Fire Monster

Chapter 238 The Road to the Future
After being tormented by Xiao Chengyun and Liu Yuwei, Zhao Guanshan finally sat in the room and listened to them talk about what had happened over the past year.

"A year ago, I suddenly had a spiritual enlightenment, so I closed myself off for eight months and comprehended the sixth-level Broken Gold and the sixth-level Qianjin Sword Qi. These are magical powers that can only be mastered by fifth-level Qi Refiners. With this, I have a 10% chance of advancing to the fifth-level Qi Refiner in the future."

“But after I came out of seclusion, I found out that my senior sister was also in seclusion, and she spent a full ten months in seclusion, and her gains were also not small.”

"Only you, Senior Brother, didn't gain anything, but that's normal. Don't be discouraged. With my help, it won't be a big problem."

"Let's not talk about these. Has the Demon Suppression Bureau's level 4 imperial chariot been deployed on the battlefield? How far has the no-military-supervisory mode progressed?" Zhao Guanshan asked. This is a major historical event.

This time it was Liu Yuwei's turn to answer, "The Demon Suppression Division's Level 4 Imperially Seal Chariots have already begun to be deployed on a large scale on the battlefield. So far, as far as we know, the four major camps in the southeast, northwest, and northeast have a total of 200 chariots. This is truly a powerful chariot that can directly confront the ninth-level evil demons."

"According to our observation, a level 4 Imperial Seal Chariot plus ten enhanced level 3 Imperial Seal Chariots can easily kill a level 9 demon within the time it takes to burn an incense stick."

"But in fact, the Demon Suppression Division now uses a fleet of five Level 4 Imperial Seal Chariots, coupled with fifty enhanced Level 3 Imperial Seal Chariots, which can crush five Level 9 evil demons head-on at the same time."

"And it is precisely because of this change that not only has the model of no military supervisors been widely promoted, but it has also led to the military reform of the Demon Suppression Division. Now the entire Linjiang Prefecture has undergone many changes because of this. Let's put it this way, in more than a year, we can hardly recognize this Linjiang Prefecture."

"Yes, now the Demon Suppression Division has cancelled the squad organization and has used the battle camp as the smallest combat unit. The standard configuration of each battle camp is five level four machines and fifty level three machines. Only five level three Qi Refiners are retained as war supervisors, and the rest of the level two Qi Refiners are all dismissed."

"At the same time, because each battle camp can suppress five ninth-level evil demons at the same time, the demon suppression network has also been adjusted."

"In the past, one demon-suppressing net was needed for each ninth-level demon. Now, only one is needed for five. This alone saves at least 80% of spiritual energy."

"The extra spiritual energy can form a larger and higher-level main demon-suppressing network. At the same time, the first line of defense of the Demon-Suppressing Bureau is also advancing steadily. Previously, the first line of defense was less than 20 miles away from our new city, but now the distance has been extended to 50 miles."

"In addition, because the main demon-suppressing net has become stronger and has more spiritual energy supply, the main demon-suppressing net of the Imperial Seal Great Wall in Linjiang Prefecture has also been upgraded. In other words, from now on, even in the slums of Linjiang Prefecture, there will not be any low-level demons roaming around, because the Dao Palace issued an order a month ago to stop the curfew!"

"Stop the curfew! What happened in the Dao Palace?"

Zhao Guanshan was taken aback and keenly realized that this was unusual.

Because before this, the Taoist Palace was not incapable of providing the residents of Linjiang Prefecture with an absolutely safe living environment, but it refused to do so. Instead, they imposed a curfew and allowed low-level evil demons in, causing people to panic and stay tense at all times.

But combined with Su Wujiu's words, we can also come up with a conspiracy theory.

That means the Linjiang Prefecture Taoist Palace is still controlling the number of mortals.

But now, canceling the curfew and improving the quality of life of ordinary people are aimed at causing a population explosion.

"Eh? Senior Brother, how did you guess that?!"

Xiao Chengyun was very surprised. "A big event did happen in the Dao Palace. Two months ago, the first rotating headmaster of the Dao Palace, Qin Wuyuan, who was also the strongest Qi Refiner in our Linjiang Prefecture Dao Palace and the only ninth-level Qi Refiner, became possessed while in seclusion and unfortunately died."

"Brother, are these two things related?"

"Of course there are. Qin Wuyuan should be a half-hearted supporter of the conservatives. His existence can give many high-level Qi-refining practitioners in the Dao Palace a hope to continue practicing. In this way, the Dao Palace will be more conservative when formulating many strategies. For example, it will restrict the Demon Suppression Division, restrict the population, and adopt a strategy of keeping the people ignorant."

"But now he has gone astray and died tragically. His death will cast a shadow on other high-level Qi cultivators. If the path of cultivation is blocked but they still have to survive, they will have to find other ways. It just so happens that the Demon Suppression Division has made great progress. It will be difficult for the reformists not to take the lead."

"Senior Brother, what are you talking about? Why can't I understand?" Xiao Chengyun was confused, and Liu Yuwei was even more confused.

"Nothing. Have you ever calculated how much spiritual energy can be saved every year after the Demon Suppression Bureau is restructured?"

"We haven't calculated it, but Jia Xian has. He said that in this way, although the spiritual energy output of the seventh-level spiritual supply tower has an upper limit, because the consumption is greatly reduced, in fact, the overall efficiency is equivalent to that of a quasi-eighth-level spiritual supply tower."

"Wait, does he know what a quasi-eighth-level spirit-offering tower is?" Zhao Guanshan was stunned. A year ago, this was top secret.

"A month ago, the Dao Palace had already disclosed the core secrets of the deployment of the Eighth Level Spiritual Offering Tower, and announced to the entire Linjiang Prefecture that it would start upgrading the Eighth Level Spiritual Offering Tower in the future. Brother, you didn't know that even Jia Xian and his team were almost poached by the gang of the Governor's Office! Now, liberal arts students in the Dao Academy have suddenly become valuable."

"Also, the Taoist Academy has newly opened a three-year advanced course and a ten-year master craftsman course. The former is completely free, and the latter is open to graduated craftsmen. Not only is it free, but a monthly subsidy of fifty coins is also provided. In addition, a third-level imperial house is also provided. There are all kinds of benefits, it's like a dream."

"Now, although the hundreds of craftsmen in our new city have not been poached, most of them are already restless."

"Brother, if we continue like this, it won't be external enemies that defeat us, but ourselves. To be honest, I don't know why the death of a ninth-level Qi Refiner would lead to such a sudden change. It's like, do you know that feeling? If you go back to Linjiang Prefecture now, you will feel that the world is so lively. Everyone dares to go to the streets, the number of Five Spirit Trains has increased significantly, the food supply is more, and there is no danger. It's great!" "Even the officials of the Provincial Government, who originally made me hate them, have become capable officials one by one. You don't know how crazy they are. I never knew that they could do good things..."

Xiao Chengyun spoke with great emotion, and a hint of confusion appeared in his eyes.

"I am a little suspicious. Could it be that the Qi Refiners have hindered the development of Linjiang Prefecture?"

"Junior sister, calm down! You are in a state of obstruction!"

Zhao Guanshan yelled, scaring Xiao Chengyun, but then he said aggrievedly: "Brother, why are you yelling? Isn't it what people want for the living environment of mortals to improve? How can this be considered an obstacle!"

"Junior sister, do you know how my Zhao family fell into decline?" Zhao Guanshan felt that the problem was serious. In fact, his mind was a little confused now, because Su Wujiu's words confused him. Because he was also a little at a loss.

"Why did it decline? It just declined because of that. Evil demons invaded, the enemy was at the doorstep, and the environment for practicing was harsh. Several founders of the Taoist Palace were Mahayana immortals, but they all fell one by one." Xiao Chengyun answered without hesitation.

"If that's the case, why are those high-level Qigong practitioners in the Dao Palace so wary of the Zhao family, even to the point of being incompatible with them? Do they regard the Zhao family as an enemy?"

This time Xiao Chengyun was stumped by the question. She had not paid attention to these details before, but now thinking about it, it was terrifying!
"Wait, Brother, you, what do you mean?"

"Fight! The five great immortals fought each other. Of course, it was not necessarily that all five of them fought at the same time, but they fought over two different paths, which eventually led to their early demise."

"Two routes, what two routes?"

"That is, the debate over whether to focus on Qigong practitioners or on enlightening the people."

“But the two don’t seem to be contradictory, right?”

“At first glance it doesn’t seem contradictory, but thousands of people and thousands of ideas can make a difference.”

Zhao Guanshan brought up what Su Wujiu had said. He didn't believe it at first, but what happened to the Zhao family was a fact. It was also a fact how intensely those high-level Qi-refiners in the Linjiang Taoist Palace reacted to the Zhao family.

"How, how is it possible? The ideas of 10 million people can form a climate trend? It's totally unheard of!"

Xiao Chengyun and Liu Yuwei were both stunned.

"I don't believe it either, but there was a fight between the five founders of the Linjiang Prefecture Dao Palace. My Zhao family is conservative, this is a fact. In addition, the Dao Palace has never paid much attention to people's livelihood. The population of Linjiang Prefecture has never exceeded six million, but why did all the policies change after Qin Wuyuan's death? Believe it or not, if this continues, in less than a hundred years, in twenty years, the population of Linjiang Prefecture will exceed ten million?"

Zhao Guanshan sighed.

"Then what should we do?" Xiao Chengyun was a little panicked, but Liu Yuwei returned to normal after the initial shock. She didn't care anyway. She would just follow Master Zhao wherever he went.

"No big deal. In fact, I think that whether it is 10 million mortals or 100 million mortals, the microclimate formed may exist, but it is definitely a very slow delay, which should have a lag of several decades or hundreds of years. It is like the ideas and thoughts formed by tens of millions of people today, which may take more than ten years or even decades to show their effects, just like the arrow you shot in your childhood is destined to hit you decades later."

"The wheel of fate of thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of people is rolling. If you were an ordinary mortal, you would just go with the flow, but we are Qi cultivators. The greater our ability, the greater our interference will be, and in the end, cause and effect will be formed. Just like you, Junior Sister, if you do something unintentionally and cause countless mortals to curse you for decades or hundreds of years to come, do you think you can really practice with peace of mind?"

"So I guess this is why immortal cultivators and Qi practitioners are so taboo about this."

"But, I can also understand what the Dao Palace is doing now. With evil demons invading and the world of immortal cultivation collapsing, being able to survive and survive as long as possible is the most important thing. Other things can probably not be taken care of. The most that can be sacrificed are the interests of immortal cultivators and Qi-refining practitioners."

"Perhaps in the distant future, mortals will gain wisdom, be able to harness the power of heaven and earth, and change nature. Every mortal will be like a dragon, and their thoughts will change day by day. The world will be filled with the hustle and bustle of society, and there will no longer be a place for immortal cultivators or qigong practitioners to gain a foothold."

Zhao Guanshan said slowly, he was talking about the earth.

"But this also has a prerequisite. You have to be able to defeat the evil demon first." Liu Yuwei suddenly spoke.

"Yes, this is the key. Let's take it one step at a time."

"I guess the current Dao Palace leaders will still not completely abandon the conservative approach. They will seek to enlighten the mortals and let them take on the main role of resisting evil spirits while having the ability to control the overall situation at any time."

(End of this chapter)