As the lanterns first lit, Hengshan City was abuzz, even livelier than it had been by day.
A grand banquet was underway in the plaza before the Taihuang Hall of the Kunlun Divine Palace.
The Old Ancestor Taihuang had issued an edict to welcome and entertain the martial artists from the great sects who had traveled from afar. With a Jie Realm Great Being giving the word, the various sects naturally complied.
Countless martial artists had gathered here, their blood-and-qi wolf-smoke surging into the clouds.
"This place truly holds the finest essence of the Dao!"
Jiang Yan, Bai Shenghai, and Liu Qingqing followed the crowd into the plaza. He looked around; with only a cursory sense of the place, he could already tell that dozens of Pinnacle Realm martial artists were drinking merrily here. This force alone could rival Nanyan Prefecture.
One had to know that the many martial artists in Nanyan Prefecture were not all natives. They had been driven there by the Black Tide, the cream of the Great Yan Dynasty's people from across its lands.
This showed just how flourishing the martial arts were in Hengshan Dao.
"This time, it isn't just the hegemonic powers of each prefecture that have come. Even the second- and third-rate martial forces with some local influence have received summons from the Kunlun Divine Palace."
"But those small forces are nothing worth mentioning. With your strength, you only need to keep an eye on the hegemons of each prefecture."
Bai Shenghai knew that Jiang Yan was an outsider who was also obsessed with martial arts and cared little for sect affairs, so he stood beside him and patiently explained.
"Daoist Bai! It's been years. Have you been well?"
Just then, a gruff male voice came from nearby. A tall, heavily bearded man