The atmosphere in the hall grew tense.
Li Yingling's dissatisfaction seemed to have been building for a while—her sharp gaze locked onto Wuwang, and her tone was completely unyielding.
Wuwang caught the jade token she had thrown at him and listened to her escalating rhetoric. After a moment of thought, he responded:
"We naturally understand Senior Chu Xingchen's sincerity, and the Buddhist sect has its own corresponding sincerity. Perhaps there is some misunderstanding involved."
Before Bai Xuanling's tribulation, Chu Xingchen's reputation in Central Province was the Fierce Devouring True Lord. While much of it was maliciously spread and borrowed from Bai Xuanling's influence, it was accurate in certain respects.
He was somewhat unreasonable, handled things in strange and even demonic-cultivator-like ways, and most notably—he was extremely protective of his own, especially his disciples.
Chu Xingchen had even confronted the Buddha Ruzhong over his third disciple Chen Baiqing.
Within the Buddhist sect's internal discussions, they all agreed that Chu Xingchen's disciples could truly determine whether the promotion of Small Vehicle Buddhist Teachings succeeded or failed, which was why the Buddhist sect had accepted Li Yingling leading the negotiations.
Wuwang naturally wouldn't directly oppose Li Yingling, especially since the Buddhist sect was the one benefiting from promoting Small Vehicle Buddhist Teachings.
When you received benefits, you naturally had to make concessions elsewhere.
Li Yingling's mocking tone was completely unhidden: "A single word of 'misunderstanding' is far too easy to brush things off with."
Wuwang paused slightly, then glanced at Yun Li again.
Yun Li's expression management could hardly be called flawless—it was basically nonexistent.
If observed carefully, one might spot some flaw in Yun Li's expression and understand whether Li Yingling was genuinely this angry or just using the pretext to force the Buddhist sect to make concessions.
But Yun Li's expression showed obvious dejection—he sat silently in the chair below, head down.
He showed no concern for what Li Yingling was saying, nor did he care whether this matter had anything to do with him.
From his expression, there was basically no useful information to be gleaned.
Even though Yun Li was a cultivation maniac who rarely went out to gain experience, calling him stupid wouldn't be accurate either. Strictly speaking, he was currently naive.
He thought things proceeded in a straight line, when in reality many matters required going in circles.
But no matter how naive he was, by now Yun Li naturally understood this was Li Yingling's premeditated plan.
In fact, this scheme had started from the moment she let him negotiate with the Buddhist sect alone.
Yun Li could accept being arranged, but what really frustrated him was that even after being played by the eldest senior sister, he still didn't know what she was actually trying to do.
She was openly toying with him, and he had been played without even knowing where he had been played.
This was undoubtedly a matter of pride, and who knew if word would spread someday that he was as stupid as his second senior brother.
Wuwang saw that he couldn't get any useful information from Yun Li's expression, so his gaze instantly sharpened as he turned to Li Yingling.
Li Yingling naturally met his stare without backing down—what was the big deal about staring? This was Tianyan Sect territory!
But the next moment, Li Yingling's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Wuwang immediately performed a Buddhist salute on the spot, bending his waist fully, his tone filled with complete apology:
"It is the poor monk who did wrong. You may voice any dissatisfaction or punishment to me. I am willing to accept punishment, only hoping you won't let minor misunderstandings ruin your mood."
"This matter is something the Honored Buddha has hoped for extremely, and he wants to use it to repair past misunderstandings with Senior Chu Xingchen. I hope the benefactor won't let this major matter be ruined by my foolish actions."
A cultivator at the Integration realm could already move freely throughout Central Province—after all, Mahayana and Tribulation Transcendence cultivators weren't so numerous that they were everywhere, nor did they have the leisure to wander about. That was work for lower-realm cultivators.
Especially when an Integration realm cultivator was also a Buddha Son of the Buddhist sect, he could practically run rampant.
There was a rule among cultivators: the higher a cultivator's realm, the more they cared about face when out in the world.
And a second rule: how much a cultivator cared about face depended on the realm of the person they were dealing with—the lower the other person's realm, the more face they demanded.
But clearly, both of these rules completely failed in front of this Buddha Son Wuwang.
Wuwang used the most humble attitude, attempting to disrupt Li Yingling's rhythm.
The Honored Buddha's expectations were naturally more important than Wuwang's face, especially since rumors said Chu Xingchen didn't care much about face either.
Li Yingling narrowed her eyes at this—sure enough, a Buddha Son that Runan sent to negotiate wouldn't be some simple character.
But if Wuwang didn't care about face, did Li Yingling?
After being with her master for so long, if she still cared about face, would she even be her master's disciple?
Li Yingling sneered and didn't help Wuwang up, her tone carrying a rather aggressive edge:
"Apologizing is the most useless response. There has never been a case in history where someone kills another person's family and a simple apology makes everything fine."
"Though my master gave you the jade token, this matter naturally isn't over. I want to recalculate the cooperation terms."
Wuwang saw that Li Yingling wasn't helping him up, so he simply didn't straighten himself, remaining bent over as he answered:
"I have already submitted the previous jade token to the Honored Buddha. Would recalculating this matter damage your master's face?"
Li Yingling sneered: "Clever tactics… using my master to pressure me?"
"I wouldn't dare. Merely offering a reminder." Wuwang's tone was soft.
Li Yingling hmphed coldly, then finally seemed to compromise, using spiritual energy to virtually lift Wuwang up.
Only then did he slowly straighten his body.
"Since you're now asking my master to speak up for the Buddhist sect, I can naturally make my own demands too." Li Yingling's tone was displeased. "I find the previously agreed implementation method inappropriate."
"A full rollout would create too massive a momentum, with pressures from all sides still undetermined, and it's unknown whether the common people can even accept it."
"Instead, I propose starting with a trial run—slowly rolling out the original plan in one location first, and only continuing to advance once we've confirmed the plan is truly feasible."
"Naturally, this plan's feasibility must be approved by both sides before it can proceed—otherwise, it won't be implemented."
"You poor monk, do you understand what I mean?"
Wuwang didn't answer immediately, instead carefully considering Li Yingling's words.
Clearly, the implementation authority Li Yingling was demanding completely restricted the key point of whether the Buddhist sect could proceed with implementation.
But her purpose in demanding this authority was probably also clear—at minimum, she wanted to see whether the Buddhist sect truly had the attitude and benefits to continue cooperating.
Wuwang wasn't surprised in his heart, nor did he feel any anger.
Compared to the negotiation with Yun Li that had been practically giving things away for free, this sharp exchange with Li Yingling actually counted as a proper negotiation.
The previous terms had been too loose—Wuwang hadn't believed Chu Xingchen would be so selflessly devoted.
Now, demanding so-called authority actually fit Chu Xingchen's style much better.
After thinking for a moment, Wuwang neither rejected nor agreed, instead turning the question back:
"May I ask where the benefactor plans to start the trial?"
Li Yingling answered calmly:
"Southern Zhanbu Continent."
[
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