Chapter 147: Do you not understand the rules?

"Has this Plane Safety Collaboration Meeting of ours truly fallen to the point where even some Abyss wanderers are being brought up for resolution?" the human Truth Mage, Mage God Deity Diluni, said with some impatience.

Anthony's heart skipped a beat, but he said, "Isn't a safety collaboration meeting meant to discuss how to collaborate on plane safety? There are undead creatures among the Abyss wanderers that threaten the safety of the plane; it is only natural that we discuss them."

Deity Diluni was very annoyed. He had been in seclusion, perfectly fine, yet he had been interrupted time and time again. First, the Dragon race had inexplicably moved their entire clan close to the land, looking as if they were about to start a war. He had been forced to come out to persuade them and had even traded blows with Bulusike.

Not a few months later, they wanted to hold some routine safety meeting. He hated these long-winded meetings more than anything and really wanted to wash his hands of it, but his followers had persuaded him: "Lord Mage God, the Church of Light holds three seats at the collaboration meeting. If you do not attend, they can basically pass any resolution they want with ease. My lord, the fate of humanity hangs on your every thought."

At the mere thought of the Church of Light's style of striking down dissenters, Deity Diluni could not sit still.

"Don't give me that! Our Star Republic firmly opposes the rhetoric of your Church of Light. Undead creatures have nothing to do with plane safety. Back in the heyday of the Undead Empire, I never saw them threaten the safety of the plane. If I hear you smuggling in your private agenda again, I will start cursing," Deity Diluni scolded angrily.

Anthony argued based on reason: "Lord Mage God, the life form of undead creatures is completely different from ours. You must admit that once they spread, they will encroach upon the living space of our life-bearing races. Although there are only three or five undead creatures among those Abyss wanderers in the desert and they pose no threat, we must still take them seriously. If we wait until they grow strong before dealing with them, it will be too late."

Anthony's words were very clever. On one hand, he pointed out the natural opposition between undead creatures and life-bearing races, yet on the other, he defined those Abyss wanderers in the desert as merely "three or five" undead creatures.

No one else interjected during their argument. At this moment, the Elf Queen Gailade suddenly chimed in: "Death is a part of life. They are not necessarily the opposite of life; they can also be a continuation of it."

This was the doctrine of the God of Life and also the faith of the Elf race.

"Enough, enough," Deity Diluni said impatiently. "Undead creatures are also the most diligent workers, the most loyal servants, and the most steadfast sages. If we keep talking, we'll just end up arguing. Let us begin the anonymous vote. Those who agree to expel or eliminate those Abyss wanderers in the desert, please cast your votes."

The final vote used an anonymous system because the Church of Light was too powerful. Out of the seven seats at the safety meeting, they held three, previously occupied by the Pope and the Archbishops of the Eastern and Western dioceses.

Now that Nikola of the Western diocese had been assassinated, Dai Sen from the Diocese of the Fallen Land had taken his place. This Dai Sen had not spoken a word, whereas Anthony was an old acquaintance; he was the one who was long-winded every single time, which was particularly annoying.

Anthony gave a muffled snort: "Expelling darkness and purifying the undead is our eternal mission." Having said that, he pressed the 'No' button without hesitation.

Before long, a bizarre voting result appeared: the votes for and against were two to five. This meant that only two votes were in favor of eliminating and expelling them, while five were against.

Why was this a bizarre result? Because the Church of Light held three votes themselves. As long as all three of them voted in favor, it was impossible for there to be only two votes.

Anthony's reaction had been so intense that this dissenting vote could not have been his. Could it be that either the Pope or Dai Sen had cast a dissenting vote? For a moment, all sorts of speculations floated in everyone's minds.

Anthony was also stunned. What was going on? He had thought that getting two dissenting votes would be quite good. Mage God Deity Diluni would vote against it because he detested the various extreme operations of the Church of Light, so he would oppose any agenda put forward by the Church of Light.

Before the vote began, Anthony had even argued with him once, slightly provoking him to increase the probability of him casting a dissenting vote, and with his own vote, that should have been enough.

In a meeting of this level, as long as there were more than two dissenting votes, it would not become a pan-planar resolution.

He just hadn't expected the result to be so one-sided. Two votes in favor? Damn it, this was trouble. Didn't this clearly let people know that among the three members of the Church of Light, one was not of the same mind?

If he had known this, he should have voted in favor. Everyone present was no fool; once such suspicion arose, they would surely find clues. Even if he played the role of a contrarian well, it would be useless.

The voice of Pope Gulianni sounded in a measured tone: "I do not approve of bringing such matters here for resolution, so I cast a dissenting vote. Expelling the undead and letting the light shine is the mission and duty of us believers of light. We will handle it ourselves."

The implication was that he was the one who cast that dissenting vote; there was no need to bring such trivial matters to a resolution, as the Church of Light would handle it themselves.

Anthony's feelings became even more subtle. If, among the three members of the Church of Light, both he and the Pope had voted against it, then who had cast the second vote in favor?

"I don't care about your missions or duties; just don't overstep your boundaries. The other side of the desert is our Star Republic. We allow undead creatures to exist legally and lawfully because the stars are bound to be brilliant, colorful, and diverse," Deity Diluni said solemnly.

With five votes against and two in favor, the matter of expelling or eliminating the Abyss wanderers failed to form a resolution.

After disconnecting the communication from the teleportation array, His Majesty Gulianni paced back and forth in thought. The attendant who had been listening to the entire meeting asked in confusion: "Your Majesty, you clearly voted in favor, so why did you say you voted against?"

"Why do you think?" Gulianni stopped his pacing and asked in a slightly testing tone.

The attendant pondered for a moment and said: "Are you afraid that outsiders will know we are not in harmony?"

Gulianni shook his head: "We are not in harmony; would others not know? Anthony is practically ready to raise his own banner and establish a new sect."

"Do you want to indicate that we will handle the undead creatures and do not need others to resolve it?" the attendant said again.

Gulianni still shook his head.

"Then do you want to test who exactly cast the dissenting vote?"

"Anthony cast it; there is no need to test," Gulianni smiled.

The attendant was convinced and said: "Your wisdom is unfathomable."

Gulianni smiled indifferently, accepting the attendant's flattery, but did not provide an answer.

Just as Nai Ge Li Si hung up the teleportation array communication, a new communication request came in immediately, making him want to go crazy.

He connected and listened; it was from the Elf Queen Gailade.

"Respected Queen, long time no see. Is there a problem with the World Tree?" Nai Ge Li Si asked.

"No, the World Tree is growing quite well. I am looking for you this time regarding the Plane Safety Collaboration Meeting. Do you know about this meeting?" Gailade said.

"Oh, I know. Thank you, Your Majesty, for casting the dissenting vote," Nai Ge Li Si said.

Gailade said in a tone that suggested she had expected as much: "So there really is someone protecting you. I guess Bulusike told you?"

"Yes, yes. After all, I am the ancestor of the Dragon race, and Bulusike does not want his ancestor to be tied to a stake for burning," Nai Ge Li Si said.

After hanging up the communication, Nai Ge Li Si let out a sigh. This was already the third person to come and report the news. In a seven-person meeting, three had actually tipped them off. Without realizing it, Ang had already established a rich network of connections within the top-tier social circle of this plane.

With this resolution, it was impossible for the entire plane to unite to deal with them. In fact, only the Church of Light was full of hostility toward undead creatures.

Others, such as the Elves and Dwarves, were simply xenophobic. It wasn't just undead creatures; they didn't welcome other creatures either. Very few people could enter their territory without being expelled.

As for the Star Republic, it had another name: the Mage Kingdom. They believed in the stars and magic, respected different faiths, and allowed various races to coexist harmoniously.

In the Star Republic, no matter what kind of creature you were, as long as you followed the three "No" principles—no harm, no influence, no evil—you could live there legally.

The Chunfeng Da De was a citizen of the Star Republic.

However, the Star Republic was too small. Its total population might not even be five hundred thousand, and the number of other races was impossible to count, probably around two hundred thousand or so.

With this combined population of seven hundred thousand, they had created an exceptionally brilliant culture. They possessed the world's most advanced magical civilization, a large number of high-quality mages, and various professional powerhouses emerging like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, such as the Chunfeng Da De and Mage God Deity Diluni.

Although a large number of creatures viewed as heretics by the Church of Light lived within the territory of the Star Republic, the Church of Light had never once mentioned launching a trial.

The location of the Star Republic was at the end of this desert, a peninsula protruding from the sea, connected to the mainland by a long, narrow corridor. Ordinary bulk goods transportation mainly relied on ships, so they also possessed a large-scale ocean-going fleet.

Although only the Church of Light was full of hostility toward undead creatures, it was large in scale and influenced a vast population. At least sixty percent of the pan-continent believed in the light, so they held three out of the seven seats at the Plane Safety Meeting.

The current situation was already the best possible outcome. The resolution had been rejected, and Nai Ge Li Si at least didn't have to worry about being hunted down by the entire plane's coalition army. But on the other hand, their existence was already known to the highest level of the plane, giving Nai Ge Li Si a feeling of being constantly watched, like needles on his back.

"It seems we must be careful in the future and not be ambushed by anyone, just like that Nikola." However, Nai Ge Li Si was not too worried. Ang now had the ability to protect himself, and with the Little Angel and Luo Ge as bodyguards by his side, even Bulusike in his transformed state would not find it easy to kill him.

Nai Ge Li Si turned off the teleportation array, called for Ang and the others who were already bored and poking the floor, crawled out of the dragon cave, and flew toward the direction of Dragonfall Lake.

Flying from afar, they suddenly saw someone on the ground jumping and waving at them. Looking closely, it was none other than John.

They landed and took a look, only to hear John shouting excitedly: "My lords, there are two pairs of newlyweds getting married in our village tonight. I would like to invite you all to attend the wedding. I wonder if you lords have the time?"

Wedding? Ang tilted his head. It was his first time hearing this term; he was curious.

Wedding? The Little Angel tilted her head; she was curious.

Wedding? The Little Xiao Jiangshi tilted his head; he was curious.

Sensing their emotions, Nai Ge Li Si had no choice but to say: "This is a great joyous occasion. Of course, we have time, but we cannot eat ordinary food. We will bring our own food and drink to attend. Is that alright?"

"Of course, of course," John was overjoyed.

The Dragonfall Lake Donghe estuary, which was the few villages near John, had completely changed. The situation of starving people everywhere and people numbly waiting for death had disappeared, replaced by a scene full of energy and prosperity.

The food Ang had left behind had kept everyone away from hunger, but what had reignited their hope for life was the few acres of magic rice in the saline-alkali land by the lake.

Bitter water—this was what the villagers near Dragonfall Lake called the lake water. Now, rice seedlings were actually growing in the bitter water? Didn't this mean that in the future, the millions of acres of saline-alkali land by the lake could all be used to grow food?

The water volume of Dragonfall Lake was absolutely sufficient to irrigate millions of acres of farmland. As long as ten percent could be reclaimed, Dragonfall Lake would never have to worry about food problems again.

This reignited the villagers' hope for life. With full stomachs and hope, people finally had the idea of raising the next generation.

Everyone blew whistles and beat drums, dancing characteristic folk dances, celebrating enthusiastically under the bonfire; the two pairs of newlyweds were teased and mocked by relatives and friends, their faces turning beet red from shyness.

The Little Angel and the Little Xiao Jiangshi watched in a daze. The Little Angel even snuck over to the bride's side, stuck out her little tongue, and licked the bride's wine. *Peh*, it had no taste.

A plump young girl ran to the Little Xiao Jiangshi's side, stuffed a handkerchief into his hand, and then ran away with a blushing face.

Seeing this scene, the villagers started to jeer loudly, dancing and singing around the Little Xiao Jiangshi, leaving him in a state of confusion.

Nai Ge Li Si could neither laugh nor cry. He flew over, gave a long explanation, and finally managed to drag the Little Xiao Jiangshi back.

Under the Jing Yan Shu, the Little Xiao Jiangshi was fresh, white, and tender; even the weathering of his life before death had disappeared. He looked like a pretty boy. Not to mention the young girls whose hearts were just beginning to stir, even many widows and young wives had eyes that glowed when they saw him, wanting to pounce on him long ago.

Of course, the other one who made the women's eyes glow was Ang, but Ang was just squatting there, his hand reaching into the Anxi Zhigong, his shoulders shrugging, looking like a disabled person, so everyone hadn't made up their minds yet.

Wiping away non-existent cold sweat, Nai Ge Li Si smiled: "Little Xiao Jiangshi, are you 'capable'? If you are 'capable', I won't stop you."

Just as the Little Xiao Jiangshi was in a daze, a burst of urgent hoofbeats sounded outside the village, and a lecherous voice shouted loudly: "Aiyo, a joyous occasion! But do you not understand the rules? In this vast desert, is the bride's first night not supposed to be offered to the King of Sand Bandits?" ===== CHAPTER 148 =====