Chương 91: Chapter 90: Jiang Zhen Hao

The figure was tall, broad-shouldered, moving through the room with easy confidence. He wore the same inner sect robes as everyone else on this floor but it looked a hundred time better on him. His face was probably the most handsome he had seen across any world, and that was saying something given that he had never been someone who paid much attention to how people looked, be it a man or woman.

It was not any single feature so much as the combination of them, and beyond that the kind of charm that drew attention without asking for it. He moved toward their table with unhurried strides, nodding and raising a hand to people whose gazes he caught along the way, and dropped into the empty seat Senior Brother Zhang Linghe had vacated with the ease of someone sitting in his own home.

"You shameless lot," he said, looking around the table.

"Were you going to eat and disappear without saying anything?" Senior Sister Shen Yue met his gaze without hesitation.

"Of course. The wonderful meal would have been ruined if we had to look at your face. Alas, luck was not in our favour and you came to us instead." Chuckles moved around the table. Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao turned to Ye Xuan with a genuinely warm expression.

"Junior brother, I am glad to see you here." Then his gaze moved to Yang.

"And who is this?" Yang bowed.

"Chen Yang, Senior Brother. A friend of Ye Xuan's. Forgive me for tagging along to your event." Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao waved it off immediately.

"The more the merrier. I told all my brothers and sisters to bring along anyone they wanted. All my junior brothers and sisters are welcome here." He looked between them.

"I hope you enjoyed the meal and were not too bothered by this lot."

"The meal was wonderful, Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao," Yang said.

"Thank you, and congratulations on reaching Golden Core. The senior brothers and sisters have been treating us very well."

"These people, kind?" Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao raised an eyebrow.

"Now I know you are lying." He paused.

"And junior brother, just call me Senior Brother Zhen Hao. The full name is a mouthful to say every time."

"Stop ruining our reputation with the juniors," Senior Sister Xing Fei said.

"We have worked hard these last few hours to leave a good impression." and Senior Brother Zhen Hao gave a wide smile saying "It must have been hard hiding your true selves" and then turned serious "I apologise for not coming sooner," Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao said, turning to the group.

"There are so many people and you all chose to sit up here instead of coming to the top floor."

"There was an empty table here so we thought it best to stay," Senior Brother Xu Kai said.

"We see each other every few days. We thought it best to give you time with your shixiong and other guests."

"Bah, what other guests. You are more important, and you know my shixiong would not have minded. They think you are a good influence on me." He said this with a scowling face, then appeared to realise he had just included Ye Xuan and Yang in the less important category to their faces and turned to them with an apologetic expression.

"Not that you both are not important guests, I did not mean it like that."

"We understand what you meant, Senior Brother Zhen Hao," Ye Xuan said easily. Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao gave a sheepish but charming smile.

"To make it up to you both, how about this. I will send you off back to the outer sect on my personal flying sword." Before he could continue, Ye Xuan interrupted.

"Forgive me, Senior Brother. I would rather crawl up the mountain than risk another swift ride on your flying sword." He accompanied this with a visible shudder.

"It is not good to be so afraid of a simple sword ride," Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao said.

"How will your cultivation advance if you are terrified of a mere flying sword?"

"We both know what you did cannot be called sword flying," Senior Brother Lin Yi said in a dry voice.

"Sending juniors off like an arrow is hardly an experience anyone would consider worth repeating."

"You people simply do not know how to enjoy yourselves," Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao exclaimed. He looked around the table then and his expression settled into something more genuine.

"I hope you all enjoyed the meal. Thank you for coming. My apologies that I could not give you all more time." The table replied with variations of it being an honour and that they understood he was busy. Senior Brother Zhen Hao stood and turned to Ye Xuan and Yang.

"Junior brothers, I am glad you both chose to come today. Stay and enjoy yourselves, do not leave early. You came with Zhang Linghe on his little boat, yes? He will leave late, so relax and be merry."

"Brother Zhen Hao," Senior Brother Xu Kai said, "do not worry about the junior brothers. We will see them back to their peak. Junior Brother Zhang must be busy helping you take care of the guests." Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"Yes. Even my shixiong were not quite enough to greet everyone. I had to call Zhang Linghe in to help." Senior Sister Xing Fei let out a delicate snort.

"Is that not a clear indication of you biting off more than you could chew, if even your army of shixiong could not manage the number of your guests?" Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao shrugged.

"It all worked out. You should be grateful. Otherwise I would have had to rope the five of you in as well." Someone across the room caught his attention and he stood.

"Enjoy yourselves. I have more guests to greet." And he was off, moving back into the crowd with the same easy strides he had arrived with. Senior Sister Shen Yue watched him go and shook her head slowly. Then she turned to Ye Xuan and Yang with a small smile.

"Junior brothers. Do not learn from Zhen Hao's example." They all settled back into their seats. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Ye Xuan, after a moment, turned to the seniors with a curious look.

"Senior brothers and sisters, how long does a banquet like this typically last?"

"Since most of us are not at a high level of cultivation, events like this cannot run for more than a day," Senior Sister Shen Yue said.

"We will probably start seeing people leave in a couple of hours."

"That long?" Ye Xuan said. Senior Brother Lin Yi answered him this time.

"Junior brother, even within the sect it is not common for so many fellow cultivators to gather together in one place. Most of us are busy cultivating, learning, taking tasks, or a hundred other things. It is rare that this many cultivators of similar level gather in a room outside of class just to socialise. It is a good opportunity to get to know your senior and junior brothers and sisters and share insights. A couple of hours is not long at all. After all, we are not mortals who tire easily."

"Let us sit a while longer," Senior Sister Xing Fei said, looking around the room.

"I will introduce you both to a few other brothers and sisters I know here." Senior Sister Xing Fei turned to Ye Xuan with a curious look.

"Junior brother, tell me more about yourself. I can see you share a fondness for the latest goings on in the sect like me, but is there anything else that interests you?" Ye Xuan answered with a somewhat sheepish smile, admitting he had only been in the sect a few months and had been concentrating almost entirely on advancing his realm. He freely admitted there was not much more to tell beyond that.

Senior Sister Shen Yue caught his slightly embarrassed expression and said, "Junior brother, there is no need to be embarrassed. As long as you are cultivating well that is all that matters. You are new to the sect and it is best to concentrate on advancing your realm for now. There will always be time to round off your education later." The others echoed her, and the slight awkwardness passed. After that the table split into separate conversations.

Occasionally someone rose to greet a familiar face they spotted across the room, and occasionally new people drifted over if they knew one of the table's occupants. Even Ye Xuan slipped away at one point after spotting a couple more of his inner sect flying sword acquaintances somewhere in the crowd. Yang was the only one who knew nobody else in the room. He did not recognise anyone from his casual outer sect acquaintances either. But he was not bored.

The seniors were kind enough to introduce him to the inner sect disciples they knew as they came and went, and he found he enjoyed the varying discussions. He noticed that Senior Sister Xing Fei was particularly sociable, spending most of her time either welcoming new people to the table or making her way over to someone she had spotted. She seemed to know half the room. The other seniors drew a more specific crowd. Alchemist disciples in particular gravitated toward Senior Brother Liu Te.

Being on the alchemy path, it seemed, attracted a certain kind of attention, and from what Yang could observe Senior Brother Liu Te was not entirely pleased about it. Senior Brother Lin Yi took visible enjoyment in his fellow alchemist's mild suffering while also happily joining every alchemy discussion that formed around him. Senior Brother Xu Kai and Senior Sister Shen Yue were the most reserved.

Fewer people approached them and neither of them made much effort to leave the table, the two of them mostly absorbed in conversation with each other. After a couple of hours, the seniors suggested making rounds around the restaurant. Ye Xuan and Senior Sister Xing Fei had already been gone some time socialising on their own, so it was only the four seniors and Yang who rose and made their way upstairs.

The crowd had thinned somewhat and as they moved through the floors they met more people, many of whom had similarly stayed close to where they had originally been seated. By now Yang had a reasonable sense of the socialising etiquette. Not everyone in a group knew everyone else. People introduced their own acquaintances and friends to the rest. He also noticed that like him there were others who had come along as someone else's guest, hanger-ons finding their feet the same way he was.

He met a few outer sect disciples as well, though they had all been in the sect for at least a few years. He and Ye Xuan appeared to be the lowest level disciples present. As they reached the top floor the group became noticeably more measured. There were fewer tables up here and fewer people, and a difference in the room's atmosphere. Senior Brother Lin Yi lightly touched Yang's arm to get his attention before they entered.

"You will likely find people of higher cultivation here. This is where Brother Zhen Hao's shixiong were seated. Be respectful, but there is no need to be fearful." Yang straightened slightly. Almost everyone on the top floor was seated. The seniors led him toward a table in the corner where two disciples sat, both in inner sect robes. The group bowed and Yang followed their lead as the seniors greeted the two, addressing them as Senior Brother Xiao Zhan and Senior Brother Luo Yun Xi.

The senior Brothers returned the greeting, nodding at each of them by name.

"And this is Chen Yang," Senior Brother Xu Kai said, gesturing to Yang.

"A junior brother who recently joined the sect." The two seniors nodded at him.

"We had hoped to greet the rest of your fellow shixiong as well," Senior Brother Xu Kai said.

"It seems we missed them."

"They left once Zhen Hao went to make his rounds," Senior Brother Luo Yun Xi said.

"Do not trouble yourselves over it."

"We regret missing them all the same," Senior Sister Shen Yue said. Senior Brother Luo Yun Xi inclined his head.

"Junior Brother Zhen Hao gathered quite a flock here. It is understandable that things became rather hectic." His expression made it clear the scale of the occasion had not entirely been to his taste. As the conversation continued Yang became aware that Senior Brother Xiao Zhan had not spoken since returning the initial greeting. He was looking at Yang, and not being particularly subtle about it. Yang could see that some of the others had noticed as well, though no one acknowledged it.

They finished the conversation, bowed, and took their leave. As they descended to the lower floor Senior Brother Xu Kai turned to Yang.

"Have you come across Senior Brother Xiao Zhan before?"

"No," Yang said.

"It was my first time meeting him. Is something wrong?"

"I am sure it was nothing," Senior Brother Lin Yi said, his tone closing the subject.

"Come along, we should make our way out." They found Ye Xuan and Senior Sister Xing Fei on the ground floor, seated in the middle of a large and noisy group, wine cups in hand, entirely at ease.

"Xing Fei, we are leaving," Senior Brother Lin Yi said.

"Will you come with us?"

"I will stay a little longer," Senior Sister Xing Fei said. She turned to Ye Xuan.

"Junior brother, I can drop you off at the outer sect peak when I leave. Would you like to stay longer?" Ye Xuan agreed with eagerness, said his farewells to the departing group, and was already turning back to the table as soon as they had finished their goodbyes. Outside the restaurant, instead of crossing back over the bridge the seniors moved to the corner of the entrance. One by one they summoned their flying swords, the blades appearing with a low hum and hovering steady at waist height.

Senior Brother Lin Yi turned to Yang.

"Climb on, junior brother." Yang approached and positioned himself behind him.

"Have you flown on a sword before?"

"No, Senior Brother." Yang admitted.

"Then stand in the front instead." Yang shifted positions and barely had time to register the change before the sword launched. He lurched and almost went off entirely before Senior Brother Lin Yi's hand caught his right shoulder and held him firm. The city and the restaurant dropped away below them, the mountain rising ahead, and the night air hit clean and cold. They reached the outer sect peak in minutes.

Senior Brother Lin Yi asked him to guide the way and Yang directed him toward his cave residence, the sword descending smoothly until Yang could step off near the entrance of his cave. He bowed to the seniors, they waved their farewells, and flew off on their swords. Yang stood outside his cave for a moment before going in. He had enjoyed today more than he had expected to. The discussions and the easy company were both enjoyable. He would try to socialise more.

There was a great deal to learn from the people around him.