"Three lords, this scoundrel is best at deceiving the masses with his lies. Please don't let him fool you."
Ming Erde could tell Xu Yi was sending a message to the three men. He was frantic; he knew all too well how persuasive Xu Yi could be.
"Silence!"
Yin Tao roared. His voice cracked through the air like a thunderclap, and Ming Erde had no choice but to shut his mouth, however unwillingly.
"Your word alone proves nothing. Do you have evidence, lord?"
Yin Tao held out his hand to Xu Yi.
A jade box appeared in Yin Tao's hand. He carefully opened it, revealing a seal that was neither gold nor jade. Cast onto its surface was the image of a totem: a bare-chested, human-bodied figure with the head of a beast. It was unmistakably an Ancestor Demon Seal. On all four sides were engraved the words, "May the Ancestral Edict endure; may the temple inherit Heaven and Earth." This was clearly the seal of a temple master from the Ancestral Temple.
There were countless Divine Temples throughout the land, but only one could be called the Ancestral Temple. It housed the remains of the Demon Ancestor and stood at the heart of the Ancestral Court's faith.
The temple masters who served there could be regarded as officials of the faith, also known as Divine Officials.
The Divine Temple system and the Ancestral Court's bureaucracy were two independent yet overlapping systems. More often than not, however, the former held a far higher standing than the latter.
"Greetings, Divine Official."
Yin Tao and the other two clasped their fists toward Xu Yi in unison and sent him a message.
The gesture, in Ming Erde's eyes, was enough to overturn his entire worldview.
He had no time to marvel at Xu