Alchemies

Chapter 44: Abuse of Authority

While Alex was going around the park looking at everything, while the elders were gathered in the hall of elders.

Some elders arrived even before 15 minutes had passed after the message of the sect leader was sent. There were 20 seats in the meeting room inside the Elders Hall.

3 Of them are on a small podium, while the rest are on both sides of the room. The Elders began to enter the room and sit on their respective chairs.

Oh, seventh elder, you came early. A young man came into the room. He's in his late 20s but doesn't look that old.

"Oh, Elder Lang, congratulations on making it into the numbered elder rank. Your father and teacher would be proud. Oh, I should probably start calling you the eighteenth elder so that I don't get confused between you and your father." The seventh elder laughed when he said this.

“I don't think that's possible, Seventh Elder. My father will not respond to anything you call other than the first elder. He's too used to it now.” Elder Lang also laughed.

Lang Shun was the son of the first elder, Lang Luoyang, and the direct disciple of the Great elder, Chang Peng. He had shown great progress in alchemy and cultivation and had recently been awarded the title of Eighth Elder.

As the eighteenth elder, his main task was to screen the disciples who entered the sect. This was how he learned of Alex's outstanding test results and gave him the Silver library token.

Time passed slowly, and more and more elders entered the room. The chairs on both sides of the room began to fill slowly. The seats on the podium remained empty.

Sometimes then, the sect leader finally entered the meeting room. Following behind him was a white-haired and white-bearded old man, who was a Great Elder.

A little behind them was a man who looked young, yet was actually not young, based on the white part of his hair and beard. He looked like an image older than the eighteenth elder. This is the first elder, Lang Luoyang.

The sect leader climbed onto the podium and sat in the middle seat. The great elder sat to his left, and the first elder sat to his right.

Ma Rong looked at the elders in the hall and was about to start a meeting when he saw the two seats closest to the empty podium.

"Has the 2nd and 3rd Elders not returned from the capital yet?" he asked the group.

“Hopefully they don't forget to get back information about the upcoming competition. Since we are all already here, let's start the meeting.” Ma Rong said.

“I have this meeting to talk about 2 things, both about my student.”

Many elders who heard him felt confused. “The sect leader has disciples? Why haven't I heard this before?” some elders began to discuss amongst themselves.

Most of the elders said nothing. If the sect leader had a disciple, then the disciple should be a high-level alchemist. Only the fifth elder, the ninth elder, and the Great elder looked at the sect leader in surprise.

They were in the crater where the saint realm cat monster landed, and they had seen firsthand that his disciple was merely an outer sect disciple. Even if he became a direct disciple, he would still have to go through normal procedures to become a core disciple.

"Stek leader, are you sure it's alright?" ask the grand elder from the side.

“I will immediately explain the reason, Great Elder,” he assured the older man of his decision.

“The second reason is that I am here to authorize my disciples to have free access to everything in this sect.” This decision is far more controversial than the first decision.

Almost every elder came to give his opinion on this matter. Giving disciples free access to everything in the sect, was a huge problem for the elders. Although an elder might have more authority than the disciple, they were still bound by the rules within the sect, and could not access everything freely.

Ma Rong had already expected a shout of rejection, so he was prepared. He lifted his palm into the air to stop them from speaking. As soon as they saw him, the elders fell silent.

The 6th elder spoke, "I'm sorry, but this feels like a blatant abuse of your authority, sect leader."

“Ya, sect leader. Can you tell us why you are doing this?” ask the 12th elder.

In response, Ma Rong only took out 5-petalled blue flowers. "Does anyone recognize what this thing is?" he asked a lot of people.

The first elder and the grand elder immediately became more attentive to the flower in his hand. They recognized what it was, and understood what it meant to the sect. This flower was a huge problem for the advancement of this sect.

As for the other elders, they were confused. The flower was too normal for them to recognize what a flower was. They turned to look at each other in hopes of finding answers.

Ma Rong looked at them and understood that not everyone could recognize this flower without reading the description on the note. He looked towards the first elder and said, "First elder, can you tell the other elder what the name of this flower is?" he had seen her reaction and knew she recognized him.

The First Elder slowly spoke, "Classman, is that really true? Is that Lily's Spirit Cleaner?"

As soon as the crowd heard the name, they were also extremely incredulous.