Chapter 238: The Sect Master’s Dilemma.
"Son, are you suggesting we should not compete in the martial battle?" the Sect Master asked.
"Yes." Mo Jian nodded.
With how weak their disciples were, competing in the martial battle would only bring shame.
"That will not be possible." His father shook his head. "Those disciples had trained as if their life depended on it. They were here to prove themselves."
Listening to this, his wife nodded in agreement. If they stopped the disciples from competing, they might lose their dao will.
And if that happened, their path in cultivation would be lost forever.
Mo Jian did not respond. He understood his father’s position but he understood more than they thought.
They were unlike any other sect that came to participate in the Assembly Summit and return after.
No, they were more.
They needed to take another approach if they wanted to bring their sect to a higher level.
And fighting was not one of them.
To compete with the ancient clans and sects, they needed to take their time and slowly close the distance.
Looking at their quiet son, the Sect Master and his wife exchanged subtle glances.
Was there more that they did not know? they thought.
The Sect Master turned and looked at Supreme Elder Zhao.
"Supreme Elder, what do you think?"
Supreme Elder Zhao did not respond immediately. Before, he would have supported the Sect Master without thinking but now...
He could not.
He had seen how deep the waters of the Imperial Capital were and knew deep inwardly they stood no chance against the heaven’s favorites.
Besides, with the Golden Restaurant’s success, there were many people trying to find their origin.
Mo Jian and everyone would have been in trouble if not for his foresight to ally with Broken Blade.
Now that they had Ghost Palm on their side, the pressure had been reduced but they must still tread carefully.
During the martial battle, who knew what would happen?
If anything were to happen during the battle, and they asked Broken Blade and Ghost Palm for help,
their cover would be blown and that would jeopardize everything they had worked on.
Watching Supreme Elder Zhao’s silence, both the Sect Master, his wife, and Elder Luo Zhen were confused.
Even a fool could see something was going on that they were unaware of.
Elder Luo Zhen looked at his friend, Elder Bai, and saw the expression that he was not going to speak.
The Sect Master was annoyed. "Supreme Elder, I’m the Sect Master. I need to know what is going on."
Since he could not intimidate his son, he targeted the Supreme Elder.
The Supreme Elder looked at the Sect Master and responded.
"Sect Master, I can’t say anything. Talk to your son."
His voice was solemn, giving no room to question him.
He was the Supreme Elder; the Sect Master only had a little control over him.
Stunned.
The Sect Master looked at Supreme Elder Zhao with wide eyes.
This was the first time the Supreme Elder would use such a voice against him.
Liu Zexian locked her gaze on her son and asked,
"Son, just tell us what is going on. We don’t need to know everything. Just enough to know why you don’t want the disciples to fight."
Although the Sect Master was furious at the way things turned out, he was still rational enough to listen.
"We have a lot of enemies..." Mo Jian said and his voice trailed off. He paused for a moment to arrange his thoughts.
"Mother, how powerful is your family?" he asked.
His mother was stunned for a moment before she responded.
"There are two Nascent Soul realm and many Golden Core experts."
Everyone inside the room was stunned with their eyes widened except for Mo Jian and his father.
His father had already been to her clan while Mo Jian had already met two Nascent Soul realm experts.
"Compared to our enemies, they are weak." Mo Jian said as a matter of fact.
What!
The Sect Master, his wife, and Elder Luo Zhen were stunned.
They had Nascent Soul as enemies! How was that possible?
Even when she was still in her clan, she had only seen a Nascent Soul expert twice.
Yet, her son had made enemies out of Nascent Soul powerhouses.
Mo Jian continued as if he had already expected their reaction.
"Let’s think of it like this. What do we gain if our disciples fight during the Assembly Summit?" he asked.
"We gain nothing. But there is a slim chance of making more enemies."
"I’m not interested in fighting a losing battle. If they wanted to compete, they could fight a mock battle among the weaker sects, but on the grand stage..."
He did not need to complete his statement but everyone understood the meaning.
His father, the Sect Master, was quiet. All the energy in his body seemed to have been drained.
Listening to his son, he could not refute him. He was telling the truth.
Their disciples were weak but he hoped they could gain more experience during the Assembly Summit.
But now...
His wife was also quiet. Since even her clan was considered weak against their enemies,
she knew whatever her son was into was dangerous and might implicate them.
And if the disciples not fighting might ward away some of the danger, they would not fight.
Looking at his parents, Mo Jian sighed but knew this was for the best.
His mother was sent out of the clan for marrying his father. Any hope of them helping was close to nothing.
They might even harbor resentment against them. Therefore, it was better to remain low key.
"Even though our disciples might not compete in the martial battle, we’re going to compete in another way." he announced.
When they heard this, his parents’ eyes regained their luster and stared at him, waiting for him to continue.
"Who said we must compete in martial battles before we dominate the continent?"
"We’re going to compete in Runes, Alchemy, Formation, Artifact Refining, and the game of Go."
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