Larger Than Life, Bigger Than Us

The Grand Advisor stayed silent, unwilling to speak. On one hand, his beloved daughter whom he adored and wanted to spoil. On the other, his adopted son that was now the Master of the Valley. It was a difficult dilemma indeed. But he was not ready to put to death an innocent person. As a former master, he was fully aware of the "Imprinting" capabilities and knew very well, based on his son's suspicious nature, that the human would have been "imprinted" in order to give her access into the valley.

The Grand Advisor stood up with grandeur. As his aura expanded, the different leaders quieted down. The tension in the hall was palpable. It could almost be sliced with a knife.

"Learn to trust the Master's valley." The Grand Advisor could only resigned himself to say those words. Overtly suspecting and openly criticizing the Master of the Valley without any grounds was akin to attracting to oneself misfortunes and miseries. The Grand Advisor knew that in his former days, he would have thrived to eliminate all those that would opposed him. More over, he was also cognizant that his adopted son was unrelenting and ruthless to whomever he perceived as ennemies.

"Father..." Tears welled up in her eyes, Ivy wanted to plead again.

The Grand Advisor denied her plea with a head shake and added: "My words are final." Seeing that the Grand's Advisor position remained unshakable, all the leaders sat down in silence, pondering. The banquet no longer looked like a celebration.

Only Ivy, unable to control her anger, ran out of the hall through one of its side entrances while wiping down her tears. In her heart, she was promising herself she would get rid the valley of that intruder. "She dared to come, I will make her taste hell."

That's the moment the Master of Valley chose to make its grand entrance.

"What happened? It was quite lively few moments ago as I was approaching the hall. This Lord find the current ambiance unpleasant. Are we not celebrating?" The Lord said those world coolly.

The guests shivered. They didn't not dare to cause discomfort to the Master of the Valley thus no one was quite ready or willing to explain. All eyes were pointing and insisting on the Grand Advisor.

The air got even colder in the hall. The pressure emitted by the Master of the Valley was almost agonizing.

"Looks like this valley has been too peaceful...Am I no longer the Master of the Valley?" The soft voice of the Lord could barely masked his threatening intent.

Upon these words, all the guests realized that none of them had stood up to greet their Lord. Capital mistake!

Luhan and Xiang, were the first to stand up and greet. Though they were the first, they did it without hurry or concerns. The rest of the guests was still frozen by the realization of their lack of manners.

"My apologies Master of the Valley, we were too passionate about the debate and acted impolitely."

As if it was a signal, the rest of the guests, all stood up and awkwardly apologized as well. Only the Grand Advisor did not move or speak. Having the status of father of the current Master and being the previous Master gave him the benefits of not having to bow to anyone anymore.

The Master of the Valley only nodded to Luhan and Xiang and then crossed the reception hall, comfortably ignoring all the other one, to stop only in front of the main table where the Grand Advisor was seated.

The Master of the Valley fixed the Grand Advisor for a long minute. The Grand Advisor, unperturbed, maintained his eyes on the Master of the Valley. Everyone in the room was holding their breaths. Some were hoping, other were fearing an altercation would occur between the official Number 1 and Number 2.

Fortunately (or disappointedly), the Master of the Valley paid his respect to the Grand Advisor and sat next to him. These two would not shed blood tonight. Even if they wanted, it would not be in front of so many witnesses : there were too many hyenas undercover! Even if the Valley had been peaceful, a sense of restlessness among all the habitants of the valley had surged lately.

"Please continue the festivities. Do not let my arrival interrupt." The Master threw those words unceremoniously.