As Cheng Buzheng slowly announced appointment after appointment...
The selected Mortal Cultivators secretly rejoiced, unable to keep a trace of delight from showing on their faces. They hurriedly rose to express their thanks;
while those who had not been selected looked somewhat dejected.
They covertly glanced at the newly appointed acting Hall Masters, their gazes complicated—envy, reluctance, and suppressed resentment all mingling within them.
For a time, the atmosphere in the great hall became rather strange.
Some rejoiced while others grieved, each harboring different thoughts.
Before long, the acting candidates for every Hall Master position and every department's core leadership role had all been announced.
Seated upon his throne, Cheng Buzheng naturally took in every subtle shift in expression among the unsuccessful Mortal Cultivators in the hall.
Having lived for centuries, he had long seen through the ways of the human heart. In an instant, he understood the gap between these cultivators' expectations and reality, as well as the small, unwilling thoughts buried in their hearts.
Only after the several hundred Mortal Cultivators in the hall had gradually adjusted their emotions, and both disappointment and joy had slowly settled, did Cheng Buzheng speak again, his clear voice reaching every corner of the hall:
"Of course, those of you who were not selected are not entirely without opportunities. There is no need to lose heart."
At those words, the unsuccessful Half Venerables and Nascent Soul True Lords, who had worn dejected expressions, instantly brightened.
They abruptly raised their heads to look toward Cheng Buzheng upon the high platform's throne, a flicker of hope rekindling in their eyes.
Their previously low spirits were swept away in an instant;
meanwhile, the joy surging through the hearts of those already selected immediately subsided. They all grew somewhat uneasy as they looked toward Cheng Buzheng,