Awakening the Divine Spark

"Junior Sect Master Mo! According to your instructions, the Nethermoon sect had cleared up its name, repaying the enemies and returning victorious." Elder Su began, "Today, with your blessing, we would like to affirm our new elders, as well as begin new era for the sect by electing the next sect master."

It was a formal jibber-jabber, and no one paid it any attention. But then things got interesting, and some of the present, including Elder Wang, got a bad premonition that something was about to go terribly wrong.

"Before we get to that, we would like to respectfully ask the principal sect, the Celestial Abyss, to consider and approve certain structural changes to the Nethermoon Sect." Elder Su quickly continued, not allowing anyone to get a word in.

"After the war, we acquired large amounts of resources, including tens of mines previously belonging to the Blackwater Sect, in addition to vast territories." Elder Su said, "Apart from that, currently we are supporting thousands of captives and the Nethermoon sect’s treasury is experiencing a serious burden."

The first part was obvious truth, but the second – an exaggerated stretch. The Nethermoon sect had to support thousands of captives, but they were basically herded like cattle on two separate locations under a clear sky and fed a thin soup once a day. Without shedding a drop of sweat the sect could sustain that for a century or two.

Mo Qingsha wasn’t an idiot and new that Elder Su was blowing everything out proportions. And even if he didn’t – he could easily tell it from the looks on the faces of the other present.

He was really curios what schemes she had in mind, though. And he had a lot of wine to taste yet, so he gestured for her to continue and Elder Su happily obliged.

"During the past millennia the Nethermoon sect has grown a lot, but our administrative structure had never changed." She said, "But in regards to recent changes we are forced to make some alterations, therefore I’d like to suggest to establish two now halls – the Hall of Resources and Logistics Hall."

Surprisingly, there were quite a few people at the table whose interest she managed to spike. Especially the junior elders – if two more elder positions were available, their chances of becoming an elder doubled.

Elder Wang and Elder Luo didn’t like where this was going, though. Elder Su had clearly prepared a plan, and a the look on the faces of the elders of Elixir Hall, Hall of Knowledge and Healing Hall, indicated there might be problems. Especially after the usually neutral Elder Jiu involuntarily nodded, Elder Wang felt his heart skip a beat.

The meeting should’ve been straight forward – Shen Rouya and one of Elder’s Jiu juniors would become the new elders, then they would have a vote and Elder Wang would become the new sect master. From then on it was only the matter of time until he cleaned up the house while dealing with the snake called Elder Su.

But the latter’s eyes shone as she continued, "From now on, the Hall of Resources will partially take over the responsibilities currently handled by the Sect Affairs Hall and the Hall of Provisions. As the name suggests, it will oversee the acquisition of all types resources for the Nethermoon Sect, including both the newly acquired mines and those we already possessed."

In theory this didn’t mean much. Objectively speaking, it was a lot of work, but it didn’t matter – the sect could employ as many disciples as it needed, regardless the hall. The problematic part was the next.

"The Logistics Hall will be responsible for all the transportation of goods or people within and outside the sect, including the maintenance of our rift gate. Some of the current responsibilities of the Mission Hall will be transferred to it, along with the focus on close cooperation with the Hall of Resources."

On the surface it seemed she had thought of a new job for Elder Wang. He was the only one in the sect currently capable of operating the rift gate, and one couldn’t blame her for trying to transfer him to a less impactful hall compared to the Hall of Ascension. But Elders positions were set for life and Elder Su knew it.

It was hard to imagine she expected junior sect master of the Celestial Abyss to lower himself to address such menial questions, let alone change the way the Nethermoon sect had operated for many millennia. Turns out, she didn’t.

"Let me present the perfect candidates to lead the two halls!" She said.

A split moment later a human sized rift opened next to her. From it emerged two people, dressed elegantly but modestly at the same time. Their looks indicated they were trying to stay presentable, without threatening anyone’s authority.

But no one cared about that. While Mo Qingsha had no clue who the middle aged man and the old dude with the gray beard was, he noticed the gasps of shock around the banquet table. Even Victoria furrowed her brows in displeasure at the sight, but recovered her indifferent demeanor in an instant.

"How dare you bring criminals to this place!" Elder Wang smacked his fist on the table, jumping to his feet.

The table shook, spilling the wine from Mo Qingsha’s glass, but the latter didn’t notice. For the first time the junior sect master was curious about the events in the Nethermoon sect.

"Elder Wang! Don’t forget where you are!" Elder Su reprimanded, "And don’t forget who our guests are!"

"Sorry ... guests ..." Elder Wang awkwardly apologized, but then turned back at the two newly arrived people who patiently stood with faint smile on their faces. Clearly they expected such reception. freewēbnoveℓ.com

"Former Sect Master Vorth is a criminal who’s responsible for the deaths of hundreds of our disciples!" Elder Wang continued, "To not speak of the thief who was exiled from the sect! How dare you to show your face here, LunLun? Do you really think we don’t know it was you who opened the rifts during the attack and the war?"

"Please calm down, Elder Wang! Don’t embarrass yourself!" Elder Su patiently said.

She was amused by the angry look on Elder Wang’s face – everything was going as planned. Maybe the man would’ve done something unexpected in different circumstances, but with the junior sect master present, he had no chance.

In fact, Elder Su had to pull a lot of strings and grease many palms for Mo Qingsha to become the emissary this time, but even if Elder Wang’s reaction would’ve been half as good, it would still be worth it.

Following her initial script, she said, "Junior Sect Master Mo, please hear me out! There is no better candidate than Elder Vorth to lead the new Hall of Resources. Not only he is distinguished elemental lord with centuries of experience. He has thousands of followers who will make excellent new recruits, allowing to expand our Nethermoon sect!"

No one was prepared for this turn of events, not even the experienced Elder Wang. From the looks of it, they had voluntarily invited wolves to their homes in the form of thousands of captured Blackwater Sect’s disciples.

"I know what you’re thinking!" Elde Su said, "We just fought the Balckwater forces, right? But there are no eternal enemies in the world! Moreover, it is only proper if we assimilate the smaller sect, it becoming a part of the Nethermoon sect, and censequently – a part of the Celestial Abyss!"

Not only it was logical – her suggested approach was widely practiced by many aggressive sects. In this case, though, no one intended for it to happen, apart from the people behind this scheme, that is.

"The principle is obvious and doesn’t require a more detailed argument." She said, as if putting end to the discussion.

The she smiled, and continued, "Regarding Elder Lunax, it is even more simple. The former sect master exiled him, that is true. But he is dead now. Out of all present, only Junior Sect Master Mo doesn’t know that Elder Lunax is one of the rare spatial cultivators, an elemental lord, no less. Currently there is only one spatial expert in the Nethermoon sect – Elder Wang. More importantly – not only we don’t have another elemental lord with spatial spark, we don’t even have an elemental master! You all can guess what monopoly and power it grants to Elder Wang, do you?"

Once again, her words were logical, but twisted. She easily downplayed the significance of Lunax’s crimes, while making it look like Elder Wang has been the bad guy all along.

The old man stared at her in shock, his mind poisoned from her words, but she victoriously continued, "From this day forth, the Nethermoon sect will become the new hegemon of the region! Obviously, we won’t suppress our allies – we all are the subsidiaries of the Celestial Abyss sect. But the stronger we are, the stronger the Celestial Abyss will become!"