These people's thoughts did not affect Qiu Yan. He simply walked over as usual, speaking with the leading few as though nothing had happened. Seeing Qiu Yan's expression, they relaxed slightly, then entered the government office.
Once inside, Hu Bin and the others tried to seat Qiu Yan in the place of honor, but a round of polite refusals was unavoidable. This was not mere empty courtesy. Qiu Yan knew that if he did not take that seat, the others might find it difficult to sit at ease as well. Still, the refusal itself displayed his attitude and his respect for the others.
Once the formalities were complete, Qiu Yan took his seat and swept his gaze around the room, his eyes passing over everyone present.
Those whom he looked at felt a change in their hearts. Before this, whenever Qiu Yan looked at them, they had felt an invisible pressure that made their breathing quicken unconsciously. But this time, that pressure was gone, replaced by a sense of utter clarity, as though no secret could remain hidden from those eyes.
"What exactly happened to Academician Qiu?" Hu Bin and the others had long occupied high positions and cultivated their own imposing airs. Whenever they sat anywhere, they were usually the center of attention, yet now Qiu Yan's gaze still made their scalps prickle.
Prefect Liu Zhai sensed something even ordinary people could hardly perceive. "This feeling was not so obvious before. Why has it become so clear now? The feeling he gives me resembles the aura of the clay statues of several ancestors I saw in the ancestral hall when I went to Three Jin to worship my forebears years ago..."
Amid everyone's varying thoughts, the man sent out to deliver the message returned and relayed Yang Huang's reply.