On the banks of the Qiantang River.
The Vickery Grand Hotel stood against the night.
In the top-floor banquet hall.
The hall blazed with lights. Crystal chandeliers cast a soft glow over three rows of long tables covered with white tablecloths.
The tables were laden with dishes of every kind.
Local cuisine and Western Ocean fare-there was everything one could ask for.
There were steaming lamb chops, Austrian Red Wine-Braised Beef, and baked onion soup.
There were also local specialties: Longjing Shrimp, Water Shield Soup, Nanhu Vinegar Fish, and Dried Bamboo Shoot and Duck Pot.
Foreign waiters in black waistcoats moved among the tables with trays, pouring wine and serving dishes with practiced, courteous movements.
Thirty or forty people sat in the hall.
Most of them belonged to the Mountain Cloud School.
Even by evening, they had yet to recover emotionally from the earlier turmoil.
Many elders and guardians still wore worried expressions as they discussed the suspension of the martial gathering and the possibility of losing their major sect status, an unshakable cloud of gloom hanging over their brows.
As they saw it.
The Lin Mingxin Sect's targeting of the Mountain Cloud School.
Might involve the struggle among the Five Hegemons of the South.
One misstep.
And their sect could face destruction.
The young disciples, however, had far fewer worries. They sat around the tables, eating and drinking amid constant laughter. From time to time, someone would carry a wine cup over to the head table to toast Jiang Jingnian.
"Daoist Master Jiang! A toast to you!"
A young disciple of the Burning Cloud Dao Lineage held a bowl filled to the brim with yellow wine, his cheeks flushed, whether from drink or excitement. "We all saw your magnificent display at Venue C today! It was so satisfying! You