While Alex was going around the garden looking at everything, while the elders were convening in the elder's hall.
Some elders arrived before even 15 minutes had passed after the sect leader's message had been sent out. There were 20 seats in the meeting chamber inside the Elders Hall.
3 of them were on top of a small podium, while the rest of them were on either side of the room. Elders started to enter the room and seating in their respective numbered seats.
"Oh seventh elder, you came rather early." A young man walked into the room. He was in his late 20s but didn't look that old.
"Oh, Elder Lang congratulations on making into the numbered elders rank. Your father and master must be proud. Oh, I should probably start calling you eighteenth elder so that I don't confuse you between you and your father." The seventh elder laughed as he said this.
"I don't think that is even possible, Seventh elder. My father won't respond to anything you call him other than the first elder. he is way too used to it now." Elder Lang laughed as well.
Lang Shun was the son of the first elder, Lang Luoyang, and a direct disciple of the Great elder, Chang Peng. He had shown great progress in both alchemy and cultivation and had recently been granted the title of Eighteenth Elder.
As the Eighteenth elder, his primary task was to filter the disciples entering the sect. This was how he had come to learn about Alex's incredible test results and had given him a Silver library token.
Time passed slowly, and more and more elders entered the room. The seats on either side of the room started to slowly fill up. The seats on the podium however remained empty.
Sometimes later, the sect leader finally entered the meeting hall. Following behind her was a white-haired, and white-bearded old gentleman, who was the Great Elder.
Slightly behind them was a man that looked young, but wasn't, based on the whites in his hair and beard. He looked an older image of the eighteenth elder. This was the first elder, Lang Luoyang.
The sect leader walked up the podium and sat on the middle seat. The great elder sat to her left, and the first elder sat to her right.
Ma Rong looked at the elders in the hall and was about to start the meeting when she noticed two of the seats nearest to the podium empty.
"Have the 2nd and 3rd Elder not returned from the capital?" she asked the group.
The eighth elder replied," No sect leader. They should have returned by now, but you know those husband and wife pair. They must've gone to some other city after they left the Cardinal city."
"Hopefully they didn't forget to get back the information about the upcoming competition. Since we are all here, let's start the meeting." Ma Rong said.
"I am holding this meeting to talk about 2 things, both regarding my disciple."
Many of the elders that heard her were confused. "Sect leader has a disciple? Why have I not heard this before?" some of the elders started discussing amongst themselves.
"The first reason is I am going to make my disciple a core disciple" The sect leader simply said.
Most of the elders didn't say anything. If the sect leader had a disciple, then the disciple must be a high leveled alchemist. Only the fifth elder, the ninth elder, and the Great elder looked at the sect leader in surprise.
They were there on that crater where the saint realm cat monster had landed, and they had firsthand seen that the disciple was only an outer sect disciple. Even if he became a direct disciple, he would still have to go through the normal procedures to become a core disciple.
"Sect leader, are you sure that's alright?" the great elder asked from the side.
"I will go into the reason soon, great elder," she reassured the elder about her decisions.
"The second reason is I am here to authorize my disciple to have free access to everything in the sect. " This decision was a lot more controversial than the first one.
Nearly every elder chimed in to give their piece of opinion on the matter. Giving a disciple free access to everything in the sect, was a massive deal to the elders. While an elder may have more authority than such a disciple, they would still be bounded by rules in the sect, and not be able to access everything freely.
Ma Rong had expected the cries of refusal, so she was ready. She brought forth her palm in the air to stop them from talking. Once they saw it, the elders all quieted down.
The 6th elder spoke, "I am sorry but this feels like a blatant misuse of your authority, sect leader."
"Yes, sect leader. Can you tell us why you are doing this?" the 12th elder asked.
In response, Ma Rong simply took out a 5 petaled blue flower. "Does anyone recognize what this is?" she asked the crowd.
The first elder and the great elder immediately got more attentive to the flower in her hand. They recognized what it was, and understood what it meant for the sect. This flower was a major deal for the progress of the sect.
As for the other elders, they were stumped. The flower was too… normal for them to recognize what it was. They turned around to look at each other in the hope of finding an answer.
Ma Rong looked at them and understood that not everyone could recognize this flower without reading its description in the records. She looked towards the first elder and said, "First elder, could you please tell the other elders what the name of this flower is?" she had seen his reaction and knew he recognized it.
The First elder slowly spoke, " Sect leader, is that really it? Is that the Spirit Cleansing Lily?"
As soon as the crowd heard the name, they were in absolute disbelief as well.