After passing through the heavy stone door, everyone felt the scene before them twist and distort. When their vision cleared again, they were standing in an ancient, solemn hall.
Thin white mist drifted around the hall. Several high-backed armchairs stood at the far end, occupied by elders with white hair and beards. Their robes were old-fashioned, and the emblems on their chests—a Sea God Trident surrounded by waves—stood out strikingly in the dim light.
"Sea God Pavilion elders?" Tang Wulin's pupils contracted slightly as he looked at the familiar emblems, instinctively recognizing their identities.
Gu Yue stood beside him, her silver hair stirring without a breeze. As someone who had been reborn, she was no stranger to these faces. Especially the woman seated in the center. Though she was smiling now, in Gu Yue's memories of her previous life, Elder Cai Yue'er had been notoriously "stern and impartial," even somewhat rigid and harsh.
This old hag is going to make things difficult again. Gu Yue grew wary. Without betraying anything, she adjusted her breathing and braced herself for all manner of demanding questions.
Xie Xie, Wu Siduo, and Xu Xiaoyan, meanwhile, looked utterly bewildered.
"Who are these people?" Xie Xie lowered his voice and nervously tugged Tang Wulin's sleeve. "They look so imposing. Even more formidable than the Dean of our Eastsea Academy."
Wu Siduo frowned slightly, her red hair looking particularly wild. She coolly studied the elders above them, her hand already resting instinctively at her waist.
Just then, Elder Cai Yue'er, seated in the center, slowly rose. Her deep eyes swept over the group before settling on Tang Wulin, a barely perceptible gleam flashing within them.
"Children," Cai Yue'er said, her aged but powerful voice carrying the authority of someone accustomed to command, "you performed reasonably well in