Perhaps because of the overwhelmingly positive image that Francis had built over time, Cody never considered any other possibilities.

Or perhaps the allure of the council chairmanship was so great that he couldn't spare the thought.

In any case, he obediently opened the portal at the top of the Wizard Tower, transformed into a red light, and flew out of the city.

He stopped upon reaching Francis and urgently asked, "Speaker Francis, have those guys finally relented?"

He remembered during the Grand Council in the thousandth year of the Wizard Calendar, he was nominated for the council chairmanship by Francis.

The outcome was dreadful: aside from Francis, Jerald, Yasen, and a mere handful of seven legislators who voted in favor, all others voted against him.

Because of this, even though he had long met the qualifications to be promoted to council chairman, he could not officially obtain the position.

Now that Francis had specially come to talk to him about this matter, it was definitely not just idle talk to fool him.

"This place is still too close." Francis ignored Cody's question, glanced at the city a little over a hundred miles to the west of them, then flew eastward, transmitting a message, "Follow me, let's find a quieter place to talk."

Cody needed straightening out, but the image of an Alliance legislator had to be maintained.

Acting in full view of the public was clearly inappropriate.

"Ah, this..." Cody's curiosity grew stronger, but he still instinctively followed.

The two flew nearly ten thousand miles to the east and finally stopped above the skyline of a forest.

"This place will do nicely." Francis glanced at the empty forest below and smiled with satisfaction.

He turned towards Cody, who was looking bewildered, and with a thought, an infinite power of the Life Domain suddenly expanded, enveloping Cody while also piercing the space barrier between the surface layer and the Divine Realm Spatial Layer, bringing Cody into the desolate Divine Realm Spatial Layer.

"Speaker Francis, um... is it really necessary to discuss me obtaining the council chairmanship in the Divine Realm Spatial Layer?" Cody looked at the Life Domain surrounding him and the wasteland-like Divine Realm outside, a light twitch in his eyelid, while an ominous feeling crept into his heart.

"If it were just about discussing your chairmanship, it indeed wouldn't be necessary to come to the Divine Realm Spatial Layer."

Francis nodded, a slight curve at the corners of his mouth, "However, before that, I'd like a little duel with you."

"As the only Five-Ring Faith Wizard in the Wizard Alliance, it's been quite a while since you've had any action, has it not?"

"That's not good. You know how strong our enemies are. When they arrive, I don't want you to be the first Five-Ring Mage to fall because you've been idle all these years."

What he was saying was complete nonsense. Even if the Silver Wolf Influence really came, Cody's main task wouldn't be to fight on the front lines, but to manipulate various divine artifacts for auxiliary support.

Still, one needs a plausible reason to make a move, right?

In any case, Cody wasn't aware of the strategic plans he and Lor had devised, so pulling the wool over his eyes wasn't a problem.

"So that's how it is."

Cody showed a look of 'sudden realization', then turned worried, "Speaker Francis, dueling within the Wizard Plane isn't a great idea, is it?"

"If we accidentally break the Space Barrier, it might affect the surface space, causing elemental disturbance, and we'd have to call the little ones to fix it."

"Why don't I go to the Arrowfish Plane to practice against a Tier Five Arrowfish?"

By now, he thoroughly understood what Francis intended to do.

Agreeing to a duel was entirely out of the question, especially knowing Francis wasn't an ordinary Sixth Ring but a Dual Element Sixth Ring.

In contrast, he himself was merely a Fire Element Five-Ring Faith Wizard.

Against someone like Yasen, an ordinary Five-Ring, the outcome would already be unpredictable without using divine artifacts.

Even with divine artifacts, facing Francis would still be as futile as an ant trying to topple a giant tree.

"Don't worry."

Francis smiled, "If you can break through my Life Domain, then you win."

"If you can't break through, naturally there won't be any impact on the outside world."

Saying this, he didn't wait for Cody's response. The Life Domain suddenly expanded to encompass ten thousand miles, simultaneously pushing Cody far away.

"Roar—Howl—Sharp Cry—"

Then, countless creatures spontaneously generated from his domain, emitting earth-shaking roars, collectively launching various energy rays at Cody.

"Whistling—Booming—"

Finally, these energy rays transformed into a torrent of elements, wrapping Cody tightly within.

He was very mindful of the scales, not generating Tier Six creatures; the strongest among these creatures were no more than Tier Five, and very few at that, primarily serving to break Cody's defenses, injuring him, but not too severely.

More importantly, the essence of this elemental torrent was still composed of Life Energy. Even if Cody couldn't hold out, he could, with a single thought, transform the elemental torrent back into Life Energy.

Cody looked at the overwhelming elemental torrent before him, feeling his scalp go numb.

Not daring to be negligent, he quickly summoned Power of Faith from his Sea of Consciousness to build a Fire Elemental Defense Barrier.

He then slightly raised his right hand, instinctively almost ready to pull out various defense divine artifacts to ward off these attacks, but in the next moment, rationality told him to abandon this action.

Facing a determined Francis, bringing out the divine artifacts would only make his beating worse.

It was of no other use.

"What a predicament..." Cody sighed inwardly, choosing outright resignation, simply watching the elemental torrent crash onto the defense barrier he had just erected, without a hint of resistance in mind.

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