Deng Yin made an ostentatious entrance, staining the clear sky blood-red. By the time he reached Mount Jiuhua, his bloody aura had bathed the entire mountain in a glow that made it look like the scene of a massacre.
Everyone on the mountain was bewildered and uneasy, unable to fathom Deng Yin's intentions, whether they had recognized him, like Yi Zhou, Jiang Shu, and the Three Immortals and Two Elders, or lacked the power to do so.
Soon, they spotted Shi Feiyang beside Deng Yin, and their reactions varied once again.
The Emei Sect members murmured, "Shi Feiyang is mixing with the Blood Demon again! Is he going to help the Blood Demon drown our Emei Sect in blood?"
The male and female disciples all gathered around the Three Immortals and Two Elders. Some had already formed hand seals, ready to face the enemy at any moment.
Only Jiang Shu trusted Shi Feiyang implicitly. He immediately flew up to greet him with a bow. "I knew you would come, Brother, so I prepared a Reed Pavilion ahead of time."
The Reed Pavilion erected by the Green City Sect stood halfway up North Mountain, on ground slightly higher than the eastern and western slopes. There were three rows in all, rising in tiers along the mountainside.
At the very top, in the center, stood an enormous, luxurious Reed Pavilion. The others had been built with local materials, but this one was made from crystal jade divine wood specially transported from elsewhere. Six pillars, each a hundred feet tall, supported a vast canopy roof. Below was a floor raised three feet above the ground, with railings on either side and furnishings that included couches, tea tables, low stools, and meditation cushions.
Though called a Reed Pavilion, it was actually a huge hexagonal