Stars crowded the sky, and the twin moons hid themselves. A torch hung outside the pavilion, while a candle burned on the stone table. Three men who could rightly be called masters of their age sat facing one another across it. Now and then, a summer breeze stirred, setting the torch outside swaying, yet it could not disturb the candle flame inside in the slightest.
Not only that, cicadas called incessantly all around, and the heat was palpable, yet beneath the pavilion, the temperature was so pleasant that one could hardly tell spring from autumn.
The three were clearly reserved. After only brief introductions, before they had even exchanged pleasantries, they held themselves back, each plainly preoccupied.
Xiong Bonan, however, was clearly a broad-minded man. Apparently sensing something amiss with the atmosphere, he simply asked outright, "Senior Flowing Cloud Crane, did you have serious business to discuss with our Dragonhead Zhang? If my presence makes things awkward, I can step aside for a while."
"You're overthinking it, Purple-Faced Heavenly King." Xie Minghe immediately gave a rueful laugh. "I'm merely an idle cloud and a wandering crane. What serious business could I have? I came only because Jiangdong is a pool of stagnant water, yet things grow tighter by the day. I know neither what to do nor what I can do. Then, turning around, I suddenly heard that my worthy younger brother had built something substantial here in the Eastern Territories, so I came to have a look."
"I see." Xiong Bonan nodded and relaxed a little before continuing soberly, "What exactly is the situation in Jiangdong? Why call it a pool of stagnant water?"
"Because it's being crushed and stifled." Xie Minghe stopped laughing ruefully, but his voice grew still lower. "His Majesty returned to Jiangdu, proclaiming that everything