17 – Debut of the Merak Palace"s Young Ancestor
The main courtyard of the Heavenly Sword Gate.
The s.p.a.cious s.p.a.ce of the banquet was mostly filled already.
Every time a martial pract.i.tioner reached the Heaven Realm, they would cause a turmoil in the Martial World. After all, this was virtually the pinnacle that a martial artist could reach in their entire life. As for the Grandmaster Realm, it was a question of opportunities, not hard work.
Just because of the birth of a Heaven Realm expert, not many sects would hold a large banquet and send ma.s.s invitations to the various sects of the Martial World to be congratulated, but the Heavenly Sword Gate was such a high-profile money-bag. It was an extremely wealthy merchant sect.
Even when Spirit Moon Valley"s Valley Master Beiming stepped into the Grandmaster Realm, he didn"t hold any banquet. He just made an announcement, nothing more.
From this, it could be inferred that the Heavenly Sword Gate"s actions were high-profile.
But the various sects of the Martial World seemed to be happy with this. After all, who doesn"t like lively events? Especially the young martial pract.i.tioners who cultivated in their sect for a long time, they were more so happy, and competed to attend the banquet.
More importantly, the perspicacious people were aware that this was a show of strength meant for the Merak Palace. After five years of quiet, this was a good show that many people of the Martial World and Demimonde were happy to see.
And the person in the limelight today was Hua Tianji.
Dressed in a black robe, Hua Tianji standing at the gate greeted the guests personally. At first glance, he looked rather plain, with no distinguishing features, just like a random pedestrian. However, no one dared to underestimate him, because the qi field emanating from him put everyone under great pressure.
Circulating at a high speed, the true qi inside a martial pract.i.tioner"s body would naturally produce an invisible qi field.
Qi field could influence an area and exert a pressure on others within its range, and even cause hallucinations. The qi field of some people with extremely high cultivation base could even evolve into a domain, which could influence reality and cause a variety of incredible phenomena.
Of course, the qi field of Hua Tianji, who has just stepped into the Heaven Realm, manifested itself as a momentum that could be felt at most. However, for those with a cultivation base inferior to his, this was enough to produce a strong might. The guest standing in front of him sweating profusely was the best proof.
“So it"s Lion Mountain Sect"s Sect Master Chen. This way, please.” Hua Tianji made an inviting gesture. As if relieved from a burden, the guest surnamed Chen quickly followed a Heavenly Sword Gate"s disciple to his seat.
This Lion Mountain Sect was getting worse with each generation, and this generation"s sect master has just stepped into the Heaven Realm.
Disdainful, he withdrew his gaze, and then cast his sight back on the main road. What reflected in his eyes was a rather strange a.s.semble of people – three girls, one big and two small.
Hua Tianji"s attention was fist attracted by the girl that looked the oldest. Although her appearance was top-notch, but it was her elegant temperament that was rather soothing.
Looks are fleeting, but temperament is eternal. This girl has a lingering charm. But what Hua Tianji admired even more was the fact that the girl, who looked like she wasn"t even 20 years old, has already touched the edge of the Heaven Realm.
She must be someone from the Great Five Sects! Hua Tianji concluded in his heart.
Then, Hua Tianji turned his attention to a little girl walking next the girl.
The little girl had a very pleasant round face, and looked to be 12 or 3 years old, yet her cultivation base was already in the mid-stage Human Realm. Give her 10 more years, and she should be able to step into the Earth Realm.
Finally, Hua Tianji"s gaze fell on the little girl in the lead.
The exquisite face was as delicate as jade carving, the two long strands of hair swayed like a cat"s tail. What surprised Hua Tianji the most was that despite having the face of a child, she had no trace of childishness about her. Rather, she had a kind of ineffable and indescribable threatening spiritual qi about her.
The next moment, Hua Tianji frowned. He couldn"t see through the other side"s cultivation base. In other words, the little girl either used some method to hide her cultivation base, or her cultivation base was higher than his.
“Hey, are you Hua Tianji?” A childish voice sounded from not far away, interrupting Hua Tianji"s musing.
Hua Tianji looked up.
A white-haired Heavenly Sword Gate"s sect manager – Liang Bozhong, stared blankly. Standing opposite him was a little girl whose cultivation base he could not seen through.
For a moment, Liang Bozhong didn"t know how to react to the little girl"s question.
“Hey, are you, or are you not? h.e.l.lo, answer me. What are you doing?” The words the little girl spoke were incongruous with her lovely voice.
Liang Bozhong finally reacted. Shaking his head, he answered with an amiable look on his face: “I am the Heavenly Sword Gate"s general manager, not Gate Master. Gate Master Hua should be inside.
“Oh, why did you take so long!” The little girl replied grumpily. Then, she turned her head sharply, and her amber eyes stared at Hua Tianji.
Did she detect my gaze? Hua Tianji frowned lightly, but soon showed a friendly smile, and went to welcome her at once.
The little girl seemed to have uncovered Hua Tianji"s ident.i.ty, facing him.
“May I ask which sect"s mediator you are, young lady?”
Instead of answering, the little girl sized him up viciously. After a long time, she finally blurted out: “You"re Hua Tianji?”
Very courteous, Hua Tianji cupped his hands and replied: “I am.”
The little girl"s face darkened, and she spoke in an unfriendly tone of voice: “Very good, you"re Hua Tianji! You"re so arrogant…” When she reached this point, the little girl spread her arms and gestured how arrogant he was.
Hua Tianji was confused regarding the little girl"s accusation: “May I ask what you mean, little miss? I believe I have never offended you, nor have I ever been arrogant in front of you, little miss!”
The little girl stamped her foot abruptly, pointed at Hua Tianji"s nose, and scolded indignantly: “You still dare deny? You made me wait for you all night yesterday!”
“This… I don"t remember having an appointment with you, little miss.” The expression in Hua Tianji"s eyes darkened. This la.s.s must be from that sect. She"s so rude.
The little girl opened her mouth to scold some more, but then was knocked on the head by the elegant girl, “Young Ancestor, that"s enough. Have you forgotten Palace Master"s instructions?”
Young Ancestor? Hua Tianji"s eyes narrowed slightly, and he thought of a person.
The little girl snorted and turned her head, saying no more.
At this point, the girl shook her head helplessly, and then took a step forward, “The Palace Master"s seventh Elder Luo Qing greats Gate Master Hua.”
Sure enough, they"re from the Merak Palace! Then, is this rude little girl the Young Ancestor? Although Hua Tianji was surprised, but his face remained unchanged.
“Elder Luo, you had a long journey.” He returned politely, then looked at the troublesome little girl and asked with feigned hesitation: “Excuse me, Elder Luo, is this a senior of your sect?”
“This is our sect"s Young Ancestor.” Luo Qing nodded with a wry smile.
It"s really her! Hua Tianji sneered in his heart. Who could have though that the Merak Palace"s Young Ancestor would be such an unhinged character.
“Hey, Hua Tianji, what"s with that filthy look on your face? Are you a lolicon?”
The corners of Hua Tianji"s mouth twitched. Although he didn"t know the meaning of the word lolicon, looking from the look of disgusted on her face, he knew that it wasn"t anything good.
“I don"t know what senior means, but I think that there must be some misunderstanding.” Trying to change the topic, Hua Tianji asked: “May I have your esteemed name, senior.”
The Merak Palace"s Young Ancestor stared blankly for a moment, and then looked at Luo Qing: “Little Qing, is he asking my name?”
Luo Qing nodded helplessly.
“Geez. That was so convoluted and hard to understand.” Xue Qilin gave Hua Tianji the stink eyes and scolded.
Then she puffed up her flat chest and looked up, “Listen well! This young lady is called Xue Qilin. You can call me… Um…”
Xue Qilin turned to Luo Qing and asked: “How should he address me?”
“Senior Xue.” Luo Qing whispered in Xue Qilin"s ear. The latter made an oh sound, and then turned towards Hua Tianji and said: “Well, you can call me Senior Xue.”
Who would tell others to call them senior? Hua Tianji hesitated – is this idiot really the Merak Palace"s Young Ancestor?