The banquet ended.
Black Mountain sprawled on the stone table, his belly round and bulging, still muttering, "If only I could eat like this every day."
At some point, Xie Changsheng and Song Chi had sat together again, holding wine cups and chatting sporadically. Zhou Yan sat beside them, waving his fan and occasionally chiming in.
Everyone else chatted among themselves as well.
Zhu Yao sat on a stone stool, glanced at Si Chen, then at the people from the Eastern Region. "That 'Undying Mountain' you mentioned... what exactly is it?"
At those words, Black Mountain instantly perked up and slapped his bear paw against Red Wind's thigh. "Now that's something special!"
Red Wind let out a howl, but Black Mountain turned a deaf ear. "Undying Mountain is the sect we founded in the Forgotten River of the Immortal Realm!"
"The Forgotten River?"
Red Bean repeated the name, then nodded. "That's the buffer zone between the Immortal Realm and the Demon Realm. I've heard of it."
Black Mountain puffed out his chest, his face full of pride. "Exactly! That's where our sect is. Yours truly was one of its founding elders!"
"You?" Zhu Yao looked him up and down. "A founding elder?"
"More like a feasting elder."
Black Mountain: "..."
Everyone laughed. Red Wind laughed loudest of all, getting his revenge for that slap on the thigh in one fell swoop.
After laughing, Zhu Yao swept her gaze over their faces. "Anyway, the Immortal Realm is so vast. How did you all find one another back then?"
The hall fell quiet.
Luo Hongyi closed her little notebook, thought for a moment, then said, "It's a long story, so I'll keep it short."
She really did sum up everyone's experiences in just a few sentences: street vendor, miner, live-in son-in-law, Bare