Given Li Chengfeng and Zhao Lie's current cultivation, it would no longer have been appropriate for Zheng Pandao to invite them to a banquet at any restaurant in the city.
Compared to their cultivation, no establishment could offer a setting of sufficient caliber; it would seem too lowly.
That was why Zheng Pandao had chosen to hold the noon banquet in his own home, having the estate scrubbed spotless inside and out and redecorated anew.
He himself even came outside the estate to greet them. Spotting Li Chengfeng and Zhao Lie approaching from afar, he beamed and clasped his hands in greeting.
"Your arrival brings honor to this humble residence. Forgive me for failing to welcome you from afar, forgive me."
Zheng Pandao courteously clasped his hands toward the two of them. His heart stirred as he discreetly released his senses, feeling out the aura of their cultivation.
Zhao Lie's aura was deep and powerful, clearly that of someone at the perfected Channel-Opening Realm.
Yet Li Chengfeng at his side gave him the feeling of a mountain—heavy and immovable. Zheng Pandao's heart skipped a beat, and a complicated look surfaced in his eyes.
He could not help recalling the first time he had heard the name Li Chengfeng. It had been two years ago, when he was returning from Shuiyang Prefecture after settling the arrangements for raising treasure fish with the Qinghe Gang.
When he had heard about what had happened with his steward, he had first been furious. Yet he had never cared about a mere hired hand. It was only because word of the steward's affair had spread and damaged the Zheng Family's reputation that he had wanted someone to deal with it lightly.
As for whether that hired hand lived or died, he had not cared at