Unsheathed

The emperor of the Great Sui Nation attended the Thousand Elders Banquet, and the envoy from the Great Li Empire was the assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites who had visited the Dragon Spring Prefecture back then. If Chen Ping'an were present, he would definitely recognize this person in a single glance.

This was a banquet where elders with white hair were the majority, and sitting to the left and right of the Great Li Empire's assistant minister were Song Jixin and Xu Ruo, respectively. They were both using a pseudonym, and Zhi Gui was nowhere to be seen.

Xu Ruo was still dressed like a traveling swordsman, with a sword resting horizontally across his legs as he sat there.

Apart from the young Embroidered Tiger, it was very likely that no one else knew that Xu Ruo had just done something incredibly significant.

He had directly faced Mr. Fan and spoken on behalf of the Great Li Empire's Imperial Song Clan, allowing one branch of Commercialists to enter the grand feast that was sweeping through the entire continent. They could enter halfway and grow to their heart's content, and the Great Li Empire wouldn't interfere in their affairs for the next thirty years.

As Xu Ruo drank, what he thought about wasn't these matters pertaining to the unstoppable trend. Rather, he was contemplating how he could nurture Dong Shuijing, the young man who was still selling wontons every day, into a genuine saber-lending cultivator.

Song Jixin looked at the emperor of the Great Sui Nation before sweeping his gaze across the surroundings. Looking at all of the elders, he felt like the imperial court of the Great Sui Nation was gloomy and bleak.

Zhi Gui — or Wang Zhu, to be more precise — stayed back in the quiet relay station by herself.

A tall and skinny middle-aged Daoist priest channeled an illusion technique and concealed his true appearance before bringing two cultivators from True Martial Mountain with him and silently arriving at the relay station. He found Zhi Gui currently leaning against the railing under the eaves and listening to the chiming bells.

The middle-aged Daoist priest retracted his mystical ability and revealed his true appearance. There was immortal energy lingering around him and a fish tail hat on his head, and just standing there made it seem like he possessed a profound Great Dao that was one with heaven and earth. He was like a towering mountain standing in the world.

Zhi Gui simply took a quick glance at this Dao Lord from the Divine Edict Sect. He was none other than Qi Zhen, the leader of the Daoist orthodoxy in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. As for the sword-bearing cultivator from True Martial Mountain, she didn't so much as spare a single glance at him. More of her attention was focused on the young man who had a black cat sitting on his shoulder.