Luo God Banquet

News of Elder Yan's awakening spread throughout the Luo Shen Residence within a single day. Along with it spread word of the young man from the Lower Plane.

In the pill room, he had blown up six furnaces in a row, succeeded on the seventh, and used a Fire Pattern Pill unlike any ever heard of to dispel the blood fiend poison that had plagued the Luo God Clan for three months. Word also spread that Luo Qing, the clan's chief alchemist, had bowed to him in public.

In the Luo Shen Residence, those who had waited outside the pill room to see him make a fool of himself all shut their mouths one by one. The elders who had regarded Xiao Yan with wariness and disdain also gradually began to look at him differently.

The day after he awoke, Luo Yan came in person to the secluded courtyard where Xiao Yan lived, leaning on a cane.

The first thing this elder, known throughout the Luo God Clan for his fiery temper, did upon entering was push away the clan members supporting him and unsteadily try to kneel before Xiao Yan. Startled, Xiao Yan hurriedly caught him.

"You snatched this old man's life back from the King of Hell." Luo Yan's eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse. "I've never owed anyone a favor in my life. I'll remember what you've done for me for the rest of my days."

He had a clan member bring forward a jade box. Inside was a white jade token engraved with Luo Shen's likeness. "This is my elder's token. With it, you can come and go as you please from the Luo Shen Residence's library. It holds the texts our Luo God Clan has collected since ancient times, records concerning Spirit Marks, the alchemical arts, the Lower Planes... Whatever you want to read, you may."

Xiao Yan looked at the token and fell silent for a moment. Without declining, he accepted it solemnly. He knew that this token carried far more weight than any number of Spirit Coins.

Not long after Luo Yan left, Luo Qing came as well. This time, the chief alchemist wore no stern expression and brought no gifts. He merely stood at the entrance for a long while before finally saying, somewhat awkwardly, that he wanted to ask Xiao Yan for guidance on refining the Fire Pattern Pill.

Xiao Yan smiled and invited him in. The two sat talking in the room for an entire afternoon, from Pill Patterns to medicinal properties, and from medicinal properties to heat control.

At first, Luo Qing still put on the airs of a chief alchemist, but as the discussion went on, his eyes grew brighter and brighter. By the end, he was slapping the table and arguing with Xiao Yan until his face turned red.

Luo Lan listened outside the door all afternoon without understanding a single word. He only felt that his Uncle Qing, who wore a stern face all day long, seemed like a different person today.

Three days later, Luo Tianshen held a family banquet in the main hall of the Luo Shen Residence.

In name, it was to celebrate Elder Yan's recovery, but everyone in the Luo God Clan knew that the true guest of honor was the young man now seated just below Luo Tianshen. He wore a brocade robe Luo Lan had pressed on him and looked a little uncomfortable.

The main hall was ablaze with light, and the lilting sounds of strings and flutes filled the air. Dozens of long tables stood in rows, filled with elders and core clan members of the Luo God Clan. Fine wine and delicacies were brought out in a steady stream. Among the dishes were many kinds of spirit beast meat and spirit fruits Xiao Yan had never seen before. Their fragrance filled the air, and they contained a faint trace of Spiritual Energy.

Luo Lan sat beside Xiao Yan, his cheeks bulging. As he stuffed spirit fruit into his mouth, he excitedly pointed out the people in the hall.

"That red-faced one is Elder Yan, the one you saved. He had someone set aside the best jar of wine for you today... That fat man is Elder Feng. His knees swelled up from kneeling at the ancestral shrine a few days ago. Look, he's still limping when he walks... The one over there with the dark face is Elder Cheng. Hehe, now he goes out of his way to avoid you whenever he sees you..."

"Hehe, you certainly hear everything, kid." Xiao Yan smiled and shook his head. Every so often, he raised his cup and exchanged a few courteous words with the elders who came to offer him a toast, neither servile nor overbearing, conducting himself with propriety.

Luo Tianshen sat in the seat of honor, wearing the same drab cloth robe as ever, utterly out of place amid the splendor filling the hall. He rarely spoke, only raising his cup for an occasional sip as his gaze swept impassively across the hall. In the end, it always lingered on Xiao Yan for a moment.

Before the banquet began, he had said only one thing: "This is Xiao Yan, my guest."

There had been no further introduction, no embellishment, yet once those words were spoken, the way everyone in the hall looked at Xiao Yan changed again. In the history of the Luo God Clan, it was the first time the clan leader had personally called someone "my guest."

After several rounds of wine, the atmosphere in the hall gradually grew lively. Just then, a voice rang out from one side of the hall. "Clan Leader, there is something this junior does not understand. I would like to ask Brother Xiao about it."

The strings and flutes in the hall faltered for a moment. Everyone looked toward the voice and saw a young man in silver robes rise from his seat. He was around twenty-five or twenty-six, with handsome features and an air of pride between his brows. The Spiritual Energy around him was restrained, yet he gave off a faintly sharp edge. He was unmistakably a First Grade Sovereign.

"It's Luo Feng..." Luo Lan's expression changed slightly as he lowered his voice and said to Xiao Yan, "He's the foremost member of the clan's younger generation. He became a Sovereign at twenty-five and is a leading candidate to be the next clan leader. He looks down his nose at everyone, especially outsiders..."

In the seat of honor, Luo Tianshen lifted his eyelids and said mildly, "Speak."

Luo Feng bowed to Luo Tianshen, then turned to Xiao Yan with a polite smile. Yet his eyes held a measure of scrutiny and defiance. "Brother Xiao, your alchemical skill is divine. You saved Elder Yan with a single pill, and I admire you for it. It's just that I heard you came from a Lower Plane, and the Spiritual Energy in your body has yet to be fully assimilated. As for your cultivation..."

He paused, his smile unchanged. "It has yet to recover as well. Our Luo God Clan has endured on the Western Heaven Continent for countless years, and our guest elders have always been experts at the Sovereign level or above. Given your current cultivation, Brother Xiao, if you stay in the clan for long, people will inevitably gossip. They'll say our Luo God Clan relies on a..."

He did not finish, but everyone in the hall understood what he meant: relying on someone from a Lower Plane with meager cultivation.

The hall fell silent. Several elders' expressions changed slightly, and they instinctively looked toward Luo Tianshen in the seat of honor. His expression remained unchanged, however, and he held his cup without a word, as though he had heard nothing.

Luo Lan's face flushed red with anger, and he was about to stand when Xiao Yan gently pressed down on his hand beneath the table. Xiao Yan set down his cup and looked up at Luo Feng, a faint smile still on his face. "Do you mean to have a contest with me, Brother Luo?"

Luo Feng was slightly taken aback, apparently not expecting him to be so direct. Then he smiled. "You misunderstand, Brother Xiao. Your serious injuries have yet to heal. If I fought you now, wouldn't any victory be unfair?"

"Then what would you suggest, Brother Luo?" Xiao Yan asked with a smile. At that, Luo Feng swept his gaze around the hall before settling on the enormous bronze lampstand used for illumination in its center.

The lampstand stood a full three zhang high and was shaped like an ancient tree, with dozens of lamps hanging from its branches. A pale blue spirit flame burned in each one. The spirit flames came from the same source as the Luo River Spirit Flame in the pill room, drawn forth by the Spirit Marks on the lampstand to burn day and night without going out.

"I hear your Fire Pattern Pill uses fire to lock in the medicine. Your fire-control technique must be extraordinary," Luo Feng said with a smile. "I have no great talent, but I know a few little tricks with fire myself. How about we use this lampstand to test our fire control?"

Without waiting for Xiao Yan's answer, he raised his right hand and curled his five fingers lightly. In an instant, the spirit flames in the dozens of lamps all leaped up together, turning into dozens of pale blue threads of fire. They intertwined and spiraled through the air before gathering into a lifelike bird of flame.

The bird spread its wings and circled once beneath the hall's vaulted ceiling, giving a clear, ringing cry. Then it turned back into dozens of threads of fire, each returning to its lamp without the slightest error.

Cheers immediately rang out in the hall.

The display looked simple, but controlling dozens of spirit flames at once, shaping them, and then returning each one precisely to its place was impossible without extraordinarily refined control over Spirit Marks and Spiritual Energy. Even Luo Qing, the chief alchemist, could not help nodding slightly.

Luo Feng lowered his right hand, a faint smile on his face. A trace of pride showed through it despite his efforts to conceal it. "Brother Xiao, please."

At that moment, everyone's gaze fell on Xiao Yan. Some watched with anticipation, some with curiosity, and some simply for the spectacle. A few elders had a trace of concern in their eyes. They had all heard that the young man currently had only a tenth of his Spiritual Energy.

Sitting there, Xiao Yan glanced at the lampstand, then at Luo Feng. He slowly rose and casually rolled up the sleeves of the brocade robe Luo Lan had pressed on him. His movements were as relaxed as if he were merely going into the courtyard to chop a few pieces of firewood.

Unlike Luo Feng, he did not raise a hand to beckon the spirit flames. He simply walked beneath the lampstand, looked up, and quietly studied the dozens of lamps burning with pale blue spirit flames for a moment. Then he drew a small breath.

The spirit flames in the dozens of lamps throughout the hall went out at the same time.

They had not been blown out or suppressed. They simply went out, silently, as though something had swallowed them. The hall was plunged into darkness in an instant. Some cried out in surprise, while others instinctively rose to their feet.

Amid the darkness and commotion, a speck of pale golden light slowly appeared at Xiao Yan's fingertip.