Chapter 566: Gods' Association Hearing (Two-in-One)

Old Sin City.

Mantou woke up very early today.

She ran to the Sun-Swallowing Tower. Rose, who had also risen early, was already waiting with an assortment of makeup kits.

Changing clothes, braiding hair, applying light makeup—

Facing the mirror, Rose offered gentle reassurance as she put the final touches on Mantou's makeup. "Miss Mantou, don't be afraid when you go on stage later. Everyone believes in you. No matter the result, we're all prepared for it."

"Okay—I will—do my best!"

Mantou's speech had improved significantly. She barely repeated her words, and though her body still trembled, it had lessened considerably.

"Here! Take a look! What do you think?"

Rose brought over a vanity mirror and held it up to Mantou.

Mantou looked at herself in the mirror.

The beautiful hair usually hidden beneath her electric vehicle helmet was now braided into two interwoven strands resting lightly over her right shoulder. Her face, normally coated in dust from her daily garbage scavenging, was wiped clean and lightly powdered.

Mantou couldn't tell if it was objectively good or bad, but she thought she looked pretty.

"Thank you, Miss Rose."

Mantou smiled happily.

"Mhm, just like that. Who knows, the boss might be watching you from somewhere, so you have to look your absolute best."

Rose looked at Mantou, her eyes full of joy and affection.

"Mhm."

Taking a step forward, Mantou instantly appeared outside the Sun-Swallowing Tower.

Lu Miao, the director of the Order Management Bureau, was already waiting for her at the door.

"After you."

Lu Miao pulled open the door to the car's back seat.

"Thank you—for your hard work," Mantou said with a smile.

"You're the one working hard."

Lu Miao's expression remained calm.

Once Mantou got in, Lu Miao took the passenger seat.

"We're heading out now."

The driver turned his head to look at Mantou.

The driver was surprisingly young, with a fair and clean appearance. It was none other than An Ze.

"Okay."

As Mantou spoke, the Order Management Bureau's car drove off.

This was Old Sin City.

The cars here were different from those in most other places.

They could traverse the rifts between Domains.

As the police car gradually picked up speed, a road appeared ahead of it.

A road emitting a faint glow.

The car drove onto this road, and its windows were soon covered by a layer of fog.

Nothing could be seen anymore.

But An Ze kept driving forward.

He didn't need to know where the road was.

He just needed to keep driving straight ahead.

After an unknown amount of time, An Ze felt a sudden shift. He gently pressed the brakes, and the car's speed gradually decreased.

Screech—

The car came to a steady stop. An Ze got out and opened the rear door for Mantou. Outside stood a large gate carved from white stone.

Two giant silver pythons coiled around the gate's frame, winding their way up the left and right pillars until they met at the very top. Their jaws were stretched wide open, and drops of water dripped from their fangs.

At a quick glance, it looked no different from cheap European-style architecture. But anyone with a high enough Tier would be astonished to discover that every single scale on those two silver pythons was constructed from intricate runes.

Those runes appeared eerie and mysterious. A single scale appearing in the outside world would cause a massive uproar, and in distant eras, it would have driven countless heavenly prodigies to fight over it. Yet here, they were merely an entrance decoration.

The falling water drops were even more astounding. Every drop contained indescribable life energy, but now they simply splashed onto the ground and transformed into the surrounding faint golden mist, wasting more than half their potency.

Looking at this unprecedented sight, Mantou took a deep breath and walked through the gate.

The moment she stepped inside, it felt as though she had entered another world.

Before her was a massive hall formed by countless tiers of steps. It was brilliantly illuminated on all sides—so bright that Mantou struggled to keep her eyes open. Figures wearing dark green robes and masks stood at their seats, turning their heads in unison to look at her. The atmosphere was solemn and bizarre.

Click—A dazzling beam of white light shot down from the ceiling and landed directly on Mantou's face.

Blinded for a moment, Mantou did not panic. This was documented in the meeting procedure that Chen Nian had gone over with her.

She gently closed her eyes and did her best to keep the corners of her mouth turned upward. "The representative of Old Sin City—Mantou—has arrived—"

'Yi Ji, did you see? This is the name you gave me.'

'Now everyone has heard it.'

'It feels so nice.'

Sitting in the waiting room under the identity of Wen Xu, Yan Jing looked at the screen manifested on the wall in front of him.

Watching Mantou stand under everyone's gaze, he took a deep breath.

He had also just arrived not long ago.

The Gods' Association had used a tool to lock onto the Cat Ship. Whatever their reason was, he had no excuse not to attend.

At the very front of the hall were ten seats that clearly differed from the rest. The ten figures occupying them were the ten principals of the Gods' Association.

In other words, the Divine Envoy representatives of the various Domains.

Among them, Yan Jing immediately locked onto a familiar figure.

Despite the mask and robes, that faint, indistinct feeling made it clear that the person sitting on the far right was the Hermit.

His right hand was placed horizontally across his chest.

"Ms. Mantou, please state your appeal."

On the screen, the hearing had already begun.

A woman with an excellent figure stood on the stage, looking at Mantou in front of the hearing tribunal as she spoke softly.

"Okay—"

Mantou took a light breath and spoke according to the script she had practiced thousands of times. "I represent Old Sin City—here—in this hall that represents the highest will of all Domains—"

Mantou left a long pause.

There had to be a long pause here, otherwise she would easily make a mistake.

"—to present our sincere request to everyone. We, Old Sin City—wish to exist as a complete Domain—we hope to have—a sufficient amount of autonomy—"

Phew—

She had finished speaking.

Mantou's tightly wound heart relaxed slightly.

At least she hadn't messed up the first step.

But clearly, this was only the beginning.

Faced with the declaration Mantou had worked so hard to deliver, the woman's expression remained unchanged. She said calmly, "Statement concluded. Next, please articulate the specific reasons and the necessity behind this appeal."

"Okay."

"Ever since our Old Sin City was abandoned hundreds of years ago, it has always been—"

Mantou articulated the prepared reasons word by word. The rhythm and pause of every syllable perfectly matched their previous rehearsals.

Back in Old Sin City, the crowd watched the vortex that had appeared above the Sun-Swallowing Tower.

Within the vortex was the image of Mantou currently defending their case.

"It'll be fine."

One-Eye consoled Rose, who was rubbing her hands together in anxiety beside him. His tone was calm, like a little adult.

"I know, I know—"

Despite her words, Rose rubbed her hands even faster.

Suddenly, she looked down at One-Eye. "What if Miss Mantou ends up crying?"

"She won't." The one who spoke wasn't One-Eye, but Lu Miao beside them.

Her expression was serene. "The Lord of the Domain is much stronger than you imagine."

"That makes sense."

Rose nodded, but she still couldn't put her mind at ease. She looked left and right, suddenly noticing that someone was missing from the chaotic crowd.

"Where is Mr. Chen Nian?"

"I don't know." Lu Miao shook her head.

"He hasn't left his room since he got back."

"What a pity—" Rose looked regretful. "I thought Mr. Chen Nian was the type who seems strict and indifferent, but actually cares a lot deep down."

"What kind of convoluted sentence is that—"

One-Eye felt a bit helpless.

Within the vortex, Mantou finally finished speaking.

Before she knew it, she had spoken for nearly thirty minutes.

Even at a normal speaking pace, it would take at least twenty minutes to get through this script.

A twenty-minute speech wasn't a difficult task for any normal entity with a Tier.

But there was something wrong with Mantou's mind. Even though her Tier had increased, her condition wouldn't improve.

So in this regard, she was actually much worse off than an ordinary person.

It was safe to say this was already the absolute limit of her capabilities.

With the statement concluded, it was time for the committee's questioning phase.

Declaration, statement, questioning, and voting.

That was generally how the procedure went.

"Do the ten principals have any objections?"

The female host on the stage looked toward the ten figures at the very front.

Complete silence.

No one spoke.

The host didn't feel surprised in the least.

In truth, a meeting like this occurred once every two months. The vast majority of the time, the ten principals refrained from expressing their opinions too much.

Not to mention, Old Sin City was merely an appetizer today. Everyone knew the real main event was the ship that would be discussed later.

But just as the female host prepared to announce the next item, the figure sitting in the fourth seat suddenly spoke up softly. "I feel that it has not been easy for Old Sin City to reach this point."

As soon as those words fell, gazes immediately drifted toward that front seat.

That was one of the principals of the Eerie Capital.

The Eerie Capital had three major factions in total, and the person before them belonged to none of them.

Strictly speaking, he came from New Sin City, but he did not belong to New Sin City.

Speaking of this man's origins, it was a constant sore spot for New Sin City.

He originated from New Sin City's Wrath Lineage. Because of a certain incident, the woman he loved was simultaneously targeted by all four lineages of New Sin City.

To save his beloved woman, he fought back with his life on the line, but in the end, he couldn't save her.

After that event, he vanished completely.

Yet just when everyone thought a rising star had permanently fallen, he suddenly announced his return with an overwhelmingly dominant posture. He forcefully suppressed all four great lineages. Not only that, he even became the first Divine Envoy New Sin City had produced in hundreds of years.

Logically speaking, New Sin City producing a Divine Envoy meant they could promote to a First Level Domain. This was a good thing.

But the problem was, he utterly refused to acknowledge them.

According to him, he had already separated from New Sin City, and from then on, he would have no further ties with them.

No one expected him to suddenly speak up at this moment. And from the sound of it, he intended to support Old Sin City's independence.

Just how deep was his hatred—

The crowd couldn't help but click their tongues in amazement. They hadn't expected that even now, this entity would still be relentlessly hunting New Sin City.

However, in the very next second, the situation reversed once again.

"But no matter what is said, Old Sin City and New Sin City are, after all, an inseparable whole.

"Therefore, I still hope everyone thinks this through carefully."

As soon as these words came out, everyone's expressions changed again.

Although the entity before them hadn't invoked his One-Vote Privilege, no matter how you looked at it, this was a naked threat.

Why was it like this?

The crowd couldn't fathom what kind of bargaining chip New Sin City had presented to make this entity temporarily lay aside the grudge of his murdered wife.

"Heh."

The representative of New Sin City was a bald old man wearing a white mask. Seeing this unfold before him, he smiled and said, "I have a question."

"May I ask Miss Mantou, you wish for independence, but what tier is your current highest-tier entity?"

"Um—I—"

For a moment, Mantou was still processing what that figure had just said. Already somewhat anxious, she nearly panicked, but fortunately, she managed to steady her nerves in the end. "I am already at the Seventh Rank... I—I also believe that as—Old Sin City returns—and the weird energy concentration rises—the overall Tier of our Old Sin City will experience further development—"

This was the first time since the hearing began that Mantou had stuttered, proving that she was genuinely getting flustered.

In the scenario she and Chen Nian had anticipated, a representative of a First Level Domain shouldn't have spoken up at this juncture.

The bald old man seemed to notice Mantou's panic. The corners of his mouth curled up. "So you're saying that in Old Sin City right now, there is only one Seventh Rank—you."

"That can be considered quite good for a Domain that has been missing on the outside for so long."

"It's just a pity that it's still far too few."

"Do you understand? It's far too few."

"Excluding Old Sin City, every other Third Level Domain has at least one Eighth Tier."

"Tell me, on what grounds are you applying to become a Third Level Domain? Where does your confidence to make such a request come from?"

"I—"

Feeling the crowd's gaze fall upon her, Mantou instantly felt dizzy.

She secretly cheered herself on in her heart, using all her strength to keep her body from trembling. "I—went from the Second Tier to the Seventh Rank in only about half a year—according to Article 92 of the Gods' Association's management regulations—for those who display exceptional talent—"

"For those who display exceptional talent, the conditions can be relaxed, right?" As if finding Mantou's speaking speed too slow, the bald old man smoothly cut in with a smile. "But what proof do you have that your rapid advancement isn't simply because Advent Day is approaching? In normal times, you would indeed possess exceptional talent. But things are different now. This kind of advancement speed proves nothing today."

"I can compare myself with others—"

"Even if you compared, you'd definitely fall short!" The bald old man seized upon Mantou's weakness, giving her no chance to speak. His tone suddenly turned harsh. "A palm-sized Domain, a single Seventh Rank, and you want independence? Fine, you can be independent! But with so many Domains rioting right now, what makes you think you can protect yourselves?"

"If we acknowledge your independence, and you get conquered in less than three days, then what?"

"Tell me, wouldn't that just be encouraging the foul trend of rampant pillaging and warmongering?"

"Taking a step back, even if you aren't attacked, what about the upcoming Domain War? You proclaimed a Domain, but have you taken responsibility for the Domain behind you?! Have you taken responsibility for the residents in that Domain?"

"You think too much, consider too little, you're arrogant and selfish, and fundamentally useless!!!"

The bald old man's words were incredibly vicious, sparing absolutely no face. So much so that after he finished, a heavy silence fell over the hall.

Those figures in green robes and masks were all staring at the girl on stage who could barely even stand up straight.

At this moment, those pairs of eyes felt like knives, aiming to slice open the tough exterior this girl had painstakingly pieced together.

To peel away the shell of the Lord of the Domain, and then strip away the masking makeup—

They were waiting to watch her break down, watch her sob loudly, and hysterically admit her own worthlessness, all to glean a bit of entertainment.

Sitting in the waiting room, Yan Jing looked at Mantou, who stood helplessly on the stage with reddening eyes, and his gaze turned completely cold.

He tapped his finger, preparing to transmit his voice precisely into Mantou's ear.

This was a contingency he had prepared.

But just as he was about to speak, Mantou suddenly raised her head on the stage.

She reached out a trembling hand and grabbed the microphone that had already been drowned in mocking, sarcastic, and icy stares. Then, as if using every last ounce of her strength, she spoke.

"Regarding your questions—"

Her slightly trembling voice, carrying an unimaginable strength, instantly pierced through the entire hall.

"Regarding your questions, I will provide the following answers."

"First, you say my talent is poor. I stand by—what I said before—I request a comparison—don't be unreasonable—"

"And as for the question of self-defense—our Old Sin City—has its own allies. Our allies—are distributed across Minhu and Heavenly Kingdom—I have the confidence, and the determination, to protect Old Sin City—and the residents within it."

"You say—I'm not taking responsibility for the residents of Old Sin City—but right now—"

"They—every single one of them is watching this hearing—"

"Every word I say here—is something I discussed and agreed upon together with them—"

"Every syllable—I speak here—I believe has their full approval—"

"I—as their representative—declare to you once again—we wish for independence—we yearn for independence—our Old Sin City—is willing to bear all consequences and responsibilities—"

"Thank you for your questions!"

No one expected that Mantou, standing on that stage, would answer so forcefully and resolutely.

After all, everyone could see that just a moment ago, she looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

This seemingly petite and frail girl was perhaps not as weak as she appeared on the surface.

She still had a long way to go before becoming a truly excellent leader.

But her attitude was unmistakably present.

At the very least, she had passed the test.

At this moment, the votes in many people's hearts shifted slightly.

In the waiting room, Yan Jing looked at Mantou gripping the microphone on stage. He was stunned for a moment, and then he suddenly began to laugh.

Yes, he should have known all along.

Every one of these girls he favored was a resilient flower.

The reason they bloomed so brilliantly wasn't because of the fertilizer he had applied or the water he had poured—

It was because they inherently possessed that ability.

They themselves were seeds capable of blooming into magnificent flowers.