This private banquet, grandly billed as a welcome feast to wash away the dust of travel, was held in a Flower Garden. Blossoms crowded all around, their fragrance filling the air and refreshing the heart.
A small round table of white jade had been brought in early. Chen Ping'an and the Great Li Empress Dowager sat facing each other.
A conspicuous wooden box rested on the table. Born in Yuzhang Prefecture, Nan Zan recognized at a glance that the food box had been made from timber from her hometown.
A pot of wine, two pairs of Green Bamboo Chopsticks, and a few cheap pastries for decoration served as food to accompany the wine.
Nan Zan frowned at the sight. What, had a mud-legged nobody from a shabby town alley become a Mountain Dweller and taken to playing at mystery?
The young cultivator, whose identity remained shrouded in mist, sat between them.
It was like a long-simmering feud in the martial world. Now that the wheel had turned, the weaker party dared not tear away the last shreds of civility and fight to the death, yet could not bear to lose too much face. All that remained was to invite a venerable figure of the martial world to mediate and offer a way down.
The young man in a yellow hat and green shoes did not sit, though a seat remained empty. He stood behind Chen Ping'an instead, hands folded over his stomach and a smile on his face.
Chen Ping'an drew a Talisman for Lighting the Lamp from his sleeve. It was made of ordinary material. He gently rubbed the Yellow Seal talisman paper between two fingers, then laid it on the food box. As it began to burn slowly, it reminded the Great Li Empress Dowager that she had