After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

Therefore, if the surrounding states and Dongyang State can be integrated, and everyone unites to follow Zhou Yan's orders, administrative costs and the loss of various resources will be greatly reduced.

As soon as the idea was put forward, some people couldn't resist. Several mayors of Dongyang State and officers of the National Guard that Zhou Yan had taken in began to ask other states for resources, power, and all kinds of benefits in Zhou Yan's name.

Wei Youde told him everything he knew about the promises made by the leadership team of Dongyang Prefecture.

"...That's the situation. Representatives from other states don't mind being given power and wealth, but if they're given too much, they can't resist."

Wei Youde's voice sounded somewhat weak.

"They want Councilor Zhou to give them a formal status."

Zhou Yan was amused.

"A title? Did I sleep with them?"

Damn it, everyone else is getting all the benefits, and I haven't seen a single penny, yet I'm being asked to give them a title.

Why?

Wei Youde chuckled dryly.

“Congressman Zhou, I have already spoken to those military units that are taking advantage of the situation, as well as a few old friends. They are willing to share 70% of their food with you, Congressman Zhou, but they also hope that you can finalize the cooperation with other states.”

Wei Youde took out a stack of paper documents from his briefcase.

"Councilor Zhou, these are the cooperation documents we prepared. Please take a look."

Zhou Yan took it and said.

"Any army that has been exploited this time, after we cooperate, will be sent to the local earthquake bureau and sanitation bureau as experts!"

Wei Youde was taken aback.

"No, there's no need for that..."

Wei Youde spoke with a slight stutter.

"Isn't this going to be too intense? Doing this might upset the brothers."

Zhou Yan said calmly.

"Isn't this exactly the result you wanted to test me?"

Wei Youde: "..."

Zhou Yan patted Wei Youde on the shoulder and said jokingly.

“You’re doing a good job. You didn’t get involved in these things, so you can continue to be the mayor of Roman City.”

Wei Youde looked somewhat forced.

The people who participated in this round of extortion and cooperation with various states were chosen by this group of old men, depending on Zhou Yan's attitude. If Zhou Yan gritted his teeth and tolerated it, they would dare to extend their reach even further in the future.

Of course, Zhou Yan wasn't afraid of seeing through this. As Bai Ze and Wei Youde, they knew very well that Zhou Yan was aware of their ulterior motives. But they just hoped that Zhou Yan would be a little softer and give them some benefits in return for the work they did for him every day.

Looking back now, I realize I was being too optimistic.

As an awakened individual capable of reclaiming an entire state through violence, kindness and compassion seem to have nothing to do with such a person.

Zhou Yan casually glanced at the contract provided by Wei Youde. To be honest, Zhou Yan felt dizzy just looking at the legal clauses with numerous annotations.

Of course, with Zhou Yan's abilities, he didn't need to read through each paragraph. He could just find a lawyer who wrote down the legal terms and have his family history checked three generations back. That would tell him if there were any traps in the contract and whether there would be any problems if he signed it.

"It's ready." (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the preceding sentence.)

Zhou Yan handed the contract to Wei Youde, who accepted it with a stiff expression.

"Um, Councilor Zhou, the banquet I booked..."

Wei Youde dared not look Zhou Yan in the eye.

"It's at six o'clock in the evening."

"Okay, I understand. I will keep my appointment on time."

Wei Youde turned and left, while Zhou Yan returned to his room.

"Qingcai, Chongba, Xiaowan, let's play."

I haven't played with my little ones in a long time, so I'm going to have a blast this time.

Several auspicious beasts cried out excitedly.

"I want to play with my brother!"

The nine-colored deer excitedly stomped its feet.

"Monopoly, Hearthstone, or poker?"

Su Xiaowan opened the bedside table and took out a lot of board game cards.

"Playing cards, playing cards! Chongba wants to play playing cards..."

Luan bird Mu Chongba flapped her wings, her voice excited. She had watched some humans play cards before and found it very interesting.

Zhou Yan walked to the bedside, took the board game that Su Xiaowan took out, and tilted his head when he opened it.

"Tsk tsk, a question suddenly occurred to me: when all the creatures are auspicious beasts, who can win in a game of luck?"

Zhou Yan really likes a Hearthstone streamer who consistently ranks in the top ten in the Chinese Hearthstone rankings. However, due to bad luck, he was once defeated by a newbie.

Therefore, in games like Hearthstone, which are half luck and half skill, there's a saying: "Your strategy is nothing compared to luck."

Unfortunately, everyone on our side, including ourselves, is a lucky beast with maximum luck.

……

Inside a bedroom.

Chu Daoyun lay on the bed, a suggestive smile on her face that made people's minds wander.

"Back then, Xiao Yan told me he wanted to play cards with me..."

A white crested gossamer whimpered.

"Xiao Yan told me the same thing. He won the game and confessed his feelings to me."

The young woman, Jiufeng, said happily.

"Silly girl, what does confessing matter? I'll just eat this cutie up... Young people really have amazing stamina..."

At least half of the crested pheasants were furious.

"Nine Phoenix's main personality roared."

"How dare you touch Xiao Yan! I've never even touched him!"

Jiufeng's main personality voice was choked with sobs.

"I am so proud of myself," said the young woman, Jiufeng.

"Not only did I touch it, I also made your son Xiaoyan give it to me..."

The young woman, Jiu Feng, vividly recounted to her main personality how Zhou Yan had served her. Back then, for the sake of Xiao Yanjun, Leng Qing, and Mu Yuan, Zhou Yan had used everything he had learned from all the Japanese adult films on his hard drive.

The remaining half of the phoenix head also burst open one after another.

"Stop talking, stop talking!"

I'm going to kill you!

"Sisters! Let's work together, I'm going to skin this bastard alive!"

"Cooperate, cooperate! I'll make sure you die a horrible death!"

"Waaaaah, waaaaah..." (This appears to be a fragment of a sentence or paragraph, possibly a machine translation error. A direct translation isn't possible without the full context.)

"Stop talking, stop talking, just fuck me if you want, waaaaah..."

"Beasts die!"

Jiufeng raised one hand and mercilessly smashed it onto her own nose.

The young woman, Jiufeng, immediately suffered a broken nose, and blood gushed out.

"Me too!"

With his other hand, he made a sword gesture with both hands, and thrust the sword towards the young woman Jiu Feng's eye socket with such ferocity that it was almost enough to pierce her head.

……

Purple Bamboo Forest in the South China Sea.

Zhu Jiuyin fell to the ground from mid-air.

Unlike Zhangwei Mountain, where Zhujiuyin had completely lost its order, Guanyin's sacred site remained peaceful and serene. The wind rustled through the purple bamboo grove, creating a Zen-like atmosphere.

Looking further in, one can see a faint, clear, and serene Buddhist light shining within the purple bamboo forest.

Eight Treasures Merit Pool.

This divine object is formed from the great power, supernatural abilities, and great vows of Guanyin Bodhisattva. The eight treasures of merit water inside can even revive a ginseng fruit tree.

The peach trees in the peach orchard also rely on this stuff.

Zhu Jiuyin entered the Purple Bamboo Forest.

Halfway there, Zhu Jiuyin stopped in her tracks. She saw a dried-up black bear carcass by the roadside.

Has the mountain god of the Purple Bamboo Forest died?

Further on, Zhu Jiuyin saw the corpse of Sudhana, and next to it was a dragon corpse that was nothing but bones.

The dragon girl's corpse...

It seems that everyone except Guanyin has perished.

Zhu Jiuyin sighed and continued forward.

Before long, Zhu Jiuyin saw the Eight Treasures Merit Pool, which was a hundred square meters in size. The pool was decorated with stone chimes, silver ingots, pearls, coral, ancient coins, ruyi scepters, rhinoceros horns and conch shells. Inside, merit water gathered with Buddhist light rippled, and on the merit water, lotus flowers bloomed.

There was a lotus leaf on the fourth floor, and a child who was about 1.5 meters tall was sitting on it.

Zhu Jiuyin didn't look at the child closely because a handsome Taoist priest slowly walked out from the Eight Treasures Merit Pool.

4. Zhu Jiuyin said in surprise.

3 “Zhen Yuanzi?!”

Chapter Seven: Spreading Rumors

Inside the state government building in Dawu Prefecture.

The five state legislators, dressed in formal attire, walked out of the state government building together. A limousine was parked outside the building, driven by a local National Guard colonel who was standing outside the vehicle.

Colonel Sou saw his state legislator come out, opened the door, and got into the driver's seat.

The remaining members of parliament then boarded the car.

As soon as the governor of Dawuzhou got into the passenger seat and closed the car door, the colonel in the driver's seat said sadly.

"The true god of Dongyang Prefecture has finally relented."

The next four state legislators sighed in turn.

Ever since they learned that Zhou Yan, the actual ruler of Dongyang Prefecture, was a true god or Bai Ze, the surrounding prefectural governments have been in a state of unease. In order to avert potential future conflicts, while Zhou Yan was busy grinding through the Ling Mountain to quell the turmoil in Tianzhu, the prefectural governments of various prefectures had already secretly colluded with the Luomen City government of Dongyang Prefecture.

Both parties signed a contract, made verbal promises, and exchanged various materials and wealth.

Now we have to do one last thing.

Let Zhou Yan give them a proper status.

As local strongmen, the state legislators of Dawu felt somewhat aggrieved, believing themselves to be a backup option for a scumbag, having given him everything, even their bodies, and now pitifully waiting for him to give them a title.

What's worse is that, given Zhou Yan's current strength, even if he said something like, "Playing with you is already giving you face, why do you want a title?" the state legislators of Dawu State would feel they had to accept it.

Just because someone has the bigger fist doesn't mean we have to obey their every word.

The vehicle drove out of the state government building's perimeter wall and onto the highway leading to East Yang State.

There weren't many vehicles on the road at first, but as we drove halfway down, the road widened and more and more vehicles began to appear around us.

The increased number of vehicles weren't just ordinary, inexpensive models, but rather luxury cars with shafts costing millions, some even limited editions that are now discontinued.

The colonel driving glanced at the rear of a car through the windshield, whistled, and chuckled.

"I recognize that license plate; it belongs to Governor Qin Haizhou." (Sui)