Inside Shaolin Temple, Xuan Ming sat before Xuan Ku. He sighed, his eyes filled with helplessness.
"Senior Brother, I never expected Great Zhou to interfere. If I'd known, we should have risked acting in Shengjing City and slaughtered every one of those Esoteric Sect people!"
Xuan Ku shook his head. "What's coming will come. Shaolin Temple has been too powerful these past few years. I expect the Imperial Court is wary of us too."
Xuan Ming frowned. "Then what should we do?"
Shaolin Temple was in a very passive position now. Before, if the Esoteric Sect dared to leave Shengjing City, Shaolin Temple would have dared to send all its forces to kill them.
But now that the Esoteric Sect had become the state religion, it was tied to the Imperial Court. If Shaolin Temple went too far, the Imperial Court might well intervene.
Besides, even if the Imperial Court had reservations about Shaolin Temple, or was happy to watch the Esoteric Sect and Shaolin Temple fight until both were badly weakened, the Taoist Schools would not stand by idly.
Among the Four Great Taoist Sects, the Fangxian Taoist School was perched far overseas, spending its days studying all manner of strange and supernatural things. It had not appeared in the Central Plains Martial Arts World for over a thousand years, and seemed intent on putting down roots overseas.
The Dragon Tiger Taoist School, meanwhile, was rather mediocre in strength and posed no threat to Shaolin Temple.
The only ones that truly gave Shaolin Temple trouble were the Zaohua Taoist School and the Taiyi Taoist School.
The Zaohua Taoist School had risen with terrifying speed over the past century. It had countless powerful fighters among its ranks, and even more formidable recluses.
If the Taoist Schools had not naturally disliked