For every seven rank 2 organizations that would come, a rank 1 organization would appear. With the constant arrival of top-tier organizations, the reverence mixed with trepidation that most of the guests had earlier seemed to have waned a bit.
Among the incoming organizations, Yang Qing managed to spot members of the Golden Bamboo Pavillion. Among their representatives, he managed to spot a man who seemed to be in his late thirties but had eyes that seemed to have seen the history of an entire epoch. He had long flowing gold sky hair and impeccable looks to match. He bore a faint resemblance to the young palace realm expert Yang Qing had thrashed in Purple City.
Walking beside him was a middle-aged man with a regal bearing on him. He had red-orange hair and a black robe that dark orange cloud patterns. Yang Qing guessed that that was the current emperor of the Red Maple Empire, Duan Han.
Based on the fluctuations Yang Qing detected from him, he seemed to have just recently broken through just like him. Yang Qing raised his brow because this meant that the Red Maple Empire had added another palace realm expert to their ranks. With these their numbers and that of the Five Clover Kingdom had tied on five palace realm experts each, though with Duan Hou temporarily imprisoned at the Yellow Plains county branch, their numbers were currently at four.
Yang Qing also noticed next to one of the leaders of the Golden Bamboo Pavillion, was a lady in light yellow robes which had the symbol of a maple leaf that had a purple butterfly above it. Yang Qing instantly recognized who she was, as she was one of the founders of Maple Leaf Manor, an organization that focused on alchemy and medicine. It was also a rank 2 organization just like the Golden Bamboo Pavilion.
"Do these two have a connection?" wondered Yang Qing.
He wasn't the only one throwing curious gazes their way. Other organizations of similar rank were occasionally throwing curious glances their way, especially merchant-based organizations who would be affected, were these two organizations to form an alliance.
As Yang Qing was going through the list of possibilities as to why the leaders of two rank 2 organizations would be traveling together, he felt a subtle gaze lock on him. Were his senses not elevated to that of a domain expert, the gaze would have likely passed him by without him noticing anything but with the heightened senses, he could feel it as clear as day.
Yang Qing wasn't one to play coy and pretend, so he directly locked eyes with the person who threw that gaze, which was the golden-haired leader of the Golden Bamboo Pavillion, Lin Guiren. Despite finding himself suddenly being stared at, Lin Guiren offered a wave and polite smile to Yang Qing, who waved and smile in return.
"I wonder If you'll still be smiling when I send your son to the Requiem depending on the extent of his crimes," Yang Qing playfully wondered.
Yan Meifeng of the Maple leaf manor had a curious look on her face when she noted the interaction between the two.
It was at that moment, after their brief interlude that Yang Qing spotted an Order employee head in the direction of the procession of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion. Said employee had donned the robes of a domain court judge and had star-shaped irises and five pupils in each iris.
He went over and warmly welcomed the members of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion along with Maple Leaf Manor. Yang Qing closely monitored their interaction and manage to notice Lin Guiren seemed a tad bit stiff as he interacted with that domain judge.
"Could that be Hou Dehui, the one Lei Weiyuan told me about?" wondered Yang Qing.
With how swamped Order employees were, they didn't all know about each other not unless someone had a certain reputation that made them renowned around the Order. This was why up until a week ago, Yang Qing had no idea who Meng Chao was or his rank, or Hou Dehui who would handle the Golden Bamboo Pavilion should his investigation touch on it.
…
"It seems you have some history with the Golden Bamboo Pavilion?" asked Assistant Director Feng Lei with a teasing tone.
"It's not entirely of my own choosing," said Yang Qing as he dryly laughed.
He proceeded on to explain his entire debacle and how he would be potentially in their crosshairs.
"Just work your case as you see fit and handle what you can and leave the rest of the part you can't handle to those suited to it. The special inquisitors operate that way too, we all have something we are good that and areas we are not. We divide and handle our tasks with that in mind," said Assistant Director Feng Lei.
"I do remember 50 years ago or so, when Dehui asked us to investigate one of their founders, Liang Zhan. Last I checked, I think he should be a gold-grade alchemist now.
Dehui suspected he had been experimenting with people along with working with some dark organization in his alchemy study. He made a request of us when he made no headway with the investigation with his own inquisitors. We didn't find anything either but Dehui has a unique trait because of his physique so I don't think he'd make that claim carelessly.
The reason I bring it up is to advise you to be careful. Handling Lin Guiren will be easy, especially for someone like Dehui but Liang Zhan is a different matter. If I was to take Dehui's words as truth, then this means Liang Zhan is skilled enough to hide his tracks from even us. Someone that sneaky, there's no telling what he might, or might not do. His means are many and inscrutable," said Assistant Director Feng Lei.
"Thanks for your kind words, Assistant Director Feng Lei. I will commit your words to heart and act with the necessary caution," said Yang Qing with a heavy expression.
Ten minutes passed by after that, with the Star blooming mist valley swelling with crowds of cultivators. So far seven rank 1 sects had already made an appearance and of those seven there was one that really stood out as it could be considered a quasi-holy ground. In some regard, it garnered more respect than even the newly formed Order.
That organization was the One thousand hall battle palace. It is rumored to have existed for as long as the holy lands which is in upwards of over 500,000 years.
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