Seeing how everyone at the table was getting along, Xiao Yan felt a genuine weight lift from his heart. He glanced at Xiao Yi Xian, who was eating with quiet elegance beside him.
Xiao Yi Xian sensed his gaze and looked back, blinking as if to ask, What are you looking at me for?
In a voice only the two of them could hear, Xiao Yan told her what was on his mind and thanked her for her thoughtfulness. A hint of pride appeared in Xiao Yi Xian's eyes, as if she were saying, Of course. I arranged this specially. How could it go wrong?
Everyone there was at least a Dou Zong. They had no real need to eat or drink; the meal simply gave them a way to begin talking.
Before long, conversation flowed around the table.
Wei Jiangyuan was the first to speak up. He proposed another match with Xiao Yan after the Pill Convention, one without interference, where they could both go all out. Everyone could tell he still resented having his performance disrupted by Ling Zhuo during the convention.
Xiao Yan had no reason to refuse. Competing against someone skilled was a way to improve himself, and Wei Jiangyuan's talent as an Alchemist was plain to see. Xiao Yan wanted to know just what Wei Jiangyuan could do at his best.
Once his soul power had stabilized, Xiao Yan also needed to find fresh Pill Lightning to break through to the Late Spirit Realm. The lightning summoned by the final Eighth-Tier Pill had been too taxing for him to absorb directly, so he had merely forced himself to withstand all of it. For him, the best way to advance his soul realm now was to absorb the successive waves of Pill Lightning drawn by a