At those words, Yu Xiongbatian, sitting at the head of the golden throne, furrowed his brow.
The Second Deputy Leader immediately hurried to explain, "The Celestial River Blade Sect not only refuses to join our Alliance Under Heaven, they have even been letting their disciples bully and kill members of the factions that are part of our alliance."
"The Fifth could not stand by and watch. He went personally to seek justice for those who had been killed and humiliated, and departed for the Celestial River Blade Sect in Qing Province several days ago with a group of capable alliance members."
At those words, Yu Xiongbatian gave a small nod, "That Celestial River Blade Sect was obstinate and unwilling to join the Alliance Under Heaven, and this old man never pressed them for it."
"But now the sect has apparently taken to bullying and slaughtering the factions that have joined our alliance. The Fifth handled that well. Our Alliance Under Heaven must uphold justice, otherwise all the other factions that have joined us will feel let down."
At those words, the other eleven Deputy Leaders in the meeting hall, including the Second, all nodded in unison.
"The Fifth is a once-in-a-century martial prodigy of the entire martial world. Young as he is, he already stands above all others among us, and beyond that, his sense of righteousness and his chivalrous spirit have earned him the deep admiration of every faction and sect within the alliance."
The Second Deputy Leader smiled pleasantly and elaborated, adding to Yu Xiongbatian's words with a thorough round of praise for the Fifth Deputy Leader.
Though there was a slight element of exaggeration in it, most of it was genuinely true.
The fact that the Fifth Deputy Leader ranked so high was itself enough to speak to how extraordinary his martial gifts and ability truly were.
At those words, Yu Xiongbatian's face, which appeared to be that of a man of twenty or thirty, showed no particular emotion. He simply said evenly, "The Fifth was someone this old man watched grow up. His martial gifts are unlike anything this old man has seen in a lifetime."
As he spoke, the white-haired yet youthful Yu Xiongbatian suddenly let out a sigh, "But unfortunately, this world always has someone beyond someone, and a mountain beyond every mountain. You never know when a monstrous talent will suddenly spring up from somewhere and catch everyone off guard."
At those words, the Second Deputy Leader and the other Deputy Leaders who had been about to say more in praise of the Fifth Deputy Leader, Huo Linfei, all felt their expressions go still.
In the past, whenever Yu Xiongbatian heard someone praising Huo Linfei, he had genuinely been more pleased than if they had complimented him personally, his face breaking into a wide smile without fail.
But what was wrong today?
The Second Deputy Leader had just said a round of kind words about Huo Linfei, and Yu Xiongbatian had not given so much as a smile in return. Instead he had said something that made no particular sense to anyone present.
The Second Deputy Leader's eyes shifted. Could it be that the Grand Alliance Leader had grown tired of it?
But Huo Linfei had been personally cultivated by Yu Xiongbatian, who cared more about the young man than about his own sons. After all these years, there had never been any sign of him growing tired of it.
With that thought, the Second Deputy Leader reined in the smile that had been on his face, considered briefly, and then changed the subject, "Alliance Leader, since the Fifth is not present, there is no need to wait for him. What is the urgent matter for which you have summoned us today? Do you have important instructions to give?"
At those words, the other Deputy Leaders also drew their attention back from their puzzlement and looked toward Yu Xiongbatian together.
At the moment the Great Li martial world was considered reasonably calm, and the standing of the four great sects was extremely secure. An urgent summons like this within the Alliance Under Heaven had not been issued in many years.
Everyone was quite curious as to why Yu Xiongbatian would suddenly issue such a summons out of nowhere.
At that, faced with the Second Deputy Leader's question, Yu Xiongbatian shook his head, then gestured to one side, "Wenshan, read out for them the message that came in from the Yuan Province branch."
At those words, a middle-aged scholar who had been standing respectfully to one side of the meeting hall quickly stepped forward.
He bowed to Yu Xiongbatian and the other Deputy Leaders, then without further delay drew a letter from his sleeve and read it aloud in a steady voice.
The middle-aged scholar's refined and measured voice echoed through the magnificent meeting hall. The letter's content was actually not long, but falling on the ears of the assembled Deputy Leaders, it was as though thunder had cracked directly overhead, and every one of them was stunned on the spot.
"Falling God Peak has been destroyed?"
"The Great Li Tianjin Guards did this?"
"A prince who appeared out of nowhere just days ago has power this terrifying?"
...
After the middle-aged scholar finished, there was a brief moment of stunned silence, and then all eleven Deputy Leaders of the Alliance Under Heaven erupted into noise.
For a time, voices rose and fell throughout the meeting hall without stop.
The Second Deputy Leader's expression shifted rapidly, and then he quietly glanced at Yu Xiongbatian sitting at the head of the hall.
At that moment, beyond being deeply shaken by the news from the Yuan Province branch, he had finally understood why Yu Xiongbatian had not smiled when he praised Huo Linfei earlier.
It was not that Yu Xiongbatian did not want to smile. It was that he simply could not.
With this news out, the Great Li Eighth Prince's martial gifts left Huo Linfei in the dust by several streets.
What was the Alliance Under Heaven's so-called once-in-a-century martial prodigy worth in comparison? Nothing but a source of amusement.
If Yu Xiongbatian had smiled at that, the one being laughed at next would have been himself.
With that thought, a faint surge of private satisfaction rose in the Second Deputy Leader's heart. To be honest, as the uncontested second strongest figure in the Alliance Under Heaven, he had been saying complimentary things about Huo Linfei against his own better judgment for years, and had harbored a fair amount of resentment over it.
There had even been times when he had muttered about it to himself in private.
What reason did a Second Deputy Leader have to applaud a Fifth Deputy Leader at a general assembly?
...
Even so, the Second Deputy Leader ultimately suppressed the feelings that had briefly surged up, buried the satisfaction as best he could, and arranged his face into an expression of appropriate worry and concern.
After all, Yu Xiongbatian's martial cultivation was at a divine level, and he was the pillar that held up the entire Alliance Under Heaven.
Though the Second Deputy Leader ranked second, his actual martial cultivation was nowhere near enough to matter beside that terrifying level of ability.
And so he naturally could not afford to allow Yu Xiongbatian even a moment of displeasure.
Of course, in truth the Second Deputy Leader was genuinely worried about Falling God Peak's destruction.
For the same reason as the Primal Yin Origin Sect and the Great Yan Sword Sect.
With Falling God Peak gone, the Great Li court's blade would inevitably turn toward the three remaining great sects.
"Alliance Leader, you gathered us here. I imagine it is to discuss how we should respond to the Great Li court and this Eighth Prince?"
At that, the Second Deputy Leader said this with a grave expression.
In an instant, all the other Deputy Leaders in the meeting hall fell temporarily quiet.
At those words, Yu Xiongbatian gave a quiet nod, but then almost immediately shook his head, "Since receiving the Yuan Province branch's message, this old man has thought it through carefully and already arrived at a response."
He said this while sweeping a measured look around the assembled Deputy Leaders, "The reason I summoned all of you urgently was not to seek your counsel. It was to inform you of important decisions this old man has made concerning the Alliance Under Heaven."
At those words, all eleven Deputy Leaders showed a brief flicker of something unusual on their faces.
Yu Xiongbatian's words had, quite plainly, treated them all as instruments to be given orders.
But even so, none of the eleven had any recourse.
Yu Xiongbatian's martial cultivation was terrifying, and his authority within the Alliance Under Heaven was absolute. He had always spoken and been obeyed without question.
These Deputy Leaders of his had always had nothing to do but follow his orders, and none of them dared go against him.
At that point, Yu Xiongbatian, sitting at the golden head of the hall, paid no attention to what his Deputy Leaders were thinking and simply said with furrowed brow and a firm voice, "Emperor Yuanwu's sudden and overwhelming strike against Falling God Peak already exceeded this old man's expectations."
"But what has left this old man even more unable to believe it to this moment is that Great Li has actually produced a young prince with martial cultivation this astonishing, who managed to destroy all of Falling God Peak in a single night."
He continued, his gaze darkening, a grave look crossing his youthful-seeming face, "Speaking plainly without concern for frightening any of you, if this old man faced this young man at full strength, the result would at best be no better than fifty-fifty."
At those words, all eleven Deputy Leaders, including the Second, felt their expressions shift at once.
Quite a few of them had witnessed Yu Xiongbatian in action. The technique he cultivated, the Heaven and Earth Returning to Origin Art, was one of the top two or three supreme martial arts in all of Great Li's martial world.
In the minds of these Deputy Leaders, if the most elite martial artists of the Great Li martial world were to be ranked, Yu Xiongbatian's cultivation would without question be the one they unanimously placed first.
Figures such as the Falling God Peak grandmaster, the Primal Yin Dark Master, or the man known in the martial world as the "Martial Saint," Mu Tianxing of Yuming Mountain, all fell short of Yu Xiongbatian in the eyes of the eleven Deputy Leaders, and could not be mentioned in the same breath.
And this was precisely why Yu Xiongbatian could speak within the Alliance Under Heaven and be obeyed without question, with everyone in the alliance following his lead.
After all, the Alliance Under Heaven was a martial world force that operated purely on the principle of strength above all else.
Right at that moment, the Twelfth Deputy Leader, sitting in the last of the golden chairs, let his expression shift through several phases before standing up and clasping his hands in a formal bow toward Yu Xiongbatian, "Alliance Leader, you are being far too modest. Even if the Great Li Eighth Prince possesses extraordinary martial gifts, he is ultimately just a young boy."
"Even if he did single-handedly defeat the Falling God Peak grandmaster and four honored elders, that only speaks to how weak Falling God Peak's people were. How could he possibly be a match for your decades of accumulated foundation in the Heaven and Earth Returning to Origin Art?"
At those words, the Deputy Leaders in the meeting hall instinctively nodded.
They were naturally familiar with the Heaven and Earth Returning to Origin Art, and most of them had at one point or another desperately wanted to become Yu Xiongbatian's disciple and cultivate this unparalleled art.
Unfortunately the technique was exceedingly difficult to practice, and Yu Xiongbatian had never seen fit to take any of them on, so none of them had ever managed it.
But the extraordinary power of the Heaven and Earth Returning to Origin Art was something they understood very well.
Its greatest defining quality was that it accumulated continuously, without limit or ceiling.
The true qi of heaven and earth was drawn into the self, gathered and unified within, endless and inexhaustible, neither fading nor dispersing.
As the years of cultivation grew, so did the art's power, and more importantly, it was completely unbound by the constraints of martial realm.
Once one stepped into the divine realm, as long as cultivation of this art continued, even without an advance in martial cultivation level, age and sufficient accumulation alone would allow a practitioner to stand at the top among the greatest martial artists in the martial world.
In fact, based on the art's properties, if a person who could live forever were to cultivate it, within a mere matter of centuries they would accumulate power that beggared imagination, and would eventually stand supreme as the world's strongest.
Yu Xiongbatian had been practicing the Heaven and Earth Returning to Origin Art for at least sixty years, and the accumulation in his own strength had naturally reached an extraordinary depth. His advancement in martial realm had not lagged behind either, and was no lower than that of the Primal Yin Dark Master or others of that level.
Combined, if Yu Xiongbatian was not the highest martial artist in the Great Li martial world, then who could possibly be?
And yet, faced with the Twelfth Deputy Leader's heartfelt words, Yu Xiongbatian's expression remained entirely unmoved. He simply waved a hand and said, "You do not understand the true strength of the Falling God Peak grandmaster and four honored elders, and there is no fault in that. There is also no need right now to be measuring this old man against that Eighth Prince."
"The reason this old man put it that way just now was to help all of you understand just how powerful that prince is, so that you do not become blindly arrogant and underestimate the Great Li court as it stands today."
As he said this, Yu Xiongbatian turned his gaze slightly toward the middle-aged scholar standing to one side, "Wenshan, tell them the decisions this old man has made. Today's meeting concludes here."
With those words, Yu Xiongbatian's figure had already vanished from the golden dragon-head chair, and only a faint, drifting voice remained in the ears of the assembled Deputy Leaders, "Beyond one mountain lies another, beyond one person lies another. From this day, this old man enters closed-door seclusion. All of you should devote yourselves to cultivation as well. Otherwise the Alliance Under Heaven may very well follow in Falling God Peak's footsteps."
At those words, all eleven Deputy Leaders in the meeting hall went somewhat blank.
None of them had expected that the Great Li Eighth Prince would generate such a profound sense of crisis in Yu Xiongbatian, enough to drive the man into closed-door seclusion.
At that, the middle-aged scholar swept a look over the assembled group, indifferent to what was going through their minds at that moment, and then slowly began to speak, "By order of the Grand Alliance Leader, from this day forward there are two matters for the Deputy Leaders to attend to."
"The first, the Second Deputy Leader is to personally lead a group immediately into Great Wu territory and deliver the Grand Alliance Leader's personal letter to the 'World Assembly,' taking charge of discussions for the merger of the Great Li Alliance Under Heaven into the Great Wu World Assembly. The Alliance is to be kept informed of the latest developments at all times."
At those words, the middle-aged scholar paused.
And at that moment, every Deputy Leader in the meeting hall, having just heard what Yu Xiongbatian's first item of business was, immediately snapped out of their daze and were deeply shaken.
"The Alliance Under Heaven merging into the World Assembly? On what grounds?"
The Second Deputy Leader furrowed his brow, his face visibly unhappy, and pressed the middle-aged scholar in a low, firm voice.
The other Deputy Leaders around him also immediately spoke up, all of them questioning the middle-aged scholar's words.
Even so, the refined-looking middle-aged scholar remained perfectly calm, simply saying slowly, "This is the Grand Alliance Leader's decision. If anyone has objections, they may go and raise them with the Grand Alliance Leader."