Hou Niao began to understand. Tianxin Pavilion's predicament was that they could not find a completely fair and impartial way to distinguish between cultivators-or perhaps they had such a standard but could not make it public?
Yet they had to give the continent's various traditions an answer, or their position would be indefensible. What sort of standard could they offer that everyone would accept?
Nothing else would do. Only battle.
That made things awkward. Tianxin Pavilion plainly disdained measuring a cultivator's future potential by combat strength, and perhaps they were right. Yet now they had been driven to a point where only combat could convince others, which was something of a joke. However different Tianxin Pavilion and the Taihao Sect might be, standing apart from the sullied world, even they could not withstand the combined pressure of most of the continent's traditions. They could only resort to a method they had once held in contempt.
Choosing someone was difficult. If they used an existing Constellation True Disciple, abuses of public authority for private ends and retaliatory attacks would be inevitable: going easy on friends and ruthlessly targeting enemies. They could not even use renowned members of the great traditions. But though Rogue Cultivators abounded across the Brocade Continent, where could they find someone both capable and free of any desire for fame or profit?
Thus, Tianxin Pavilion's patriarch had approached Gu Sou, who had then found him and given him a treasure that altered his appearance, all so he could play the villain.
A little analysis was enough to make a fairly accurate guess at these twists and turns. They had chosen him simply because his strength was adequate and he was not a True Disciple-he was not even qualified to compete.
That was something of a blow. He had