First Male Disciple (2)

What's with all of the funny looks on all of you all's faces. I haven't even said anything yet.

No one spoke. They dared not to say anything to the palace master just going off of assumptions. 

After surveying the crowd for a while, she finally spoke again. 

"I've come to make a very important announcement, for the first time in the history of our palace, I am allowing a male disciple to be a part of us. Although he will only be an honorary disciple, he will still represent our name and values when he's not in the palace. I won't explain anything else, if anyone disagree with my decision to partially accept him you can speak of your objections after he gives his introduction." 

The way she say the last portion of her very short simple announcement, it seemed as if her decision was final regardless if there was any objections. Only a few caught on and understood that. 

After saying her piece, the palace master turned to Horo and said "You can introduce yourself and say whatever you wish to say."

After saying that she went and sat on a throne formed by the cloud that her and Horo stepped out of. 

Horo stepped to the front of the stage and looked over the crowd. Once everybody got a better look at him they were surprised by how handsome and fit he was, and some of the more powerful elders eyes went wide like saucers because they scanned him with their perception and roughly discerned his age. 

He began speaking.

"My name is Horo Trueheart, it's a pleasure to be in the presence of so many noble women such as yourselves. I'm from a fallen family that's nearly extinct, and I no longer have a place to call home. I was traveling in the wilderness to reach a different city, but after many arduous battles with beasts I was on the edge of death when I was saved by your young miss while I was unconscious. Luckily I am talented enough to be allowed to remain in your palace, but I don't intend to be a leach. I owe my life to my benefactor and by extension to the palace as well."

He knelt after saying the first portion of his speech and then continued in a solemn tone.

"I shall only bring glory and honor to the Pure Cloud even at the cost of my lowly life, and if I ever disgrace the Pure Cloud may my soul be sundered by the heavens."

Most of the crowd was left with a decently favorable impression of him after what he said, even though none of them knew what "the heavens" were, since they only knew of deities and direction. 

Majority of the women didn't have any disdain or distaste for men, they just preferred not interact with them in order to maintain their purity and not develop any desires or emotions that could hinder their progression in their techniques. 

Some did believe they were better than men though, and the ones that held disdain unknowingly struggled more in the [Pure Cloud Technique].

An elder was one of such people in the palace and she was the one to speak out. 

It was a weaker elder, compared to the others, and she wasn't able to discern Horo's age because his physique naturally hid a lot about him that not even the palace master could detect. 

This elder said "My name is Shui Bai, but you can address me as Elder Bai young man. It's very monumental to be the first man to enter our palace, especially without passing the evaluation exams or talent measurement like every others would normally have to do before being accepted into the palace. Therefore, It isn't that I object, but I would like to see if you're qualified to be here."

Horo stood back up and bowed before saying "I completely understand Elder Bai, what do you propose I do to prove if I'm qualified or not, as long as it's not anything ridiculously outrageous I'll be glad to show you all my worth." 

He spoke in a very humble manner, but everyone could feel the confidence exuding from him. 

Elder Bai looked as if she was contemplating for a while before saying, "How about this, There's two ways to show us how talented you are which will discern if you're worthy or not."

"The first option is, you can reveal your stage, core, age, and how long you have been actively advancing, or you can do spar with one of our disciples at the peak of the stage you're currently at. If you failed to scale up to our expectations then you'll have to leave the palace. Do you agree?"

Horo immediately began to loathe this Elder Bai mainly because him leaving the palace would me him traveling all alone and figuring things out again if he didn't have any plans. She is very cunning, but that should be expected from someone who's an elder of this palace. He knew exactly why she said everything exactly how she said it. 

He could easily reveal that basic information about hisself because most of the elders can already perceive that information, but the problem is he didn't want to reveal his age which would be hard to believe. On top of that even if he was the average age of every other disciple, which is what Elder Bai thought, his current stage and everything else is below average compared to people between the ages fourteen to seventeen. Horo did look at least seventeen by his physical build. This would caused everyone to look down on him if he was their age. 

And she asked if he agreed or not because he was practically already an honorary disciple with just the palace master saying so, but if he agreed to her proposal their was a chance he could lose this free pseudo disciple status he obtained. Yet if he declined he would be seen as a coward, pathetic, and dishonorable. 

Before Horo could respond though the palace master spoke up and said something that stunned the entire audience again. 

"Since someone actually dared to object my decision I'll make it worth it, if you agree to the proposal and exceed the qualifications you shall be rewarded accordingly."

This statement truly stunned everybody, even Elevora. She looked at her grandmother with shock and thought "I guess she truly will support my decisions from now on. No wonder she even let Horo speak to her face to face a little bit and even brought him along with her."

She thought this because originally Horo didn't obtain anything besides accommodations and clothing upon being accepted and was told by the palace master he would have to work for any and everything else including techniques, even though usually when one gets accepted or brought into the palace they receive a starter pack which contains techniques and other things. 

With this statement she was giving him a chance to prove himself and truly be accepted or at least half accepted by the others, as well as receive some benefits. 

The others was shocked because they wondered why their aloof palace master who usually didn't side with anyone or show her emotions would be siding with this unknown young man like this, especially since a rumor that a man is the reasons her [Pure Cloud Technique] has staggered the past decade. 

This is true because she held an abundance of negative emotions and feelings ever since Elevora's mother ran off with that man and discarded her path. 

Horo was originally trying not to show any trace of distaste toward Elder Bai or her proposal, but after hearing that proposal he smiled and said of course I'll accept Elder Bai's proposal I can't let any doubt your decisions. 

That was a little clap back as he basically pointed out that Elder Bai had a problem with what the palace master had clearly already decided on. 

I'll battle anyone at the peak of my current stage, in fact I'm already at the peak of my stage as well so if you would like I could battle someone who just entered the expert stage.