Chapter 630: The Disciple Who Should Have Been Chosen
The gathering was held on the great terrace below the central peak, under an open sky, with the sea running out green and endless to the east.
It was a working assembly. An elder read the season's allocations — cultivation ground rotations, medicine court quotas, priority on the practice waters. Three mission teams reported: an escort that had gone well, a reef survey that had gone badly, and a beast-clearance in the southern shallows that had cost two outer disciples their lives and produced a long, uncomfortable silence. Four disciples were recognized for advancement, and one was publicly reprimanded over a requisition.
Perhaps three hundred people stood on that terrace, and Leon estimated a hundred and eighty of them looked at him at least once before the announcements finished.
The reactions varied more than Qingyue had implied.
