"But this won't do, and that won't do! Then why did you drag us old bones over here in such a hurry? Just to make us swallow this humiliation?!"
A Grand Supreme Elder of the Thousand Sects Alliance bristled, his beard twitching and his eyes glaring.
"No, no!"
Zhang Shangshi and the others hurried forward to soothe them. After much persuasion, the elders' intense emotions finally settled somewhat.
Only then did Lu Qingshan, who had remained silent throughout, slowly begin to explain.
"Elders, we invited you here to inform you of this immediately and warn you: whatever you do, you must not fall into their vicious trap!"
"Vicious trap?" The two Grand Supreme Elders' aged faces twitched. "Enough. Stop keeping us in suspense and get to the point!"
"Yes!" Lu Qingshan collected himself and said gravely.
"Heavenly Baleful Valley brazenly kidnapped disciples of our Thousand Sects Alliance in broad daylight, demanded an astronomical ransom, and even chopped off their legs at the slightest disagreement, destroying these disciples' Dao Foundations!"
"Their aim is to provoke us into charging over there without a second thought and fighting them!"
"Then they can quite reasonably lodge a complaint with the Eastern Region's Emperor Pavilion, claiming we violated the Heavenly Laws and started a war between sects! They're pulling the firewood out from under our cauldron!"
"Once the Emperor Pavilion sanctions us, what sect in the Eastern Region would still dare stand with us?"
"Heavenly Baleful Valley, on the other hand, could seize the opportunity to assemble a vast coalition and uproot our Heavenly Venerable Alliance... roots and all!"
At the mention of the Emperor Pavilion, the two Grand Supreme Elders' expressions changed. It was as though a bucket of icy water had been dumped over them, forcing them to calm down instantly.
The Emperor