Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains

Furthermore, a Holy Land taking territory across provinces compared to Leiyin Temple doing the same are entirely different concepts. Leiyin Temple is only a Quasi-Holy Land, a single word difference means worlds apart. By occupying Tongling, they only offended the Demon Sect, without affecting the covenant signed between the top ten Holy Lands in Jin Land in the slightest.

Being able to severely damage the Rakshasa Demon Religion while preventing Xuzhou from benefiting... this was indeed the purpose of their journey.

Just now, the last statement made by Lian Ningxue was:

"When the Demon Sect is torn apart like this, do you guess if Sikong Xingzhou will fight desperately with this group of bald monks..."

This undoubtedly indicated that the matter was far from being as simple as it appeared on the surface, clearly allowing Leiyin Temple to take Tongling involved significant strategic calculations.

Lian Ningxue was not even a hundred years old, but already served as an elder of the Haoran Holy Sect lineage, indeed having exceptional abilities.

Zhang Yuning, who had lived for two to three hundred years, seeing the nearly half younger Lian Ningxue, could not help feeling a chill in his heart, and became increasingly cautious towards the Haoran Holy Sect.

"However, there is one thing I still don't understand!" Lian Ningxue suddenly spoke again, her tone filled with a hint of puzzlement, she continued, "Since Tongling is a must-have for Leiyin Temple, why did they only send Master Yuan Kong with a few young disciples.

Tongling has over two million people after all, thirty thousand Mansion Army plus the people from nine local influential groups, with at least forty thousand martial artists above the five levels of body refinement, for these ten or so master and disciples to want to occupy a county's land seems a bit overly ambitious!"

Master Yuan Kong and they were of comparable cultivation, also at Full Completion of Yuandan, with such powerful strength, suppressing a county's territory is naturally more than enough, but suppression and governance are two different concepts.

The five levels of body refinement, known as Inner Membrane, mean that membranes grow from the internal organs, blood circulates throughout the body, already having initial defense against Qi Force, to carry out large-scale slaughters, only a Martial Saint of the Two Realms of Yin and Yang could achieve it.

Therefore, among the thirteen provinces of The World, regardless of which sect or school, martial artists above the five levels of body refinement are deemed the true foundational force, and the minimum recruitment standard for private armies by the top ten Holy Lands, is also five levels of body refinement.

Speaking of Grandmaster Realm, the strongest, a Great Grandmaster, could at most face ten thousand enemies alone, and like them, Yuan Dan Great Perfection experts, facing an army of martial artists numbering over fifty thousand, unless desperate, it's not advisable for them to clash head-on.

These matters, Zhang Yuning was naturally aware of, hence the words of Lian Ningxue also plunged him deep into thought.

...

While Lian Ningxue and Zhang Yuning were contemplating, in a guest room on the third floor to the west, Master Yuan Kong was sitting cross-legged with closed eyes, holding Buddha beads, chanting scriptures.

Suddenly, he stopped chanting, opened his eyes, and looked towards the door.

A figure in a Taoist robe, carrying a longsword and holding a whisk, Moxuzi walked in from outside. He wore a slight smile, jokingly said, "The Azure Dragon Association has come to show force, and you still have the leisure to sit here and chant Scriptures, what great composure!"

The aged face of Yuan Kong remained expressionless, still as motionless as a bell, and he simply opened his mouth lightly to say, "Just outsiders of the evil path, not worth considering, moreover, since Master Fanyin did not show himself and those two benefactors from the east did not act, why should I be anxious."

Hearing this, the smile on the face of Moxuzi grew even thicker, he glanced at the gradually brightening sky outside the window, revealing a trace of peculiarity and said, "Only three days left until the Rakshasa Festival, and there has been no movement from the Xuzhou side. Does the Master know why?"

Hearing this question, the murky eyes of Master Yuan Kong briefly flashed with a strange gleam, hesitated momentarily before shaking his head and said, "Since the Blood Demon is created by the Bailu Academy and the Wanjian Holy Sect, the ones who know it best would naturally be them, they haven't made a move yet, there could be no other reason than they feel that even with Master Fanyin and us here, this Blood Demon cannot be resolved."

Unlike us, Xuzhou is neighboring Yongzhou, once there's a transgression of large troops, Master Fanyin will get the information and immediately report it to the Yongdu Main Altar.

Although everyone is coveting Yongzhou now, no Holy Land has yet dared to publicly mobilize a large army, crossing provincial boundaries, at most they would send subordinate forces from their own provinces to probe across borders, just like last year, didn't this same Tongling have a Zhaoyang Disturbance as well!

The north faces infiltration from Great Jin, the west is in chaos due to the Blood Spirit Demon Sect, and those Miao descendants beyond Nanjiang seem to have begun harboring rebellious thoughts as well. Rakshasa Demon Religion is currently besieged on all sides. If Xuzhou really decides to advance a large army into Yongzhou at this time, and if they succeed, prompting other Holy Lands to join in, that would be one thing. But if they fail, the Demon Sect will definitely regard Xuzhou as a primary enemy, and may immediately concentrate its forces to wage war against Xuzhou.

In such a situation, Xuzhou must be extremely cautious.

Furthermore, that Blood Demon is indeed not simple. It's quite normal for us not to be able to resolve him quickly as they always lurk in the shadows, comfortably ensconced and ready to react to any situation considering how close they are."

Hearing this lengthy discourse from Zen Master Yuan Kong, Moxuzi nodded, a gleam of sharpness appearing in his eyes. Looking up at him, he said, "Master, you wouldn't have traveled thousands of miles just to sit by and watch Xuzhou succeed, would you?"

"Of course not. My Leiyin Temple is a sky-level force. The alliance of Jin Land restricts the Holy Lands of the World, which does not include my Leiyin Temple. Even if we take Tongling, the Holy Lands of the World would have no cause for objection. However, if it incites the wrath of the Demon Sect, I hope Ziqing Holy Sect will keep its promise to stand with Leiyin Temple against the Demon Sect!"

"Rest assured, Master. The Taoist Master and the ancient Buddha have already reached an agreement. As long as Leiyin Temple successfully takes over Tongling, everyone in my Ziqing Holy Sect will advance or retreat together with your temple," replied Moxuzi, his tone earnest.

Moxuzi nodded gravely, but a fleeting, unnoticeable gleam of other intentions passed through his eyes momentarily before he hid it and continued speaking.

"However, the number of people your temple has dispatched seems rather small. Even without considering the demons, it seems somewhat challenging for just you and a dozen disciples to securely establish yourselves in such a vast place as Tongling, doesn't it?"

A subtle smile crept onto the deeply wrinkled face of Zen Master Yuan Kong as he whispered, "I have plans for this matter. As long as we can eliminate that Blood Demon and give no chances to Xuzhou, Tongling will surely fall into the hands of Leiyin Temple."

Upon hearing these confident words from Zen Master Yuan Kong, Moxuzi looked at him meaningfully. He knew that Yuan Kong was still holding back something from him.

Then again, wasn't he himself also holding back something from Yuan Kong!

Moxuzi remained silent for a long time, then slowly removed the longsword from his back — a water-blue longsword inlaid with seven or eight green gems. Moxuzi gently stroked the sword for several moments before slightly raising his head to look at Yuan Kong and asking, "That sword, you should have brought it with you, right?"

Looking at the longsword, Yuan Kong nodded and said, "Such an important matter—I wouldn't forget. Rest assured, the sword arrived in Tongling before me, carried by my disciple. Judging by the time, he should find me any day now!"

"Carried by a disciple?" Moxuzi's eyes flashed with confusion. He had traveled from Jiaozhou by boat with Yuan Kong, who only brought along one direct disciple named Bu Zheng, and that disciple Bu Zheng didn't carry any sword.

"I had my senior disciple carry the sword. When I headed south from Jizhou, he couldn't contain his impatience and parted ways with us."

Only then did Moxuzi nod, his thoughts abruptly turning to his own disobedient disciple, causing him to shake his head.

"Speaking of which, my unruly disciple seems to have gathered a group of people in Wanyang County, intending to demolish the Azure Dragon Association in Tongling. Your disciple Bu Zheng seems to have been involved too. I heard there was some trouble in Zhaoyang County, so I sent my disciples to investigate. Both were not captured, and now I'm not sure where they've run off to cause mischief. Your disciple Bu Zheng hasn't returned yet, has he?"

Yuan Kong shook his head, his face showing a hint of resignation as Moxuzi mentioned his disciple. Zhao Qingxue, Moxuzi's disciple, is troublesome, and his disciple Bu Zheng is no less of a handful.

"Don't worry. When I left Wanyang County, I had already instructed Bu Zheng to return to my side before Rakshasa Festival. He might be stubborn, but he still listens to me. Both of them will definitely return before the festival."

Moxuzi nodded, not overly worried about his disciple, for Zhao Qingxue had many valuable items he had left with her, making it unlikely for her to be harmed by ordinary people, and those with real power probably wouldn't harm a young girl.

The two exchanged a few more words before Moxuzi finally left the room.

Zen Master Yuan Kong sat alone in the room, watching Moxuzi's departing figure, his aged and cloudy eyes flashing with a sharp glint.