The party officially started with a huge round of applause and excited cheers from everyone.
"Well, Wu Guo, allow me to be the first to grant my god-granddaughter this Lunar Veil locket.", spoke an old man slowly as he walked up to the little girl and put it upon her neck.
The President smiled towards his daughter.
"Mei Ling, hurry up and thank your Grandpa He. You simply don't know the value of this locket.", Wu Guo signalled towards his daughter.
"Thank you, Grandpa He.", said Mei Ling in a sweet voice with a smile.
"Hahaha! To see little Mei'er happy, nothing else makes me more happy! I can die now, I can die now.", spoke the old man with a giant grin.
Meanwhile, hushed whispers rang out through the place.
"Isn't that the Tyrant Blade He Changing? To think he'd have a side like this?"
"Rumor has it that he led over hundreds insurrections against the Order and actually managed to survive each time. The bounty on his head exceeds what you can even start dreaming of!"
A scholar shushed them and said, "Forget about that. Do you see that locket? That's a 7th Tier Protective Locket! It's basically a second life!"
"You can buy a piece of land worth 10 million Tenars in the Central Domain with that locket!", the scholar whispered.
"Hiss....7th Tier....all the gear on me isn't even worth a 4th Tier weapon.", came the exclaimations.
"The head of the Chamber of War is really capable."
"Well, if the old codger can bear to give that little thing away, then how can I afford not to?", another laughter travelled from a carriage as a stout, middle aged man got out of the carriage and floated towards the platform.
"Oh it's you! Xu Lei!", smiled Wu Guo.
"Haha! Little Mei Er has sure grown up a lot! Grandpa Xu can't afford much, so please accept this.", spoke Xu Lei as he handed a blue patterned egg towards Mei Ling.
Accepting the egg, Mei Ling smiled at Grandpa Xu and thanked him.
"Little Mei, that's a 5th Heaven Tier Beast Egg.", smiled Xu Lei.
As soon as he said this, everybody in the hall lost their composure.
"Huh?"
"A Heaven ranked Beast Egg? I haven't even seen an Earth Ranked Beast Egg before in my life!"
"Forget that, this is a 5th Ranked One. Only the President and a few others have a heaven ranked Beast in the whole organisation!"
"That's all from this old man.", smiled Xu Lin as he deliberately flashed a smile at He Changmin, who simply snorted.
"Xu Lei is the head of the Chamber of Law.
There's not much he can't get his hands on. But I didn't expect this at all.", a behemoth of a man stood in the corner of the bottom floor and thought to himself.
"Interesting.", he growled.
With a huff, he jumped towards the platform in one go, leaving the place he was standing behind shattered into tiny pieces.
The landing seemed like it would be heavy, but it was deliberately controlled by the man.
Over 2.5 metres tall, and an equally muscular and built body, the man emitted a ferocious presence that stifled everyone's breath. It seemed like even a casual glance from this man would scare the living spirits out of the dead.
Wu Guo was displeased and exclaimed, "I told you to be careful with your aura, Zhou Lin. What if you scare Mei Ling?"
Mei Ling didn't seem to notice the ferocious aura about the man and smiled, "Hello, Uncle Zhou."
The man flashed a toothy grin that looked hideous.
"T-that's the strongest fighter of the Radicals. Zhou Lin, a 38 year old fighter that single handedly slaughtered an entire domain by himself. I-if it weren't for the Sages, he'd already have lead us to v-victory.", whispered the spectators as they stuttered, unable to speak properly..
"It's not that he can't control his aura, he's already far beyond the point of doing that. His body simply emits a tiny bit of his murderous aura even if he tries to control it."
"H-hiss.....And that's enough to stun us Qi Sea warriors?"
"Hey, I'm in the great perfection of Qi Sea and I am still terrified.", mumbled a man.
The man named Zhou Lin stopped grinning and spoke in a deep voice.
"Mei'er....I originally planned to give you the Titan Heart of the Hama Domain's Great Forge. But you can't handle its power for now. So I'll hold on to it until you turn of age."
"That's okay, Uncle Zhou. You being here is good enough for Mei Mei.", Mei Ling smiled again towards Zhou Lin.
"Hahaha. Don't worry, I have another gift planned for you, but it'll be later.", Zhou Lin growled.
"Wu Guo. I'll leave now towards the Eternal Frost before I get the urge to murder again. I'll be back in just a while."
Zhou Lin left without looking at Wu Guo even once.
However, Wu Guo didn't seem to mind. No, he knew exactly what kind of person Zhou Lin was. And besides, all that mattered to him was that he treated Mei Ling well. And he also knew that Mei Ling was the only person that Zhou Ling had ever treated well.
The party carried on with some formality until the President declared, "Now's the time to bring forwards your presents for Mei Ling."
This was what most people had been waiting for.
"If we can get the favour from the President... we're set."
"Don't forget about who Mei Ling's mother is too....that alone is more than enough to give away all of this."
"However, if it's not above 10,000 Tenars then don't bother.", the President added soon after.
This statement stopped most people in their tracks.
The first to offer a gift was an 11 year old pampered boy that came forwards with great pompousness.
By his side stood a very stoic old man that walked along his side.
"Ning Zhu, this is your grandchild?", asked Wu Guo towards the old man.
"Mm. The younger generation are the ones that will naturally have to carry our mission forwards. Go ahead, give little Mei her gift, Ning Jing."
"Greetings, Miss Wei. Ever since I saw your beauty, I have been enamoured. I keep thinking that-"
Mei Ling simply snorted and said, "I'm not interested, Ning Jing. You've told me this a hundred times before. Show me the present."
The boy pulled an awkward face and said, "Of course.", as he handed a tiny crystal towards her.
"This is...actually the Celestial Ninejade?", Mei Ling's eyes shimmered as she saw the crystal and her tone rose.
"N-no...that's an imitation copy that's 80% similiar. But I've heard how much you like the Celestial Ninejade so I had this made for you.", the boy stuttered.
"Hmph. I'm not interested in duplicates. Take it away.", Mei Ling simply turned her head.
"But-"
"Alright, that's enough, Ning Jing.", coughed Ning Zhu.
"You know that the younger generation must carry our burdens, Wu Guo. Consider my proposal to marry Ning Jing to Mei Ling.", said Ning Zhu.
"As long as Shangguan Yan'er doesn't agree, I can't help you there.", shrugged Wu Guo.
"And you know how her temper gets."
Indeed, that was enough to dissuade Ning Zhu as he shuddered. Ning Zhu took Ning Jing and said, "Well, I won't bother little Mei Er any more. See you."
Wu Guo simply shrugged again.
For a long time after that, lots of people went and gave their presents but were all equally rejected by Mei Ling.
A man went forwards and smiled at Mei Ling.
"Uh...greetings little Miss Mei. I have the perfect present for you!", said the man as he took out a crystal."
"This is the rare Tenie Crystal from the Zod Domain. It costs over 11,000 Tenars to buy. How about it? Do you like it?", the man said as he handed it over with a huge pain in his heart at the price.
"No thanks.", shook Mei Ling as she turned away uninterestedly.
"I already have hundreds of this thing at home."
"Ah..B-but", the man stuttered but eventually turned away.
After a while, everyone tried but nobody could give a gift good enough for the young lady, and all left slowly, one after the other.
Wu Guo turned to his daughter and asked, "Sigh....is there really nothing that interests you?"
Just as Mei Ling shook her head, a figure approached from the sky.
With a gentle thud, a giant landed on the platform.
"I've got your present, Little Mei.", said Zhou Ling.
Pulling out a kid from a bag, he threw him towards Mei Ling.
The kid looked around in confusion and anger, but he was also slightly scared of the towering man's aura.
"Boy....If you look at me with rage again, you will not see for the rest of your life.", the man growled.
This scared the kid.
Wu Guo stood up and asked, "Zhou Ling, what's the meaning of this? Why would Mei Ling like a present like this?"
Mei Ling did not say anything but she evidently had the same question on her face as she stared at the boy.
"Wu Guo....you need to increase the security around here. What a joke that a mere boy should be able to sneak into the base of the Order's greatest enemy!", snarled Zhou Ling.
"You know I see everything in a hundred kilometres all around me. Every bug, every ant, every drop of water, I feel it all. How could I not see this ant sneak in?"
Zhou Ling calmed down after putting his hand on his pendant.
"But today isn't about me or him. It's Little Mei's birthday after all. Boy, take out the crystal that you had earlier."
Zheng Li was helpless. Just moments ago, he'd learnt that it would take 10,000 points just to spy on this huge man's stats alone. He had been minding his own business in a small corner of the Hall when this man grabbed him without any regard and put him into bag.
Zheng Li took out the Trizone Crystal and gave it to Mei Ling. This was his only line of hope, and he didn't know what he was supposed to do in the face of this great man that went around kidnapping kids.
Immediately, Mei Ling's face lit up. Grabbing it with both hands, she was starstruck by the crystal at first glance and rubbed it all over her face.
"I love this gift sooo much!", shouted Mei Ling towards Zhou Lin and gave him a hug, ignoring his intimidating aura.
The man flashed another toothy grin which looked unnatural on his face.
"I'll let you decide what to do with this boy, Mei Lin. I suggest you take a portion of his soul and bind him as a servant. After all, someone who can sneak into this place is no ordinary person.", said Zhou Lin before he walked away.
"I'm going into seclusion. Don't look for me.", was the only thing he said.
Meanwhile, Zheng Li didn't have the greatest of looks on his face.
Wu Guo looked to be in thought and turned towards Zheng Li.