Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 580 - 12 Voting

Everyone unconsciously sized up Si Wenji, who now presided over Third Eye Global. These were her responsibilities, yet throughout the years, not a word had leaked from her, which left many who knew her well shocked.

Si Wenji glanced at everyone and snorted coldly.

Zhao Jianzhong disregarded the reactions of the crowd and continued, "The task of cleaning up the Sifan seeds scattered across Daqian Yanfu after the great war is beyond the capabilities of my small base. My first proposal is for the Yan Zhao Club to pool our wisdom and strength, to locate and properly deal with the destructive Sifan seeds that were buried in the Yan Fu Fruits."

As these words were spoken, silence suddenly fell over the venue.

"Feel free to speak your minds."

It took a while before someone softly suggested, "We could have Hou Tu announce a related Yan Fu incident and have lower-ranking Walkers handle it, with the reward issued by us."

Zhao Jianzhong smiled, "Such matters are not something that ordinary low-ranking Walkers can manage."

"I disagree. In fact, the power of Sifan is so great that once Proxy Travelers and ordinary Walkers become tainted, their ends are not much different. Sending Proxy Travelers to deal with these matters recklessly could lead to irreversible loss of life."

Zhao Jianzhong remained silent, just staring indifferently at the person who had spoken.

"You’re the one who said to speak our minds."

The person muttered.

"So, what do you all think?" asked Zhao Jianzhong, turning to the others.

Someone clenched their empty right shoulder, gritting their teeth, "I’d never touch that damn thing again."

Such disability in the right arm was almost inconceivable for Proxy Travelers, who could traverse heaven and earth. They had too many ways to heal, like self-repair or mechanical aids. Some Proxy Travelers could even reconstruct their physical bodies from a single atom as long as their consciousness remained intact.

But the reality was that the erosion of Sifan conceptually eradicated the functionality of organic limbs. If an arm suffered erosion, then no matter whether it was with mechanics or other methods, any action that should be performed by the original right arm could not be linked to the limb.

In short, even someone as powerful as the Ten Masters would die instantly if overwhelmed by the force of Sifan.

"Simply assigning low-ranking Walkers to this task is inefficient and prone to trigger erosive reactions. My suggestion is to firstly cross-reference the fruits that had frequent Yan Fu Walker activities before and after the war and compile a highly probable list of those containing the power of Sifan. All Yan Fu Walker incidents in the upcoming year should take place with these fruits. Once the presence of a Sifan seed is confirmed, it should be dealt with by a combination of experienced Proxy Travelers and low-ranking Walkers."

"The talk is good, but I have one question: who are these experienced Proxy Travelers you speak of?"

"We can’t just ignore the problem, right? Who knows who’ll be unlucky in the end?"

"Doesn’t Third Eye Global have experience handling such incidents?"

In the heated argument that followed, that remark ushered in another chill.

Su Ling couldn’t help but snort with laughter and then continued playing with her pen cap.

"What do you mean, Mr. Xing?" Si Wenji stood up and stared at the speaker.

"I have no ulterior motive. It’s simply more efficient for your people to be involved, and that’s a fact. I’ll let it be known that I’m willing to personally participate in the events for settling the Sifan seeds."

"Wow, so by your logic, if you decide to streak down the street, Third Eye Global has to accompany you? Who do you think you are?"

The Proxy Traveler with the surname Xing smiled gracefully, "This is not a place for street brawling. I’ve said all I want to say and will not speak another word."

"You..." Si Wenji noticed Zhan Yuejin giving her a warning glance and reluctantly sat down.

"Xing Sen makes sense. Since Yuan Chao is not here, I’ll take charge. Third Eye Global is willing to participate in the events related to settling the Sifan seeds," Zhan Yuejin declared methodically.

"Let’s not fight over this; no one can escape it. Here’s what we’ll do: as per old rules, everyone implicitly participates in the settling process. But if anyone is unwilling, they must pay a substantial amount of Yan Fu points or other items, which will be added to the rewards for completing the settling events."

Zhao Jianzhong put an end to the brief farce.

"Then, there are the more trivial matters. For instance, speeding up the decay of the Sequence Earth-Jiazi 259 Fruits and similar issues, which we can all discuss at the next Yan Zhao Club meeting."

Having finished, Zhao Jianzhong looked towards the little girl who was the landlord Hou Tu.

"Now it’s my turn." Hou Tu looked up, "Since the Lou Master Qin An’s unexpected death, the seat remains vacant, and no applications to succeed the title of Lou Master have been received by the Ten Masters, leaving the position temporarily open."

"The succession for four vacant spaces of the second rank is being considered by the Ten Masters, who have decided to select suitable candidates from the third rank and below for promotion. Let me read the list of prospective Proxy Travelers."

"Jingang Zhi, Nine Phoenixes, Taishuai, Zheng, Zhao Xuantan, Nine Heaven Kill Boys, Weiyue Yan."

Indeed, the Yan Fu Walkers of the Six Ministries level present at the Yan Zhao Club were not enough to fill the fifty-two slots of the second rank; thus, promoting a group from the Peak of the Seven Palaces into the second rank became an inevitable choice.

Among the seven nominees, Jingang Zhi and Nine Phoenixes had recently been promoted to Walkers of the Six Ministries and traditionally faced no controversy in ascending to the second rank.

Taishuai had a special status and was not discussed.

Zheng, Zhao Xuantan, Nine Heaven Kill Boys, and Weiyue Yan were all at the Peak of the Seven Palaces, and the crème de la crème. The sole representative from the Seven Palaces rank in the second rank was likely to emerge from these four individuals.

"Next, we will conduct the third round of anonymous voting. The Ten Masters will deliberate on the results and could disqualify one Proxy Traveler from the reserves. The remaining six Proxy Travelers will go through a public election at the official Yan Zhao Club meeting. I want to reiterate that the Ten Masters will consider the voting outcome when choosing which Proxy Traveler to eliminate."

Hou Tu pulled out a notebook, "Before the meeting started, everyone already handed me their vote. With a total of thirty voters, I will now announce the tallies."

"Jingang Zhi, twenty-eight votes for, two against."

A monk in a grey robe on the table smiled.

"Nine Phoenixes, twenty-eight votes for, two against."

Zhao Jianzhong wore an expressionless face.

"Weiyue Yan, twenty votes for, ten against."

Su Ling yawned.

"Zheng, twenty-two votes for, eight against."

"And Zhao Xuantan..."

Hou Tu read down the list, "Nine Heaven Kill Boys, nineteen votes for, eleven against."

Pausing for a moment, Hou Tu continued, "Taishuai, one vote for, twenty-nine against."

Looking up, Hou Tu declared, "After consideration by all Ten Masters, Nine Heaven Kill Boys has been disqualified from the prep selection. The final candidates entering the official Yan Zhao Club election are Jingang Zhi, Nine Phoenixes, Weiyue Yan, Zheng, Zhao Xuantan, and Taishuai."