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  Huang Shiren's aversion to the White Lotus Sect was deeply ingrained, but in the end, he couldn't overcome his concern for the residents of Jiangjia Village. After carefully weighing the two matters, he decided to accept Lin Xu's kindness and nodded his head, saying:

  "Alright, I agree too. Then I'll leave it to you, young master."

  Subject to the constraints of land carrying capacity, the total population that can be supported on a piece of land at any given time is limited.

  Similar to the Northern Song Dynasty's Kaifeng, which exhausted a country's finances and didn't mind the hardship of transporting grain and goods from all directions to supply one city, this kind of super metropolis can only be considered a distorted existence twisted by power struggles, and is really not worth emulating.

  To sum it up, the population density of a single region was basically fixed before the widespread use of fertilizers and pesticides. The amount of grain that could be grown on a piece of land directly determined how many people's faith resources the gods could share. As a result, no matter what plans the White Lotus Sect had for its followers, as long as they succeeded, local deities like Lin Xu and Huang Shiren would become relics of the past, and it was only to be expected that their temples would lose their incense offerings. This contradiction would inevitably deepen and develop into an irreconcilable conflict.

  A powerful dragon cannot suppress the local snake, and the White Lotus Society's momentum is vast. However, compared to the local earth god who has been operating for hundreds of years, they are still somewhat inferior. Relying on the human connections of the land god Huang Shiren, he easily obtained a large amount of intelligence after writing letters to seek help from several remaining earth gods in the surrounding areas.

  These days, the gods who are struggling to survive can only barely maintain their own existence and have no power to provide any substantial support. They can only collect some relevant information with their means, which is still more than enough.

  "Alright, twenty-seven Big Heads, three Incense Masters and one Altar Master. These people are the backbone of the White Lotus Sect in Huainan. If we take them down all at once, I think within a year or two, the White Lotus Sect's power in Huainan won't be able to make any big moves again."

  According to the intelligence gathered by the two earth gods from the periphery, Lin Xu drafted this countermeasure plan. In Huang Shiren's view, it was very appropriate and detailed, but just as the two earth gods were about to make their move, they encountered an unexpected problem that they had not anticipated.

  In the past few days, several woodcutters from Jiangjia Village have gone missing in the mountains one after another. After their families sought help from neighbors and clansmen, nearly a thousand villagers spontaneously organized a search party to enter the mountains. However, after searching through all the paths that the woodcutters would normally take to cut firewood, no signs of wild animal attacks were found, nor had there been any natural disasters like strong winds or heavy rains in recent days. The suspicious villagers couldn't help but speculate whether this was a sign of ghosts and monsters starting to haunt. A little later, the incense at the Land Temple in Jiangjia Village suddenly became more prosperous, with visitors coming to pray continuously.

  Faced with the unexpected situation, Huang Shiran smiled bitterly. After telling Lin Xu about his difficulties, who was full of confidence and prepared to catch the White Lotus Sect off guard, Huang said helplessly:

  "Lin Xian Di, I'm sorry to trouble you again. Suddenly, there's an unusual change in the mountain and the townspeople are panicking. It seems that we need to split up to handle this situation. As for dealing with the White Lotus Sect, I'll take care of it with Yan Dao Zhang. Those woodcutters have lost contact in Huo Mountain, so it would be more suitable for you to handle this matter personally. Is this arrangement okay?"

  Upon hearing this, Lin Xu could say nothing more and simply nodded in agreement, saying:

  "It's come to this, it can't be helped, you and I will part ways!"

  The burning branches crackled, the orange bonfire flickered in the wind, and as a gust of mountain wind blew over the treetops, the dry firewood that was burning made a "whooshing" sound, spewing out a burst of sparks.

  On the left side of the erected bonfire, a leopard demon with a genuine leopard head and ringed eyes opened its bloody basin-like mouth, gnawing on a half-cooked human leg while glancing at its companions who were drooling at the sight of it devouring its food, saying in a vague tone:

  "Ha ha, indeed human flesh is delicious! Unfortunately, that Ho Shan Jun fellow puffed himself up to be so extraordinary, but when it came down to it, he was soft and weak like a hen. Last time, he got beaten by that Mountain God and his true form was exposed. Alas, all the rich blood food in Jiufeng Town slipped away from us again."

  At the sound, several companions surrounding the bonfire were suddenly frightened and waved their hands repeatedly. One of the old-looking monsters advised the leopard monster:

  "Say a few more words and that Ho Shan Jun is still not dead! Moreover, with the help of that cunning Be Daifu under his command, who dares to utter a word?"

  When the companion mentioned that notorious Hei Yao, Bei Dafu, who was infamous for his cunning and treachery throughout Huo Mountain, even the usually rough and bold Bao Yao couldn't help but shiver. It looked around cautiously, then relaxed when it saw nothing out of the ordinary, before continuing to speak in a carefree manner:

  "As for that old thing Bai Daifu, who knows what he's thinking, he's taken a liking to that big-mouthed Huo Shanjun, if it were me..."

  "Ka-pow! Boom!"

  This slobbering leopard demon was in the midst of a heated speech when suddenly a big, fluffy hand reached out from behind it and grabbed its neck. Before the leopard demon could react, the hand effortlessly twisted, and the demons around the bonfire only heard a crisp sound of bones breaking. Immediately after, the leopard demon's corpse, now revealed in its true form, plunged headfirst into the burning fire pit, filling the air with the pungent smell of burnt fur.

  At this time, a tall figure emerged from the shadows of the trees and said coldly:

  "Hmph, what could you have done instead? You actually dared to sneak into Jiang's village to steal food, startling the mountain god and land deity, almost ruining my big plan. You're really asking for death!"

  The large hand that had just struck and killed the leopard demon, its owner also revealed his true face from the darkness at this time. The surrounding demons who were frightened out of their wits couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, shouting:

  "It's Lord Huoshan! We were wrong, Your Majesty, spare our lives!"

  Among the demons present, several others who had shared human flesh were also not spared. They were one by one broken-necked by Huo Shan Jun and thrown into the fire to be roasted. After a bloody and ruthless cleansing, Huo Shan Jun said in a gloomy tone:

  "Next time you're reincarnated, remember this clearly and don't make the same mistake again."

  The blood dripping from the tip of Huo Shan Jun's claw, paired with his icy tone as cold as the coldest winter day, made even the lucky demons who had narrowly escaped feel a chill run down their spines. Afterwards, they all began to rack their brains trying to remember if they had ever offended Huo Shan Jun before. This guy was notorious for turning on people without warning and killing them in public, don't ever offend him!

  Cleanly and neatly beheaded several rule-breaking monsters, Huo Shanjun's move was not a temporary idea, but a premeditated action to establish his authority.

  It hurts to think about it, but on that day, in a bloody battle outside Jiufeng Town, the demon alliance, which had an obvious advantage in strength, suffered a crushing defeat. The strong were defeated, and the weak emerged victorious - the situation seemed unbelievable. After the fact, Huo Shanjun and Bei Dafu summarized the lessons of this major defeat, believing that the most critical point was that they did not establish a clear command system beforehand, but instead followed the old way of the alliance leader commanding each cave's demon king. Relying solely on such a loose organizational structure might be sufficient against weak enemies, but once they encountered an opponent with strong fighting spirit, the drawbacks of the alliance mode were fully exposed.

  Although there are many monsters, they are like a plate of loose sand with no cohesion, which is why they appear to be on the verge of complete collapse as soon as they are hit on the battlefield.

  Taking advantage of this, Huo Shan Jun collected the scattered soldiers under various demon kings in the mountains with the help of Bei Daifu, and became the most powerful demon king in Huo Mountain, with his forces not decreasing but increasing.

  After his injury healed, Huo Shan Jun, who was still waiting for a period of time to recover his energy, originally planned to settle down and accumulate strength, waiting for the enemy's internal emptiness before making a move. Especially in recent months, the frequent missionary activities of the White Lotus Sect have been seen by Huo Shan Jun and have become a key concern. As long as Mountain God Lin Xu goes out, the demon alliance on this side of Jiufeng Town can take advantage of the situation.

  Unexpectedly, the well-planned scheme encountered another snag halfway through. These few blind little demons were only ordered to monitor the movements of Jiang's family, but they dared to be so reckless and ignored Lord Huo Shan's repeated prohibitions, one after another devouring several woodcutters, turning it into a situation where beating the grass startled the snake.

  This series of consecutive missing persons naturally raised the suspicion and attention of Lin Xu and Huang Shi-ren, two local tyrants. The news of Huo Mountain Demon Alliance's reorganization is likely to be discovered by their opponents soon.

  Before the planned surprise attack, the news was leaked, and it was already too late to stop. Even if Huo Shan Jun personally took care of these few monsters that ruined everything, the purpose of establishing prestige was achieved, but for the surprise attack plan, it was useless. The bloody method, apart from killing chickens to scare monkeys, didn't have any positive constructive effect.

  "Ah! What did you say? That tiger demon Huo Shan Jun has returned again?"

  Suddenly learning of this explosive news, Lin Xiang, who had just returned to Jiufeng Town Shanshen Temple and sent someone out to investigate the disappearance of Jiang Jiaji's firewood, couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

  The various demon kings who occupied Mount Huo were all true heroes who had fought their way to the top with real knives, and they were not puppets that could be manipulated at will by Huo Mountain Jun. Although many demon kings responded to Huo Mountain Jun's call on the surface, in private, these demon kings still had their own ideas and small calculations.

  In fact, in the eyes of many demon kings, Lin Xu, this Huo Mountain god, is indeed annoying, but no matter how strong his power is, he can only take measures to suppress the demon clan and cannot fundamentally deprive the various demon kings of their privileged status. On the other hand, as a great demon, Huo Mountain Jun can do something that Lin Xu will never be able to succeed in doing. From this, it can be seen that at certain special times, the line between enemies and friends is very blurred, and only by calculating the relationship between benefits and harm can one know who is the real arch-nemesis.

  Previously, Lin Xu sent out several scouts, who wandered around the dense forest for a few days like headless flies, but ultimately didn't get any substantial gains. However, their activities brought some unexpected results.