Chapter 36: Rolling the Plan Out

As the saying goes, the King of Hell is easy to face, but the little ghosts are hard to deal with.

The demonic path was weak. Hunted relentlessly by the righteous sects and the imperial court, they were constantly forced into hiding and, in truth, didn’t actually wreak that much havoc in the mortal world.

The martial artists, on the other hand, had slipped neatly through the loopholes of Great Shang’s laws.

They possessed strength no weaker than low-level cultivators, yet they were still considered “mortals” and so enjoyed lenient treatment under the law.

They constantly bullied men and women alike, doing all sorts of evil.

They were, in practice, the rulers of the underground world at the grassroots level.

Li Shouhe and his fellow constables had to match wits and strength with these people all the time. They’d even lost comrades in the process.

He already hated the martial rabble down to his bones.

To get the martial forces under control and stop them from using their strength to defy the law, the entire bureaucracy had tried everything under the sun.

But at best, they’d scraped the surface. The root of the problem remained.

He truly couldn’t imagine how fast the centuries-old scourge of the martial world might be resolved with Xu Gu’s plan—

Nor how cleanly.

One thing was certain: martial artists would either go extinct or wither away.

Because this was an open conspiracy.

The supreme manual sat right there in front of them.

You want to keep your lineage and refuse to cultivate it? Fine. But if you’ve walked in the jianghu for any length of time, don’t you have enemies? Don’t you have rivals?

How can you possibly guarantee that they won’t cultivate it?

If you don’t train and your enemies do, are you going to die or not?

If you do train it, then you’ll definitely be infertile.

The group most suited to martial cultivation would no longer be able to have children.

In time, the martial path would inevitably decline.

“As expected of a disciple from a hidden sect!”

Master Zhao stared at Xu Gu with wide eyes, utterly stunned, his heart churning like a raging sea.

Then came boundless admiration and respect.

Not only did this youth have such profound insight into the chef’s path and the pill path…

Just a few sentences from him might solve a thousand-year-old problem of martial chaos!

Is this even human? How monstrous can one person be?

He knew exactly what kind of goods his son-in-law was.

Give Li Shouhe ten thousand years to ponder and he still wouldn’t come up with a scheme this world-shaking and history-defining.

Thinking of this, Master Zhao simply lifted a foot and kicked Li Shouhe.

Li Shouhe had been lost in his own shock and joy—like a scholar who’d suddenly passed the imperial exams.

He didn’t dare imagine just how immense his contributions would be if this plan were implemented.

“Father-in-law, why’d you kick me?”

He started out annoyed and confused, but when he saw the look in Master Zhao’s eyes, he suddenly understood.

He hurriedly turned to Xu Gu, face full of shame.

“Honored sir, to tell the truth, this wasn’t what I had in mind at all.

“The plan in my heart is worlds apart from what you just described. To force a comparison, it would be like… dung versus the blazing sun.

“Please be assured, I will absolutely not steal a single speck of your credit. I will report this stratagem to the court exactly as it is and request His Majesty to commend you personally!”

Xu Gu quickly shook his head and denied it.

“That’s not my idea.”

Are you kidding?

Martial arts had come into being because some great body-refining expert wanted to experiment on paths to an immortal Dao fruit.

If the martial path really got wiped out or fell into desolation because of this, wouldn’t that mighty body cultivator cough up blood in anger?

Xu Gu had no desire to be hunted down by some ancient body-refining monster.

As for why he’d still taken the risk of getting stuck with the blame and voiced it out loud—

It wasn’t because he was kind-hearted and wanted to help the court control the martial world.

Everyone knew that power doesn’t vanish; it only changes hands.

If the martial factions declined, that chunk of power would naturally flow back into the demonic path.

And as a future Demon Lord, he naturally wanted the demonic path to flourish.

If just a few words could dramatically change the desperate situation of the demonic world, why wouldn’t he say them?

“Don’t worry. We’ll keep this confidential. We won’t let this cause you any trouble at all.”

Li Shouhe was no fool.

He could see Xu Gu’s concern and rushed to pat his chest in guarantee.

“You might not trust me, but you must trust the laws of Great Shang!”

Rumor had it that Great Shang’s first ancestor had not only founded the dynasty through law, but had also used the laws themselves as his Dao fruit and ascended to immortality.

For that reason, the legal code was the very foundation of the Great Shang Dynasty.

It would definitely be enforced to the letter.

Anyone who aided the court or the bureaucracy with such weighty matters would be strictly protected under the law.

They would also be formally recognized and rewarded.

No one would be allowed to sacrifice for the court in vain.

Xu Gu thought in silence for a long time.

In the end, he nodded.

The demonic path was in a terrible state.

If it wanted to rise again, relying on itself alone was impossible. It would have to borrow external strength.

And the Great Shang Dynasty was a very suitable power to borrow.

In the early stages, if he could build a good relationship with Great Shang, he’d undoubtedly gain enormous help.

“In that case, honored sir, please continue your meal with Father-in-law. I’ll go report this to my superiors and prepare to put it into action.”

Li Shouhe was already fired up. He could hardly wait to set this plan in motion.

“What’s wrong? Do you think my plan is too extreme? Does it make you uncomfortable?”

Xu Gu noticed that Huan Caiyi’s expression was serious and assumed she was unhappy with how ruthless his idea was. He spoke to her in a low voice.

His plan was rather extreme. It had great benefits, but also great downsides.

After all, implementing it would cause unimaginable upheaval in the martial world over a short period.

Li Shouhe and Master Zhao were body cultivators—easy to fool… uh, easy to persuade. They were passionate by nature and didn’t feel that using such a venomous trick on martial artists was inappropriate.

But Huan Caiyi was a peerless genius with heaven-defying talent and a sky-reaching background—she was the very “light of the righteous path.”

Not so easy to lead around.

Yet—

“How could that be!”

Huan Caiyi shook her head at once, denying it, and sent a voice transmission:

“Senior brother’s plan is extremely brilliant. If it’s implemented, those disobedient martial factions will absolutely disappear from this world.

“The positions and influence they leave behind will naturally be filled by demonic strongholds.

“And we, embedded in the demonic path’s high ranks, will be able to easily see and control every move of those demon strongholds. That will make things much easier to manage.

“In the short term, the martial world will be in chaos, yes. But in the long run, it’s absolutely a matter where the benefits outweigh the costs. Its harm lies in the present, but its merit lies in a thousand future years!”

Far from being “fooled,” she’d thought it through with perfect clarity.

Huan Caiyi had considered many angles.

Not only did she see that the move would cause upheaval, she’d also understood that power wouldn’t disappear but shift.

She was very clear that the most direct beneficiaries of a “slaughter the martial world” move would be the demonic sects—though not necessarily the largest beneficiaries.

The martial factions were a pile of loose sand.

Scattered and leaderless, they were difficult to govern.

If they were replaced by demonic strongholds, then one would only need to control the handful of demonic forces those strongholds belonged to.

In the end, the ultimate winners would definitely be the righteous sects and the imperial court.

The explanation Xu Gu had been about to offer got stuck in his throat, and he swallowed it back down.

He was honestly surprised.

He really hadn’t expected Huan Caiyi to see it so clearly.

On this whole trip, she hadn’t had much chance to display herself. She’d just been running around after him, not doing any thinking.

He’d almost forgotten that outside the Demon Grotto, Huan Caiyi was a genuine, undisputed peerless genius.

“Then why do you look unhappy?” Xu Gu asked, puzzled.

“Because such a good plan is hard to implement.”

Huan Caiyi sighed, heart aching with pity.

“This matter is enormous. It touches every major faction’s interests. If they seriously try to roll it out, it will definitely run into obstruction from all sides.

“I’m afraid it will be buried before the memorial even reaches the emperor’s desk.”

That was what really bothered her.

The corner of Xu Gu’s mouth twitched.

At first, he’d worried that she’d think his plan was too extreme.

After all, this move would indeed cause some collateral damage. Innocent people might get caught up in the storm.

He was born to be a demon cultivator; he didn’t care.

But he hadn’t expected that not only did Huan Caiyi not mind, she was actually very invested in seeing it done.

No wonder she’d been the one to choose “save five, abandon one” so decisively during the carriage test.

He’d already felt the undercover quintet were “righteous turned demonic.”

This only confirmed it further.

Thinking that, Xu Gu smiled and said:

“Did you forget where we are? This is the holy land of body cultivators.

“They will carry it out.

“There’s no need to report anything to the emperor.”

He always trusted body cultivators to act.

In fact, if this weren’t a stronghold full of reckless muscle-heads, he never would’ve dared suggest such a thing.

“Hss—”

Huan Caiyi drew in a sharp breath, staring at Xu Gu in shock.

Xu Gu had even factored in the body cultivators’ tendency to be impulsive and take matters into their own hands?

She was genuinely shaken.

The longer she spent with him, the more she realized how astonishing his intelligence was.

Things that others would find as hard as ascending to heaven—

Xu Gu not only handled them easily, but did so with a flawless plan, leaving no gaps.

It was perfection itself.

“Fortunately, senior brother is a righteous-path undercover. Otherwise, the demonic path really would run rampant one day,” Huan Caiyi said softly, eyes full of reverent admiration, cheeks slightly flushed.

Xu Gu: “…”

(End of this chapter)