Just as the ominous news of Duke Campbell's death arrived, a grand funeral was held at Campbell Castle, and it became the foremost major event of the Duchy.

The atmosphere of grief spread among all levels of society throughout the entire Duchy.

Soon, people had put the earthquake behind them, and only in the adventurer guild and the nearby taverns could one hear the whispers of discussion.

Adventurers returning from Mist Town reported that they had witnessed the ground collapsing, rocks crumbling... thousands upon thousands of the Chaos Army turned to dust and scattered with a wave of the Demon King's hand.

Others told even more exaggerated tales, claiming that in that battle akin to one between Divine beings, the new Demon King personally beheaded Calmandes, grinding his head into powder!

But no matter what was said, the commotion triggered by the Gate of Chaos had finally come to an end, without leading to further chaos.

Not just that—

The end of the chaos was not the only conclusion; the Maze also benefitted from the disaster by seeing an end to a full year of warlordism.

This dramatic change caught many off guard.

To the four Demon Generals who had bowed in submission, Luo Yan allowed them to retain their current territories, and he established new feudal obligations with them.

Including answering the Demon King's call to arms when the Great Graveyard faced threats.

Including the forms of tributes and taxes during peacetime, and so on.

Including establishing a surveillance system centered around Acolytes and Death Priests to ensure the rule of the Great Graveyard, and the spreading of Demon God beliefs indigenous to the Great Graveyard throughout the layers of the Maze, and so on.

In exchange, Luo Yan promised to establish a Cabinet, deciding minor matters of the Great Graveyard alone, while deliberating together over major issues.

Beyond that, he also vowed not to wage wars that would bypass the Cabinet.

Compared to the order during Reggie Dragon's time, the set of rules Luo Yan brought from Demon City was undoubtedly more advanced and not excessively so.

All demons were overjoyed.

With the establishment of the new order, the Great Graveyard finally saw a relative sense of peace, and Luo Yan, as the Demon King, was finally able to take a breather and focus his efforts back on managing the Demon King Territory, pondering how to grow his "leeks" (followers) bigger and stronger.

It is worth mentioning that though the Gate of Chaos in the Maze had closed, the link between the Great Graveyard and Kao Planet had not been severed.

Luo Yan's biggest concern had been that the closing of the Gate of Chaos could lead to the loss of contact with the Outpost Fortress, or even prevent the soul mirror images of players from returning from Kao Planet.

As it turned out, his worries were completely unfounded.

His players were still able to travel between Kao Planet and the Aus Continent, though the energy consumption had increased by about 20%.

Miranda's speculation was that, although the Gate of Chaos in the Maze had closed, another larger Gate of Chaos in the Dimension Desert, thousands of kilometers away, maintained the subspace connection between the two worlds.

That might even be the main force of the Chaos invasion.

Therefore, the Great Graveyard could still catch a ride on the "wind of Chaos," it was just that since the "bus stop" was further away, the "fare" increased significantly.

Although the increased cost of transportation put some economic strain on the colonies, the impact was within manageable limits.

After all, the "wool" was expected to come from the "sheep" itself, by extracting more Demon Crystals from the players who used the Teleportation Array.

Currently, Miranda is researching "how to establish a permanent teleportation array between the Great Graveyard and Kao Planet," in order to secure the key to the Chaos World in the hands of the Great Graveyard.

Luo Yan looked forward to her good news while making frequent trips to Kao Planet to farm monsters and level up, aiming to enhance his strength as much as possible.

As time went by, although Miranda's research had not made any breakthroughs, unexpected discoveries cropped up in unanticipated areas.

One day in mid-December, just as Luo Yan had arrived at Kao Planet, preparing to head to the Mushroom Forest outside the fortress to farm monsters as usual, Miranda suddenly appeared before him, her expression excited as she said.

"...Respectable Lord Demon King! Do you remember the hypothesis you mentioned to me before, that everything is composed of even smaller particles?"

Luo Yan remembered it but wondered why she suddenly brought it up at this time.

"Is there a problem?"

Miranda nodded excitedly, then quickly shook her head.

And her next sentence completely stunned Luo Yan on the spot.

"I've found it!"

"The fundamental particles that comprise all Extraordinary Power!"

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com