After hearing the verses Chu Kuangren had composed, Li Ye's regard for him grew considerably. Coupled with his status as the Senior Brother of the Mystic Heaven Sect, Li Ye immediately honored him as a distinguished guest and told Li Xingchen to entertain him well.
Li Xingchen arranged the finest, most luxurious guest rooms in the White Jade Tower for Chu Kuangren and Lan Yu. They were so lavish that Chu Kuangren wondered whether he had moved into some old emperor's palace.
"Brother Chu, I'll hold a banquet for you both tonight and introduce you to White Cloud City's young talents while I'm at it. How does that sound?"
Li Xingchen spoke enthusiastically.
"Certainly." Chu Kuangren nodded slightly.
Soon, Li Xingchen went off to make the arrangements with great fanfare.
Inside the luxurious guest room.
Chu Kuangren was sorting through the spoils of his treasure hunt.
Looking at the dazzling assortment of treasures inside his Heaven and Earth Ring, Chu Kuangren could not help frowning. "This is far too messy."
Pills, weapons, manuals, and a heap of other treasures had been piled together without any sorting. For Chu Kuangren, who had mild obsessive-compulsive tendencies, this was rather hard to accept, so he could not resist organizing them.
Pills went with pills, weapons with weapons, and spirit stones were piled off to one side. Sorting everything into categories kept him thoroughly occupied.
Supreme Yuanling had possessed so many treasures that Chu Kuangren spent nearly an hour finishing the task.
The Fantasy Roulette's storage space is more convenient after all.
That was what Chu Kuangren thought.
It was essentially an inventory. As long as he did not withdraw the prizes, those of the same type would automatically be stored together.
Although it had been a little tiring, the sight of the neatly arranged piles of treasures made the corners of Chu Kuangren's mouth rise uncontrollably.
"This treasure hunt was well worth it."
Beside him, Lan Yu saw how happy he was and could not help smiling faintly too.
"Oh, right, Lan Yu. This is for you."
Chu Kuangren took out a white staff.
It was precisely the staff Lan Yu had taken a liking to in the treasure vault earlier.
The staff was pure white throughout, crowned with an exquisitely ornate, sunlike halo engraved with Dao runes.
A rich aura of light spread from it.
This was a Saint's weapon.
At the sight of the staff, a trace of fondness appeared in Lan Yu's eyes, but she remained where she was, hesitating over whether to accept it.
Seeing this, Chu Kuangren simply pressed it into her hands. "Take it. I have no shortage of Sage Artifacts. This staff will be more useful to you."
To other cultivators, Sage Artifacts were supreme treasures. Even a Saintly Dao Tradition probably possessed only a few.
To Chu Kuangren, however, they were nothing particularly special.
Of the Saint Swords on Sword Mountain, he had taken only Kunwu. Otherwise, he could have held one in each hand and tossed the remaining ones around for fun.
He only entertained that thought in his mind.
Otherwise, if his hidden Dao Protector heard it, he might well be so furious that he would kill this disciple who blasphemed against the Saint Sword on the spot.
"Thank you, young master."
Lan Yu stopped declining and held the staff, examining it closely.
The staff trembled slightly, radiating a sense of joy, before turning into a streak of white light and entering Lan Yu's body.
The Sage Artifact had actually acknowledged its master on its own.
"It seems this Sage Artifact likes you very much," Chu Kuangren said with a smile.
Lan Yu sensed it for a while, and some information suddenly appeared in her mind. "This staff is called the Staff of Light. Fifty thousand years ago, it was the weapon of an immensely powerful cultivator called the Bright Saint King."
"A Saint King Artifact?!" Chu Kuangren was somewhat surprised.
Just like Sage Laws, Sage Artifacts came in different grades.
Ordinary Sage Artifacts, Great Sage Artifacts, and Saint King Artifacts.
The Mystic Heaven Sect's Saint Swords, for instance, were merely ordinary Sage Artifacts. A single word's difference, yet the two were worlds apart.
"It used to be a Saint King Artifact, but the Staff of Light was damaged in a great battle afterward. Now it's only an ordinary Sage Artifact."
"What kind of battle could wreck a Saint King Artifact?"
Lan Yu frowned. "That battle was far too terrifying. Even some of its images were more than I could bear. There were only a few blurry fragments. It seemed that many Saints were fighting and killing one another."
At those words, not only Chu Kuangren but even the Seventh Ancestor hidden nearby was startled.
What sort of beings were Saints?
They were supreme beings who stood above countless living creatures. Even a Supreme Supreme could only bow and submit before a Saint.
Yet Lan Yu was now saying that she had seen countless Saints, and that those Saints had been fighting and killing one another!
Such a thing was simply too shocking!
Vaguely, Chu Kuangren felt as though he had touched the tip of the iceberg of this world's countless hidden secrets.
"Interesting." Chu Kuangren smiled, then stopped dwelling on it. As he was now, he was not yet qualified to delve into such secrets.
Night.
White Cloud Tower, Embracing Moon Terrace.
This was one of the highest terraces in the White Cloud Tower. At night, the moonlight here was the most beautiful, hence its name, the Embracing Moon Tower.
The Embracing Moon Tower was also where Li Xingchen was holding the banquet.
Tonight, the Embracing Moon Terrace was filled with guests, all young talents Li Xingchen had invited. Among them were quite a few Heavenly Prides from prominent families.
"Li Xingchen said he wanted to introduce someone to us today. I really wonder who deserves so much trouble on his part."
A young man spoke with considerable curiosity.
"Heh, isn't he always like this? Whenever he meets a good-looking cultivator, he befriends them. I imagine it's the same this time."
Another scion of a prominent family chuckled.
"Exactly. When I arrived just now, I even heard some people in the tower talking about two cultivators who came today. Apparently, everyone was so stunned by their beauty that they thought them heavenly beings." A white-robed young man curled his lip dismissively.
In this world of cultivation, what use were good looks?
Without power, one could only become someone else's plaything.
"Rather than that, I'm more interested in the Supreme Yuanling Treasure Vault that caused a stir across more than half the Azure Dragon Domain."
"Exactly. I heard the Sword Venerable's eldest son went there too, but apparently came back empty-handed. Ye Lei, do you know anything?"
Everyone looked toward the young man named Ye Lei.
Ye Lei drank a cup of wine and shook his head slightly. "I didn't go there myself, so I don't know what happened inside the treasure vault."
"Then did your father tell you anything?"
A young man asked. Ye Lei was Ye Baifeng's son, and his cultivation talent was extremely high. He was the foremost Heavenly Pride of the city lord's residence.
Ye Lei fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.
Seeing this, the others stopped pressing him.
Ye Lei drank his wine, his thoughts unknown.
In truth, he did know a few things.
For instance, a man and a woman had looted the Yuanling Treasure Vault clean. Ye Baifeng had drawn water with a bamboo basket-all his efforts had come to nothing-and had stamped his feet in fury after returning to the residence.
But these were secrets of the city lord's residence, and he could not readily spread them outside.
He was very curious.
Just what sort of people could have emptied the Yuanling Treasure Vault right under the noses of so many powerful cultivators?
Just then, Li Xingchen arrived on the Embracing Moon Terrace.
Behind him followed a man and a woman.
The pair approached, treading on moonlight.
One wore a white, wide-sleeved qilin robe and a jade crown. His bearing transcended the mortal world, like an Exiled Immortal from the heavens.
The other wore a blue-and-white ruqun dress, her silver hair cascading over her shoulders. With jade bones, icy skin, and exquisite features, she resembled a goddess who had stepped out of the moon.
Walking beside them, Li Xingchen, a renowned handsome man whose looks were far from ordinary, could only serve as their backdrop.
Everyone on the Embracing Moon Terrace gazed spellbound at the approaching man and woman, as though time had frozen at that moment.
Only when a guest's wine cup fell to the floor with a clang did everyone come back to their senses.
Before you continue