Chapter 986: A Vote

Shao Pingbo asked again, "Did Niu Youdao come out alone, or did everyone come out?"

Taishu Xiong said, "We don't know yet. The only report we have received so far is that Niu Youdao came out alone. At the very least, the sect still doesn't know whether our own disciples have emerged. They should be contacting the other sects right now to ask around."

Shao Pingbo fell silent.

Was he surprised? Somewhat. But to him, it also seemed entirely reasonable. From what he knew of Niu Youdao, unless Sacred Realm was like the Tiandu Secret Realm, where once you went in there was no way back out, there was nothing strange about Niu Youdao somehow managing to escape.

His first reaction was that Niu Youdao must have used some method to extricate himself from Sacred Realm and avoid the calamity.

His feelings were complicated.

He had hoped Niu Youdao would be unable to escape disaster inside Sacred Realm, yet at the same time felt that would be letting the man off too cheaply. More than anything, he wanted to deal with Niu Youdao personally. Calling it a desire to wash away his old humiliation would not be an exaggeration. Otherwise there were things he would have to carry for the rest of his life.

Yet many things were simply beyond his present ability.

And now the great affair before him had once again been disrupted by Niu Youdao. Shao Pingbo knew Niu Youdao had done nothing intentionally, but in a certain sense this too proved that the distance between them was growing ever wider.

Thinking back to those earlier years, Shao Pingbo had once been someone Niu Youdao could only look up to. When Niu Youdao faced him, fleeing had been his only choice.

Now Shao Pingbo could not produce a single thing capable of shaking Niu Youdao.

He also understood where the greatest gulf between them lay: the gulf between cultivator and non-cultivator. It was a chasm he could not cross, one that often left him powerless...

Niu Youdao had made many enemies. Shao Pingbo was far from the only man who wanted him dead.

But many people, like Shao Pingbo, now faced a Niu Youdao very different from the man of the past and had to weigh their own measure before acting.

As word gradually spread that Niu Youdao had emerged from Sacred Realm, many people were disappointed.

Even within Zijin Cave, quite a few people hoped Niu Youdao would die in Sacred Realm, yet they were also afraid he might die there. They feared Sacred Realm might push him so hard that he would fight back in desperation and drag Zijin Cave down with him.

After spending some time with him inside Zijin Cave, everyone had more or less seen it clearly: if matters truly reached that point, Niu Youdao was entirely capable of doing such a thing. He would probably never sit quietly and wait for death.

A Zijin Cave Elder openly opposing Sacred Realm?

The consequences were terrifying merely to imagine.

For a time, the news of Niu Youdao leaving Sacred Realm caused no small stir and drew intense attention throughout the cultivation world.

In any case, that discarded disciple of the Shangqing Sect had, over the course of a little more than ten years, quietly become a major figure in the cultivation world.

No one could deny that Niu Youdao now counted as somebody.

Many famous figures of long standing had to look up at him. Even Wu Zhaoxing, publicly acknowledged as an expert on the Golden Core Ranking, had become Niu Youdao's subordinate. Everyone knew it.

Many independent cultivators regarded Niu Youdao as a model to emulate. Among some of them, the title "Master Dao" had begun to spread. Whenever they discussed him, "Master Dao" was constantly on their lips.

Niu Youdao's success caused increasing numbers of independent cultivators to try to repeat his path to success, choosing some figure similar to Shang Chaozong and supporting him.

Many lost their lives because of it.

There was only one Niu Youdao. Whether a second would ever appear, no one knew...

At Shouque Villa, a great flock of large passenger-carrying flying mounts arrived.

For the approaching second round of the tempering, Misty Pavilion had assembled a full one hundred large flying mounts.

The faction possessing the greatest number of large flying mounts was not Myriad Beasts Sect.

It was Sacred Realm.

The people from the various factions participating in the tempering, along with a corresponding number organized by Misty Pavilion, all stood in formation at Shouque Villa waiting.

Standing atop a pavilion, Ding Wei held two rosters in his hands. One belonged to Misty Pavilion; the other listed the various factions.

Suddenly, he said, "Since this is a competition, it must be fair."

The people standing nearby looked puzzled, unsure what he meant.

Someone asked, "Is there a problem with the rosters?"

Ding Wei said, "Misty Pavilion has one more person than the various factions. If Huang Ban has not brought Niu Youdao back by the time the competition begins, remove one person from Misty Pavilion's side. Don't give anyone grounds to criticize us. Understood?"

"Yes. Understood." His subordinate cupped his hands and accepted the order.

Ding Wei looked over the two lines of people below and raised his chin slightly. "Set out."

At the order, the participants boarded the flying mounts three to a mount.

Before long, nearly three hundred people in total, including the personnel escorting them and enforcing the rules, were circling through the air atop the flying mounts.

Ding Wei flashed into the air and landed atop one of the mounts. Riding the wind, he took the lead and flew away. The great flock wheeling overhead immediately followed.

Seas of clouds, mountain ranges, lakes, and rivers came toward them and fell away behind.

The people from the various factions, visiting Sacred Realm for the first time, continually looked around and studied the scenery.

They saw sunset in daylight and stars beneath the night sky.

Only at dawn the next day, after nearly a full day of flight, did they finally reach a vast wetland stretching beyond sight.

Swamps spread everywhere, interwoven with wild mountain terrain. The wooded hills rising from the marshes looked like bizarre beasts lurking beneath the mire with only their backs exposed.

This place was called the Desolate Marsh Deadlands.

The name sounded ominous, but the scenery was endlessly varied. The people standing on a mountain summit and looking over it could not help marveling at the uncanny workmanship of nature.

Those participating in the tempering had already read about this place in the handbook given to them earlier.

Because the wetlands covered an immense area, ordinary animals found it difficult to survive here. That was why it was called a deadland.

Demon Foxes, however, were different.

Their innate gifts were unusual. They were light and agile over mountains and water alike, able to race across mud and marsh grass, and even burrow into rotten mire to hide.

They were called Demon Foxes for another reason as well: their natural divine ability gave them innate demonic power.

An adult Demon Fox naturally possessed offensive strength comparable to a cultivator in the Qi Refinement Realm. Combined with their inborn intelligence, that had once placed them at the very top of Sacred Realm's food chain, until the cultivators who entered this realm brought their dominance to an end.

This area's special environment was precisely what suited Demon Foxes to survive and hide.

When threatened, they could flee into the marshes, making it difficult for cultivators to exterminate them completely.

Indeed, it was only because cultivators had mobilized every kind of force to slaughter them that the Demon Foxes had been driven into this place to cling to survival.

Misty Pavilion itself had begun as an organization of cultivators recruited by Sacred Realm to hunt Demon Foxes. After the Demon Foxes were defeated, that body gradually transformed into the organization that helped Sacred Realm administer the world beneath Heaven.

Of course, the hunts had never stopped.

"The hunting period is three months. I don't care what methods you use. Victory will ultimately be decided by the number of Demon Fox vertical eyes you obtain. Three months from now, gather here again and determine the winner."

Standing at the highest point of the mountain summit, his cloak snapping in the wind, Ding Wei looked down over the crowd and publicly announced the rules of the competition.

"Remember this. There are two teams. No one from one team may steal the other team's spoils, and no one may secretly kill members of the other team. If anyone violates these rules, no matter who they are, they will be severely punished!"

The "vertical eye" referred to the Demon Fox's third eye.

Between its two ordinary eyes, at the midpoint between the brows, grew a vertically oriented eye. It rarely opened, but it was the Demon Fox's vital point.

Once that eye was gouged out, the Demon Fox died as well.

Using the eyes to determine victory was fair enough. They could hardly expect people to haul piles of Demon Fox corpses around with them.

Ding Wei then addressed the cultivators from the various factions. "Unlike Misty Pavilion, you have no hunting experience. I suggest you operate together. That will be better than blindly scattering everywhere and searching without direction. All right. The competition begins now!"

The Misty Pavilion participants immediately gathered together, plainly discussing plans and deployments.

The people from the various factions looked at one another.

They had no experience with this at all and felt as though they had no idea where to begin. So they too gathered together to discuss what they should do.

In the end, they decided to follow Ding Wei's suggestion and act jointly.

Since they were going to act together, they needed an organizational structure. There had to be one overall commander giving orders. Otherwise, if everyone simply did whatever the hell they pleased, what kind of joint operation would that be?

Choosing who should issue the orders took considerable argument.

In the end, the conclusion was much what one might expect: whoever was somewhat more forceful would have the final say.

There was no better solution. At the very least, someone with a strong enough manner could exert a little deterrence over a temporary coalition like this and make command easier.

After an extended dispute, the various factions ultimately selected Taishu Shancheng, Elder of Qiyun Sect, as the leader of the hunt.

With that settled, the next question was how to proceed.

A group of people unfolded the map supplied by Misty Pavilion and began discussing how to start.

Although they now had a leader, each faction still wanted to remain together with its own people and did not want its members broken apart. Everyone shared that preference.

Their final method of operation therefore kept each faction's members together as a small team.

Afterward came the arrangements for search directions, the method of advance, and where they would regroup.

When the arrangements reached Zijin Cave's side, Fuhua interjected, "Elder Taishu, Zijin Cave is short-handed now. They only have two men left. There's no need to assign them separately, is there? Let the two of them come with us from the Four Seas."

The Four Seas group had promised Niu Youdao that if he was absent, they would help look after Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie.

Taishu Shancheng's gaze flickered slightly. "I'm responsible for command here, and I happen to be short two men to scout ahead and carry messages between everyone. Let those two stay beside me and run errands."

Niu Youdao's men?

Everyone exchanged looks.

It was no longer any great secret that Niu Youdao had caused Qiyun Sect's entire group to be wiped out in the Tiandu Secret Realm. Now that Niu Youdao's men had fallen into Taishu Shancheng's hands, they would probably not have an easy time.

The moment Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie heard this, both grew tense.

Fuhua reminded him, "Elder Taishu, this is a time when everyone needs to stand united. The results of the tempering concern all our futures. It wouldn't be good for internal conflict to arise now."

She was warning him not to use public authority to settle a private grudge.

Taishu Shancheng said, "I've only just been chosen to lead, and already someone refuses to obey orders. How are we supposed to carry out a joint operation after this?"

Fuhua said, "It isn't a refusal to obey. To avoid misunderstandings, Elder Taishu should simply avoid the appearance of partiality."

Taishu Shancheng gave a dry chuckle, then his eyes abruptly turned cold. "Since that's the case, then everyone can decide together. Do we support my proposal or Fuhua's? Let the group judge publicly. Those who support my proposal, I ask the leaders of each faction to raise a hand!"

He raised his own hand first.

The other two sects from the State of Jin followed Qiyun Sect's lead, so naturally they raised their hands immediately.

Unexpectedly, Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain from the State of Yan were the next to raise theirs.

One faction after another slowly followed.

Those from the State of Qi, the State of Wei, and the State of Han all raised their hands.

Heaven-Splitting Palace and Blood God Hall from the State of Song raised theirs as well.

Under everyone's gaze, however, Quan Taifeng of Lingxiao Pavilion gave two chuckles, folded his arms, and said, "I'll remain neutral. I oppose neither side and support neither side."

Going that far already counted as giving Niu Youdao face.

Everyone knew the old fellow still bore the name of Niu Youdao's sworn elder brother.

The people from the State of Qin did not raise their hands.

Neither did the Four Seas group.

But that was not enough to affect the result.

Bitterness filled Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie's hearts.

Both understood that the consequences of Elder Niu having made too many enemies were now falling upon the two of them.

[End of Chapter 986]