The instant Heiserana's voice rang out, Vivian shuddered and prepared to disintegrate into bats on the spot so she could hide in some nook or cranny—she had developed this conditioned response completely. Fortunately, Heiserana remembered that this probably wasn't the right occasion to pounce over and prpr her, so the brat, who had just hopped up from beside the conference table, froze stiffly in place. She then stiffly greeted Hao Ren and the others in the normal manner.
After Vivian confirmed that Heiserana wasn't suddenly going to pounce on her and gnaw at her, she breathed a small sigh of relief and finally had time to look around at the dozen or so people in the Great Hall.
Every person seated around the ornate wooden conference table possessed an unusual air about them. More than a dozen men and women, old and young, were all staring at Vivian and Hao Ren. Several of them were familiar faces. Aside from Heiserana, there were patriarchs of Sanctuary families like Jean Lucas, while the rest looked completely unfamiliar. Hao Ren guessed they were the important figures from other Sanctuaries whom Hesperis had mentioned.
The fact that only a dozen people were seated in the enormous Great Hall already made it seem overly spacious. On top of that, the dozen or so people were clearly divided into several groups, scattered in twos and threes around the conference table, maintaining what could only be called a distant separation from one another. There was no doubt this was because they came from different races. The farthest apart were undoubtedly the Vampires and Werewolves, while the others didn't look particularly harmonious either.
Hao Ren had already grown completely accustomed to the supernatural races' hostility toward one another, which had lasted for more than ten thousand years.
After