As evening approached, the sky gradually darkened, while the street ends were lit brightly, with specks of orange light shining like brilliant stars illuminating the night sky.

The car smoothly drove towards its destination; inside the car, both Xie Zhengming and Xie Yuxi, father and daughter, remained silent, burdened by the heavy reality that had long exhausted them physically and mentally.

Soon, the car stopped in front of a martial arts dojo with impressive decor.

Looking up, the two characters "Zhengxin" on the plaque exuded a sharp and fierce aura, with powerful strokes.

Upon stepping out of the car, Xie Yuxi smelled a strong odor of formaldehyde, suggesting that the dojo had just been renovated and completed a few days ago.

She frowned slightly, just preparing to enter Zhengxin Martial Arts Dojo with her father when suddenly someone appeared beside her: "Excuse me, is this the headquarters of Golden Swallow Sect?"

"Yes."

"That's great."

Ye Qingzhou nodded, casually turned off the map navigation function on his phone, and then stepped into the dojo.

Xie Yuxi, on the other hand, felt puzzled and bewildered in her heart. She had just had a face-to-face conversation with him, but how come she immediately forgot what he looked like?

"What's wrong, Yuxi?"

"Nothing."

The father and daughter continued forward and together entered Zhengxin Martial Arts Dojo.

At this moment, within the dojo of Golden Swallow Sect, inside Zhengxin Martial Arts Dojo, in an empty meeting room used for receiving guests, red long tables were flanked by martial artists all with strength above Professional Fifth Rank; among them were seven martial arts masters.

They were representatives from various small martial arts schools, all like Xie Zhengming, sect leaders themselves.

The focus of all the martial artists was a middle-aged man with a bearded face and a knife scar, dressed in a short fighting outfit. On the chest towards the shoulder, there was an emblem of a golden bird.

This was precisely the Sect Leader of Golden Swallow Sect, Yah Baiqing.

In the past three months, Golden Swallow Sect not only pressured the other Eight Gates of Four Nine Sects but also secretly exerted pressure on numerous martial arts schools in Imperial, forcing many to come to Yah Baiqing to negotiate peace.

This meeting had been ongoing for several days, with many not being here for the first time to talk with Yah Baiqing, but numerous conflicts couldn't be solved by just having a meeting and drinking tea.

Thus Yah Baiqing kept sending people over, demonstrating his resolve through physical confrontations, causing some martial arts schools to start softening their stance.

Crunch, suddenly someone walked in from outside, approached the Sect Leader of Golden Swallow Sect Yah Baiqing, and whispered a few words.

"Is Gangzi's phone still unreachable?"

Yah Baiqing's brow gradually furrowed: "Ignore him for now, I'll deal with it later. Let me finish the plan for Four Nine Sects first..."

A disciple from Golden Swallow Sect nodded and quickly walked out.

Yah Baiqing cleared his throat twice, pressed one hand on the table's surface, scanned everyone in the meeting room, and spoke.

"I don't want to waste words with everyone. Let's be straightforward. Who agrees, who opposes joining the Northern Martial Arts?"

"I oppose!"

On the left side of the long table, just as Xie Zhengming was about to speak, the person beside him spoke first.

It was a man with thick black eyebrows standing up, short and fat in stature, his round belly pronounced, lifting the martial arts uniform high yet still giving an impression of agility and speed, not at all appearing cumbersome.

The man's martial arts uniform was old-fashioned, with two large characters 'Chongming' embroidered in bright red on the left chest.

This man was the Sect Leader of Chongming Sect, which generally ranked among the top three in 'Four Nine Sects.' The sect even once produced a grandmaster, showing considerable depth.

These days, Xie Zhengming wasn't idle either; he secretly contacted some martial arts schools, among which Chongming Sect had the clearest stance, with the strongest rebellious tendencies.

The reason was not complicated. Over the years, Chongming Sect and Golden Swallow Sect had had many disputes; originally evenly matched, now Golden Swallow Sect suddenly rose, which as a rival, Chongming Sect couldn't tolerate.

That's why they were the first to oppose Yah Baiqing.

Others in the meeting room fell silent, making the opposition sound particularly jarring.

The Sect Leader of Golden Swallow Sect Yah Baiqing maintained a normal expression, slowly turning his head, first scanning Xie Zhengming representing Heaven's Choice Sect before he turned his gaze to the fat man.

Yah Baiqing said nothing, only shifted his view to the right, looking at an elder with white hair in a black martial arts uniform: "Elder Luo, what is your stance from Five Tigers Sect?"

Having heard Yah Baiqing call him, the elder rotated his cloudy eyeballs slightly.

As he opened his mouth to speak, Wei Chongyang, the Sect Leader of Chongming Sect, who had just opposed, suddenly interjected: "Yah Baiqing, since you said earlier you didn't want to waste words, I won't use polite surface talk either; let's make things clear!" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Everyone knows what Four Nine Sects, Golden Swallow Sect, and you Yah Baiqing want to do! We are not children nor intellectually challenged fools. Can joining the Northern Martial Arts truly be as good as you claim? Anyone would know it's impossible even using their backside. Resource sharing? It's merely extraction in disguise!"

Wei Chongyang sneered, bluntly exposing Yah Baiqing's intentions, clarifying the topic.

He glanced at several martial arts masters opposite, then looked at the silent Xie Zhengming before continuing the topic: "Your Golden Swallow Sect is so eager, persistently pressuring these schools, simply because there are benefits to reap. Wanting to leverage Four Nine Sects as your backing, to bolster your momentum, with hopes of commanding the entire Northern Martial Arts World."