Great Capital.
A fine drizzle fell.
The Lord's Mansion was enclosed by towering walls, stern and inviolable.
At this moment, quite a few martial heroes and Extraordinary people from all corners of the land had gathered within the Lord's Mansion.
Now and then, faint howls drifted out from within those high walls.
"Azure Lord is tyrannical and immoral. He opened the Taiqing River and moved Mount Taiqing, working hundreds of thousands of laborers to death. This has truly provoked the wrath of Heaven and the resentment of man."
"Azure Lord is unfit to be the lord of the Central Plains!"
At this, a scholar in green robes stepped forward. Looking at the Extraordinary people before him, his face was filled with impassioned fervor.
"Fellow Extraordinary people, do you have any plan to assassinate Azure Lord? Once Azure Lord dies, Great Cang will surely fall!"
Hearing this, the expressions of the Extraordinary people present subtly changed.
The master of the Eight Trigrams Gate was a short old man dressed in close-fitting clothes, his eyes as sharp as an eagle's.
This somewhat conflicted with the Eight Trigrams Gate's pursuit of yin and yang in harmony, with the Dao following nature.
He slowly opened his mouth, his voice carrying a trace of regret. "Azure Lord is not so easily killed. Otherwise, Zhao Sheng would not have suffered such a miserable defeat."
At the mention of Zhao Sheng, the green-robed scholar's expression shifted slightly.
Naturally, he knew that Zhao Sheng had possessed the strongest force among the rebel armies and had even received the full support of Dragon Number Cave, one of the twelve great powers.
Sadly, even so, Zhao Sheng had still been defeated.
And his defeat had been absurd: a meteor had fallen upon his military camp, annihilating his entire force outright.
As for Dragon Number Cave, nearly all of its Extraordinary people had been killed, while the rest had defected to Tai Qing Palace.
"If Azure Lord does not die, people like us will never have a chance to turn things around, and the common people will be cast into a place of eternal damnation." The green-robed scholar spoke with the air of one pleading the people's cause.
"Alas."
The other Extraordinary people sighed.
They had come here precisely to discuss how to deal with Azure Lord.
Once Mount Taiqing was successfully moved to Tai Qing Palace and destiny gathered there, they truly would not have the slightest hope of victory.
"Let us set this matter aside for now. Once the people from the Three Extremes Sect and Dan Jian Sect arrive, we will first choose a leader, then decide how to deal with Azure Lord."
A burly man spoke. His voice was thick and booming, while his bare arms, thighs, and chest were covered in black hair, making him look like a shaggy bear.
He was the master of Armored Gate, and his body had been tempered to the point where five horses could not tear it apart.
"Indeed. We should settle on a leader first before continuing the discussion." Qi Guangying, master of Light Feather Gate, spoke.
Light Feather Gate was also one of the twelve great powers.
This sect's extraordinary artifact was a feather. It granted this Lineage peerless lightness skills, even altering their bloodlines.
The descendants of the Qi family were born light and nimble.
Perhaps even if they leaped from a tall tower, they would remain entirely unharmed.
"I heard that Dan Jian Sect sent a green young lad this time?" The master of Armored Gate stroked his chin.
He was deeply invested in this alliance of seven great powers, for he wanted to become its leader.
And in terms of strength, he truly stood as the undisputed strongest among these seven great powers.
"He is a genius," Qi Guangying said. "I heard he is already qualified to have the Dao Sword acknowledge him as its master."
"Heh heh." The master of Armored Gate chuckled. "An extraordinary artifact acknowledging a master is nothing more than a joke."
The more the master of Armored Gate understood extraordinary artifacts, the more he realized that such things were both blessings and roots of disaster.
Acknowledging a master was all false.
No one could withstand the powerful spiritual force contained within these extraordinary artifacts.
Nor was Azure Lord making the Azure Dragon Stone acknowledge him as master as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Of course, he alone knew this information. No one else knew it at all.
Just then, a voice rang out.
"The young master of Dan Jian Sect, Lin Ping, and the master of Three Extremes Sect, Mo Fengxue, have arrived."
Following that announcement, a tall, upright man entered the courtyard.
Half a step behind him, Mo Fengxue wore a calm expression as she followed beside Lin Ping.
That detail meant that Mo Fengxue regarded Lin Ping as her leader.
Nearly everyone present was the head of a major power, all shrewd old hands. Naturally, they noticed this detail.
Their assessment of Lin Ping rose another level.
"Now that Lin Ping of Dan Jian Sect and Sect Master Mo Fengxue of Three Extremes Sect have arrived, our seven families are complete," the master of Armored Gate said.
At present, the seven great powers gathered here were Dan Jian Sect, Three Extremes Sect, Armored Gate, Light Feather Gate, Eight Trigrams Gate, Empty Mountain Temple, and the Jiang Tian Xie Family.
These seven great powers stood in outright opposition to Azure Lord.
The other four great powers were too close to Kyoto and had no choice but to serve Azure Lord.
The master of Armored Gate continued, "Azure Lord is tyrannical and immoral. We have gathered here to seek a way to deal with him.
"Before that, we must choose a leader. Only then can we accomplish anything!"
The master of Armored Gate looked over the crowd, the ambition in his eyes utterly undisguised. "Will we determine our leader through martial strength, or will everyone vote together?"
Confidence filled the master of Armored Gate's face.
In terms of martial strength, he was the strongest person present.
The one he feared most was Lin Leng of Dan Jian Sect.
With Lin Leng absent, he had nothing to worry about.
As for voting, that was merely something he had mentioned in passing.
Among the leaders of the seven great powers present, along with Huang Xian, leader of the rebel army, which one was willing to stay behind others?
Therefore, victory would certainly be determined through martial strength.
Yet just then, Mo Fengxue stepped forward.
"Testing martial strength is too troublesome, and injuries would be difficult to avoid. I choose to cast my vote for Lin Ping, the young master of Dan Jian Sect."