"Sorry for our delay, Daoist Han Meng and I met on the way and decided to catch up on the way here. Please forgive us for our tardiness Daoist Su Bai," Luo Yong the young-looking elder from the Flowing Valley sect said with a polite smile on his face.
"There's nothing to apologize for, we at the Order are glad, that you both could make it.
We are glad to have you with us, and we welcome you all along with your talented disciples who I have to say really show the brilliance of both your sects," Spirit Council Elder Su Bai smoothly said.
"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist Su Bai," both elders said in unison.
"If you'd please."
Spirit council elder Su Bai guided the two elders along with the disciples of the respective holy lands up the platform.
Among the seats provided on the platform, a third of it had always been set aside for the members of the Holy Lands. However, as far as Yang Qing knew, those seats have never been filled because none of the Holy lands have ever made an appearance, despite how grand the ceremony or the celebration was, they never showed up.
…
The crowd was deathly silent across all sections. It didn't matter whether it was the rank 1 section or the rank 5 section, they all had the same looks on their faces, which was one of shock, fear, and surprise.
Meeting the disciples of the two holy lands, though was not common, some of the higher-ranked organizations have had some interaction with them, the One thousand hall battle palace being a prime example of such an organization. The Battle Palace in terms of age has been in existence almost the same time as the two Holy Lands, however, it has never quite reached the prestige of being dubbed a Holy Land as it lacked that one factor that would qualify them as one. However, despite that, they were some of the few organizations that had regular contact with members of the two holy lands.
Disciples from both these holy lands would occasionally enroll in the One thousand hall battle palace to undergo their training and also their competitions. Though the disciples didn't come all the years, they were frequenters of the establishment, which was why in Yang Qing's year, there was even a sword heart disciple in participation.
Yang Qing had heard from Dai Chen, that during his year there was a saint leaf participant from the Flowing Valley Sect. She had a decent performance and would have finished first had she not had the luck of coming when the One thousand hall battle palace had a monstrous talent that year who effortlessly took first place.
While the disciples could be seen on occasion, when it came to their elders despite their station, whether they were outer core elders or other high-ranking figures, catching any sight of them was almost an impossibility. The only times they have been sighted was during a major occasion such as when the Radiant sect had dispatched their inner elders and inner disciples to fight against the crimson wave, after which even a supreme elder arrived.
Another instance was during the invasion of the Southern Continent by organizations from other continents. At that time they had to step in when a holy land from the Western Continent got involved along with a few other high-ranking sects from the Central Continent. At that time the three holy lands; Radiant Sword Sect, Flowing Valley Sect, and the Myriad Beasts Sect worked together to halt the invasion while they manned each of the borders surrounding the Southern Continent.
The last instance when the high-ranking members of both these holy lands made an appearance was during the destruction of the Myriad Beasts Sect where its presumably assumed that they took the core treasures and art of this holy land after its destruction. From that moment, they have been little to no sighting of them.
But now here they were; two elders presumably high-ranking elders seeing how they were soul formation experts which prompted a high-ranking official from the Order to welcome them, in addition in their company they had brought with them young disciples with world-defying talents. There was a 14-year-old palace realm cultivator, a 20-year-old peak stage palace realm cultivator, and two mid to late-thirties domain experts.
The lineup might have not been as terrifying as the Crimson Wave lineup, but it was sufficient to draw eyes and gulps from the greater majority of the guests. The only ones who seemed calm about this were those from the Battle Palace and those from the Order.
The Order may be the youngest of them all, but in terms of potential both present and future, it was enough to match them all. They may not have had an 11-year-old palace realm expert like the Flowing Valley Sect, but they've had a few who were 13 years old over the years and when it came to domain realm members, they have had a few who were in their mid-thirties. To name a few; one of them was Meng Chao and the other was Zhu Li, Dean Zhu Lao's younger brother and the creator of four purple-grade techniques.
When it came to repute, a domain expert who created purple-grade cultivation arts definitely dwarfed the others.
To the Order members, other than the surprise arrival of the two groups, they didn't seem too shaken by it like the rest of the guests.
The two groups arrived on the platform where the rest of the soul formation experts courteously rose to give their greetings and Elder Su Bai went on to guide them to their seats.
The two elders sat at the front while the two disciples from both sides took the smaller seats behind them. Even if they were from Holy Lands, they were still not qualified to seat at the same level as the soul formation experts from the Order. Them being given a seat on the platform, was a courtesy afforded to them as Holy Land disciples, and nothing else. If it went by cultivation base, they were unqualified to even stand there, let alone seat.
…
Yang Qing sensed a combative-filled stare being locked on him. He was still seated next to Assistant Director Feng Lei. When the guests from the two holy lands arrived, other than the cursory respectful greeting, he didn't do much and just sat back down and slowly wished the time would fly by fast.
He didn't turn his head but instead opted to switch his eyes ever so slightly towards the source of the combative stare, which came as no surprise to him when he saw it was from the 14-year-old palace realm expert from the Radiant sword sect.
"He doesn't seem to be a sword heart disciple," Yang Qing muttered to himself as he turned back his eyes forward.
Yang Qing was a bit preoccupied when he first greeted them because the elder from the Flowing Valley Sect gave him a strange glance along with the 20-year-old peak palace realm expert, which threw him off for a bit but now that he had time to recollect the experience along with the short glance he took right now, he noticed the 14-year-old palace realm expert from the Radiant Sword Sect didn't seem to have the sword heart disciple insignia on his robe unlike the early stage domain expert next to him.
As far as Yang Qing knew, one of the prerequisites of becoming a sword heart disciple was to have a purple core, in addition to showing monstrous talent for the sword in terms of the standard of the sect. Therefore, as far as he could tell one could be a sword heart disciple as long as they were in the core formation realm. The sword heart disciple who took the first-place position during their year was in the late stages of the core formation realm, just like them.
Yang Qing couldn't help but guess there must be some underlying reason why the 14-year-old palace realm expert wasn't a sword heart disciple despite his current achievements. As far as Yang Qing could tell, when it came to the sword dao, the 14-year-old disciple had genuine talent in it, despite his ostentatious display of it, by allowing his sharpness of it to leak. At the moment, that disciple didn't have the released sword demeanor he had before when he came, he now seemed reserved and docile, completely different from before.
"Maybe it's a personality issue," thought Yang Qing as he decided to push the matter to the back of his mind because it looked like the time had arrived.
He had expected that it would be Vice President Mo Ye giving the opening speech, but Chief Justice Lai Ning was the one who got up and made his way to the center of the podium.
The guests who were unfamiliar with him, found it rather funny to see a 10-year-old boy, wearing small fitting white robes, with purple hair walk slowly to the center of the podium. However, the eyes that had nothing but countless stars and the inviolable bearing he had on him as he walked made every single party present have reverence for him in their hearts, even without meaning to.
….
Rank 2 section
"Meifeng! Meifeng!! Meifeng, you need to calm down. Your agitated state is starting to show."
"Sorry about that, brother Guiren," said Yan Meifeng of the Maple leaf manor.
"I don't know what your Maple Leaf Manor and the Flowing Valley have against each other, but if this is the type of reaction I should be expecting from your organization, then I think it may be better for the merger to be canceled.
I do not want the Golden Bamboo Pavilion to be dragged into whatever feud you have with the Flowing Valley Sect. Even all our forces combined are barely enough to compete against one of their subsidiary forces let alone them.
Whatever issues you have with them, it will have to wait till we finish dealing with the issue concerning the hidden grotto of the Nebulous Star sect. Once we are done with it, we can go our separate ways after splitting the inheritance, and you can pursue whatever it is you and the Maple Leaf Manor have against the Flowing Valley Sect but until then please keep your emotions in check and take stock of the bigger picture, otherwise we will go our separate ways here and now.
I'd rather lose out on the inheritance of an ancient sect that could potentially have been a holy land-level sect, than offend one presently.
Let what happened to the Crimson wave be a constant reminder that Holy lands are not to be trifled with lightly," Lin Guiren solemnly said.
"Don't worry brother Guiren, I promise I won't do anything to jeopardize our deal and the plans ahead. It was just a momentary slip-up, of which I'm very sorry for that, it won't happen again.
We of the Maple Leaf Manor have no intention of engaging a holy land like the Flowing Valley, if we did, we would have acted long ago when the situation demanded it. Right now all we want to do is to ensure the stability and growth of our organization along with the Golden Bamboo Pavilion.
We don't have any other thoughts, other than this," said Yan Meifeng.
Both leaders had been using their domain sense to communicate.
Lin Guiren cast a long glance at Yan Meifeng, who had a solemn sincere look before he nodded his head and focused his attention back to the podium. Yan Meifeng did the same, but inside her robes, her right fist was tightly clenched.
"Maybe we might have to look for another more suitable partner.."
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