Lou Feishang's expression shifted slightly. Then, keeping his voice as calm as possible, he transmitted, "If Pang Yi really becomes the Hall Master, would someone of his standing need to hold a grudge against small fry like us? They say that after the previous Hall Master took office, he didn't do anything to those who had competed against him."
"Do you really not know, or are you pretending?" Chao Jue transmitted. "Apart from the previous Hall Master, which of the rivals of any past Hall Master met a peaceful end after he took office? Many of them vanished from the records, but from the accounts passed down by generations of our predecessors, we can still learn their fates. They were absolutely tragic. Now you and I have to face this cruel reality. Sometimes I even think, with a little relief, that I'm the weakest of the three and pose the least threat to Pang Yi. Perhaps he'll show me a little more mercy when the time comes. But you? That's harder to say."
This transmission from Chao Jue made it impossible for Lou Feishang to maintain his calm expression. He took a deep breath, suppressed his feelings, and transmitted, "That's all in the future. What must come will come. There's no escaping it. At worst, we die."
"Hmph, don't expect the mercy of the previous Hall Master to repeat itself. The previous Hall Master rose out of nowhere and defeated the candidate everyone had favored at the time. He won, but he had no deep roots, nor enough trusted followers. By contrast, that candidate supposedly had quite a few backers in the Demon Hall, with strength in numbers. Even after becoming Hall Master, he had to consider those people's reactions. It wasn't that he was truly merciful. He had no