More members from different departments of the Order showed up, especially with the arrival of the guests, in particular the members of the external affairs subsection of the Standard Regulatory Committee.
They were working in tandem with some of the senior students from the Institute to welcome the guests from rank 5 organizations.
Yang Qing was only given the role of welcoming those from rank 4 organizations and above because of the sheer number of rank 5 organizations.
If he was given the sole role of welcoming all the guests he would not have been able to keep track of all of them, even with the heightened memory of a palace realm expert. Therefore the lowest organizations which had the highest numbers, were left to the external affairs department along with the students of the Institute.
Though even with such a lineup, the number of rank 5 organizations that were invited were limited. There were over a million rank 5 organizations around the Southern Continent and the Order could only offer the invite to a tenth of that number, which was about a hundred thousand. The organizations that made it into the hundred thousand list were those whose quota members achieved stellar results at the Institute throughout the three years leading up to the day of graduation.
Those from the Institute would share their results along with their in-depth explanation of their assessment to all the rank 5 organizations, so everything would be above board while also selling out those that had poor performances. A chance at invitation at the Star blooming mist valley was to serve as motivation for these organizations to send their most talented members, so they could stand a chance of getting an invitation.
Even though those at the early stages of the core formation realm and below could not handle the full effects of the ancestral dragon spirit vein that lay beneath the Star blooming mist valley, thus they had to be protected by the inlaid formation arrays, being exposed to the dense pure qi it produced still had enormous benefits to them.
It was not unheard of for cultivators to achieve enlightenment during those ceremonies or have minor breakthroughs. However, they were strictly forbidden from achieving major breakthroughs that would trigger a lightning tribulation. Those that were just at the cusp of achieving major breakthroughs were usually denied entry.
However, despite all these, those from rank 5 organizations fought for the opportunity to come to the Star blooming mist valley. It wasn't only them, as rank 4, rank 3, rank 2, and even some rank 1 organizations, also found the opportunity too valuable to pass by because most of them would never get the chance to experience the wonders of an ancestral dragon spirit vein, If not for the Order's invite. Only holy lands and the oldest and strongest of rank 1 organizations and some hidden organizations were known to have them.
.....
Yang Qing managed to spot a few more familiar faces as time passed by. Feng Xin and the other inquisitors under him had arrived and were also assisting him in welcoming the guests. The only ones who were absent from his group were Haishi, Bolin, and Yi Jie. The former two were still unaccustomed to the ways of the Order and also human cultivators and thus were allowed a day's rest, as for the latter, he had already gone to the tribulation mountain to break through.
His other friends had also arrived like Mao Yunru, Huilang, and the rest who greeted Yang Qing briefly before they entertained other guests.
An hour went by and the sparsely populated valley was already teaming with people strewn across all the provided platforms, exchanging laughs and conversation like long-lost friends who had just met each other after thousands of years. To some, that was really the case, especially with the long seclusions that powerful cultivators occasionally take.
Over at the highest platform where Yang Qing would be standing for his coronation already had a few higher-ups of the Order present. The space there was reserved for only the top-tier members of the Order since in addition to displaying their might, they would also be the first form of protection for Yang Qing in case anything went wrong. They, therefore, had to be close to Yang Qing as much as possible to avoid any unexpected circumstances. They could not take any chances even if Yang Qing still had the three Saint-grade artifacts to fall back on.
Therefore, all who sat there were at least at the soul beginner level of the soul formation realm, though Yang Qing was utterly clueless about the exact level of any member of the Order that was recognized to be a soul formation expert. He wasn't sure whether they were at the soul beginner, soul adept, soul master, or soul supreme which is rumored to be the peak of cultivation within the continent. Yang Qing always had doubts about it though, especially when he put into consideration the holy lands.
Only five people had arrived and of those who had arrived, he only recognized three of them. One of them was Jun Pei the assistant director of the internal logistics department. Yang Qing wasn't sure if she was here to protect him or to make sure the three saint-grade artifacts he was loaned were not damaged. Other than her, there was Wu Ling, the Vice Chancellor of the Insitute and former member of the Spirit Council before he took up his new post.
He was currently speaking to a cultivator who looked like a ten-year-old boy that had purple hair and an iris that had no pupils and only had a cluster of stars. Despite little to no interaction with that child-looking cultivator, every judge within the Order knew who he was because the oath they took before they took up their post was supervised by him. His name was Shi Jia and he was the Chief Justice, the highest rank of all judges. His position in some regards was equal to that of the three vice presidents of the Order who were just as elusive as the president and the chancellor, as they rarely made any appearances. To date, Yang Qing has never seen a single one of them.
As for the remaining two, one was a young lady who seemed to be in her mid-thirties. She had smooth flowing white hair that had a glowing luster to it that would put the moon to shame with its radiance. Her skin looked like it had been crafted with the finest and smoothest jade. She had on a pure white robe and was bare feet. Yang Qing never knew feet could be so mesmerizing until today. It took all his willpower to tear his eyes from them and when he did he was met with a charming smile from that lady. Even though it was the most charming smile he had ever gotten, all his senses were screaming in fear even Veiled Destiny had to hurriedly warn him to avert his gaze and the Green Cocoon necklace had rapid glows indicating thick murderous intent was directed toward him.
Yang Qing quickly turned with his back covered in sweat, as he decided to wholly concentrate on welcoming the guest.
Who is she? He wondered.
As for the final member, it was a middle-aged man who looked like he had just woken up and come to the venue. His robes were creased, and his dark grey hair was tied into a half-man bun by what looked to be the bark strip of a tree. However, despite how unkempt he looked, he had an otherworldly charm to him that did not lose out to the bare feet young lady next to him, who was the picture of absolute perfection.
Though Yang Qing had no idea who that person was, the robes he had worn gave an indication of which department he was from. He had a deep red robe that had a talon insignia on it, which was an indication he was from the special inquisition department.
This was a select group of inquisitors whose talents in extraction and destruction, were above none. Just like the guards at Requiem, the threshold of joining the Special Inquisition was also high because of how dangerous their jobs were. They handled the investigation and decimation of those labeled as 'dangerous elements' around the continent. Dark organizations such as the Scarlet blood ghost hands, or the Dark Helminth Ghost sect, remnants of the crimson wave sect, could be considered as dangerous elements which was why Dong Yanlin, the member caught in Yang Qing's first case during the week was directly sent to them immediately after confirming he was a member of the Scarlet blood ghost hands syndicate.
In addition to them, the Special Inquisition department also hunted down former Order employees who were found to be in clear betrayal of their oaths and duties. In some regards one could even say the most dangerous element and the prime reason the Special Inquisition was even created, was because of those former employees. With the high standards of recruitment and training, those who qualified to survive within the Order were the best of the best therefore if even one of them betrayed the Order, they could be considered one of the most dangerous elements against it even more than the enemies the Order has made along the way, and the Special Inquisitors were usually trained with that in mind, how to defeat your colleague should such a time come.
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