“Secret reserve power?”

The three arbiters’ faces grew even colder.

“Enough!” Arbiter Law snapped. “This matter is over. If we used the secret reserve power, our sect wouldn’t have any secret weapon in case of a true emergency. There are countless other sects eyeing us 

like tigers eyeing prey

, and you think we should make a huge fuss over some animal? Have you gone insane? Or are you just incredibly selfish? And have you considered what would happen if the secret reserve power didn’t work? Or what if it did, but resulted in mutual injury?”

Dragon Floret didn't seem ready to back down. “But, Arbiters, I can call for another Primeval Chaos Assembly! As long as all the children of primeval chaos stick together, not even the houselord can reject our decision!”

“Like hell!” Arbiter Torment said with a cold smile. “We don’t live in ancient times. Primeval Chaos Assembly? Back then, it’s true that the children of primeval chaos could make decisions about the sect. But times have changed. The Primeval Chaos Assembly is welcome to make decisions about inconsequential matters, but don’t think you can somehow take control of the sect.”

“Exactly,” said Arbiter Punishment. “This matter is over. From now on, stop causing such a fuss over that godling. Also, Dragon Floret, fooling around with Patriarch Deva is like 

asking a tiger for its skin

. Be careful not to invite disaster on yourself.”

“You’d better not cause another scene like this in the future. Our god kingdom was significantly damaged, and it's going to take a lot of resources to restore it to normal. Understand? If you cause another fight like this, then you’ll have to suffer the consequences!”

With that, the three arbiters flicked their sleeves and vanished.

Dragon Floret simply stood there, his face ashen.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Brilliant Radiance Society snorted coldly. “What do you have to say for yourself, Dragon Floret? We all came here because you personally invited us, and look how things turned out! Not only did we end up empty-handed, but our godhood was also damaged. Who knows how long it's going to take for us to recover from this. You’d better compensate us for this!”

The faction leaders were all furious, but couldn’t possibly have acted out of line in front of the three arbiters. And of course, they didn’t dare to go cause problems for Yang Qi, Jadefall, and the purrling. Therefore, now that the three arbiters were gone, they focused their wrath on the person responsible for the whole thing: Dragon Floret.

“What... what do you people think you’re doing?” Dragon Floret said, sounding quite flustered. “I had good intentions here, and I really thought we had the cat in the bag! Don’t forget I'm backed by Patriarch Deva, so don’t even think of messing with me.”

“Why can't we mess with you?” said the leader of the Brilliant Radiance Society. “And what would happen if we didn’t? We lost big here, and the Dragon Society has to take responsibility. We want Dragon Marrow Pills. We know that you found the treasure trove of an ancient patriarch of the dragon gods, and that it contained a lot of medicinal pills. We need those pills to repair our godhood, so hand them over!”

“That's right. We want one of your Dragon Marrow Pills! We won’t let you take advantage of us. We got seriously injured just now, so you owe us. You 

have

to help us recover!”

“That's right, we want medicinal pills. If you don’t comply, it means war. We’ll join forces to crush the disciples of the Dragon Society. It doesn’t matter how strong your society is, you can't stand up to all of us together. We could wipe you out in a night.”

“You’d better do the right thing here, Dragon Floret. Otherwise today will be you 

trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice you used to lure it

. It’s only for the sake of the sect that we haven’t already teamed up to destroy you. Do you really think we’ll just sit around suffering in silence?”

Dragon Floret looked around at the other leaders and could tell that if they really did team up against him, he wouldn’t stand a chance. “Calm down. We can always talk this over. If you want Dragon Marrow Pills, fine, I can give them to you.”

The truth was that inside, his heart was dripping blood. He really had shot himself in the foot, and instead of getting a big windfall, he was now being forced to pay people off. He had no choice but to go to a hidden storage cabinet in his mansion grotto and pull out a stash of medicinal pills. His face was crimson with anger, to the point where he almost felt like committing suicide. These Dragon Marrow Pills were extremely powerful pills that he had originally intended to use to break through to the Perfect God level. Now that he was losing them, it meant he had no way to achieve that breakthrough.

After handing them out to the other faction leaders, he flopped onto the ground like a deflated balloon. Meanwhile, the other leaders simply left, not deigning to speak another word to him. Even Goddess Jade Egret just walked away.

“I’m not going to let you get away with this, Jadefall!” he shouted to no one. “I’ll make sure that you scream and grovel to no end! You just wait! That beast of yours destroyed Patriarch Deva’s talisman, and there’s no way he’ll let that slide. Even if you hide in the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty, we’ll still find you and make you pay!”

Time passed.

Eventually, things quieted down on Mount Dragon Head.

A few hours later, Yang Qi had gathered all of his friends and family in Jadefall’s mansion grotto. The scene that had just played out was a big shock to the sect in general, and the news was spreading fast about the purrling vanquishing all of the duplicitous faction leaders.

The fact that the god kingdom had been shaken to its core had ensured that the matter couldn’t be covered up.

Besides, a lot of people had been keeping an eye on the situation. Already, the purrling was becoming something of a legend in the sect.

“Did you cause too much of a scene this time, Yang Qi?” the Shepherd asked. “Isn’t it going to cause problems for us in the House of God Ordainment? You’re going to be attacked from all sides over this.”

“

Once you nock the arrow to the bow, you cannot but shoot it

,” Yang Qi replied. “Don’t worry. We can use this opportunity to consolidate our power in the sect. With the purrling to keep us safe, I highly doubt that the higher-ups in the House of God Ordainment will try making a move against us. However, 

a cornered beast will do anything

, so we have to be on guard against Dragon Floret. And it's highly likely that he’ll escalate the matter to his backer, Patriarch Deva, a Paramount God.”

“My main concern,” said Jadefall, “is that the purrling's show of strength will attract attention. It would probably be a good idea to lay low for a while. Consolidate our power, but slowly and carefully.”

“I disagree,” Doom said. “We need to take advantage of the situation to make bold advancement. Establish our authority, and make sure everyone knows that they’d better not mess with us. If Dragon Floret gets Patriarch Deva to cause problems for us, then we should just slaughter him!”

“What?!” Jadefall said. “No. Absolutely not. We’re all members of the House of God Ordainment, so we can’t go around just killing people, especially not a sect leader. That's a major taboo, and a clear violation of the rules.”

“I'm inclined to agree with Doom,” Yang Qi said in a voice as cold as the coldest winter day. “And we don’t need the purrling to do it. I can handle it myself. Now is the perfect time to go kill Dragon Floret. Truth be told, I'm not currently a match for him. But he was just injured by the purrling, and his godhood is fractured, making him much weaker than normal. Recovering isn’t going to be easy.”

“Are you serious about this?” Jadefall said, frowning.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already thought it through. He's definitely going to ask Patriarch Deva for help. I want you to go meet with the leaders of the sect, and make up some story about the purrling disappearing. Meanwhile, I’ll find a way to kill Dragon Floret outside of the sect where no one will be able to prove it was me who did it. With him out of the way, we’ll be free to act as we please. We can even take over the Dragon Society. Of course, people will suspect the truth, but without evidence, they won’t be able to do anything about it. It will add to our mystique, and make sure that people don't cause problems for us. Besides, I have the feeling that Dragon Floret has some secrets he's keeping. Killing him should net a huge stash of medicinal pills, which will be very useful for our cultivation advancement.”

“If you’re sure about this, then fine, I agree.” Jadefall sighed. “I’d originally hoped we could just work on our cultivation for a few hundred years. How could I have ever guessed that carnage like this would play out?”

“We only have this opportunity because we have the purrling to keep us safe,” Yang Qi said. “You see, Dragon Floret has no way of knowing that, at the moment in which he was severely wounded and had his godhood fractured, I infected him with a devil embryo. He’s a Consummate God, which means I can’t control him, but I can spy on his thoughts. I’ll be able to track his movements, and will know when he leaves the god kingdom.”

They continued to discuss the matter for some time, until one of Yang Qi’s jade amulets started glowing.

“What? Dream Daylily from the Crown Prince Society wants to see me? She must want to know about the events that just played out. Alright, we’ll go forward with the plan as is. Jadefall, get a meeting with the sect leadership as soon as you can.” With that, Yang Qi left the god kingdom.

Soon he was in the same restaurant run by the Eternal-Life God-Dynasty. The Consummate God Dream Daylily was playing her zither, and in fact, didn’t even look up when Yang Qi entered. “I heard there was a big uproar in the House of God Ordainment a few hours ago. Something to do with Jadefall and the purrling?”

“That’s right, ma’am.” Yang Qi went on to describe what happened.

Looking shocked, Dream Daylily said, “Are you sure about that? Dragon Floret had a talisman from Patriarch Deva, but it was useless against the purrling?”

“That’s right. I witnessed it with my own eyes.”

“I’d always assumed people were underestimating that godling, but I never would’ve guessed it was this strong.” Her fingers danced on the zither, causing beautiful music to stream out.

“You have a good relationship with Jadefall?” she asked.

“I do. She trusts me. But that doesn't really matter. There’s no way she’ll reveal secrets about the purrling to me.”

“I know that. And I also know that you’re loyal to the crown prince. After all, you swore an oath and sealed it with psychic power. That’s why I'm about to give you a very important mission.”

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