If Kong Ziyi had been present, she would have known that Glory Merit Hall was actually one of the Red Phoenix Sect's halls.
The Supreme Clarity Sect had a similar institution called the Merit Pavilion. When meritorious elders of the sect grew old and no longer wished to handle mundane affairs, yet had nowhere else to go, they entered the Merit Pavilion.
All the cultivators in Red Phoenix Sect's Glory Merit Hall were at the Emergence from Dust Stage. Until their deaths, they enjoyed the sect's benefits, and could even transfer some of those benefits to their families. The sect would not interfere.
Naturally, not every Emergence from Dust Stage disciple could enjoy such favorable treatment. Only those who had rendered great service to the sect qualified, and when the sect faced a major crisis, the cultivators of Glory Merit Hall had to be willing to sacrifice themselves.
In short, Glory Merit Hall was a group of adepts waiting around to die, but their loyalty to the sect was unmatched. They were also one of the major sects' final trump cards for protecting their orthodox inheritance.
Generally speaking, the adepts of Glory Merit Hall would not leave the sect. They did not participate in sect affairs, knew one another extremely well, and spent their ordinary days idling around, bantering and bickering.
But this time, Scarlet Luan, the junior sect leader, had dispatched two Glory Merit adepts to secretly protect Feng Jun.
At first, she had hesitated and merely sent people to keep an eye on news of Feng Jun. But as the days passed, the diagnostic and treatment suggestions Feng Jun gave many adepts had produced excellent results, and she felt it necessary to protect him in secret.
The proper extent of that "secret" protection was difficult to grasp. She