Three days passed quickly.
On the day of the Jade Forest Banquet, the Four Directions Lodge bustled with activity from early morning.
The doors of the courtyards opened one after another. Cultivators dressed in all manner of attire emerged alone or in groups, most wearing solemn expressions as they spoke quietly and headed outside.
Carriages from the palace were already waiting outside, lined up one after another in a long dragon.
The north courtyard where Si Chen and the others stayed, however, was enjoying a rather different kind of "bustle."
Song Chi had combed his hair meticulously that day.
He stood in the middle of the courtyard, hands behind his back and gaze distant as he looked up at the sky, giving off an air of "I'm building up my presence. Nobody disturb me."
Red Wind came out of his room yawning. Seeing him like this, he paused. "What are you..."
"Don't speak."
Song Chi raised one hand, his voice deep. "I'm getting into the right state."
Black Mountain wandered over from the side, holding a book. "Fellow Daoist Song, it's getting late. If we delay any longer, there won't be any food left once the banquet starts!"
The "presence" Song Chi had spent so long building instantly collapsed.
He glared at Black Mountain, only to find that the bear was already ambling toward the courtyard exit, muttering something about, "The Master said, those who don't hurry for meals have something wrong with their heads..."
Xie Changsheng came from the rear courtyard, leading the gray donkey. A little bell had even been tied around its neck that day, jingling as it walked.
Zhou Yan was trying to bribe Red Bean with spirit cuisine. "Little ancestor, just try a bite. Just one..."
Luo Qingyin stood alone a little farther away in