Perhaps the Great Vehicle Minor Accomplishment realm that had trapped him for so many long years would finally offer hope of a breakthrough.
As the Red-Robed Turtle-Shelled Elder dreamed of advancing to the next realm,
a graceful woman in white, her face breathtakingly beautiful, slowly walked from the rear courtyard into the hall.
She looked around. When she saw the Red-Robed Turtle-Shelled Elder standing beside Lu Kexun at the seat of honor,
she was terrified, but she forced herself to stay composed. She timidly took a fresh cup filled with wine from the servant behind her and walked over to the Red-Robed Turtle-Shelled Elder.
"Yanyu... offers the chancellor a toast!"
Everyone had thought the banquet was over, but Cui Yanyu's arrival made the atmosphere in the hall subtly tense.
"Gulp!"
From the moment the woman in white entered the hall, the Red-Robed Turtle-Shelled Elder's gaze had been fixed on her.
He swallowed hard before coming to his senses and nodding.
"Good girl!"
After the old man and the young woman drained their cups in unspoken accord, Yan Ruyu turned her gaze toward her father, Cui Hao.
"Father, your daughter is leaving!"
With those words, she seemed to sever every bond tying her to those in the hall. She walked out without looking back.
"I'm rather tired today. Let's end the banquet here!"
Utterly bewitched by Cui Yanyu's beauty, the Red-Robed Turtle-Shelled Elder cast all his earlier thoughts aside. All he wanted now was to take her back to his Cave Abode.
Seeing the impatience flash across the Red-Robed Turtle-Shelled Elder's face, Cui Hao, who had sat silent in a corner of the hall, suddenly clenched his fists.
But when he saw Lu Kexun shake his head from the seat of honor, he forced down his anger.
After all, to a