After the event, Jade went through the motions of celebration. Her expression remained calm, almost detached, as sect members gathered around her, their faces alight with admiration and awe.
She stood at the center of the grand ceremonial hall, draped in a robe of silver and midnight blue, the emblem of the Stone Mountain Sect embroidered in gold across her shoulder.
Candles flickered, casting long shadows across the marble floor, while the scent of incense lingered in the air.
"We welcome the newest addition to our council," the sect master declared, his voice echoing across the hall, "perhaps the youngest elder in the history of the Stone Mountain Sect!"
The hall erupted with cheers and murmurs.
"I still can't believe it," someone whispered from the crowd. "Elder Jade… they say she's already at the peak of the Golden Core Realm. And she's only twenty!"
