The light screen of the Profound Dao Chapter rose before him, and Daoist Feng's figure appeared within it. He gave Zhang Yu a clasped-hand salute and said, "Greetings, fellow Daoist."
Zhang Yu returned the salute. "Fellow Daoist Feng, has Upper Firmament Heaven's jade letter arrived for this court deliberation?"
Daoist Feng said, "Indeed. But this time, Upper Firmament Heaven has not yielded. They merely proposed that, to avoid bloodshed between our two sides, we settle the matter through a debate on the Dao and a martial contest. Whichever side loses must agree to the victor's previous demands."
After some thought, Zhang Yu shook his head.
What Upper Firmament Heaven proposed was in fact a remnant of the old ways from when the various sects of Ancient Xia stood side by side.
For within any great sect, whether one wished to admit it or not, the role of Upper Layer cultivators was irreplaceable. So long as Upper Layer cultivators remained, even if all the other disciples perished, that great sect could still endure for a long time.
When conflicts arose between two great sects, they would sometimes resolve matters through a duel between Upper Layer cultivators in order to avoid greater losses.
It was hardly strange that Upper Firmament Heaven would think this way. Even now, it remained a sect. Aside from improvements in a few minor aspects, its overall structure still maintained the pattern of Ancient Xia.
But Celestial Xia was no sect, nor could it entrust the interests of everyone from top to bottom to a contest between a few cultivators. Neither the upper nor lower levels would agree to such a thing, and the Celestial Xia Grand Code itself did not permit it.
Celestial Xia did have such Dao debates, but they were limited to internal matters, used