Jintai Prefecture City, in the Hong Family Mansion.
The midday sun streamed through the ornate window lattices, spilling across the main hall's polished golden-brick floor and casting mottled patterns of light and shadow.
Patriarch Hong, Hong Shixian, sat in the seat of honor—a pearwood Grandmaster's Chair—clad in a dark purple brocade robe, his expression composed.
In a large chair below him sat the Hong Family Grand Elder. Though his hair and beard were white, he was spirited and robust. The two of them were discussing the hottest topic in the Prefecture City: the Xuanzhen Sect's Fushan Grand Competition.
