Having returned his attention back towards the meeting currently taking place Xuan Hao could not help lamenting over just how boring the meeting had been so far, with most of the time being spent on the few major sects trying to get as many resources as possible from the imperial family.
"If the imperial family wants that much from us, it's only obvious that we get the spiritual crystal mine at the Hollow Grave Valley. After all, I'm sure the three religions would be willing to part with a few spiritual crystal mines if we were willing to join them..."
"Don't forget the natural spiritual herb fields at the kingdom close to my sect... And a few spiritual metal mines! The three religions would surely not forget about something like this!"
Even after close to two days since the meeting had been officially started by the Grand General of the Sky Empire, these few major sects were still busy doing their best to get any benefits they could out of the imperial family. Making sure to use the three religions offer to get more resources from the imperial family.
"Is this really going to take another two days? Isn't there a way to finish this part up faster?" Not wanting to wait for the same dozen or so people who were asking for some kind of benefits from the imperial family, Xuan Hao could not help turning towards Xu Bao sitting beside him as he asked this.
Although he had already expected a meeting like this about the creation of a brand-new major power in the Sky Empire would be complicated, he had not expected that even the part about the different benefits would take such a long time to finish.
Just thinking about this alone was more than enough to cause Xuan Hao a headache. After all, even if he joined the meeting willingly, he did not think it would take such a long time and merely thought that it would take a day or two at most...
"Maybe we could ask for the Great General to move on to the next part of the meeting, but I'm sure that will end up offending those major sects and make them our enemies-"
"Aren't they already our enemies...?"
"This..."
Hearing what Xuan Hao said, Xu Bao seemed to freeze for a short moment before a look of realization appeared on his face.
Indeed, the major sects had always done their best to try and weaken or destroy the independent sects. For what reason did they need to sit around and wait for these major sects to gain more benefits from the imperial family?
"Great General! Can we move on to the next part of the meeting? Not all of us are here to watch a few people beg your imperial family for scraps!" Not wasting a single second after this thought occurred to him, Xu Bao stood up and called out to the Great General. Not forgetting to insult the major sects in the process...
"What is that guy doing!?"
"Hmph! That old man is courting death!"
"Hehe, that old man won't survive for long after leaving this meeting hall!"
Hearing that someone was daring enough to call out to the Great General while the major sects were doing their best to get as many resources from the imperial family as possible, the different representatives from the smaller sects could not help looking towards Xu Bao filled with surprise.
"This is... someone from the independent sects? No wonder they don't fear those people..."
"The independent sects... I forgot they would also be joining this meeting..."
Only a few of them recognized Xu Bao and remembered his identity.
Considering the relationship between the independent sects and these major sects, it was not odd that Xu Bao, who was considered the strongest expert among the independent sects of the Sky Empire, would step in and stop the major sects from gaining any more benefits and other resources from the imperial family.
"This old man! He dares!?"
"Hmph! This old man is getting bolder now that we are inside the capital city!"
Hearing what Xu Bao said, the major sects could not help cursing to themselves as they stared towards Xu Bao filled with killing intent.
Although they were bold enough to get more resources and other benefits from the imperial family due to their backing from some of the more powerful kingdoms of the Sky Empire, they understood that they would not be able to bring up this subject again in front of the Great General following what Xu Bao said.
If they did that. Not only would they harm their reputation, but they would even damage the reputation of their backers... And when that happened, the chance of their backers investigating the matter was only a matter of time.
At that point in time, there was a high chance of them finding out that they were using their names to secretly get more resources for themselves from the imperial family. Not something any of the people from the major sects wanted to happen.
"Hm... Does everyone want to move on to the next part of the meeting...?"
Hearing what Xu Bao said, the Great General understood what he was trying to do as he said this while looking around at everyone present, his gaze lingering at the different people belonging to the major sects most of the time.
In his eyes, he did not really care about these few people from the major sects. Only seeing them as an extension of the powerful kingdoms that existed behind them asking for certain benefits through them to align themselves with the imperial family for the upcoming power struggle between the imperial family and the three religions.
If the resources they were asking for was on behalf of their backers, they would not hesitate to continue to ask for more... but if it wasn't, they would not dare continue asking for anything in fear of their backers finding out that they were using their names to get more resources while at the same time risking offending the imperial family...
"Looks like everyone agrees that this has dragged on for quite some time now because of a few notable individuals... In the interest of not wasting anyone's time, let's move on to the next part of the meeting. The overall structure and purpose of the different parts of the sect alliance."
Understanding very well that these major sects were indeed using their backing to get more resources for themselves after seeing their silence following his question, the Great General no longer bothered giving them any face on behalf of the people behind them as he moved on to the next part of the meeting.
Following the major sects no longer stepping up to ask for all sorts of different resources every few minutes any longer, Xuan Hao could once again focus on listening to the Great General as he explained how the sect alliance was going to function, while also discussing some of the points with the representatives of the different sects present.
From this, Xuan Hao managed to understand just how the imperial family wanted to make use of the different sects to weaken the three religions.
The main way that the sect alliance would do this, was through the sect alliance poaching people from the different kingdoms under the three religions by establishing themselves just outside their territory.
Although the three religions would be able to easily deal with a few branches like this, there was no way to deal with all of them due to just how many branches a power like the sect alliance would be capable of setting up.
Even if they used their power to deal with all of them, this was almost sure to weaken them and give the imperial family a chance to land a deadly blow.
After all, with all things considered, even if the sect alliance would not have any powerful experts at the Pinnacle of the Domain Lord Realm, the sheer number of Domain Lord Realm Experts was more than enough to stop the three religions from rashly attacking them.
The different sects that existed inside the Sky Empire might not be powerful when compared to the most powerful kingdoms who had existences that reached the Late Stage of the Domain Lord Realm... But they certainly had no lack of experts who had reached the middle three stages of the Domain Lord Realm!
...
As the meeting was growing closer and closer to the end where the voting for leader positions would take place, Xuan Hao could clearly feel Xu Bao sitting beside him starting to get nervous...
"Senior, it should not take more than a few hours before the voting for who gets the leader positions in the sect alliance begins. At that point in time, me and the rest of the people here will have to rely on your help..."
"No need to worry like this, I already told you I would support you and the rest of the independent sects."
"That is good..."
Seeing Xu Bao calm down again after hearing what he said, Xuan Hao could not help silently chuckling to himself at just how quick this old man was to change his mood.