Chapter 164 - Speculation (2)

Aside from the soldiers patrolling the streets, mounted riders would pass by every so often, shouting announcements to calm the people.

According to those announcements, however, the scale of this demonic beast tide was not large. Deputy General Li had already led troops out of the town under Commandant Wang’s orders to slay the beasts.

The grand illusory array Xu Xinyao had laid down could completely trap the attacking demonic beasts within the fog formation, then draw them out in batches, allowing the border army’s battle formations to surround and kill them one group at a time.

According to the riders’ announcements, the formation would probably be withdrawn by tomorrow.

Xu Yuan took one last look at the streets, now under martial law, then gently shook his head and turned back to sit on the bed.

Ran Qingmo was next door. The two of them were not staying in the same room.

After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan said quietly, “Old Man Luo?”

After a brief pause, the voice of the Sage’s remnant soul drifted over, relaxed and smiling. “What is it?”

“Tell me, with the intelligence these demonic beasts have, how would they know to attack a town?”

“Mhm?”

The Sage's remnant soul let out a soft sound of surprise, then chuckled and said, “These demonic beasts are born in litters of over a dozen. The Ancient Abyss can’t sustain that kind of population, so it can only treat these beasts as expendable goods and use them to expand outward.”

Xu Yuan shook his head. “I know that. What I mean is, why do these demonic beasts like gnawing on hard bones like fortified towns? Wouldn’t it be better to slip through from some remote corner? They’re expendable anyway, so they don’t have to worry about how to return. As long as they break into the hinterlands, the trouble they cause the Great Flame Empire would naturally be much greater.”

The Sage's remnant soul spoke in an unhurried tone. “Demonic beasts have no intelligence, but the demon race does.”

Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment. Then he suddenly understood what the Sage's remnant soul meant. After a long pause, he only managed to spit out five words. “Infighting again. Nice.”

If they only made a fuss along the border, the Great Flame Empire’s sects and the imperial court would drag each other down and trip each other up. But if the beasts truly broke into the hinterlands, then that would be harming the shared interests of both the court and the sects.

Do that a few more times, and once the sects along the border were truly provoked into joining forces with the court for an expedition against the Ancient Abyss, the demon race inside the Ancient Abyss would suffer a loss far greater than any gain.

“Nice? It is pretty slick, I’ll give them that.” The Sage's remnant soul grinned. “The demonic beast tide from the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range only attacks towns every spring. In a sense, it’s a routine probe from the Ancient Abyss.

“As long as your Great Flame Empire can hold the line every year, everyone can continue living in peace. But if one year, the empire can no longer maintain this fifty thousand kilometer border defense along the mountain range, then the Ancient Abyss will probably start considering whether it’s time to get serious. The fertile lands of the Central Plains are far better than that godforsaken Ancient Abyss where even birds refuse to shit.”

Xu Yuan was slightly dazed as he heard this.

He remembered the story branches in Azure Point where the Ancient Abyss appeared as the final boss. Those storylines were probably caused by the Great Flame Empire losing the ability to maintain this vast border defense line, which led the Ancient Abyss to judge the empire as weak and seize the chance to invade on a massive scale.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan looked toward the layer of fog outside and suddenly asked, “Old Man Luo, can you force your way through this illusion formation?”

“What?” The Sage's remnant soul sounded somewhat surprised.

Xu Yuan repeated in a low voice, “I’m asking, with you and Ran Qingmo together, can you take me and break out through this grand illusory array?”

“If this old man were at his peak...”

“Enough. Don’t say another word.” Xu Yuan sighed.

“Tch, you brat.” The Sage's remnant soul clicked his tongue, then immediately asked, “What are you worried about?”

“This afternoon, before Zhou Xiaohe left, she said she would come back to this inn to find us by evening. But even now, they still haven’t shown up.” Xu Yuan’s tone grew grave.

The Sage's remnant soul reacted quickly. “You suspect this demonic beast attack on the town has something to do with the Myriad Manifestations Sect?”

Xu Yuan nodded. “I didn’t think much of it at the time, but only half an hour after those two left, the demonic beast tide arrived. And the two of them shouldn’t have low status within the Myriad Manifestations Sect. That’s too much of a coincidence.”

The Sage's remnant soul hesitated slightly. “But the Myriad Manifestations Sect has no reason to arrange a play like a demonic beast attack on the town. What benefit would they get from people dying?”

Xu Yuan slowly stood and walked toward Ran Qingmo’s room next door, speaking quietly in his heart. “That’s what I can’t figure out either. First they spend so much silver cooperating with my fourth sister to build this grand illusory array, then they arrange a demonic beast attack on the town. Aside from people dying, the Myriad Manifestations Sect...”

At this point, his eye suddenly twitched, and his steps came to an abrupt halt. “The Myriad Manifestations Sect... surely they wouldn’t go that far, right?”

The thought that flashed through his mind left him feeling a chill of disbelief. “Wouldn’t go what far?” the Sage's remnant soul asked.

Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he glanced at the soul ring and spat out, “Ghost fog.”

When he heard that, the Sage's remnant soul was clearly stunned for an instant.

Xu Yuan did not rush out anymore. Instead, he simply placed his hand on the wooden door and fell into thought.

“You mean the Myriad Manifestations Sect wants to create ghost fog?” The Sage's remnant soul’s voice grew interested.

Xu Yuan ignored the old man and frowned. “This is hundreds of thousands of people. The Myriad Manifestations Sect shouldn’t have the guts to openly create ghost fog on this scale, right?”

The Sage's remnant soul did not share Xu Yuan’s hesitation. His voice remained light. “Xu boy, this isn’t exactly open.”

“Mhm?”

“The grand array your sister laid down has completely sealed off everything inside. Even if everyone in here dies, the people outside will only think the demonic beasts did it.”

Xu Yuan fell briefly silent, his eyes flickering with doubt. “But refining hundreds of thousands of people in a sacrifice like this would be enough to make the Myriad Manifestations Sect...”

“No one will know.” The Sage's remnant soul shook his head and cut him off.

Xu Yuan said nothing.

The Sage's remnant soul chuckled softly and said in a low voice, “Actually, verifying your idea is very simple. Go to the county office and ask the border army’s commander whether this illusion formation can be shut down. Then ask how many demonic beasts attacked this time. If the numbers line up, then your guess is probably right.”

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment. His expression became extremely grave. “Then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll call Ran Qingmo first, then we’ll go to the county yamen and take a look. If the Myriad Manifestations Sect truly wants to create ghost fog here, they should have secretly laid down other formations as well.”

Hearing this, the Sage's remnant soul silently gave him a reminder. “Keep yourself in check. Even if the formation inside the town is damaged, once it operates at full power, neither I nor that girl Ran will have an easy time. And that’s not even mentioning the border troops in the town, who can still form a military formation.”

Xu Yuan pushed the door open and stepped out. “Don’t worry. I know where the line is.”