Chapter 21

The day of the ceremony.

SFX knock knock

"Looks like someone's here," Yuki mutters and goes to the door to open it. When she opens the door, she finds elder Ya standing outside. Her beautiful blue hair which is usually parted in the middle is now parted on the left. Another noticable thing is an earring, elder Ya always wears bluestone earrings, but since her ears are mostly hidden by her hair, people don't notice it. But today, the earring on her right ear is visible, complementing her blue hair and eyes, making her look extremely gorgeous.

"Good morning elder sister" elder Ya smiles.

"Good morning, little Ya" Yuki smiles back and takes a glance at her hair "you've changed your hairstyle"

"Yes, elder sister." elder Ya nods her head.

"You look beautiful and the blue earring goes well with your eyes." Yuki gives a compliment.

"Thank you elder sister." elder Ya accepts her compliment like a mature lady. She doesn't get embarrassed unlike Ling Jian or elder Chi, if it was any of them, it would have been a different scene. In that aspect, elder Ya is way more composed compared to both of them.

"Are you here to escort me to the ceremony?" Yuki asks. She has been ready for some time now. She is wearing her blue dress with jet black hair flowing to her waist. She doesn't have any kind of jewellery on her, but even if she did, it would be outshone by her beauty.

"Yes"

"Let's go then."

Elder Ya takes Yuki and starts walking towards the Sword Palace. To be more accurate, she is walking towards the big courtyard close to the Sword Palace. That courtyard is mostly used by the upper echelons of the sect to address the disciples about some important matters or to conduct ceremonies. It is a plain piece of land with bricks embedded in it.

At the courtyard.

There are a lot of disciples present here, inner disciples and other notable people are present at the front, while some exceptional outer disciples are standing in the back. All in all, there are around 2000 people, a minuscule number compared to the massive number of disciples in the sect which is probably in hundreds of thousands. There is a big stage present at the front end of the courtyard. On the stage, all the elders, as well as the department heads of the sect, are sitting, except a few who aren't present in the sect. There are 4 seats vacant there, two in the middle, and two on the left.

The people who aren't present here are also watching it through big flat ruby crystals placed at multiple places, all over the sect. This is also a technology that has developed over millions of years. The main transmission crystal present at the courtyard relays what's happening over there in real-time to the other crystals. Only the sect with deep resources have this technology because the crystals used are very rare, and of high purity. Normal sects won't be able to afford it.

"Sect master isn't here," one disciple says

"But the vice sect master's here. The ceremony will start when the sect master arrives." another one replies

"Yeah."

People are chatting amongst each other while waiting for Ling Jian. There are three inner disciples standing closer to the stage who are also doing the same.

"Shailene, do you think our so-called ancestor is here?" a man whispers to the girl standing next to him. His name is Lin.

"How would I know?" the girl called Shailene replies in a somewhat irritative manner.

"I thought you might have overheard this as well" the man whispers in a low voice.

"I haven't"

"I don't care about the ancestor, it's enough for me if I can see the sect master" another man who is standing on the other side of Shailene whispers. His name is Leo. They are the same trio who were earlier standing in front of the weapon's hall and talking about what was happening.

"Yeah, you are right and don't forget elder Ya and elder Chi"

"How could I forget them?"

"That's the spirit"

"You two" Shailene directs a scary gaze at both of them, and they instantly shut their mouth.

Ling Jian, elder Ya, and elder Chi have a lot of fans, especially among the male disciples. But since they are always busy, many of the disciples don't get to see them, and as such, a few of the disciples are more interested in seeing them rather than any ceremony or so-called ancestor.

***

Yuki and elder Ya reach the back end of the stage where they find Ling Jian and elder Chi waiting for them.

"Elder sister, you are here" elder Chi cheeringly calls out to Yuki and walks towards her as soon as she sees her.

"Little Chi, when did you come here?" Yuki asks smilingly

"I arrived with sect master just a minute ago." elder Chi says.

"Since we are all here, let's go" Ling Jian comes from behind elder Chi and says. Ling Jian is wearing a red dress, different from her usual blue one. Elder Chi is wearing her usual dress, she looks as cute and adorable as a little doll. But if anyone tells her that, she will definitely try to punch that person.

Yuki and others nod. They then enter the stage. The moment they enter, all the elders and the heads of the department stands up. Ling Jian goes and sits at the center, and Yuki sits next to her. Elder Chi and elder Ya sat next to Yuki. After both of them sat, everyone else also took their seats.

One more thing, Yuki doesn't know that the news of her defeating the vice sect master has already been circulated among the upper echelons of the sect. Yuki defeating vice sect master along with her being the ancestor was enough to establish her position. Since then her authority and stature is second to none. She could ask one from the sect to do something and they will literally do it. But of course, she won't ask.

While in the courtyard.

"Sect master is here." a disciple said after seeing Ling Jian

"Elder Ya and elder Chi are also here." another one said

Many people haven't noticed Yuki yet, but the moment they did, they were spellbound by her beauty. Her jet black hair, smooth clear skin, and facial features that wouldn't lose to any goddess mesmerized everyone. At the moment, all eyes were glued on her. Even the experienced disciples, who wouldn't lose their focus were taken aback, and since this scene was transmitted all over the sect, everyone who was watching at the moment was spellbound by her beauty.

"Too beautiful"

"A goddess" Some people were so smitten by Yuki that they were calling her such names.

Elder Ya and elder Chi looked at each other and smiled because they were more or less expecting this to happen. Ling Jian looked at Vice sect master and gestured him with her eyes. He nodded and went to the podium.

"Everyone." He said in a low voice, but everyone in the courtyard as well as the in the sect instantly moved their eyes to him. His voice attracted or more like dragged everyone's attention back to him.

"Sect master has an announcement to make." Vice sect master said and moved back to his seat. Ling Jian rose from her seat and went to the podium. Everyone waited anxiously for her to speak, everyone's attention was on her, though a few of them were still curious about Yuki.

"Today is an auspicious day, the ancestor of our sect has been unsealed, and we'll have the honor of receiving our ancestor's grace and guidance." She spoke in a soft but authoritative voice. Her words shocked and surprised everyone, even though some of them had heard about it, but no one believed it would be true. And what did receiving the grace and guidance meant? it meant their ancestor was going to stay in the sect.

Ling Jian then gestured Yuki to come to the podium. Yuki rose from her seat and went to her side, each step of her was closely followed by everyone's eyes.

"Everyone, Pay your respect to your ancestor" Ling Jian's voice thundered across the courtyard, and was transmitted all over the sect. This time, Ling Jian had used spiritual energy to amplify her voice. Everyone present in the courtyard as well as the people watching it through the crystals instantly kneeled and said in a unanimous loud voice.

"WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO THE ANCESTOR"

But one feeling was going through everyone's mind. Shock. All of them were completely shocked by ling Jian's words. None of them would have ever thought that the girl who looked like a goddess could be their ancestor.

'What are they doing?' Yuki was a bit surprised on this sudden reaction. She totally wasn't expecting it. She looked towards Ling Jian to say something, but Ling Jian's eyes didn't allow her. Ling Jian just moved her head from side to side. It was like Ling Jian already knew what Yuki was going to say and she was already refusing it.

'Stubborn just like uncle Ji' Ling Jian thought in her mind. Yuki then turned around, vice sect master, the elders, and the department heads present on the stage were also kneeling. She then glanced around the people kneeling in the courtyard, all of them had their heads bowed. Even the people watching it through the crystals were doing the same. Ling Jian, the only person who wasn't kneeling was standing beside her waiting for Yuki to speak.

Yuki sighed, and the next moment, she said "Rise" Her soft-spoken voice reverberated across the ears of everyone and all of them stood up.