"Well deserved?" Bing Wushuang's expression grew stranger still. He swept a glance around Hong Qingyuan and the others and said, "One fool kicks up a ruckus, and the rest of you tag along and make fools of yourselves with him—since when did you all become so fond of playing games?"

"Uh..." A collective sweat broke out over the crowd. Harsh as Bing Wushuang's words were, they were simply the truth of the matter: every one of them had been taken hostage by Xue Jianming, forced to pinch their noses and swallow the fact of his appointment as Executive Deputy Sect Master. Who could help it, when the man was a consummate Golden Core cultivator?

"What did you say!" Xue Jianming flew into a true rage now. He feared the other man's strength, but that did not mean he only dared to play the groveling grandson before him—push him far enough, and he too would turn on anyone!

"Sneaking about behind my back playing your little tricks, and you still dare bare your teeth at me—where does a man like you get the nerve?" As he spoke, Bing Wushuang did not even deign to glance at Xue Jianming; that contempt was all but written plainly across his face.

Xue Jianming was furious at the words, yet the thought that the other man might well be the strongest Golden Core expert of legend gave him pause; he had not yet been blinded by wrath, and so could only swallow his temper and grind out through clenched teeth, "From the sound of that, are you thinking of snatching the post of Executive Deputy Sect Master out of my hands?"

Bing Wushuang clicked his tongue in disgust. "A half-witted post like that? I have no interest."

"Bing Wushuang, don't push a man too far!" Had he not feared he could not beat the man, Xue Jianming would have loved nothing more than to cut this dead-faced bastard down with a single stroke of his sword!

"Hold on, you two, calm yourselves!" Seeing trouble brewing, Hong Qingyuan hurried to step in and smooth things over. If he truly let Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming come to blows, he might well sit back and watch the tigers fight—but the situation would then slip entirely beyond control. If two consummate Golden Core experts really lost their tempers, even he would not find it easy to pull them apart.

He was a sect master, after all, and Hong Qingyuan's words carried some weight. Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming stopped glaring at each other, their gazes shifting to him.

"With the lofty strength you two possess, by both sentiment and reason you ought to bear heavy responsibilities. Now that Jianfeng is Executive Deputy Sect Master, Wuqing too should be given a post of equal rank, so as to be fair. I had meant to defer this discussion until Wuqing finished his seclusion, but now that he is out, why not settle it all today?" Hong Qingyuan said, seizing the opening.

Ever since Xue Jianming's outburst he had been regretting it, and now Bing Wushuang had suddenly appeared to thrust himself into the fray. True, the man carried himself with the same overweening manner, but for Hong Qingyuan this was a good thing—just the counterweight he needed against Xue Jianming, lest the creature grow so unbridled that nothing could rein him in.

"A post of equal rank?" Bing Wushuang's brows lifted slightly.

"The Executive Deputy Sect Master is second only to the Sect Master—he is, beyond question, the number two figure on the Council of Elders. What post could possibly rank as his equal!" Xue Jianming was most displeased at this. The title of Executive Deputy Sect Master had not been some careless whim he had dashed off on the spot; he had put no small thought into it, precisely so that he might hold his head above Bing Wushuang. If any post of equal rank could be conjured at will, would all that scheming not have been wasted?

"Posts are made by men. Before today I had never heard of any 'Executive Deputy Sect Master' either, and yet here one stands before us, does he not?" Chi Qianqiu sneered. As Grand Elder, he had been the number two figure himself; now, out of nowhere, an Executive Deputy Sect Master had appeared, and on top of that Bing Wushuang looked set to ride roughshod over his head as well. The taste in his mouth was decidedly bitter.

Then again, he was not one to lose sight of the larger picture. In the present circumstances he would stand firmly on Bing Wushuang's side—after all, a counterweight was better than none.

"Hmph. Then tell me, what post could possibly stand on equal footing with the Executive Deputy Sect Master?" Xue Jianming said scornfully.

"Well now..." Chi Qianqiu mused for a moment. Then he said, "Since we have an Executive Deputy Sect Master, why not add a First Deputy Sect Master?"

"First Deputy Sect Master?" Xue Jianming's brow furrowed. He cursed outright: "Grand Elder, have you gone senile? The Executive Deputy Sect Master is already the deputy sect master ranked first. What need is there for a First Deputy Sect Master!"

"That's not the same at all. Executive is executive, first is first—who ever said the two must be held by one man?" the Second Elder chuckled.

The other elders who held a voice in affairs chimed in one after another. They already had an Executive Deputy Sect Master; they did not mind adding a First Deputy Sect Master as well. Let Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming tear at each other's throats—they would happily sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

"This is preposterous!" Xue Jianming was so furious his teeth itched, and his hatred turned once more upon Bing Wushuang. Had this creature not leaped out to stir up trouble, he would have succeeded in establishing his authority by killing, and these old relics would never have dared pick such a quarrel with him—give them ten times the courage and they still would not!

"What do you think yourself?" Hong Qingyuan looked to Bing Wushuang. Xue Jianming's attitude was plainly of no consequence now; with all of them pushing together, so long as Bing Wushuang himself nodded, the post of First Deputy Sect Master was a settled matter—even if Xue Jianming brought in his own father, Xue Liping, he could not stop it.

"Is it fitting to decide such a thing without the nod of me, the Executive Deputy Sect Master?" Xue Jianming was still making his last struggle.

In reply, Bing Wushuang favored him with a cool, indifferent glance and said with scorn, "What business is it of yours? While I still can't be bothered to raise a hand against you, be sensible and roll out of the way—otherwise don't blame me if my hand shows no mercy."

"Hmph, big talk! Then I really must have a taste of it!" As he spoke, Xue Jianming abruptly drew his sword again and, without a moment's hesitation, shot skyward—then, from his vantage high above, launched a savage assault: a single sword falling from the ninth heaven!

Everyone present, Hong Qingyuan included, turned ashen with shock. The creature was truly mad! It had been bad enough when he struck at Xu Xiaoshuang, but now he dared lash out even at Bing Wushuang, a fellow consummate Golden Core expert—and opened with a trump-card killing move like this!

The council hall was thrown instantly into chaos. Everyone's first instinct was to duck and retreat; after all, blades have no eyes. Golden Core experts though they were, to be caught in the stray shockwaves of a consummate Golden Core attack would still be fatal.

Yet the event proved they had all worried overmuch.

There were no shockwaves, still less any collateral harm. Faced with Xue Jianming's furious onslaught, Bing Wushuang ended the fight lightly with a single move—his signature technique, the Ruthless Ice Force.

In times past, the Ruthless Ice Force had indeed inspired great oppression, but oppression was all it was: against an expert of the same rank it could at most exert a degree of restraint. Yet the scene now unfolding before everyone's eyes overturned every prior understanding of it.