While the Allfather was busy chiding his subordinates, the High Council of the Lantis Republic was facing a similar dilemma. Crowded into one room, over two dozen High Elders, each one at least in the Spirit Venerate realm, raised their voices like housewives at a wet market. Some of them threw up their hands in the air while others sulked silently in their remote corner.

Fear. Agitation. Sadness… All sorts of emotions ran rampant in the crowded chambers, and who could blame them? As if mirroring all of their current feelings, the Chancellor seat, which should have been filled by the familiar grey-haired woman, was completely empty.

“How could you not notice that your Spirit Saint was about to defect?! Does the Heigui Clan have shells for eyes?” One aggravated voice echoed in the chambers.

“Hey! Do you think that our Heigui Clan wants to be destroyed? We were betrayed far worse than you guys! Our ancestral island has been destroyed, and more than half of our Xuanwus are killed! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT WE WANT THAT?!”

“Calm down, calm down! Let’s talk normally...”

“SHUT IT!!! Saint Heigui had access to every level of our government. He knows national secrets that would ruin all of our clans! How can we be calm?!”

The shoutings continued on and on, all while Shin stood on the pillar right behind the Chancellor’s seat, watching the mayhem unfold with a glint within his eyes. The words of the concerned High Elders all entered into his mind, but none of them registered as information. Instead, the Prince’s mind was solely focused on the last words of the Gargantuan Treant.

‘We are the same as humans...’ That single phrase kept repeating itself in Shin’s mind, bringing his soul to a halt. As a Rank 79 Spirit Emperor, Shin had long learned how to manage all of these emotions. Yet, they were still overflowing without his consent.

‘The Noble Beasts… All of them had killed innocent humans and ruined the fabric of society… They amongst the evilest criminals known to humanity… So, why can’t I bring myself to hate them?’ Shin thought those blasphemous thoughts to himself.

Since Shin was lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realise the thin figure breaching his comfort zone until she was just a half-metre away. Shin blinked twice before turning his head up to stare at the beautiful middle-aged woman. She had long blue-hair which reached down to her waist and arms so thin that one could mistake it as sticks. Though she was close enough to land a solid punch on Shin’s abdomen, he wasn’t fazed in the slightest. Instead, Shin was able to force a fake smile, even with his turbulent mood.

“Elder Huian,” Shin acknowledged his visitor.

“My Prince,” The woman bowed with the same uneasy smile that Shin was wearing. “How’s the Chancellor?”

“Her condition is stable. She’s just in shock from both her physical and mental injuries.”

“Oh my, that doesn’t sound good...” The woman bit her lower lips. “Ah… If only I was present at the Enclave… Perhaps I could have helped protect her...”

“It’s not your fault,” Shin shook his head. “No one expected Saint Heigui to betray us like that. Who could have? We are lucky that he didn’t massacre them all as the other Black Masks would.”

“Hmph! Even a bastard like him has some remnant feelings for his kin. There’s no way that he’ll kill the Chancellor when he was friends with her father,” the High Elder scoffed.

“And yet… He launched an attack on the clan he swore to protect...” Shin folded his arms and sighed.

“I heard that he’d relocated most of his family members from the Heigui Enclave before the attack begun. That bastard must have been planning this from the very beginning.” The Elder Huian gritted her teeth. “If he was willing to betray the Lantis Republic like that, God knows how much information he’d leaked to the Black Masks? Maybe we’ll have to overhaul our nation to wipe out all of the spies.”

“... That might be a real possibility...” Shin gulped. The Lantis Republic was a sovereign nation that had functioned for thousands of years. If they wanted to make a full overhaul of that system that had worked for millennia, the resources they needed to use would bankrupt their coffers overnight.

“Still, I doubt that any of us can come up with a solution without the Chancellor… Look.” The High Elder gestured to her back, where an Elder from the Zhangyu Clan was arguing with one from the Jingyu Clan. Typically, the High Elder Council was a balanced place where representatives from each major clan could voice out their opinions in a civilised manner. They would debate and calmly come to a solution altogether.

However, that was only possible with the existence of a moderator or in this case, the Chancellor. A neutral party meant to sit in on all High Council meetings, the Chancellor was the anchor that held the High Council together. Alas, Longyu Shenxian was in no condition to sit over the emergency High Council meeting in her current condition, and the place was now a mess.

“We can’t have a conversation without the Chancellor… There needs to be someone to facilitate this madness. Are the Spirit Saints available?”

“If they were, they would be here...” Shin moaned. “Now that our nation is under fire, they have to alert just in case. Aunt Tian is guarding the southwest, Saint Jingyu is taking the north, while Saint Shenshe is protecting our southeast. We can’t be slack just because they left after destroying the Heigui Enclave.”

“So there’s really no one here that could facilitate, huh?” The High Elder dropped her shoulders and gave Shin a little wink while nudging his shoulder. Shin was no idiot. He could tell what the Elder was insinuating.

“Hah… Why can’t the most experienced High Elder sit in that chair?”

“Nah, the other High Elders won’t allow that! How could we ensure that the High Elder would be impartial? If only there was someone that had little connections to our internal clan matters and is widely respected throughout our proud nation? One that could help patch together our discords instead of ruining it?”

“... You’re exactly like Sister Bingying. No wonder you’re related…” Shin rolled his eyes. “You do know that I’m at least four times younger than the youngest ElderElder, right? Can you expect them to respect me?”

The Meijing Clan’s High Elder chuckled. “You’re the only one that can do this, Prince of the Lantis Republic. Also, if you don’t have their respect… Why not use force to earn their respect?”

“... Honestly, the similarities are eerie. Are you sure that you’re not Sister Bingying’s mother?” Shin snorted.

“Hehe, that lass stayed a year under my tutelage! I’m glad that she’d used the things that I’d taught her!”

“Hah… Fine...”

Taking in a deep breath, Shin calmed down his nerves. In just a moment, he was going to have all of the Lantis Republic’s most powerful men and women staring right at him. It was natural for Shin to feel a little jittery. First was his muscles, then his eyes. Everything had to be calm and collected if he were to pull this off.

“Alright!” Shin clapped his hands together, sending a wave of his Celestial Aura towering over all the High Elders. Almost instantaneously, the chatter stopped, and a pin-drop silence returned to the solemn chambers.

At that moment, Shin seemed to have turned into a different man. His posture was perfect, and his expression completely clean. He wasn’t fazed by the dozens of Spirit Venerates in the room and their combined experience of close to five thousand years. Shin just looked at them as any Emperor would his subjects. Not budging an inch, the man took the chair of the Chancellor.

“Look at the lot of you… The Lantis Republic is facing a crisis, one that we haven’t seen in thousands of years. And all you can do is squabble like chickens. Is this how the Lantis Republic High Elders act?”

“Y-you br-...” One High Elder was about to curse at Shin, but he suddenly remembered who he was talking to.

“Brat?” Shin scoffed. “You’re right, I am a brat compared to you guys. But I’m also...”

Shin snapped his fingers, and the familiar dreadful roar emerged from his back. The entire High Council chambers were filled with Celestial Aura, a power that was innately overpowering towards those with the Eight Scions of Water.

“No using of Spirits in the High Council chambers! Prince Shin, you may be favoured by Saint Longyu Tian, but even you can’t...”

“Elder Juigan!” Shin roared at the elderly man who chided him. “What did you just call me?”

“P-Prince Shin?”

“Exactly… I am the Prince of the Lantis Republic! The heir of the Lady of Water and the sole inheritor of Celestial Island! I’m also the only person capable of sitting on this chair at this moment!” Shin continued to berate the man with facts. “If you want to waste your time and saliva arguing with the other Elders, be my guest. However, I don’t want to see the Lantis Republic fall, so if you can’t deal with that… I suggest you leave now.”

“...” The High Elders went silent.

“I’d thought so...” Shin slowly brought back the Celestial Dragon’s Aura and folded his legs together. Now that the stick had been administered, it was now time for the carrot.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to listen to all of your debates impartially. However, first things first, the Heigui Clan needs aid. I suggest that we redistribute some manpower and food from Celestial Island. If there’s not enough, Guardian Sword will step in.”

“Thank you, Prince Shin!” The Heigui Elder which had been shouting like a child starting to weep tears of joy.

“You’re welcome,” Shin smiled. “The Eight Clans should always stand united as one. If one falls, the other seven should come to their aid. I believe that was our creed, no?”

“Yes...”

“Good, so let’s get down to business!”

News of the Heigui Clan’s fall and Saint Heigui’s betrayal spread to the other superpowers like wildfire. For the first time, the invincible Lantis Republic had suffered a setback. One that was capable of rewriting their entire history. Fortunately, due to the quick actions of their Prince, panic and mayhem didn’t follow. Instead, the situation around the Heigui Clan stabilised, and the Lantis Republic had grown tremendously from that setback.

And of course… Shin’s position as the Lantis Republic’s top dog… was securely encased into the record books.