Chapter 748: Quite Popular, Aren't You?

Of the thirty sect leaders beneath Heaven who held seats in Misty Pavilion, twelve had actually nominated Niu Youdao?

Of those thirty leaders, twelve actually wanted Niu Youdao dead?

Gong Lince was utterly speechless.

There was absolutely no other explanation for it. They certainly had not nominated him because they wanted extra support inside the Tiandu Secret Realm to compete for benefits.

With Niu Youdao's cultivation, those twelve nominators plainly wanted to get him killed.

This year's sudden decision to send independent cultivators into the Tiandu Secret Realm had already caught Gong Lince by surprise. Now someone had actually pushed Niu Youdao onto the list as well.

Could Niu Youdao's cultivation really count as that of an elite independent cultivator?

Yet after thinking it over, Gong Lince found the nominations understandable.

For Niu Youdao to have mixed himself into his present position, the things he had done were bound to have made certain people unhappy.

What surprised Gong Lince was the sheer number.

Twelve nominators.

That was far beyond what he had expected.

Had Niu Youdao truly offended that many people?

Which twelve had nominated him?

Gong Lince silently calculated.

Song's three major sects had been beaten miserably by Meng Shanming. It was understandable if they wanted to use the opportunity to eliminate Niu Youdao, the man behind Meng Shanming. Those three could be counted.

Zhao was presently facing Yan's offensive under Nanzhou's command. It would hardly be surprising if Zhao's three major sects seized the chance to strike at Niu Youdao too. Those three could also be counted.

Han wanting to move against Yan's Nanzhou faction was understandable as well. Han's three major sects could be counted too.

That made nine.

Who were the other three?

Yan was currently at war with Zhao. Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain should not create internal trouble at a time like this.

What about Tianhuo Sect of Qi?

Niu Youdao had injured disciples of Tianhuo Sect and caused the sect to lose face. Perhaps Tianhuo Sect's leader Yuwen Yan could barely be counted as one.

That brought the rough total to ten.

Who were the other two?

Gong Lince thought it over repeatedly but could not make sense of it.

Had Niu Youdao secretly offended someone else?

Because of Shao Pingbo, perhaps Jin's three major sects?

Or had Myriad Beasts Sect learned that Niu Youdao was the one who had broken its special method during the Song campaign, meaning Myriad Beasts Sect had an account with him as well?

Gong Lince understood perfectly that this was not really about personal grudges between Niu Youdao and the others.

Niu Youdao had no personal feud with these sect leaders.

He had simply been swept into the greater momentum of the world, and people were taking the opportunity to strike him in passing.

No matter how Gong Lince calculated, he could not determine the answer.

The nominations were anonymous. No one knew who had nominated whom, much less why.

At this point, figuring out who had nominated him was no longer important.

The important point was that Niu Youdao was now on the list, and that had already affected Zijin Cave's interests.

Zijin Cave was still counting on drawing Niu Youdao in so it could smoothly secure control over Nanzhou.

Now so many sect leaders wanted him dead.

Once those forces entered the Tiandu Secret Realm, Niu Youdao's fate could easily be imagined.

Niu Youdao, oh Niu Youdao.

You insisted on delaying.

I told you to join Zijin Cave earlier, and you just had to drag things out.

See where that got you?

Gong Lince smiled bitterly to himself.

Niu Youdao had delayed joining Zijin Cave because he wanted to avoid the Tiandu Secret Realm. Instead, precisely because of that delay, he now seemed unable to escape the calamity.

What did it mean to be undone by one's own cleverness?

Still, Gong Lince knew this was something no one could have predicted.

Keeping Niu Youdao's planned entry into Zijin Cave concealed earlier had been correct. Otherwise, Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain would have stirred up trouble.

Gong Lince moved his gaze away from Niu Youdao's name and examined the others.

One name made his eyes brighten.

He seemed to see a sliver of hope again.

Zhao Xiongge!

There were many duplicated names on the list.

Niu Youdao was nowhere near the most frequently repeated.

Some people had even been nominated by everyone present.

Zhao Xiongge was one of them.

All thirty people had nominated him.

Gong Lince knew Zhao Xiongge.

Zhao Xiongge had once stood up for Niu Youdao at Maolu Villa. Their relationship could be imagined.

If Zhao Xiongge entered the Tiandu Secret Realm, he would inevitably help Niu Youdao.

With an expert like Zhao Xiongge lending support, together with Zijin Cave's own strength, it might not be impossible to keep Niu Youdao safe.

Thirty people, each nominating forty names, produced twelve hundred nominations.

After duplicates were removed, however, there were still more than two hundred places left unfilled.

Holding the compiled list, Sha Rulai descended from the steps.

The sect leaders gathered before the wooden boards parted to make way.

Sha Rulai paced in front of the boards for a while.

In the end, he stopped before one of them, asked for a piece of chalkstone, and drew a line through one name.

He had directly struck Zhao Xiongge from the list.

Everyone stared in surprise, not understanding what it meant.

Sha Rulai tossed the chalkstone back to an attendant and said calmly, "Zhao Xiongge is not among those to be nominated."

Why was Zhao Xiongge excluded?

There was no explanation.

There was no reason.

Sha Rulai had said Near-Heaven Palace was a place where reason applied.

But when reason did not apply, then it simply did not apply.

No justification was required.

That too was one of the unspoken rules everyone understood.

Some people had already formed guesses.

Zhao Xiongge was connected to the Demonic Sect, and one of the nine supreme experts had come from the Demonic Sect.

Perhaps the matter was related to that.

Gong Lince stood there stunned.

He no longer knew whether to say Niu Youdao had terrible luck or a bitter fate.

He had only just been thinking that once Niu Youdao entered the Tiandu Secret Realm, Zhao Xiongge could become a powerful source of protection.

In the blink of an eye, that support was gone.

Gong Lince was unwilling to accept it.

Since he held a seat here and had a voice, he still intended to fight for the matter.

Pointing toward a name on the board, he said, "Mr. Sha, as far as I know, Niu Youdao is only a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He cannot really be considered one of the elite independent cultivators. Sending him inside would be inappropriate. I suggest removing his name."

"Niu Youdao. Twelve nominations. Quite popular, aren't you?"

Sha Rulai's gaze fell on Niu Youdao's name as he murmured the words.

He was no stranger to this person.

In fact, he had known of Niu Youdao quite early.

When Niu Youdao drew pictures for his daughter, Sha Rulai had already heard about him.

After learning that his daughter liked Niu Youdao's paintings, Sha Rulai had once considered recruiting Niu Youdao into Star-Plucking City.

But then Niu Youdao became embroiled in the struggle over interests beneath Heaven, and Sha Rulai abandoned the idea.

Had things followed that original course, Niu Youdao might even have counted as one of Misty Pavilion's own people.

That was why Sha Rulai had been paying attention to him for a long time.

Seeing Niu Youdao nominated by so many people still surprised him somewhat.

Gong Lince muttered inwardly.

Popular?

This was not popularity.

This was persecution.

Sha Rulai's remark drew chuckles from quite a few people.

Everyone knew he was speaking sarcastically.

Sha Rulai looked back at Gong Lince, then swept his gaze across the others.

The meaning was obvious.

He was asking what everyone thought.

Guan Jitai, Sect Leader of Lingxiao Pavilion, spoke first. "Sect Leader Gong, you can't put it that way. A Foundation Establishment cultivator is not necessarily unqualified to count as elite. I hear this Niu Youdao is quite capable. In my view, he is very suitable for entering the Tiandu Secret Realm."

Gong Lince swept him a look.

No need to say anything else.

He could now be absolutely certain that Guan Jitai had been one of the men who nominated Niu Youdao.

Gong Lince immediately countered, "What do schemes and methods have to do with the cultivation needed for fighting and killing? Everyone knows what happens inside the Tiandu Secret Realm. The most important thing is hard strength. Cultivation level is precisely the standard by which one decides whether someone is elite."

As he spoke, he repeatedly signaled Long Xiu and Meng Xuan with his eyes.

Long Xiu and Meng Xuan understood what he meant.

They did not want anything unexpected to happen in the war with Zhao.

The war was only being frozen, after all.

Once the Tiandu Secret Realm concluded, the fighting would continue.

So the two decided to help Gong Lince and prevent certain people's intentions from succeeding.

Yet before they could turn the argument around, other voices spoke up.

"Sect Leader Gong, cultivation realm does not necessarily represent actual killing strength. I heard that when Niu Youdao took the head of Yan's envoy in Zhao, he did it from amid a crowd of guards as easily as reaching into a bag. If that isn't hard strength, what is?"

"Exactly. Even disciples of Tianhuo Sect were no match for him. That alone shows his strength is extraordinary. He certainly ought to count as one of the elite independent cultivators."

"Since Niu Youdao first emerged at Maolu, no one has heard of him losing a fight. He keeps hopping around stirring up trouble everywhere. That alone shows he has confidence in his own strength."

"That's right. Niu Youdao absolutely counts as an elite independent cultivator."

Long Xiu and Meng Xuan lending their voices did not help.

Once the discussion opened, the people agreeing that Niu Youdao qualified as an elite independent cultivator were actually more numerous than the twelve who had nominated him.

Gong Lince roughly counted.

There were no fewer than fifteen.

Some people had probably simply failed to think of Niu Youdao when first writing down names.

If the nominations were redone, the number might exceed twelve.

Inside Near-Heaven Palace, when reason applied, the minority yielded to the majority.

Some people had no stake in the matter and did not care either way.

Setting aside those merely watching the spectacle, twelve people had already nominated Niu Youdao, while only a few spoke on his behalf.

The outcome was obvious.

Sha Rulai listened to the discussion, then said, "Enough. We are still short by a little over two hundred names. Excluding the independent cultivators already listed, everyone should nominate additional people and fill the thousand places as quickly as possible."

The moment he said that, Gong Lince knew it was over.

Niu Youdao would not escape this calamity.

Gong Lince badly wanted to say that Niu Youdao was already a disciple of Zijin Cave.

But after looking at Sha Rulai, Long Xiu, and Meng Xuan, he restrained himself.

Once the full list of one thousand independent cultivators had finally been completed, Sha Rulai gave orders in front of everyone.

The list was to be transmitted immediately to places such as Star-Plucking City throughout the world and posted publicly.

Every independent cultivator whose name appeared on it was ordered to arrive on the day the Tiandu Secret Realm opened and enter.

Anyone who defied the order would be executed.

"As for the lists submitted by the sects of the various states, redraw them after you return. There is not much time. Within five days, I want to see genuine lists!"

After leaving those words behind, Sha Rulai departed under the respectful salutes of the gathering.

Time was tight.

The sect leaders did not linger and soon left one after another.

Large flying mounts rose from Misty Pavilion and disappeared into the distance.

...

Inside the Chancellor's residence in Song, Chancellor Zi Pingxiu hurried into an elegant little courtyard.

Jia Wuqun lay weakly on a reclining chair beneath a tree, his face deathly pale and sickly.

He stared blankly at leaves drifting down one by one.

"Sir, the war has stopped! It has stopped! Misty Pavilion has issued an order beneath Heaven and frozen the hostilities..." Zi Pingxiu bent beside the reclining chair and reported the good news.

Jia Wuqun came back to himself.

He struggled to rise, and Zi Pingxiu hurriedly supported him.

Once upright, Jia Wuqun took the brush lying on the nearby table, dipped it in ink, and wrote a line:

It seems my trip was not wasted. Song has gained a chance to breathe!

"Mm, mm!" Zi Pingxiu nodded repeatedly.

Looking at Jia Wuqun's condition, tears welled in his eyes.

A perfectly healthy man had been reduced to this state.

Jia Wuqun could no longer speak.

Misty Pavilion had cut out his tongue.

His offense was precisely that he had gone to Misty Pavilion and attempted to persuade them.

Naturally, Jia Wuqun had not gone there blindly.

Earlier, while considering how to relieve Song's crisis, he had learned from Song's three major sects about the Tiandu Secret Realm nomination lists.

From that, he inferred that the lists submitted by the factions of the other states would trigger a chain reaction.

He therefore went to Misty Pavilion and used that issue as the opening through which he tried to persuade them.

Whether Misty Pavilion had listened to him or not, he had still made the wrong calculation.

A mere mortal had actually dared scheme around Misty Pavilion.

Was Misty Pavilion something he could manipulate merely because he wished to?

His tongue was the punishment and lesson.

Because of his status and background, and because he was entangled in the struggle among the states, Misty Pavilion preferred to watch coldly from the side and did not wish to intervene too deeply.

Otherwise, he might not even have kept his life.

They had taken only his tongue.

It had been severed cleanly at the root and thrown on the spot to the animals kept by Misty Pavilion.

[End of Chapter 748]