451 Elder's Meeting

Ma Rong's demeanor quickly changed. "You know about Wan Li?"

"Yes, master." Alex went on to explain everything regarding what happened in the forest, aside from the last part about nearly dying to Black Venom herself.

"Sigh, he's going around killing bandits huh? That damn Black Venom bandits. We tried to find them previously, but we couldn't find them at all. They always work away from the capital, and never in the same place."

"Wan Li knows that, so he might try to move again. You said he was wearing the face of an old man, right?" Ma Rong asked.

"Yes, master," Alex said.

"Sigh, then it will be more so impossible to find him," Ma Rong thought. "How many elders are still out looking for him?"

"All but the 3rd Elder returned. 3rd elder said that she won't return until she finds him."

Ma Rong nodded when she heard that. "Alright, go and tell the Second Elder to send a message to 3rd Elder to— No, wait. I will do it myself," Ma Rong said.

"No, sister. You can't go out right now," Lang Shun said.

"Huh why?" Ma Rong asked.

"What do you mean why? You stayed cooped up in your house for nearly 2 weeks for closed cultivation and didn't respond to the sect's problem once."

"Did you realize that since you were ill, it has been over a month and a half in which you haven't done your job as the sect leader?"

"Since the sect upgraded to the 1st grade, our student intake has increased. We are transitioning to a better phase, but our sect leader is missing to make the transition easy."

"Of course the elders will start to hate you after that happened. They think you are dodging responsibilities."

"The only reason they aren't taking any actions is that they think you are truly in closed cultivation and not ignoring them. If they find out that not to be the case, then there will surely be some mutiny," Lang Shun said.

"Are they actively talking about this?" Ma Rong asked.

"Yes. It's a daily conversation about how you've been missing for so long and don't care about the sect for so long," Lang Shun said.

Ma Rong's face turned slightly cold as she fell into thought. "Very well, I will do something about it," she said and pulled out a medallion.

Without a single hesitation, she sent a message to all the numbered elders in the sect.

Lang Shun got a message in his sect medallion as well and pulled it out before checking it.

"What? Did you call a meeting right now? You are just doing what they think they are doing," Lang Shun said. "Are you thinking straight, sister?"

"I know you worry about me, but you don't have to. Just go to the Elder's hall, I'll be there soon," Ma Rong said.

"Uhh… if you say so, Sister," Lang Shun said and left.

"Did you break through?" Ma Rong asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah," Alex answered.

"You should have let me know before you were leaving," she said.

"Uhh… sister's father was ill so we had to leave in a hurry. I couldn't send a message," Alex said.

"Sigh, I guess that's a valid excuse. Also, I heard there was a beast invasion around the same time, were you safe?" Ma Rong asked.

"Uhh… not really, but it wasn't due to me traveling at all," Alex said as he wondered how he should explain what happened to Ma Rong.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Um, did you hear about the black Jaguar that fought the emperor in the capital?" Alex asked.

"The new saint beast? Yeah, that beast was something I heard about after returning," Ma Rong said.

"Yeah… so I think that beast is after me. Even a week ago, during the invasion, I could feel it coming towards me. I could feel the aura of a saint realm cultivation base," Alex said.

Ma Rong's eyes went wide with shock and fear. "A-A Saint Beast is following you? That's… " Ma Rong couldn't understand what she was to do in this situation.

What was she to do as a master? What could she do against a Saint beast? Not even the ancestors inside the mountain could help her in this situation.

"I… I don't know what to do," Ma Rong said almost apologetically. For the first time, she felt like she couldn't help her disciple even when she knew he was in trouble.

"It's okay, Master. I ran from it once, I will do so again," Alex said. "On a positive note, I can now make True Qi."

Ma Rong got confused for a second. "Wait, you said True Qi? What's your cultivation base right now? Are you hiding it?" she asked.

"No, it's what I'm showing right now, but thanks to my Qi already being dense from the very start, I think it's starting to happen sooner than other people," Alex said. "I can only make a single strand of True Qi for now, but I'm sure I will soon make more after I cultivate a lot."

"Hmm," Ma Rong mulled over the info for a second. "Theoretically, it does make sense that you can make True Qi already. Hmm…"

Ma Rong thought for a second and spoke, "Are we looking at your cultivation base in the wrong way? Are you actually a Mind Tempering 5th realm cultivator, with a really weak aura instead?"

Alex felt like that could be true, but then he thought, 'No, the game's system says I'm at Mind Tempering 1st realm. Also the number of times I have broken through doesn't match up, and there was no way I started with the strength of a Skin Tempering 5th realm cultivator, so I should still count as a Mind Tempering 1st realm cultivator,' Alex thought.

"I guess it doesn't really matter in the end. It actually helps you better since most people underestimate you," Ma Rong said.

"Haha, they sure do," Alex said. "There had been many fighters in Tiger sect that couldn't fathom how strong he was after seeing his cultivation base."

"Alright, go back to your home and rest. I need to go to this meeting now," Ma Rong said.

"Okay, master. I will go and try improving some pills of mine," he said. "Oh right, that reminds me. What happened to the sweating pill? Did you improve it?"

Ma Rong sighed and shooked her head. "The way I am currently, I don't think there is any chance of me showing any improvement in anything Alchemy for a while now," Ma Rong said with a downtrodden face.

"Thankfully, Senior Lai also got the recipe and is improving upon it now. He will either send the improved recipe to me, or the princess will take her aunt back to the capital to have her healed," Ma Rong said.

"I see," Alex said.

"Okay, go now. I will be late otherwise," Ma Rong said.

"Yes, master. Good luck on today's meeting," Alex said and left the room.

Ma Rong stayed in the room for a little longer and finally sighed as she thought forward to what she would have to face in the meeting.

However, she had been away from the elders for quite a while now and at least owed the elders this much.

So, she walked out of her house and flew down.

* * * * * *

"Is sect leader finally leaving her closed cultivation?" an elder asked in the meeting hall.

"That seems to be the case. I don't think she would call a meeting for some other reason," another elder said.

"Was the sect leader really is closed cultivation though? She came out quite immediately after her disciple came back. Seems kinda fishy to me," another elder said.

"Sigh, if sect leader doesn't want to deal with the sect's problems anymore, she should just choose to resign from the position. I'm sure she would still garner the same about of respect as an alchemist either way," another elder said.

"Honestly, I think we should go forth and request a new sect leader," another elder said what they were all thinking on the inside.

"Settle down, guys," the 5th elder said. "Stop making decisions in a rush. Let's hear what the sect leader has to say. Maybe she does have legitimate reasons to ignore the sect's status for 2 weeks."

"Yeah, 5th elder is correct. Let's just have some patience," another elder said.

Lang Shun stayed at the side, a little angry at the elders, but he couldn't do anything as he knew his sister was at fault here.

'Sigh, why did that idiot sis have to leave now?' he thought angrily.

A pair of footsteps rang out as a person walked in. "Oh, thank god I'm not late," the second Elder said as he walked in.

"Haha, Second Elder. Did you lose track of time after spending hours talking with your wife or what?" someone teased.

"You sound pretty jealous, 9th elder. Maybe it's about time you found someone for yourself too," the Second Elder said.

"Sigh, no matter who I find, I doubt I will ever be as lovey-dovey as you and the Third elder," the 9th Elder said.

The Second elder laughed and walked up to his spot before sitting down.

More footsteps sounded from the door and Ma Rong walked in along with the First Elder and the Great Elder.

They walked up to their seats at the front and sat down. Ma Rong had a rather cold demeanor to her now and looked like an ice queen.

She looked at the lot of them and waited for them to quiet down.

"So, I hear you guys have some complaints."