But with things having reached this point, refusing again would seem petty.
The First Elder broke into a smile and finally nodded. "You flatter us, Minister Ji. Since His Majesty has shown us such favor, how could the Yun Clan dare hold anything back? When the Profound Ascension Ceremony begins, please take an honored seat and observe."
"Thank you, First Elder!" Ji Wen rose and offered a solemn bow.
After seeing Ji Wen and his party off, Yun Che turned around, the smile gradually fading from his face.
"A pack of old foxes!" Second Elder Yun Yuan emerged from behind the screen, his beard practically bristling. "They spent the whole evening winding around in circles until my head spun, all just to wrangle a place at the ceremony! Hmph, do they think we don't know? Once the Divine List came out and they learned their own ancestor had reincarnated into someone else's family, the Ji Clan's court must have boiled over!"
First Elder Yun Che rubbed his brow. "They merely want to probe Your Majesty's attitude and see how much he still acknowledges his identity as their 'Former Lord.'"
"They couldn't even get to the shit while it was hot! They didn't dare step up back then, and now they know to panic... mmph!" The moment the Second Elder let that vulgar remark slip, the First Elder clapped a hand over his mouth.
A vein twitched on his forehead as he said with a headache, "You're getting more muddleheaded with age! At your age, can't you learn a little more from your Qing Kid? How can you spout nonsense like that?! Are we dogs, or is the Young Lord shit?! Ahem!"
Realizing what had just slipped out of his own mouth, the First Elder hastily coughed to cover it up