The chaos in Tongling County had come to a complete close the moment the forces from Xuzhou and the five great experts left. All in all, it only spanned the duration of one night, but the events that transpired throughout this single night were far too numerous!
Although Ji Yanzhi's breakthrough attempt ended in failure, he used his life in the closing moments to entangle Maiden Hong, coordinating with the other two mighty beings, wielding the Spirit Swords Blood Zhao, Blood Yang, and Blood Shadow, to perish alongside Maiden Hong. In doing so, he truly lived up to the reputation of a Great Confucian.
Of course, the death of Ji Yanzhi was not so simple.
From the way he willingly met his end alongside Maiden Hong, it was clear that Ji Yanzhi was mentally prepared for his own death.
Moreover, he had reached an agreement with Huangfu Xing in advance, which is why he came to Tongling with such peace of mind to attempt his breakthrough. Thinking on it further, it was very likely that Ji Yanzhi had been well aware of the Wanjian Holy Sect's insincere kindness.
After Ji Yanzhi's failed breakthrough, Huangfu Xing didn't leave any leeway for Jing Tianyu—or for that matter, the Wanjian Holy Sect—immediately tearing up the alliance treaty of Jin Capital and formally declaring war on Xuzhou. His clean and decisive stance almost confirmed that he was indeed using the situation to his advantage.
Beset by internal and external troubles, and facing threats from all sides, the Rakshasa Holy Sect clearly needed an external war to demonstrate its power. The logic was simple: better to throw a decisive punch than to fend off a hundred. Rather than being eroded away slowly, it would be better to engage Xuzhou in a full-blown battle to showcase the Holy Church's might and to deter others.
Ji Yanzhi certainly knew of the Rakshasa Holy Sect's predicament, and that once his breakthrough failed, Huangfu Xing would surely seize the opportunity to instigate a war with Xuzhou. Thus, it could be said that the large-scale war between the two states was also one of Ji Yanzhi's intentions, and indeed it had been achieved!
From the upper echelons, the main characters of this chaos in Tongling were the Rakshasa Holy Sect, the Wanjian Holy Sect, and Bailu Academy—these three Holy Lands.
With Ji Yanzhi's failed breakthrough, Bailu Academy suffered the loss of a Great Confucian, which could be considered the most severe; however, since Ji Yanzhi's purpose of instigating the war between Yongzhou and Xuzhou was achieved, his efforts were not entirely in vain, nor could Bailu Academy be considered a complete failure.
The Wanjian Holy Sect silently acquiesced to Ji Yanzhi's plan, hoping to see his breakthrough fail and result in his demise. Their objective was also met, but the sudden outbreak of the war caught them off-guard. From Jing Tianyu's reaction, it was evident they hadn't anticipated Huangfu Xing would breach the treaty, so it's hard to say whether the Wanjian Holy Sect succeeded or failed.
The third party, the Rakshasa Holy Sect, seems to be the biggest earner at this point!
As the saying goes, virtue wanes as demons flourish; Ji Yanzhi's death in Yongzhou certainly worked out well for the Rakshasa Holy Sect. Moreover, they successfully shifted the blame onto the Wanjian Holy Sect and sparked the war between the two states.
If everything goes as expected, the Rakshasa Holy Sect will definitely launch a fierce attack on Xuzhou in the coming days, because otherwise they won't achieve the desired deterrent effect. If the Wanjian Holy Sect is caught off guard, the Rakshasa Holy Sect might just succeed in intimidating all sides and extricate itself from the current predicament.
Putting aside these top-level conflicts and looking at the changes below, Hou Yuxiao felt quite content...
Within Tongling County, the sole surviving second-rate force—the Great Luo Sect Forces—had been almost entirely decimated. The masters of the three emerging forces, Ling Cheng Escort Agency, Lonely Moon Sect, and Qijue Gate, had all perished in the Secret Realm at the hands of Hou Yuxiao. Whatever disciples they had left were either dead or had fled, no longer able to form any fighting force.
The hidden piece that Leiyin Temple had placed, Ding Buhai, was rendered ineffective by Hou Yuxiao's interference, and, as Master Yuan Kong was driven away by Huangfu Xing, Leiyin Temple's ambition towards Tongling was thoroughly crushed. Moreover, Ding Dian, who had sided with Leiyin Temple, was slain by both Hou Yuxiao and Fifth Brother Hou Yuduan.
Killing Ding Dian was perhaps the most satisfying thing for Hou Yuxiao, given that Ding Dian had always considered the Hou Clan a thorn in his side over the incident with Cheng Yue. The opportunity to solve this problem permanently was naturally a cause for joy.
As Fan Longhe implied, aside from the three Holy Lands, up until this point, the deepest player and biggest winner of this turmoil in Tongling was none other than his own Hou Clan.
The Hou Clan had, in one fell swoop, absorbed the Medicine Dust Sect, Bai Clan, and Hongdao Gang—three emerging forces—bringing the martial artists under their command to over ten thousand. The number of martial artists who had reached the five levels of body refinement alone had sky-rocketed from the original 700 to over 3000, enabling them to replace the Great Luo Sect and become Tongling's undeniable leading force.
What's more, with the Great Luo Sect gone and only Xi Yun Escort Agency remaining of the eight third-rate forces in Tongling—and that only because Liu Jianghong had refused Hou Yuxiao's recruitment at the city gates due to a misjudgment of the situation—the current landscape would likely prompt a different decision from him almost without question.
That is to say, in Tongling County, there now remains only one emerging force—the Hou Clan...
Hou Yuxiao himself already possessed the cultivation of a Second Realm Grandmaster, and together with Fifth Brother Hou Yuduan and over ten thousand sect members, his Hou Clan was indeed in a position to ascend to a second-rate force and dominate the county.
Furthermore, the over one hundred thousand people Hou Yuxiao had rescued before the battle were mostly relatives of Mansion Army soldiers. Just by observing the behavior of those soldiers, one could tell what their current stance towards the Hou Clan was.
In terms of both strength and reputation, the Hou Clan had reached the pinnacle within Tongling—there was no more room for elevation...