Old Tower Master Qiangu Dieting walked over to the sofa and sat down.
He leaned against the backrest, calmly looking at his son standing before him without speaking for a long time.
Although Qiangu Dongfeng was now the Pagoda Master of the Spirit Pagoda, he naturally dared not act presumptuously in front of his father.
He stood there with his hands hanging down, his spine straight, adopting a posture as disciplined as when he listened to his father's admonitions many years ago.
But at this moment, being watched so unhurriedly by his father, he felt somewhat unsettled inside.
After a moment, it was still Qiangu Dongfeng who took the initiative to break the silence in the room.
"Father, I'm sorry."
Old Tower Master Qiangu Dieting looked at him, not responding to that apology, and said, "Do you think I'm unaware of your dealings with the Holy Spirit Cult?"
Hearing this, Qiangu Dongfeng abruptly raised his head, a trace of unmasked shock in his eyes.
He had handled the matter of colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult with extreme secrecy; within the entire Spirit Pagoda, no more than three people knew about it, and the other two were his trusted aides, with absolutely no possibility of a leak.
Yet listening to his father's tone at this moment, it was clear that he had known about it long ago.
He opened his mouth, his voice carrying a hint of hesitation: "Since you know, Father, then why..."
The second half of his sentence remained unasked, but the meaning was already clearly written on his Face.
Since you knew long ago, why didn't you stop me?
Old Tower Master Qiangu Dieting fell silent for a moment, then spoke: "Since ancient times, history is written by the victors; sometimes, to achieve one's goals, one must resort to any means necessary."
Hearing that his father did not reprimand him for colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult, Qiangu Dongfeng felt a slight surprise in his heart.
Old Tower Master Qiangu Dieting continued: "Therefore, when you contacted the Holy Spirit Cult, I did not stop you."
"Shrek Academy was destroyed, and the momentum of the Spirit Pagoda became even greater. This was the result you wanted, and you actually accomplished it."
"However, looking at it now, your actions lacked discretion, and evidence of your collusion with the Holy Spirit Cult was discovered by others. Thus, you must be prepared to bear the consequences."
Saying this, he let out a cold snort, anger finally appearing in his tone: "What kind of appearance was that, panicking like that earlier? Failure is failure; it is nothing more than death."
Qiangu Dongfeng merely stood there in silence, his fingers hanging by his sides curling slightly, as if repeatedly weighing the gravity of those words.
Throughout the ages, death is the hardest thing to Face; in the end, very few people can calmly confront death.
A towering figure like Qiangu Dongfeng found it even more unacceptable to end in such a manner.
Looking at his father, he remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, his voice carrying a sense of reluctance and struggle: "Is there truly no other way?"
Old Tower Master Qiangu Dieting did not answer him directly; sitting on the sofa, he was silent for a moment before uttering a seemingly irrelevant sentence: "Your brother is back."
Hearing this, Qiangu Dongfeng was slightly stunned, and then realized he was speaking of Qiangu Qingfeng, his eldest brother who had long left the Spirit Pagoda and had not shown his Face in many years.
He did not pick up the conversation, only quietly waiting for his father's subsequent words.
Old Tower Master Qiangu Dieting continued: "You should know about the Divine Artifact passed down by the Clan Legacy. This is your only ending now."
Qiangu Dongfeng certainly knew which Divine Artifact his father was referring to; it was a supreme treasure passed down through generations of the Qiangu Family, possessing the capability to predict the future.
Since his father had spoken such words, it meant that the Divine Artifact had already foretold his end.
He took a deep breath, as if suppressing the surging unwillingness in his chest, and when he spoke again, his voice was much steadier: "Rest assured, Father, the collusion with the Holy Spirit Cult is my sole doing and has nothing to do with the Clan."
Upon hearing these words, Old Tower Master Qiangu Dieting's originally calm visage finally showed a trace of change.
A faint trace of sorrow flashed across his eyes; after all, the one who was going to die was his son.
But in the end, he only gently sighed, his voice dropping a few degrees: "After Qingfeng returns, he will rally our forces. In the future, the Qiangu Clan may not necessarily lack the opportunity to reach the summit once again."
...
Returning from Douling Continent to the Douluo Continent took another ten days.
Over these ten days, Leng Yaozhu and the other two hardly stopped, rushing back to the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters at top speed all the way.
The moment they stepped through the gates of the Spirit Pagoda, the news spread rapidly throughout the entire pagoda as if it had grown wings.
After Leng Yaozhu returned, she immediately announced the convening of a high-level meeting of the Spirit Pagoda.
All high-ranking members of the Spirit Pagoda participated in this meeting, and even several council members who had garrisoned Branch Pagodas year-round and rarely showed their Faces hurried back.
Because they all knew clearly in their hearts that this time they were likely to witness history.
The first Pagoda Master in the history of the Spirit Pagoda to be impeached and removed from office was probably going to be born today.
The atmosphere inside the conference hall was heavier than ever before, and the round table was filled with people.
Although Qiangu Dongfeng sat in the primary seat, he remained utterly speechless at this moment, lowering his eyes with a gloomy expression, as if his entire person had already withdrawn from this meeting in advance.
Everyone else looked at each other in dismay, eventually casting their gazes toward Leng Yaozhu in unison.
They all knew that today, she was the absolute protagonist.
Leng Yaozhu had no superfluous nonsense to spare; she glanced at Qiangu Dongfeng, then swept her gaze across everyone present, and spoke in a steady tone: "Qiangu Dongfeng has colluded with the Holy Spirit Cult with conclusive evidence. I now propose to remove him from his position as Pagoda Master."
The moment her voice fell, someone immediately raised a hand in response: "Agreed!"
Afterward, more and more people chimed in. Those voices rose and fell, surging up like a tide and rapidly converging into an irreversible wave of sound.
The matter was simply too vile, and the evidence was conclusive. Even the faction of the Qiangu Clan that had always supported Qiangu Dongfeng could not argue a single sentence on his behalf at this moment.
Indeed, quite a few people were inwardly cursing Qiangu Dongfeng. With him falling like this, even if they weren't purged, they were destined to lose power.
The edifice of power that once belonged to Qiangu Dongfeng was collapsing inch by inch at this moment.
Leng Yaozhu's gaze slowly swept across the crowd. Aside from Qiangu Dongfeng, the already impeached sinner, everyone else unanimously passed the motion of impeachment.
She then spoke again: "Qiangu Dongfeng's collusion with the Holy Spirit Cult is intolerable to the continent. Afterward, I will contact the Federation to convict him."
As soon as these words were spoken, Qiangu Dongfeng, the party involved, still wore a calm expression and didn't even raise his eyes to look at anyone.
But the expressions of some people changed. A council member frowned and said, "This matter can be handled internally within the Spirit Pagoda. If it is handed over to the Federation, our Spirit Pagoda will lose all its Face!"
Leng Yaozhu glanced at that person, her tone not heavy, yet carrying a weight that allowed no refutation: "This matter cannot be covered up. Even if the Spirit Pagoda does not leak the information, when the Federation captures the upper echelons of the Holy Spirit Cult in the future, this matter will eventually be exposed."
She only said this much and continued no further, because the meaning was clear enough.
That council member opened his mouth, ultimately saying nothing more, and silently sat back down.
The gazes others cast at Qiangu Dongfeng carried anger or blame, because with his fall, the Face of the Spirit Pagoda was also dragged down into the water.
Right within this gloomy atmosphere, Qiangu Dongfeng suddenly spoke.
"I admit the crime of colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult. I am indeed no good person, but I have lived up to the Spirit Pagoda and have never harmed its interests."
He paused here, his gaze sweeping across the crowd: "I am not saying these things to quibble; my ultimate outcome is nothing more than death."
"What I want to say is that the collusion with the Holy Spirit Cult is my sole action. I hope that in the end, it will not implicate others, nor should it be used to strike at political opponents."
As his voice fell, his gaze turned to Leng Yaozhu. Those eyes were as calm as a pool of water without ripples, and he was waiting for an answer.
----------------------------------------------
A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.