Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7288 The God's Appearance and Suppression
"You came really fast. Si Niang, you're here too." Chen Xi peeked out and saw Si Niang still chewing something. He nodded to her, but Si Niang seemed reluctant to answer. What did he mean by "you're here too"?
"Chen Hou summoned me, who would dare not come!" Liu Tong said irritably. "Speak, what happened this time that requires my attention? Logically speaking, if you can't handle it, there's no point in me coming, right? Wait, is there something you can't handle?"

"Yes, quite a few!" Chen Xi sighed. "Is the problem in Yuzhou serious?"

“Many of the old men from the Yuan family who stayed in Yuzhou have passed away in recent years, which has led to loopholes in the main family’s management of Yuzhou. In addition, a large number of elites have been taken to Eastern Europe by the Yuan family, which has severely reduced the family’s control over the entire Yuzhou and has now bred a lot of dark side,” Liu Tong said with a sigh.

Back when the Yuan family was in Yuzhou, not only Liu Tong, but even Emperor Ling, when he was not very bright, was somewhat wary of them. After all, such powerful families were not only impenetrable, but their very existence blocked the imperial power.

Therefore, suppressing aristocratic families is one of the instincts of imperial power. However, the Yuan family of Runan belonged to the top level, and Emperor Ling did not have any good solutions at that time. In addition, the Yuan family of Runan at that time still respected the rules. Even if the imperial power wanted to punish aristocratic families, the iron fist would not strike the Yuan family first.

However, unexpectedly, after the Yuan family actually left Yuzhou with their power tentacles, Yuzhou also encountered considerable problems.

"I can roughly understand. When one order can no longer be maintained and begins to collapse, another order will naturally emerge to govern reality. However, this order may not necessarily be better than the previous one." Chen Xi nodded, having roughly understood the true situation. However, considering that the Yuan family was able to drag things out for so long before problems gradually emerged, it was quite remarkable. The so-called "the tiger's remaining power after death" was just that.

"There are quite a few problems, big and small," Liu Tong said dismissively.

"What's the most serious level?" Chen Xi asked with some curiosity.

"The granary only has one layer of grain reserves," Liu Tong said succinctly. Chen Xi was silent for a while, then sighed. He could only say that the bureaucrats were indeed courting death!

"Although I foresaw that this would happen sooner or later, it's still a bit disheartening that it happened so quickly." Chen Xi shook his head. "However, it's time to replace the staff with a new batch of people. Let's just consider it as making room for the newcomers."

"It's good that you can understand. I was worried that you would get stuck on these things after you found out." Liu Tong was somewhat relieved to see that Chen Xi actually sighed and didn't have any angry expression. After all, Liu Tong knew who was the most important person to protect these days.

I don't know how to protect the world, but as long as I protect Chen Xi, the world will naturally be protected by Chen Xi. So just focus on Chen Xi himself.

“Let the investigators from Chang’an handle the matter in Yuzhou. As for the situation in Jiangling, you know it’s a bit troublesome. My ancestor has been acting rather unscrupulously.” Chen Xi sighed and said, “General Guan and the Governor tried a couple of times together, but it’s proving difficult. Although we have other backup plans, I think we need to use some other methods to mitigate the potential losses.”

"What method?" Liu Tong asked curiously. Chen Xi, Guan Yu, and Zhou Yu are already a top-tier combination. Even if Huangfu Song were brought over, it wouldn't increase their combat power much. Under these circumstances, what kind of thing could they possibly come up with?

"Hmm, Si Niang, do you have any way to pull my ancestor out of the Ruins of Return? I remember you have this ability, after all, you escaped from the Ruins of Return." Chen Xi turned to look at Consort Xian, who was hiding behind Liu Tong and avoiding Chen Xi, and asked.

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Si Niang almost choked on the coconut pastry in her mouth. She then patted her chest hard before finally swallowing it.

"Anyway, you definitely didn't come out of there normally. Is there any way to get my ancestor out of the Ruins of Return?" Chen Xi asked again. Sun Wu's troubles were best left to Sun Wu to handle himself. As for the special effects without special effects, Sun Wu definitely had a solution.

“It is possible, but the other party needs to cooperate. Um, Lord Chen, do you think that person will cooperate willingly?” Si Niang said with a dry laugh. She had indeed sneaked out. Theoretically, Guixu was a place where one could only enter but not leave, but there were some loopholes that could be exploited.

"Can't we force it out?" Chen Xi was taken aback. In his mind, this thing could be forcibly pulled out because it was in a state of slumber within the Ruins of Return. Since it was in a slumbering state, as long as enough force was applied, it could be pulled out.

"This requires far too much power, I can't do it!" Si Niang said with a forced laugh, though in her current state, she couldn't do it.

"Alright then, bring me the Imperial Seal." Chen Xi said to Si Niang. Since the ancestor was hiding in the Ruins of Return and couldn't retrieve it, they could only rely on Lord Wu'an and Marquis Huaiyin.

As for the issue of protection, the Imperial Will, Liu Tong, and Chen Xi are all in Jiangling now. If they come to Jiangling, they can actually come out of the Imperial Seal.

"Ah, okay." Si Niang thought for a moment, and then a vortex appeared beside her. She reached in and groped around for a while, and then she pulled out the Imperial Seal of the State.

Chen Xi looked at Si Niang, who smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"To be honest, I'm always amazed when I see my Consort Xian using magic to bring over something like the Imperial Seal, which carries the fate of the nation and the will of the empire." Liu Tong shook his head as he watched this scene. The Imperial Seal is supposed to be immune to all magic, but Si Niang always manages to use all sorts of magic to get it.

"I left a note over there saying that the imperial seal was taken to Jiangling by us." Si Niang handed the imperial seal to Chen Xi, then slipped behind Liu Tong again and said cautiously.

As Chen Xi received the imperial seal, it began to emit a soft white light, and the Lord of Wu'an and the Marquis of Huaiyin, who had already stopped thinking, quickly emerged from it.

"Damn, I almost suffocated! You guys are finally back!" Marquis of Huaiyin cursed. There was nothing he could do. With Liu Bei, Chen Xi, and Liu Tong gone, the national fortune of Chang'an was only enough to keep the two of them inside the Imperial Seal. And after a while, with nothing to do, they could only enter a low-energy hibernation state.

Fortunately, the problem wasn't too serious, and they were able to be awakened as soon as they arrived. If they had been dormant for decades, even with the intervention of the national fortune, Lord Wu'an and Marquis Huaiyin might not have been able to awaken.

"They haven't come back, and it's only been two months. No, you've only been asleep for two months?" Chen Xi said with a hint of surprise. "Shouldn't they be able to stay asleep for decades?"

“The nation’s fortune was too concentrated. After the three of you left, it wasn’t long before the nation’s fortune was only enough for us to fall into slumber,” Lord Wu’an said with a hint of weariness. “So the Marquis of Huaiyin and I stopped chatting and fell into slumber.”

"Does this person want to see us about something? Or do they just want us to keep watch?" Han Xin didn't want to recall the situation where he inexplicably fell into a deep sleep before, so he went straight to the point. Who would want to fall into a deep sleep if they could wake up? It's terrifying, especially since there's a possibility that they might never wake up again!

"Alright, if you two really have to go out in the future, I'll have Her Highness the Princess take you with me. That way, even if you can't manifest, at least you can maintain your conscious state." Chen Xi said with some seriousness. He hadn't expected it to be this serious. So, if you two leave the nation's fate, you'll just die instantly, right?
"We should take it with us. If we don't, we'll fall into a deep sleep soon after you leave. We never realized before that we needed so much national fortune to sustain us." Han Xin said solemnly.

When Chen Xi, Liu Bei, and Liu Tong were around, Han Xin thought that the national fortune they consumed was just a normal amount. But after these three left, Han Xin and Bai Qi realized that the national fortune they consumed was enough to drag down a medium-sized country.

It was only thanks to Chen Xi's strength that the Han Empire was indeed powerful enough to allow them to devour so much national fortune. This also explains why Sun Tzu and Wu Qi fled after the Great Martial Arts Competition.

It's one thing to occasionally consume incense offerings, but if they were to actually drain the nation's resources, the Four Sages would not only have drained a top-tier empire, but would have certainly made the Han Dynasty look foolish.

"No problem, it's enough to support the two of you." Chen Xi waved his hand and said. He hadn't mentioned this before because he thought it was more than enough. However, supporting four people would be a bit too much, but supporting two wouldn't be a problem.

"What should I say? Should I thank Lord Chen for his life-saving grace?" Han Xin touched his nose, looking like a rascal, and asked with a strange expression.

"Forget it, let's just send the Marquis of Huaiyin back to Chang'an," Chen Xi said irritably. Upon hearing this, Si Niang was already rubbing her hands together, ready to stuff Han Xin in.

"No, no, no, I was just kidding." Han Xin chuckled awkwardly and quickly dodged away. Si Niang, who had recently become quite empathetic, grabbed Han Xin a few times and then let him go.

"Is this next to Yunmeng?" Bai Qi asked with a hint of speculation. "It's been two months, and you still haven't dealt with the mess left behind by your grandson?"

"Although it's trash, it's still trash left behind by the grandson, so it's not easy to deal with. That regenerative ability is just too outrageous." Chen Xi explained simply, "We fought against the main force of the Cloud Dream Demon God before. It's not that our main force couldn't suppress them, but the losses were too great, so we had to ask the two of you for help."

When fighting the Kushan Empire, Chen Xi usually wouldn't let Lord Wu'an and Marquis Huaiyin participate unless the other side cheated. But when fighting something left behind by Sun Tzu, if he could easily defeat it, Chen Xi would definitely handle it himself. But in this situation where it's obvious that he can't win and it's very difficult, why pretend? Of course, he'd let Lord Wu'an and Marquis Huaiyin take on the tough challenge.

After all, this is a relic of history, and it is perfectly reasonable for it to be dealt with by some of the strongest figures in history. After all, each generation has its own tasks, and this is clearly the task of the predecessors!
"You think it's difficult to fight them?" Han Xin asked Chen Xi with a strange look. "I remember you brought over 500 heavy armor units from Shanglin Garden, and you even said you brought over the God-Slaying Spear production line. How can it be difficult to fight them?"

"Today, we engaged in direct combat with the Demon Gods. Thanks to the statistics from the reconstruction of the Three Rings of the Eight Desolate Pillars, we killed more than 340 Demon Gods in total," Chen Xi said with a sigh.

I thought we had killed more than 500, but after the demons were broken into large pieces and devoured each other, some of the things that should have died came back to life. This is really bad. You have to know that in today's battle, the Han Dynasty suffered more than 700 casualties, and these were all elites!

"You killed over three hundred in one battle. The Demon God only has about ten thousand people in total. In twenty days, you'll be able to weaken them to the point where there's a huge difference in their strength, enough to surround and kill them." Han Xin asked with some doubt, "Is there a problem with this?"

"Today's battle resulted in 700 casualties, of whom more than 570 have recovered after treatment," Chen Xi said with a somber expression.

Han Xin looked at him like he was an idiot. With such a huge advantage, what are you afraid of? You have more people and a better exchange ratio, what are you worried about? Just keep fighting the demon head-on.

In the past, 80% of the 700 casualties would have died, but the Han Dynasty has superb emergency medical capabilities, and even those with broken arms or legs can recover quickly.

“These are all elites!” Chen Xi said in a deep voice.

"Only a little over a hundred people died, and you're already acting like this?" Han Xin said speechlessly. As for Bai Qi, he remained expressionless and also felt that Chen Xi was making a mountain out of a molehill.

“The weakest of these men are at least centurions.” Chen Xi felt there was no point in arguing with these old fogies about humanitarianism, but it didn’t really matter; they couldn’t fight like this anymore. If they really followed Han Xin’s method, with one or two hundred men dying every day, wouldn’t half a legion die in twenty days?
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. You tell us." Han Xin also felt that it was pointless to get entangled with Chen Xi about this, and then naturally changed the subject.

"In Jiangling, the damage I can accept is one thousand. Now I need your help to achieve this plan: to annihilate the Yunmeng Demon God while suffering no more than one thousand casualties." Chen Xi looked at Bai Qi and Han Xin very seriously, and both of them had a headache when they heard this.

"First, tell me the characteristics of the demon god left behind by your grandson, and see if it's the same as the thing I saw in Yingdu back then." Although Bai Qi didn't quite understand what Chen Xi meant by constantly focusing on the mortality rate, professional soldiers were too lazy to think about such things. Just give me the targets, and I'll achieve them.

Chen Xi briefly explained what Sun Wu meant by "no special effects." Bai Qi didn't feel anything special after listening. Isn't this a normal situation?
"Could eating a demon god restore youth?" Han Xin heard other ghost stories.

"It's a very small probability. So far, only four people have succeeded," Chen Xi explained. There are thousands of veterans who have come to Jiangling. If none of them had succeeded, Chen Xi could say that there were relatively few people who had tried. But now that four have succeeded, Chen Xi felt that probably many of these thousands of people had tried.

"Is the life essence of a demon god also poisonous? But one's willpower can withstand it." Bai Qi also discovered a loophole and felt that this loophole was worth trying.

"Well, the life essence of the demon god cannot be used, but the problem doesn't exist for breaking the limits of will. Recently, a veteran who just achieved the breakthrough of will was led by another group of veterans to become a Qi Refiner by extracting the life essence of the demon god." Chen Xi asked with some doubt.

This move truly shocked Chen Xi.

Among the veterans who have undergone the sixth level of forging, very few have condensed internal energy, but very few does not mean none. For example, Huang Tao is still condensing internal energy, but veterans whose will has broken through limits have definitely achieved Qi Refining into Gang, because veterans whose will has broken through limits have summarized a set of effective ways to achieve Qi Refining into Gang.

That is to plunder the vital energy of others. If others do this, they are easily devoured by the vital energy of others, which will then cause pollution; but breaking the limits of will is the foundation of free will. Even if they are completely controlled, they can still maintain self-awareness. Therefore, as long as those who break the limits of will can seize the vital energy of others, that vital energy is equivalent to their own.

Then, ever since Zhao Ying cheated by relying on killing to cultivate himself to the peak of Qi Refining Formation, veterans with broken willpower know that they can take shortcuts. As for the source of this Qi and blood, from the beastly Little Brahma to the stray dogs on the roadside, they can try it if they encounter it, because they don't have to worry about being contaminated. So they can steal other people's essence, Qi and spirit to achieve Qi Refining Formation!

The one who recently broke through the limits of willpower did so by stealing the life essence of the demon god. In his words, the life essence of the demon god was extremely vast and could be absorbed in large quantities, allowing him to break through from internal energy condensation to Qi refining in one go.

"In that case, how about we try temporarily creating a willpower limit?" Bai Qi stroked his beard and asked tentatively.

"Ah, can the limit-breaking of willpower be temporarily created?" Chen Xi asked Bai Qi with some skepticism. "Isn't this just the divine will of a divine cultivator leaving their body with their inner energy? Can something like this be created?"

"Why not?" Bai Qi asked Chen Xi in return. A bunch of answers popped into Chen Xi's mind, but they were stuck in her throat and she couldn't say them.

"Will itself has its ups and downs. It's not difficult to break through the limits of will in an explosive burst. The difficulty lies in maintaining it, but we can use some other methods." Bai Qi, as a powerful figure in the field of will, calmly gave what can be described as heaven-defying advice.

"A temporary oath!" Liu Tong realized almost instantly.

"You can do that?" Chen Xi was taken aback.

"Why not? It's just a temporary loan. It's a newly developed lending system," Bai Qi said. "And it's perfectly suited to your situation. Isn't this the perfect solution for you?"