After three sticks of incense later...
-
"Alright everyone, the guests are already waiting for us. Let's go." My mother declared after she had wrapped up everything with the other family elders. In this circular room, there were not only the Junior Elders but also the Senior Elders and Family Patriarch present as well. They were the supervisors and boss whereas the Junior Elders were the family managers.
-
As everyone began shuffling for the door, the family patriarch had suddenly stopped in his tracks. He then turned around and instructed us, the new generation to walk in front of him and the Senior Elders. Initially, We were indeed stunned at his order but we quickly recovered and did as told.
-
We arranged ourselves to walk in 2 people per row formation starting with the oldest at the very front and the youngest shall stand in front of the patriarch.
-
Seeing us quickly organize ourselves, the family Patriarch and Senior Elders wore looks of approval. On the other hand, the Junior Elders had pale faces and were wiping their sweat as they watched their seniors' reactions. From the looks of it, this was a small test that mother and the other Junior Elders were coming up with just now during the meeting. When I scanned through the group of Junior Elders, I hadn't spotted my mother. My mother however was standing and watching us calmly by the side, it seemed that she had confidence in us from the very beginning. She gave me a thumbs up when she caught me peeking at her.
-
After entering the third corridor, the family patriarch suddenly ordered us to stop. "Something's not right, the hall is too quiet...Even from here, I can't hear anyone talking...Did a bigshot show up?? I wonder who is it??"
-
As the patriarch continued to sense for the other party's presence, the other elders standing by had also opted to take out their own defensive artifacts. Mother's defensive artifact was a snowflake hair pin which she had always worn everywhere. Mother's old title as Lucid Mistress was a strong ice element user who had cultivated to Late Core Formation when she was only 25 years old. Therefore, even though she has retired upon marrying into the Severlance family and had me, she's still stronger than most elders here, she's probably the 3rd or 4th strongest in the entire family. When mother had taken out her defensive artifact, the pin immediately enlarged into a meter long black one-handed longsword made black crystals. Right...her defensive artifact was a longsword whereas her artifact for attacking was another translucent one-handed rapier made from mithril.
-
"Haiz, it's been so long since I've taken you out, Eludivictor." These words had escaped mother's mouth silently yet it was still audible? I frowned at the thought of it. 'Did mother share her voice with me? How did I hear that?'
-
'Doesn't matter! It seems like there's trouble in the family hall.' I decided not to dwell on the unimportant matters as the problem in family hall seemed bigger and more troublesome than the family patriarch expected. After releasing his Spiritual Sense at family hall's direction, he seemed to have frowned as he too brought out his defensive artifact. The family patriarch had taken out a spear with a red pointed crystal tip. The shaft of the spear seemed to be made of scarlet steel and imperial gold which also had ancient runes and symbols etched onto it. The spear was clearly an artifact of high grade since it could produce fluctuations that could make the elders and even mother shudder. The patriarch then cleared our curiosity with the next sentence. "This our family heirloom Heaven Severing Lance, Severlance...This family heirloom was passed down from the previous patriarch to the next patriarch through a ritual where the previous master was to be killed by the new master with the Severlance else the Severlance will not acknowledge the new master and in turn cause a bloody massacre which no one will be able to stop."
-
"Patriarch Mani. G, is that unknown person powerful enough that lord has to summon our family heirloom?" One of the Junior Elders had suddenly asked.
-
"What do you think? That person's strong enough that I can barely sense him. If I don't bring out the Severlance and instead get bullied by this unknown person, wouldn't our family become laughing stocks of other territories? Even if the Severlance Family gets destroyed, we will be destroyed with pride!" The family patriarch replied firmly.
-
But when he and the elders began to make their way to the hall, the patriarch and the other elders had halted in their tracks once more.
-
"The spiritual pressure...It's gone?" The patriarch furrowed his brows as he sent his Spiritual Sense out to probe again. This time though, there were only three people standing and everyone else laid on the floor.
-
"The expert must have sensed us, right? Else how would it be so easy to quell the anger of a master?" A Junior Elder proposed.
-
"This must be the expert's way of giving us face, I presume." A Senior Elder replied.
-
"I don't know if the expert was really giving us face but, what I know is that the unknown expert knows when to push and when to retreat." Mother interjected and corrected.
-
"Well then, if the expert has ceased his activity because of us, we shouldn't let him wait any longer. Let's go!" Patriarch returned the Severlance back into his storage ring before walking towards the hall unperturbed.
-
As we stepped out of the corridor, everybody stopped their chatting and turned to look at us.
-
"Wow, there's so many people!" Little sister Jade was looking around excitingly.
-
"Well compared to the normal parties we attended, the number of people here has indeed increase...But, that's about it." [Brother Lei Yong]
"Oi, Lei Yong, you're the only one here who has attended more than 50 parties last year. Besides you, none of us has seen this many people. So shut yer mouth up and let us enjoy this ceremony." Big Brother Rayzer scolded him with disdain. Even though Big brother Rayzer looked and acted like a chill guy, he's actually very proficient in information gathering and bullying Brother Lei Yong. Big brother Rayzer's hobby was to constantly find Lei Yong's dirt and undermine him whenever they were at any events. This was also the reason why the common folk disliked Brother Lei Yong, all the rumors and stories they knew of Lei Yong were all dug up and shared by Big bro Rayzer. Lei Yong on the underhand had already gotten used to this bullying scheme since he knew he had brought this upon himself. Of course, I did think that this was Big bro Rayzer's way of getting Lei Yong to stop partying an start cultivating. If he keeps his behavior up, I'm sure even Sister Jade and Little brother Starfall will surpass him in realms, hehehe....
-
After a stick of incense...
-
We 7 siblings took our seats as the ceremony began. We 7 were instructed by our parents to sit at the very back of the hall so that when our names were called, our entrance would look stunning. Everybody sucked in their breaths when they heard this. 'Wasn't there an unknown expert here? Can't our entrance be a bit more lowkey? Do you want us court death and pass away this early?' But before anyone of us could retort, we suddenly felt chills in our spines. As helplessness filled our hearts, we could only obediently nod our heads and did as we were told. Haiz, I just hoped that this unknown expert would not mind us showing off in front of him.
-
After the family patriarch had given his speech, it was finally our turn to shine.
-
At Senior Elder Damion's cue, I stood up from my seat and took a deep breath. Our performance this time was to be as dazzling and eye catching as ever so us being calm was a must! After calming my nerves, I straightened my back and strode over to the stage confidently. As I was halfway to the stage, I activated my Cold Beauty Aura to further enhance my appearance. It worked because the number of men trying to woo me this time had increased by at least four fold. Then as I ignored all of these men's words, something sparkled in the corner of my eye.
-
'It's him! He's actually here!' At the sight of this person, my heartbeat had actually increased. 'No, wait...what's happening to me?' My vision suddenly blurred, my breath had quicken and my heartbeat had increased in speed. Before I knew it, I was actually standing in front of this person. Eh, when did this happen?? (⁄ ⁄•⁄_⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄
-
My next movement had startled myself even more.
-
After arriving in front of him, I placed my jade carved hands onto his small shoulders. Then without any extra movement, he was suddenly in my embrace?? What's happening to me? I, Crystal Severlance couldn't restrain myself and instead had made the first move against my little brother?! At this moment, my entire mind had crumbled. What was going on with me?!?!?!