Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 594 - 479: Settled Dust (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1

Chapter 594: Chapter 479: Settled Dust (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1

Zhu Mingyue coldly watched Li Xuan and Abbot Weizhen, thinking that their actions were ridiculous.

The rules of the Liudao Division have long been set in this way, where anonymous voting is the norm for personnel appointments. How can they just simply decide to change that?

"Divine Venerable!" At this moment, the elder of the military clan, Liang Yuan, even joined in: "I also request the Divine Venerable to agree to their request. Let’s use a named voting system this time."

His voice was grand and powerful, while he scanned other people present with a fierce gaze like a tiger: "Anonymous voting is to prevent malice bred out of jealousy, but we, the elders of the Liudao Division, are upright and principled, so what do we have to fear?"

"That makes perfect sense!" An elder of Confucianism stroked his beard and chuckled: "Let’s use a named voting system then. Divine Venerable, rumours can be harmful. If someone alleges that there’s been manipulation in this vote, we must handle it carefully."

Zhu Mingyue’s expression twitched slightly and he looked around at the faces of the elders: "Then what do you elders think? Named or anonymous, the choice is up to you."

In the end, 9 out of 17 elders present agreed to named voting, while the rest kept quiet.

After seeing this, Zhu Mingyue slightly nodded: "So, this time we will make a special exception and use a named voting system. Everyone please proceed, there’s no need for the magical instrument this time. Just say whether you agree or disagree directly."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yan could not help but tense up, tightly clutching the twin Hongxiu Knives hidden in her sleeves.

However, this time Yue Qianqian didn’t hold her tightly, instead, she whispered in Luo Yan’s ear: "This monk is very stupid. It would have been better if he didn’t go for named voting. This will make matters much worse.

Actually, the Zhonglangjiang also wants to see who abstained from the vote. We originally estimated that we would get thirteen votes. There must have been some last-minute deserters."

At this moment, all seventeen elders fell silent. They looked at each other with sober and cautious glances, making the atmosphere in the room both tense and awkward.

After a brief moment, the military elder Liang Yuan was the first to break the silence. With both hands on the armrest and a provocative look in his eyes, he asked: "Why is no one talking? Oh well, let our military clan start. In my opinion, Neijianchashi Shi Xin, is the most appropriate candidate. Duke Zhongguo, what do you think?"

Duke Zhongguo, Yu Yi, an elder of the military clan, sat next to Liang Yuan. Upon hearing his words, he didn’t immediately respond, but looked at Li Xuan, who was watching from the side.

After a moment, his eyes slightly narrowed: "I believe that Shi Xin, who has been serving in the inner hall for years and has never governed local affairs, is not quite suitable."

"You!" The military elder Liang Yuan was taken aback, looking at Duke Zhongguo, Yu Yi in disbelief: "Yu Yi, have you gone mad!? You and the Huangfu clan are in-laws."

Yet Yu Yi showed no change in expression and shifted his gaze elsewhere, ignoring the doubtful and baffled glances from Abbot Weizhen and Huangfu Xuanji.

Surprisingly, Luo Yan’s eyes also revealed a confused expression.

In her estimation, the two votes from the military clan should definitely belong to Shi Xin.

"It’s just that their news was delayed." Yue Qianqian explained the reason: "Yu Yi has been seeking to make a comeback and has already secured the position of Nanjing garrison commander from the Emperor and the Ministry of War. Now that Zhonglangjiang, who is also from a military family in south Zhili, is in charge of the Armed Judge Office, how could he dare be the enemy of Zhonglangjiang?

Although the Huangfu family is his family’s in-laws, that was their ancestors’ business. The Huangfu family can’t help him now. So, Zhonglangjiang only needs to send a business card to make Duke Zhongguo think twice."

After Duke Zhongguo, Yu Yi, the two elders of the Legalist faction were up. Both of them were also Confucian scholars. After glancing at each other, they simply rejected Shi Xin.

"The two of us think that during his tenure as Neijianchashi, Shi Xin hasn’t been impartial and often has private views that harm the public. He is not suitable for the position of the Venerable of Zhuque Hall."

The next were two elders of the Mohist School. Mo Changsheng was very concise: "Our two votes go to Qiu Qianqiu."

The Military, Mohist, and Legalist Schools each only had two elders. Next was the Confucian School, which had four elders.

These four Confucian elders didn’t hesitate either, unanimously rejecting Shi Xin. One of them even scoffed: "Shi Xin, the Neijianchashi, whether in terms of abilities, character, reputation, or merits, is far inferior to Qiu Qianqiu.

He dares to aspire to be in charge of Zhuque Hall? Abbot Weizhen, by pushing Shi Xin out there, aren’t you being selfish?"

At this point, Abbot Weizhen was chilled to the bone. Only eight votes were left, yet the current standing was one to nine.

Out of the remaining Daoists expected next, at least two votes would go to Li Xuan. The dignified Longhu Mountain’s Tianshi’s mansion would certainly still have at least this degree of control.

This meant that today, their defeat was already sealed! Shi Xin could, at the most, secure seven votes.

Abbot Weizhen’s eyes were filled with a cold flame as they swept over the four Confucians and two Legalists.

He thought he had lost mainly due to these few votes- the six votes of the Confucian and Legalist factions had not one defector!

Although he never got any definite promises from them, Weizhen believed that faced with the moral pressure to prevent Zhu Mingyue from breaking the tradition of the Liudao Division, and with his offers of what they wanted,

- in order to control today’s elder council meeting, he even promised to give out four top-grade magical implements, nearly 900,000 teal in wealth, as well as various private exchanges of internal posts within the Liudao Division.

Weizhen thought that out of these six people, he should at least be able to sway three, or maybe five. But the outcome was vastly different from what he had imagined.

It seemed now that Li Xuan’s status as ’Hufa of Neo-Confucianism’ held a bigger deterrent and influence than he had imagined.

Weizhen had a clear realization in his heart that having a recorded vote rather than a secret one was somewhat reckless.

If the vote had been secret, these six people might have voted for him. But after openly voting, these six certainly didn’t have the courage to go against Li Xuan.

Next were the four elders of the Taoism camp. As Weizhen had expected, two of them vetoed Shi Xin.

The other two, one came from the Baiyun Temple in Beijing, which always had deep connections with the nobles of The Court; and the other had come from a Taoist free practitioner, who was not concerned about the authority of the Longhu Mountain Heavenly Master’s Mansion, thus they cast their approval votes.

Next was Buddhism, the two votes representing the Pure Land Sect and Lesser Vehicle Buddhism were also given to Shi Xin.

But at this point, all this was too late.

Weizhen, the Abbot, felt a heart-wrenching pain, as if a million ants were gnawing at his heart.

But right after that, he saw a scene that he could hardly believe.

His junior brother, Master Weixing, stood up, his hands in prayer, "Shi Xin always watches his surroundings like a vulture, and his mind is narrow. My brother and I think, not to mention being the Venerable of Zhuque Hall that rules over most of southern China, even for the position of Neijianchashi, Shi Xin is not qualified."

"Junior brother?"

Abbot Weizhen felt cold to his core, he turned his head and looked at his junior brother with a blank expression.

He suddenly realized who truly betrayed them in the previous vote, one was Duke Yu Yi of Zhongguo, and the other was shockingly his own junior brother!

Why was this? His brother Weixing had been a disciple under the same master as him, both were members of the ’Great Huguo Temple’—shouldn’t he ardently support him?

Why did Weixing betray him at this time, stabbing him in the back when he needed him the most?

This betrayal plunged directly into his heart, causing pain that went deep into his core!

In the observation area, Huangfu Xuanji’s face was constantly changing from green to white.

The scene before him was something he would never have thought of beforehand.

"What happened?" Luo Yan asked Yue Qianqian in confusion, "Isn’t Weixing the junior brother of Weizhen? I heard that Master Weixing has always followed Weizhen’s orders, trailing behind him."

A corner of Yue Qianqian’s lips curled up, "Being obedient doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any dissatisfaction. Weizhen has privately swallowed temple assets and acted arbitrarily outside. Previously, as long as Weizhen could make the ’Great Huguo Temple’ prosper, Weixing could bear his grievances no matter how much he was dissatisfied.

But now, do you think he can still bear the situation of the ’Great Huguo Temple’? Weizhen’s actions are no longer for the maintenance of the ’Great Huguo Temple’, but for his own power and life.

Ever since your identity was revealed, Yan, Weizhen has been stirring things up in the elder council, targeting Zhonglangjiang and yourself at every turn. His goal is not to uphold the tradition and rules of the Liudao Division, he just doesn’t want Zhonglangjiang’s power to continue to expand. For him and those behind him, this amounts to a disaster of epic proportions.

The recent southern invasion by the Meng Wu people gave him a chance to make his move—"

As Yue Qianqian discreetly explained to Luo Yan, Zhu Mingyue at the head of the table, looked at Weizhen with a blend of pity and disgust, then declared in an authoritative voice: "Thirteen votes in favor! Five votes against! From now on, Qiu Qianqiu is promoted to Fumo Zongguan and will take charge of Zhuque Hall!"