Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!

With one step forward, the scene before Yi Chen's eyes made his pupils constrict like the tip of a needle.

Beneath the night sky at that moment, a strange blood lotus cloud, akin to a blazing fire, eerily appeared on the horizon.

Its color was vibrantly luscious, as if it had eroded a great hole into the dark expanse of the night sky.

Above the cloud, strands of blood red filaments fell from its height, dropping onto the Longjiang river, where a peculiar rhythm began to spread through the air.

The once prosperous Chen Family mansion was now no more, its splendor replaced by ruins and rubble everywhere.

Many workers and constables, pale-faced, were ceaselessly carrying corpses and exhuming bodies from the ground.

In front of Yi Chen, a woman clad in black armor with peculiar high-top metal boots stood with her back to him, gazing into the distance unmoving.

In her hand, she held a ferocious-looking Bagua battle-ax from which blood continuously dripped, falling onto the soil below.

If not Qian Yueru, who else could this person be?

Yi Chen dispelled his True Yang Spirit and strode over to face Qian Yueru; his brow couldn't help but furrow in an instant.

Qian Yueru's complexion was deathly pale, and her gaze was shrouded in a dense mist.

Upon seeing Yi Chen approach, a trace of vitality finally emerged on Qian Yueru's face, and her red lips parted lightly.

"Taoist, have you come out?"

"Hmm, some vermin tried to trick me, but I just cut them down. That's not important. What happened to you? And what's going on now?" Yi Chen spoke indifferently, his chest instinctively puffing up quietly.

Sighing, Qian Yueru flopped onto the ground unceremoniously and began to whisper to Yi Chen about the cause and effect of the whole affair.

After roughly the time it takes for a small pot of tea to brew, Yi Chen finally understood the whole story.

Last night, Qian Yueru had been working in the Town Security Bureau, reviewing documents, when a message from Mo Yu arrived, shaking her to the core; she promptly led the elite forces of the Bureau, weapon in hand, and rushed towards the Chen Family mansion.

Although not experienced in worldly affairs, being True Monarch's daughter meant everyone respected her, valued her, and tried to please her. Yet, that did not imply she was foolish, quite the contrary, her intelligence was quite high.

She had also noticed the tumultuous atmosphere these days, but all the reports handed to her indicated that everything was normal, and no one else warned her, so she thought she was just being paranoid.

However, Mo Yu's message shattered that illusion.

Her sharp mind instantly guessed the majority of the situation, but in her wildest dreams, she never anticipated that the Chen Family would dare to take things to such an extent.

By the time she arrived at the Chen Family mansion, that blood lotus cloud had appeared in the sky.

The blood sacrifice formation was complete.

The ground collapsed, revealing the secret chambers beneath the Chen Family estate to everyone present.

Such a hell on earth.

In a furious rage, Qian Yueru, with her formidable cultivation and the elite soldiers of the Town Security Bureau, entirely decimated every ghost and person of the Chen Family estate.

That was the scene Yi Chen saw upon emerging.

"Taoist, the Daoist of the Evil Dragon's cave has appeared in this world. Do you wish to enter?"

"My suggestion is that it's better for you not to go."

Qian Yueru bit her red lip, seemingly having unspeakable difficulties she could not express. After a moment's thought, she sighed and spoke in an obscure manner,

"According to the intelligence I have received, as soon as the cave emerged, the experts of the True Person Realm from Hongfang, Yin Mountain Mansion, and Huangquan Sect joined forces to enter it."

"And just before you came out, one of the flying boats from my Town Security Bureau also went into that cave."

"My father's good friend, a distant uncle of mine, was on that flying ship. He sent someone to warn me not to go inside," she said.

Yi Chen: "..." Was it that shady?

Yi Chen suddenly felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this. He hadn't actually expected that all his previous guesses would come true, turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The higher-ups of the Department of Peace and Stability indeed harbored thoughts of reaping the autumn wind. The reason they didn't support us right away wasn't that they couldn't but didn't want to.

They had been silently observing all along.

Otherwise, how could they arrive so coincidentally on time, directly entering with the flying ship?

Dark, so damn dark, dark to the point of no return.

Everyone's fishing, unaware of how many games and considerations are hidden behind this incident.

The more Yi Chen thought about it, the deeper and more unfathomable he found the waters of this affair.

He felt increasingly that there must be some tacit understanding or something akin to a gambling duel between the super-high levels of the two factions.

The Cult of Huangquan, not as powerful as the Department of Peace and Stability, thus pulled in Yin Mountain Prefecture and Red Chamber, powers similar to its own, into the game—even claiming that the traitor leaked the information might all be a sham. They joined forces, attempting to snatch the chestnuts out of the fire.

And the Department of Peace and Stability? Naturally, they were more ambitious.

They didn't want the bad reputation, yet they also wanted the treasures, and on top of that, they even aimed to eliminate the experts from the Cult of Huangquan, Red Chamber, and Yin Mountain Prefecture.

In these times of emerging chaos, the current dynasty urgently needed to deter the world with the heads of experts to show who was the true overlord.

And the sect powers naturally wanted to shake the untouched status of the Da Yue dynasty that had stood for hundreds of years.

Now that the world's crises have surfaced, those who want to develop must shake the current benefit structure.

As is well known, touching interests is even more difficult than touching souls.

The one that eats the most in the world today is the current dynasty; no superpower can grow without considering the self-serving development of the dynasty.

Thinking deeper, Yi Chen feared that the residence of the Daoist of the Wicked Dragon was merely a probing confrontation in the opposition between the sects and the dynasty, a weathervane-like signal.

To see whether the east wind will overpower the west wind or if the west wind will finally stand tall, seeking an even higher status.

In that case, the residence of the Daoist of the Wicked Dragon has turned people's brains into dog brains...

The treasures are no longer the most important thing. The political significance represented by this battle for supremacy and the signals it contains are even more shocking.

No wonder Qian Yueru's uncle specifically warned her not to enter, probably knowing that the Daoist of the Wicked Dragon's mansion was basically a meat grinder.

Once bloodlust takes over, not even the status of a True Monarch's daughter is enough to be a talisman.

Expanding one's thoughts even further, in other regions, there are also challengers issuing challenges to the Department of Peace and Stability.

The moment Yi Chen considered this, his scalp tingled, and he shook his head at Qian Yueru like a rattle drum.

Let those who love descending into this hellish level do so. With such a significant information gap, better not get involved in this treasure hunt.

"Taoist, why do you think they're doing this?" Qian Yueru bit her red lip, staring at Yi Chen, as if she was seeking an answer from him, yet also questioning herself.

By 'they,' she didn't mean Red Chamber, Cult of Huangquan, Yin Mountain Prefecture.

But the Department of Peace and Stability.

With this question and her current demeanor, Yi Chen realized that this young daughter of a True Monarch, Qian Zhenshu, had her worldview shattered, experiencing a collapse of faith.

Probably because all her life she had been indoctrinated with the belief that,

The Stability Bureau.

To stabilize the world, to comfort the people's hearts.

The current situation had disillusioned her and her thoughts had become obsessively fixated.

For a moment, Yi Chen felt pity for this privileged second-generation immortals.

Considering that Qian Yueru had always been conscientious, diligent, and kind-hearted, he sighed, sat down on the ground with a flop, and decided to enlighten this second-generation immortal.

"Stabilizer Qian, what do you think the world is like today?"

"Or to put it differently, what is the world?"

Qian Yueru looked at Yi Chen with confusion, seemingly not understanding why he would ask such a question.

Yi Chen ignored Qian Yueru's gaze, his expression turning cold as he spoke to himself:

"Stabilizer Qian, you've got it wrong, the world is not as good as you think, but it's also not as bad as you believe."

"What is the world?"

"The whole Da Yue dynasty is just a few palaces, a few mansions, and everyone still has to eat from their own pots."

"Each region sustains its own lords."

"The noble families count as one group, the military as another, the royal family is the largest noble family, also counting as one group, and the Stability Bureau counts as another."

"Among these people, each group has its own interests, united under one flag, coming together."

"What you must never do is personify any one group as entirely good or bad."

"Each of these groups is made up of various individuals."

"Among these people, there are both good and bad, and sometimes, a person cannot be simply described as just good or bad."

"So, Stabilizer Qian, if you step back and view the world from the perspective of a third party, without holding too high expectations for certain people or events, you will live much more comfortably, at least without such disappointments."

"The world has always been like this, neither too good nor too bad."

"Look, in this blood sacrifice incident, there were degenerates like the Chen Family who failed to be good sons, but weren't there also heroes like the centurion Mo Yu who died for their principles?"

"Take it easy, the foundation that supports this world actually lies in people like centurion Mo Yu; although their martial prowess may not stand out, they are numerous, and it's not just up to you, the Stabilizer."

"The way of the world is such, do you think that you, Stabilizer Qian, alone can purify the heavens and pacify all the demons, evil spirits, and wrongdoers in the world?"

"That's too difficult," Yi Chen sighed with emotion and gave Qian Yueru a wave of therapeutic talk, having already decided that he was going to slip away as soon as his injuries healed within the next day or two.

While everyone's attention was inside the lair of the Evil Dragon Daoist.

His departure would be both stable and swift.

The dangers were great, the benefits small; this was not a good gamble.

"So difficult, so Daoist, what you mean is, there is still a way, right?" Qian Yueru cocked her head and looked at Yi Chen before suddenly speaking.

"Naturally!" Yi Chen glanced at Qian Yueru, continuing the talk therapy.

He suddenly stood up, transformed into his True Yang Spirit form, a three-meter-tall Daoist phantom who leaned over with a huge face close to Qian Yueru's palm-sized little face.

In the midst of Qian Yueru's ghostly gaze, Yi Chen laughed and said:

"If you want to change, then you need to be strong enough!"

"I'm making some progress now, but it is still not strong enough!"

"Naturally, you, Daoist Qian, are not strong enough either!"

"As long as you, Daoist Qian, become invincible in the world, the strongest of all."

"Then, you can beat the world into the shape you imagine."

"Daoist friend, don't be fooled by the outside Confucians."

"The bottom line for the wise is martial force, if they can't be convinced, they must be subdued by violence."

"What's the use of learning literature when beating them so they cannot rise is the true path of peaceful redemption."

"If someone defies you, doesn't act as you please, keep beating them, hammer them into the shape you want, and if that doesn't work, just transcend them."

"Look at the recent ghastly events in Longjiang Prefecture, Daoist Qian, if you were strong enough from the get-go, you could have found them all and killed them outright, wouldn't the problem have been nipped in the bud?"

Mentor Yi Daoist gently coaxed with words of life guidance.

He even flexed his fierce back muscles.

"Strong? Persist in becoming stronger?"

"Strong enough to impose your will on the world?"

"Exactly!" Yi Chen nodded like a good teacher, looking quite pleased.

"Good! I must cheer up; I must become even stronger than my father."

"From now on, in my jurisdiction, such things will never happen again."

"Anyone who defies me, I'll kill them."

"Thank you Daoist for your enlightenment today!"

Qian Yueru's eyes shone brighter as she also stood up with determination.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Power! Power! Power!"

"With such a tyrannical will! With such ambition! What can stand in the way!"

"I can't even begin to imagine the future for you, Daoist friend."

Yi Chen heartily echoed her sentiments with praise.

Qian Yueru, with the saturated support from her True Monarch father, truly had a limitless future, unlike Yi Chengzi who had to rely on his own arduous cultivation.

Sigh, that's just the way the world is.

Not exactly fair.

"That's all, I need to go to another courtyard to heal my wounds. See you later, Daoist friend!" Yi Chen dispersed his True Yang Spirit form, patted the dust off his butt, waved goodbye to Qian Yueru behind his back, and slipped away.

People just need a reason to stand up; whether they can actually do it is another matter:

Isn't Yi Chen himself struggling under the weight of his shackles?

But he has always lived with vigor!