiers emerged from the smoke. In the blink of an eye, each bean transformed into 100,000 Taoist soldiers. These Taoist soldiers moved like the wind and quickly surrounded the two groups of Azure Nether cavalry that were roaming outside.

Meanwhile, at the main camp, the main force of the rebel army and the main force of the government army finally met, and surrounded the main camp of the Great Wilderness Spear Saint, preparing to launch an attack at dawn.

Hundreds of miles away, a small cavalry force of less than a thousand men was first surrounded by Daoist soldiers, and then more and more government troops arrived. At the center of this cavalry force was a slightly overweight general. He lifted his visor and surveyed the enemy troops appearing from all directions; it was Xu Wenwu.

(End of this chapter)