After Zhang Xing sat down, those around him-at least the clever ones among those of other persuasions-understood that the chief of the Exorcising the Dragon Gang was once again using rhetorical tricks and crooked debating tactics to forcibly declare victory.
A summation like that, followed by a transition that all but proclaimed victory, naturally resonated with supporters, especially after a discussion in which he really had held the advantage. But it also easily provoked resentment among his opponents. After all, they were sitting here debating principles, each with their own views. What gave him the right to forcibly declare victory after a few remarks?
If you had won, did that mean we had lost?
"Chief Zhang spoke very well, but are we to reach a conclusion so easily?" Zhang Bofeng paused, then recovered and pointed at the sun with a laugh. "This Supreme One has only just passed overhead."
Many people, including Daoist Chonghe, looked up.
"Not at all. What in this world ever has a final conclusion?" Zhang Xing also glanced at the sun, then answered frankly. "I merely thought that, at this point, much as gangs and local strongmen set up fighting platforms to compete for lucrative markets, our Exorcising the Dragon Gang could now hold the platform... After all, though you have offered many views in the discussion, each coherent in itself, forgive my frankness, but they remain individual reflections. Unlike our gang, you do not have many people responding to one another, with substantial content gradually forming a system. Moreover, most of your arguments are empty theories, whereas we are testing ours with blades and spears. That alone, I think, entitles us to turn from guests into hosts and defend this platform. Never mind that, scattered though the preceding discussion was, we did hold the advantage."