Chapter 648: Pulling firewood from under the pot

Translated by: La0o9

Edited by: Dr.Lock

Proofreader: Arya

TN: “Pulling firewood from under the pot” is an expression that means “to take advantage of an enemy’s weakness”. The story goes that an Immortal Alchemist in the heavens once spent 9 years to brew a single pill in his pot, but on the day that the pill was supposed to be done, a strong wind blew over the fire source, causing the flame to be more intense than he had intended and the pot to boil over, almost ruining the 9 years of effort. But one of his servants was quick-witted and removed one of the pieces of firewood burning the most intensely from under the pot, lowering the temperature back to normal.

———————–

The head flew a long-distance away and rolled across the hall, stopping squarely beneath the feet of the 8 elders.

Their smiles froze over.

The man they insisted on protecting was killed without them being able to react, this was an unacceptable result.

This wasn’t just related to their dignity, the man also held a lot of intel on this world that they needed to know, that was why he had to be saved.

But everything happened so suddenly, Gu Qing Shan stood too close to the impersonator—— at that distance, no one would be able to stop a sword cultivator from suddenly killing their target.

Even with the 8 elders’ mental fortitude, they were still frozen for a brief moment under such circumstances.

Gu Qing Shan put his sword away and smiled amiably at the 8 elders.

He spoke with a joyful tone: “There, everything has been resolved properly, I hope we will all be able to get along and work together”

Pfft!!

Hiding behind a screen, Wan Er couldn’t hold in her chuckle.

This chuckle seemed to have some sort of power.

On the Throne of Ten thousand Flowers, Xie Dao Ling’s lips also curved into a smile.

The very next moment, she disappeared from her throne.

——-at the same time, 7-8 streaks of light that carried intense killing intent shot towards Gu Qing Shan.

Bai Hua Fairy stood in front of Gu Qing Shan, casually swung her sleeves to dismiss all of these attacks.

“YOU!”

“You dare to kill my people in front of me!”

“Xie Dao Ling, don’t you dare protect him”

“Gu Qing Shan has to die!”

“Don’t even THINK about escaping today if you don’t give us a reasonable answer, Xie Dao Ling!”

The 8 elders all shouted.

Xie Dao Ling’s tone was cold: “You want to kill my disciple right in front of me, do you think this Xie Dao Ling is easy to mess with?”

“If I keep letting you do however you like in front of me, what kind of cultivation will I be doing from now on!”

While she spoke, an air of vicissitudes emerged from her body as her green hair slowly lost their color and turned silvery white.

A long vine whip full of thorns appeared in her hand.

Whoosh—clak!

As the whip was swung, the sound of the air snapping could be heard, as if something was being summoned here.

Countless flowers appeared from the void of space, turning the atmosphere into a solemn funeral scene.

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The magnificent sight made the 8 elders feel like their throats were being clutched.

Someone shouted:

“No! She used the Asura Causality Divine Skill, [Vijaydhrana]!”

As soon as this was called out, the elders all quickly backed off.

Xie Dao Ling became famous because of one campaign.

During the previous losing campaign, the reason why she managed to go against all odds and won against the demon army was mostly because of several notable Divine Skills.

This one, [Vijaydhrana], was one of the two most fearsome Divine Skills that Xie Dao Ling possessed.

The elders were all bewildered.

Does she really intend to fight?

How dare she?

The leading elder stepped forward and spoke in a low voice: “Xie Dao Ling, you are insane, now I know that the Dao Lord shouldn’t have selected you to become the new alliance leader”

Xie Dao Ling replied: “That was the Dao Lord’s and the entire alliance’s will, it had nothing to do with the 8 of you”

“No, the reason why they chose you was based on a certain prerequisite” the elder shook his head.

“A prerequisite?”

“Indeed, that is ‘when in the alliance, do as the alliance do’, everyone believes that you will at least understand the most basic rule of operation in the alliance”

The elder sighed and shook his head: “Truthfully, what your disciple said just now wasn’t wrong, in an organization, only when everyone band together for a single unified benefit can all the gears of the said organization run at its maximum efficiency”

“We sent that person here, half to understand more about your past, while the other half was hoping to form a treaty with you”

“In fact, right now the smartest thing for you to do is to give Xiuxiu to us”

“As long as you have the tact to hand over your disciple, how could we do her any harm?”

“And you will also receive our full support, becoming the true leader of the alliance”

Xie Dao Ling lowered her gaze slightly and asked: “Did the Dao Lord do the same back then?”

“He did, and not only him, but every leader before him did the same thing”

“Only that way could he gain the trust of everyone”

“Xie Dao Ling, everyone expects so much from you, but why do you have to go against us!? Why do you want to break this balance! Do you know the safety of how many cultivation worlds is related to the alliance?”

“Millions of cultivators, all hoping that you can lead them forward, unite the alliance and win against the Demon Nation”

The old man raised his voice: “But now, you aren’t willing to even give up the most basic personal benefit, you only know to care about yourself, this old man can’t imagine just how badly you will actually lead the alliance! You disappoint us!”

“Did you just say— benefits?”

Saying that, Xie Dao Ling couldn’t help but laugh.

She casually raised her whip and spoke: “The one who doesn’t understand anything is you”

She also raised her voice: “Today, I will use my own actions to prove to every cultivator of the alliance, the people they care about, the people they want to protect, the people that they would gladly die in battle for, will not be used by any organization or for anyone to threaten them”

“From now onwards, the alliance will no longer be a collaboration of benefit”

“If tomorrow, we die in battle at the frontline against the Demon Nation then that will be because we have a unified will”

“That’s right, we will die because we have something that we want to protect even if we have to risk our lives”

“Every living being cultivates, not because of benefits, but because of their own conviction!”

“Your very sense of courage to lay everything on the line to surpass the limit of life and death has been eroded, your Dao hearts have fallen, all you have left is immense greed that clouds your eyes with nothing but ‘Be-Ne-Fits’; that is the reason why you can’t advance in your cultivation!”

“In this place, you have attempted to take Xiuxiu away and now you even want to kill Qing Shan, I will definitely not allow you to leave this place alive!”

Xie Dao Ling swung her whip.

The countless flowers gathered, quickly formed into a crown of flowers that manifested a faint rune.

The spell was cast!

From the void of space, an ancient entity statue with 1000 eyes, 999 hands, 8 feet and was spitting fire from their mouth manifested.

As soon as the ancient entity statue appeared, a sense of solemnity filled the audience hall.

Together with killing intent!

Xie Dao Ling raised her voice: “We are done talking, receive your deaths!”

Standing across from her, the 8 elders recognized that it was now the most dangerous time.

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They have already linked hands as they shouted in unison: “900 million World Layers, World Referee!”

Hanging in front of each of their chests was a single medallion.

These medallions floated upwards to form a small badge.

The badge shook the void of space, giving off a short but constant loud ring.

Right away, an impatient voice came from above the bars on the ceiling.

“Who called me!?”

Following this voice, the figure descended.

It was a man whose face was full of stumbles and vicissitudes.

When he came down, he still had a playing card in his hand.

From the looks of it, he came directly in the middle of a game.

The man put the card away, looked at the ancient entity statue with intrigue before turning to look at the 8 elders with a sharp look in his eyes.

“The World Referee isn’t someone you can arbitrarily call upon, if you ruined my game just to save your own lives, I will kill all of you first” the man told them.

The leading elder gave him a flattering smile and spoke: “Great sir! Please don’t worry, we did not call upon you for our personal matter, we really had something we needed the World Referee to settle”

“Say it, don’t waste my time” the man spoke.

The elder than pointed at Bai Hua Fairy Xie Dao Ling and grinned: “Sir, this woman here merged 5 worlds together, heavily surpassing her own quota of 2 worlds, so we request you to execute her”

“Ah? That’s not right, last time her matter was reported, wasn’t it decided that your cultivation alliance will provide the quota?” the man was surprised.

“But now we’re no longer willing to provide it” the old man replied.

The other elders all nodded.

“Sir, the alliance quotas are all held in the hands of the 8 of us here, so we will make an official announcement on behalf of the alliance that our quota will definitely not be provided for her to use” one of the old men spoke with conviction.

The leading elder looked at Xie Dao Ling with a cruel look on his face: “Now, please pass your judgement on his woman who arbitrarily fused worlds together, sir”

This was pulling the firewood from under the pot!

No matter how many people supported Xie Dao Ling in the alliance, no matter how strong she was in battle, as long as they can take advantage of the fact that she surpassed her quota of fusing two worlds, she can be sent to her death at any time!

“There’s nothing to judge, if she has no quota to use, she will die” the man answered without much thought.

The World Referee looked at Xie Dao Ling, a bit regretful: “You get to decide, are you going to do it yourself, or should I?”

Xie Dao Ling sensed the immense power coming from him and quickly estimated.

——impossible, even with everything she had, it was impossible.

The difference in strength is too great, if I ignore everything else and use [Forgetting River], that might bring even more Lord-class Combatants instead.

If that happens, this world itself would be destroyed.

She silently sighed and bowed: “I can die, but can you give me some time to settle matters after my death?”

The man responded: “The 900 million World Layers World Referee doesn’t allow any world or any person to resist, but we do allow the minimum level of human emotion. I can give you time to settle matters, but make it quick”

Xie Dao Ling answered: “Thank you very much”

Her spirit energy began to boil.

Oom!

In the void of space, all the flowers turned to dust as the ancient entity statue slowly opened its eyes.

Xie Dao Ling’s killing intent locked onto the 8 elders.

The elders hurriedly shouted: “Sir, you can’t let this happen, she’s not settling matters after her death, she intends to commit suicide with us!”

The man scowled, a bit troubled on what to do.

At this time, Xie Dao Ling quickly used her inner sight to send her voice and settled the remaining matters with Gu Qing Shan.

“Qing Shan, what you did just now was correct, do not blame yourself”

“After I die, bring everyone, escape and survive, don’t get involved in the alliance’s matters anymore”

“I have a Secret Art that can hide our world temporarily, it’s hidden in——”

But she was cut off by Gu Qing Shan.

“Shifu, you won’t die” Gu Qing Shan told her.

“Hm?” Xie Dao Ling raised her eyebrow.

“That’s right” Gu Qing Shan smiled, “nothing will happen to us”

He walked past Bai Hua Fairy towards the man.

The man glanced at Gu Qing Shan, originally not paying much attention, but then he recalled something and carefully looked at him again.

The man spoke in surprise: “Ah? Why are you here? Where’s that gambling addict Barry?”