The gazes of everyone in the room were focused on the head of the table as they waited for Feng Huixin to begin the discussion.
Once he was sure that he had everyone's undivided attention, Feng Huixin started by explaining the situation first, "After running towards the coast, the deity Xie Xingye has now made base in a large castle by the oceanside that is situated within the Forest of Echoes. It has been confirmed that the castle itself is a very well-preserved extension of the Liuxingyu Ruins and may have many layers of traps within. However, the network of underground tunnels connecting the castle to the site of the main ruins seems to have completely collapsed and sealed itself long ago, so it is unlikely to be useful, both for us to enter and for the deity Xie Xingye to escape through. Meanwhile, groups of ghouls have been spotted roaming near the vicinity of the Forest of Echoes and spreading outward. For now, they pose no threat, but they might soon reach human settlements."
As Feng Huixin spoke, on his left, Wei Xiang stood leisurely, his hands held loosely by his sides as his eyes flicked over the room with an unfathomable gaze.
On his right, Qinghe stood with his palms laid flat on the table, his head bowed over the map spread in front of him. Since this was the most detailed, accurate, and comprehensive map of the current world, Qinghe didn't want to miss this chance to completely memorize it.
After Feng Huixin finished talking, an Elder at the side respectfully spoke, "I realize I might be deviating from the topic at hand, but may I ask the Grandmaster why you were unable to apprehend this demonic deity after pursuing him after the battle at the arena? With your power and skill, it surely must not have been such a difficult task."
Not minding the question, Feng Huixin unperturbedly replied, "The demonic deity Xie Xingye and his dragon companion took advantage of the small lead they had and fled directly towards the castle in the Forest of Echoes. As I am unfamiliar with the terrain there, it took me a while to break free and reach the castle, but the castle itself is surrounded by a rebounding type barrier."
The Forest of Echoes was not a forest of trees and vegetation as one would assume, and it was most known for confounding and confusing everyone who stepped foot into it regardless of their level. A dragon might have some resistance towards this forest's inherent enchantment due to the inherent nature of its species and might thus fly over it unimpeded, but Feng Huixin was a human deity. It was inevitable that he would be caught up in it. The fact that he could get out of it on his own itself was surprising to many.
As for the rebounding type barrier, it was a complex shielding construction that had the property to not only protect the area enclosed within it, but to also reflect any offensive thrown at it back to its assailer.
Hearing Feng Huixin's account, the sect master of a mid-tier sect contemplatively spoke up, "Pardon me for asking, Grandmaster, but could you not have overloaded the barrier with spiritual energy to break it apart forcefully?"
But Feng Huixin shook his head. "There is a deep crack below the earth's surface in that region, running deep under the castle and the Forest of Echoes and continuing further into the ocean. The barrier around the castle itself is ancient in origin, the threshold of its power seeming to be very high. If I had overpowered the barrier and caused it to break apart, the resulting concussion of power would have split open the underground crack, causing a major earthquake that would have swallowed several townships located a few kilometers away from the area, not to mention the additional impact it may have due to the crack's widening within the ocean."
Everyone pondered in silence. It was good that the Grandmaster had taken everything into account and not attacked rashly. At least a giant tragedy had been prevented. But the location of this castle was indeed very troublesome.
Gradually, the cultivators started discussing among themselves, analyzing the situation carefully and proposing what they thought were feasible ways to capture or kill the demonic deity and his black dragon. The room soon began bustling with noise as countless voices spoke over each other in a bid to express their opinions, creating a chaotic and lively cacophony.
However, even if someone presented an idea, there would be several more trying to counter or refute it. Tensions and frustrations thus rose as their options seemed to keep getting more and more limited. This lead to the topic getting diverted several times as increasingly outlandish propositions were put forth.
"Eh?! You want to wake the ancient ancestors?! Utterly ridiculous!" a female voice firmly stated.
"But those ancient cultivators who are still in seclusion would definitely be a force to reckon with! Would that demonic deity even stand a chance against us then?!" a male voice refuted.
Agreeing to this statement, yet another person spoke up, "Yes, yes, no matter what, that deity was clearly witnessed to have said that he wanted to devour this world. We shouldn't hesitate to use all the cards in our repository in such a situation!"
But many others spoke out to oppose this idea.
"No, this is too risky! Have you forgotten what the world was like when the ancients roamed these lands? Borne of such a tumultuous time, I'm afraid that the ancients—whether they were of the righteous or demonic path—were all very morally depraved."
"Yes, waking those cultivators shouldn't even be our last resort. Just leave those demigods to their seclusion."
"I also agree very strongly. Our world doesn't need more upheaval right now…"
More and more cultivators began adding in their opinions, speaking against waking these ancients.
These ancient cultivators that were being spoken of were all mostly at demigod level, having been cultivating in seclusion till now, unmindful of the passing of thousands of millennia as they kept trying to ascend to the realm of deities.
And it was no wonder that a lot of people were against disturbing them, since after all, these ancients had walked the earth even before the Great War so many millennia ago. Their views were thus warped as a result of a more close-minded time period. And as a product of their time, these ancient cultivators thought nothing of life and felt that they were justified in trampling upon the weak just because they were strong.
Those of that time had also strongly opposed anyone who didn't conform to strict traditional values that propagated outdated views like how women were inferior and that people of the same genders shouldn't lie together, while also disdaining the intermingling of different cultures and their customs.
All in all, keeping in mind their close-minded values and lacking morals while coupled with their power to impose their own views indiscriminately, the ancients' presence would only place a burden on the current world.
But even if these ancients ended up agreeing to help, one couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't turn around and stab someone in the back for their treasures while taking advantage of the confusion of battle. Such things had after all been quite common in their era.
On top of that, after everything was over, these demigod-level cultivators might incite chaos by going around and recruiting people to build a power base, then interfere in current matters and tip the balance maintained between the existing organizations.
And it need not be mentioned how, due to their power, the ancients might feel entitled to go around and destroy cities, countries, or entire sects, just to take revenge for some small slight or to acquire their resources and artifacts.
To put it simply, waking them would not be worth it. These ancients were just as troublesome and calamitous as a disastrously large horde of rampaging high-level demonic beasts, and far more difficult to handle.
But despite all this, some cultivators still felt that asking the ancients' help would be the best alternative.
"You all keep refusing to wake the ancients, but as far as I can see, this is certainly the best option!"
"Even though waking them all might not be advisable, we can at least gain the help of one or two."
"Yes, all these theories about what they might do are well and good, but we will not know what will come of it unless we try…"
It was only after these words were spoken that someone realized—they could indeed know the result before trying!
Turning to Wu Xiao, an Elder asked, "Sect Master Wu, where is Elder Yue? Her insight about the future would be of much help to all of us right now."
Until now, Wu Xiao had been content to just stand at the side, messing with his Ah-Shui and generally behaving like none of this concerned him.
But now that he was directly asked, he turned his expression grave and spoke seriously, "My master is of a very old generation that is almost on par with the ancients themselves. How could we, the cultivators of this generation, bother our elders, who have already seen their fair share of what could have been world-destroying calamities, and dealt with them all on their own? We do not lack in power or experience, and we have several prominent names and learned minds gathered here. I have no doubt that we can solve this matter amongst ourselves!"
The cultivators who heard this all nodded with vigor. Yes, why would they need those ancients or the older generation to bear this burden on their behalf? Their generation was no less glorious than those of the past!
However, what they did not know was that everything Wu Xiao just spouted was pure bullshit he'd come up with on the spot. The truth was that his master had simply not wanted to come to this 'event with the most boring and tedious old fogeys', as she'd called it. And so, Wu Xiao had had to improvise and divert all their attentions. Thankfully, he had succeeded.
Then remembering something else his master had told him, Wu Xiao took out a small purple marble with a tiny white flower bud encased inside.
Holding it up, he recalled casually, "Master did remind me to use this marble to convey her vision of what would happen if the ancients were awakened."
Almost all heads snapped to him at once, their gazes focusing on the small marble. Some of the disciples who didn't yet know about Elder Yue's ability to see the future looked confused, but still turned their heads to see what Wu Xiao meant.
Seeing that he had everyone's attention, Wu Xiao imbued a bit of his spiritual energy into it, and the tiny white bud inside blossomed into a magnificent little flower, it's petals glowing a pure, bright silver.
A recording of Elder Yue's impatient voice immediately sounded from within, "Since I know that some old bastards will want to go and wake up even more older bastards against all common sense just because they don't have the brainpower to think up a proper plan, I decided to just go and have a look at the future to tell you all how stupid this is."
"…"
Every person who had been clamoring to wake the ancients felt as if they were brutally stung by Elder Yue's words.
Uncaring of them, Elder Yue's voice went on, "Here's the result of what I saw would happen if you wake up the ancients—the world will still get gobbled down by the black one's companion. To no one's surprise, the ancients will not work together with us and will instead try to take advantage of our situation and sabotage our offensive against the unsealed deity. Needless to say, after he takes advantage of our internal problems, the unsealed deity will win and devour the world. That's it, that's what I saw. Do you lot have any more stupid questions? If you do, then swallow them down and don't speak them out loud. You'll end up lowering the intelligence of everyone around you."
With that, the marble finished conveying Elder Yue's message and expended its energy, slowly turning to fine dust and falling down.
Utter silence reigned in the room for a while as they digested this, but at least everyone here had enough sense to not contest Elder Yue's prediction. From now on, there would be no more calls to wake the ancients.
In this echoing silence, Feng Huixin's calm voice rang out, "Since we have that settled, let us move on."
None of those present objected, several even nodding their heads eagerly to get past this.
Now that everyone had finished stating their opinion and debating to their heart's content, Feng Huixin knew that they would be more receptive. So he immediately began, "First, we have to gather information on our adversary and act accordingly."
The cultivators gave another round of thoughtful nods. This was indeed true. Most of what they knew about the deity came from what they heard on the Battle Arena that day and a few other pieces of information collected on their own behind the scenes. But the more information they had on their foe, the better they could plan against him.
Seeing their agreeing expressions, Feng Huixin next turned to his son to ask, "Qinghe, you are the one who exchanged the most blows with him. You should have been able to gauge his strengths and weaknesses. What were you able to make out?"
All attention promptly focused on Qinghe, who simply straightened from the bent posture he had been viewing the map from as he answered evenly, "Yes, I did notice a few things about the demonic deity while we were battling. For example, he might be a deity, but he isn't at full power. And though his ability to use those vines might be strong, his precision and control are not as good. His swordsmanship and martial arts skills are also only average. It is obvious that these aspects were not the focus of his cultivation, and thus not honed to maximum effect.
"Another thing that is clear is that he is inexperienced in commanding. His method of using the ghouls as he did without any proper strategy is very telling, and he is sure to have many more of those creatures reserved to overwhelm us with later. But though he seems to have the numbers advantage due to the ghouls, it isn't an insurmountable hurdle. As long as we can disable the deity and his dragon companion, we have a very good chance of clearing the ghouls and winning with minimum losses."
Though they didn't know how they could just disable this demonic deity who had already ascended and a member of the true dragon race along with him, most of the cultivators present still nodded their heads. What this Feng Qinghe had observed and deduced were all reasonable and would be very useful.
After a bit of hesitation, a sect master spoke up nervously from the side, "I mean no disrespect, but…can't the Grandmaster just duel this deity then? The Grandmaster is clearly stronger than our enemy. He could easily take care of this whole affair on his own. He also seems to have a grudge against this demonic deity, so maybe we should just leave it to him."
Some of the others frowned at him at this blatant act of bringing up the Grandmaster's personal business and using it to shove all the responsibility to one person. The rest, however, looked at Feng Huixin with an expectant gaze waiting for an answer.
Seeing this, Feng Huixin enlightened them, "Leaving my personal association with the demonic deity out, there is a reason I cannot do this alone. A world of this level can only contain the full power of one deity. If I use my power, the deity Xie Xingye will also use his. If this world becomes burdened with the clashing powers of two deities, it will be torn apart and crushed into pieces. I could also battle him using only my physical strength, but that might end up opening the crack in the land below the castle and causing a large catastrophe in turn. Luring the deity Xie Xingye to another place will also not be possible, it would seem too obvious and might spook him into fleeing again."
The people listened intently and grew silent. All these were valid points. They shouldn't expect just one person to do everything in this situation anyway, even if he was a powerful deity.
Suddenly remembering this fact, a certain Elder spoke up, "Grandmaster, I need to ask, but is there any way we can expect help from the heavens? After all, this Xie Xingye is a demonic deity that Heaven sealed inside our world, so it's not like the present situation does not involve them at all."
Realizing that there was indeed such a way, a few people's faces lit up with hope. "Yes, yes, they could just send a few more deities and take away the demonic deity to seal him someplace else."
However, Feng Huixin replied with his brows furrowed lightly, "Even if the heavenly court was to receive my message and send somebody, they would face the same constraints as me unless they come specifically prepared. But putting that aside, I did try to relay the current circumstances to the Heavenly Emperor, but I was unable to do so. The single-use array I should have been able to use to return to the heavenly realm also does not seem to work. That avenue is closed to us."
Hearing this, many shoulders drooped. Why did it feel like Heaven was purposefully abandoning them?
At this point, what other option was there left to try?
They couldn't all just haphazardly rush up into the castle where the deity and his dragon were staying and start attacking all at once. They would need a well thought out plan that considered various things. But since it had been a very long time since their world had faced such danger, they didn't know just how to go about fixing this.
Truthfully, it wasn't like they were all incompetents who couldn't handle this situation at all. The sect masters were even very well-versed and experienced in assuming leadership. But managing a single sect was very different from managing the forces of the entire cultivation world.
To stand at the helm of this, they would have to coordinate between various factions while not offending any of them. They would have to have valuable connections and a strong backing to make everything smoother. They would also have to be someone whom everyone considered as trustworthy and respectable.
There were a lot of little details they would have to pay attention to while also shouldering the responsibility of this monumental task. The sheer pressure they would be under would slowly grind down on their nerves, leeching away their willpower and unbalancing the steadiness of their heart. And so, the person who would lead them should be someone who was able to bear this sort of pressure.
Obviously, none of the Elders or sect masters could claim to fulfill all these criteria or that they would be able to handle this great responsibility.
A stifling silence filled the room, thickening the air with ponderous thoughts and unspoken worries.
It was at this time that Feng Huixin suddenly spoke up, "Qinghe, can we hand over the strategizing to you?"
Qinghe blinked at his father with wide eyes. "Me?!"
An Elder immediately spoke up with a dissatisfied frown, "Grandmaster, he might be your son, but you can't just hand everything over to him like this out of favoritism."
Feng Huixin looked at the Elder calmly. "Using the word 'favoritism' here is inappropriate. After all, what I am giving my son is not some gift, but the heavy burden of leadership. If I weren't sure that he was up to the task, I wouldn't do this."
Hearing his father's quiet confidence in him, Qinghe couldn't help but feel moved.
Understanding that he must have offended the Grandmaster, the Elder tried to disagree more politely, "But still… Pardon me for saying this, but you are after all more experienced than a mere disciple who is not even half a century of age. Considering how you have successfully established and lead the Order of Sentinels so far, I'm sure that you will guide us better."
Pressing his lips together, Feng Huixin shook his head in refutation. "My experience with the Order is not compatible with this task. I am used to leading highly trained officers who all have strict discipline and obey orders unconditionally. But the cultivators from the sects are not like that. I have never cultivated at a sect and am not very familiar with how to lead people with such varied styles of combat. However, I have faith that my son can."
His heart warming further, Qinghe resolved himself to not disappoint his father.
Taking a deep breath, Qinghe finally spoke, "Since the Grandmaster has chosen to place his trust in me, I will agree to take on this responsibility. I will lead for now and provide instructions to resolve the current predicament. And by the end of this discussion, if anyone thinks that I'm not up to the task, then I will step down and let you choose whoever you think is more capable. Do the Elders and sect masters agree?"
After some hesitation, everyone contemplatively agreed.
After all, since none of them wanted this responsibility anyway, they wouldn't lose much by giving this disciple the chance. And they all more or less knew about Feng Qinghe's intelligence and had seen his ability firsthand when he went against the demonic deity, and combined with the Grandmaster's obvious faith in his son, they decided to give him a chance to prove himself.
Seeing the unanimous agreement reflected in all their faces, Qinghe nodded once.
Now that he had been given this opportunity, he wouldn't have to manipulate things in the background to implement his plans. He could state them out in the open and directly assign tasks to relevant people and make them carry it out.
But before that, they needed to analyze the enemy and see what type of path would be most appropriate.
Qinghe closed his eyes for a moment and quickly went over the battle with Xie Xingye in his mind once more.
Then opening his eyes again, he began, "For fighting against our enemy this time, we do not need any fancy or convoluted tactics. We should focus on stabilizing and amplifying our defenses first. Guarding against simple and blunt attacks should suffice. The opposing force does not have an advisor or strategist to rely on. He is alone. This is another thing to our advantage."
Everyone nodded in accordance with this analysis.
Seeing that no one had any questions or objections to his words, Qinghe continued steadily, "We should first collect information about the distribution of enemy forces, the direction they're headed in, and the layout of their base. Once we get an accurate grasp of the situation, I will begin assigning tasks. As the circumstances change, I will adjust my instructions accordingly. If anyone has a better alternative to anything I suggest, please speak up and state your reasons clearly. If it is logical, then I will amend my decision as required."
As they heard Feng Qinghe's unwavering voice and confident disposition, the Elders and sect masters slowly started believing in him.
It seemed that he really knew what he was doing, his assessment of the situation precise and his commands decisive. He had also opened up a channel for open debate and communication so that anyone who wanted to could take part in the decision-making process and address their concerns.
Nodding his head at this disciple's levelheadedness and ability to see everything clearly, a sect master at the side nonetheless asked, "All the things you said seem very reasonable. But are you sure you know how to defeat this demonic deity?"
Qinghe smiled reassuringly. Then tilting his head with a strange light in his eyes, he explained, "Controlling a war is not much different from controlling a conversation. They both work on the same principles, you see. You use words or weapons to close in on the other side and corner them in between walls made of reason and logic, and sometimes whole or twisted truths. And then you leave them only one route of escape, which will inevitably lead them to the outcome we want, be it their surrender, defeat, or complete destruction."
Icy shivers ran down the backs of the people in the room as they heard this.
Seeing the self-assured look and sly smile on Qinghe's face, the Elders and sect masters all had only one thought―They really shouldn't have underestimated this youngster!