Meanwhile, in the grand hall on Green Cliff Mountain, where the soul jade slips of all the disciples of Yuan Hua Sect were placed…
It was quite dark in the spacious hall, with only two lamps hanging down from the ceiling with two tiny golden threads, emitting a faint light. Mountain breeze blew into the hall through the door, swaying the lamps and making the light flicker, casting shadows here and there as if there were countless wandering spirits dancing about in the hall.
Rows or racks hewed from green mountain rocks were placed in the hall, on top of which, countless soul jade slips sat solemnly. Under each slip there hung a small wooden plate. The name, the position, as well as the seniority of the owner of the slip were written on it with little golden characters. Towards the end of the hall, at the highest spot of the last rack was placed a palm-sized, pale golden soul jade slip. The wooden plate hung underneath it wrote 'Patriarch Yuan Hua'.
