Beyond the forums, another celebration was underway.
Magic City, the private reception room on the top floor of the Lu Clan Building.
This reception room was never opened to outsiders.
The oil paintings hanging on the walls were authentic originals, while the bronze sculpture in the corner had been crafted by a seventeenth-century sculptor whose name even bore a noble title.
A crystal chandelier hung from a dome three stories high, its warm yellow light falling across the dark brown solid-wood table.
Lu Xing sat at the head of the table, his graying hair combed immaculately, the lines beside his nose as deep as knife cuts.
The corner of his mouth curved with an expression that had been suppressed for far too long and could finally be released.
To his right sat Lu Zhantian, the Chief Judge of North Rain Mountain.
Zhou Shan, head of the Zhou Clan, sat to Lu Xing's left, keeping an exceptionally low profile.
The Zhou Clan had no Pinnacle, no councilor, nothing at all.
So Zhou Shan did not fight for anything. He simply sat there quietly, chiming in every now and then and occasionally raising his glass for a light sip.
Members of the Luo Clan and Xu Clan sat opposite them.
The Luo Clan's new head wore little expression on his face, but his entirely black attire already said everything.
Jiang Che had previously killed the Luo Clan's Pinnacle ancestor with a single punch in the Imperial Capital, and they had never had a chance to settle that score.
The Xu Clan head was much the same.
His eyes gleamed beneath the candlelight with the sharpness of a hawk's.
Lu Xing picked up his wineglass and stood.
"Gentlemen, let me tell you a joke. Jiang Che went to the Parthenon Temple. Alone!"
He