Within Dachao

His fingertips brushed lightly over the ink marks on the xuan paper, a strange look flickering in Xu Yuan's eyes. Perhaps due to the butterfly effect of his arrival, that slender-waisted vixen from the Great Desert had made her move to flee the Great Desert Royal Court so much earlier than expected. Her escape was hardly unfamiliar to him. Across the countless worldlines of Cangyuan from his past life, she pulled such a stunt in nearly every single one. When playing through the storylines involving her back then, Xu Yuan had always been rather puzzled by her reason for running. Her goal had always been to seize supreme power over the Dachao people, yet fleeing the Dachao Royal Court meant straying entirely away from the center of power in the Great Desert. Now, however, considering the various internal reports from the Prime Minister's Manor, Xu Yuan could well understand why she had chosen to do so. It was because of her status as the Divine Maiden. And the bone-deep personality cult surrounding that status among the Dachao tribes. In his past life, Xu Yuan had been utterly incapable of understanding such a thing as a personality cult, but during his travels across Great Yan, he had witnessed it firsthand. Even though the center of power in Great Yan was already divided between imperial authority and ministerial rule, the grassroots officials, the local gentry, the scholars of letters, and the countless common folk almost universally condemned his Prime Minister father as a traitor who stole the state. The Emperor, on the other hand, was a divine being and a Saint in the hearts of the millions of commoners. This was the historical momentum accumulated over Great Yan's millennia of dynastic rule, and the inevitable outcome of endless years of official propaganda. As a theocratic realm, Dachao naturally possessed two "sovereigns." One was the secular royal family, and the other was the religious Divine Maiden. She was the worldly vicar of the gods, the hope for the Great Desert's revival, and nearly every child of the desert held an innate reverence for her. The mere banner of the Divine Maiden naturally commanded support. Just like the Sixth Prince of Dachao who had died at his hands—despite being Dachao royalty, he had still chosen to betray his own kin. As long as that slender-waisted vixen could escape the clutches of the Dachao royal family, she could use her exalted status as the Divine Maiden and the unique nature of the Linlang to rapidly cultivate a following of loyal supporters among the desert tribes. At this thought, an ironic, wistful smile played at the corners of Xu Yuan's lips. This Divine Maiden of the Great Desert was probably done for. Based on his understanding of Cangyuan's plot, Li Junwu's accidental patrol was very likely the final straw that broke the camel's back. In ordinary times, many gluttonous fools could occupy high positions, but in this era of looming upheaval and brilliant stars, those who held sinecures and did nothing were inevitably dragged down and eliminated through one means or another. As the final boss of one of the worldlines in Cangyuan, that Divine Maiden had been able to lead the desert to prominence; her scheming, shrewdness, methods, and capabilities were all among the world's finest. But that did not mean there were no ruthless figures among the Dachao royal family capable of contending with her. In Cangyuan, if a player missed certain choices, then in most worldlines, this Divine Maiden of the Great Desert would simply vanish without a trace, and only from minor, peripheral plot details afterward could the player learn that she had been done in by the Dachao royal family. Xu Yuan gave a slight shake of his head. Since crossing over to this world, he rarely attributed things to the world auto-correcting plot discrepancies anymore. Everything had a cause and an effect. In the game of power against the Dachao Royal Court, the Divine Maiden had always been at an absolute disadvantage. To bet small and win big, one had to tread on thin ice; success was a stroke of luck, while failure was the norm. Losing an elite force of a thousand men to Li Junwu would be nearly impossible to cover up. The Dachao royal family's surveillance over the Divine Maiden would inevitably become much tighter. In fact... Xu Yuan suspected that after this incident, the Dachao royal family might even design a plot to execute her directly, regardless of the cost. One's experience determined one's perspective. The conversations between his father and the high-ranking officials of the Prime Minister's Manor in his memories, along with the internal reports he had read over the past year, gave Xu Yuan a much deeper understanding of the word "power" than he had possessed in his past life. Because of her status as the Divine Maiden and the unique nature of the Linlang, the Dachao royal family could tolerate many rebellious acts from that slender-waisted vixen. For the Dachao royal family, compromise and tolerance yielded immense benefits, whereas tearing apart all pretense would result in catastrophic losses. However, the Divine Maiden's attempt to flee had crossed the royal family's bottom line. She posed a direct threat to the Dachao royal family's grassroots dominion over the Great Desert. Politics was the art of compromise and cooperation, but once the struggle touched the pinnacle of supreme power, compromise ceased to exist—there was only a fight to the death at any cost. Even Li Yaoxuan, that "restorative sovereign" who had once tolerated and even assisted the Prime Minister's Manor in expanding its power, could not escape this vicious cycle in his final days, let alone the rulers among the Dachao royal family. While silently mourning in his heart for that familiar yet unfamiliar vixen, a sudden thought sprang into Xu Yuan's mind. If conditions permitted, perhaps their Prime Minister's Manor could dip a toe into this power struggle in the Great Desert? By his reckoning, the Divine Maiden would likely perish in the Dachao royal family's internal strife. But if their Prime Minister's Manor could offer her a little assistance, her fate might just be rewritten. Naturally, helping her was no act of charity. Propping up an opposition faction within the Great Desert would not only divide and weaken their strength, but also allow the manor to extract and exchange considerable benefits. Sunlight cascaded into the room like a waterfall, leaving the chamber in quiet stillness. Once the idea sprouted, it spread uncontrollably through Xu Yuan's mind. Lou Ji's Black Scale Guards already had an established protocol for propping up an opposition faction beneath an otherwise unified regime, but looking at the current political landscape within the Great Desert, they might not even need that protocol. All their Prime Minister's Manor needed to do was rescue that slender-waisted vixen from under the Dachao royal family's surveillance, and then release her back into the wild. As for the rest, the woman would do it herself. It was a deal where the returns far exceeded the investment. As the thought flashed by, a hint of hesitation suddenly arose in Xu Yuan's heart. Every profession had its specialty. Lou Ji's Black Scale Guards were not omniscient; they couldn't procure every scrap of intelligence. If he wanted to execute this plan, he would have to swallow his pride and go beg Li Junwu—asking this bosom buddy of his to provide copies of the maps and letters she had acquired, along with all the intelligence Marquis Zhenxi's Manor possessed on the Dachao, for their Prime Minister's Manor. Without that intelligence as backing, blindly sending operatives deep behind enemy lines would very likely be like throwing meat buns to a dog—gone with nothing to show for it. Yet intelligence of that caliber was already top secret. If he asked and Li Junwu gave it, everything would be fine; Xu Yuan would simply owe her an immense favor. What if she refused? Would they still be able to remain friends? And besides... Once self-interest became entangled between friends, the bond would no longer be pure. With an inward sigh, Xu Yuan quietly stowed the stack of letters into his Sumeru ring, slowly stood up, and made his way toward the location of the communication crystal in the Prime Minister's Manor's inner courtyard. Given the special status of the Divine Maiden of the Great Desert, there would likely still be a buffer period before the Dachao royal family moved against her. He would ask Lou Ji to look into it first. If there truly was no other way, he could sound out his bosom buddy's thoughts then...