Clearly, the outcome of this upcoming war is very important to many parties. But Arthur didn't know about all of these.
He also didn't know that his job to be in charge of the exchange team here in the Purple Flower sect is just a single move on the chessboard of the overall situation. Even if he knew, there was very little that he could do to influence the overall situation.
He could only focus on doing his job as meticulously as he could. He also didn't try looking for trouble. This was why he didn't mind when he was assigned a place in the outer sect to live.
The concentration of mana in the environment was too low for him to cultivate. This meant that his cultivation would be delayed for one year. But he didn't mind.
He focused on his job, which was overseeing the arrangement and execution of the training programs. The junior elders of both sects worked together on making the arrangements. His only job was to make sure that nothing went wrong.
During their first planning meeting, he and Pale Shadow sat in a hall overseeing the eight peak-stage foundation establishment cultivators talking below.
Four of these peak-stage foundation establishment cultivators came from the Blood Skull sect. They were the only peak stage that came along for the mission, and they were the ones making most of the suggestions for training.
The first suggestion that the people from the Blood Skull sect made was to set up a performance evaluation test that would test strength, speed, endurance, fighting excellence, willpower, and mana manipulation.
The disciples of both sects would be evaluated through this performance test. This way, both sects could display what they were good at and learn from each other.
Then the junior elders from the Blood Skull sect suggested creating a ranking list to compare and contrast the performance of the disciples. Finally, they wanted rewards to be given to those who perform the best in various aspects in order to motivate the disciples to do their best.
These suggestions were accepted by the junior elders from the Purple Flower sect. They too also made their own suggestions for the exchange program.
The people from the Purple Flower sect suggested a hunting game. They wanted disciples to hunt certain animals, with the goal of the game being to see who could hunt the most animals in a certain amount of time.
This suggestion was accepted too. The people from the Blood Skull sect had no reason to reject it since the Purple Flower sect will be the ones to pay for the animals that will be hunted.
After this, the junior elders from the Blood Skull sect suggested a fighting tournament between the two sects. The suggestion was accepted, and the arrangements for it were planned.
Then the junior elders from the Purple Flower sect also made their suggestion. The meeting went back and forth like that.
Both sides made suggestions, accepted the suggestions, or rejected them. In case the suggestion was accepted, they would spend some time working out the particulars.
The two golden core elders didn't speak during the entire meeting. Pale Shadow had nothing to say, but Arthur had something to say.
He didn't think that the disciples of the Purple Flower sect would perform well in all of these tests and games. In order not to embarrass their host, he made a decision to speak up and suggested not to keep track of the performance of the participants.
When the eight junior elders were done planning, he spoke and said, "We should forgo the ranking list because the aim of this exchange program is to create a pleasant relationship between both sects, not make things toxic between us. A ranking list can make people too competitive, which can ruin the goal of our mission."
"In the light of fostering a spirit of cooperation between the two sects, we should create a game that would require everyone working together to achieve something. I suggest a racing game with an obstacle course. The disciples from both sides will work together to pass through the obstacles."
"As for rewards to motivate the disciples, they will be handed out based on the judgment of your eighth. Disciples that perform well and catch your eyes will be rewarded, so we don't need a ranking list."
His suggestions were not perfect, but they would help to achieve the goal of the exchange program. However, even if his suggestions were full of holes, he was a golden core elder, so these eight had to listen to him and do what he asked for.
Pale Shadow didn't care about his suggestion at all and remained silent. So it appeared that no one was going to reject his suggestion.
But then Purple Vine barged into the hall and interrupted the meeting.
She had an expressionless face as she asked Arthur, "Do you think we can't bear with the loss if there is a ranking list to keep track of the performance of everyone?"
"Do you think that your sect is going to surely win and that we will be sore losers about it? If so, I think you have underestimated us twice in a row. Not only do you think we are weak losers, but you also believe that we are sore losers who have no integrity."
Arthur didn't know why, but he felt a faint sense of hostility from this lady. This made him sigh inwardly and say to himself, "Probably another person that I offended because of the escapades of my youth."
Outwardly, he shook his head and said, "I don't think those things. If anything, I think that we from the Blood Skull sect will be the sore losers. If we don't win, we might resort to drastic methods that will harm the harmony that we are pursuing."
"So for the sake of harmony and cooperation, I believe that it is a good idea to reduce the stakes of the tests. Let's focus on making the disciples from the two sects interact with each other and have fun."