'Have you all read the reports from Lungmen?'
In Baizao, at a small meeting of the Grand Council.
"Let's deliberate," the True Lung began, speaking with a weary voice. "Exactly how should we respond to this?"
"It is essentially confirmed that this is an incarnation of a Feranmut," the Grand Marshal said with a solemn expression. "Even if it isn't the deity itself, it is at least its agent."
"Judging by their words and actions, there's a high probability of some unknown conspiracy hidden beneath the surface. Where in the world would you find such a kind-hearted Feranmut? Treating people for free, and curing a terminal illness like Oripathy at that!"
"Hmph, using a Feranmut's Authority to treat the Infected in the slums is nothing more than a move to win over hearts and minds, using them for their own ends. After all, for people living such precarious lives, it's only natural they would flock to someone who can cure them."
He spoke with grand conviction: "Furthermore, he hasn't fully cured them; he's only reversed the condition. The Oripathy will continue to develop, which means those Infected can never truly leave him!"
"Observing this person's behavior, he plots for something immense!"
"I understand the Grand Marshal's point," the Grand Preceptor sighed, speaking up. "That Feranmut calling herself Bailu does indeed seem to have ulterior motives, but... even so, we cannot act lightly."
"First, she cures over ten thousand Infected daily. By now, she must have treated around a hundred thousand. Lungmen is our Yan's gateway for foreign trade; this news has surely spread across Terra with the merchant caravans."
"From distant Columbia to neighboring Ursus, which nation is not deeply troubled by the issue of the Infected? Once news of her spreads, if we were to move against her directly, Yan would find it difficult to explain itself to the international community."
"To catch a thief, one needs the loot. Before she shows her fangs, the Department of Sui Affairs should not act rashly. If we cannot produce sufficient evidence, we will only be handing others a weapon to use against us."
He stroked his beard and said, "On the contrary, not only can we not move against her, we must promote her vigorously. We must praise her as high as possible. That way, if she truly possesses a doctor's benevolent heart, we will have formed a good karmic bond and won't drive a Feranmut to the side opposing Yan."
"If she does have sinister designs, then after she makes her move, the higher she was praised before, the more thoroughly she will be shattered afterward."
"Praising her to her death? Hmph," the Grand Marshal flicked his sleeves in displeasure. "A good strategy depends on the target! Why show such leniency to a Feranmut! As for international perceptions, those are empty illusions. Must we wait until she turns Lungmen upside down before we act?"
"Since the start of the Crystal Age, the connections between the world's nations have grown tighter," the Grand Preceptor said, frowning. "How can a great power act so..."
"At the end of the day, I still agree more with the Grand Marshal," the Old Tianshi interrupted directly. Compared to the group of old men in the hall, her petite and youthful appearance was jarringly out of place, but she was actually the eldest person present.
Whether the others combined had lived as long as her was an open question.
"Don't forget what that Feranmut's supposed elder sister did in Ursus. She directly crushed an entire fleet. Although intelligence says that fleet's strength was only second-rate, it was still ten Mobile Cities."
"They have also gathered enough Infected. Right now, Infected from all over Ursus are flocking to the Snowfield. Coupled with her actions in Lungmen... heh, what do you think they're trying to do?"
The Old Tianshi paused for a moment. "Then there is her appearance—identical to the True Dragon Race. It's precisely because of this that the boy Wei Yenwu is acting so timidly... Hmph, what intention is there behind taking such a form?"
"You worry she wants to cause trouble in Lungmen, but I feel their ambition doesn't stop there. Perhaps... someone has set their sights on every single Infected in this world?"
"You must realize these people live lives that are anything but satisfactory. Combined with the Arts abilities brought by Infection, if someone could rally all the Infected of Terra, toppling a nation wouldn't be an impossible task."
After all, they also had that Giant Dragon capable of destroying fleets, which effectively negated the most important military strength of a modern nation.
"The reason I disagree with direct military intervention is precisely because of that," the Grand Preceptor said, looking toward the Grand Marshal. "According to intelligence from Ursus, that Giant Dragon relied entirely on its innate advantage of flight, bombarding the ten warships from above until they fled in terror."
"Among the active warships of Terra's nations today, no country has a model that emphasizes anti-air capabilities. As long as our Naval Guns and city defense cannons cannot reach overhead, our fleets will forever be sitting ducks before that Giant Dragon!"
"Yes, we have Grandmasters and experts like the Old Tianshi who can intercept the enemy. But Yan is a nation. The Feranmut... they are alone. We need to protect the three hundred million subjects of Yan, but what about the Feranmut?"
He spoke with a grave expression. "They only need to fly over a certain city at random, unleash a breath attack on the government office, and then fly away. Yan has so many cities; how many Grandmasters and Old Tianshi do we have?"
"You want to use the fleet for a decisive battle? Why would they fight us on our terms? They could simply drag us to death."
"You imply I am weak, so let me ask you: when can warships and city defense cannons that actually pose a threat to a Feranmut be produced and fielded? If we don't even have these weapons, why should we drive one or more Feranmut of unknown intent to the side opposing Yan?"
"The threat of Sui beneath Baizao is imminent. No one knows when he will wake. Why are you thinking of making more enemies at a time like this?"
"You're asking me for warships? For guns?" The Grand Marshal narrowed his eyes. "Fine, then let me ask you: why didn't you approve the report from the Ministry of War requesting a budget increase two months ago?"
"Without money, how am I supposed to build guns and warships? Build them in a dream?"
"As I recall, the Ministry of War already had research projects for a new generation of weapons," the Grand Preceptor countered without yielding an inch. "Since we now know the weaknesses of our active warships, wouldn't it be enough to simply modify those projects?"
"Regarding that report, it's not as if you don't know the rules. The annual fiscal flow is determined at the start of the year. Where am I supposed to move money from for you now? Talk to me next year!"
"Fine. If the funds aren't increased, the new generation of weaponry won't leave the testbed for ten years and won't be fielded for twenty or thirty," the Grand Marshal snorted. "That's the schedule. Take it or leave it!"
"In that case, we cannot be aggressive toward the Feranmut," the Grand Preceptor said, looking up at the True Lung on the dais.
The latter rubbed his temples, feeling a headache.
The two of them had been arguing back and forth, and now the fox finally showed its tail.
After all that talk, the Ministry of War had only one stance: pay up, pay up quickly!
The Grand Preceptor's intent was also obvious. Would the Grand Marshal not see the logic in his words? He was simply cooperating with the Grand Marshal's argument to force the payout.
At the end of the day, no matter how aggressive the Grand Marshal was, it was impossible for him to actually send troops to give the self-proclaimed Bailu a beating. The exaggeration was entirely to increase the military budget.
These twists and turns... really...
Gave one a headache.
Only the Old Tianshi was honest enough to actually be considering the issues.
Of course, it was mainly because she had lived long enough and seen enough that she couldn't be bothered with these schemes.
"My ministers," the True Lung flicked his tail irritably, "both of you have points. So, how exactly should we handle the situation in Lungmen?"
His meaning was clear: I have no money either, don't come to me. Solve the immediate problem first!
A vast nation like Yan, with a stable government and harmonious people, should theoretically be quite wealthy. But ever since entering the Crystal Age, the entire Yan had begun a "Great Infrastructure" mode.
Yan was divided into nineteen circuits, each with a Department of State Affairs. Under each department were several prefectures based on local conditions, all of which were densely populated large Mobile Cities. Below the prefectures were sub-level Mobile Cities known as prefectural seats, and below those were small mobile settlements known as counties.
With three hundred million people and hundreds of Mobile Cities, plus tens of thousands of small mobile settlements, on the easternmost land of the continent, newly built Imperial Roads connected these cities like blood vessels.
As the hegemon of the core circle, Victoria also had an intercity transport network that was equally long-standing, but the quality of the roads was often determined by the financial strength of the local nobles.
Whenever a road encountered a Catastrophe or was sabotaged, the local council would erupt into disputes over repair matters. In Yan, the fiscal expenditure for maintaining the transport network was borne by the central government.
The benefits were obvious; centralized power brought higher administrative efficiency. But the cost was astronomical.
Add to that the mechanical defense line in the north to guard against Collapsals...
So many Mobile Cities and various infrastructures had nearly exhausted the reserves Yan had accumulated before the Crystal Age. Building was fun for a while, and building constantly was fun for a while, but now that the fun was over, looking at the empty national treasury, everyone could only suppress their desire to build.
Currently, Yan's finances appeared very healthy on the surface, but it was entirely dependent on favorable weather and social harmony. Should a major disaster strike, the gentlemen of the court would be worried sick. They simply lacked sufficient reserves.
Everything had been spent over these years.
To alleviate fiscal pressure, the Ministry of War even planned to strip the armaments from a batch of outdated warships and sell them to the public.
After all, technology had advanced far too quickly in recent years; these warships could no longer keep up with the times. Yan was actually doing okay; new models of warships were still in the design phase and hadn't required too much investment yet.
Columbia was the most unfortunate. Their latest model of warships had only entered production a few years ago. Just a few months back, they officially announced that the first batch of twelve warships had been fielded, and the second batch of twenty-four was being fitted out, aiming for a massive military expansion.
The result? A month after the press conference, the Snowfield Incident broke out. The whole world learned how pathetic today's warships were against threats from the sky. Those twelve warships were outdated the moment they were fielded. It was said the twenty-four nearly completed ships were now stuck on the production line.
Now, Columbia was in a bind—it wasn't right to build them, but it wasn't right not to build them either. If they continued, they would be outdated upon leaving the factory; if they didn't, they had already spent so much...
In short, Yan was truly wealthy—so many years of peace were enough to sustain the people—but the central government was also truly poor. The treasury was empty. So, even as the exalted True Lung, he could only avoid discussing the Grand Marshal's perfectly reasonable request for a military budget increase.
They really wouldn't recover for forty or fifty years.
"None of that talk matters," the Old Tianshi finally spoke. "I must guard the northern border and cannot leave. We can only have a Grandmaster make the trip."
"Since it's a short trip from Yumen to Lungmen anyway. I remember Nian is also in Lungmen, right? It works out perfectly to have them go together so they can look out for each other."
"Also, regarding that elder sister of hers, I went to find Kaschey," the Old Tianshi said, her head aching. As an Immortal, and with their nations being neighbors, they still had ways of contacting each other.
"Oh? And what did the Black Snake of Ursus have to say?" The True Lung finally focused his attention.
"Remember a few months ago when the Grandmaster encountered an enemy at Yumen?" The Old Tianshi's lip curled. "That person was very arrogant, provoking from the sky and killing people. The screams echoed through Yumen."
"The person who died was one of Kaschey's clones. During that war in the Snowfield, Kaschey faced that person directly. I don't know how much of this intelligence is credible."
"But according to him, the person who annihilated the fleet was not a Feranmut," her expression turned grave as she said this. "But a knight."
"But she transformed into a Giant Dragon..." The Grand Marshal frowned. "This Kaschey is likely not to be trusted. But from the Old Tianshi's tone, there is more to this?"
"The news is preposterous," the Old Tianshi sighed. "He said that the so-called Giant Dragon incarnation was actually a Dragon Lord once slain by the knight, which she manifested using the Dragon Lord's soul through some kind of Arts."
"A knight capable of slaying a Dragon Lord..." The True Lung felt his head ache again. "This is not simple at all."
"It's far from simple," the Old Tianshi said solemnly. "Kaschey said that particular body of his had no choice but to die at that person's hands."
"Inside that person's body resides a terrifying Outer God. Just the tiny flickers of flame escaping from the seal nearly roasted him to death!"
"According to that knight, that Outer God is named the Frenzied Flame—the rage of the oppressed. If it were to erupt, given the situation in Ursus, it's not impossible for the entire nation to fall in an instant."
"In ancient times, that knight, as a Hero, sealed the flame within himself. Since then, he has lived in seclusion to prevent the world's suffering from impacting the seal. He appeared in the Snowfield only because he wanted to head toward the borders of civilization."
"In the end, Kaschey overreached and kicked the hornet's nest, nearly getting himself killed."
"Wait, doesn't this mean that person is now in my Yan?" The True Lung nearly lost his breath.
Wait, since when did such a massive bomb enter my house? And I didn't even know?
"It should be correct," the Old Tianshi said with a dark expression. "Kaschey said the only reason he told me so much was out of fear that if Yan caught fire, it would spread to Ursus. He told me not to provoke her..."
"That's why I hurried back to Baizao. Such a major matter must be clarified in person."
"Have the Grandmaster set out immediately!" The True Lung really couldn't sit still. "Regardless of what that Bailu wants, ask her where her sister is first!"