-Is it Fate!-
The Fang family entourage steadily walked under the adulated stare of all the young generation of the Jiang family and entered the main hall. It was after then that the gathered crowd dispersed. The two disciples who stood behind Jiang Jie also started to return to what they were doing before, suddenly the second disciple noticed something.
"Hey, where is third young master?" the second disciple wondered out loud.
"Huh! Isn't he standing at the front just now?" the first disciple said grumpily. He was still pissed at the second disciple for his butt in during his conversation with the third young master.
"But he isn't here anymore…besides, it was so unlike him to stand among us lowly disciples…"
Inside the Main Hall of Jiang Mansion, the atmosphere was a little repressed. Both the elders from the Fang family as well as the Jiang family didn't dare speak anything, opting only to stare at each other with creasing eyebrows. Even the Jiang family's patriarch didn't dare speak anything. The reason was this lady that came with Fang ZhiLing.
Her status was a little too special. Sitting on one of the honored guest seats, she calmly observed everyone. Near her, Fang ZhiLing sat with an equally calm attitude. Since nobody could see the face of the lady, from Fang ZhiLing's emotions, they could somewhat comprehend the temperament of the lady right now.
The patriarch Jiang threw a few more glance at her before shaking his head and sat quietly on his chair, nobody knew what he was thinking. An elder from the Fang family came forward, and politely spoke to the lady: "Miss Yun, is it alright if we start our meeting?"
"Yes!" her reply was short and cold, but it allowed everyone to hear her bell-like voice. Although it was cold, the voice was very pleasing to hear, as if spoken by a heavenly fairy. This made scene made a few people frown as they felt their authority was being questioned. But since the patriarch didn't mind, they kept quite about it. On the other hand, these people were even more curious about the identity of the lady in vail.
The Fang Elder nodded his head and came to his sit, but he didn't sit down. Looking at everyone present, he cleared his throat and started to speak: "Ahem! Hello everyone. I am Fang ZhongMing, Treasury Elder of the fang clan. Today, let me first announce very excellent news. Just the day before yesterday, out young mistress ZhiLing, broke through 2nd level Soul Tempering and formally stepped into 3rd Stage of the Soul Tempering stage. That day coincidentally, a passing Elder of the Misty Pearl Pavillion, a 6-starred sect, was passing through Lyon Imperial city and discovered her talent. She was very much interested in taking her as her personal disciple. From 8th of the next month, our family's ZhiLing would formally join the Misty Pearl Pavillion as a personal disciple of one of the elders.
When she knew about our agreement with Jiang Family, she mentioned to break off such trivial things for the sake of her future. But our patriarch remained adamant. Therefore she gave a compromise. If today ZhiLing didn't choose any one of her own accord, the marriage agreement would be nulled and voided." The old man finished speaking and arrogantly glanced everyone before continuing again. "The lady sitting here is the daughter of the elder. She was personally sent by the elder to overlook the process today. Her name is Yun LingLing, she is a core disciple of the Misty Pearl Pavillion."
Boom!!
Like a bomb that exploded, the Main Hall instantly filled with a cacophony of noises. Everyone gathered instantly widened their eyes, even the patriarch couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"What the hell? ZhiLing already stepped into 3rd Soul Tempering layer? Isn't she just promoted to a 2nd level last month? Isn't her talent a little too frightening?" an elder of the Jiang family sighed with emotions as he visualized all the youngsters in the Jiang family. At the lack of any one of the equal footing, he sighed again.
"Her luck is also extremely good. Who would have thought that a passing elder of a 6-star sect would be interested in her?" another elder sighed who was sitting beside the first elder. He was a bald man with a huge scar on his forehead. His eyes brows were thick as a pinky finger. His body was filled with buffed up muscles, he looked exactly like a bodybuilder.
"Compared to her, our Jiang Family fell short by a huge margin. Neither we had talent, nor we have luck…sigh…from now on, nobody could stop the rise of the Fang Clan. Can't you see that old man couldn't stop smiling even now?" an Elder with long white hair spoke as he expressed what on everyone's mind.
Like what he said, an old man who sitting beside Jiang patriarch was constantly smiling while gently playing with her long white beard. This man was named Fang RuiLing, the patriarch of Fang Clan. He wore a set of expensive-looking yellow robes, completed with a yellow cap on his head. Atop the cap, there was a red colored ball that shined every now and then. He was very thin, no different from a skeleton. But everyone knew his cultivation wasn't something they could scoff at.
He had already raised half a step towards the Core formation realm. Compared to Jiang Family head, he was already a huge step ahead. This old man was on this step since the past fifty years, he had already consolidated his realm. It was also rumored that he had already killed a core formation realm expert 25 years ago. Seeing this smiling old man's lean body, nobody would believe that he had such frightening cultivation.
The Jiang patriarch cupped his fist at the old man and spoke: "Thank you Fang old man for giving us Jiang clan face. Jiang clan will always remember this favor. Frankly, little Ling's aptitude even makes us old men shame. Even as a patriarch, I feel ashamed of my lack of talent in front of little Ling."
"Haha! You are too modest. This old man is a man of his words. How can I go back on something I already was given the word to?" the old man's face reddened instantly as he puffed his chest in pride at the mention of ZhiLing. Then his face morphed into a bitter smile "Although I said that, I have no power to change this little girl's decision if she didn't like anyone today. For this, I already apologize in advance." The old man frowned after and cupped his arm.
"You shouldn't feel bad about it. The esteemed elder already compromised enough. Even if it's me on her spot, I would never want to hinder her with this trivial mortal matters." Jiang patriarch said this frankly. It was one thing if both of them were talented. But if one party were average, it would only drag down the other one. Nobody wants to see a talented disciple wasted away.
For a cultivator, age is just a number. There were many instances where a pair of cultivators marry and have children in their 500th year. An average cultivator who had reached the Core formation realm could already live for thousands of year. With her talent and resources of a 6star sect behind her back, ZhiLing's advance might not stop at just the Core formation realm, which was the maximum cap of Lyon kingdom.
Compared to her, Jiang Family's youngsters weren't even qualified to lift her shoes. How can she select someone from the family today? The outcome of today's meeting was already fixed in stone the moment she stepped into the 3rd stage of Soul Tempering realm. What's happening today was just a farce.
Suddenly Jiang Patriarch remembered that day a decades ago when he had suffered the same fate as his sons were going to face today. Shaking his head in depression, he sighed "Is this so-called fate? Is the same thing is going to happen to my sons too?"