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Yun Bing smiled wryly. "I used to hate these political games of trying to make use of loopholes and rules to lie to others or to decide something in secret as part of a cabal—and yet I\'ve ended up doing the exact same thing."

Zhang Lie replied, "Everyone ends up that way. I used to hate the strongest hunters who could easily overwhelm the world and lord over the entire world, but I had no choice but to become whom I once detested."

Yun Bing scowled. "Stop flexing."

The draconian sage murmured, "These impermanent kingdoms possess more power than most, but just like us permanent ones, they bear more responsibilities as well."

Li Zongming explained, "In addition to the important role of preserving the stability of the unified world and ensuring its advancement and development, they\'ll have to pay dues annually."

Yun Bing expanded, "Of course, everyone does; it\'s just a matter of how much."

The draconian sage jumped in. "And if they don\'t have money, they can provide resources instead."

A representative spoke up. "But our coins and currency don\'t match!"

"That\'ll be a matter for later."

The representatives were all starting to grumble. They hadn\'t realized they had to pay any dues!

Another representative asked, "What obligations do we have? Ensuring the stability of the world and promoting its development are far too general aims to be meaningful."

Yun Bing replied calmly, "We haven\'t ironed out the specifics yet. For the moment, for example, if some pirates or bandits emerge from the unified world, the impermanent representatives will have to report the matter to the high council, and we would vote on whether or not to dispatch troops. The troops would come from the permanent and impermanent kingdoms, and the cost from the council fees."

The representatives understood what they were paying for now—protection.

The high council was an organization whose goal was to stabilize the world, but that security would come at a cost. If your kingdom didn\'t pay a protection fee and was suffering from a bandit incursion, the council certainly wasn\'t going to dispatch any troops to help stabilize the region.

Providing these forces would be beneficial to the permanent kingdoms, as well. Not only could these kingdoms improve their control and prestige over the unified world, they would be able to train their troops.

In fact, the entire unified world would pay for the troops\' training.

Yun Bing continued, "Next, the permanent and impermanent kingdoms will each present topics of discussion for the council."

Li Zongming stood up with a sheaf of documents he had prepared in advance. "As the representative of the Zongming kingdom, I will present the first topic of discussion."

All the representatives turned toward Li Zongming, toward the first topic brought to the attention of the high council of the third realm.

Zhang Lie was also very curious just what Li Zongming was about to bring up.

"The former third realm faced a terrible crisis."

Everyone subconsciously turned to look at Zhang Lie and Zhu, still seated at the top of the pyramidal structure of the council chamber.

That crisis was, of course, none other than the imminent collapse of the world.

Li Zongming continued, "We faced an unbelievably strong foe, so strong that even I only know of his name, without ever having met him."

The representatives smiled.

Li Zongming continued, "This existence was known as the death spirit king, an entity that dared to dream of devouring the entire realm, an ambitious madman. Countless worlds suffered at his hands."

Zhang Lie didn\'t quite understand why Li Zongming was bringing up the death spirit king now.

Li Zongming continued, "In order to deal with this death spirit king, all the superior worlds worked together to summon the fighters and warriors of the three thousand worlds. We fought in a historic battle of epic proportions against the death spirit king, and eventually vanquished him with the hard work of fighters all across the realm. Our savior slew him, but what about the countless fighters who perished?"

The atmosphere in the council chamber turned heavier.

Many of the kingdoms represented here had suffered at the hands of the superior worlds of antiquity.

When the war against the death spirit king reached peak intensity, the various worlds were forced to dispatch their fighters and warriors to combat the growing threat.

Some of those fighters returned, whereas others never would.

Li Zongming continued, "We paid a heavy price for our victory. Large numbers of fighters and heroes died on the battlefield, their corpses left unclaimed. Despite the fact that we were unable to preserve their bodies, we have the moral imperative to provide safe harbor for their souls, to ensure that they can remain with us forever in spirit."

Upon hearing Li Zongming\'s words, the representatives\' perception of the high council changed.

They were starting to suspect that the high council was a game manipulated by the four superior kingdoms. From a barebones perspective, that was certainly the case, but Li Zongming\'s topic of discussion had been carefully considered. It was selfless and noble, and was a worthwhile topic to discuss by any standards.

It concerned no profit, no conflicts of interest, and simultaneously was a topic of immediate and palpable interest to the entire world.

"At the heart of the world, I wish to erect a cenotaph to commemorate the dead who perished in service to our realm."

Even Zhang Lie had to give Li Zongming a thumbs up at that.

Li Zongming\'s topic of discussion was more than worthy of being the historical first to pass through the unified world\'s high council.

Li Zongming continued, "When Zhang Lie and I participated in the superior kings\' meeting, we had proposed a similar idea."

The representatives recalled the oil painting they had seen while walking through the corridor. So that was the story behind it!

Li Zongming sighed. "Unfortunately, the superior kings of antiquity weren\'t too enthused by the idea. They debated it vigorously, and we were ultimately able to convince them of its importance. However, the kings then went back on their word and launched direct attacks on the Zongming world, the scaleman world, and the draconian worlds. As a result, the cenotaph never came to fruition."

Zhang Lie sighed in exasperation. "Too much happened afterwards."

Li Zongming continued, "After the superior worlds perished, we tabled the matter to deal with the other circumstances that had arisen, but I have never forgotten that promise. Today, in the historic first meeting of the high council of the unified world, I make that proposal once more."

Zhu raised her voice. "We vote now."

Yun Bing shouted, "Each table has a flag, one face of which is red, and the other of which is white. If you agree to the motion, hold up the red face. If you oppose, hold up the white face. If you abstain, do not raise the flag. You have one minute to make your decision."

Within thirty seconds, the entire council chamber was a sea of red.

The first motion of the high council of the unified world had passed unanimously.