Volume 5, Chapter 95 – Manipulation (2-in-1)

The Demon-Expulsion Edict.

As time passed, this first formal declaration issued by Bai Xiang after her return spread through the civilized world at an unprecedented speed, triggering discussion and argument on an unprecedented scale.

The first to bear the brunt of it was the Federation.

The Federation had only spent a few years basking in the achievement of “surpassing Eastern Xia.” At most, because of Bai Xiang’s peerless martial might, they held a certain personal respect for her. But there was no way they could tolerate being unilaterally labeled demons in this manner.

For a time, the entire Federation, online and offline alike, was filled with doubts and criticism aimed at Bai Xiang.

Then, on the night of the sixteenth, the very day the Demon-Expulsion Edict was issued, a female councilor named Zhanli published an article on social media in response.

She wrote:

[I am very curious whether the Xia Emperor was interfered with by soul-eroding Void Demons during the campaign to exterminate voidfiends. Otherwise, how could she possibly have issued such a declaration?]

[I cannot make sense of it. I truly cannot understand it.]

[Our Sacred Weapon Clan has been recognized by every nation as a “new humanity.” This form not only allows us to wield demonic power more effectively, but also frees us from the side effects that demonic power would normally inflict on the body under standard cultivation methods. Is this not the most perfect form of life?]

[The war between human civilization and the voidfiends is bound to be a prolonged and long-lasting one. During this time, we must unite every force that can be united. We cannot casually define another group of people because of momentary indignation or personal likes and dislikes.]

[Speaking only from my personal preferences, I have always greatly respected and admired His Majesty the Xia Emperor. I grew up listening to legends about her, and I even used to fantasize about becoming someone like her, taking up arms and going to the battlefield to slay demons.]

[But sadly, my personal talents are limited. Even after transforming into one of the Sacred Weapon Clan, I was still not suited to join the military. So I chose politics instead, hoping to contribute to the Federation in another way.]

[In truth, every one of us is like this. We all have weaknesses. We all have moments of fragility. We all have times when we realize there are things we simply cannot do.]

[But we must not be broken by that, and we must not be ruled by extreme emotions. On the contrary, it is precisely because reality is so difficult, and this fight is so difficult, that we need to stand united. We absolutely must stand united.]

[So, in summary… there is no doubt that the Demon-Expulsion Edict of May 16 was an extremely grave mistake committed by His Majesty the Xia Emperor in her personal capacity.]

[As a councilor of the Federation, I must express my regret over the present situation.]

[And as a citizen of the Federation, I believe I have the duty to ask His Majesty the Xia Emperor on behalf of the majority of our citizens: when you issued such a declaration, did you ever consider that the Federation is also part of human civilization? That the Federation too has shed blood and sweat in the struggle against the voidfiends?]

[At present, the order of the main world has yet to settle, and the ancient calamities and evils are returning without cease. I earnestly hope that His Majesty the Xia Emperor will consider this carefully. Personally, I very much hope that you will withdraw this declaration within seven days!]

Zhanli’s article exploded in popularity the moment it was posted.

Many Federation citizens left comments beneath it in support.

“Well said!”

“We support you, Councilor!”

“When it comes to resisting the voidfiends, the Federation has never lacked bloodshed or sacrifice these past years. The Xia Emperor’s declaration really went too far. I felt deeply offended…”

“Apologize! She must apologize for all the ways she has offended the Federation!”

“Yes, she should apologize. Or at the very least, she needs to clarify that she was targeting only scattered demonized people in those small countries, not including the Starsea Federation.”

From the sixteenth to the twenty-third, a full seven days, one could say that everyone was waiting.

Waiting for the Xia Emperor to see where public opinion was heading.

Waiting for her to withdraw the declaration, or apologize, or at the very least make further distinctions regarding the declaration’s contents.

And they did indeed get a response.

A little after eleven at night on the twenty-third, almost at the very last moment of the one-week deadline, the official website of Great Xia’s Zhengyuan Palace updated with a supplemental statement regarding the Demon-Expulsion Edict.

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The statement sternly rejected the claim that the Sacred Weapon Clan were a “new humanity.” Instead, in an extremely scientific and rigorous tone, it dissected the hidden dangers and harms of the Sacred Weapon Clan, stating that “although the Starsea Federation, with the Sacred Weapon Clan as its principal race, has indeed made sacrifices in the war against the voidfiends over the years, we believe this to be, more than anything, a struggle of sapience against the primitive.”

Just like “demonic beasts” and “demonized humans.”

The former are transformed from beasts through demonization. The latter are transformed from humans through demonization.

When encountered alone, “demonic beasts” will still attack “demonized humans.”

The website then uploaded an investigative report signed by the Great Xia Voidfiend Research Institute. After collecting over a thousand case studies, it reached a conclusion: as more and more voidfiend tribes acquired higher intelligence, the kind of intelligence that could be called true sapience, tracking investigations showed that their “interest” in the Starsea Federation’s armies had markedly declined. Instead, they had been moving eastward with increasing frequency, clashing multiple times with Great Xia’s border defenders during the process.

How could that be possible?

After seeing this new information, countless netizens were stunned.

What was Eastern Xia trying to say?

Were they actually suggesting that the vast voidfiend armies active in recent years were increasingly avoiding conflict with Federation forces over time? And that the reason for this was that they were on the same side as the Federation?

There could not possibly be a more absurd explanation than that.

Enraged, countless Federation netizens immediately tried to storm the Zhengyuan Palace website, only to discover, with even greater fury, that they could not access the eastern networks at all. Those pieces of information and those images had all been reposted by their own domestic media.

Right at that moment, on a Federation platform, an account signed as “Hannah Kinlis,” verified as a “former Federation biologist,” published an article.

[This phenomenon is hard to explain. Yes, I think arriving at such a conclusion is difficult.]

[But even though I used to be a citizen of the Federation, I still have to tell the truth here: these things are starting to regard the Federation, or more precisely the Sacred Weapon Clan, as the same kind as themselves!]

[I believe some extremely important piece of information must have been overlooked here. It may be some hidden danger within the Sacred Weapon Clan themselves, and it is precisely this hidden danger that causes sapient voidfiends to stop viewing them as enemies. Yes, the voidfiends seem able to see through this somehow. It is deeply strange. Any rational person should seriously investigate and think about why this is happening. Personally, I strongly do not recommend that the Federation continue treating the Sacred Weapon Clan as its principal race, nor do I recommend that any Federation citizen rashly attempt fusion experiments before the truth comes to light…]

“Hannah, and all these people… who taught them to play the game like this?”

In the rear court of Zhengyuan Palace, Bai Xiang lounged back in a reclining chair and scrolled through her phone. Seeing Hannah’s comment section being flooded and besieged by Federation passersby, a faint smile appeared on her face.

This development was just too interesting.

Interesting beyond all expectations.

Because Hannah was not entirely without means of fighting back. As time passed, she had clearly noticed that some users were either mixing into the comment section as trolls, posting remarks like “Dr. Hannah’s statement is proof enough that all Eastern Xia people are poisonous! Everyone who has ever gone to Eastern Xia or done business with Eastern Xia should be hanged,” or else reposting the supposedly fair and balanced takes of certain “well-known accounts,” trying to shift public discussion away from the Demon-Expulsion Edict itself and toward whether the Sacred Weapon Clan’s fusion experiments really carried hidden dangers.

And to be fair, it was working.

Of the anger that had built up among the Federation’s masses over the course of the week because of the Demon-Expulsion Edict, at least a third of it had already been redirected toward suspicion of the Federation government.

Quite a lot of real users were now making posts questioning whether the Federation had concealed the truth from society at large in this matter.

Especially that female councilor named Zhanli. It had been dug up that her family ran a pharmaceutical institution specializing in equipment for fusion experiments, and she had been forced into such a state of frantic damage control by the storm that she no longer had the energy to make further comments about Bai Xiang at all.

“That was me.”

Bai Zhuqing was seated at the foot of the reclining chair, massaging the sole of Bai Xiang’s raised black-silk-clad foot while speaking in a disgruntled tone.

All those years of grinding levels had not been for nothing.

Though she had not had many chances to actually fight anyone, and her cultivation had entered a stagnant phase, her experience in handling all sorts of messy affairs had risen at breakneck speed. That included this sort of public-relations work.

The high ground of public opinion was a hole. If you did not occupy it, the enemy would.

Since that was the case, why not seize it yourself?

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Even if all you did was muddy the waters, having that sort of controllable interference would reduce resistance no matter what you wanted to do.

“Nicely done.”

Bai Xiang praised her.

Then she lifted the other black-silk-clad foot. Her toes spread slightly inside the stocking, and with astonishing dexterity she plucked a grape from the fruit plate beside her, pinching it and holding it out before Bai Zhuqing.

“Open your mouth.”

“This is your reward.”

Boom!!!

Bai Zhuqing felt as though five bolts of lightning had struck her at once.

It was not that she was unwilling, but… this was clearly a scene straight out of the erotic dreams she had once had!

Well, it was a little different. In those dreams, she had been the one wearing the dragon robe, and Bai Xiang had been dressed in the robes of an empress. But the crucial step was exactly the same!

Th-this… hadn’t her sister rejected doing things like this before…? Then why would she… now…?

“If it were the old you, I probably wouldn’t have liked doing this,” Bai Xiang said directly, having seen through her hesitation. “But now you know how to blush. You know how to be shy. I find the way you are now rather delightful…”

“So… are you unwilling?”

How could she possibly be unwilling?

Bai Zhuqing’s reason was screaming at her in mad warning: Don’t do it! If this keeps going, you really will turn into your sister’s dog!

But her body reacted before her reason could. She tilted her head back and opened her mouth, taking the fruit that was pinched between those black-silk-clad toes into her lips. While doing so, she even brushed against that smooth, soft sensation.

Uh… uh…?

Only after all that, when she felt the grape burst in her mouth under pressure and the sweet-sour juice spill across her tongue, did Bai Zhuqing realize what she had done. By then, her delayed reason had already kicked up a storm in her mind.

In an instant, she sank so deeply into shame and humiliation that she could not pull herself out. Her originally fair and lovely face turned a clear, translucent red, as though white steam might rise from it at any moment.

It was indeed humiliating… deeply embarrassing…

But… but being fed like this by her sister… somehow seemed faintly pleasurable too…

How strange… what exactly was this feeling…?

While Bai Zhuqing wrestled with herself, Bai Xiang paid it little mind.

She had found another long commentary on the foreign web. This one had been posted by another native Federation biologist. Its content happened to align exactly with the line of investigation pursued by Hannah’s Great Xia Voidfiend Research Institute. Over the years, through tracking and observation of voidfiend populations, this person too had discovered changes in their behavioral patterns.

His name was Boli Aili, and he was affiliated with the Federation Institute of Biology. He stated that he and his team had tracked and observed seventeen large voidfiend settlements over the past six years, and that those settlements had indeed become less aggressive toward Federation forces over time.

[In the past, I never dared make my research public, because I was afraid of being attacked. I was afraid those people would pin all sorts of labels on me and brand me a heretic, a traitor.]

[But now I can finally publish it…]

[I am not saying the Eastern Xia investigation must necessarily be correct. What I am saying is that we need more angles from which to analyze the truth.]

[That is what science is, is it not?]

He too came under attack for what he said, though a portion of the public voiced support. As Bai Xiang scrolled through the information, she fell into thought.

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She felt that the Sacred Weapon Clan might very well still have hidden dangers that had never been eliminated.

In truth, there had not been much deeper meaning behind her decision to classify the Federation as an enemy. It was simply a matter of reciprocal retaliation.

No matter what, I am the ruler of Great Xia. I am the symbol of this country’s legal order.

So when your Federation saint came together with the voidfiends to besiege me, was that not outrageously unacceptable?

Oh? At that time, why did you not bring up “human civilization” with me then?

Not to mention that the Federation’s attitude toward Great Xia had always been subtle to begin with.

Before Bai Xiang returned, they had already been trying to shift more troops eastward, and they had also used public discourse to bewitch no small number of Xia people into chasing after “new humanity” and “new technology.” Even someone like Qiao Wen had not been able to avoid being affected.

And then there was North Yu, a regime that, from every angle, stood as Great Xia’s mortal enemy. The Federation had openly expressed support for it and provided aid, even once sending governors in secretly to assist it.

After all those prior moves, how did you still have the nerve to speak to me of “human civilization,” or of “uniting every force that can be united”?

The posture you adopted toward me was already so openly hostile. And on top of that, the Blood Lord Xue En joined with Fang Yang and the Qingyun Demon Saint to strike at this side.

Under those circumstances, of course I could only regard you as mortal enemies.

That was inevitable.

There was no room for maneuver at all.

So when Bai Xiang handled the declaration, she had not hesitated in the slightest.

It had also indeed been her idea to have the Voidfiend Research Institute release that sort of report, but that had only been to give herself a proper justification. It was nothing more than shooting the arrow first and drawing the target afterward, finding whatever excuse would serve.

But now…

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes.

Judging from just how explosive the reaction to this matter had been, the Sacred Weapon Clan probably really did have hidden dangers.

Still, it did not matter.

All kinds of sapient beings had suffered for who knew how long under the Void Tribulation, under Loss of Order, under the torment of demonic power. Now I have given you a road to remain human, and you refuse to walk it.

Whether there are hidden dangers or not, you are still nothing but refuse fated to be eliminated by cultivation technology.

Skipping past those matters, Bai Xiang switched back to the domestic net and began checking the domestic public mood.

It was worth noting that because she herself had returned and was once again seated at the center of power, some of the problems that had once been problems were no longer problems. Restrictions between Great Xia’s various base cities and regions had been opened, and all networks could now be linked together.

It was only that the disruption caused by the tides of the Void Tribulation was still rather severe, so the signal quality was poor, and the number of netizens remained far lower than that of the Starsea Federation.

Hadn’t Yu Daoyong once said that his towers could also be linked to each other to transmit information?

Once his demon-aura towers spread out, perhaps things would improve.

After browsing the domestic net for a while, Bai Xiang discovered that almost all Xia people were expressing “absolute support” for her.

Mm…

On this point, although she had anticipated that after ten years of bloody war the public would be full of rather extreme emotions toward anything tainted by demonic power, she truly had not expected those emotions to be this intense.

“Wholehearted support” was no longer enough to describe it. Many retired military cultivators and old veterans had taken to the streets in groups in response to the call, declaring that they were willing to enlist again, and that if Great Xia was going to war with the Federation, they must please be summoned.

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They were too enthusiastic.

Bai Xiang was not even very used to it.

Still, every objective had indeed been achieved.

Whether it was setting the tone for the country and for her own political stance, leaving no room for the existence of anyone inclined toward demonic power, or shifting everyone’s attention so that they would stop focusing on Xuanxia and on news from the Xuantian Holy Mother’s side.

Every goal had been perfectly accomplished.

That meant there would now be plenty of time to deal with those people and see what exactly they were trying to do.

“Sis—”

Bai Zhuqing’s voice came over.

It no longer sounded quite so shy.

It sounded a little serious.

So this was probably something important.

“What is it?”

Bai Xiang set down her phone and looked over. Bai Zhuqing was also holding her own device, brows knitted tightly together, with what seemed to be a trace of pent-up anger hidden in her expression.

Taking a deep breath, Bai Zhuqing slowly raised her head and looked at her. “Yuzhou Watchman Jin Yuling has been murdered.”

“Someone stripped every piece of clothing off her body, scraped away all the flesh until only a skeleton remained, then cut off her head and hung it at the busiest intersection in the area… The matter has already caused panic locally.”

She had expected Bai Xiang to frown in anger as well. Unexpectedly, when she finished speaking, Bai Xiang showed almost no reaction.

“Sis?”

Bai Zhuqing did not understand. “This is obviously retaliation by the voidfiends. Are we going to do nothing?”

In her view, this had to be connected to what Bai Xiang had done in the northwestern desert.

The voidfiends also had assassins, the sort who hid among the crowds and were impossible to guard against.

This should have been their doing.

“You are wrong. This has nothing to do with the voidfiends, or rather, not that much to do with them.”

Bai Xiang shook her head.

“Then who does it have more to do with?” Bai Zhuqing stared.

But Bai Xiang did not answer directly. Instead, she asked a different question.

“Where has Xuanxia’s envoy reached?”

“Th-that… let me see… They should be nearing Longchuan.”

“In a few days, come back with me.”

Bai Xiang nodded.

“Let’s go and see together what exactly they’re hiding up their sleeve.”