As thousands of cultivators waited anxiously, the True Persons' clashes, collisions, and exchanges of interests proceeded in silence. An hour later, a decision was reached.
After this brief rest, Hou Niao finally stood up. He, too, was curious: what exactly awaited him?
Everything had been perfect. The only flaw was that he had neither obtained the True Persons' consent before issuing his challenge nor signed a life-and-death agreement.
Looking back now, neither could have been done under those circumstances. The True Persons could tacitly permit it, but they could not actually support it, so there would never have been a life-and-death agreement. From the moment he issued his challenge, this outcome had been inevitable.
If the weaker side wanted to turn the tables, it had to be prepared for a reckoning.
At least this had not been a sneak attack or a covert murder. It had been an open challenge before everyone's eyes, a battle both sides had agreed to.
He was not too worried about his life. With thousands of cultivators present, that could not happen. After today, however, it would be harder to say. An accident could come at any moment; one must never underestimate the resources of a Prince's Manor.
Likewise, precisely because everyone was present, they could not let him off lightly, either. Otherwise, the Quanzhen Sect would never know another peaceful day.
True Person Xu stepped forward. As Prefect of the Minister of Justice Prefecture, the place responsible for upholding the Quanzhen Sect's rules, he would usually announce the final decision in matters like this. Who knew how he felt about the offending cultivator coming from his own prefecture?
He drew breath and raised his voice. In truth, he did not know what such an outcome would bring, either.
"A general gains decisiveness through courage;