On the raised platform in the Training Ground on Yunmiao Mountain.
Wang Yuan sat in the seat of honor, his blue robe plain and clean, his expression composed.
Ji Mie Arhat sat to his left, his monk's robe fluttering faintly around his gaunt frame as he rested on the Bamboo Staff, his eyes closed in meditation.
Situ Lie sat to his right. The Sect Master of the Kaoshan Sect, largely recovered from his injuries, had changed into a mystic iron-colored brocade robe that day.
Though his face was still somewhat pale, his back was straight and he looked full of vigor.
On two rows of stone benches below sat sect leaders, heads of great families, and gang chiefs who had come from all across Cloud Province.
Daoist Fencang occupied the first seat on the left, his crimson robe brand-new. Beneath his red eyebrows, his eyes held a steadiness they had lacked before.
Su Qinghan occupied the first seat on the right, her plain white robes washed spotless, her expression as cool as ever.
Farther back sat the leaders of dozens of mid-sized factions, including the Iron Sword Sect, Clear Spring Valley, Cangyan Fortress, and Setting Sun Manor, along with the representatives of over a hundred small sects and powerful clans.
Disciples, attendants, and commoners who had come to watch packed the edges of the Training Ground and the surrounding slopes, a dense, dark sea of people stretching from the platform all the way to the mountainside.
Wang Yuan raised a hand. The clamor in the Training Ground gradually subsided, and over a thousand pairs of eyes turned as one toward the seat of honor on the platform.
"Everyone."
Wang Yuan began slowly, his voice ringing out so clearly that it reached every corner of the grounds.
"I invited you up