"Absurd, utterly absurd! When our sect's disciples travel abroad, their sect should naturally protect them, but dedicated halls have always handled such matters, with everyone acting according to their ability! Two disciples died this time, and somehow Zheng Ming is to blame? He was traveling far and wide and happened to stop in that area. After receiving the message, he rushed over at once-and now even that has become a fault? Your proposal is absurd in the extreme. Do you want to chill the hearts of the sect's younger elders, so that they avoid trouble like the plague and never intervene again?"
"Mind your words, Elder Han. We are doing this precisely to protect the Human Rank Disciples. If we enforce this strictly, traveling elders will only take greater care when trouble arises in the future. How would they dare be negligent?"
"Indeed, protecting our sect's disciples and honoring the bonds between fellow sect members has always been a virtue... Besides, we are not truly stripping him of his eighth seat this time. We are merely suspending his title as a warning to others. You cannot favor him so blatantly just because he is a junior from your own lineage..."
"Pah! Yu Sande, you old dog! What do you mean, merely suspending his title? How about we strip you of your position as Probationary Grand Elder first?"
"Elder Han, you..."
"Let go and get lost! You old bastards are merely settling private grudges under the guise of public duty!"
Inside the spacious, brightly lit Council Hall at the Mystic Sun Sect's Headquarters, several imposing old men in magnificent purple robes sat around a long table, watching helplessly as two other elders in equally splendid robes argued furiously at the top of their lungs.
Eventually, their auras surged forth, scarlet spirit