Ye Zichen’s eyes were bloodshot. He gnashed his teeth and roared, “You’re up to something again!”
Between that smile and his playful jeering, it seemed that Gu Li had definitely done something to the Three Realms.
Ye Zichen couldn’t help but lunge at Gu Li in fury, but Gu Li had predicted this. His eyes flashed ambiguously. “Maybe I’m up to something, maybe I’m not. I can’t say. What I can say is, tch, those guys are in for a real rough time.”
“You….”
Even though Ye Zichen was deeply agitated, he noticed Gu Li’s ambiguous smile. Instantly, his head cleared.
Gu Li was provoking him on purpose.
His enraged expression gradually softened. He’d been just about to charge but stopped himself.
Gu Li noticed and arched his brows in surprise. “So he realized it.”
Why was it that Gu Li had never taken Ye Zichen seriously? The main reason was that he was far too easy to provoke. So long as Gu Li put the slightest effort into it, Ye Zichen would soon be overcome with rage, losing all rationality. When someone was angry, they tended to expose their weak points.
But Gu Li never would have guessed that this time, Ye Zichen would realize his intentions.
It seemed it would be harder to handle Ye Zichen than Gu Li expected. Even so, it would only be a little harder.
“Emperor Ye, why aren’t you saying anything? Could it be that you, who holds us all in your heart, are prepared to abandon countless citizens?”
“You’d best pray nothing has happened to them,” said Ye Zichen. His tone was even-keeled, but when you looked into his deep, dark eyes, you could sense his terrifying killing intent.
This was far more intimidating than his earlier outburst.
Gu Li couldn’t help but arch his brows. Soon, he heard Ye Zichen say, “don’t push me any further, got it?”
After warning Gu Li, he cast his gaze over the crowd. “Hurry up and start voting. Don’t waste any more of my time.”
“Emperor Ye is quite overbearing, as expected,” laughed Gu Li playfully. Ye Zichen suddenly turned to face him, expression contemptuous.
“You’ve already voted, so get lost. This is no place for you.”
He raised his hand and a beam of rosy-purple light struck Gu Li.
It appeared so suddenly that, by the time Gu Li tried to dodge, he was already too late; he could only endure the blow. He pressed his legs into the earth but the attack’s explosive force pushed him relentlessly backward, disappearing only after knocking him off the platform.
Bang.
Gu Li slammed into the ground.
The immortals instinctively made space for him. Gu Li sat up, eyes flashing with sinister light.
Eyes narrowed, he looked up at Ye Zichen, only to see that he wasn’t even looking at him.
“Ye Zichen.” Gu Li looked at him coldly, then retracted his gaze and grinned, revealing his pearly-white teeth. “Not bad, you’re finally worthy of being my opponent.”
Watching from his spot in the center of the platform, Gu Zichen was pleasantly surprised by Ye Zichen’s behavior. He smiled briefly, then turned to the immortals.
“There are no rules. All you need to do is vote for whoever you think most suited to become the Master of the Three Realms. Only those present are eligible. Vote in order of leaderboard ranking, lowest to highest. Begin!”
“Wait a moment.” An immortal suddenly called out, “There are clearly a disproportionate number of immortals from the Heavenly Court here. Doesn’t that mean the North Pole Emperor is at an advantage?”
Many of the other immortals nodded. People said the Three Realms were like one big family, but under certain situations, they were still at odds with each other.
Like now, for instance.
The immortals of each realm wanted their boss to take the position, but about forty percent of those present were from the Heavenly Court. This was obviously unfair to the others.
“You’re trying to argue about ‘fairness’ with me?” Gu Zichen smirked, and his smile instantly vanished.
“Most of those present are from the Heavenly Court. All I can say is, as a group, they are the strongest. That also implies that their boss possesses superior leadership skills and influence.”
“The choice of Master of the Three Realms requires someone with sufficient influence to handle the position. Therefore, bringing up ‘fairness’ is meaningless. You say the Heavenly Court’s greater numbers are unfair to you? Why not just admit that you’re just too weak?”
“Then what about the fact that our emperor isn’t present?” called out someone from the Underworld.
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? I made it quite clear: only those present are in the running. Great Sacred Emperor Equaling Heavens didn’t come, so he’s naturally not included.”
With that, he turned to that immortal from the Underworld and said, “don’t even try complaining that this is unfair to the Underworld. Great Sacred Emperor Equaling Heavens chose not to come. That proves he has no interest in vying for supremacy. Forcing someone to take a position like this when they don’t want it is comparable to torturing them. Even without him, there are still plenty of people from the Underworld present. Please choose someone you feel fit to replace him, then vote for them instead.”
“But….”
“No more buts,” said Gu Zichen, seeming to have lost his patience.
He frowned. “Don’t try and move me with your faulty logic. If the person you want to vote for is present, vote for them. If not, abstain. I don’t want to discuss this any further. If anyone else dares to waste my time with pointless arguments, I’m not opposed to destroying their cultivation.”
Destroying their cultivation.
This one sentence left them all frozen in terror.
No one who stepped onto this path wanted to give up their cultivation. After a brief moment of hesitation, the immortals gradually approached the ballot box and cast their precious votes.
Time flew by. In less than an hour, the voting was complete.
Practically everyone watched the ballot box intently, especially major figures like the North Pole Emperor. It was fair to say that all of them hoped to seize this chance to become Master of the Three Realms.
As for whether they’d voted for themselves or not, there was no way of knowing.
But it seemed rather likely. Even if they had, no one would get moralistic and criticize them for it.
This was, after all, an election to determine the Master of the Three Realms! A position like that would be extremely enticing to just about anyone.
To hell with “noble character” and “unquestionable integrity!”
“Everyone has already finished voting, so it seems that it’s time for me to announce the results.” Gu Zichen hooked his finger, beckoning at the ballot box, which flew directly towards him.
The box emanated a wave of fluorescent light, then disappeared from view.
“I will now announce the results.”
