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