Chapter 1438: Persuasion
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
More and more guests showed up, but the most dazzling group was undoubtedly the people from the Snowdrift Sage Hall. After all, the Snowdrift Sage Hall was the controller of this entire city. The disciples from the hall would naturally have extraordinary statuses here.
This time around, there actually were several disciples of the Snowdrift Sage Hall coming by to offer their congratulations to the City Lord for his birthday. In the entire city, only the clan of the city lord would be able to cause this to happen. They might be a subordinate power but after generations of sending their clan members to join the Snowdrift Sage Hall, they had already fully integrated into it.
City Lord Lu exuded an imposing air and sat in the center. Beside him was his daughter, Lu Yanxue. Beside her, Lu Zhanfei’s father could be seen and below them, Lu Zhanfei and Mo Xiaoxiao were there too. As for the City Lord’s other descendants, they sat more to the side instead.
This group of people could be considered the most influential faction in the Lu Clan, possessing immense authority.
Although Lu Yao was also of the direct line of descent, and she might refer to Clan Lord Lu as grandfather, the Clan Lord was actually the elder uncle of her father, Lu Zhan. From a certain perspective, Lu Yanxue can also be considered Lu Yao’s aunt, it was just that she wasn’t directly related to her. Compared to Lu Yanxue’s direct nephew Lu Zhanfei, Lu Zhanfei will naturally be closer. In addition, Lu Zhanfei’s talent was also very good and the fact that Lu Yao’s direct aunt was also in the Snowdrift Sage Hall, both Lu Yao and Lu Zhanfei, as well as her direct aunt and Lu Yanxue, would often be compared together due to the competitive nature within the sect and clan.
At the end, Lu Yanxue gradually surpassed Lu Yao’s aunt and her status now was extremely high within the sect.
“The Wu Clan offers congratulations to City Lord Lu.” At this moment, a thunderous voice rang out as a group of experts with muscular bodies appeared.
The man in the lead was none other than the clan leader of the Wu Clan, Wu Bufan.
“Haha old fellow, you actually came by personally. Quick, please be seated.” City Lord Lu stood up and laughed.
“The clan leader of the Wu Clan actually came by personally to offer his congratulations. As expected of City Lord Lu. Even powerful clans had to give him some face.”
“Yeah, the Wu Clan’s clan leader’s cultivation base should have already reached the peak-phase of the mid-stage immortal king. In this city, other than City Lord Lu, the Wu Clan is the strongest.” Someone sighed with admiration. In addition, there’s a junior in the Wu Clan that’s very dazzling and was even accepted as a personal disciple by an immortal emperor.
“Oh, is that him?” Many people turned their sights to a young man standing beside Clan Leader Wu Bufan. The young man was extremely handsome, and his eyes had an intense spirit within them. His name was Wu Tianjiao, meaning a heaven chosen of the Wu Clan. Everyone in his clan had high hopes of him and he can be said to have lived up to his name.
“Immortal King Yanxue has arrived too. I’ve long heard of Immortal King Yanxue’s great name and I’m really fortunate to be able to meet you today.” Wu Bufan clasped his hands towards Lu Yanxue. Even though he’s the Wu Clan’s clan leader, he was still very polite to Lu Yanxue. After all, given Lu Yanxue’s status, she was much higher in comparison to the Wu Clan. If Lu Yanxue wasn’t the daughter of City Lord Lu, even the City Lord’s status would be lower than Lu Yanxue. Wu Bufan was naturally very clear about this point.
“Mhm.” Lu Yanxue nodded lightly. She glanced at Wu Tianjiao who stood beside Wu Bufan as a strange light gleamed in her eyes, as though her interest in Wu Tianjiao was more compared to her interest in Wu Bufan.
“Wu Tianjiao entered the immortal king realm?” Lu Yanxue asked.
“Senior’s judgement is truly exceptional. Tianjiao’s talent is lacking and has only recently managed to break through to the immortal-king realm.” Wu Tianjiao politely bowed.
“Not too bad, as expected of a personal disciple of an immortal emperor. Your future is boundless.” Lu Yanxue praised. City Lord Lu also laughed, “Noble nephew Tianjiao is naturally extraordinary. Brother Wu, please take your seat.”
Wu Bufan nodded, he wasn’t polite at all as he walked towards the main seats, together with Wu Tianjiao. Today, he had a purpose for bringing Wu Tianjiao here. He hoped that his son would be able to form some sorts of connection with the Snowdrift Sage Hall, and the best method would naturally be having a marriage agreement with someone in the sect.
The birthday celebration of City Lord Lu was a very good opportunity.
“Everyone, please feel free to be seated, there’s no need to stand on ceremony.” City Lord Lu waved his hand to the crowd. The banquet was then served up as the experts presented their gifts. Since they were already here, they naturally wanted to perform a little and form a better relationship with the City Lord.
The atmosphere was very lively. At this moment, both Lu Yao and Qin Wentian also arrived. They could sense the lively atmosphere but they didn’t seem to be able to become a part of the liveliness.
“Father.” Lu Yao glanced at Lu Zhan and the rest of her faction who were sitting below and walked over.
“Take your seat.” Lu Zhan spoke in a low voice. However, there were many young people from this faction who coldly sweep their glances over to Lu Yao and Qin Wentian, their eyes clearly showing that they didn’t welcome them. Lu Yao’s actions would cause them to be at odds with Lu Yanxue’s faction. They couldn’t afford to directly offend Chu Qingyi and could only vent their anger on Lu Yao and Qin Wentian.
Chu Qingyi, who was beside Qin Wentian, glanced in Lu Yanxue’s direction. Only to see that at this moment, Lu Yanxue was also glancing over. However, she shifted her glance away after an instant, exuding an air of disdain. This made Chu Qingyi’s expression turn unsightly, hence she didn’t go over to offer her greetings. However, how could Mo Xiaoxiao let this go? She laughed and spoke, “Why? Junior sister Qingyi, do you not know how to greet your senior apprentice aunt?”
Chu Qingyi’s eyes flashed. She then bowed to Lu Yanxue, “Chu Qingyi greets senior apprentice aunt.”
Lu Yanxue no longer glanced over, directly disregarding Chu Qingyi, causing her to be in an ugly situation. Mo Xiaoxiao’s laughter then rang out condescendingly.
Wu Bufan and Wu Tianjiao of the Wu Clan, stared at this scene with interest. Seems like the competition within the Snowdrift Sage Hall must be extremely intense. Wu Tianjiao seemed a little dazed by Chu Qingyi’s beauty. Although Mo Xiaoxiao was also considered beautiful, in this entire crowd after Chu Qingyi appeared, she was definitely the prettiest of all the maidens here.
“Let’s sit.” Chu Qingyi saw that Lu Yanxue had no intentions of acknowledging her, as she spoke lightly to Qin Wentian who was standing beside her.
“Mhm.” Qin Wentian nodded lightly. He sat down, only to hear a cold voice ringing out with unhappiness, “Hmph, who allowed you to sit?”
Qin Wentian’s expression stiffened, he saw a middle-aged character icily looking at him from the side. “You came to our Lu Clan and consumed a grand recovery pill, and was waited on comfortably by Lu Yao. Right now, at the banquet, you even want to participate in it? Seems like your arrogance knows no bounds and assumes that your status is high enough to sit here with the others.”
“Uncle.” Lu Yao’s expression drastically changed as she stared at the person who spoke.
“What? Lu Yao, are my words wrong? Given how valuable the grand recovery pill is, you actually gifted it away to a random person just like that? Even if the Clan Lord doesn’t punish you for this, we will still punish you.” That middle-aged man icily spoke out loud, wanting to intentionally show his stance with regards about this matter to the City Lord and Lu Yanxue.
“I’ve already said that the grand recovery pill is something I requested from Lu Yao. I will also repay this favor.” Chu Qingyi coldly stared at the middle-aged man.
“Holy Maiden Qingyi, there’s no need for you to heap this debt on yourself.” That person hurriedly replied, not daring to push Chu Qingyi too far. However, he was truly caught between two difficult positions. He still needed to give a response to Mo Xiaoxiao, who was someone on Lu Yanxue’s side.
Qin Wentian stood there, calmly watching everything. He then spoke, “After consuming the grand recovery pill, I can’t even walk out of these premises. Right now, I’m not even allowed to have a seat at this banquet? What do you guys take I, Qin, for?”
“Hmph, don’t you know the value of a grand recovery pill?” That middle-aged man sneered coldly.
“So what? Do you all really intend to use my life as payment for that?” Qin Wentian counter-asked.
“How can your cheap life be compared to the value of a grand recovery pill? We will await the orders of our Clan Lord to see how he would deal with you.” The middle-aged man clasped his hands to City Lord Lu, expressing his attitude. Regardless of what the Clan Lord decided, he would comply and ignore the fact that Lu Yao was from his own faction within the clan.
“Chu Qingyi is, after all, a holy maiden of the Snowdrift Sage Hall. Yanxue, what do you think?” City Lord Lu glanced at Lu Yanxue as he asked.
Lu Yanxue’s beautiful eyes slowly turned over, finally fixed on Chu Qingyi, Lu Yao and Qin Wentian. Her expression was calm, nobody could tell what her emotions were. A moment later, her calm voice rang out, “I heard from Xiaoxiao that there’s a man who actually dared to barge into the Coldnether Lake during a cultivation session of our sect’s members. She had injured that person and was already prepared to kill him, but you acted to save that man and even brought him to my clan, asking Lu Yao for a grand recovery pill to save him?”
“Reporting to senior apprentice aunt, he had no intentions to barge into the Coldnether Lake and neither was he injured by Mo Xiaoxiao. He was already heavily injured before this.” Chu Qingyi spoke in a tone that was neither servile nor overbearing.
“In that case, what I heard from Xiaoxiao, should be right. Chu Qingyi, as a holy maiden of our sect, do you know that the reputation of holy maidens can never be besmirched? Regardless if he had to intentions to barge in or not, he had already done so. And after that, not only did you not kill him, you stopped Xiaoxiao and even acted to save him, requesting a grand recovery pill from my clan. Tell me, do you know your mistakes?” Lu Yanxue’s voice was as calm as ever.
“I’m not in the wrong.” Chu Qingyi stubbornly spoke. “He is a friend of mine. I would naturally save him.”
“Friend?” Mo Xiaoxiao coldly laughed. “He’s your lover, isn’t he? When he barged into the Coldnether Lake, instead of killing him, you actually saved him? Friend?”
“Mo Xiaoxiao.” Chu Qingyi coldly stared at her senior apprentice sister.
“Are you being angered from the embarrassment because I’m right? Do you dare to say that you are not in love with him?” Mo Xiaoxiao coldly replied.
“So what even if I’m fond of him? When I return to our sect, I’ll bear the weight of this manner. The grand recovery pill was requested by me, I will naturally return the debt. This has nothing to do with our sect and has nothing to do with him.” Chu Qingyi’s voice was extremely domineering, wanting to protect Qin Wentian.
“As expected.” Mo Xiaoxiao started laughing. This time around, she wanted to destroy Chu Qingyi’s reputation completely, and make her offend Lu Yanxue, thereby destroying her own future.
“Qingyi, I once confessed to you before. To think that for the sake of a trash lecher, you actually rejected me, committing the gravest mistake in your life.” Lu Zhanfei stared at Chu Qingyi as he continued, “But even so, I still don’t mind. If you are willing to start over and accept me, I will beg for mercy for you from my aunt. I believe that the Snowdrift Sage Hall wouldn’t give out any punishment to you as well.”
Chu Qingyi glanced at Lu Zhanfei as an expression of loathing appeared on her face. “Disgusting fellow.”
“How dare you.” Lu Yanxue spoke, her eyes akin to ice.
“Holy Maiden Qingyi’s beauty is unrivalled. Why must you destroy your own future for a trash? Is it worth it?” At this moment, Wu Tianjiao from the Wu Clan also spoke, sighing with regret. He was observing from the side and was already clear on what was happening. He felt that it was a pity for Chu Qingyi. Given her beauty, it would really be a waste if she got together with that trash.
Wu Bufan’s eyes flashed, glancing at his son before he laughed, “That’s right. Holy Maiden Qingyi, you better think thrice before deciding.”