The Futu Ancient Clan's Council of Elders had nineteen seats in total.
Apart from the three seats permanently reserved for the branch clans, the three main branches—the Qing Branch, Xuan Branch, and Mo Branch—shared the remaining sixteen seats.
Back in the day, when Qing Yanjing's grandfather was in power, he had once seized ten seats for his branch.
Now, the Qing Branch had no powerful branch head to hold the fort. It had only three seats left, while the Xuan Branch held seven and the Mo Branch six.
Only three Heavenly Sovereigns from the Qing Branch had seats on the Council of Elders.
Branch Head Qing Tian was at the Middle Immortal Grade.
Elder Qing Xuan was at the Middle Spirit Grade. She was also Qing Yanjing's full elder sister.
When Mu Chen met her, he ought to call her "Aunt Xuan."
Elder Qing Yun was at the Early Spirit Grade.
Of course, the Futu Ancient Clan had more than just nineteen Heavenly Sovereigns.
Those were merely the elders with enough seniority and contributions to join the Council of Elders, claim a seat, and wield real power.
By Qing Yanjing's estimate, if the Futu Ancient Clan brought out all its reserves, it would have at least forty Heavenly Sovereigns, perhaps even more.
According to the rules, if a main branch held fewer seats than the branch clans collectively—that is, fewer than three—it would automatically be demoted to a branch clan and lose its status as a main branch.
Every ten years, the Futu Ancient Clan held the Inter-Branch Martial Tournament, a grand display of martial prowess.
The two main branches, the Xuan Branch and the Mo Branch, had already plotted to strip another seat from the Qing Branch at the next Inter-Branch Martial Tournament, knocking it down to branch-clan status