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If the proportion of cultivators within Great Yan could truly reach such a level, it might genuinely deserve to be called half an earthly immortal dynasty. Unfortunately, the dynasty's high officials—including his father—had no desire to see such a scenario come to pass. At least, not for the time being. Amid this silence, Bai Muxi looked at the two surface visitors with their strange expressions and asked softly, "Sir, is there something amiss with the cultivators of our seven cities?" Returning to his senses and looking at this slender woman whose skin was as fair as a vampire from his previous life, Xu Yuan smiled and replied, "No. I merely feel that retaining such a number of cultivators after ten thousand years is truly no small feat." His words carried a hint of condescension. Bai Muxi paid it no mind, the crimson lips beneath her veil curving into a faint smile. "Born of survival." With that, she asked politely, "Now that the two of you have finished your inquiries, may this official take a turn?" "Of course," Xu Yuan readily agreed. Bai Muxi's beautiful eyes flickered with light. Pausing for a heartbeat, she asked directly, "Do the two of you hold official rank in that Great Yan Dynasty of the surface world?" "..." Hearing this question, Xu Yuan gave her an odd look. Li Qingyan had constantly referred to herself as *ben gong*—could this woman seriously not recognize such a form of address? It seemed ten thousand years had indeed created a severe cultural fault line in this underground civilization. After a moment's thought, "I do not," Xu Yuan answered directly, then glanced toward Li Qingyan. "Do you hold official rank?" Li Qingyan rolled her eyes at him. "How could this palace hold official rank?" Hearing this, Xu Yuan jutted his chin toward the veiled female Chief Arbiter. "See? She doesn't have one either." Bai Muxi looked at the extraordinary bearing of Li Qingyan, furrowing her brows in doubt. "Truly not?" "Does that count as a question?" Xu Yuan countered with a smile, enunciating each word. "Or is it that the Chief Arbiter does not trust us?" "..." Bai Muxi took a deep look at this handsome man, who possessed merely Soul Condensation cultivation yet acted entirely without restraint. Keeping her posture humble, she brought her sleeves together in another salute. "*Phew...* This official naturally believes your words. Let me rephrase: could you tell this official the status and identity of you two?" "That's simple. She is an imperial princess, and I am the third son of the Prime Minister." Xu Yuan spoke without hesitation, paused, and added, "As for status, she and I hold rather high standing in the Great Yan Dynasty." "..." Silence. Bai Muxi glanced back and forth between the two, whose status was clearly distinct, the confusion in her eyes nearly overflowing. By birth, the woman was far more noble than the man; by cultivation, the difference between them was as night and day. Why did this woman defer to his words? Yet none of that mattered. If what this man said was true, then the Seven Cavern Cities truly had hope of salvation. However, there was still one more thing she needed to verify. With that thought, Bai Muxi reined in her mind and bowed deeply. "This official has one final question. I hope for your answer." "Ask." "Did the two of you enter our underground palace intentionally?" "..." A question striking straight to the heart of the matter. If they had, then with reinforcements from the Great Yan Dynasty on the surface, the nearly four hundred thousand people of the underground palace could be saved. If not... then these two were no different from her, both trapped inside this subterranean crypt. Faced with this question, Xu Yuan was in no hurry to answer, instead looking Bai Muxi up and down with great interest. Bai Muxi's gossamer robes draped gracefully as she stood tall and slender, her gaze clear and candid. Standing to one side, Li Qingyan was also somewhat curious whether this damned man would exploit the female Chief Arbiter through lies. After a long silence, he uttered two words: "We didn't." The moment the words fell, a flicker of dejection passed through Bai Muxi's eyes, yet her crisp voice remained unchanged, still polite: "This official understands. Since the two of you have traveled from afar, the Six Officials of the Divine Palace shall take you to rest for the night, after which we shall speak—" "Hey." Xu Yuan cut her off, asking with a chuckling smile, "Chief Arbiter, have you forgotten that you still owe us a question?" "..." Bai Muxi fell silent for several breaths. Her calm eyes revealed no further emotion as she cupped her hands and asked, "Please ask." "Do you want to get out?" "What?" The calm Bai Muxi had maintained for barely a few breaths instantly shattered. Xu Yuan stepped forward, narrowing his eyes as he raised a hand and gently tapped the center of the cleavage veiled by the Chief Arbiter's sheer gown. "I asked: do you... want to get out?" The accommodation arranged by the underground Divine Palace for Xu Yuan and Li Qingyan was a stone palace. In accordance with subterranean law, Bai Muxi had initially assigned them separate chambers, but Xu Yuan showed no intention whatsoever of following local customs. It wasn't that he wanted to sleep with Li Qingyan; rather, living alone, he was terrified Bai Muxi might launch a night raid on him—it simply felt too unsafe. The palace was vast. Several load-bearing stone pillars carved with bizarre, monstrous beasts supported a ceiling forty feet high, grand and magnificent, bearing quite a bit of imperial splendor. Its interior furnishings were also completely contrary to the dilapidation seen throughout the subterranean city. While ordinary enough in Great Yan, within this underground palace it was undoubtedly extreme luxury. A large wooden bed sat right in the center, complete with cotton blankets, sheer bed curtains, a wooden table and prayer mats, woven gauze screens, and even a strangely shaped wooden tea set. Special underground flora emitted a soft blue glow amidst the darkness of the hall, dotting the shadows like starlight and illuminating the entire palace. It seemed the underground did produce such living necessities after all, only in quantities so meager they could serve only the upper crust of the cavern cities. Truly, class divides existed everywhere. However, Xu Yuan didn't care much about these things. The supplies extorted from the sects and Li Junqing were currently inside his Sumeru ring. Even if there were nothing here, he could easily pull out an entire set from his ring. The moment he stepped into the hall, Xu Yuan's gaze was drawn immediately to the shape of a sculpture at the deepest end of the palace. It was a hideous aberrant ghost. As he gazed at it, Li Qingyan's smiling voice suddenly rang out by his side: "This palace has noticed that when you speak, you seem quite fond of laying your hands on people?" Xu Yuan gathered his wits and met her indifferent gaze. After a moment's thought, he asked with a chuckle, "It's a habit, hard to break. But you could try helping me—" "Shameless." Li Qingyan snorted softly, her tone carrying amusement. "Although this palace has had some taste of your character, Changtian, you shouldn't be prone to such pointless offenses. So... "Were you after the gemstone on her chest?" Xu Yuan cupped his hands without shame and grinned. "Your Highness is truly brilliant. Empty words carry no weight; one must present proof to show that I can lead her out. What I did earlier was merely to drop a hint, proving what I said was true." Hearing this, Li Qingyan walked slowly over to the edge of the large bed and sat down. Shedding her black robe, the curves hugged by her brownish-red fungal armor were instantly revealed. Crossing her two long, slender legs, she rested her chin on one hand and looked at him: "And how did you learn of that jade pendant?" "The Saint's remnant soul in the soul ring." Xu Yuan once again shifted the blame. Without waiting for Li Qingyan to speak, he took the initiative to change the subject, pointing at the aberrant ghost sculpture deep in the hall: "From the looks of it, this palace wasn't very clean in the past. An aberrant ghost sculpture paired with bizarre beasts on those stone pillars—this place was unmistakably a sacrificial site." "From what that female Chief Arbiter said earlier, one could tell this place underwent a coup." Li Qingyan's voice was calm as she gently swung her crossed legs, speaking softly: "Sacrificing two hundred people per city each year in exchange for scraping by. In desperate straits, that former 'sacrificial priest' most likely used the worship of an evil entity to cement their rule, just like those snowfield barbarians preach that dying in battle returns their souls to their Ancestral God." At that, Li Qingyan gently tapped her fair cheek with a slender index finger, narrowed her eyes in a smile, and asked: "Changtian, what... comes to your mind?" "..." A silent exchange of glances, followed by a shared smile. Xu Yuan walked over to sit beside Li Qingyan and spoke unhurriedly: "Coups are staged either for power or to realize one's ideals. "The aberrant ghosts in the Blood Demon Cave possess overwhelming strength against the humans of these cavern cities. Staging a coup for the former could invite total extinction at any moment. "Either this newly appointed female Chief Arbiter has uncovered clues about getting out, "or she discovered an unforeseen change in the aberrant ghosts' lair, meaning that if changes weren't made immediately, this so-called 'Seven Cities Alliance' would be slaughtered to the last person by the ghosts!" Pausing, Xu Yuan draped an arm over Li Qingyan's shoulders, turning his gaze with a smile: "Qingyan, did I get it right?" Hearing this, Li Qingyan looked at him sideways with a chuckle: "Your head isn't entirely filled with women after all." Xu Yuan looked back at her and shook his head. "Naturally. But women who are too smart aren't very likable." Li Qingyan lowered her eyelids and murmured softly, "Perhaps I could play dumb in front of you." Xu Yuan rolled his eyes. "Faked stupidity is never genuine." "Truly hypocritical." With that, Xu Yuan made no reply, casting a glance at the sculpture deep in the palace. "If it is the former, the information that Chief Arbiter possesses is likely limited and uncertain; otherwise, she wouldn't have treated me with such an attitude just now. "If it is the latter, then we are the only driftwood that can save her while she's drowning." "..." Li Qingyan stopped joking as well. Straightening her posture, she looked earnestly at Xu Yuan: "Tell this palace truthfully: how confident are you in your plan?" Seeing her expression, Xu Yuan instantly understood what she intended to do. "You want to use the seven thousand cultivators in these cavern cities to drill an army right here in this underground palace?" "..." Li Qingyan was silent for a long moment before squeezing out a sentence: "Men who are too smart aren't very likable either." Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then said: "All right, tell me your thoughts." Li Qingyan nodded, continuing in a low voice: "The two of us have abundant supplies in our Sumeru rings. In three months at least, or half a year at most, they should possess combat strength. At that point, this palace can use a military array to slaughter our way straight through the underground palace." "No, that takes too long." Xu Yuan rejected her idea. "The risks of your plan are no smaller than mine." Li Qingyan lowered her phoenix eyes, her voice deep: "The Barbarian King?" "Yes." Xu Yuan nodded, looking directly into Li Qingyan's eyes. "The variable introduced by the Barbarian King is too great. Even separated from you, the Beifeng Army still has your vice generals commanding them, and Mr. Zong's Black Scale Guards have also begun heading south. We might not be in a rush, but the Barbarian King right now will absolutely try every means to get out. An expert of his caliber rushing recklessly through these caverns could very easily stumble upon our cavern cities situated on the periphery." At that, silence fell over the hall. After a long time, Li Qingyan said faintly: "We'll do as you say." "Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to get us out." With that, Xu Yuan reached out to pat her head in comfort, only for the princess to slap his hand away. She glared at him: "This palace dislikes having anyone touch my head." Xu Yuan rubbed his wrist and teased: "Not even an order from the commander?" Li Qingyan ignored him, sighing under her breath: "It is a pity about the seven thousand cultivators in these cavern cities. This palace inspected them earlier; their foundations are not poor at all, and their auras are exceptionally dense compared to peers in the same realm." Xu Yuan smiled faintly, his voice soft: "That's a constitution developed over ten thousand years underground; it cannot be sought after. Still, if the Great Yan Dynasty could ever reach such a proportion of cultivators, demonic beasts bringing chaos to villages and towns would cease to be an issue." Li Qingyan's shapely bosom rose and fell slightly as she exhaled, composing herself, and said with a smile: "Impossible. It has been merely twenty-odd years since Imperial Father and Chancellor Xu established the martial apprentice academies to teach the path of martial apprentices, yet the martial apprentices flowing out have already begun wreaking havoc across the countryside. "Cultivators are far more terrifying to commoners than demonic beasts." Xu Yuan smiled with slight surprise: "You spend year in and year out in the military, yet you actually know about local banditry?" "Why wouldn't this palace know?" Li Qingyan gave Xu Yuan a peculiar look, speaking in a low voice: "Back in Beifeng City, there were many such chivalric bands formed by idle martial apprentices. Even among those medium and large chivalric bands endorsed by the government, many members were ruffians and brigands whose hands were stained with innocent blood—not to mention the unregistered martial apprentices." At this point, the corners of Li Qingyan's lips curved slightly, her raspy voice carrying a hint of amusement: "And those people actually have the nerve to call themselves errant knights." "It goes beyond errant knights..." Xu Yuan smiled and softly added, "In the wilderness of many southern commanderies and counties, martial apprentices have already begun using the cultivation methods learned from the martial halls to establish sects and recruit disciples." Li Qingyan's gaze grew strange; having spent years in the Northern Border, she knew nothing of this. "A bunch of martial apprentices who haven't even reached Soul Condensation dare to found sects?" Xu Yuan shrugged and chuckled: "As long as they have cultivation methods, they can found sects. But with such low-level techniques, you can simply view them as obedient mountain bandits. "Of course, "they don't consider themselves mountain bandits. Rather, they call themselves "secular sects." Ever since the establishment of the Tian'an Martial Hall decades ago provided ordinary commoners with an avenue to cultivation, those martial apprentices who were either eliminated or chose not to enter the military had evolved over time into the embryonic form of a so-called "martial world." "Secular sects?" Hearing this, a sharp light glinted in Li Qingyan's crimson eyes, her voice tinged with a martial killing intent. "The local authorities do not intervene? In the long run, this will shake the foundations of our Great Yan's rule." "..." Xu Yuan's eyes flickered, slightly surprised by Li Qingyan's political acumen as a military commander, though he quickly understood given her status as an imperial princess. Truth be told, he hadn't known about these things in the past either. Then again, what could one expect when his father was a prime minister who wielded absolute power across the court and fiercely protected his own? When he had reunited with the other three scions of the capital at the pleasure pavilion, the joke he shared with Gong Yuanzeng, the vice chancellor's son, was no mere jest. Because his father's study was located in the inner courtyard of the prime minister's estate, Xu Yuan, as the third son, had free rein to enter and exit as he pleased. He could do so as a child, and even more so now. During his stay in the Imperial Capital, he had openly walked in and browsed through many of the Great Yan Dynasty's confidential central memorials and internal briefings. At times, he would even read them together with his father. Father and son would sit quietly before the desk. The moment his father finished reading and annotating a document and set it down, Xu Yuan would immediately pick it up to browse. Because of this, Xu Yuan currently had a very clear grasp of the situation across Great Yan. After basic cultivation institutions such as the Tian'an Martial Hall and the Bureau of Formation Scripts were established, granting commoners access to the path of cultivation, Great Yan's overall national power had been surging forward at breakneck speed. More cultivators, more formation script masters, more alchemists, more spiritual herb cultivators, and more, and more. Like Grade-A military demonic beasts, these talents dragged the Great Yan Empire forward at a dead sprint along the path of prosperity. Yet this growth rate in national power could have been even faster, swapped out with Grade-A military flying beasts for an "engine." The Source Qi between heaven and earth was constantly surging, and the overall output of cultivation resources in Great Yan today was fully capable of supplying more commoners for cultivation. Yet this trend had consistently been suppressed jointly by the imperial court and the sects, who strictly controlled and restricted the distribution of cultivation methods on a broad scale, particularly high-grade methods. Great Yan's productive forces were being firmly suppressed by the ruling superstructure. Yet unfortunately, once productive forces are unleashed, the superstructure cannot simply suppress them at will. Just like the secular sects that Li Qingyan found so alarming. Once one such secular sect appeared, a second and third would inevitably follow. When they sprang up on a large scale, martial artists from the lower classes would proliferate rapidly over the coming decades. Li Yaoxuan, Xu Yuan's father, and their advisory councils needed time to formulate a response to the turmoil brought by this transformation. Pausing, Xu Yuan softly explained to Li Qingyan: "These secular sects are tacitly approved by my father." "Tacitly approved by Duke Xu?" Li Qingyan murmured, understanding in an instant. "Because they are obedient?" "Perceptive." Xu Yuan gave the tight-suited princess a mental thumbs-up. "These martial sects have a fixed base, making them far easier to govern than those roving chivalric bands. They are obedient, clear out demonic beasts in their vicinity, and generate revenue for local governments—why wouldn't the court permit it?" "It is better to channel than to block. "Duke Xu's foresight is truly profound." Li Qingyan pondered for a moment and nodded gently, a smile surfacing on her lips once more. "Let this palace guess: Duke Xu's next step will be to convert all those active, large-scale chivalric bands into these secular sects, and then hold their leadership accountable?" "..." Xu Yuan looked slightly surprised. Spot on again. That was essentially the conclusion he and his father had reached during their discussions. Better to channel than to block. Guide these unregistered martial apprentices into a unified stream as much as possible, having them take root and operate from fixed sectarian bases. Yet the court's attitude toward them would forever remain tacit approval without formal recognition. If they obeyed, throw them a bone and let them act as dogs; if they defied orders, execute the leaders on the spot. This princess was as brilliant as ever. Smiling faintly, he said softly, "Yes." Hearing this, Li Qingyan asked with great intrigue, "Changtian, how do you know such classified intelligence?" "From the memorials, of course," Xu Yuan said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Memorials?" Li Qingyan glanced at him, her eyes wide with astonishment. "Duke Xu allows you to browse through official memorials?" "Haven't you visited the inner courtyard of my family estate before? The door to my father's study is never locked," Xu Yuan looked into her eyes and said with a smile, "If you'd like, we can read them together."