The elders looked around at each other, not expecting a direct confrontation from the sect leader.
They didn't know how to respond and waited for someone to speak.
"Sect leader," the Fifth elder spoke. "You were ill for a while before you were healed. Are you alright now?"
"Yes, I'm mostly fine, Fifth Elder. There have been some… complications, but it has nothing to do with my health thankfully," Ma Rong said.
"Oh, complications? Is that why you went into closed cultivation? To deal with it?" the Fifth Elder asked again.
"Yes, that was the reason," Ma Rong said.
"So, was it such a bad complication that you had to ignore the sect handling?" the elder asked.
"Can we learn what sort of complication it was, and if you've solved it," another elder asked.
"Oh right! I heard the Sect Leader awaken her constitution. Is that what the complications were about?" another elder asked.
"Yes," Ma Rong said. "Do to my awakened constitutions, I had some problems. It still persists however and I will need a lot more training to solve it."
"Huh? What sort of constitutions require so long to fix? What sort of constitutions create problems in the first place?" an elder asked.
"That right. Aren't constitutions supposed to be just something a body automatically has? It's not like a poison that tries to kill a body, right?" another elder asked.
"How much longer would you say you need to control it all?" an elder asked.
The First elder looked at Ma Rong and sighed. The sect leader was showing too much indifference to the questions and he was worried she would start to give answers without much thought.
The Great elder was also worried but for a different reason. He had decided to keep the awakened constitution a secret, but it seemed it was leaked around somehow. He had also later learned about Ma Rong's inability to make pills anymore and was worried the elders would find out.
If they did, he had no doubts that they would try to throw her away from the sect leader's spot. After all, most of them were around when Ma Rong was named the next sect leader by the previous sect leader and the elders were mostly against it.
They were all looking for a reason to throw Ma Rong away from that spot, and they were just about to get that opportunity.
Ma Rong looked at the lot of them and said, "I will still need many months if I want to properly deal with my new constitution."
"What?"
"A few months?"
"A sect leader can't disappear for that long. We need guidance."
"The sect needs guidance from its leader. We can't have someone who won't deal with the sect for so long keep on becoming the sect leader," the elders shouted.
The Great Elder was shocked at Ma Rong's answer. "Little Ma, what are you doing?" he asked softly.
"It's fine, Master," Ma Rong said from the side.
"Sect leader, we… we can't go on with our sect leader missing for so long. Is there no other way?" the seventh elder asked.
"When did I say I was going to disappear for so long?" Ma Rong asked. "I just said that I need many months to deal with my condition, that's all."
The few elders that were genuinely concerned about the sect breathed a sigh of relief, while the ones that were looking forward to her removal frowned.
"Can you guarantee that you will be available from now on, sect leader?" one of the elders asked.
"No," Ma Rong said. "But that was always the case, wasn't it? There have been times before I've gone on closed cultivation. I understand the sect is growing now, but it's not that different yet, is it?"
"Right, you should take care of yourself, sect leader. We will take care of the sect if you are absent sometimes," the seventh elder said.
The few elders were getting desperate after seeing how well the meeting was going in Ma Rong's favor.
"I heard disciple Yu Ming returned to the sect today, is that true?" one of the elders asked.
"Yes, he did," Ma Rong said.
"Did you meet him, sect leader?" the elders asked.
"Yes, just before this," Ma Rong said.
"Oh, okay. Wait, weren't you in closed cultivation? How did he contact you?" an elder asked.
"Oh, sect leader must've just finished her cultivation when her disciple returned. Although… that's quite a coincidence," another elder asked.
"Sect leader, I hope you're not only caring for your people and not caring about the sect. That would be horrible for us," an elder directly said.
Ma Rong sighed and stood up. The elders were surprised at the sect leader suddenly standing up from the seat. They wondered if she was going to cancel the meeting right here so that she wouldn't have to answer anymore.
"So," she started speaking. "About my constitution. After returning ill from the Forbidden Fields, I was healed and somehow my constitution awoke."
"Now, some of you think I may be lying when I say it's hard to deal with. You think what constitution could there ever be that would create problems for the person."
"And you would be right," Ma Rong said as he kept on walking forward, surprising the elders. "My constitution creates no problems for myself."
"So… you were lying?" an elder asked in confusion.
"Obviously not," Ma Rong said. "I only said it was problematic and hard to deal with. I never said the problem was for myself."
Suddenly, the air around Ma Rong chilled. Mists started forming around her body as they slowly dropped down to the ground.
The elder closest to her could feel the temperature of the air rapidly going down. When she looked down at Ma Rong's feet, she could see Ice forming on the ground.
Ma Rong took a single step forward, and suddenly the ground where she stepped was frosted as it slowly spread further out the longer it went on for.
The elders around her immediately started using their cultivation base to stop the frost from getting to them, but even then it was cold. They couldn't understand, how something could be so cold as to make them shiver with their whole cultivation base running.
Ma Rong took another step forward and more elders started feeling the chill. With another step, the elders further at the back felt the child.
Soon, the entire room was like a freezer with the ground fully frosted and signs of frost appearing on the chairs.
"S-Sect leader! What is the meaning of this?" someone finally asked.
"This? This is the problem I was dealing with. Without me forcefully controlling my body, you will all freeze solid with just me standing around. Do you still want me to be there for every single minor thing the sect has to do?"
"Because if you really need me, just let me know. I will come right over to where you are and will help you," Ma Rong said with a smile and drew in her naturally flowing Yin Qi.
The elders finally felt some warmth return back to them after Ma Rong returned to her seat. They were scared for a while, but then an elder gathered up his courage and spoke.
"If- if you have a hard time being around the elders, then shouldn't you not be a sect leader? A sect leader is needed in every situation," the elder said.
Ma Rong stopped right before her seat and turned around.
"Are you all so incompetent that you will need a sect leader for everything?" Ma Rong asked. "Of course I will be there when I need to make decisions for things, but I doubt you will need me every single day instead of letting me solve my own problem right?" Ma Rong asked.
"However, if you think I am wrong, then go ahead and vote me out. If you don't want me as a sect leader then I won't stay as one," Ma Rong said.
The elders looked around at the chance and one of the elders raised his hands.
"If the sect leader won't be around to care about the sect, then I say that she doesn't need to remain a sect leader at all," he said.
The other elders looked around. The few who wanted her to go away immediately raised their hands. Of the 18 elders in the room, 7 had raised their hands.
The elders who were concerned about the sect started mulling over the problem too. It was true that the sect leader should get some time of her own to deal with the problems, but not many months.
If there was going to be a problem, then it would be better she didn't remain there and someone more appropriate took her place.
Two of the elders raised their hands as they were concerned about it all.
Ma Rong looked at the 9 people who raised their hands and said nothing. Since it was half of the elders, just a single more hand and Ma Rong would have to leave her spot.
"Sigh, who do you guys want as your new sect leader after I leave anyway?" Ma Rong asked.
"Uh… The first elder would be a good choice," someone said.
"I'm getting old and I am planning on retiring soon, so I won't be a sect leader," the First elder said.
"Oh… uh, then what about Second Elder? He's should be great. He's been handling the sect for a while himself anyway" another person said.
The Second Elder looked towards the person who just spoke and smiled before turning over to Ma Rong as he opened his mouth to speak.
