On the day of assembly, early morning right as the sun shone through the window, someone came to knock on the door, waking up both Shen Yu and Kai, letting them know that the guests should get ready for on time participation.
Although no extra words were spoken, it could be assumed that today’s gathering was of great significance.
Fortunately, neither of them had to prepare much, they just washed themselves and changed into a set of clothes they were familiar with. One wore a pair of black shirt pants, while the other wore a pair of white lace shirt and black bottoms. In a sense, they matched, and a strange sense of harmony followed suit.
Usually, during such formal occasions, factions would show off their assimilated status by wearing beautiful native dresses or carrying powerful weapons. Many thought that the more powerful a cultivator was, the more powerful his or her assimilated status would be once they transmigrated. So showing off meant they were good cultivators even in the real world, and that meant they needed to be licked.
The weak preferred the strong, and the strong preferred their goodwill, that was the unspoken rule.
The assimilated status not only strengthened people’s voices in formal assemblies but also gave them the strength to compete against other minority groups when it came to decision making and improvising faction rights in the mission world.
The fact that Aerial tried to poach Kai was not a simple matter, because Kai was different from just a faction leader, he also represented strength, and his achievements – however disdained – were a trump card that assured 99% win rate against disputing factions.
Even just this small portion of politics during mission progression was by no means a matter of course, it would lead to serious ramifications in the real world if the supporting party did not acknowledge the faction’s decision.
So if Kai acknowledged Aerial, he would have to think about his supporters first.
However, Aerial was not in anyway, a powerful leader, and her tricks were just that, tricks.
For this reason Kai never paid much attention to her. But although he didn’t, Aerial, as Lady Liyi, did not feel the same. That is why when the time came to invite out the transmigrators, she avoided Hunter as if avoiding a plague.
While Shen Yu got ready to leave the room, Kai suddenly advised him, “We don’t have to care about our clothes. Just… take your dagger out and keep it with you, that will be enough.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
All this time, Shen Yu had been busy adapting to his new cultivation practice, so he couldn’t spare any time for mundane things like shopping for clothes or weapons. And how they dressed up didn’t matter when more important things were waiting for them. So Shen Yu never thought of such things as presentation.
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Dea…
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And he made the right guess, as Kai showed a disdainful sneer when he heard him, “Who cares about what they think, you just need to be armed… some of them go loony over the smallest matter.”
Shen replied dully to this reminder, and complied with his request.
~
“Where is the 5th hall?” Kai asked the nearest service staff who was busy arranging flowers by the end of the corridor.
The staff pointed out the directions for them, so Kai pulled Shen Yu along without wasting further time. They crossed over the stairs, the guest lobbies, the fountain patio, and ended up heading right into the expansive courtyard, that centered a large network of hallways, archways and gateways.
It almost felt like a mediaeval castle, but more glamorous and enchanting.
They walked for a long time before reaching the joint floor where the 5th hall was located. The interior was carved with beautiful sculptures and designer tiles, while the decorative wall panels were actually glowing with a strange amber light. As if thousands of fireflies were trapped inside. It was creepy enough to startled Shen Yu, who never preferred such weird highlights.
The entryway to the 5th Hall was guarded by two service staffs, and they carefully greeted the guests before opening the door to let them in. “Dear guests, thank you for your time.”
Actually, Shen Yu wasn’t used to facing such respectful gazes and humble calls, he always felt that he didn’t deserve it, that he was not that high in status. It had basically become a part of him, even if he was aware that he shouldn’t think like this. Sometimes a prolonged exposure to a long time bullying would make even the strongest of characters extremely modest and sensitive. But today he had arrived with Kai, no, Hunter, so he couldn’t show any nervousness in front of strangers. He could never embarasse Kai, not when he was part of Hunter’s Faction.
Although Kai never explicitly told him about his faction in details, it was obvious where Shen Yu stood in the final analysis. If he wasn’t a member today, then he would be a member tomorrow. It was only a matter of time, and seeing Kai’s behaviour these past few days, Shen Yu was just lacking an official recognition.
Once inside, Shen Yu noticed that the hall was very large, its full capacity reaching an unprecedented high for an assembly Hall. It was hard to count, but a rough estimate was definately more than a ten thousand seats.
With such a high occupancy rate, the gathered transmigrators didn’t seem too large, their numbers even felt small.
The second thing Shen Yu noticed was a podium that had been placed at the center of the hall, with seats being arranged in a fan shape around it.
Such large capacity halls could no longer be called halls, and regular humans could never be comfortable if they had to see the podium with their bare eyesight. But all the transmigrators were cultivators and their assimilated bodies could no longer be counted as normal, so because of this they had no issues with their eye sight or hearing. Even the seats were arranged in a layered formation, the end row being 10 m high from the ground level, which made the sitting area have no vision obstruction.
The third thing, or person, Shen Yu noticed was Lady Liyi.
Although Liyi organized the event, she was sitting at the back row, and the one standing at the center was another older woman, who looked to be in her 60s.
She was charming in her own sense, with a hint of maturity to her personage. Such people were majestic in their own way, and would attract attention wherever they went.
A different kind of Qi enveloped her body, it was lighter and more distinct, yet her aura was heavy with a strange coercion that felt uncomfortable when in contact with.
Since Shen Yu started to practice medius cultivation, although not yet strong in combat, his senses were now keen enough to feel the slightest ripple in the Qi around himself. According to Kai’s instructions, Shen Yu was practicing his Qi adsorption and release rate even now, so as to avoid any hidden dangers coming his way if Kai was unable to defend himself. So he immediately felt the strained atmosphere of the hall, and his body was on guard against that old lady, and even the other occupants.
Of course, Shen Yu didn’t believe Kai wouldn’t be able to defend him, but since Kai told him to keep practicing even during such a formal gathering, he would do it.
But looking at the atmosphere here, he wasn’t sure anyone was interested in him. These cultivators only minded the strong ones, the weak ones were just fodder to them. But he might have raised a flag here, because later, he became the focus of attention without even saying a word, only, at present he didn’t know about it.
~
Most factions who were meant to come were already there, leaving out just a few who were still on the way, so the upright madam standing next to the podium, started with her introduction.
Kai and Shen Yu seems to have arrived late, but fortunately they weren’t too shabby with their timing. Just as they took the back seat , Shen Yu noticed Luvidel also shifting from one seat to another, like a school student trying to find the best place to listen to lectures and highlight his own presence in front of the teacher. His seat was directly opposite to theirs, the position at the foremost row. Next to him sat four strong men, all of them dressed in a similar fashion, just as extravagant and glamourous, gaudy like Luvidel himself.
“…we have reach 3467 participants as of today, a few more would be joining us by the next month,” Mrs. Campbel, the old lady, said from behind her podium, her stern yet polite grace a bit blinding. “-I am not considering the factor of age and merits when we discuss strategies and clues, I am looking at the idea that you have and the result you are after.”
Her voice resounded in the hall as the 3466 occupants watched her speak, some of them looked bored, some were serious, and some were just engrossed by her tone.
“Right now,” she continued, “the mission progress has reached 23%, the first progress being 6%, the second one being 17%, which occured just a few weeks back. It is indeed difficult, but for the next progress we need to reach over 50% before we start executing our plan.”
“Without reaching the targeted benchmark, it will be hard to say whether we are heading into the right direction or we are going to receive a penalty. To avoid penalty, it is best to discuss the problem first and look for a way out, before we execute our plan.”
Mrs. Campbel also reminded, “Alas, if we reach the targeted 50+, we need to control the flow of execution… we will launch a small project in the first 3 years of our mission, and if we get the value higher than 70%, we will play big and finish the mission at a faster pace.”
She paused, waiting for her words to be digested, before she continued, “Of course, considering the progress speed, we may end this mission under 4 years, or if we are being more reckless, then 3 years is enough to end it…”
Shen Yu had seen such gatherings before when he watched the live broadcast in his free time, he never thought he would one day get a chance at this, so even if he felt uncomfortable with this old lady’s unbearable aura, he still keenly sensed that she wasn’t just another cultivator.
She…
Seemed to be an immortal…?
