Bing Rong nodded her head with a smile as she looked at each one of them to assess them until her eyes rested on Wan Ling.
“Are you Wan Ling? Shen Yuan told me how you helped him out when he first joined the Outer Sect. Thank you for that,” Bing Rong asked in her usual cold tone.
Surprisingly, this didn’t make Wan Ling nervous or scared as she looked at her with timid eyes and replied, “Yes… I met up with Senior Brother Shen Yuan in the training grounds after a few days of him entering the Outer Sect.”
Bing Rong nodded her head as she moved her gaze away from her and started observing the other disciples.
Shen Yuan shook his head and patted her shoulder, “You are scaring them,” he chuckled softly, seeing the disciples looking down nervously.
Bing Rong tilted her head as she asked Shen Yuan, “Why would I scare them? Do I look that heinous to them?”
Shen Yuan looked at her for a second, wondering what was going on in her mind as he looked at the disciples, “You guys don’t need to be nervous, she might seem cold but she is a very kind soul. Now, let’s talk about your gains, did any of you encounter any problems with the things you acquired inside the Mystique Realm?”
The disciples heaved a sigh as Shen Yuan changed the topic, they started to talk about themselves one by one, including Bing Rong in their topic as well since some curious disciples asked more about their relationship.
Shen Yuan chuckled and replied to them one by one.
…
“Alright, everyone.” Xiang Mei’s voice echoed from the side as the elders stood neatly in a row behind Mei Hua while Xiang Mei stepped forward to gather the disciples.
“Come here, we have something to announce.”
Shen Yuan paused as he looked towards the gathered Elders. Bing Rong patted his shoulder softly and started to walk forward.
Shen Yuan looked at the elders curiously and followed after as well, the other disciples looked at each other and headed forward.
Soon, all of them stood in front of the group of elders as they looked at them with serious expressions.
Bing Rong moved and joined the group of elders as well while Shen Yuan stood at the front of the group of disciples.
Mei Hua nodded her head as she walked forward and stood in front of even Xiang Mei.
She began, “Don’t be so serious, the thing that we want to announce is the rewards for this current achievement that you all have inside the Mystique Realm.”
The disciples’ eyes lit up as they heaved a sigh, then their excitement surged as they looked forward to their rewards.
“First of all, you all will be promoted to the level of Inner Disciples as soon as you manage to break through to the Inner Sea realm without any further trial,” Mei Hua said with a smile, looking at the disciples’ reaction.
But the disciples didn’t react much as even without this offer they were confident in passing the disciples’ exam with their current arsenal of abilities.
Shen Yuan chuckled softly as he saw Mei Hua looking at them all slowly, one by one, but not seeing much of a reaction, she continued with a small smile.
“Well, looks like you guys are not satisfied with the first reward, well you will definitely be surprised with the next.” She paused as she edged the disciples with a dramatic pause.
“It is the opportunity to select one treasure from the Treasure Pavilion in the Outer Sect, while due to his exceptional performance, Shen Yuan can select up to 3 treasures, or 1 treasure from the Inner Sect Treasure Pavilion. And needless to say, the treasures in the Inner Sect are much better and higher quality.” She looked at the disciples with a smile.
And as expected, the disciples’ eyes lit up with excitement at the current rewards; they didn’t expect the sect to be so generous.
And they weren’t jealous of Shen Yuan as well, they knew that without him, some of them might have even died.
And they had already told the elders about the events that transpired inside the Sect; that was the reason why Mei Hua decided to teach the Ironwood Mountain Clan a lesson.
Shen Yuan smiled lightly at the mentioned rewards, ‘Hmm, will I get something useful in the Treasure Pavilions?’
He thought for a second as Mei Hua continued, “I’m not finished yet, all of you can request the blacksmiths of our Sect to make custom weapons for you, and they will be 2 grades higher than your cultivation so you can use them for a long time to come. And for Shen Yuan, he can choose a weapon of his choice from the Inner Sect Treasure or request one from the blacksmiths like the rest of the disciples.”
The disciples looked at Mei Hua with shining eyes; they couldn’t believe the sect was being so generous with them for the Mystique Realm.
But Shen Yuan didn’t think much of the reward as he already had all the weapons that he needed with him.
But his mind wandered for another option which he can use to gain something out of this encounter.
But Mei Hua interrupted his thoughts as her voice echoed, “And to finish it off, Wan Ling, Ling Mei, Chen Yue, and Zhao Lian will receive a special reward for their exceptional performance as reported by the other disciples.”
Shen Yuan raised his head as he glanced back to see the four of them, who were nearly jumping with joy. He shook his head as he looked at Mei Hua to know what this special reward was.
“You guys will surely like this reward,” she paused as she increased the suspense slowly.
The other disciples looked at her curiously as well; they wanted to know what this reward was even if they weren’t the ones getting it.
Mei Hua giggled softly seeing them all hyped up, she soon continued, “It is the opportunity to choose one of the Inner Sect Elders to be your master. Yes, you can select one of the Inner Sect Elders to be your master on your own will.” She repeated herself so the disciples can understand the gravity of her words.
And the disciples indeed understood the implications as their eyes widened in disbelief; they had never heard of such rich rewards being distributed in the sect, but that was in part due to them being young.
Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow as even he didn’t expect the sect to be so generous this time, but he looked at Mei Hua questioningly, as if going to ask something.
And Mei Hua captured his stare and smiled before saying, “I know you disciples must be wondering why those four got those rewards but not Shen Yuan. And to answer that, it is because I had a talk with Huo Rong, his big sister.”
She paused as she looked at the confused eyes of the disciples who were wondering what was happening, she continued with a shake of her head, “She told me that he already has a master and she is also an elder of our sect. So she will be Shen Yuan’s master once she is back.”