Moon-watching Tower was steeped in a heavy silence.
No one spoke.
After a lengthy silence.
Someone whispered softly, sounding like a complaint yet also a question, "Lord Xingyi is quite a character, but what's so great about advancing to Zenith? Why shouldn't we compete for it like everyone else?"
"Shush!"
Someone tugged at his sleeve, "Lord Xingyi is only twenty-three this year!"
"No, not twenty-three," another person shook their head, counting on their fingers, "I remember clearly, the year Wolf Smoke was promoted to Great Warrior Master, my brother returned home. He went to the Grand Court Meeting—it's once every five years. He should be back next year, it's less than four years in total. Wolf Smoke was half past eighteen when he became Hunting Tiger… He should be twenty-one and a half this year, and a full twenty-two next summer."
Twenty-one!
The person who asked was jolted awake, suddenly realizing who Lord Xingyi was referred to by the tower master.
