Mysterious Proposal: New Distribution Sparks Suspicion

The uproar in the council hall continued, the Southern Faction elder's voice nearly drowning out everyone else's. "From this day forth, battle merits shall be recorded according to the old system—casualties and scale of participation as the basis. No more of this crooked nonsense!"

Hands shot up one after another, like a forest of raised blades slicing through the air inside the tent. Chen Wuya remained seated on the low stool in the corner, firelight falling across his face in alternating brightness and shadow. He neither moved nor spoke again, merely rubbing the old scar in his palm with his fingers.

Bai Zhi stood beside him, still clutching the documents to her chest, her knuckles faintly white. Her gaze swept over those raised hands before returning to the sketch before the table, covered in charcoal markings—beside the eastern slope defense line, the words "seven-man squad" remained clearly visible.

Just then, a voice came from the side seats.

"If battle merits are distributed by the current method, I fear it will upset the balance in the long run."

Everyone froze. The clamor came to an abrupt halt.

The speaker was a thin man in a gray-blue robe, ordinary of face. Throughout the earlier argument, he had kept his head lowered, writing notes without uttering a word. Now, he slowly rose to his feet. Three tiny embroidered words adorned the front of his robe: "Cloud Seal Sect."

No one remembered when this sect had joined the alliance.

The gray-robed representative of the Western Frontier Saber Sect frowned. "Who are you? What right do you have to deliberate politics here?"

"Though the Cloud Seal Sect is small, we too belong to the righteous path." The man's tone was steady and unhurried. "My name is Shen Yan, and I serve as an overseer of