Novel Full Chapter 1753: Worth The Risk
Chapter 1753: Worth The Risk
"Things will not be simple this time," the avatar sighed. "We can’t kill Li Yuan since it would be useless." Li Yuan is only the chosen representative of those ancient factions and aristocratic clans. Although it was because of the strength of his clan, the crux of the issue is that anyone among them can be the representative. So, unless Kong has the strength to keep killing whoever these people elect, using force to solve this problem is pointless.
"Right now, we are competing with them to convince the neutral factions, but sadly, we cannot compare to them in terms of resources."
Emperor Kong remained calm as he poured himself some tea. "By now, most of the people who remained neutral but still plan to vote are only doing so because they want to wait for a better price — a price we cannot offer them, but our competitor can’t."
"We can continue to try to create more Paragons, but this approach is slow, and there is no guarantee of success," the avatar continued. The approach of cultivator Paragons can probably be used once or twice again before losing its effect.
"The good news is we can use these new Paragons to turn a decent amount of non-voters into our supporters," Kong added.
"But once again, these aristocrats only need to relinquish a few more resources, and many people who were tempted by our ideals will immediately switch sides."
These powerful factions are not entirely like those mortal, wealthy merchants who hoard wealth without sharing, even when the situation is dire. A few promises — mostly false — and they can block Emperor Kong from rallying people with the promise of the Golden Society. As for the consequences of their actions afterward? Well, who can force them to uphold their words?
The people involved are probably aware they might be duped, but as long as these clans offer immediate benefits, most of them — who are weaker cultivators — will not care about future gains. By then, they would have swallowed up their benefits, and they’ll just console themselves that at least they had some benefits.
"Then, there are the hermits," the avatar sighed. "These people have immense influence, revered as the wisest of scholars and Sages. And as long as a few of them could support us, we could probably turn the tables."
"But they do not interfere in these matters," Kong added. "In fact, a lot of their influence is due to their detached nature. Once they get involved, things become complicated." The situation was not looking good for them.
"What do you suggest we do?"
"The first thing we need to do is cut off one of these people’s primary, but hidden leg: the foreign scholars," the avatar commented.
"Who?"
"Most factions of any path will have secret branches in the other realms. However, I’ve noticed that in a few elections, those factions will call back those branches, have them convert to their primary path to participate in the election."
"The Nine Council allows this?"
"The rules are a bit iffy on this," the avatar explained. "Most of the time, they closed one eye and let it pass. Other times, usually when the situation gets out of hand, they come out and temporarily forbid it."
"Temporary?" Kong sneered. Ultimately, despite being a representative of the Infinite Divine Court in this world, the council is still ruled by this world’s natives. So, it’s understandable that they would have hidden rules or leave flaws in the rules so that their people can eventually exploit them.
"That’s just how the system is," the avatar shrugged. "Anyway, we need to make a fuss and force the Nine Council to ban this method."
"Hmm, while this method will indeed deal a blow to these aristocrats, it still hasn’t changed our situation," Emperor Kong frowned.
"I know, but currently, the best approach I can think of is divide and conquer. We can try to separate the weaker factions from the top one, and also try to incite conflict between them," the avatar sighed. "However, I’m not feeling too good about this."
Kong understood his hesitation. All those clans are too intertwined. The Golden Society will take too much from them, and it’s to the point that even the weaker clans cannot accept associating with Kong in any shape or form. He could try to lie to them, but that would do more harm than good. The foundation of the Golden Society Philosophy hinges on the Great Sage’s reputation as a virtuous individual. Once he starts lying, no, even if people begin suspecting he was lying, everything Kong has built so far could crumble in a matter of seconds.
"Alright, let’s try your idea first," Emperor Kong thought. Although he had an idea, after a brief calculation, he realized the consequences were too significant and shelved it immediately. So, the two started to execute their plans.
Forcing the Nine Council to ban the hidden rules for foreign scholars was relatively easy. The avatar just lured one of the semi-popular candidates into doing this, and another one revealed the truth. The words spread, people learned the truth, everything was scandalized, and they even questioned the fairness of the selection. Without a choice, the council was forced to intervene and ban this practice.
Meanwhile, Kong was locked in a fierce competition with the ancient lineages and aristocratic clans. His approach of dividing and conquering them yielded minimal results, so he focused on a direct confrontation. Unfortunately, he was only one man. No matter how talented Emperor Kong was, when faced with such overwhelming force, it was praiseworthy that he kept fighting for so long.
"More than 2000 Paragons," Emperor Kong said with gritted teeth and caressing his temple. He had to debate with more than 2000 Paragons. And this is not just a verbal discussion; it was a clash of souls and ideals, meaning the wrong move could result in severe injuries. He was lucky he held on for so long, and could barely say he succeeded in a draw.
"The latest results are in," the avatar said. "The bad news is Li Yuan’s chance of winning has reached 58.4%."
"What’s the good news?"
"His chances are not yet 60%."
Emperor Kong stared at him: "Do you think this is the time for jokes?"
The avatar sighed: "I’m just trying to bring some levity to our current predicament."
Emperor Kong exhaled.
"We need to do something, and we need to do it now."
"How about we kill Li Yuan?" Emperor Kong suggested. "Although the rule technically allows people to register as candidates for as long as the selection is ongoing, there will still be some severe effects if these bastards change to someone else so far into the process."
"You know why we can’t kill him."
Emperor Kong was rendered speechless. Of course, he knew. Over the years, he has suffered dozens of assassinations at the hands of the "Evil Path." These scholars are not stupid, so they know who is responsible, but because everyone is smart, no one says anything. Meanwhile, Kong’s response to these assassinations has been non-response.
Although that doesn’t seem much, it was wildly effective. He used this as a means to further embellish his status as a virtuous and honorable Sage. Over the years, the enemy has done everything possible to poach people from Kong’s side; in other words, they’ve also been trying to divine and conquer his followers. And one of the primary reasons they failed is due to Great Sage Qi’s honor and benevolence.
But if he were to lower himself to their enemy’s level, could he still be called a Great Sage? In fact, not only can Kong not use an assassin, but he also must watch out for the possibility of his enemy framing him by faking an assassination attempt
"I know how we can win this," Kong suddenly said after taking a deep breath.
"I’m listening."
"I need a grand feat that will certify my legacy as an Eternal Sage, which would garner the support of the Hermit and even many non-voters."
The avatar frowned. "That sounds good and all, but how do you plan on doing that?"
"By spreading the Mortal Dao Art."
"Are you mad?" the avatar asked.
"Only such an achievement could guarantee our victory."
"What about the consequences?" the avatar asked. "Do we even know what will happen if you spread our timeline’s idea into this place? What about Wang Wei? How are you going to explain to him that you used his idea? You know how petty he is, and don’t tell me he won’t find out. There is a deep karmic connection between us. As long as he sees you, he’ll suspect something and calculate it."
"Wang Wei is easy to deal with," Kong calmly replied. "As long as we share the merit and other benefits with him, he’ll be more than happy."
"The other consequences?"
Emperor Kong was momentarily silent. "I don’t know what will happen, but there are ways to minimize the aftermath. For example, instead of leaving this world after we’re done, we can take it with us instead."
"You want to take the entire world?"
"Why not?"