I have the best bloodline

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 491 The Case of Xia Yu's Disappearance

"Could it be related to me?"

Su Yan, who was stopped by Grand Tutor Jin, walked into the office with a puzzled look on his face. He thought to himself that he hadn't caused any trouble recently. The matter of paying the fine for the fight last time was also settled by Princess Wuxi when she went home.

Besides, the trouble I caused wouldn't fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War and the Demon Suppression Bureau, right? At most, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites might have some minor objections.

“There’s no direct connection, but I think, given your luck, you might run into it,” Grand Tutor Jin said slowly. “You might need to be careful.”

Grand Tutor Jin gestured for Su Yan to sit down, then looked at the Minister of War and continued the previous topic, saying:

"I understand what happened. Your joint memorial to the Ministry of Industry has been submitted, and I will expedite its approval and stamping for you to process it."

The Minister of War and the Commander of the Demon Suppression Division came over as soon as Grand Tutor Jin took office because each department encountered a matter that it could not handle on its own and needed to get the Grand Tutor's approval before a formal document could be issued.

During the early winter season, the Xia Dynasty was hit by a series of high temperatures. Local government offices were no longer able to provide relief to the affected areas on their own. Seeing the situation was not good, the county magistrates and high-ranking officials immediately went to the local military garrisons to ask them to get approval for disaster relief work from higher authorities.

The Xia Dynasty was a major agricultural and pastoral country with abundant resources. However, due to a month of continuous high temperatures, water shortages for agriculture and animal husbandry had occurred in the resident areas. Normally, local government offices could organize manpower to transport water.

A month has passed, and the water cultivators' rainmaking techniques have failed to affect the weather. Clearly, this is no longer a matter that the local magistrates can handle on their own. They can only turn to the Xia Yu garrisons in various places and ask them to send immortal ships and personnel to bring in a large amount of water resources. Otherwise, the lack of water for spiritual plants and agricultural products will cause even bigger problems.

Such a large-scale troop mobilization would require the personal approval of Emperor Wusheng or Grand Tutor Jin; otherwise, even the Grand Protector could not mobilize troops on such a nationwide scale.

Therefore, the Minister of War came to the Grand Tutor early in the morning to explain the problems the Ministry of War was facing and to offer reasonable solutions.

The Ministry of War mobilized troops and transported water, while the Ministry of Works temporarily constructed magical structures to store water resources and block some of the scorching sun, thereby ensuring that the living environment of the high-value spiritual plants could be improved.

Before coming here, the Minister of War had already communicated with the Ministry of Works to ensure the feasibility of the plan before coming to Grand Tutor Jin to report. He did not simply throw all the problems at Grand Tutor Jin to think about and solve.

"Your subordinate obeys. I will immediately contact the Ministry of Works to formulate the marching regulations and submit a memorial."

Upon seeing that Grand Tutor Jin offered no further explanation, the Minister of War, without any pleasantries or flattery, rose directly from his seat, took his leave, and went out to handle other matters.

For officials of the third rank in the Xia Dynasty, without a breakthrough in cultivation or any special qualities, it would be difficult to advance further. Their concerns had shifted from promotion to how to maintain their positions and acquire resources to improve themselves.

Any outrageous words or actions could lead to being betrayed by subordinates.

When the Minister fell from power, dozens of his colleagues were promoted.

With the commander of the Demon Suppression Division right beside him, the Minister of War felt extremely uneasy. Given Xia Yu's promotion system and the system of offering bribes, it was impossible for anyone in the court to have a clean background. Thus, it was as if the Demon Suppression Division had always held dirt on everyone.

The donation system was a complete trap, a huge pit that put ministers in a difficult position. Once a minister went too far or crossed the line, he could be removed directly. In the process, it also demonstrated the Emperor Wusheng's responsibility and authority, and that he was doing a good job for the people.

Sister Xi'er's description of Xia Yu as a "gang" is actually an extremely apt adjective, as the entire court, from top to bottom, is full of capable and cunning villains.

However, they were all tied to the ship by the Emperor Wusheng, who could dispose of anyone at will and did not need to worry about public opinion or anything like that.

With greed as their sole motivation, they can kill whomever they want, without any concern about killing the wrong good officials.

The Demon Suppression Division's massacre of all its ministers was a just and righteous act, applauded by the people.

In the Xia Dynasty, power was accompanied by obligations. If one lacked the ability, one should have known to retire, rather than forcing the Demon Suppression Division to intervene and strip away one's last remaining dignity.

………………

"How's the investigation into the missing persons case going?"

After watching the Minister of War leave, Grand Tutor Jin turned to the Commander of the Demon Suppression Division, who was sitting in the office, and asked about the missing persons case.

"The source has been found, but there are some things that still require the Grand Tutor and His Majesty's judgment."

Aunt Chaotianhou glanced at Su Yan, then took out a recording crystal and placed it on the table, saying:

"In the past two weeks, more than 1,600 people have gone missing in various parts of the Xia Yu Dynasty. All of them were herbalists from remote villages and mountains. We followed the clues and traces at the scene to investigate."

Chao Qi raised his voice slightly in remote villages and mountains, as if he were speaking with a hidden meaning.

"After our spies investigated, our Demon Suppression Division recorded this scene." Chao Qi activated the recording crystal and projected an image of a remote mountain village.

The mountain village was dark at night, and the villagers lived a life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. At this moment, the night sky above the village gradually became eerie. The night sky, which was originally lit by a sky full of stars, turned pitch black, and the village gradually disappeared into the darkness, along with a large amount of soil that completely disappeared.

A spatial rift swallowed the mountain village completely, leaving no trace.

This is the first image; the image crystal then plays another image.

The scene is still set deep in the mountains, where spies from the Demon Suppression Bureau are tracking a group of people who have gone up the mountain to gather herbs.

But just as the recording crystal was recording, the Demon Suppression Division spy seemed to encounter something. His body paused, and he gradually began to float into the air. A liquid-like black mist emerged from behind the spy and spread to his entire body, even his fingertips disappeared into the darkness. Finally, the Demon Suppression Division spy let out a shrill scream.

The photo crystal fell to the ground, and blood-red liquid spilled from the sky onto its surface, covering the image with a layer of blood.

"Glug."

Su Yan watched the playing video, swallowed hard, and asked:

"Grandpa, these things shouldn't have anything to do with me, right?"

The image recorded by the photographic crystal was extremely strange, which reminded Su Yan of what Grand Tutor Jin had said earlier: that what was about to happen might be related to him.

Su Yan didn't think that what was happening on the screen had anything to do with her.

“When I’m on duty now, call me Grand Tutor.” Grand Tutor Jin looked at Su Yan and corrected his form of address before saying, “When I said it was related to you, I didn’t mean you were involved in the missing persons case. Rather, I felt that, given your luck, you might get caught up in it.”

"It's not that I'm planning to use you to lure the mastermind behind the scenes. A small fox with no meat on its bones can't catch a big fish."

Grand Tutor Jin looked at Chao Qi and said, "I can understand that you mean there is no mastermind behind Xia Yu's disappearance, but rather that it was caused by the special geological features of Xia Yu?"

The spatial gap that devoured the mountain village did not seem to be a power exerted by the Celestials, nor did it reveal the Celestials' own characteristics.

Based on the location of the missing persons and the randomness of the spatial gaps, it doesn't seem like the Nightmare Town Cult or demonic cultivators are capturing living beings for bloodstains. Thus, the Demon Suppression Division can only deduce a conclusion based on the available information.

The only common thread among the more than twenty missing persons cases and the more than one thousand missing persons is that none of them were located in areas covered by the deep veins of the Xia Yu earth.

"Yes."

Chao Qi said calmly, "The final conclusion of the investigation is just as the Grand Tutor said. As for the deeper factors, we don't need to investigate them anymore. Further investigation would be beyond the scope of our Demon Suppression Division's functions."

"But here I would like to add that if the spatial gap can devour living beings today, it may spew out some never-before-seen living beings tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 492 Yes, I'm here, and I'm serious.

"Today it can devour living beings, tomorrow it may spit out some living beings as well."

Commander Chao Qi of the Demon Suppression Division narrowed his eyes, as if giving a pointed warning about something.

As the head of the investigation department within the Xia Yu Dynasty, Chao Qi knew more about the secrets of the Xia Yu Dynasty than ordinary third-rank officials or kings of different surnames. Naturally, she could guess some things from the missing persons cases and the recent events in the cultivation world.

Therefore, after reporting on official business, Chao Qi solemnly warned Grand Tutor Jin that while earning silver was important for Xia Yu, it was now clear that the previous strategy needed to be adjusted.

Of course, Chao Qi was just saying it; how Grand Tutor Jin would handle it was none of her concern. Those matters were outside the jurisdiction of the Demon Suppression Division, and her words already hinted at overstepping her bounds.

"Um"

After Chao Qi finished speaking, he stood up from his chair, walked over to Su Yan, raised his arm, placed it on Su Yan's head, and patted it, saying, "Big Fox, you should still be preparing for the wedding banquet, right? Have you said anything about how the new house looks? Do you need to send any gifts?"

According to the customs of the Xia Dynasty, when people move into a new house, relatives and friends are expected to bring gifts. The closer the relationship between relatives and friends, the more intimate or frequently used the gifts will be.

As Aunt Wangtianhou's Daoist partner, when you visit her, you should bring furniture or bedding sets, and then give her a large monetary gift.

A few pieces of bedding. No doubt, Old Chong is already having them woven; bringing another bedding set would be a no-go. Therefore, Chao Qi asked Su Yan what style her new home was, intending to have the Feng family craft a top-of-the-line Xia Yu tea set to send over.

She's been incredibly busy lately. Xia Yu is dealing with missing persons cases every day, and everyone in the Demon Suppression Division, including the new recruits in the training camp, is out investigating. She hasn't had time to check on Fox Mom and Dragon Dad's new home.

"Uh, I'm not too sure either," Su Yan replied honestly. "Given my mother's personality, it's completely uncertain what the new house will look like."

“That’s right, the big fox just likes to fool around. It doesn’t matter if he’s right or wrong, as long as he’s happy.” Chao Qi smiled and shook his head, saying, “In that case, I’ll go back now. Come to Auntie’s house for dinner and tea when you have time!”

Fox Mother's personality is not one of careful planning before acting; rather, she is more impulsive and emotional. This can be seen from the fact that when she has nothing to do, she picks up a net and fishes out demonic cultivators at her doorstep to train them into servants.

Whether something is right or wrong doesn't matter, as long as you're happy.

The new house may be designed in a mixed Southern state style, but the final completed house may be built in a Northern state wilderness style.

………………

Watching Aunt Wangtianhou leave, Su Yan looked at Grand Tutor Jin, who seemed to be deep in thought, and said, "Grand Tutor, what the Commander of the Demon Suppression Division, Wangtianhou, said just now was related to the soil?"

When Su Yan was working in the flower region, he reported to Grand Tutor Jin that he wanted to replace all sugarcane planting with sugar beets, which slightly absorb soil nutrients.

Grand Tutor Jin gave his approval immediately, and Su Yan also indirectly learned that there were no mountain gods on the land of Xia Yu. Whether the land was fertile or not was not up to the mountain gods. The Xia Yu Dynasty had the ability to regulate the fertility of its territory. Apart from their cultivation, the mountain gods of Xia Yu were just mascots.

Judging from Aunt Wangtianhou's words, the reason for the Xia Yu population disappearance case was the Xia Yu Dynasty's ability to regulate the fertility of its territory.

"It has nothing to do with the soil," Grand Tutor Jin glanced at Su Yan, chuckled, and shook his head. "It has a lot to do with the Nightmare Suppression Technique. That's why I said it was related to you from the beginning. Don't you know you have a constitution that likes to provoke Nightmare Suppression?"

"Your Majesty and the others were still reckless. Without any communication, they killed the two immortals in the Void of Heaven and Earth who were anchored to the coordinates of the cultivation world."

"The cultivation world is now making a comeback, and thanks to His Majesty's arrangements, the soil in our Xia Yu territory is so fertile that seeds can grow wherever they are sown."

Upon hearing this, Su Yan looked surprised and asked, "Is the protective array of the Xia Yu Dynasty a method of suppressing evil spirits? And because the cultivation world is returning to the immortal realm, there is some conflict between the two, causing spatial rifts?"

Emperor Wusheng, Daoist Taiyi, and the Golden Crow of the Sun, for some reason, launched a surprise attack on the Heavenly Ruins and killed the immortals who were on the verge of death after exhausting their immortal power.

The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas had already secretly launched a surprise attack on the Ruins of Earth and killed the Immortal.

The Emperor of No Life and the Dragon Kings had not communicated, and neither side was aware of the other's actions. Each acted first to kill the immortals for their own or their allies' benefit, fearing that other celestial beings would secretly take action to intercept them.

With the anchor of Heaven and Earth Returning to Nothingness removed, the cultivation world, fixed in the void space gap, will naturally be affected by the gravity of the Immortal Realm and return to its original position. The split of the original Immortal Realm was the power of the Holy Spirits, which, with the support of Heaven and Earth Returning to Nothingness as the anchor, prevented the split regions from returning.

"Yes."

Grand Tutor Jin crossed his legs, picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip of tea, and said, "The earth veins of Xia Yu were created by His Majesty through human excavation, and did not rely on the earth veins that had long been contaminated by the poison of Xiang Liu."

“We may not feel it, but the cultivation world is indeed moving extremely slowly, to the point that it has caused problems with our Xia Yu's artificial earth veins.”

“Theoretically speaking, tearing through space with that immense spiritual power wouldn’t be too difficult.”

When Yu the Great established the Xia Dynasty, it was Emperor Yu and his clansmen who joined forces with the Feng clan to kill Xiang Liu, the overlord of the central region, and seize the territory of the Nine-Headed Serpent to develop the dynasty. However, when Xiang Liu died, he cast a vicious curse on the land, polluting the veins of the central region with his own blood.

It prevents plants from sprouting, rots the soil, and makes it impossible for any living thing to stand on the poisonous swamp.

The earth veins that Yu the Great is currently using are the earth veins that were cut off after Emperor Wusheng succeeded to the throne and expanded the land to its limit. He then revived the originally dead land by constructing earth veins.

The Xia Yu earth veins are currently intact, but because the cultivation world is shifting and changing direction, the power of the earth veins will leak out from the weak points of the earth vein coverage.

The earth veins were intact, and the protective array of the Xia Yu Dynasty was also intact. The real problem was the slowly moving cultivation world. As it moved, it caused a shift in position that shook the Xia Yu earth veins, resulting in a temporary leakage of spiritual energy due to the thin coverage of the earth veins.

This is why, before the Demon Suppression Chief understood the whole matter, the Xia Yu Dynasty's protective array and artificial earth veins had not issued any warnings, nor had anyone noticed the problem with the earth veins.

The formation and the earth veins were intact, so the warning restrictions set up inside would not be triggered.