“And that’s how we four went through hell and untold hardships before escaping with our lives…”
The grand hall echoed with Fiend Yang’s pained voice, his eyes flickering with fear, “And to prevent such disaster from ever happening again, as elders and venerables of Demon Scheming Sect, it is our duty and responsibility to raise a true figure to carry out the sect’s burdens. To avoid needless casualties and to grow geniuses!”
Fiend Yang’s speech had passion, had feelings, touching Xie Wuyue and Fiend Yin to the core.
While the rest were just bored and nodding off. Not just Venerable Shi’s faction, but even Venerable Bai’s group was stiff with their eyelids twitching.
Who could blame them? No matter how great a story, at least keep it short, not drone on for hours! [The only reason Xie Wuyue accepted it is because he was there in the last Double Dragon Gathering.]
[But we, old guys, have nothing to do with it. Of course we’d grow tired of your prattle.]
Looking outside, [For god’s sake, it’s evening already! Just how long will this tub of lard drag it on? Till morning?]
Venerable Shi had his limits as well and turned to the second elder, “That ought to do it. Time to go.”
“Yep, let’s run for it. Venerable Shi is brilliant.” Second elder said excited, “The two must’ve finished their job by now and I don’t want to hear one more word out of this guy if I can help it.”
[You’re not the only one!]
Venerable Shi shouted, “Fiend Yang, please hold on for a moment. I understand everything. Since this proposal has such great opposition, we will put a pin in it. Seeing as it’s so late already, let us resume on another day.”
“Venerable Shi is right, we might argue for days here. It’d be best to do our own search before we convene again.”
Someone already had his back, and not just his faction, but Venerable Bai’s side too. All of them were praising him to high heaven
Ugh!
Fiend Yang’s chubby face twitched and sank, “Why is it always like this? I never even get to make half my point!”
“Ha-ha-ha, we understand Fiend Yang’s feelings and he needn’t explain it. Hearing Fiend Yang’s retelling felt like reading for ten years.”
Venerable Shi laughed with a straight face, “Sect Leader, forgive my crassness today and if there’s nothing else, let us end the meeting here and discuss the Labor Office’s fate another day.”
Xie Wuyue eyed him, unable to see through his thinking, “That we shall. But don’t go ringing the bell as you wish. Calling a meeting is the right of the Sect Leader!”
“Yes, I will forever remember it.” Venerable Shi knew Xie Wuyue was just throwing his weight around and simply nodded.
He and his gang left in a hurry, leaving Xie Wuyue unnerved for some reason.
Alone with his allies, Venerable Bai mocked, “Seeing Venerable Shi so slumped feels so good, ha-ha-ha…”
“It’s all thanks to Fiend Yang’s dawdle until the old fart couldn’t take it.” Fiend Yin chuckled and patted Fiend Yang’s shoulder.
Fiend Yang’s face twitched, “When did I dawdle? I am a smooth operator, mind you. He was clearly in the wrong and our mighty righteousness shook some sense into him. And I have many many more lessons to share. I can share them with you if… “
“Oh, no no no, it’s best if you tell the old fart. Our ears are clogged enough for today. We could never endure any more of your ceaseless drivel.”
Fiend Gui stopped Fiend Yang before he got into it, again. The others agreed at once, doing anything they could to stop the fatty’s mouth from opening.
The fatty was crestfallen, [Can’t anyone feel my undying righteous devotion?]
Xie Wuyue’s frown never left him, “Strange, what was Venerable Shi up to today? He was not his usual scheeming self.”
“Maybe he just came to flaunt his might to try and stop us. But look at him, losing it all, ha-ha-ha…” Fiend Yang mocked.
The others nodded without a care.
Venerable Bai said, “The old fart must still think of himself as the boss of the inner sect. Look at him now, ha-ha-ha…”
While the others jeered at another’s expense like winners, someone entered the hall and bowed, “Laborer Yue Ling requests to see Sect Leader and master. “
“What is up with this girl?” Venerable Bai turned to Xie Wuyue.
Xie Wuyue asked, “Enter.”
Yue Ling rushed deeper and bowed, “Sect Leader, master, elites caused a scene at the Labor Office, killing and hurting many. They warned us to not set foot in the elite area or we’ll suffer for it!”
“What?!” They all cried out.
The elites and Labor Office had never once intersected, yet they suddenly went there?
Fiend Yang stomped, “Who’s the punk with such gall to kill laborers? Has he no care for the rules?”
“Venerable sirs, it’s Chi Feng and Yujuan!” Yue Ling reported.
All had a realization written on their faces. Yujuan was the seventh elder’s granddaughter while Chi Feng was second elder’s.
They were on Venerable Shi’s side and doing his bidding.
Xie Wuyue sighed, “A great diversion, using the time High Venerable was in seclusion and we were in the meeting, he had the Labor Office and elites become bitter enemies. Choosing candidates from the Labor Office will be much harder now. The inner sect has the advantage.”
“Humph, they can choose all they want. Last I heard, it’s us three leading the elite’s area.” Fiend Yang stuck out his folds.
Fiend Gui shook his head, “We can’t interfere. And now there’s the problem if laborers even want to become elites. Everyone has their pride and after such humiliation, they’d be hard pressed to still want to become elites. That will leave many crawling out of the woodworks to take those spots. We might not have even one laborer willing. They played us!”
“Blast it all to hell, the punks ruined my great plan! I’m gonna set them real straight!” Fiend Yang flared his nostrils, walking away to dole out punishment.
Xie Wuyue called out, “No point. They’d be sure to have a good reason for doing it. Right, what’s their excuse for messing with Labor Office?”
“Sect Leader, they represented the elite area in testing disciples’ level. Using the disciples challenging them as an excuse, they slaughtered many.” Yue Ling reported.
Xie Wuyue nodded, “With no third party around, no matter what we say they’ll just twist it in their favor. And with Venerable Shi at their backs, it will only do us harm instead. Our only flaw is that they came to test the disciples as representatives of the elite area. Did you three tell them anything of the sort?”
Xie Wuyue turned to the fiends to find them shaking their heads, all except the yellow fatty, choosing to look anywhere else but at him.
“I knew it was weird, and now they had a good excuse.” Xie Wuyue shook his head.
Fiend Yang and Fiend Gui raised an eyebrow and sect leader asked, “What did you tell them?”
“Nothing, just Yujuan was whining about how she wanted to represent us in testing the elite candidates and fulfill her duty as senior sister. I thought she was only playing around and agreed…”
[Dumbass!]
Everyone sighed.
Fiend Yin turned solemn, “With the Labor Office and elite area entangled, we can’t touch the two. How do we go about solving this mess?”
“Where’s Zhuo Fan? Why wasn’t he around?” Xie Wuyue asked.
Venerable Bai bowed, “He was in a rush to handle some matters and hasn’t been seen in days.”
“Then let him handle it when he gets back. He’s better at twisting the rules than Venerable Shi ever could.”
Xie Wuyue snickered and left the others puzzled.
No matter how big of a genius Zhuo Fan was, he was but a disciple. [He can do what we can’t?]
They weren’t just any elites, but the elites of some old timers.
