Meanwhile, at the Gu Family Council:
Gu Jian sat high upon the patriarch's seat, expression carved in stone as chaos churned beneath him.
The great hall echoed with the clamor of over sixty elders, their voices overlapping in heated argument.
The matter at hand: whether or not to confront the one known as the Sword Demon, Khai Sang of Ghost Cliff Pass.
One by one, the elders voiced their discontent, their agitation growing louder than reason.
Even among them, ten bore the title of Grand Elder, Golden Core cultivators, their status commanding both reverence and stubborn pride.
Gu Jian exhaled slowly, fingers stroking his pointed goatee in restrained frustration. These old fools... They've grown so used to power, they've forgotten prudence.
In all the Northern Regions, only two clans wielded the fearsome power of the Nascent Soul realm, his own Gu Family, and the Lin Family.
And now, that fragile balance had been disturbed.
