Everyone became immediately silent as some even unconsciously gasped, seeing a tall old man making his way with a heavy and iron-fisted aura emanating from every inch of his body.
Even if he was an old man, he looked healthy as a horse, though his expression looked extremely serious and intimidating, with his brows furrowed into a frown, his eyes firm and cold.
He was wearing exquisite scarlet robes and had a white chaperon hat on his head with golden embroidery. All in all, he exuded a noble aura that seemed too grand and imposing for this place.
However, strangely everybody immediately bowed their heads as if in reverence and respect the moment they saw this old man with aloof bearings.
The older generation people among the crowd were the first to bend their backs, including the four chiefs and even the patriarch. Nyissa also bowed her head in his direction while Viktor, who saw her and everyone else bending their backs, became extremely confused, wondering who the hell this old man was and why everybody had an intimidating expression on their faces.
Why were they so scared of this dude? Even the younger generation among the crowd didn't dare to whisper a single word among themselves.
Brad bowed as well since he just couldn't endure this intangible pressure coming from this stony-faced old man, and since everybody else was bowing as well, he also felt it was natural to bow.
Viktor was the only one still standing with his back straight, and immediately the old man noticed as well. He squinted his eyes and looked at him with displeasure but then moved his gaze away as if he wasn't worth another glance.
"He's from the upper-class clan, my mother's clan. Be careful," Nyissa whispered in a low voice since she knew Viktor must be confused, but at the same time, she suddenly began to feel a bit anxious, wondering why someone from her mother's clan was here and why he even ordered to halt the ceremony.
"You should bow. Otherwise, he might get angry…" Nyissa advised in caution since she knew how these upper-class people were.
"I am trying, but my back is cramped…" Viktor shrugged innocently, making Nyissa roll her eyes inwardly.
However, she didn't force him since by now, she had realized Viktor wasn't the kind who exactly followed the rules and only did what he wanted and felt.
Viktor had no plans of showing respect to this old man because he offended him by halting this ceremony as if he was the boss of this entire place. Viktor could understand where Nyissa and the others who were bowing were coming from, but the same rules didn't apply to him.
He had bowed and shown respect to even ordinary old men just because he felt like doing so, but this old man didn't seem to deserve his respect just by taking a glance at him.
Nyissa started to get a bad feeling from all this but still decided to wait and see how things were going to unfold.
Karn, who had a wary expression on the outside, was inwardly smiling, thinking that his plan had begun to work smoothly. But half of his mind was still focused on finding his son.
Voroz immediately walked forward with a polite smile and said with a respectful bow, "Sage Han Asahi, what a pleasure and honor to have you here. May I know the reason for this pleasantly surprise visit?" Voroz's tone was very polite and respectful, but it was considered normal by everyone except Viktor.
Voroz couldn't understand why a Sage from his wife's clan would come here without any announcement. Usually whenever they make an appearance in other clan as a guest, the host clan would surely know about their arrival in advance by at least a week because they needed to make good preparations to receive such a highly respected guest.
A person with the title 'Sage' was no ordinary being and were treated like kings and queens by most.
'This guy is a Sage?' Viktor was slightly familiar with this word since Nyissa had explained to him certain things about the inner workings of their clans, including the fact that a Sage was a very powerful mage who had earned this title by doing great meritorious deeds for an upper-class clan for centuries. A Sage would only exist in clans like these and wouldn't even be present in the middle-class ones.
To make things easier for Viktor to understand, she mentioned that a Sage had the power to rule entire cities or defeat a few Prime Vampires head-on easily.
She mentioned Prime Vampire since she evaluated Viktor's current powers and ability to that of a Prime Vampire.
So remembering her words, Viktor understood why Nyissa told him to be careful since apparently, he wasn't a match for this serious-looking old man. He didn't doubt Nyissa's words, but that didn't mean he was afraid of this guy.
Just like Nyissa, he also decided to wait and see why this guy was here and what he was going to do.
Ayana, who was watching everything from the sidelines, became worried for her Master and...Viktor, wondering what this old man was here for.
Han didn't even properly look at Patriarch Voroz but instead looked at Nyissa. However, his brows slightly raised since he didn't expect the illegitimate child of his Mistress to be so beautiful to the point he doubted that even the prettiest women from his clan might not be able to outshine her.
This made him realize that she did indeed get most of the good things from her mother and now understood why a certain person told him that his time here would be worthwhile.
While maintaining his gaze on Nyissa, Han asked Voroz in a stern tone but clear and loud enough for everyone to hear, "Who gave you the permission to conduct this ceremony? As the patriarch of this clan, do you really have no awareness of the true, noble identity of your daughter? Or have the years made you forget certain things of the past?"
Han's tone was rude, and he was not giving any face to Voroz at all. It was as if he was asking a question to a servant, and that was how he truly felt as well. Even if Voroz was the patriarch, he was coming from a lower-class clan which wasn't worth even a lump of mud to someone like Han, who was coming from an exalted upper-class clan.
Everyone else of the Fujo Clan, especially Nyissa, felt angry and displeased to see their Patriarch being treated so poorly still they couldn't voice out any protests in the presence of Han.
Karn immediately came forward with a humble smile and said, "Sage Han, please don't blame the patriarch. Apparently, all of this was because of our revered ancestor's will, and the patriarch only wanted to follow it."
Han frowned even more as he asked in a severe tone, "Ancestor? How is a dead man going to convey his will to anyone? And even if he did, do I look like I care about it? This ceremony will have to be canceled right here and now! No kind of compromises will be entertained!"
Hearing these unbending words, everyone took in a deep gasp of air while Nyissa's eyes visibly shook.