Chapter 768: Chosen
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Bam!
At the festivities, all the guests were happily chatting like they were the ones getting married. Only one was drinking away his sorrows in a brooding mood, Xie Wuyue.
After stepping down, he got one really boring office as Venerable. Of the fearful elders he usually saw now there was none sparing him a glance. Everyone was minding their business and enjoying the party.
They all knew that there was no such thing as stepping down from Sect Leader in the Demon Scheming Sect. A new Sect Leader would only be appointed when the old one was on his last breath. Or when he got killed and a new one was elected.
A nice way to put it was that Xie Wuyue stepped down, while a more crude way would be to say he was driven off his chair. Who the h.e.l.l would pay attention to a morose dog? They all avoided him out of fear.
When status faded, so did the people.
The lofty Sect Leader Xie was now the dislike of the public and no one wanted him. His age was over.
“Curse you, Zhuo Fan! I vow to get you for this. Just you wait!”
He yanked a pot of wine and started downing it in hatred.
Just then, a familiar figure appeared. Seeing him so miserable, he shook his head, “Wuyue, isn’t it just a Sect Leader? What’s so great about it? Being Venerable is great as well. You’ve got so much freedom.
“Fatty Yang?”
Xie Wuyue squinted and put the pot down. He looked at Fiend Yang and mocked, “Why are you here? Aren’t you with Zhuo Fan? Go have your fun with all those disdaining me. Or have you come to ridicule me?”
Fiend Yang sighed, “Wuyue, we’ve been brothers for centuries. The bond we made at the Double Dragon Gathering is unbreakable. How can I help others harm you? But to be totally honest, your time is gone. Instead of trying to get the people on your side, you threaten them. Why else could Zhuo Fan take advantage and force you to stand down? Yesterday as well, I gave you the chance to settle this, but you wouldn’t hear it. Zhuo Fan as well wanted to solve this problem, but you were still so stubborn. Who was it that didn’t want a peaceful resolution in the end? It was Venerable Bai’s side. Why? Because they feared you’d settle the score. You should think about this.”
“Humph, my business has nothing to do with you!”
Xie Wuyue snorted and took another gulp of wine.
Actually, after he finally calmed down and thought about it, he knew Fiend Yang had offered him many chances to get away, but he was too angry to listen.
Fiend Yang was a true brother. Instead of looking after himself and staying with the Labor Office’s elders, he tried to help him.
It was easy to imagine that Fiend Yang would be isolated now. But even so, he still chose to help when he was vulnerable. Xie Wuyue was grateful for his help, but he just wouldn’t admit it.
“The worst are Zhuo Fan and those from the Labor Office. I brought him to the sect, I helped him get those elders into the Labor Office to stand up to Venerable s.h.i.+’s faction. Now that they got power, they came at me! d.a.m.n ingrates! Humph, just like a true demonic cultivator, without an ounce of loyalty.
Xie Wuyue raved as he gulped down some more wine. Talking to Fiend Yang while also venting.
Fiend Yang shook his head and patted his shoulder, “Brother, let it go. You’re lucky High Venerable came to save you. Look around you, at the people at this wedding. The Luo clan aren’t people to be messed with. Then there’s that little monster. If you start fighting, no one can save you.”
Fiend Yang sighed and left helplessly. At another table, there were smiles all around. But when they saw him coming, they turned cold, as if blaming him for taking Xie Wuyue’s side yesterday.
Fiend Yang was no longer seen as one of them.
Xie Wuyue’s eyes shone with hatred. His hand clenched and crushed the wine pot.
“Sect Leader, must you break the pot?”
Venerable s.h.i.+ came over with five elders, sitting at his table with a sinister smile, “After losing, only a coward takes his anger out on wine.”
Bam!
Xie Wuyue slammed the table as he glared, “What do you want? You think you can just mock me now that I lost my seat? Don’t forget you’re not with Zhuo Fan. Wait till he solidifies his rule and then he’ll come to you. I bet you won’t be as lucky as I was when that happens.”
“Lucky? Ha-ha-ha, stepping down was lucky for Sect Leader? I never knew Sect Leader’s ambition amounts to so little.”
Xie Wuyue gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists, “Venerable s.h.i.+, if you run your mouth one more time, then you’ll be sorry!”
“What, are you going to attack? Humph…”
Venerable s.h.i.+ sneered, “You didn’t when you stepped down, and now, after you idled away, want to show off? Is that all you amount to?”
“Venerable s.h.i.+!”
“Xie Wuyue!”
Xie Wuyue shot to his feet, but before he struck, Venerable s.h.i.+ grabbed his arm as he warned, “Right now, more than half the sect is on Zhuo Fan’s side. You need me if you want to stand up again. Or is that too hard for you to realize?”
Xie Wuyue shook and squinted at him, hope glimmering in his eyes, “W-what did you say? Do you have a way to get my seat back?”
“Of course. It doesn’t do any of us good with Zhuo Fan at the helm.”
Venerable s.h.i.+ nodded, “You’re right, half of the sect is on his side. He must be seeing my side as a thorn in his side, waiting to be removed. Our best option is to join forces. “
Xie Wuyue calmed his heart and sat down, “What’s the point? I already lost, while your power will sooner or later end up swallowed up by Zhuo Fan. You think he’s that easy to handle?”
“Ha-ha-ha, I know that, or how else would an outsider defeat both of us in just five years since coming here?”
Venerable s.h.i.+ mocked and sent to Xie Wuyue, “Sect Leader, do you know why High Venerable did not care for you, his disciple, and settled on Zhuo Fan?”
Xie Wuyue’s face grew hard, feeling pain for his master abandoning him over an outsider.
[Am I so bad that he would want to ruin me?]
Whoos.h.!.+
Venerable s.h.i.+ showed a jade slip, “Ha-ha-ha, take this and you’ll have your answer.”
Xie Wuyue was focusing on it for a few moments then cried, “This…”
“Yes, these are the ones chosen to enter Double Dragon Manor!”
Venerable s.h.i.+’s eyes shone, “Zhuo Fan, Chu Qingcheng, Shui Ruohua, Dan’er and other girls are there. High Venerable is playing a grand scheme. As you know, joining the Double Dragon Manor under the Exalted will advance hundreds of years in just a few years and would greatly promote the sect.
“If High Venerable won in suppressing Zhuo Fan’s uprising, it was the same as losing Zhuo Fan and Chu Qingcheng, the future experts of the sect. They’re sure to have great power in the future, no less than High Venerable. So how could he let them slip away? While taking them in was different, greatly bolstering the sect. Zhuo Fan won’t go alone to Double Dragon Manor, but following him will be the disciples he s.n.a.t.c.hed from Mystical Heaven Sect that were admitted as well. High Venerable must be tearing up from the joy.”
“Humph, he loses his prized disciple’s future and earns six experts for the sect. This deal is clearly enticing. If I were High Venerable, I’d do the same.”
Venerable s.h.i.+ had a vague smile, “But there’s one problem, helping the uprising rise to power, affecting his name. Every expert pays great attention to this. I, for example, could not do it, but High Venerable is selfless, thinking only about the sect. He is a true man compared to us laymen.”
Xie Wuyue tightened his grip on the jade slip, “In other words, High Venerable cared more about Zhuo Fan and them than me. It’s not because they were stronger?”
“Of course, when did an expert like High Venerable lose in terms of power? They say that when Mystical Heaven Sect’s four dragons killed one of our elders, High Venerable knew he was weaker and took Impermanence Five to attack. Though they retreated, they still got to kill five elders of Mystical Heaven Sect under the four dragons’ eyes and make them pay the price so that Mystical Heaven Sect won’t slight us!”
Venerable s.h.i.+ sighed, “That’s how High Venerable is. The stronger the enemy, the more unbending he is. He only cares about the future of the sect.”
Xie Wuyue’s eyes shook as he spoke after a pause, “Where did you get the list, Venerable s.h.i.+?”
“A month ago, Double Dragon Manor sent the list to every sect. Sect Leader did not receive it since High Venerable stepped in to take it. It seems High Venerable understands Sect Leader and your jealousy. That’s why he never showed it, ha-ha-ha…”
Xie Wuyue spoke coldly, “Double Dragon Manor gives the list to every Sect Leader so how do you know of this? You have… outside help!”
“Will Sect Leader arrest me?” Venerable s.h.i.+ snickered.
Xie Wuyue smiled, his eyes s.h.i.+ning, “No, now I know how you’ll help me. Fine, I agree, ha-ha-ha…”