Two weeks had already passed since Huo Li entered the mind-destroying pagoda, from the atmosphere of the sect, even if a visitor had entered the sect, they would easily find out that something is amiss, they all wore long faces all through the day, while some of them trained hard in hopes that when she makes it out, she would find them stronger than they had been before.

Huo Ying and the guardians paraded the mind-destroying pagoda every day, in hopes that she would come out one day but she never did, each day seemed too long as they waited outside the pagoda each day, as for Bingchen, he spends most of his days in the sect library, he has been reading all the books and scrolls in the library in an attempt to find a way to channel their spiritual energy into the pagoda without it backfiring on Huo Li who is still inside the pagoda. ​​

They had earlier planned to support her by channelling their spiritual power from outside the pagoda into the pagoda to help her but the third elder advised them against it since any external power would affect any human inside the pagoda.

The sect leader had already gone into his seclusion which had been withheld for some time due to Huo Ying's illness, while the sect madam prepared the sect for what is to come and took care of the sect affairs.

A disciple rushed into the sect madam's quarter with a little rolled paper in his hand, he stopped when he arrived at the door then he announced his presence, after getting her permission to enter he pushed open the door and entered her chamber, he bowed his head and cupped his hands above his head.

"Sect madam, a pigeon was sent from the azure demon sect with this letter," the disciple said and handed the letter to her with both hands, she scrunched her face as she read the content then she squeezed it and threw it on the floor with her eyes burning in anger and her fist squeezed, the disciple stared at her curiously wondering what was in the letter that made her so angry but he didn't dare to ask.

"Inform the guardians, the elders and the young mistress to gather at the meeting room" the sect madam commanded with her back turned to him.

"Understood" the disciple answered then he hurriedly left the room.

Minutes later, all the people she had sent the disciple to call were all present in a large-sized room with tall wooden chairs with the golden eagle carved on the board of each chair while two chairs were positioned at the front of the room.

"Sect Madam!" they chorused as she entered the room, from her facial expression, it was clear that whatever she had called them for cannot be something simple.

"Seat," the sect madam said then they all took their seat according to the order of their ranks in the sect.

"I wonder why sect madam has called this meeting?" the first elder asked in an indirect tone.

"I have just received a letter from Mo Yuhan that the next alliance meeting is going to take place in the next three days" the sect madam announced to their surprise, they glanced at each other in surprise, they had originally heard from Mo Yuhan that the wind sect was going to send its disciple to inform them of the meeting but they haven't been informed even though it was just three days to the meeting.

"Sect madam, I previously heard that Mo Yuhan told you that the sect leader Lin told the other sects that he was going to send his disciples to inform us of the alliance meeting, how come we haven't heard from them but Mo Yuhan was the one who sent the letter instead" the third elder with an angry expression budding on his face.

"That is exactly why I was angry the moment I read the letter, the flame sect is in this state because of the plot of the wind sect which the whole country consider to be the righteous sect but I didn't expect that he would pull such a trick again just to destroy our sect," the sect madam said with her voice raised as though sect leader Lin was seating in front of her.

"That sly old fool! mother, what do you plan to do, Father is still in seclusion so he can't attend the meeting or make a decision on this matter" Huo Ying said

"That is right sect madam since the sect leader has left the sect in your hand you will have to make a decision on this matter" the first elder added

"Before the sect leader went into seclusion, he has already informed me of what to do concerning this matter, the flame sect is going to return to how it was before" the sect madam announced.

"For real!!!!!" is what their face read at the moment as they glanced at each other again before fixing their gaze on her as they weren't sure that they had heard the right thing.

"Mother, do you mean that we are going to stop our seclusion from the world!" Huo Ying asked with mixed expressions on her face, even she couldn't comprehend what she was feeling as it seemed to unreal for her.

"Yes, the sect leader and I have discussed this issue beforehand in preparation, from now on, the flame sect with start relating with the world, we cant call ourselves a sect if we are not protecting the world from the demons who are trying to wreak havoc in the world and although we have many skilful disciples, they can't even have the real-life experience that they should have, keeping quiet and staying hidden will only make them want to force us out so instead of letting them have their way, I have decided that we are going to show them that the flame sec is not an easy sect to bully," the sect madam said with authority and anger mixed in her voice as she spoke, from the manner she spoke in, they were now sure that she was really determined and she meant every word that she had just said.

The expressions on their faces at this moment made them seem like they were prisoners who are now being released after decades of being imprisoned in a dungeon, they seemed like they were going to have tears rolling down their cheeks at any moment.

"Who would have thought that this day would come, if sect madam is ready to open our closed doors, we elders will do all we can to make sure that we are ready for the sect future in the world," the second elder said with happiness written on his face.

"Mother, this seems too real to believe, for years, we have had to keep ourselves cooped in this mountain and very few of us can go out undercover," Huo Ying said as she sniffed her nose to stop the tears that had gathered in her eyes from falling.

"Sect madam! we would prepare anything thing you need us to prepare and we will make sure the disciples are ready for this change" Huo Qiang said with the same happy expression on his face as well as the other guardians, who were just speechless at her decision.

"We will now go back to how things were before, this means that every disciple will have to wear the flame mask once again, I will trust the guardians to get this ready" the sect madam announced

"Leave it to us, sect madam, although the flame mask is not an ordinary mask and it requires the flame power and blood of the sect leader and all the patriarchs of the sect to make, we will definitely do our best to make sure that they are ready in time" Huo Mei replied.

"That is good, the sect leader has already left his blood in advance, I and the elders will give you ours today and you all know what to do next, for now, Huo Mei, Huo Qiang and Huo Ying, you will be following me and the first elder to the meeting in the next three days so make sure that the flame mask is ready for the three of you, the elder's and I have already been exposed to the public so we have no use for the mask," the sect madam instructed

"We understand!" the five of them chorused

Bingchen was rather happy that he would be left behind since it meant that he would be able to spend the day in continuing his research but Huo Lian didn't seem like she was satisfied with the decision, even though she tried to hide it, Huo Mei still noticed it on her face.

Given her character, she will definitely feel like she is the least important among them all since she was being left behind with Huo Bingchen.

"Mo Yuhan also informed us in the letter that they have found witnesses to identify if one of our disciples were present, I am sure that sect leader Lin just made them available in case if any situation he hasn't predicted in advance" the sect madam added.

"If that is the case then Huo Qiang can't go to the alliance meeting," the first elder said

"The first elder is right mother, if the witnesses are able to identify him then it would be troublesome for us" Huo Ying added.

"It doesn't matter, the world knows that all the disciples of the flame sect have always worn a mask, they won't be able to make him take his mask off" the sect madam replied

"If that is the case then I am relieved, it seems like the sect leader has already had it all planned out before he went into seclusion," the first elder said then he heaved a sigh of relief.

"It would be even better if the court gets involved with this case, that way, we would be able to get Huo Lan involved" Huo Ying added.

"That is all for today, you all should prepare for this in advance, I will retire to my room now," the sect madam said then she stood up from her seat and walked towards the end of the room while the others bowed as she walked past them.

-----------------

In the imperial court.

"Your majesty, the ministry of justice received an information yesterday, I wonder if I have your permission to speak?" the minister of justice said from the line of the ministers as soon as the minister of foreign relations had concluded his report.

"You may speak" the emperor replied

The minister of finance walked out of the line to the front of the throne, he held his ministerial tablet in his hands and raised it above his chest as he walked to the front of the hall, just below the emperor's throne.

"Your majesty, I received news from Yushan city that captain Wang Shang who had just returned from the border and received an award from you was murdered months ago," the minister of justice said wth his head cowered. The hall became noisy and their eyes widened in shock as soon as he concluded the statement if it was another captain, they wouldn't have been shocked but captain Wang Shang is a captain who has just bestowed an award from the emperor, whoever killed him must have eating liver being committing such an act.

"What!! who dared to commit such an act in my nation?" the emperor shouted in anger as he slammed his hand on the large table in front of him, the beads in front of his crown shook and swayed in different directions as though they had sensed his anger.

"Your majesty, please ease your anger!" the ministers chorused as they bowed their heads.

Even the prime minister was angry when he heard of the captain's death, he had just bought the captain over to his side without the emperor knowing and he planned to use him to monitor the emperor in secret but his plan was actually foiled by a fool who dared to kill the captain.

"You are telling me to ease my anger!!! How can I ease my anger when a captain whom I personally awarded a prize was killed in my nation, under my nose!!!!!" the emperor shouted.

"Minister of justice, how did this happen?" the prime minister asked

"The killers have not been identified but his body was severely deformed, the murderer broke the bones in his legs and arms were shattered into pieces while his face was almost unrecognisable but it seemed that he was slapped until his face became deformed" the minister of justice recounted

"The murderer even dared to torture him before killing him!" the emperor said with his voice raised and his fist tightly clenched before hitting the table in anger.

"From the information I was sent, three people forced their way into Yushan city then the captain took it upon himself to capture them but all his men were killed with one strike at the same position of their body, only the captain was tortured before he died" the minister of justice added.

"This is no coincidence, seeing as he was the only one who was tortured, they must have been aiming for him," the minister of foreign affairs said

"Are you telling me that my captain was killed and you have no clue to find the murderer?" the emperor questioned.

"We do have a clue before he died, he mentioned a word" the minister of justice replied

"What word?" the prime minister enquired

"Huo...when he said it, it seemed like he was referring to someone but we can't be sure if it was someone's name he was trying to say" the minister of justice answered.