Feast for All Directions!

In the side courtyard's bedroom, the air here was much more tranquil than outside.

Zhang Chen sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his spiritual energy restrained inward, not madly devouring as usual.

Ever since he obtained the Nine Revolutions Universe Art that night, he had decisively abandoned the family's basic cultivation technique and switched to this Heavenly Rank Divine Art.

Although the process was painful, requiring him to compress and purify the spiritual power in his dantian over and over, the results over this past month were significant.

His originally somewhat unstable Qi Refining Great Perfection realm had now become as solid as a rock.

The spiritual liquid in his dantian was thick as mercury, every drop containing explosive power.

He could break through to Foundation Establishment at any time.

The reason he held back was to wait for that most perfect moment—after the Full Moon Banquet, at the peak of the family's fortune, he would take the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment Pill and forge a perfect foundation in one go.

"Husband, look at these two little ones, they're asleep again."

Lin Qingxue's voice interrupted Zhang Chen's thoughts.

She was sitting by the cradle, holding a rattle, gently teasing the Dragon-Phoenix Twins who had just fallen asleep after feeding.

Zhang Chen opened his eyes, his gaze falling on his wife, and he couldn't help but be momentarily dazed.

Over this past month, the one who had changed the most was neither him nor the twins.

It was Lin Qingxue.

With the "Physique Enhancement Pill" and the Zhang Family's unlimited resource investment, combined with her body's reconstruction after childbirth, Lin Qingxue was now simply at the peak of her beauty.

She wore a loose, moon-white casual dress, but it couldn't hide her graceful, well-proportioned figure.

Her complexion was a healthy pink.

Her black hair was casually tied up, with a few strands falling by her ears, adding a touch of lazy charm.

The most astonishing thing was her aura.

With her Extreme Yin Ice Spirit Body fully awakened, she was like a huge magnet; even without deliberate cultivation, the surrounding water-attributed spiritual energy would cheerfully burrow into her body.

"What are you staring at?"

Lin Qingxue felt his burning gaze and shot him a reproachful glare, two red clouds flying to her cheeks.

"Looking at how beautiful my wife is."

Zhang Chen got up, walked behind her, gently wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his chin on her fragrant shoulder: "This month has been hard on you, taking care of the children and recovering your cultivation."

"It's not hard."

Lin Qingxue reached back to hold Zhang Chen's hand, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes: "Only by recovering my strength as soon as possible can I protect Daoxuan and Daoling in this chaotic world."

"I don't want my children to have to live by others' whims in the future."

Her cultivation had now stabilized at the peak of Foundation Establishment Early Stage, just one step away from the Middle Stage; it probably wouldn't be long before she broke through to the Middle Stage!

"Don't worry."

Zhang Chen kissed her hair: "You still have me."

He glanced at the darkening sky outside the window: "Tomorrow is the Full Moon Banquet. Those snakes and ghosts should be making their move."

The next morning, as the sun rose, the sea surface of the East Mountain Islands shimmered with rippling light.

In the square before the Zhang Family Courtyard, it was already bustling with noise and the clamor of gongs and drums.

Thousands of banquet tables were laid out, stretching from the foot of the mountain all the way to the midslope. The scale of the scene was the greatest the East Mountain Islands had seen in nearly a hundred years.

Today was not just a family matter for the Zhang Family; it was a grand review of the power structure across the entire East Mountain Islands.

Besides the Zhang Family's own cultivators, the dozen or so Small Families dependent on the Zhang Family had all arrived in full force.

Each one huddled in corners like quails, faces plastered with ingratiating and nervous smiles.

But the truly weighty guests were the six Foundation Establishment families bound by mutual alliance.

"Look! That's the Iron Bamboo Island Li Family's Flying Boat! I heard the Li Family Head married his daughter off to a Wang Family steward last month; now they're the Wang Family's loyal lapdogs."

With a cry of surprise, a pitch-black, shuttle-shaped Flying Boat landed on one side of the square.

Li Family Head Li Changfeng descended with over a dozen clan members!

Following closely, the Misty Moon Island Zhao Family, the Golden Sand Island Qian Family, the Red Rock Island Sun Family...

One by one, the influential powers of the East Mountain Islands made their appearances.

Their attitudes were ambiguous. Some were courteous to the Zhang Family stewards, others watched coldly from the sidelines, and a few even gathered together, pointing at the Zhang Family main hall with eyes full of schadenfreude.

"This isn't coming to drink at a Full Moon Banquet; it's clearly coming to watch the show."

Zhang Yunshan stood at the entrance of the main hall, looking down at the faces full of hidden agendas, his expression dark enough to drip water.

"Steady."

Zhang Chen stood beside his father, clad in resplendent brocade, that signature faint smile hanging at the corner of his lips. "The livelier they dance now, the harder they'll fall later."

Just then, a piercing eagle cry suddenly rang out from the distant sky.

Screech—!

The sound was immensely penetrating, rattling the eardrums of many low-cultivation Qi Refining Stage cultivators present, causing their wine cups to slip from their grasp and spill across the ground.

The crowd looked up in alarm.

There, a Black Scaled Giant Eagle with a wingspan of a full ten zhang descended, wrapped in rolling gales, pressing down like a dark cloud blotting out the sky.