The person Li Xiang saw was none other than Miao Xiyue, who had returned to Miao Frontier from Riverside.
"For the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering?"
The thought surfaced in Li Xiang's mind.
Rumor had it that this year's Dragon and Phoenix Gathering, organized by the Two-Lakes Martial Alliance, would be unprecedented in scale. It was meant not only to bring young prodigies together, but also to let the major powers quietly choose sides and gauge one another's strength ahead of the coming unification.
As a long-established Gu Cultivator sect, the Five Poisons Gate had every reason to send a core disciple to test the winds when the balance of power was about to be reshuffled.
While Li Xiang pondered this, the black-clad figure on the stairs seemed to sense something.
A Gu Cultivator who dealt with poisonous creatures year-round, Miao Xiyue had senses sharper than those of some Martial Cultivators. She was acutely aware of eyes on her.
She stopped and looked around warily.
At the same time, a fist-sized bulge rose beneath the collar of her cloak.
"Ribbit—"
A frog's croak came from beneath the cloak.
Then a toad squeezed half its body through the gap at her collar.
Dabao the toad.
This unusual toad, which Miao Xiyue regarded as her Life-Bound Gu, swiveled its bulging eyes around before fixing them on Li Xiang, seated at the square table.
It kicked its webbed hind legs excitedly. One short foreleg reached through the gap in the cloak and pointed at Li Xiang with almost human intent.
"Ribbit, ribbit!" Dabao's calls carried unmistakable affection.
It had not forgotten that this human, who smelled so good, had once generously fed it precious Demon Grain Pills.
For a gluttonous Gu insect, that taste was temptation etched into its very genes.
With Dabao pointing