You don't want your secret to be revealed by others, right?-Chapter 453 - 43, Demon God Reincarnation

"He seems to have disappeared."

Lin Yue shook his head slightly and said, "The Tantian Sect found that a female Great Cultivator had disappeared from the Lotus Temple. Although I'm not sure if she is Xia Lie's aunt, that Great Cultivator indeed had a sister, and... her disappearance coincided with the days when I resumed my prince identity."

"It seems she knew Your Highness was an imposter?" Baili Fengzhi whispered softly.

"Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone into hiding."

Lin Yue nodded slightly and said, "Although, at this point, I don't care much about being an imposter, Xia Lie's aunt doesn't know that. She probably thinks I would kill to silence her."

"Does Your Highness know the name of Xia Lie's aunt?" Baili Fengzhi asked.

"Ching Tan Ju Shi," Lin Yue replied. "Just an ordinary Great Cultivator, but now that she has hidden herself, she is indeed hard to find."

He pondered for a moment and added, "Xia Lie's birth mother is also in Eternal Night. If she gets the news about this prince, she would probably realize that I'm an imposter as well."

"That might not necessarily be the case," Baili Fengzhi said. "Although I'm not clear about what level of cultivation Xia Lie's mother has, if her cultivation is not high enough, even being a Demon Clan avatar in Eternal Night wouldn't count for much, and it would be hard to receive news from Great Yong."

Lin Yue nodded slightly.

It was said that the Demon Clan in Eternal Night was extremely powerful, and even though the Human Clan was at its peak, it still couldn't compare to the Demon Clan.

Every member of the Demon Clan was at least capable of breaking through the Five Elements Heavenly Barrier, vastly outnumbering Human Clan cultivators.

And those Demon Gods of the Demon Clan, they rivaled those who had proven their Dao.

As for the twelve ancestors of the Demon Clan, it was rumored they were among the most distinctive and powerful among the Demon Gods.

The gap in strength between the Human and Demon Clans didn't need further discussion.

If a Human Clan Great Cultivator transformed into a member of the Demon Clan, they would merely be at the level of a Demon King, unless they were exceptional in their own right, being just another amidst the countless Demon Kings otherwise.

Such status hardly counted as upper echelon in the Demon Clan.

And with Eternal Night and Great Yong seemingly like two different worlds, transmitting messages could only rely on spies infiltrating Great Yong, which was naturally quite difficult.

"Knowing wouldn't hurt."

Lin Yue shook his head slightly and said, "It's just a bit troublesome."

"Troublesome? Didn't Your Highness say that the Xiahong Clan doesn't much care about the real or fake prince?" Baili Fengzhi frowned.

"That's true, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince care even less," Lin Yue shook his head slightly again. "I'm not worried about Great Yong's side."

"Not about Great Yong's side?" Baili Fengzhi voiced in confusion.

Lin Yue nodded and didn't elaborate further.

He now suspected...

That maybe Duanmu Yan hadn't attacked him because the Demon Clan suspected that Xiahou Shou reincarnated as the Seventeenth Prince?

Xiahou Shou certainly encountered some event after forcibly harmonizing which made him completely betray the Human Clan to transform into a demon.

If the Demon Clan really suspected he was one of their own, maybe they planned to wait for him to awaken his Saint-stage memories and then have him betray the Human Clan on his own initiative?

But...

If the Demon Clan knew he was a fake prince, just someone who had usurped a prince's bloodline...

It was hard to say whether they would take action against him.

Duanmu Yan certainly wasn't afraid of the consequences of killing a prince, so it was still quite dangerous.

"Best to go out less."

Lin Yue secretly planned, "After I get through the trials of the Temple of Thousand Gods and secure the greatest reward, then I can hide my identity, quietly travel the Human World, and it would be safer to harmonize and advance to Saint."

The Xiahong Clan's Temple of Thousand Gods, considered the greatest chance for the imperial offspring, even princes greatly valued the treasures within.

...

Time passed day by day.

Baili Fengzhi, although a crude Martial Artist, had once commanded a border, and quickly became familiar with the procedures for disaster relief.

Under the care of the Seventh Princess and Duke Heng, coupled with her status as the Holy Daughter of the Ancestor Hall, her displayed strength was also powerful enough, easily securing the position of Commissioner of Relief, an official rank at the First Grade.

For those not strong saints or core members of the Xiahong Clan, achieving a First Grade official rank was almost the limit.

If one didn't have such solid connections, even a Great Cultivator of considerable strength would need many years to rise to a First Grade position.

Initially, when Baili Fengzhi first assumed the position of Commissioner of Relief, various parties had not paid much attention.

Especially the factions in the court centered around the Twelfth and Eighth Princes, they had only symbolically competed and hadn't taken it particularly seriously.

After all, though the Commissioner's position was lost, an official title in itself was just that; tangible benefits were key.

For the factions centered on the princes, the ability to amass enough merit from this disaster was crucial.

What was the use of a high official title if tangible deeds couldn't be accomplished?

The factions of the Eighth Prince's party didn't care because the Eighth Prince was clearly well-prepared, having secured most of Great Yong's granary supplies.

When the famine became severe enough to leave dead bodies everywhere, they could then distribute relief and harvest vast amounts of merit.

But for Baili Fengzhi, the new Commissioner of Relief, with the biggest connection in court being the still unenthroned Seventeenth Prince, to compete with the Eighth Prince?

However—

"What?"

"A hundred billion jin of grain?!"

"Autumn fruits? What autumn fruits? Where did these come from?"

"How is that possible?"

News that shocked countless people quickly spread.

The amount of food, sufficient to sustain the mortal population of the entire Great Yong for several months, weighed down like a mountain, leaving all parties somewhat stunned.

For cultivators, the food of mortals might not count for much, but the total cultivated land area of Great Yong was just so much, and cultivators, even if they were to start farming spontaneously, needed sufficient time.