"Just now, several representatives from first-tier Daoist sects came to see me and submitted applications for review, saying they were withdrawing from the Four Directions Daoist Sects. As for whether they had joined the authorities, they didn't say. I did try to stop them earlier, but joining and leaving the Daoist Sects are both voluntary. I'm sure everyone knows that, so there's no way to interfere with their decision," the old man replied.
"Mm. Fellow Daoist He, please go out first. We'll discuss this and see how we should decide," Shen Bingying said on behalf of Zou Zhiwen.
Zou Zhiwen was utterly speechless. He was wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Thirty percent had left in one go, clearly at someone's instigation behind the scenes—and they had obviously been preparing for a long time. Such a number was an enormous blow to the Daoist Sects. It would soon trigger a domino effect: one fell, then the whole lot would collapse. By then, the Daoist Sects would no longer be independent. They would become the authorities' Daoist Sects.
"If the Daoist Sects can't produce an Earth Immortal to hold down the fort, I'm afraid this situation will soon be impossible to turn around." Lu Chengshan's face was full of worry. The Daoist Sects were on the verge of destruction. Who could possibly be happy? What rotten luck.
I hadn't even warmed my seat as the council's assistant before thirty percent of the Daoist Sects had already been lost. When one prospered, all prospered; when one suffered, all suffered. This was truly humiliating.
"Originally, joining forces with the Confucian Sect would have given the Dao lineage a powerful shot in the arm. But now the negotiations have been sabotaged by the authorities. How do we stop this downward spiral?"