"Oh? And what does Hall Master Yan mean by this?" Tang Huo asked with a frown, manifesting his aura slightly due to the fact that his plan and tempo were completely disrupted by her open challenge of his decision.

However, Tang Huo was clearly overestimating himself if he thought Yan Moqing would ever back down because of him or anyone else.

"It means exactly that. Your punishment towards Path Lord Li needs to be reviewed by the sect's disciplinary committee for signs of abuse of power."

Shen Taixu instantly became enraged, his eyes glowing with a divine white light. "Watch your tone, Hall Master Yan! Just because of the little power and privilege given to you by the sect doesn't mean you can come and override the decision of your peers!"

His words were positively received by the others, for regardless of whatever purposes they initially had, they had to band together now to make sure their authority was not encroached upon by this damned woman. However, Yan Moqing clearly was not one to fear political repercussions, so she bulldozed onward.

"I cannot override your daily administrative decisions in your halls, but I can certainly override your punitive ones." She concluded menacingly, not glancing at her peers once throughout this exchange.

And would Li Ling pass this chance up to throw another wrench?

"I say, it seems that only Hall Master Yan possesses a noble bearing able to distinguish truth from falsehood and bring justice to the unrighteous! I have long been stifled by the abusive treatment suffered in the Asura Blood Hall over this past week and have sought a way to seek redress, but all avenues were preemptively blocked for me by certain powers!" Li Ling complained with folded arms, looking aggrieved.

Once again, the attention of the Hall Masters shifted collectively, returning to Li Ling with a mixture of exasperation and dissatisfaction, because his words gave more credibility to Yan Moqing's charges. If he did lodge a formal complaint through her, it would strengthen her claim even more and could possibly lead to further concessions if other disciples got the wise idea to bypass their halls to whine at her feet.

As the expressions of the Hall Masters darkened, considering various moves and counter-moves, Tang Huo simply glanced at Li Ling with a faint smile.

"Is that so? I had no idea Path Lord Li was feeling so bullied in our sect, in which you have only joined for slightly over a week. The very same sect that you tried to swindle after committing murder towards its disciples and assaulting Path Lords before even being allowed to join."

Before Li Ling could retort or Yan Moqing could add her rebuttal, Tang Huo waved his hand magnanimously and continued. "But who cares? It seems that your only complaint is the merit and resources ban I placed on you as a punitive measure, so I henceforth declare you free of it!"

Yan Moqing's face changed greatly, almost standing up in fury, barely able to restrain herself. With that action, Tang Huo had not only pulled the rug out from under her, but had inadvertently killed her entire momentum for this meeting.

Her entire objective was to use clearing Tang Huo's punishment to get Li Ling to work for her as an executioner, so with it being removed by Tang Huo himself, what was she to use as leverage?

Li Ling knew this and was pleasantly surprised, because he knew that none of the other Hall Masters were aware of Yan Moqing's true objective. They would never think that the usually incorruptible Hall Master Yan would actually perform an underhanded deal like this, so Tang Huo's response was actually just to suppress Yan Moqing and silence Li Ling.

Li Ling's eyes shone, for this was exactly why he chose to play them off each other. Now, his most troublesome merit ban was gone, meaning that after this War of Annihilation, he could skyrocket in power until it was time for the yearly tournament!

Meanwhile, the others breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to Tang Huo for sacrificing his only leverage against the rising star Li Ling, knowing that after this, the young man would likely shoot upwards to a point where Hall Master Tang could only fear the young man's retaliation in the future.

A smarmy voice cut in that caused all six Hall Masters to frown.

"So what was this even about? Not only was I hurriedly summoned here, but it seems that the Hall Masters are not even in consensus about why I was summoned here?"

Having gotten what he wanted, Li Ling was ready to step out of here and never heed any summons again. He would dig himself three feet under and enter permanent seclusion even if it meant avoiding anything to do with the politics of the lower sect until he inevitably entered the middle layer and left the jurisdiction of these fellows.

His intention was a bit too obvious, because even if the Hall Masters were unaware that Li Ling knew their true objectives, the simple fact was that he was the only one who had benefited from this entire 'negotiation'!

Clearly having eaten the cake and wanting to run away with it, how could the others agree?

"Insolent! Path Lord Li, understand that you are in the presence of the Six Paths Hall Masters! Show respect or suffer the consequences!" Shen Taixu could not take it anymore and exploded, releasing his powerful third realm perfection aura down upon Li Ling.

To his surprise though, Li Ling was unmoved by this, his smarmy grin becoming a cold frown full of malice. "I'd like to point out one important fact, and that is the rules of the sect. You may be a Hall Master, but you are not the sky in the sect, and definitely do not qualify to waste my time."

His cold words were predicated by him standing up, paying his respects, and walking out of the room without looking back, causing the faces of the Hall Masters to change greatly. If they allowed Li Ling to leave now, it would be difficult to gather him here after he reached the third realm and his status rose.

"Path Lord Li, do not take another step outward! This is an order from your superior!" Shen Taixu was especially unwilling to be talked down to, regardless of rules.

As such, when he saw that Li Ling was not stopping, he directly displayed a cruel expression and pointed a finger forward, which released a beam of ivory-colored white light that streaked towards Li Ling's back. Li Ling paused his steps to turn to face this attack with a cold expression, manifesting the Perfection-stage Golden Blockade, which managed to reduce the damage to about 10% of what it should have been.

Seeing the attack be blocked so effortlessly, Hall Master Shen Taixu was stunned, then confused, because this was unprecedented. The Divine Deva Hall may be full of administrators with noses up their ass, but their combat power was ranked alongside the likes of the Hungry Ghost and Wild Beast Halls.

This attack was meant to humiliate Li Ling and subdue him, so he put in far less strength than usual, but for it to be blocked so easily was a severe blow to the Hall Master. On top of that, Li Ling slowly turned around and faced the group of Hall Masters who were seated together in solidarity, regardless of whether they supported the sudden casual attack or not.

"Oh? Since Hall Master Shen Taixu is willing to make inappropriate sneak attacks, then I should assume that you see me as an equal and are willing to resolve things through combat?" Li Ling asked as he tilted his head with a malevolent smile.

"Huh? You brat, you don't think you can actually take one of us on, do you?" Hu Wulei asked with incredulity, not even waiting for the tension to rise after those words.

Shen Taixu regained his sneer and looked down on Li Ling from where he sat. "It seems your match with that special Hungry Ghost Hall talent has left you feeling bloated mentally. As your superior and a mentor-like figure for all disciples, it is my duty to give you some pointers that could save your life in battle!"

Shen Taixu knew that bullying the weak would make him lose face in the sect, but in order to curb this young man and prevent him from having any weird thoughts once he was done here, he felt the need to step up and show this brat the horizons he had never broadened!

The other Hall Masters looked on with interest, and the one who should have put a stop to it, Tang Huo—as the Hall Master of Li Ling—only smiled and folded his arms, wanting to see a big show happen.

Indeed, the sect had become too chaotic these past few years as new youth were having different experiences and coming with different ideas, some willing to challenge the Hall Masters and even the Path Lords!

Now, by using this popular young man as a pawn, they could establish the fear of authority in the hearts of all disciples across the lower layer of the sect!

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.