Chapter 12461

Chapter 12461

The Killing Saint snorted coldly: "Is this never going to end?"

Even so, since it concerns the Great Emperor Jiyi, they dare not act rashly.

Although Emperor Jiyi has been a thorn in their side all these years, he has always been very low-key.

At least on the surface, a balance of mutual respect and non-interference has been maintained.

Once this balance is broken, no one can say for sure whether they will be able to escape unscathed.

No one present could afford to take that risk.

Finally, in the deepest part of the study, on the main seat, a frail old man, less than five feet tall, spoke for the first time.

"Don't touch this four-zhang-tall Dharma Avatar expert yet. Let me talk to Emperor Jiyi first."

Although there were still differing opinions, now that this person had spoken, it was the final conclusion.

The Five Sages of the Noble Families were, in a sense, equals, and sat on equal footing with each other.

But at least within their ranks, there is still a leader among the Five Saints.

That was the one who spoke, the Emperor Saint.

Liu Aozhi tentatively asked, "Should I also stop dealing with the Termination Society for now?"

Killing Saint rolled his eyes at him: "Otherwise what? We haven't even finalized anything yet, and you dare to rashly interfere? Do you have the ability, or can you handle this mess?"

"..."

Liu Aozhi looked ashamed.

In this Five Saints Study, he, the powerful Grand Steward of Tianjun, was essentially just a servant doing odd jobs, with absolutely no status whatsoever.

The Killing Saint sneered, "The End Council cannot be touched. This vacancy must be filled from elsewhere. Don't forget the oath you made to us."

Liu Aozhi's face stiffened, then he nodded repeatedly: "I understand. If there's nothing else, I'll go and get back to work."

After Liu Aozhi left, the study door closed again.

Confucius frowned and said, "Wouldn't doing this be too hurtful to him?"

"Confucius is indeed Confucius; he truly understands compassion and empathy."

The Killing Saint chuckled coldly: "Liu Aozhi chose this path himself. None of us forced him. What's the harm in it?"

The strategist said quietly, "Everyone has their own destiny."

Confucius sighed silently and said nothing.

In the following days, Liu Aozhi indeed stopped targeting the Termination Society and instead began to take decisive action to clean up and take over all kinds of shady businesses in Tianjun.

For a thousand years, Tianjun has enjoyed peace and prosperity, with all aspects controlled by powerful families.

Behind every shady business, there are more than one Tianjun family involved.

Among the successive governors of Tianjun, more than one proposed to crack down on these massive illicit industries at the beginning of their tenure, but without exception, all of them ultimately failed to achieve their goals.

There's no way around it; moving one thing affects the whole situation.

Once they really get serious, the investigation will eventually lead back to their own company.

Even if they were truly willing to make drastic sacrifices to fight against such a massive interest group, they would be powerless to do so.

Don't forget, the Tianjun Chief Steward is essentially the spokesperson for the Tianjun aristocratic families.

And these are the Tianjun aristocratic families themselves.

In the past, there have been stubborn individuals who insisted on digging too deep into things, but none of them ended up well.

If you push them too far, killing a Tianjun governor wouldn't be a big deal!
However, this time, Liu Aozhi's sweeping reforms directly crippled many powerful families.

The key issue is that they all dare not speak out against their anger.

After all, in the eyes of outsiders, Liu Aozhi is a master of the four-zhang Dharma form, the number one person in Tianjun without any doubt. Who would dare to contend with him?

As for assassinating a four-zhang-tall Dharma Avatar master, only someone with several hundred years of cerebral thrombosis could say such a thing.

Even a powerful demon-slaying squad would be utterly slaughtered if they encountered a master of the Four-Zhang Dharma Form.

Which of them has that capability?

The only option left for the various aristocratic families was to plead with Liu Aozhi on their behalf.

Liu Aozhi's previous persona has never been that of an incorruptible figure; most of the time, he has blended in with the world.

In fact, the Liu family was the one that ate the most.

Unfortunately, this time, Liu Aozhi showed a remarkable lack of tact. No matter how close a friend was before, he would cut off their lifeline without hesitation.

In an instant, the entire gray market in Tianjun was thrown into chaos.

The people below were overjoyed.

After all, these so-called aristocratic families and their shady dealings are essentially sucking their blood. Now, Liu Aozhi's sweeping and ruthless crackdown is seen by them as nothing less than a benevolent magistrate taking charge of their lives.

Various powerful families traveled back and forth, involving several top-tier families.

Pressure is being put on Liu Aozhi at all levels.

Some have even traced it back to the Five Sages of the Aristocratic Families.

In the past, if a disturbance of this magnitude occurred in Tianjun, the Five Saints of the aristocratic families would certainly not stand idly by.

If things get out of hand, we can just remove the current Grand Administrator of Tianjun; there are precedents for that.

But not this time.

The five sages of the aristocratic families remained surprisingly silent.

All parties immediately sensed a signal: Liu Aozhi's actions were tacitly approved by the five powerful families.

As a result, all parties immediately lost their enthusiasm.

If they were only targeting Liu Aozhi, even if he were truly the Four-Zhang Dharma Avatar Steward, they would still have a chance to fight him again, after all, there were still the Five Saints of the Aristocratic Families above them.

Now it turns out they were all in cahoots.

The five sage families, along with Liu Aozhi, the four-zhang-tall Dharma Avatar Steward, are enough to sweep away the entire Tianjun. Any force in front of them is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Even the most powerful families can only be crushed.

Of course, the truly top-tier families are all very discreet, and they are essentially one with the Five Saints of the Aristocratic Families.

Since the Five Sages of the Aristocratic Families are going to do this, all they have to do is cooperate.

Even if some illicit activities are lost in the short term, as long as you gain a foothold, you will surely be able to make it back a hundredfold or a thousandfold in the future.

Ultimately, they are the true community of shared interests.

"Is this a case of fattening someone up before killing them?"

With Lin Yi's current access to information, he is fully aware of all of this.

He was unclear about what consensus Liu Aozhi had reached with the Five Sages of the Aristocratic Clan, but one thing was certain: all of this was merely a facade, and there must be a greater scheme behind it.

The current state of the Heavenly Palace gives the impression of a dynasty nearing its end, forced to cut off the financial groups that depend on it after facing financial difficulties.

Liu Aozhi is that knife.

After this wave, Tiangong absorbed a large amount of illicit assets, and its financial resources will rise to an extremely high level in a short period of time.

However, in the long run, this will cause irreversible damage to the foundation of the entire Heavenly Palace.

If this kind of operation is repeated several times, even if the original community of interests is united, the centripetal force will quickly be lost.

At that time, the disintegration of Tiangong will not be a low-probability event, but an inevitability.

Even Lin Yi, an outsider, could see this, so the Five Saints of the aristocratic families would see it even more clearly, yet they still chose to do it this way.

There is only one explanation.

This was not out of necessity, but rather a deliberate act.