When Chen Yu walked into the huge entrance hall of the main Sun and Moon Mountain, more than a thousand disciples had already arrived and neatly arranged themselves by their peak assignment, the colors of their robes designating their affiliation. Once he located a mass of teenagers in the signature red of Jade Sword Mountain's gowns, Chen Yu flashily pushed through them, his back straightened proudly.
Seeing that the peak leaders hadn't arrived even when he had reached the front of the crowd, Chen Yu leisurely glanced around, appreciating the tasteful, pure white decorations. Each of the numerous marble columns lining the edges of the room were carved into alternating scenes of the sky in the night and the day, and the milky jade floor stretched out without a single break. Opposite the double doors that could fit tens of people walking abreast was a raised dais, where seven imposing mahogany chairs had been placed. While the centerpiece of these was notably distinguished with its gold flakes and heavier lines, the seat had a silk cover draped over it, as if it would remain empty.
Upon briefly sifting through the original owner's memories, Chen Yu recalled that the occupant of this position, Heavenly Saber Sect's leader, hadn't appeared in public for hundreds of years, supposedly due to being in closed door cultivation. Perhaps that was why Ning He had been able to act as he pleased for so long? Chen Yu didn't have the chance to consider whether that was the cause or not, however, because at that moment, he noticed that everyone was standing at attention and directing their gazes forward toward the six figures striding onto the platform.
Although the sole clue to the peak leaders' entrance had been the barest rustling sound from the dais area, that had been enough to alert most of the youth present. This was because while Heavenly Saber Sect wasn't the largest of the Righteous Path groups, it was the most powerful, its members strengthened by plentiful resources and generous manuals. As a corollary, the disciples who qualified to receive such extravagant benefits tended to be orderly and intelligent, so that despite the crowded atmosphere, there was hardly any noise to distract them.
As Chen Yu was dutifully turning his head back to the front as well, resolving to improve his senses of his surroundings, his eyes collided in midair with the protagonist's resentful stare, but a beat later, he moved on, disregarding the boy completely. After all, the Zhuo Biming right now wasn't of interest to him in the slightest.
Instead, Chen Yu studied the people who had settled themselves in the chairs up front.
On either end of the row of seats were two men who looked identical except for the fact that the rightmost twin was dressed all in black and the leftmost twin all in white. The same deep features and muscled build appeared menacing for the former and soothing for the latter, allowing Chen Yu to deduce at this distance that the one in black was Moqi Lirong, the leader of the Twelve Branches Valley, whereas the one in white was his elder brother, Moqi Baihui, the leader of Ten Stems Hall.
Both of these men generally operated outside the sect's organization, with their designated peaks located on opposite edges of the sect and their schedules out of the reach of the other elders. As befitted their title as the "guardian wings" of Heavenly Saber Sect, however, if an enemy threatened, the two would work together as protectors, eliminating the danger before anyone else could be affected. Thus, the other sect leaders were forced to tolerate the fact that in peaceful times, it was difficult to even contact either of them. Moreover, despite usually keeping a distance physically, the brothers were renowned for their close bond and similar perceptions of matters, so that if anyone tried to control them, the consequences would be unbearable.
After a short admiration of these handsome specimens, Chen Yu shifted his focus inwards. To the left of Moqi Baihui was a beautiful woman lazily yawning and scanning the crowd, while to the right of Moqi Lirong was a brawny man solemnly waiting with an alert posture; these should be the leaders respectively of the Bloody Blossom Peak and the Golden Lion Valley, the two main frontline forces of the sect for general expeditions. This pair wasn't trivial in their influence either, but Chen Yu merely skimmed his eyes over them and turned to the lean man who was sitting next to the sole woman among them.
With his kindly smiling face and immaculate dress, this was Ning Taio, this body's father. Although the man should be in his thirties at least considering Ning He's age, he looked to have just passed his twentieth year, indicating that he wasn't a weak cultivator, he had probably managed to reach the Nascent Soul stage. Nevertheless, the Jade Sword Mountain, as a whole, ranked just second to last among the peaks.
On the other side of the empty center throne was a man who appeared to be middle-aged with gloves on his hands, Duangan Pang. This was the leader of Puppet Warrior Peak, the cushion beneath Jade Sword Mountain. As its name suggested, the members of this peak were puppet masters first and warriors second, so that most of the disciples didn't even bother with improving their physiques.
Returning Ning Taio's fond smile at Ning He, Chen Yu smirked. To allow him to degrade Jade Sword Mountain so much that it could only be ranked above a group with this kind of mentality...this father truly doted on his son ah.
At the same time that Chen Yu had been examining the six people on the dais, the two brothers who had sensed his scrutiny had also been surveying him.
From the boy's place among the Jade Sword Mountain members along with his tall, bamboo-like figure and his pale complexion which suggested he didn't train his body very much, that should be the infamous Ning He, whose rumors of bullying had even reached their ears. In person, the youth was shockingly beautiful, his arched, willow-like brows framing a pair of bright, black eyes and his creamy skin contrasting attractively with his perpetually pouting red lips, he even made the common robes given to disciples seem like luxurious silk twined around him. But as they watched, the boy snubbed another member of his group and arrogantly surveyed the peak leaders, they didn't know if they should call him fearless or senseless.
Having concluded that such a child wouldn't last long enough to cause much trouble, Moqi Lirong tapped his fingers on his chair arm, signaling to his brother that they should begin. Moqi Baihui also responded with a short tap, then started the announcement that they had gathered everyone for.
The moment he had caught Moqi Lirong making that familiar gesture in his peripheral vision, Chen Yu had jerked his head toward the man and intensely stared at him, his heart full of eagerness. Was this his lover? En...from his status to his looks, nothing was out of place, he would wait a bit to see, but inwardly, he couldn't suppress his happiness at locating the man so soon. He was thus too immersed to notice Moqi Baihui's similar action.
Still, once Chen Yu grasped what Moqi Baihui was saying, he swiftly refocused and calculated what to do. The issue, apparently, was that a wave of demonic animals had been spotted heading toward human settlements, and the Moqi brothers had received orders from the sect head to fight them off. While the two could have handled the matter on their own, since these beasts had cores that could be refined or traded to advance cultivation, they had decided to invite qualified volunteers fifteen years of age or older along. As for why Heavenly Saber Sect had to get involved in defending absolute strangers, naturally that was because these villages were positioned nearest to the sect and, to protect the image of the Righteous Path practitioners, they couldn't ignore neighbors in trouble.
Although the teenagers murmured excitedly amongst themselves at the news, no one stepped forward immediately. Demonic animals were dangerous in general, how risky would it be to confront them when they were alarmed enough to be in a panicked run? Worse, what if they had to fight whatever had frightened the beasts so much? While beast cores were indeed valuable, what was far more valuable were their lives.
In the midst of this confused and indecisive atmosphere, a clear voice rang out. "Hng, what are such cowards doing in our Heavenly Saber Sect? This young master will go!"
The crowd's eyes flew toward the boy who'd spouted such self-important words. As expected, it was Ning He, but it was well-known that he was scarcely above average for his age, which meant that he would be weaker than the majority of the people eligible to go. Despite their disbelief, the disciples from Jade Sword Mountain schooled their expressions and praised Ning He for his courage, secretly hoping that he come back disabled or not at all.
Even the peak leaders were surprised, Ning Taio was the most stunned out of everyone. His son had never indicated much interest in anything that could hurt him, why was he suddenly throwing himself in harm's way? Aware, however, that he couldn't oppose Ning He's declaration in public, he nervously clenched his fists and pursed his lips.
On the other hand, Moqi Lirong and Moqi Baihui also found this startling, but they guessed that this was merely another mark of the boy's foolishness and noted down the names of other disciples who had been provoked into volunteering.