In the Ice Extreme Pass meeting room, the scent of tea drifted through the air. Sunlight slipped between the window blinds, casting long, narrow shadows across the wooden floor.
Qin Tian sat at the head of the table, holding a cup of warm tea. He looked at the white-clad swordsman across from him, a teasing smile on his lips. "Arbitrator Yang, you vanished for months. Finally decided to show your face?"
Yang Lingfeng dropped into the seat opposite Qin Tian as casually as if he were at home.
He took a sip from the cup on the table, and his eyes lit up. "I knew it. If I want good tea, I have to come to you. The Dongfang Family's tea really is something. Do you have any more Wood-Spirit Tea? Get me a tin."
Qin Tian shot him an exasperated look. "Catherine snatched half a tin from me last time. I ran out ages ago. What, are you here to rob me too?"
"How is that robbery? It's sharing." Yang Lingfeng waved a hand, smiling faintly. "Just like our Mythical Society."
He made no attempt to avoid saying "Mythical Society" aloud.
At their current level of strength, neither he nor Qin Tian feared being overheard. He also knew Qin Tian's senses were even more formidable than his own. No probing Psionic Fluctuation within hundreds of miles could escape Qin Tian's notice.
"Speaking of which." Qin Tian set down his cup and looked at Yang Lingfeng seriously. "Why didn't I see you or
Catherine in the Heaven Stele Secret Realm? Given your positions, getting a place should have been easy."
Yang Lingfeng was a black-robed arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration, an Eighth-Order Psionic User hailed as the "Sword Immortal."
And Catherine, known as "Athena," was the Mercenary Association President's