Turns Out, I’m In A Villain Clan!

Chapter 358 When the Beasts Stir

While the Heaven Sword Sect was undergoing internal shifts and political turbulence, the rest of the Desolate Heaven Empire was also facing huge turmoil.

It began subtly.

A few small villages reported an unusual increase in low-rank demonic beasts appearing near their borders.

At first, it was dismissed as a seasonal migration-nothing that the local militia couldnʼt handle.

But within a single week... the pattern changed.

Low-level Beast Tide turned into mid-level Beast Tides involving Grade-5-8 Demonic Beasts.

And the number of such Beast Tides had continued to rise despite efforts to stop them.

The fear drove many people from their homes to the Imperial Capital, where the defenses were the strongest.

The same happened with cities located near powerful clans and sects, as those places were generally much safer due to the protection they offered.

Because of this, the influx of refugees continued to grow, reaching numbers that these cities could no longer support.

It reached a point where many cities were forced to turn away people who were desperately trying to enter.

Moreover, the casualties among the cultivators sent to subdue those Beast Tides had been increasing drastically.

Patrols sent into forests didnʼt return.

Caravans vanished on trade routes once thought safe.

Messages from every direction reached prefectures, cities, clans, and sects, all conveying the same chilling truth.

Demonic beasts had begun attacking everywhere.

By the tenth day, even the Royal Family acknowledged the crisis.

The Ministers of the Imperial Court and the grand elders of the major sects and clans all arrived at the same unsettling conclusion:

This was no natural surge.

Something was forcing the beasts out of their territories.

Rumors spread like wildfire.

Some claimed an ancient Demonic Beast King had resurfaced. After all, all the Beast Tides seemed too coordinated to be random occurrences.

Without a leader, such a thing would be impossible.

Others believed this was a natural retaliation from the demonic beasts and that it would stop once they realized how futile their efforts were.

However, the Ministers of the Imperial Court and the grand elders of the major sects and clans werenʼt too worried and their stance remained the same.

This was a temporary upheaval.

The Empire had weathered similar beast tides many times before-always chaotic, always bloody, but ultimately short-lived.

However, they also understood that such events caused great unrest among civilians.

People had begun migrating to places they believed were safer, which caused headaches for those cities.

The Imperial Family could not allow this and sought to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

The fastest method was simple: kill the Demonic Beasts and instill enough fear in them that they would think twice before invading again.

Believing this, the Imperial Court issued orders across the Empire.

Armies were mobilized. Cultivators marched out from imperial camps. Flying ships crossed the Empire, heading towards the Beast Tides.

Soldiers were deployed to every region where demonic beasts had appeared, tasked with eliminating every creature that dared cross into human territory. It was truly a war waged against the demonic beasts.

The fighting that followed was brutal.

Villages burned. Cities shook under the roars of beasts.

The Empire lost tens of thousands of soldiers within days-but the campaign worked.

One by one, the invading demonic beasts were pushed back, hunted down, and annihilated.

Some regions paid staggering prices, yet by the end of the second week, reports began arriving at the capital:

Most of the beast incursions had been contained.

The majority of citizens breathed out in relief. Officials declared that order had

been restored.

Everyone believed that it was over, and like always, it was humanityʼs victory.

But fate had other plans.

Three days later...

The first terrifying wave of messages arrived.

Demonic beasts not of Rank 6 or 7... but Rank 9 and above were sighted on the borders-creatures whose strength rivaled cultivators of the Void Refinement Realm and higher.

And they were not few.

Hundreds of them appeared simultaneously across the Empire.

Some were massive beasts that blotted out the sky. Some were intelligent, not easily falling for traps set by the military.

Moreover, although the one commanding such terrifying demonic beasts had

yet to appear, anyone could tell that to control such a huge force, the leader had undoubtedly reached the Immortal Realm.

Panic rippled through the palace.

There was no longer any illusion that normal imperial forces could handle this.

Yes, the armies could fight.

Yes, the Empire could burn blood and iron to push back the tide.

But the sacrifices... the sacrifices would be unfathomable.

It was a High-Level Beast Tide-a calamity that could very well destroy the

Desolate Heaven Empire.

The Empire was facing something it had not seen in thousands of years-a full-scale Demonic Beast War.

Just when one thought things could not get worse, a letter arrived from the

Demonic Cultivators.

They demanded that the Royal Family and the top sects and clans recognize

their power and submit to them.

Otherwise, they would begin an all-out war.

Another headache-and the timing couldnʼt have been worse.

Or perhaps the Demonic Cultivators had been waiting for this very moment.

The situation kept snowballing.

What everyone had once believed would be a temporary disturbance... had transformed into a full-scale crisis that threatened the very foundation of the

Desolate Heaven Empire.

***

Imperial Court Hall!

While panic spread through cities and blood stained the borders, the heart of the Empire was no less turbulent.

The Emperor-gravely ill and incapable of attending court-was confined to his room, leaving governance temporarily to his heirs.

And that... was the problem.

There was no hiding that the princes and princesses had been fighting amongst themselves for the throne.

Without the Emperorʼs instruction on who would temporarily replace him in court, every prince and princess tried to barge in and claim to be the one deserving of authority.

After all, just by temporarily becoming the ruler, their influence would increase drastically.

Who would want to miss such an opportunity?

Not the ones fighting for the throne, at the very least. Backing down here

meant backing down in the struggle for the crown.

The First Prince, Yu Zidi, stepped forward first, confidently claiming that as the eldest, he was the most mature, stable, and therefore naturally suited to temporarily oversee the court in their fatherʼs absence.

But the others were not convinced.

The Third Prince, Yu Wenzhao, swiftly objected, citing the military experience

he gained while assisting the Emperor in suppressing a previous Beast Tide.

He argued that the Empire needed someone who had already proven capable in a crisis, not just someone born first.

The Seventh Prince and Fourth Princess also made their own claims-each presenting credentials, achievements, political alliances, and qualifications that they believed justified their right to preside over the Empire.

Before long, the entire court dissolved into loud arguments, each royal refusing to back down and unwilling to let another seize the opportunity.

Outside, reports of cities falling and beast tides escalating arrived one after another.

Inside, the heirs fought for the seat of power.

The ministers standing below could only shake their heads in frustration.

Many of them were loyal officials who wanted nothing more than to address the real threat-the advancing Beast Tide.

But with no ruler sitting on the Dragon Throne, no decree could be issued, and no unified command could be formed.

The Empire needed leadership.

But with the princes and princesses still arguing in the hall, ”leadership” was exactly what the Empire did not have.

At last, the senior ministers could not endure another moment.

The Minister of Civil Affairs stepped forward and struck the jade ceremonial staff against the floor.

The crisp sound echoed through the hall, finally forcing the royal heirs to pause.

He spoke heavily:

”Your Highnesses... this cannot continue. If we fail to act now, there may be no Empire left to rule.”

The royal heirs fell silent-not because they agreed, but because they realized the ministers were not going to wait any longer.

Although they were princes and princesses, none wanted to offend a minister who could help them ascend to the throne.

Until they became Emperor, the ministers held more power and influence than them in court.

”We will hold a meeting to decide who will temporarily preside over the Court Meetings.”

So the ministers held an emergency council.

For an hour they debated.

In the end, they decided that they could not choose just one prince or princess, as that could potentially lead to more political problems-which they had no authority to resolve alone.

But what they could do was reduce the number of princes and princesses who could attend the Court Meetings and participate in decision-making.

Name after name was brought up-every prince, every princess, every royal eligible to preside in the Emperorʼs absence.

Some were too young.

Some lacked political backing.

Some had no experience.

Some were clearly unqualified.

Eventually, the ministers reached a difficult but unanimous conclusion.

Only four of the imperial heirs had the power, experience, and influence to face the current disaster:

First Prince-Yu Zidi, Third Prince - Yu Wenzhao, Fourth Princess-Yu Qingya and Seventh Prince-Yu Longxuan.

Not only were the four of them way ahead in the race for the throne, but they also had their own alliances with powerful clans and sects.

The ministers already understood that against the Beast Tide and the Demonic Cultivators,

Imperial power alone was not enough.

They needed help from other clans and sects if they wished to deal with such two powerful threats.

Only by uniting the major powers of the Empire could they hope to survive.