Chapter 813: Measuring The Trend (1)

The voting result was out.

The room felt a tad bit too silent even after a conclusion was reached.

Marquis Xia was leaning against the back of his chair and staring at the ceiling, as though he was daydreaming. The expressions of some people in the crowd changed as one message after another was sent out.

Great Xia lost.

Great Xia, or to be precise, the pro-war faction...had lost the majority support.

***

Great Ming.

Heart Paradise Island.

Zhu Tiandao was playing a game of chess with Niu Baidao when he received the message about the result. He softly said, "Fifteen to thirteen, with fifteen votes for searching only Feng Ji's memories."

Niu Baidao was stunned. He stared at Zhu Tiandao for a while with the chess piece in his hand before gloomily saying, "What was Great Ming's vote?"

The pro-war faction lost?

Was this the final nail in the coffin for Great Xia? Even after so many years of struggle?

Zhu Tiandao was also playing with the chess piece in his hand as he said, "I allowed Su Yu to make the choice for us."

"..."

Niu Baidao laughed awkwardly and said, "Is that so? Isn't Su Yu supposed to be in seclusion?"

"Oh." Zhu Tiandao nodded indifferently and said, "In that case, he might as well extend his seclusion."

Niu Baidao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He knew it would be hard to hide anything from this fellow. He wasn't too bothered about it. Instead, he asked, "Prefect, I've always been curious. Is Great Ming pro-war or peace?"

"What do you think?" Zhu Tiandao answered with a question.

Niu Baidao thought for a very long time before saying, "We're not done with our preparations. But the divines and devils are not done preparing as well. Even the immortals are not ready for war. Everyone is still holding back for fear of triggering an all-out war in advance. But a hundred years later, they will all be done with their preparations. At that point, humanity might not have any advantage even with a few additional Invincibles."

"So you believe that if we're going to fight anyway, we should start fighting immediately?" Zhu Tiandao grinned, "Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Not exactly. I don't support starting an all-out war immediately." Niu Baidao shook his head and said, "But we need to start making arrangements for war immediately. We need to prepare our military supplies in advance. We must also take an unyielding stance so that the divines and devils will take a step back to ensure the peace will continue. But to do so, we need to deter them by taking some lives.

"The divines and devils are actually trying to test us. Their demand for humanity to hand over Su Yu and the others is merely a test to judge humanity's current situation. Splitting the human Invincibles apart is merely the bonus. You already know this, Prefect."

Zhu Tiandao nodded and said, "Yes. But...a hundred years of peace will give us the opportunity to produce more Invincibles and even help some individuals grow in secret. That is actually a long time. It is not surprising that some people are moved by the offer."

Niu Baidao said, "True. Forget about all that. I still have the same question. What is Great Ming's stance? What is Great Ming King's stance?"

After a short silence, Zhu Tiandao said, "You're an old friend of my father. Thus, I can be honest with you. In truth, we were initially neutral. You know that. But now...I still need to wait and see."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Hope."

"Hope?" Niu Baidao hesitated slightly and asked, "Who's bringing you hope?"

Zhu Tiandao laughed, "Don't tell me that you're thinking about Su Yu. That brat is still lacking for now. My hope is on Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan..."

Zhu Tiandao sighed and said, "The fifth principal failed. I don't know if his students have the chance to succeed, but I still want them to bring me hope. As for the fellows that the others have been training in secret..."

He sighed and said, "Those fellows are very strong. I met a few of them before. Some of them have even reached the Sunmoon Realm. But they are too normal. Yes, they are stronger than regular single character cultivators of the same level, and they are also stronger than a majority of multiple character cultivators. But...they are too normal. None of them gives me the impression of someone capable of looking down on the world with disdain. None of them have the bearing of a supreme cultivator, a future Invincible."

He shook his head with disappointment and said, "But regardless of whether it was Ye Batian, Liu Wenyan, or even Xia Yunji and the others who had failed, I can still see some hope in them. Ye Batian was someone with boundless confidence that he would succeed. He acted in a manner that even upon failure, he would first turn the world upside down. That is also the case with his students. But those secretly trained individuals I met...did not give me the same sensation. They are not lacking in arrogance, strength, and talent...but something is still missing. I can't feel it from them."

"What do you want to feel from them?" Niu Baidao smiled, "You want the feeling of one who considers oneself unrivaled in the world?"

"No!" Zhu Tiandao said, "I can't quite put it into words. In short, something is missing in them compared to the many Invincibles I have seen before. Thus, I can't see any hope in them."

Niu Baidao said, "So you wish to see more hope before making your choice?"

"Yes." Zhu Tiandao said, "Otherwise, the Zhu Family would be more inclined to remain neutral and just go with the waves."

After hesitating slightly, Niu Baidao asked, "How about Su Yu?"

"Him?" Zhu Tiandao gave that question some thought before answering, "If he can gain the combat strength of a Sunmoon within three years, the Zhu Family will back him with all we have and assist him with his dao affirmation. Three years should be enough...I doubt the all-out war won't happen that soon. If he can gain the strength of a Sunmoon during that time, he will have our full support."

"You're asking too much." Niu Baidao shook his head, "He's still too young. He's only nineteen. After three years, he's only twenty-two. Is it fair for you to ask so much from him?"

"What a stupid question. The Zhu Family will gamble our very lives on him. If he can't give us the largest hope possible, how can I drag the entire Zhu Family and Great Ming down this path of no return?"

"Forget about that for now. Things are still looking quite good. I didn't ask who Su Yu voted for, but I reckon the Xia Family had probably voted to only read Feng Ji's memories."

"Things aren't that bad. This can be considered a tie. It is acceptable. At the very least, we know that about half of the Invincibles are still willing to fight. Even some of the neutral Invincibles are actually only waiting to see more hope before fighting. They are not necessarily afraid of fighting. As long as the Xia Family manages to show everyone this hope, they will be able to gain even more supporters. I'm only afraid that instead of hope, everyone will be served with despair instead."

Niu Baidao said nothing. He gazed toward the north, toward Great Xia. Please. Show everyone some hope.

A lot of people were still indecisive because they couldn't see any hope. Traveling the difficult path might be hard, but a lot of experts had also emerged from traveling difficult paths. Just by surviving under so many years of suppression, Great Xia's multiple character faction was showing everyone a ray of hope.

Inheritors of the fifth principal such as Liu Wenyan were still alive. In truth, a lot of people hoped that he could continue surviving. They wanted to see him succeed. They wanted to see him reach the fifth principal's height, to once again show them hope.

***

Great Xia City.

Silk Destroying King said, "We'll proceed with the soul search on Feng Ji, then. There are no objections, right?"

Nobody said anything.

With a flicker, Silk Destroying King appeared before Feng Ji. He turned to look at the other two Invincibles and asked, "Do you want to take a look as well? We want to prevent having the result questioned, resulting in multiple soul searches, right? If we do that, we might as well cripple him outright. That will make things ugly for everyone."

Great Han King and Great Song King looked at each other before appearing before Feng Ji with a flicker as well. All three of them gazed at Feng Ji.

Feng Ji was a lot calmer than before. He looked at the three Invincibles and said, "Lords, I have one question. If the search indicates that both Brother Chen and I are innocent while some other people are guilty, what are we going to do about it?"

Silk Destroying King gave him a deep look and said, "Some other people? Are you referring to the ambush on you in the Luminous Domain Mansion back then?"

"Yes." Silk Destroying King said, "Like Hong Tan said, appearance and aura don't prove anything..."

Feng Ji said, "I know. But at the very least, the suspect needs to have his memories searched as well, right? After all, he will be a suspect as well. It is only fair that he is subjected to a soul search. If the soul search on me indicates that Chen Yong is the murderer, will he be subjected to a soul search after he's captured to verify the fact?"

"Yes." Silk Destroying King said, "Definitely. After all, what you see might not be true. We need further verification. This is also a failsafe in case suspects like you are being framed for something you're not guilty of."

"So you're saying that if you find any information about the individual who had ambushed me back then and that individual is here, he will be subjected to a soul search as well, right?"

Silk Destroying King nodded, "Yes."

Feng Ji smiled and looked in Zhou Mingren's direction. One of the people there was Qian Ji, the same person who Feng Ji had mentioned earlier.

Right at that moment, Zhou Mingren's calm voice rang out, "Lords, if I'm remembering things correctly, a soul search can only detect the memories at the outermost layer, which correspond to recent memories. Older memories in the deeper layer are much harder to dig out, right?"

Qian Jun maintained the same expression, but he was inwardly relieved when he heard that.