Registration was supposed to last a few minutes but Ye Chen's time at the registration booth was taking longer than the average person.
"Show me your spiritual beast." The Elder demanded.
"But I don't want to reveal my spiritual beast … I would prefer to use it only in dangerous situations." Ye Chen insisted.
"Without a spiritual beast confirmation, you are not allowed to go to the conference. Rules are rules. You can either show me or you can stay here in the sect and not go." The elder sternly warned.
"I am sorry… but my Shizun told me not to show it to just anyone, especially strangers." Ye Chen added.
"Stranger? How dare you talk to an elder like that. You will not be going to the conference" He slammed his table and shouted at Ye Chen
"Elder Xi, It is true that Elder Ming forbade him to show his spiritual beast to anyone. But I assure you that he has a spiritual beast. Elder Ming has personally informed me before this." Sect Master Wu came to the rescue once again.
"Tsk. You're behaving as though your spiritual beast is forbidden or of a rare grade. What can a kid who couldn't contract any spiritual beast in the hunt have anyway? Get out of my sight." Elder Xi sarcastically commented towards Ye Chen and gestured to him to go away.
"Thank you once again, Sect Master Wu." Ye Chen is starting to feel embarrassed at the amount of trouble he got into in just one morning.
"No trouble at all. Elder Ming really did inform me before the registration in the morning." He smiled and walked off.
--
An hour later when registrations are completed, all disciples are escorted to a cliff on top of Heaven Peak where there were two large birds waiting. Both their backs had rows of seats that could seat up to 25 people each. There were around 25 inner sect disciples going for the conference this year and 25 elders and inner sect senior disciples (who have already gone to the conference before) who would be going there to aid the conference with its operational duties.
Ye Chen was about to step onto the ladder when his foot slipped and he accidentally stumbled backwards, stepping onto the feet of the person behind him.
"Ouch!" A sharp female voice cut through the quiet peak surroundings.
"I'm so sorry!" Ye Chen turned around and saw a female disciple with dark black eyes staring at him while grumbling.
"You again! Hmmph!" The older female disciple from the registration earlier rolled her eyes once again at the surprised Ye Chen.
Before Ye Chen could say anything, the female disciple stomped on his feet in return and hopped up the ladder, making way onto the bird.
"?!?!" Ye Chen was both confused and amused at the fiery temper.
"Ye-Xiong, who is that and what did you do to make her so angry?" Wen Jun, who was watching from the side, started laughing and patting Ye Chen on the back.
"No idea. She's crazy." Ye Chen accidentally locked eyes with the female disciple again when she reached the top, and this time, she stuck out her tongue at him.
"..."
"Wow...Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Good luck Ye-Xiong." Wen Jun commented before he headed up the ladder.
"It's not what it looks like…" Ye Chen realized he was explaining himself for absolutely no reason and stopped trying to do so as he also followed Wen Jun up the ladder.
"Ye-Xiong, are you excited to see the Mu brothers?" Wen Jun cheekily chose a seat beside Ye Chen and casually sat beside him.
Ye Chen was initially looking forward to the conference as the Mu brothers will also be attending. But now it seems like he would have to be on guard most of the time as he does not plan to get the Mu brothers involved in having to protect him.
Elder Ming is not invited to join as a moderator as he had already participated as a moderator for the past two conferences. In other words, Ye Chen would be on his own.
"I'm sleepy, wake me up when we reach the neutral ground." Ye Chen said before closing his eyes, not answering Wen Jun's question.
As most of the disciples boarded the bird, it took off on the command of Sect Master Wu and very soon both birds were flying through the clouds at a high speed.
As all the participating disciples were on the same bird, exciting chatter could be heard among them.
A particular conversation between a group of disciples stood out and everyone on board was just listening in.
"How long do you think it will take to reach the neutral ground?"
"Normally from here to there on foot, around 2 weeks. On a horse, 1 week. On Elder Xi's contracted spiritual beast - Giant Twin Pelicans, 3 hours."
"Twin? So Elder Xi has TWO spiritual beasts?"
"Technically it's one whole soul, but is able to split up into two smaller entities, thus considered just one. However, if one dies another will not survive either."
"Oooooo" The small crowd of disciples nodded in amazement.
"I heard that Silver People are going to be grouped with us too. What if they hold us back?..."
"That's right, what if they hold us back? They are so untalented" Some others joined the conversation.
The group of disciples started fussing over being grouped with Silver people and the chatter became louder with disapproval.
Suddenly a loud and sharp female voice broke the chatter.
"Tsk. Are you all living in a cave? There are going to be things that Silver People know that we don't. Furthermore, only scholars in the top 10 ranks every year in the past five years were invited. Some might even be smarter than us. So maybe YOU ALL are the one that would hold them back."
Everyone who was listening turned their heads towards the voice. Even Ye Chen who was resting opened his eyes and looked over.
It was the older female disciple from his morning incidents.
"Are you saying we are not better than them?" One of the agitated male disciples stood up and pointed his finger towards her.
"No. I am just simply pointing out the possibility that the situation could be reversed." She replied with confidence.
"How dare you! Who do you think you are! Just a newcomer in the inner sect and already so cocky. As your senior, I will teach you a lesson!" The male disciple was about to slap her when someone held his arm and whispered into his ears.
"A real man never raises his hand to a woman, especially when you are outwitted. Not sure if you are aware of how bad this will look on you as a senior... and a man?" Ye Chen smiled and let go of the disciple's arm before facing the crowd.
"I believe this is just a misunderstanding. Let's preserve our energy for the conference later." Ye Chen said to the group and the male disciple.
"Forget it. This is a waste of my time." The male disciple quickly added as he went back to his seat.
"This is none of your business, don't expect me to thank you." The female disciple angrily sat down and looked away.
"..."
Wen Jun's laughter was heard again as Ye Chen made his way back to his seat.