The third reason is, although she knew that among the demons there were those who had surrendered and were controlled by His Majesty, she did not know which ones they were, so speaking of it was meaningless.
Hearing the old lady’s revelation, Xia Linglong, despite having had her suspicions, could not help but have her complexion greatly change when they were confirmed, and her shockingly beautiful cheeks were filled with astonishment.
It was actually true!
Who would dare believe this?
If the word got out, many a person’s worldview would shatter!
The Emperor of the Human Race, to have dealings with demons—put nicely, some demons are undercover; put harshly, it’s collusion with demons.
This assault was clearly His Majesty’s own doing.
Those demons who attacked the Buddha Lord were also commanded in secret by His Majesty!
If not for having access to ample intelligence, feeling something fishy, Xia Linglong would have thought the Buddha Lord truly died at the hands of demons, with the Haotian General having nothing to do with it.
“Now, for that child, His Majesty has even deployed dark chess pieces that had been hidden for a thousand years; that truly is deep affection…”
The old lady rocked her rocking chair, let out a slight sigh, and a hint of envy flashed in her eyes.
Under the entire heaven, who could receive such favor from the Emperor?
Perhaps not even his several brothers and those princes have ever been cherished as much…
Xia Linglong was somewhat dazed and did not respond.
The old lady glanced at her and said softly, “Do you find it unbelievable? When His Majesty summoned me to discuss this matter, I was just as shocked as you are now, but soon after, I was left with nothing but admiration for His Majesty.”
Xia Linglong gazed intently at her.
The old lady continued, “Can all demons in the world ever be exterminated? Obviously not. If we say the Dayu Divine Dynasty is a piece of succulent meat, then there will always be flies coveting it.”
“But if this piece of meat is already surrounded by flies, will more new flies join?”
“No, they won’t…”
Xia Linglong was stunned, feeling goosebumps rising, her whole body’s hair standing on end.
This, is this His Majesty’s grand scheme?
“Those demonic forces…” she said, slightly opening her mouth.
“If I’m not mistaken, they mostly have His Majesty’s spies; he can always keep tabs on demons’ movements. His Majesty’s plan is for the spies to one day directly replace the demon leaders; if I’m not wrong, that Star Moon Academy… must be the deepest chess piece His Majesty has placed,” the old lady said softly, with a gleam in her eyes.
Xia Linglong felt her scalp tingle; she had never imagined the Emperor could be so terrifying.
“Since His Majesty has such spies, then why, in recent years with the wars waged every year, has His Majesty never…”
Xia Linglong’s thoughts churned, she slightly opened her mouth; if His Majesty had utilized the information from these spies, their casualties could’ve been greatly reduced!
It should be noted that among them was the fall of strong warriors from the five great Divine General Mansions.
The old lady shook her head slightly and said, “It is precisely because the losses were so heavy, that’s why these spies were buried so deeply. I fear even the Buddha Lord would never have imagined His Majesty’s heart could be so ruthless.”
Xia Linglong was taken aback.
“If it weren’t for that ninth son of the Li Family, being naturally unbending and loathing evil, breaking through alone and forcefully making his way out of the border, he wouldn’t have fallen. That time His Majesty showed traces of having moved his dark pieces, but alas…”
The old lady slowly shook her head, she had always paid attention to these matters, especially when she knew some of the inside stories; observed again, many traces invisible to ordinary people would come to light.
“So, it means the Buddha Lord truly was killed by the Haotian General, but His Majesty… still favors him, even now going so far as to expose these millennium-old dark chess pieces for his sake?”
Xia Linglong felt it was unbelievable; what kind of favor could warrant such action?
To slay the second strongest powerhouse in the world without suspicion or fear, instead exposing many years of hidden spies for him, even the most favored Crown Prince of the current court might not receive such indulgence!
A trace of complexity flashed through the old lady’s eyes.
“It is indeed an extremely biased favoritism, but besides that, it’s also because that youth is irreplaceable. With such talent, if he doesn’t become a Saint, then no one in the world can attain Saint status. The hard-to-understand part is, how can the Emperor trust so easily to leave this world in the hands of that child? He must be treated by the Emperor as the future of Dao Tong.”
“The future Dao Tong!”
Xia Linglong’s pupils contracted, her blood seeming to surge throughout her body.
The weight of these few words was immense!
The Buddha Lord had schemed for two thousand years, spreading Buddhist Halls across all cities, all for a single stick of incense.
The years of contention between Buddha’s Path and the secular world were all just to become the Dao Tong of Dayu, inheriting all the Dayu’s worship and incense fire.
Now, the Haotian General was to replace the True Person of the Daoist Palace, becoming the future object of worship for the entire world?
The old lady glanced at Xia Linglong, the complexity in her eyes not fading, and spoke in a low voice:
“Do you know what this also signifies?”
Xia Linglong came back to her senses, looking at the hint of sorrow in her eyes, she paused, then abruptly came to an understanding, feeling like her heart sank to the bottom of a valley.
With the emergence of the future Dao Tong, does it also mean that the current True Person… is about to be no more?
…
Beyond Youzhou, in various other places, many figures were also observing the chaotic demon attacks across the land.
A few old-timers, cryptically contemplating the traces behind the demons, didn’t dare to be certain.
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Perhaps only by inquiring with the Xia Family could one confirm, after all, they are well-versed in locking onto the demons’ lifeline.
But this kind of testing was obviously not to be dared; dragon whiskers cannot be touched lightly.
While demons were attacking the Buddhist congregations in various places, the Arhats within the Buddhist communities were both shocked and enraged, seething with frustration.