544 The Trend

"The current world situation?"

Extreme Darkness ran her fingers through her hair and smiled uncomfortably.

"Not too good!"

"It is to be expected that the world would descend into chaos following the occurrence of the Demon Spirit invasion. As the saying goes, 'tough people rise during tough times'. Truly powerful factions would take this opportunity to consolidate their strength."

Fang Yuan wrung his hands.

"Has there not been any reaction from anywhere in the world?"

In truth, there were many underlying forces in Da Qian. While the power of the dream masters was declining, the spiritual knights and martial artists were waiting in the wings to replace them.

If the full potential for conflict of the entire Da Qian empire was to be realised, it would shake up the world.

Even though the Imperial Court and the dream masters were weak, they were still capable of putting up a good fight.

"Do elaborate!"

Fang Yuan said curtly.

"Yes, my lord!"

Extreme Darkness signalled for someone to fetch a map and her clear voice reverberated about the room.

"...After the battle in the Jade Capital, the dream masters were dragged down from their altars while the Imperial Court was destroyed. It was a devastating blow indeed! The Demon Spirits had overrun all 99 regions of the Da Qian empire. The Jade Capital in the Middle Region was the worst hit! The regions around it are now deserted following the massacre of every living person! The whole area has become a playground for the Demon Spirits!"

She picked up a pen and traced the outline of the nine regions in the middle of the map.

"This area, once home Da Qian's greatest cities, is now a huge graveyard...casualties number hundreds of millions. There is nothing left to be said…"

"Beyond the 9 central regions, things are more complicated. Although they have also been affected by the invasion of the demon spirits, they are still accessible by the regional armies. However, a large number of Demon spirit troops remain stationed in the wilderness and attack the cities from time to time...the most famous incident involved Wu Yue and Zhang Jin, who had their entire army annihilated by the Demon spirit army and lost their lives…"

"I am not surprised!"

Fang Yuan clasped his hands together and nodded. These two people had been backed by dream masters and given that their backers had collapsed, they would have been dragged down from their horses by the martial artists and spiritual knights even if they hadn't been killed by the demon spirits.

Perhaps that was what happened.

"Following the fall of the dream masters, a few factions emerged to fill in the power vacuum. They scrambled to acquire territory in the name of protecting the masses. Some of them have also engaged the demon spirit army in a few skirmishes, which reinforced their legitimacy!"

Extreme Darkness continued.

"Overall, the world now can be split into 4 parts. Let's not talk about the lands taken over by the demon spirits. A Martial Alliance has emerged in the north, comprising all the sects in the area. The organisation has managed to gather several top Wu Zongs and is headed by a True Divine...the lands of the north are barren and sparsely populated. The Dream Masters Alliance had not bothered to interfere in northern affairs back in the day. The Martial Alliance is working towards realising the potential in the North…"

Extreme Darkness spoke of this matter with disdain.

After all, the Dream Masters Alliance had indeed left the place alone. They had thought that it was a sterile land with no valuable resources.

"The Martial Alliance of the North?"

Fang Yuan was silent for a moment. He had never heard of this organisation but the North reminded him of the Qin siblings of Dongyi County in the Sand Region.

They were chess pieces that he had planted in the early days. Fang Yuan wondered at how they were doing, having been left alone for so long.

Although the Qin family was an influential clan in Dongyi, they would be helpless in the face of such a catastrophe.

"Hmm, we have two subordinates planted in Sand Region's Dongyi County...send our people to check out how they're getting along. If they're fine, then let's leave it at that. If not, ask them if they intend to move elsewhere!"

Fang Yuan made an expansive arm gesture.

The Nine Extremes Mountain was located on the southeastern part of Da Qian. Coming here from the north was a journey of tens of thousands of miles. Also, with the Demon spirits running amok, a large-scale migration was suicidal! Even if it was a small group, it would be extremely chancy.

Whether the Qin siblings would or could come depended on their level of determination and fortune.

Regardless, Fang Yuan felt that sending people to check on them was already a great display of benevolence. He saw no need to fetch them over personally.

"Yes, my lord!"

Liu Mengmei bowed and shot a challenging look at Extreme Darkness.

"As for the west, with the Fan Region in the centre, is witnessing the rise of a faction known as the God Seeking Palace! There are many True Divines and True Elementals from the Imperial Court in there. It has also been rumoured that Qian Huanyi and the Superior Wu Zun has joined them. The local government is under their control, their influence extends to the surrounding regions and they have even managed to secure the loyalties of the local militias. As a result, they have become insufferably arrogant!

Extreme Darkness could not be bothered to entertain Liu Mengmei and focused on reporting to Fang Yuan.

"God Seeking Palace?"

Fang Yuan was slightly bemused.

"This place would be a perfect match for an old man on the brink of death who only knows how to sing ditties all day long."

"On the brink of death?"

Extreme Darkness was stunned. Although the folks from the Imperial Court were advanced in years, they had many more years to live by virtue of their solid cultivation.

"Don't mind me, go on…"

Fang Yuan motioned for her to continue. He had become warier.

God seeking! Their aim was probably to purge the world of their enemies. The ministers and generals of Da Qian did hate the royal family, but their enmity with the dream masters ran deep too.

"In the east...there are several petty factions who vie with each other for hegemony. Many rise and fall within a short period of time. The Demon spirits have largely left the eastern lands alone because of their proximity to the seas and they are now hotbeds of anarchy. If our organisation does intend to expand, we can definitely consider going east!"

Extreme Darkness offered a suggestion.

"Hmm, are there any other spheres of influence in the world?"

Fang Yuan clicked his tongue in disbelief.

"The two organisations that we talked about have occupied several regions. They have a structured hierarchy, strict discipline among their personnel as well as capable people. But they are still regional powers…"

Extreme Darkness shook her head.

"Other than these, there are two alliances to note. They do not have headquarters and control scattered territory, but their collective power cannot be underestimated!"

"One of them...is the old Dream Masters Alliance?"

Fang Yuan fiddled with the cup in his hand.

"That's right...although the dream masters have fallen off their altar, we have excellent qualities. As long we work hard, we can trigger breakthroughs and regain power. We can also make use of the legacy of our forebears to become great again."

"No matter what, it's all in the past…"

A faint smile played on Fang Yuan's lips.

If he chose to publicise his deductions, it would probably cause an uproar among the dream masters.

He would keep his secret for a while longer.

"What about the other one?"

"The last one is a union of spiritual knights...the Heavenly Spirit Association!"

Extreme Darkness was surprised even as she talked about it.

"This organisation was around in the days when the dream masters were still in power. Their web of contacts extended throughout Da Qian and was based on communication between the spiritual knights. They were also involved in trading activities. After the invasion occurred and the dream masters fell, they decided to come out of the dark!"

Fang Yuan tilted his head slightly. In terms of skill, the spiritual knights were second only to the dream masters.

If there was any group of people who could challenge the leadership of the dream masters back in the day, it would be the spiritual knights.

After all, there were many things that martial arts could not achieve. Spiritual spells, on the other hand, could accomplish results that rivalled the dream masters. They could even take on part of the research work.

Fang Yuan sighed quietly and made a mental note about the Heavenly Spirit Association being the Da Qian version of a Magic Masters' Association.

'In this case, the northern Martial Alliance would be a Warriors' Alliance. What about the God Seeking Palace in the West? An alliance of assassins? An alliance of remnants of the empire?'

Fang Yuan examined the map again.

The Martial Alliance, God Seeking Palace and the scattered factions of the east formed a large triangle. In the middle was the Dream Masters Alliance and the Heavenly Spirit Association. The Nine Extremes Mountain sect was but a speck in their midst.

Of course, these human factions took up less than half of the lands on the map.

The rest of the map had sunk into the ocean of demon spirits.

Human establishments might be able to surface in the lands of the enemy, but they would never amount to anything significant.

"The Dream Masters must be feeling so indignant."

Fang Yuan felt a wave of pity of them.

"They were once the most formidable organisation in Da Qian. Now, they have fallen quite far behind and might even be on the brink of destruction! I'd love to see the look on the sages' faces…"

If the Dream Masters Alliance descended into internal conflict once more, they would end up no better than the petty factions on the eastern coast.

"Looking at where the Nine Extreme Mountains are, the North is too far, the West is too cold and is currently being hampered by the demon spirits…"

Fang Yuan looked at the map.

"If we go to the middle we'll never return...seems like we can only expand towards the east?"

"Technically speaking, as long as we destroy the demon spirits wave after wave and settle the issue of the rations, we can expand anywhere we want…"

Extreme Darkness replied and smiled bitterly.

By now, the Demon Spirit army had swept across half of Da Qian like winter, causing all living beings to cower in fear of them.

Every other faction was retracting their forces and making plans to get through the dark times. Only Fang Yuan was thinking of expanding his territory.

"'No matter what, being prepared is half the battle won!"

Fang Yuan gave a mysterious smile.

He was confident in his botany skills.

The entire Da Qian empire had crumbled in the face of the demon spirit invasion because of adaptability issues and the fact that the dream masters were not powerful enough.

However, following the propagation of the Green Elemental Grass, the world could finally begin to fight back.

Thus, Fang Yuan could take this opportunity to make some revolutionary moves!

Fang Yuan shut his eyes momentarily and he could smell change in the air. He giggled silently.