"He is so embarra.s.sing!"
"Big Brother, I think you should come over and wait quietly with us!"
The crowd burst out laughing when they saw that Su Mo was stopped at the gates. Someone even shouted at Su Mo to wait quietly with them.
Su Mo was completely speechless and laughed wryly to himself.
He was about to reveal his ident.i.ty when a young man in black quickly approached them.
That young man's face froze when he spotted Su Mo, then he immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Sect Leader!"
His swords silenced the crowd and left everyone astonished.
What was going on?
Did Elder w.a.n.g just bow to this man with white hair, even calling him 'Sect Leader'?
Was this man with white hair truly the Sect Leader of Firmament Sect? How was this possible?
Those that were here to take part in the examination were stunned, those four disciples guarding the gate of Firmament Sect were also equally stunned.
Su Mo looked at the young man in black and a smile spread across his face as he said, "There's no need for formalities here, Senior Brother!"
That young man in black was Su Mo's Senior Brother at Gale Island - w.a.n.g Hui.
"Senior Brother w.a.n.g, how have you been?" Su Mo sized w.a.n.g Hui up and nodded to himself with satisfaction when he saw that w.a.n.g Hui was now of Lv 3 Enlightenment Realm cultivation.
He had given Firmament Sect a lot of resources, including many King Cultivation Skills, so w.a.n.g Hui's increase in cultivation was within his expectations.
"I've been well and Firmament Sect has also been doing well!" w.a.n.g Hui replied with a fist-palm salute.
Su Mo could not hold back a sigh when he saw how formally w.a.n.g Hui treated him. He had been on good terms with w.a.n.g Hui in the past and they could always laugh and joke with one another.
However, as their gap in cultivation gradually increased, and as the difference in their status widened, they could no longer be as friendly around each another any longer.
This was something that could not be helped. The larger their gap was, the harder it was to treat each other as equals.
Even if Su Mo treated him as a friend, w.a.n.g Hui would still feel pressured to treat him formally.
"That's good. Please go attend to your business!" Su Mo nodded and bid w.a.n.g Hui goodbye. Then, he walked through the gates of Firmament Palace.
After Su Mo left, the crowd burst into an uproar.
"Was that truly the Sect Leader of Firmament Sect?"
"Impossible! He looked so young!"
"He must be the sect leader! Elder w.a.n.g would not have recognized the wrong person!"
The group of young men and women was awe-struck.
The Sect Leader of Firmament Sect was an extremely mysterious figure and very few people have seen him.
They did not expect that they would have the honor of glimpsing his face today.
There was a rumor around Qingyuan City that the Sect Leader of Firmament Sect was Su Mo, but no one was sure of his exact strength.
There was even a rumor going around that the Sect Leader of Firmament Sect was the person who would battle the Holy Son of Emperor Xuan Palace on the 8th of October.
However, no one really took this rumor seriously for there were too many people with the same name as Su Mo all across Central Continent.
After Su Mo walked through the gates of Firmament Sect, the sect soon burst into an uproar.
"Our Sect Leader has returned!"
Exclamations of surprise rang out as many disciples and elders of Firmament Sect welcomed him.
"Greetings, Sect Leader!"
"Greetings, Sect Leader!"
They all bowed to Su Mo excitedly.
These were the true core of Firmament Sect and they were those who had followed him from Hong Domain.
"Lead me to the main hall of the Sect!" Su Mo said with a smile.
Soon, the crowd led Su Mo to a large hall.
The hall was completely empty so Su Mo requested someone to summon all the elders and the Hall Chiefs to the hall for a meeting.
Then, he sat down on the main seat.
Not long later, the four hall chiefs, namely Su Hong, Qing Pingzi, Yue Qun and Liang Tong arrived together with a large number of elders, including Teal Fire King.
"Greetings, Sect Leader!"
"Greetings, Sect Leader!"
They all greeted Su Mo with a fist-palm salute.
However, they grew conflicted when they noticed his white hair and face full of fatigue.
They wondered what kind of trials and tribulations their Sect Leader had encountered while he was outside.
"Please take a seat!" Su Mo gestured for the crowd to sit.
Then, he looked at each one of them and observed their growth in cultivation.
His father, Su Hong, had the lowest cultivation at only Lv 2 Enlightenment Realm. Even w.a.n.g Hui's cultivation had surpa.s.sed him.
Yue Qun and Qing Pingzi's cultivation had already advanced to Lv 9 Enlightenment Realm.
As for the other elders, their cultivation had increased significantly and some of them had even surpa.s.sed Qing Pingzi and Yue Qun to attain True Darkness Realm cultivation.
"How has the sect been progressing?" Su Mo asked.
"The Sect has been growing steadily...!" Yue Qun said as he briefed Su Mo on the latest ongoings of the sect.
Firmament Sect had grown significantly and had recruited thousands of disciples. The number of elders also numbered more than a thousand. They had grown tremendously.
After some discussion, Su Mo decided that the sect had to undergo a small reorganization.
The four halls would still remain, namely, Su Hall, Skymoon Hall, Gale Hall and the Craftsmans.h.i.+p Hall.
Everyone under the age of 30 and with a cultivation lower than Enlightenment Realm would be cla.s.sified as disciples.
Those of Enlightenment and True Spirit Realm would be Sect Deacons and they would only be recognized as an elder if they advanced to Martial King Realm.
All those elders below Martial King Realm cultivation were demoted to deacons.
No one raised any objections. After all, as the sect expanded, there would be more Enlightenment Realm and True Darkness Realm martial artists. Then, the elders might even outnumber the disciples.
Firmament Sect was now considered a medium-sized sect, so they would need to be clear with their rules and hierarchical systems to prevent the sect from growing too disorderly.
After this reorganization, Firmament Sect was only left with one elder - Teal Fire King.
After they ended their discussion, Su Mo used his mind and to draw those from DIvine Martial Country out of the Divine Map and instantly, the large hall was filled with people.
"What...!"
Everyone from Firmament Sect was surprised to see these people suddenly appear in the hall.
They were not surprised by their appearance, for those from Firmament Sect already knew that Su Mo possessed a spatial treasure.
What they were surprised by was the powerful aura that these people emitted. There were so many Martial King Realm martial artists here!
Governor Bai, Commander Yue, Master Yang and the rest were still a bit dazed and looked around in confusion.
"Everyone, I have brought you out of the Mist Mountains and you are now in Central Continent!" Su Mo announced to Governor Bai and the rest.
"Are we really out of there?"
"Am...am I dreaming?"
All those from Divine Martial Country were absolutely astonished. They almost could not believe that they had made it out of the Mist Mountains so easily!
"Of course!" Su Mo said with a nod. "You are now in my Sect and I'll give you two choices - you could choose to join my sect or you could leave on your own accord!" he contined.
Su Mo did not force them to join Firmament Sect. After all, nothing forcibly done was going to be agreeable.
If there were only two or three of them, he would still be able to deal with them. However, now that he was dealing with so many experts, if he forced them to join Firmament Sect, the Sect might everything to lose and nothing to gain from it.
