Just then, footsteps sounded from the rear hall of the Practice Ground. Two figures emerged from the shadows of the passage beneath the main pavilion: Chen Cong and Chen Wu.
They were heading out of the Practice Ground.
Chen Cong beckoned to them. "You're all here. Good-come with us to Shaolin Square."
Looking puzzled, everyone followed the two adults.
Before long, a sonorous bell rang out through the village.
When they reached the square at the village center, it was already packed with people. It seemed the whole village had come-no, some of its senior figures appeared to be missing.
Everyone present sensed the tension in the air, and murmurs ran through the crowd.
From their conversations, they learned that most of the village's senior Soul Masters had been missing since that morning.
Their own elders-Chen Yu, Chen Xun, and Ye Xiuxin-were absent as well.
Not only were Chen Xiaojun and his brother Chen Jianjun puzzled, but everyone else was too. Chen Feng, for instance, could not find Chen Zhang.
Although the village looked peaceful on the surface, it was actually on high alert, as though something momentous might happen at any moment.
The villagers kept speculating about where all the senior Soul Masters had gone and whether something major was about to happen.
Amid this tense atmosphere, Chen Xiaojun and the other two boys grew anxious as well, unsure how their parents were doing.
As tension gripped the entire village, Chen Cong, Mu Lingyun, Qi Shuiyue, and other Soul Masters of the older generation appeared, along with high-ranking Soul Masters such as Chen Wu, Ximen Shaoping, and Ma Suyun.
Chen Wu bellowed, "Silence! Stop making such a racket! If you have anything to say, wait until Elder Chen Cong has finished!"
Chen Cong was the clan chief's younger brother