Great Family Assembly, Entrance and Provocation

The Great Family Gathering was known throughout the lands as a great opportunity for both young men and women of the Great Clans.

In that great yearly gathering, they got to showcase their skills, gain recognition from their elders and peers, and even win great rewards from their families depending on their performance.

All Great Clans moved together, the elders and Clan Head travelling ahead of the younger Generation, all moving in great carriages.

They all moved towards the place where it was being held... The Royal Palace of the Guozhi Kingdom.

A banquet hall of that Great Palace was where the meeting had always been held, it was a grand hall with two stories.

The first one was reserved for the younger generation, tables filled with food and drink for them to enjoy, as well as a large raised platform in the middle of the room.

And the second story was something more akin to a viewing platform. It was the place where all of the Elders, Clan Heads and the like would reside.

The Clan Heads specifically all had seats raised above the rest, right by the side of the largest golden seat in the hall, the one taken by the King. 

Guo Zhu was by far the most important person at that 'Grand Family Gathering'. He was the one that everyone was there to impress. 

Each Clan did its best to show its prosperity through the talent of its youth. And ultimately it was all to show the King that they were putting the resources allocated to them to good use.

In essence, what was an opportunity for the youth was also an opportunity for the Clans themselves to get more funding from the crown.

This added pressure made it all the worse for the Younger Generation, as it was their performance that the results of the Gathering relied on.

Failure was not an option for any of them. Failure would lead to them being ostracized by their own families, it would lead to resources being taken away from them.

Many came in with heavy hearts and concern in their gazes, but at the same time, many were smiling, brimming with confidence.

Mo Qiao was once part of the former group, but now she felt more confident than ever. She was confident that the Mo Family would crush all opposition, and that she herself had grown a lot stronger than before. 

Now, under normal circumstances, she wouldn't think that the Mo Family had any winning chance, much like in previous years. 

The Number 1 of the Younger Generation in their Kingdom always belonged to the Guo Royal Family.

It was customary for the Royal family to crush the younger generations of the other families to prove a point at the end of the gathering after all. 

But this time, Mo Qiao was sure that things would be very different. And the factor that could cause such a difference was none other than Mo Yangling. 

More than anything, she was sure that her cousin would more than likely defeat any member of the younger generation with relative ease. 

Just as how her older brother, Mo Guangli, was still out for the count, she doubted that anyone else in the Younger Generation would stand up to the Monk. 

'He must've defeated my brother easily, especially since he was uninjured when bringing me and my older brother in...' 

At the end of the day, Mo Guangli was a Martial Master, he was within the top 10 of the Younger Generation within the Guozhi Kingdom.

Yet, he was dealt with quite easily... Mo Qiao hadn't been there to see it, but she certainly believed it to be so. 

As the youngsters walked into that gigantic hall, they lingered at some tables filled with food and drinks, but the main attraction was still the large platform in the middle of the Hall. 

The Elders and Clan Heads were already seated.

Each Clan Head stood on an elevated cushion, with the flag of their respective clan behind them.

Mo Weisheng sat to the left side of the King's chair, behind him the flag of the Mo Clan with the sun and crescent moon fluttered in the wind.

Further on his left sat Luo Jiangm the blue-haired head of the Luo Family, behind him stood a flag with a sigil of a silver wolf howling at a crescent moon, with a trail of falling stars surrounding the scene.

They were the aggregates of business within the Guozhi Kingdom, they handled and brought in a lot of the trades that allowed the capital to thrive as it currently was, but also handled the rougher trades as well...

On the right side of the King's chair was none other than Kong Tingfeng, the leader of the heavily militarized Kong Family.

His figure was imposing, he had long and flowing red hair, and even during such a festive time he was wearing his armour.

Behind him stood a flag depicting a black raven in flight, holding a glowing sun in its talons, with a crescent moon framing the bird's wings.

His family was the biggest force in the Guozhi Kingdom aside from the King and the Royal Family itself. 

Further to the right was the less imposing figure of Su Zemin, Leader of the Su Clan which mostly handled public relations.

Their flag depicted the sigil of a golden tree rooted in a glowing orb, its branches entwined with a crescent of stars.

He was a smaller, skinnier black-haired man, though his cultivation was not any lesser than the other Clan Heads. 

All of them were in the Golden Core Realm, and the pressure they subconsciously exuded was enough to make the younger generation look up at them and tremble.

None were wearing their usual golden garb at that moment, they all wore black robes with the highlights of their family's representative colour. 

After all, only one person was allowed to wear gold during the gathering... 

Not long after they were sat down, the moment came. The most powerful person in the Guozhi Kingdom finally made his entrance.

From the ceiling, a door opened up, and the figure of a man floated down freely.

He wore a fully golden attire and robes, which flowed freely in the wind. He had long green hair and a short beard of the same colour. 

On his head was a crown made of gold and jewels, his hair flowed out of it and down to his lower back. 

His gaze was sharp enough to cut through anyone else in that hall, he displayed the grandeur of a true ruler as he floated down towards his chair.

He exuded the aura of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, having already transcended the Golden Core Realm. 

Many couldn't help but tremble underneath that pressure. Some of the younger generation even fainted, a shameful display that they were sure to pay for later. 

As soon as he sat down, his children followed suit.

The oldest son, the First Prince and Heir to the throne was none other than Guo Shen, he looked a lot like his father, his green hair flowing in the wind as he was carried down by a cloud. 

He was considered the Number 1 cultivator of the youngest generation, showing the strength of a Late Stage Martial Master during the last Great Assembly. 

The Second Prince followed suit, his hair a vibrant red as he displayed a wide smile towards all of the people below. His name was none other than Guo Shihong, the troublemaker of the royal family.

Yet, as much as he liked to stir up trouble, he was also talented, displaying the strength of a Low Stage Martial Master as well... 

And lastly, none other than the Third Princess, Guo Cuifen. 

She had Azure Green Long Hair which flowed in the wind, her pale skin and red eyes made her look almost otherworldly, her beauty was striking for all of the men and women present.

While not as talented as her older siblings, she was also very talented, having reached the Late Stages of the Martial Soldier Realm at a young age. 

All three siblings wore pristine white robes as they floated down on clouds and stood on the viewing platform on the second floor, standing right by their father's side.

Behind the golden chair of Guo Zhu, stood the flag of the Guozhi Kingdom as a whole. It depicted an azure dragon coiled around a blazing sun, its tail breaking through a cloud of stars. 

That entrance was something customary each year, for every Grand Family Assembly. The King's family was always the one to enter last, and he was the one to announce the beginning of it as well... 

"Let the festivities commence!" The King's authoritative tone broke through the Great Family Assembly, and at that moment, cheers broke as they all lauded the arrival of the king and the official start of the Assembly. 

Eager young men and women prepared for what was to follow...

As many were getting ready to go into the arena and start the challenges.

Mo Qiao couldn't help but look around, her eyes darting from left to right as they filled with the slightest bit of panic.

'W-where's Mo Yangling?' 

And just as she asked herself that, the closed and supposedly sealed doors to the Grand Hall were opened up, their hinges cracking as they were quite literally forced open.

"Amitabha, I was only a few minutes late, why must you lock the door~" 

In walked a tall and heavily muscled young man, his body was adorned in a sleeveless golden robe with red highlights. 

Around his neck was a set of wooden prayer beads, each bead around the size of a golf ball. Mere replacements that the monk had bought before his actual 'praying instruments' would be completed. 

Seeing his entrance, as well as his attire, shocked just about everyone still.

The first one to react was the horrified Mo Weisheng, who quickly tried to do some damage control for the clan.

"Mo Yangling! How dare you behave so disrespectfully in front of the King!" 

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Hello there!

Took me a while today, had some issues/extra work at one of my jobs(yea, on Sunday, it's kinda 'make ur own schedule' type thing and we have some urgent stuff rn)

Anyhow, thank you all for the support! Hope you have a great day!

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