The red-haired lady waved at Yang Qing with battle intent flashing in her eyes. Her name was Wei Liling. She was one of the prime beauties of the One thousand hall battle palace, however, she was a combat fanatic who had eyes and thoughts for nothing else, other than battling strong opponents.
Next to her was Liu Juan who was the silver-haired young man with a sleepy look.
Both Wei Liling and Liu Juan were legacy palace disciples of the Battle Palace which meant they got to learn the skills of different halls. Legacy palace disciples didn't have one master but could be considered the disciple of every seasoned trainer of the institute. As long as one became a legacy palace disciple, every trainer of the One thousand hall battle palace was required to teach them all their arts without reservation. They were to be treated as their own prized disciple, which made legacy palace disciples the most thorny and versatile of fighters.
Over the years, the first-place position in the competition always went to them and it was only on a few occasions would it go to an outsider, like during Yang Qing's year when the first and second position went to a sword heart disciple from the Radiant sword sect and Kang Huilang, from the Order. However, from the third position, all the way to the eighth was solely occupied by the legacy palace disciples.
Yang Qing casually waved as he tried to avoid maintaining eye contact with Wei Liling any more than he should, otherwise, she might misunderstand it as an agreement for a duel.
Wei Liling showed a downcast expression when she saw Yang Qing look away, however, her eyes lit up when she spotted Kang Huilang mingling with Dai Chen and the rest in the area set aside for Order employees.
Yang Qing lit up too when he saw this because it meant Kang Huilang may suffer a beating later. Wei Liling and Liu Juan were already in the palace realm just like Yang Qing, while Kang Huilang was still in the peak stage of the core formation realm.
Kang Huilang would have broken through at the same time as Yang Qing but he had been refining his different intents into a singular body before he broke through. That process took time, but from what Yang Qing detected, in a month at most, Kang Huilang would be ready to break through along with Xia Boqin and Yu Huifang who just like Kang Huilang had delayed their breakthroughs to shore up their foundations.
….
"Don't spare him, sister Wei Liling," Yang Qing gleefully thought as he envisioned Kang Huilang's sorry state.
Yang Qing soon dragged his thoughts back to the incoming guests as he counted the dying minutes till the ceremony began. The process would be short and direct. The Chief Justice would say a few words, then he would hand it over to Yang Qing to say a few words, then he would be handed a new medallion, a robe, a scroll, and a small artifact signifying his status as a palace court judge.
After that, the last phase would begin, which was the most dangerous and also the most exciting, it was the gift-giving phase. The guests would all come up in the order of their rank and prestige and will hand over their gifts to Yang Qing, one by one as they exchanged a few words here and there. If anything were to happen, it would be in that period.
Before Vice President Mo Ye arrived, Yang Qing didn't dread the situation as much, but with his presence, he felt a little uneasy.
Twelve minutes passed by and six more Rank 1 organizations arrived bringing their total to thirteen. None of the new arrivals matched the prestige of the One thousand hall battle palace. Most of them were new to mid-tier Rank 1 organizations. A few of them were sects and families. Yang Qing managed to see the Zou family, however, it seemed only one of their elders had come by and not their current clan leader.
The truly top-tier rank 1 organizations had not made an appearance, which didn't come as a surprise to Yang Qing and the Order since it was to be expected.
Those behemoth organizations would not make an appearance for a palace realm judge, since it was a little beneath their station, however during the domain promotions a couple of them do make appearances.
If it wasn't for the close relationship between the One thousand hall battle palace and the Order, they would likely not have made an appearance today, let alone send one of their prestigious hall masters. But because of their close relationship, the Battle Palace always availed itself of these ceremonies, even to the core formation ceremonies that most organizations don't come to.
….
Only three minutes were left before the ceremony would officially begin. In this time, there were no more guests coming in, and everyone was already seated in their respective positions as they stared at the platform.
The soul formation cultivators on the platform with Yang Qing seemed to have tacitly agreed to Yang Qing seating next to Assistant Director Feng Lei instead of pulling him to his assigned seat. It was Vice President Mo Ye instead, who took that seat, and by the look of things he was the one who would be starting the ceremony instead of the Chief Justice.
To Yang Qing it made sense, since even though the Spirit Council could essentially supersede the authority of a single Vice president, individually they held enormous power such as granting entry to the special treasure vault of the Order could be done with the approval of one Vice president signing off, or the loaning of ascendant grade artifacts and above. Also, the unanimous vote of the three Vice presidents combined could overrule any ruling or decision made by the Spirit Council.
The three minutes seemed like it went on for hours and hours. When the last second was up, Yang Qing expected either the Vice president or the Chief Justice to stand up and start the ceremony, however, none of them seemed to have the intention to do so as they remained seated in their seats, their gazes trained on the crowd.
Another two minutes passed by with no movement from either of them. Yang Qing grew increasingly puzzled the more the seconds dwindled by.
"Am I too sensitive, that I'm imagining this?" Yang Qing silently thought to himself.
Yang Qing felt the air around the platform had a sudden shift and felt more solemn. At first, he chalked it up to his nervousness but when he looked around, he noticed the soul formation experts up there with him all had solemn looks on their faces. From Assistant Director Feng Lei who was seated next to him, all the way up to the stern elder lady who was seated in the last seat, they all had a rare seriousness about them. Even the jolly-looking Vice Chancellor Wu Ling looked serious at the moment.
There was only one person who seemed casual as he was when he arrived, and that was Vice President Mo Ye.
When Vice President Mo Ye sensed Yang Qing's gaze on him, he turned his way and gave him a comforting smile, which oddly enough seemed to have set Yang Qing's mind at ease, despite not knowing what was going on.
Yang Qing turned his face in the direction of the section reserved for Order employees to try and get some relief and comfort from seeing his friends' cheering gazes and Kang Huilang's indignant look, however, that plan backfired when he saw the similar solemn looks on Meng Chao, Dean Zhu Lao and other senior figures within the Order.
Yang Qing now knew there was definitely something going on and there was only one way for him to discover what.
"Senior Blue Universe, Senior Veiled Destiny, Senior Green Cocoon, have you detected anything off in the surroundings?
All my seniors have these looks on their faces like something terrible is coming," said Yang Qing. He had three saint-grade artifacts which were equal to three soul formation experts, he would be a fool not to take advantage of them.
"There are six people headed this way, and two of them are stronger than Assistant Director Jun Pei, which is something," said Blue Universe.
Yang Qing's heart started racing when he heard that. His mind automatically assumed it was an attack before he calmed down and analyzed the situation. If they were attackers, then the soul formation experts on the stage would have already acted and that was even acting on the assumption that the would-be attackers had already bypassed all the other security measures the Order had on hand, and made it here.
If they were not attackers, then were they guests?
But as far as Yang Qing knew, even prominent rank 1 organizations such as the One thousand battle hall palace which had at least over five soul formation realm experts, never sent one for the Order's ceremony, no matter their deep relationship, because every soul formation expert could be considered a strategic resource for them, that they could not risk deploying even a single one, except for extenuating circumstances.
But now there were two of them headed their way and they were stronger than Assistant Director Jun Pei, a known trainer of the inquisitors and the requiem guards. Yang Qing realized he had overlooked one thing in Blue Universe's statement.
How strong was Assistant Jun Pei in comparison to the lineup on hand?
If she was the weakest, it wouldn't matter since there would be 8 more people stronger than her but if she was among the top most figures, then the situation would be worrying for him.
