Chapter 961: Dodging the Important, Dwelling on the Trivial

What Niu Youdao had written really did read somewhat like a story. It was all about what had happened after he joined Zijin Cave. Although he held the title of Elder, he had never enjoyed the authority an Elder ought to possess. The upper ranks of Zijin Cave had joined together to deny him the right to participate in deliberations or decision-making, keeping matters large and small hidden from him.

The Nanzhou forces under his leadership had distinguished themselves in battle, yet when the spoils were divided, not only had he received no reward according to merit, the senior figures of Zijin Cave had joined hands to suppress him.

Suppression alone would have been one thing, but they had even tried to force him to surrender his liquor-brewing formula and cut off his road to wealth.

He had acknowledged a master, yet to this day he had barely seen the man's face more than a few times.

In short, the submission detailed every injustice he had suffered since entering Zijin Cave, bitterly denounced all the sect's shameless behavior, cursed the lot of them as not having a single good person among them, and concluded by expressing the hope that Misty Pavilion would uphold justice for him.

Ding Wei said, "I told you to write about Zijin Cave's shortcomings and deficiencies!"

Niu Youdao cupped his hands. "Presiding Administrator Ding, are the things I described not precisely Zijin Cave's shortcomings and deficiencies?"

Ding Wei tossed the scroll onto the desk. "I didn't ask you to write about this sort of chicken-feather-and-garlic-skin triviality. Zijin Cave's internal scheming, your struggles with them for power and profit, those are your own family affairs. I have no interest in who is right and who is wrong. I asked for the sect's flaws and problems, and for anything it has done that harmed order beneath Heaven. Do you not understand what I said, or are you deliberately playing dumb with me?" A cold, murderous edge had already appeared between his brows.

Everyone exchanged looks. Internal scheming and power struggles inside Zijin Cave? Niu Youdao had written three whole pages, and that was what they contained? Nothing but so-called trivialities. No wonder he had managed to ramble for so long.

Niu Youdao cupped his hands again, his face full of difficulty. "This... Sir, please forgive me. I am absolutely not playing dumb. The truth is that I have not been in Zijin Cave for long. I've been suppressed and excluded by the sect the entire time. They have never given me any real authority. I'm an Elder who doesn't even have the right to participate in decisions. I acknowledged a master in Zijin Cave, yet I've barely seen him a few times, and I've hardly exchanged more than a few words with him."

"Whatever they do, they keep it hidden from me. They don't even allow me or my people to wander around Zijin Cave freely. I genuinely do not know what they have done behind my back. As for the shortcomings and problems you mentioned, or anything they have done that harmed order beneath Heaven... this... this... I truly know nothing about it. I can hardly fabricate things out of thin air, can I? I would never dare deceive you, Sir. All I could do was write down in complete detail the things I personally learned after joining Zijin Cave. You may verify every word. If I have deceived you in even a single sentence, I am willing to die without complaint!"

He made it sound pitiful, as though he had fared miserably beyond belief inside Zijin Cave, yet every sentence seemed reasonable.

"..."

Ding Wei was momentarily choked into silence. After his gaze flickered slightly, he said heavily, "Naturally, I will verify it. If you have concealed or falsified anything, you will bear the consequences!"

That was more warning than substance. Ding Wei had known the participant list in advance, and Misty Pavilion had already investigated the basic circumstances of everyone on it. Niu Youdao's sudden selection by Luo Fangfei had been somewhat unexpected, so Ding Wei had paid special attention to his background. He knew something of Niu Youdao's position inside Zijin Cave. Whether the specifics were truly as Niu Youdao described, and whether his knowledge of Zijin Cave's internal affairs was really as limited as he claimed, still required confirmation.

But after Niu Youdao handled the matter this way, Ding Wei truly could not find any obvious point on which to condemn him. Just as Niu Youdao had said, he could hardly force the man to invent things out of thin air.

Of course, if Ding Wei absolutely wanted to make trouble for him, he still could. There was simply no need. Luo Fangfei had personally selected the man, and quite a few people wanted to know why she had specifically sent Niu Youdao into Sacred Realm.

After speaking, Ding Wei did not tell Niu Youdao to sit. Instead, he casually picked up another scroll and began reading it.

Ordinarily, he would not have read the others here in public. Niu Youdao's stunt, however, made him want to check whether anyone else had filled their submissions with the same kind of nonsense.

What Ding Wei did not know was that once the others understood the trick, they regretted it so badly their intestines practically turned green. Of course! They could have written exactly what Niu Youdao had written, all the petty filth and backbiting inside their own sects!

They regretted it to death. They had actually obeyed Ding Wei honestly and written what he had asked for.

Shen Yidu, Chao Jing, and the others looked toward Niu Youdao with varying expressions, but every one of them became even more certain in his own heart. This bastard had clearly known the inside story beforehand and prepared a countermeasure in advance. Unlike them, he had not been forced to improvise without a solution.

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie of Zijin Cave could not help turning to look at one another. Both felt as though a heavy burden had dropped from their shoulders, and delight rose in their hearts as well. The sect's instructions had not been wrong. Elder Niu really did have some ability. Just as expected, he had effortlessly helped Zijin Cave avoid a calamity that might otherwise have fallen upon it.

Only now did the two realize they had misunderstood Elder Niu. He had played the trick of dodging the important and dwelling on the trivial beautifully.

Since Ding Wei had not told him to sit, Niu Youdao obediently remained standing there, conspicuous as a crane among chickens. His brows stayed lowered and his manner deferential. At the very least, his attitude could not give Ding Wei any reason for displeasure.

When circumstances were stronger than the man, a person beneath another's eaves had no choice but to bow his head. Niu Youdao was not Yuan Gang, who would rather break than bend. To him, yielding when necessary and standing firm when required was nothing remarkable.

At least he had achieved his purpose.

He did not need Ding Wei's promise that what they wrote would remain confidential. If everything were kept secret, then even if the contents were never made public, he would have no way to explain what he had written when he returned. He needed Zijin Cave's people to know that he had not placed the sect beneath Misty Pavilion's blade.

He had known in advance that his conspicuous behavior would very likely draw Ding Wei's attention, and that Ding Wei might very well inspect what he had written. Once Ding Wei read it, dissatisfaction was inevitable. Niu Youdao had wanted precisely this exchange. He wanted to clear himself openly in front of everyone.

Faced with this impossible question, he possessed an advantage the others did not: he had only recently joined Zijin Cave. There was no reason not to use that advantage.

Of course, doing so had carried enormous risk.

The events in Tiangu remained vivid in his memory, and Sha Rulai's words, "Fu with Jian, Shi with Ju—that is the rule," had left an especially deep impression. Niu Youdao did not know whether Ding Wei's manner of doing things was the same as Sha Rulai's, whether he too might simply refuse to reason at all.

Still, Niu Youdao believed Ding Wei probably would not go that far. To some extent, he truly had been in the wrong back in Tiangu; he should not have acted there. This time, however, his position was entirely defensible. Could Ding Wei truly disregard reason altogether?

He was gambling, and he was probing.

Ding Wei had used this difficult problem to pressure them. Niu Youdao was likewise using his response to test the situation inside Sacred Realm, to see whether reason still mattered here at all. The answer would determine how he handled everything that came afterward.

To Niu Youdao, Sacred Realm and Misty Pavilion were merely overwhelmingly powerful opponents. He did not possess the deep, bone-rooted terror of them that the others did. In his view, Sacred Realm governed so many people that it could not possibly operate without any rules or reason whatsoever. If it did, the whole structure would have collapsed into chaos long ago.

If Ding Wei truly proved utterly unreasonable, if he refused to recognize any logic at all, Niu Youdao would not sit obediently and wait for death. Nor would he let Ding Wei have an easy time.

From the instant he entered Sacred Realm, he had been rapidly observing his surroundings. When one entered danger, quickly studying the environment was an instinctive part of guarding against risk. Without even that basic ability to react, he could never have survived all the storms he had crossed by relying on luck alone.

Although they had been hurried along all the way to this place, the general terrain around them was already stored in his mind.

Earlier, while grinding ink and appearing to ponder what he should write, he had actually needed little thought once he decided to write about Zijin Cave in that way. What he had truly been considering was how to escape if the decision brought dangerous consequences.

His mind had been reconstructing the surrounding terrain. From the rise and fall of the mountain peaks, he could easily judge the direction of the land. He possessed extremely rich experience in such matters. Given enough conditions, he could even infer where an underground river might run.

Which direction offered the easiest escape? The cloud-wrapped mountains and the sea of mist around them would be his best cover. If he could plunge into the clouds below the peak, his chances of escaping would increase sharply. The environment was ideal for concealing his traces.

Once he had formed a rough judgment about the external escape routes, he had rapidly assessed the situation inside as well.

Misty Pavilion's people were somewhat arrogant. They did not take these entrants very seriously, so their vigilance was not especially high. If Niu Youdao suddenly struck and tried to break free, then with his cultivation he believed he had a reasonable chance of crossing the short distance from the summit into the cloud sea.

When escaping, it would be best to exploit the assumptions Shen Yidu, Chao Jing, and the others had already formed about him. One shout from Niu Youdao, something frightening enough to make them believe in their panic that everyone brought here was doomed to die, might even force them into rebelling alongside him. That would create a much larger disturbance. At worst, it would still draw some of Misty Pavilion's manpower into guarding against the others, tying up forces that might otherwise pursue him and making his own escape easier in the short term.

He would also need to seize a weapon while fleeing. Better still, once he entered the cloud sea, he should find a way to strip a Misty Pavilion member of his clothes. Wearing their uniform would give him useful cover for whatever came next.

So long as he escaped the immediate danger and bought himself enough time and space to maneuver, he could then respond more calmly.

Before he had written a single word on the paper, Niu Youdao had already considered a great many things and mentally prepared himself for every kind of sudden development. In his judgment, only three broad possibilities could follow.

First, and most likely, nothing serious would happen. With reason on his side, Ding Wei probably would not act recklessly.

Second, they might detain him and inflict some punishment. In that case, he would endure it. Suffering a little hardship would still be preferable to the string of trouble that resisting would cause.

Third, Ding Wei might want to overawe everyone by killing one man as a warning to a hundred. If that happened, Niu Youdao would absolutely not sit and wait to die.

The facts proved his judgment correct.

The hall remained silent except for the faint sounds of Ding Wei opening one scroll after another.

After reading several, Ding Wei found none like Niu Youdao's. Once he confirmed that Niu Youdao was the only oddity in the room, he lost interest in wasting more time publicly examining them. He tossed the scroll in his hand aside and instructed, "Make several copies and send them to each side."

"Yes!" Someone immediately came forward, gathered the scrolls, and carried the tray away.

Ding Wei rose and left as well. He said nothing more. Just like that, he was gone.

Afterward, a Misty Pavilion member announced that today's proceedings were finished. Everyone would rest here temporarily, with one room assigned to each faction and three people to a room. Lodging had been prepared for them while they waited for the next stage of the tempering.

The group left the hall and was led by Misty Pavilion personnel toward their temporary quarters. As they walked, Shen Yidu, Chao Jing, and several others deliberately or seemingly accidentally began edging closer to Niu Youdao.

[End of Chapter 961]