Chapter 716: Private Agendas, Human Hearts

The Archmage's disregard, as well as his disobedience, caused the anger in Lali's heart to rise rapidly. He slammed a badge shimmering with dazzling spiritual light onto the table, "I have already contacted the Master, and he has agreed to my plan!"

"Impossible!"

Keersi also spoke subconsciously, "How could the Master possibly agree to such a plan!"

"Keersi, you dare to question the Master? Why don't you ask the Master yourself! See if he agreed to my plan!"

As he spoke, Lali turned around triumphantly, looking at everyone in the council chamber, his gaze filled with aggression, "If you don't believe it, you can ask the Master yourselves!"

Among those present, only Lali and Keersi had the Permission Level to contact the Master directly, but without special circumstances, even as an Archmage, Keersi did not dare to disturb the Master at will.

At this moment, although he was highly suspicious of the Reality of Lali's words, he ultimately did not dare to make contact himself.

Having now suppressed the crowd, a flash of smugness crossed Lali's eyes. He slowly picked up the Communication Badge from the table, but he did not put it away; instead, he kept playing with it in his hand.

"Stop discussing it, just do as I say! As long as we kill that Lord Xia Duo, Aozikaer will certainly not dare to have any more ulterior motives. By then, without a Pioneer Lord in the south, even if we don't rely on Aozikaer, we can easily occupy that land!"

After this impassioned vision, apart from Lali himself, no one else present had any reaction. This caused Lali's smug expression to stall instantly. He suppressed his emotions, paced in front of Keersi, and said in a stiff tone:

"Archmage Keersi, why haven't you gone to prepare!"

Keersi sighed and instructed his subordinates: "Go and prepare first!"

With Keersi's order, the crowd finally stood up and left. This scene made Lali even more jealous and hateful. Once Keersi had also left, Lali kicked over the chair Keersi had been sitting on.

However, immediately afterward, Lali hurriedly lifted the chair back up and carefully checked it, only letting out a sigh of relief once he confirmed it was back in its original position.

His expression became even more colorful: anger, shame, worry, lingering fear—all sorts of emotions were present.

……

"Lord Keersi, do you think what Lali said is true? Did the Master really agree to his plan?"

Questioned by a subordinate in public, hesitation appeared on Keersi's face. However, in front of everyone, he still dared not openly question the Master, nor did he even dare to question Lali.

Who knew if there were any of the Master's hidden agents among these people? He cast a meaningful glance at the subordinate who had just spoken and rebuked:

"You dare to question the Master's decision?"

"I dare not, I dare not!"

The subordinate hurriedly distanced himself, and the others also seemed to avoid him like the plague.

Seeing this, Keersi did not pursue the matter further; he gave a few casual instructions and left alone.

……

After returning to his residence, Keersi hesitated again and again, but ultimately decided to contact the Master—not because he didn't trust the Master, but because he didn't trust Lali.

Yet, when he reported the situation there, all he received was a very familiar "Decide for yourself"!

Keersi was no stranger to this kind of answer. When the Master was conducting certain important experiments or traveling to certain special places, he would often refuse communication requests. In the current situation, this was actually just one of the fixed responses preset in the Magic Array.

"Damn Lali! How dare he lie to me!"

Keersi realized that even if Lali had contacted the Master, he would only have received a similar reply; it was impossible for an answer like "I approve of the plan" to appear. This was simply using a vague, automated response to issue a command that didn't exist.

At this moment, Keersi really wanted to knock on Lali's head to see what exactly was going on inside it!

"Damn it!"

Keersi suddenly regretted contacting the Master. If he hadn't contacted him, he could have pushed all of this entirely onto Lali, but now that he knew, he was unable to stop it.

He knew that the Master most detested subordinates disobeying orders; even if it was a wrong order, once it was issued, it had to be resolutely completed.

Of course, Keersi would not question the Master's Wisdom, but now this order was issued by Lali. Although Keersi did not agree with it, he still had to obey.

Don't be fooled by how his subordinates seemed to listen to his orders; that was mostly for Lali to see. They simply didn't like being bossed around by a low-level Mage like Lali and needed him, an Archmage, to act as a shield.

When it truly came to a critical moment where they had to choose one or the other, they would stand on Lali's side without hesitation. Likewise, he himself was the same; when it truly came to a critical moment, he would still choose to obey Lali.

Lali was perhaps very clear on this point, which was why he insisted on binding this group of people to him.

Keersi could already foresee Lali's fate. As for himself, he could only pin his hopes on the Master's mercy!

……

Perhaps due to the arrogance of the mysterious organization, or perhaps due to long-standing inertia, Keersi never doubted Aozikaer from beginning to end, or rather, even if he had doubted him, it was already too late.

Inside Linshui Manor, Aozikaer finally finished explaining his plan to Xia Duo. At the end, he used this sentence as a summary:

"Many times, for things that Magic cannot accomplish, as long as you find the right direction and goal, you can succeed with words alone!"

Regarding this, Xia Duo quite agreed. He never believed that Magic was omnipotent; what should truly be omnipotent was human imagination and creativity.

Aozikaer was facing a monitor who possessed various mysterious Magic Items, and behind the monitor was a Great Arcanist. Aozikaer obviously could not use force.

By finding the weaknesses in the other party's personality through long-term observation and contact, he could control the other party to a certain extent, even making the other party believe that Aozikaer was the one being controlled, without them even realizing it.

This "assassination" mission was gradually controlled by Aozikaer through Lali, who was influenced by him.

Xia Duo admitted he couldn't play such subtle games. At the same time, he would avoid taking risks with human hearts as much as possible. Hugging a strong thigh, picking the right side, and always keeping himself in a dominant position was the best strategy.

Of course, one must also avoid being treated as a discarded pawn as much as possible. Like this time, it was indeed quite dangerous!

……

Aozikaer looked outside, suddenly stood up, and said to Xia Duo: "Lord Xia Duo, it's about time, we should head out!"

"Alright!"

Xia Duo also stood up, not forgetting to put away the several protective Magic Items that Aozikaer had given him while explaining the plan earlier.

Come to think of it, the net worth of Rodney Lord was truly quite impressive!

Among the several protective Magic Items just given to him, besides the standard Force Shield types, energy absorption, and Energy Resistance Amulet, there was also a good item that Xia Duo was very envious of—

A Spell Reversal ring with functions similar to the Mirror of Reversal that Niya had given him. Compared to the Mirror of Reversal, which could reverse targeted spells below the 9th Circle, this Reversal ring could only reverse targeted spells below the 7th Circle.

But even so, it was a very practical defensive weapon. Besides the Pioneer Scepter, his Spellbook, and the Mirror of Reversal that Niya had given him earlier, Xia Duo had nothing else that could compare to it.

It was just a pity that these items were only temporarily lent to him by Aozikaer to deal with this mission. If they were gifts, that would be truly wonderful!