Outside the Imperial Palace.

Zhong Shenxiu strolled casually, circling beneath the Imperial City, and glanced at the underground, lost in thought.

"Hmm, this tactic of startling the snake from the grass is indeed effective. It immediately revealed quite a bit of the Imperial Family's foundation... Heh, that Tianluo thought he could shield me with a Great Saint... but little did he know, he was delivering himself to my door..."

In this world, Great Saints are supreme, and though there are differences in strength, it's difficult to hide or deceive each other.

But for Zhong Shenxiu, with the aid of part of his original self's status, after Fang Lang attained Great Saint, he seemed half a rank higher than other Great Saints.

Therefore, he could access much-hidden information.

For example...

"There's something underground... From the leaked information... it's a ninth realm breaking through? Combined with previously obtained data, it might be the one succeeding Huang Long, making life unbearable for Great Zhou fishermen?"

"Heavenly Demon Tribulation, Huang Long's demise, forcing the Imperial Family to extremes... But... why do I feel this person has some... informational link to me?"

With the impending disaster, it's understandable that the Imperial Family is eager to cultivate sacred combat power.

What truly intrigued Zhong Shenxiu was that this person he had never met had some connection to him.

If not for his high status, he might not have caught this extremely subtle 'information'.

He closed his eyes, searching through this fragment of 'information' for a link to himself, and suddenly shuddered.

"The Tai Sui Life Book... it's the Tai Sui Life Book! It was initially delivered to me by the head of the Tai Sui Society... establishing this link!"

"Speaking of which, the head of the Tai Sui Society is quite mysterious, no one knows his true identity... and the Tai Sui Society managed to grow and thrive under the Emperor's nose..."

"Putting all this together, doesn't it imply that the head of the Tai Sui Society is someone from the Imperial Family! And the one breaking through to the ninth realm?"

Zhong Shenxiu silently gave himself a thumbs up: "With just a tiny bit of information, I deduced so much. It's truly a loss for the detective world that I'm not one..."

"Yet, the Imperial Family's plan to foster a Great Saint seems unrelated to me..."

He pondered for a moment, then lost interest and started walking back: "I'm quite busy; there's an All Saints Conference being held in Jinling soon to discuss how to deal with the impending Heavenly Demon Tribulation... Once the Great Saints agree, the Daoist order will issue a talismanic decree to summon all capable Loose Cultivators, who must comply or be exterminated... this is the major event of the Cultivation World."

"Thinking about it, someone like Huang Yuanba who's only cultivated a bit of Golden Cicada Qi probably won't receive the talismanic decree, but Cen Hongyue and Qin Weiyin might be in danger... This Daoist talisman is said to be personally issued through secret rituals by the Great Saints of Zhengyi Dao, directly imprinting itself onto the minds of qualified cultivators, making it impossible to avoid or refuse..."

With these thoughts in mind, Zhong Shenxiu shrugged and walked into another busy street.

This area was not far from the 'Ten Miles of Foreign Market' and was always bustling, but today, the market was in chaos.

"Extra, extra... The coastal sea routes are cut off, trade is severely impacted, five foreign firms have declared bankruptcy!"

A newsboy, waving a newspaper, wearing shoes with holes that showed his toes, ran quickly.

"Wait, give me a copy! The rest is a tip!"

Zhong Shenxiu casually pulled out a silver coin to buy a newspaper, ignoring the newsboy's delighted expression, and started reading.

"Hmm, indeed, everything is connected. With the coastal trade routes severed, the chain reaction is immediate..."

He flipped through the newspaper, which was filled with reports about the broken coastal trade routes and news of monsters rampaging along the coast, eating and killing people, shaking his head.

Soon, several other rumors caught Zhong Shenxiu's attention: "The reformers... finished? Yes... they initially rose to compete with foreign merchants and goods, but now that foreign goods are suppressed, do we still need new technology and factories?"

The nature of ancient feudal officials, in fact, resembled that of wealthy landlords. Aside from enthusiastically buying land, they preferred to turn their accumulated gold and silver into silver ingots to store in cellars, rather than using them for development.

To these officials, the best world was an unchanging one, governed by Confucian principles—they would rather avoid the labor of starting factories.

Without external pressure, the reformers quickly lost influence, which was expected.

"Many officials in the court have seized the chance to impeach wrongdoings by foreigners, suggesting the abolition of foreign privileges, and confiscating their properties... this is just beating a dead dog, but they are unaware of the greater power... While ordinary foreigners may be done for, the link to the supernatural world remains, and the court won't tear off the veneer completely."

After reading, Zhong Shenxiu rolled up the newspaper, intending to find a trash bin to discard it.

Suddenly, he caught sight of a figure in his peripheral vision.

The person, dressed in a suit and wearing a bowler hat, looked like a fake foreigner, yet was scorned by everyone.

His face was ashen as he left a financing firm, walking dejectedly, unaware of Zhong Shenxiu.

"Isn't this the progressive youth, Hu Wei, Hu Jinxin, whom I met on the ship to Jinling?"

Zhong Shenxiu's eyes gleamed: "He's enveloped in such a strong aura of strangeness, has he been interacting with cultivators intensely? And... quite powerful ones at that?"

With this thought, he became a bit interested and followed behind Hu Wei.

The man wasn't aware he was being tailed, heading to the outskirts and entering an already bankrupt factory.

The factory, originally for textiles, was now deserted and desolate.

Hu Wei went to the office, directly took out a bottle of alcohol from the counter, and chugged it down.

"Damn financing firm!"

After a bout of drinking, he finally vented his anger: "Seeing my family's ship destroyed at sea, they claim a huge penalty instead of helping, even kicking us when we're down... When my father was successful, how ingratiating they were! Now that he's down, a different story. It's truly laughable, laughable indeed..."

His cheeks flushed, his face portrayed a mix of laughter and tears.

"What happened? Our progressive youth?"

Then suddenly, a figure wearing a black iron mask emerged from the shadows.

"It's you? From the Iron Blood Society?"

Hu Wei blinked his drunken eyes: "You're here to mock me too?"

"No, no, Mr. Hu, I'm here to discuss cooperation." The masked figure chuckled softly: "Our previous collaborations were quite pleasant, weren't they?"

Hu Wei shivered all over, as if recalling unpleasant things: "You... you're not good people, you're rebels!"

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