True Lord Huode sat there with his eyes closed, calm and still. The hall was not especially noisy; there were only hushed whispers, and likely even more voice transmissions. Hong Songzi followed the attendant boy to sit beside a massive pillar. Under the arrangements of the boys waiting nearby, Xiao Hua and the others took seats beside him, while Chang Yu and the rest were led elsewhere in the hall.
After sitting down, Xiao Hua nodded slightly to the cultivators around him who had their eyes open. Those who had been whispering among themselves continued their quiet conversations and paid him no heed. Xiao Hua sent Hong Songzi a few questions by voice transmission, then immediately closed his eyes as well, slowly comprehending the cultivation method of Scattering the Nascent Soul in his mind. This method was not only useful to Xuan Songzi; Xiao Hua vaguely felt that he, too, could benefit greatly from it.
After a full half hour, a bell rang out with a "clang." Not far behind True Lord Huode, an attendant boy holding a small hammer struck a fiery-red bell half a head taller than himself. With that toll, the entire hall fell silent, and everyone raised their heads to look at True Lord Huode.
Naturally, at the very instant the boy's hammer struck the great bell, True Lord Huode opened his eyes. Two clusters of scorching flame flashed from his pupils, then turned into sparks and vanished. His one red and one black eyes turned slightly as they swept over every cultivator in the hall. When his gaze fell upon Xiao Hua, an indescribable heat arose from Xiao Hua's skin, as though True Lord Huode's eyes were releasing true fire.
"Greetings, fellow Daoists..." True Lord Huode withdrew his gaze, and both his eyes returned to