"Ah, one more thing", Wei Yuanjie spoke up again with a smile, which caused everyone to look at him, the Ember Palm Pavilion with the most caution and at the same time the most hate, "You see, I have spent quite a lot of time among the locals, and learned a lot during my stay here, becoming familiar with the situation"

As he began a slightly long-winded speech, the 5th prince narrowed his eyes, since to his ear this sounded like an attack against him who spent only 2 weeks here and yet was trying to meddle in the local affairs.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuanjie continued, "Which brought me to a thought. If this is a competition of the Sects, shouldn’t local Sects have a say in who becomes the guardian of a local World Stone?"

As he said this, silence filled the auction hall, until a few chuckles made the whole room break into laughter.

The ones who didn’t laugh, however, were the Ember Palm Pavilion who suddenly had horrified looks on their faces, understanding where this was going, yet unable to find a way to stop it. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"I am being serious", Wei Yuanjie, however, seemed unperturbed by this reaction, adding with a smile, "I know what you all think, that no local Sect would risk entering this competition, for reasons that we all know, but technically, this competition IS open for them if they are willing, correct?"

His question was addressed to Lu Bihai, who was smiling as well, but nodded, "Of course, the Martial Alliance is impartial, acting as only a witness and observer of this competition, to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible, as well as verify the results. If a Sect wishes to enter this competition, there is no legal or otherwise binding reasons for them to be denied participation"

This statement caused the members of all three big Sects to sober up, turning serious looks to Lu Bihai who seemed to not notice the questions in their eyes.

"Well then, there is a Sect that I endorse who wish to enter this competition", Wei Yuanjie smiled, "You see, during my stay here I took under my protection a group of ascenders from the Battle God’s Cradle..."

Everyone’s eyes turned to Duan Feng.

"That is what everyone knows, what they don’t know is that I later encountered another one and took it under my protection as well", Wei Yuanjie continued, this time once again causing an uproar, "The first group that arrived from the lower Boundless World’s Fractured World, which was searched for but successfully evaded detection. However, they knew they couldn’t stay hidden forever, so they approached me since I already have a group of ascenders under my protection"

"T-That should not be allowed! You think that with your status you can shield multiple groups of ascenders? There’s limits! If there’s no limits - why don’t you just declare entire Boundless Mortal World to be under your protection then? See how that turns out! I demand that the protection of either of the groups be handed over to me!", at this point Wei Liheng pointed his finger at Wei Yuanjie, turning his gaze toward Wei Lufan, "Uncle..."

"Khm", Wei Lufan loudly cleared his throat, causing a ripple of Spiritual Qi to spread that quelled the chaos in the room, "Yuanjie is within his rights to give protection to whomever he wishes, there is no specific limitations on that. Of course, there are rational limits as he cannot hoard ascenders and claim all those who come from lower worlds to be under his protection without any justification, but in this specific case, it was he who made connections with a group that otherwise was poised to remain hidden. Of course, the problem is that the group in question was technically in search under the authority of the Martial Alliance..."

He turned to Lu Bihai, who smiled, "It is not a problem. The reason we searched for them was to ensure their safety, and it is ensured if they are under protection of His Highness. By my authority, I hereby officially acknowledge the protection of His Highness the 9th prince, and by extension Wei Dynasty over the group, on behalf of the Martial Alliance, and withdraw the search"

This caused a few eyebrows to rise among even the Martial Alliance delegation standing in the same private balcony as Lu Bihai, but as there were no equals to him in authority here, none of them spoke up.

The 5th prince, however, was left completely frustrated.

"Now that this is solved, I shall continue then", Wei Yuanjie chuckled, "The group in question is called the Eternal Duality Valley, represented by Daoist Chu Ren here"

He raised his hand to the side, as Chu Ren stepped forward, gathering the looks of everyone around.

He then continued, "And I endorse their participation in this competition"

"You said local Sects though, Your Highness", Crystal Wood Sect’s Inner Court Elder raised his voice, "Although I acknowledge that the ascenders from the Battle God’s Cradle could be interpreted as ’locals’, it seems to me entrusting them with the World Stone while they don’t even have a firm standing is~..."

He didn’t finish, but that in of itself said all he wanted to say.

"That is not a problem", Chu Ren replied instead of Wei Yuanjie, "We have already gained a foothold on this continent that has history and status here"

He pointed his open palm down toward the gallery, where a man stood up, along with a small entourage, recognized by the majority of locals, and some outsiders as well, "Good evening, everyone. My name is Yu Zhen. I have recently ascended to the position of the Sect Master of the Three Pillars Sect, which has existed here for many generations,. And not long ago, our Sect has decided to officially enter the Eternal Duality Valley as Three Pillars Palace, of which I became the Palace Master"

The room once again exploded with chatter, gasps and exclamations.

"Since the 9th prince is the one making the endorsement, I am acknowledging this endorsement on behalf of the Dynasty", Wei Lufan spoke with a grin, incredibly amused by the moves that his nephew was making over and over again over the course of his stay in the Silver Wing City, almost not able to recognize him from just a few months ago.

"In that case, as the one representing the Martial Alliance on this continent, I see no reasons to object to this entry", Lu Bihai added, causing the uproar to only multiply.

During this whole time, the expressions of the three Elders of the Ember Palm Pavilion got darker and heavier, their eyes resembling trapped wild beasts, turning from one face to another, as they gradually understood the severity of the blows they received today.

Their greatest weapon against their formerly mysterious partners was the information that was now willingly shared out into the open.

Their vote was used to steer the situation toward the competition, which now was to their disadvantage.

They lost the advantage of their trump card - their higher cultivation realms which became useless in the context of solving the situation.

To top it off, now their partners were trying to openly enter into competition with them becoming their direct competitors - and the most dangerous of them.

And it became quite obvious that Lu Bihai was cooperating with the Eternal Duality Valley instead of them. They could read it in his eyes, that look of ’you screwed up, now look at what a mess you got yourself into’.

In short, they lost all their leverage and became vulnerable against the Eternal Duality Valley instead, all in the span of less than half an hour of time.