Shi Hou sprawled in the Grand Marshal's Chair, his hands folded over his belly as he stared blankly at the carved wooden beams overhead.
Kang lay snoring on his thighs, his pig nostrils contracting and flaring with a steady rhythm.
Bored out of his mind.
A rush of hurried footsteps outside broke the quiet of the Spirit Cuisine Pavilion.
"Steward Wang! Big news! That guy from the Void God Realm..."
A gray-robed disciple rushed into the hall, drenched in sweat. Catching sight of Xia Youyu out of the corner of his eye, he hastily stopped and bowed in a fluster.
"G-greetings, Senior Sister Xia!"
Xia Youyu frowned slightly, glanced at the still-sprawling Shi Hou, then turned to the messenger.
"What happened?"
The gray-robed disciple swallowed, his face brimming with shock and excitement.
"Senior Sister! Something huge went wrong with the outer disciple examination! The examination formation in the Eighth District was broken!"
Xia Youyu's expression changed.
"The formation was broken? How?"
"Loves Drinking Beast Milk did it! He dug up every Rune Bone in the Eighth District!"
The hall fell deathly silent.
Steward Wang and the dozen kitchen assistants stopped what they were doing, their mouths hanging open.
Those passageway Rune Bones were the foundation the Heaven Mending Pavilion's mighty predecessors had laid to test its disciples.
The disciple grew more excited as he spoke, his voice rising another notch.
"With the Rune Bones gone, the formation stopped working, and a full nine thousand people in the Eighth District passed the examination!"
"Now those nine thousand-plus people are all clamoring that they passed and should be admitted to the Heaven Mending Pavilion. The elders overseeing the examination are so furious their beards have gone crooked!"
Xia Youyu sucked in a cold breath and turned to Shi Hou.
There was no