Compared with the thronging first floor, the second floor was noticeably quieter.
The spacious hall was decorated in rather dark tones. Musicians played zithers behind beaded curtains, while a steward of the Mountains and Seas Tower introduced various treasures on the raised platform in the center:
"This was the scabbard the Martial Ancestor used in his youth, named Crossing Calamity. The city lord happened upon it during his travels in the great desert long ago and has treasured it for a hundred years as one of his favorites. This is its first public appearance..."
The hall could truly be called a gathering of outstanding figures.
Lü Yan of Five-Spirit Mountain sat drinking tea at a tea table. Having carelessly lost the Yellow Qilin Seal yesterday, he had feared that little brat Xie would come knocking to extort him and spent a fortune buying it back. Between losing it and buying it back, a considerable chunk of his wealth had vanished for nothing. Now he wore a woeful expression, with no interest whatsoever in bidding.
Several other renowned veterans of cultivation were seated in the hall. Chen Yishan sat not far from Lü Yan, and nearby was a Black-Clothed Cloak Person, utterly motionless and with a rather imposing presence.
Long Boyuan occupied a seat near the front. Beside him was Gu Xuanzun, Sect Leader of the Nightmare Soul Sect, a local big shot of Dragonbone Shoal. Although he came from a demonic sect, his bearing looked no different from that of an ordinary cultivator, except that his gaze occasionally flicked toward a distant tea table.
Several witches in white robes stood around that table. The Northern Darkness Sect Holy Maiden, adorned all over with silver jewelry, sat upright in a chair, discussing something quietly with her companions.
Han Yuemei, Sect Leader