At dawn, Chen Ping'an reached into his sleeve and gripped the Yin Guan Jade Token, used Shrink Ground Mountains and Rivers, and arrived in a single step on the stairs outside the Summer Palace. Unlike the Summer Palace of old, whose gates had remained shut from dawn to dusk, it now had something of an official office's air.
Unlike those vassal cities, this place had no gatekeeper cultivators. Visitors with business were not barred, so long as they did not wander about. State your business, leave when the matter was settled—clean and efficient.
If anyone expected the sword cultivators of the Yin Guan lineage to bring out wine for guests, they could forget it.
In the early years of the Summer Palace, apart from the Old Great Sword Immortal, even Chen Xi and Qi Tingji had been unable to cross its threshold.
Before Ning Yao arrived in Ascension City and temporarily took up the post of Yin Guan, she had never once set foot in the Summer Palace.
Early that morning, Fan Dache was sweeping the courtyard when someone lightly patted his shoulder and called with a smile, "Dache."
Hearing that familiar voice call his name, Fan Dache nearly burst into tears on the spot. He turned around and said, "Lord Yin Guan."
Chen Ping'an lightly patted Fan Dache's arm. "Let's talk as we walk."
Ning Yao had already told him the broad situation of the Yin Guan lineage, but Fan Dache was clearly more detailed, so Chen Ping'an listened patiently.
The first five young sword cultivators admitted into the Summer Palace had all been Sword Immortal Embryos of outstanding aptitude. Though none of them had yet become Golden Core sword cultivators, before joining the Yin Guan lineage, they had each already possessed a seat in Ascension City's Patriarch Hall.