Chapter 350: No. Nyet. Non.
Benton had no time to wait for a response from Kang Ya-Ting. He had to decide immediately whether to attend the meeting or not. Both carried risk.
The meeting could be the prelude to an ambush. It was possible that his enemies knew he’d changed the signal emitted by the contingency rings and were using the meeting to lure him to the site of the attack instead.
Of course, if that were the case… so? He’d simply proceed with his plans for the ambush. It had to happen at some point, so what did it matter if it were triggered that day?
On the other hand, the meeting could be legitimate, and if it were, his enemies might use his lack of attendance as an excuse to levy sanctions against him and/or his sect. Which wasn’t acceptable.
Benton’s evaluation clearly indicated that there was a possible downside to not attending and not one for attending, which made his decision pretty darn easy. On the other hand, he had no good frame of reference to know if his thinking in any way resembled reality. In fact, the idea of Golden Core cultivators summoning a Nascent Soul seemed pretty suss on the face of it.
In the end, his thinking really came down to a couple of factors—with the kids safely ensconced in the compound, he couldn’t see the harm in going, and he really had nothing better to do. The meeting might even be entertaining. Or infuriating. Which might lead to entertainment.
He decided to go.
Since he’d been to the meeting location previously when he’d gifted the City Lord’s representative, Qiu ZhenKang, a sword, Benton could simply Teleport in. Thus, he waited until dawn broke before doing just that. Being punctual was, after all, polite, and the alternative, arriving early, would have sent a message that he was worried.
He popped into the back of the room and found all four committee members, including Kang Ya-Ting, seated at a table in the front. The elder gave him an apologetic head nod.
“Good,” the arrogant lady representing the Swift Blizzard Sect said, “the accused has arrived. We can finally get started.”
Benton watched without saying a word. Without knowing the charges, there was no reason to defend himself.
Besides, while he expected both the Swift Blizzard and Jade Chameleon to be against him, Kang Ya-Ting should be firmly on Benton’s side no matter what the others said. And Qiu ZhenKang was more likely to be neutral than to take any other position. Considering that Benton had done nothing wrong to the best of his knowledge, the committee would likely be deadlocked two to two.