Everyone entered the courtyard. They saw the disciples sitting properly on the neatly arranged little stools that had long been set out, while the medicine boys who had just been playing music in welcome followed them in and scattered themselves behind the disciples. Taking advantage of no one paying attention, Zhang Xiaohua quietly slipped down from the wall and sat behind the medicine boys.
On the raised platform at the head of the courtyard, Lu Lihong sat in the center, accompanied by Chen Fengxiao and Wu Zhouxu on either side. Yang Yao and more than a dozen others sat slightly farther back.
Once everyone was seated, Chen Fengxiao lifted his teacup and invited Lu Lihong to drink. Then he addressed the disciples below the stage. "Junior Brothers, I imagine everyone knows that the man on this stage is the pride of our Pill-Refining Hall, as well as an outstanding disciple of Wuming Hall—Junior Brother Lu Lihong. There is no need for me to elaborate on his experiences. What people praise most widely is how, as a disciple of our Pill-Refining Hall's Herb Division, he passed five gates and slew six generals in those years, passed the outer sect disciple examination, successfully entered Wuming Hall, and became a versatile elite disciple highly valued by Wuming Hall. I know you junior brothers have admired Junior Brother Lu for a long time. That is why, together with Wu Zhouxu and Wu Dalang from the Pill Division, I invited Junior Brother Lu here. Everyone also knows that Junior Brother Lu is extremely busy in Wuming Hall—one could say he handled ten thousand affairs every day. Not only did he shoulder his own duties in Wuming Hall, he also took on tasks that some Wuming Hall disciples could not complete, using his experience as a