Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 608 - 40 Judy

From any angle, Zhao Jianzhong’s words were earth-shattering, even more so than the personnel changes in the second seat of the Yan Zhao Club. After all, who takes over and who steps down from the second seat doesn’t have a direct impact on the interests of the other representatives. But the drastic reforms under the "October Proposal" affect the very existence of nearly all those traversing Yan Fu.

In an autumn fraught with incidents, even the Lou Master died at the hands of Sifan during his travels across Daqian Yanfu. Who can claim they won’t encounter Sifan? Along with all the bizarre happenings in Daqian Yanfu, the implications of expanding the number of Yan Fu walkers and reducing the interval between missions are self-evident.

On the other hand, one seat opening up the "Ghost of the Frigid Winter" and "Jie of the Seven Kingdoms," and directly cutting flesh from Su Ling and Zhan Yuejin to make amends, also silenced most of the crowd. Particularly when Zhao Jianzhong declared that the details of the October Proposal were non-negotiable—with liquor mixed with white sugar, it’s either spicy or sweet, but one must down it in one gulp.

"I speak frankly not as a harbinger of a storm. These past few years, the fruits we have reaped far exceed those from the previous decades. The severe losses we suffered back then have long been recovered with interest. This is all thanks to the eradication of the old Sifan. There are quite a few veterans present here. Sure, the former Sifan was rampant, but now, they are nothing but strays. The Yan Zhao Club has ample capacity to nip any new Sifans in the bud and not let them make a comeback."

Zhao Jianzhong paused, then continued, "Let’s start the vote. A show of hands for the whole house. Those who disagree with the October Proposal can directly cast a dissenting vote, there’s no need to justify their reasons."

The voting started with the second seat, as the votes for the first seat were already cast earlier. In other words, any proposal that has not passed the first seat’s resolution would not appear in the general assembly’s referendum.

"I agree."

"I agree as well."

"I also agree."

"I abstain."

"Agree."

"Abstain."

Soon, the other fifty-one members of the second seat had all voted. In the end, there were forty-four votes in favor, seven abstentions, and surprisingly not a single dissenting vote.

Finally, it was Li Yan’s turn. He glanced at Lady Dan, who whispered softly, "You can make these sorts of decisions in the future."

"Then, I agree."

Li Yan said.

The situation that unfolded afterward was very clear: behind the October Proposal was the nearly unanimous push of all the Yan Fu Masters, and the atmosphere in the venue was exceptionally harmonious. Aside from the high one-quarter of abstaining votes and a few dissenting voices, out of the 362 representatives of the Yan Zhao Club present, the number of votes in favor astonishingly surpassed two hundred and twenty.

"Many of those present have, behind the scenes, already been in cahoots with representatives of both the first and second seats, and their voting rights have been bought by various organizations. Plus, those newly struggling into this session of the Yan Zhao Club are typically not the type to fear death, so a high number of votes is to be expected."

Zhao Xuantan, who had cast an abstention, explained as such to Cha Xiaodao.

Zhao Xuantan was affable by nature, and Cha Xiaodao was not the kind to keep a stern face. The two hit it off particularly well, with Zhao Xuantan even taking the initiative to introduce Cha to the various intricacies within the Yan Zhao Club.

"Let me tell you, Xiaodao. The operation of the entire Yan Fu, whether it involves the logistics of the eight million Earth Endurance, the currency system of Yan Fu points, or the auction house’s flow of transactions, is fundamentally controlled by the Five Immortals Category of the first seat. Figures like Zhao Jianzhong, Wuwei Sanzang, and Bu Yang lead this group—godlike, heavenly beings represented in the first seat. Not only that, these representatives of the Five Immortals Category from the past used to have nearly two-thirds of the voting rights under their purview. They have an absolute say in the content of proposals passed by the Yan Zhao Club."

"As for the representatives of the Five-Insect Class of the first seat, out of the twenty-six people, now only the Feather, Jie, and Scale Lords remain, as Mr. Qin has already passed away. However robust the power of these three Yan Fu Masters is, their support mainly lies outside of Heaven Jiazi Nine. Both the Scale Lord and Jie Master hold two of the Four Realities, while the Feather Lord’s Third Eye Global also possesses a significant amount of voting rights within the Yan Zhao Club. They ensure that the Five Immortals Category doesn’t have unchallenged dominance."

Cha Xiaodao listened until his head swam, but he still grasped the key point.

He asked in surprise, "According to you, neither the Scale Lord nor the Jie Master has any backers during the Yan Zhao Club’s general vote?"

"Zhan Yuejin acts fairly and commands high prestige. Many people from the second and third seats claim to be his disciples, so it’s not true that he has no supporters. However, Zhu Jiuyin indeed stands rather alone with no trusted forces; in the more than ten years since he returned to Heaven Jiazi Nine, he’s rarely participated in the Yan Zhao Club. Indeed, there are none of his close allies within it."

Zhao Xuantan spread his hands. "Although there are frictions between the people of the Five Immortal Master and the Five Insect Master, their relationships are complex and intertwined. They’re not easily explained in a word or two. Often, there’s a piece of me in you, and a piece of you in me. It’s about presenting a united front."

Zhao Xuantan spoke at length, but he did not mention a word about the remaining forces of the late Lou Master, Qin An.

"I have a question."

After the voting ended, a man with an earring raised his hand.

Zhao Jianzhong remained composed, "You may ask."

"I want to know, in the new October Resolution, what are the specific events that the Yan Zhao Club is assigning, requiring representatives to complete? Surely, the entire Yan Zhao Club isn’t working for free for whoever designs those event tasks?"

"The designated events will inevitably be connected to investigations involving Sifan. Specific operational guidelines will be distributed to everyone later."

"Can I understand it this way, that the compulsory events set by the Yan Zhao Club are similar to investigating Sifan’s whereabouts, direct confrontations with Sifan, or eradicating the influence left by Sifan?"

"You can understand it that way, but I can’t give you a specific commitment to the scope of the events. What I can guarantee is that if anyone dares to exploit the content of the October Resolution for personal gain, I will show no mercy."

Pausing, Zhao Jianzhong continued, "All issues related to Sifan are the most pressing matters that the Yan Zhao Club urgently needs to resolve. Anyone harboring ulterior motives won’t get away with just having someone else clean up their mess."

Si Wen Ji closed her eyes to rest and pretended not to hear.

"I have no further questions."

The man with the earring sat down.

"Does anyone else have questions?"

"Good. Regarding the specific implementation of the October Resolution, one seat has already drafted a proposal. Everyone is free to speak their mind about this draft."

The subsequent matters pushed forward by the Yan Zhao Club were exceptionally tedious.

Some people spoke eloquently, while others listened until they were nearly asleep.

Li Yan also learned a lot about Yan Fu mechanisms that he was previously unaware of through this process.

For instance, all Proxies are qualified to actively recommend capable newcomers to Yan Fu, but that requires a preliminary review and pledging a certain number of points. If the newcomer successfully survives one year, not only will the pledged points be returned, but there are also other very good rewards. Conversely, if the newcomer dies prematurely, the pledged points will be forfeit.

Additionally, the Yan Zhao Club has a specialized institution that recruits qualified newcomers into Yan Fu and assigns them to a Proxy, asking them to actively contact the newcomer and inquire about their willingness. For these candidates, Proxies do not need to pledge points. In principle, they don’t even need to offer any help.

However, most Proxies aren’t that cold-hearted. Whether in reality or during event execution, they tend to give appropriate support to newcomers.

Li Yan belonged to this kind.

Overall, in the past two years, the method Yan Fu used to absorb newcomers was very gentle, generally following principles of equivalent exchange or enticing rewards.

But if the October Resolution is enacted, this process will undoubtedly become quite brutal. The casualty rate would also greatly increase.

Over the next two hours, the Yan Zhao Club successively passed several resolutions, such as adjusting the tax rate for personal auctions, contact with certain high-sequence fruits, and changes to the frequency of releases for certain types of Yan Fu events. In short, these were topics in which Li Yan wasn’t particularly interested.

Just when Li Yan thought that this Yan Zhao Club meeting was nearing the end for him, Zhao Jianzhong’s next words made him sit up attentively.

"The next item is about dealing with the natural decay of the Sequence Earth-Jiazi 259 Fruits."

Sequence Earth-Jiazi 259.

Li Yan sat up straight without realizing it.

This fruit had another name on the list of fruits he had compiled.

Judy.