Sect Meeting

As things were happening inside the medicine peak, on the main peak of the dragon palace a meeting of clan elders was held.

"This time harvest from great empires was plentiful. We got a lot of fresh blood in the outer sect. We also got a lot of herbs and elixirs from our subject sects."

Grand elder Qin from the outer dragon palace was reciting the report in front of him. All the matters related to the world outside of the dragon palace were handled by the outer dragon palace.

All the elders whether they were outer elders or inner elders were listening attentively. This was the annual meeting of the dragon palace.

The dragon palace had a total of 9 outer palace elders and 9 inner palace elders. They respectively managed the outer region as well as the inner region of the dragon palace. Both inner and outer regions had one grand elder watching over them. But the most important figure in the hall was the sect master of the dragon palace, who was sitting in the centermost seat.

".... and This was the annual report for outer dragon palace…"

Outer grand elder Qin Fen finished his report as he bowed to the sect leader and sat down on his seat.

This was the last topic of the meeting, so everybody felt a little relaxed. As they were going to depart from the hall sect leader suddenly stopped everyone by bringing a certain topic.

"There is one more topic remaining, It's about the dragonblood pool…"

Every elder present felt really confused by the sect leader's announcement. The slots were already given to the most talented disciples of the dragon gate.

"What is it sect leader…?"

"It is about slot allotment… Ancestor Ao accepted a new disciple, and he wants to reserve a spot for his disciple"

The sect leader said. All the elder's faces turned strange after hearing the explanation. Some elders kept quiet while others were openly expressing their dissatisfaction.

One of them was an elder of Lin family. With so much effort and bootlicking, he had obtained a spot for his grandson Lin Fan. He said in a hushed voice,

"But the slots are already given… and it will be unfair for other disciples of dragon palace…"

The atmosphere suddenly changed as soon as the words came out. Other elders who had obtained the slots also joined in.

"Yes… it will be unfair…"

"How can we favour one disciple over others…"

All kinds of excuses came out of Elders' mouths as they started to protest the idea. Giving one slot to old man Ao's disciple mean that one of them might lose slot for their disciple. The atmosphere in the hall turned hotter and hotter as the voices of elders began to climb.

'This cunning old man…'

Sect elder looked at outer elder Lin with some anger in his eyes. He had thought that this matter can be settled peacefully but it will not be the case anymore.

"Let the juniors settle their matter themselves…"

The sect leader could only sigh as he looked at the elders in front of him.

"In 3 days, we will conduct a ranking competition…. Top 10 participants will get a chance to enter the dragonblood pool… this matter ends here…"

As the sect leader said this, his figure disappeared from the main seat.

---

Back at the medicine peak,

After almost 8 hours, Zhu Shen opened his eyes.

He looked around in the unfamiliar room as he recounted the incident before. He could only remember his master appearing in front of his eyes and his vision darkened.

"Awoke…?"

Zhu Shen looked in the direction of the voice. He saw his master looking at him with a smile.

As soon as Zhu Shen saw old man Ao's smiling face, he felt a shiver running down his spine.

'This time I'm dead…'

"Little disciple, tell me how you feel… how was your first journey to outside the world…!"

With each word smile on old man Ao's face turned from bright to sinister. The demon king Ao awakened.

'Gulp…'

Zhu Shen gulped as he looked at the sinister face in front of him. He told old man Ao everything that happened on his journey… from village destruction to the scene inside the dark cell…

Old man Ao listened as his expression changed from sinister to helplessness as he looked at the disciple in front of him.

His disciple was much more naive and straightforward compared to the people of the world. But that's the thing he liked about Zhu Shen.

As he was thinking about this a messenger bird came into the room and landed on old man Ao's shoulder. Old man Ao opened the letter that was attached to the bird and read the content.

With a thought, he looked at Zhu Shen and said,

"Time for your punishment… This is your first mistake, so I will only slap you with a bamboo stick 1000 times."

"Thousand times…!"

Zhu Shen's face turned as white as a sheet of paper as he looked at old man Ao.

"Master… this… disciple did something wrong… please forgive … a thousand slashes… this lowly one will die master…"

Zhu Shen pleaded in front of Zhu Shen as he remembered the previous times when old man Ao hit him with bamboo stick.

"Ahem… well there is another way…"

"Really…"

"Yes… take a look at this… "

Old man Ao playfully smiled as he passed the written message to Zhu Shen. Zhu Shen looked at the message in front of him and felt really confused.

"Master… this…"

"3 days from now on, there will be a competition and you will participate and win the first position…if you are unable to do so…"

Yet again a very sinister smile appeared on old an Ao's face.

"2000 strikes…"