The air in the Side Courtyard bedroom was much more peaceful than outside.
Zhang Chen sat cross-legged on a Prayer Mat, his Spiritual Energy gathered inward. He wasn't devouring it in great gulps as he usually did.
Ever since he'd obtained the Nine Revolutions Universe Art that night, he'd decisively abandoned the basic cultivation art his family had passed down and switched to this Heavenly Rank Divine Art.
The process had been painful, requiring him to compress and purify the Spiritual Power in his body again and again, but after a month, the results were striking.
His Qi Refining Great Perfection realm, which had once been somewhat unstable, was now as solid as a boulder.
The spiritual liquid in his dantian was thick as mercury, every drop brimming with explosive power.
He could establish his foundation at any time.
He'd kept holding back only to wait for the perfect moment: after the Full Moon Banquet, at the height of his family's fortune, he would take the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment Pill and forge a perfect Dao Foundation in one fell swoop.
"Husband, look at these two little ones. They've fallen asleep again."
Lin Qingxue's voice interrupted Zhang Chen's thoughts.
She sat beside the cradle, holding a rattle drum and gently teasing the Dragon-Phoenix Twins, who'd just finished feeding and fallen asleep.
Zhang Chen opened his eyes and looked at his wife, momentarily losing himself.
The biggest change over the past month hadn't been in him or the Dragon-Phoenix Twins.
It had been in Lin Qingxue.
With the Physique Enhancement Pill and the Zhang Family's lavish investment of resources, along with the way her body had been remade after giving birth, Lin Qingxue was now at the very peak of her beauty.
She wore a loose, moon-white house robe, but it couldn't hide her graceful figure.
Her cheeks glowed with a healthy flush.
Her dark hair was casually pinned up, with a few loose strands falling beside her ears and adding a touch of languid charm.
Most astonishing was her aura.
After her Extreme Yin Ice Spirit Body had fully awakened, she'd become like a massive magnet. Even when she wasn't deliberately cultivating, the surrounding water-attributed Spiritual Energy still joyfully rushed into her body.
"What are you looking at?"
Lin Qingxue felt his heated gaze and gave him a reproachful glance, two crimson clouds rising on her cheeks.
"I'm looking at how beautiful my wife is."
Zhang Chen stood and moved behind her, gently wrapping his arms around her waist. He rested his chin on her shoulder. "You've worked hard this past month, taking care of the children and recovering your cultivation."
"It wasn't hard."
Lin Qingxue clasped Zhang Chen's hand behind her back, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes. "Only by regaining my strength as soon as possible can I protect Daoxuan and Daoling in these turbulent times."
"I don't want my children to have to live by other people's whims."
Her cultivation had already stabilized at the peak of Foundation Establishment Early Stage. She was only a step away from the middle stage; it probably wouldn't be long before she reached it.
"Don't worry."
Zhang Chen kissed her hair. "You still have me."
He glanced out the window at the fading light. "Tomorrow is the Full Moon Banquet. Those demons and monsters should be making their entrance."
The next morning, the sun rose over the glittering waters of the East Mountain Islands.
The square in front of the Zhang Family Courtyard was already teeming with people, with drums and gongs thundering.
Thousands of banquet tables stretched from the foot of the mountain all the way to halfway up its slopes. The sheer scale of it was unprecedented in the East Mountain Islands in nearly a century.
Today wasn't merely a Zhang Family affair. It was a grand review of the balance of power across the entire East Mountain Islands.
Aside from the Zhang Family's own cultivators, more than a dozen small families dependent on the Zhang Family had already arrived in full.
They huddled in the corners like quails, smiles of ingratiation and anxiety plastered across their faces.
But the guests who truly mattered were the six Foundation Establishment families bound together in the same boat.
"Look! That's the Iron Bamboo Island Li Family's flying vessel! I heard the Li Family Head married his daughter off to a Wang Family steward last month. Now they're the Wang Family's most loyal lapdogs."
At the shout, a sleek, pitch-black flying vessel descended onto one side of the square.
The Li Family Head, Li Changfeng, stepped down with more than a dozen members of his family!
Right after them came the Misty Moon Island Zhao Family, the Golden Sand Island Qian Family, the Red Rock Island Sun Family...
One after another, the prominent powers of the East Mountain Islands made their entrance.
Their attitudes were ambiguous. Some were exceedingly polite to the Zhang Family stewards; others watched coldly from the sidelines. A few even gathered together to point at the Zhang Family's main hall, their eyes full of malicious glee.
"They're not here for the Full Moon Banquet. They're here to watch us make fools of ourselves."
Standing at the entrance to the main hall, Zhang Yunshan watched the scheming faces below, his expression so dark it seemed water might drip from it.
"Keep your cool."
Zhang Chen stood beside his father, dressed in fine silk and brocade, a faint, characteristic smile on his lips. "The more they dance around now, the harder they'll fall later."
Just then, a piercing eagle cry suddenly rang out from the distant sky.
Kreee!
The sound cut through the air, making the eardrums of many low-level Qi Refining Stage cultivators throb. They couldn't even keep hold of their wine cups, and wine splashed all over the ground.
Everyone looked up in alarm.
A Black Scaled Giant Eagle with a wingspan of ten zhang came swooping down, sweeping in on a gale like a dark cloud blotting out the sky.
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