Offering Ping was interrupted, and a trace of displeasure immediately appeared on his face.
"Make them wait outside!"
Casting a cold glance at the messenger, Offering Ping carried himself with great arrogance.
The struggle for power within the inner city had already reached the point of becoming almost public. Because the clan chief was confined within the Heaven-Earth Furnace and unable to appear, the powers once entrusted to him for personal decision had naturally been divided among the many elders.
Though it seemed as if the only change was the loss of one final decision-maker, the shift in the structure of power was an undercurrent beneath the surface.
Previously, within the Heavenly Craftsmen Tribe, although someone might stand above the rest through prestige, if the others truly wished to join forces, they were not without means to check and counterbalance him.
But now, relying on everyone's fear of allowing the Heaven-Earth Furnace to collapse at this moment, Offering Ping had forcefully assumed the air of holding the emperor hostage to command the feudal lords.
Once he possessed the corresponding power, those rules established in the past naturally became nothing more than a joke.
"We clearly sent someone to notify him beforehand, yet all us elders have arrived and he still isn't here. Has Nie Qing, after fooling around outside for so long, forgotten every last rule of the clan?"
Though Offering Ping seemed to be reprimanding Nie Qing, his eyes were fixed tightly on Nie Qi before him.
The mockery in his words was plain for all to hear.
Nie Qi did not reply. He merely lifted the teacup before him and took a sip with calm composure, as though the other man's words had been nothing but wind passing by his ears.
"Hmph."
Offering Ping snorted coldly, assuming that