The first to enter the grand palace hall was Xu Linyun. She bowed towards Xuan Si’nyang as she gently walked inside, then took out a blue cauldron from her storage sack and placed a few ingredients on the small jade shelf to the side. While this was going on, Elder Qin’nyao smiled and spoke on her behalf, “Princess, although my pupil here has good looks, her personality is a little slow; she can neither dance nor sing, and has only learned some alchemy skills from me. Here she is, and she shall craft a cauldron of Age Halting Pellets for Your Majesty!”

　　Xuan Si’nyang parted her lips. “Alchemists should practice alchemy; why would they need to know how to dance? I’d like to see it!”

　　Hearing this, Xu Linyun lightly nodded and then began crafting while using the special method Elder Qin’nyao had specially taught her half a year ago. The spirit herbs were placed inside one at a time, but the difference between this method and the more ordinary ones was that various dance-like movements had been added in, turning the process of pellet crafting into something closer to a performance.

　　Considering Xu Linyun’s temperament, she naturally didn’t like it; alchemy was alchemy to her, and if someone was going to learn how to put on these superfluous performances, why not just go and learn some songs and dances? However, Elder Qin’nyao had insisted it was extremely important to leave a good first impression on the Fuyao Palace guest and had forced Xu Linyun to learn it.

　　Faced with no other choice, Xu Linyun had memorized the routine but was still quite unwilling deep in her heart. This caused her movements to appear rather stiff, while Elder Qin’nyao—watching from the sidelines—began to grow a little upset; she felt Xu Linyun’s current performance didn’t measure up to even half of her expectations.

　　Before long, the pellet had been formed and the flames were extinguished. Three milky-white pellets immediately flew out of the cauldron, and Xu Linyun used a jade plate to catch all of them mid-air before leaping once more. With her long dress, she looked closer to a fairy goddess fluttering through the sky, her appearance elegant and mesmerizing. After flying past a distance of a hundred or so feet, she landed gently in front of Xuan Si’nyang with both hands presenting the plate in offering.

　　Xuan Si’nyang picked up one of the pellets and sniffed at it before smiling. “To craft such a high-quality pellet using such a complicated method, your innate talent is indeed not bad at all. I shall take this Age Halting Pellet. Granny Qian, it is best we reward this younger sister with something!”

　　Granny Qian—seated just below her—revealed a smile. “Reward: a Purple-Jade Ruyi Scepter; ten Cleansing Pellets; one Golden Frost Sword; one bottle of Regeneration Powder; one Black-Blood Crystal Ornament; one casket of Embellishment Ointment….”

　　As she listed out the items, a paper doll formed into a servant and walked over with a jade plate in hand. Xu Linyun offered her thanks in a low voice and accepted her rewards.

　　Elder Qin’nyao finally let out a sigh of relief. Although Xu Linyun’s performance hadn’t measured up to her expectations, it seemed Xu Linyun had still left a good first impression on Xuan Si’nyang; the rewards had been rather ample, at least. Even disregarding the later items, even just the first two were good; the Purple-Jade Ruyi Scepter drew in Qi with the strength of a two-turn formation, and Cleansing Pellets were used to purify Qi, ridding a portion of the impurities and making the Qi more pure and condensed each time one was taken.

　　Once Xu Linyun had finished, next was a female disciple from Shuwen Valley. She, however, was extremely proficient at dancing, and she danced with grace following the tune of ancient music. It didn’t take long for her to also receive her rewards, but they were not as ample as the ones Xu Linyun had received; this disciple was given only three Cleansing Pellets, some Regeneration Powder, and a Black-Blood Crystal Ornament. There was no Purple-Jade Ruyi Scepter this time.

　　The Qing-Yun Sect disciples came one after another. Be it a musical performance or to show off their specialties, there were quite a few who had unique skills, and any one of these performances would have been amazing had they taken place in the mortal realm, but Xuan Si’nyang seemed to become rather bored and disinterested, with the rewards becoming significantly less generous. When Xiao Shanhe saw this, he quietly sent a message to Xiao Jianming to prepare to amaze with a single act.

　　“Any more?” Xuan Si’nyang lazily asked after watching a live-painting performance performed by a Shuwen Valley disciple.

　　Chen Xuanhua could see how she was rather disinterested, but he could only bitterly smile. Just before he was about to respond, someone suddenly walked into the hall.

　　This person was Xiao Jianming. He’d changed into a long white robe, untouched by even a single speck of dust. The robe enhanced his already tall and handsome physique, and his gleaming eyes were reminiscent of sword light. He entered the grand hall neither haughty nor humble, and he bowed politely towards Xuan Si’nyang once he arrived at the center. “I am a Qing-Yun core disciple. I have no special skills, but I do have some understandings in the art of the sword, and thus wish to present a sword performance to entertain you, Your Highness.”

　　Seeing Xiao Jianming’s arrival, Chen Xuanhua stopped talking and instead simply watched.

　　Xuan Si’nyang seemed to force herself to wake up a little bit as she raised her gaze.

　　Xiao Jianming activated a black sword and stretched out his body, tilting the blade upwards as sword lights flew up and filled the air with bright rays and beams. Xiao Jianming appeared graceful and calm, his robe fluttering with him as his feet never touched the ground. The sword itself was contrastingly powerful but adaptive, flowing through movements one after another without any signs of rigidity. When the force was heavy, it was akin to mountains working to right the universe, and when the force was light, it was like fleeting clouds traveling across the land. The performance was a rainbow of aspirations, but at the same time as gentle as warm jade.

　　Xiao Shanhe lightly nodded while watching from the side, his face filled with a satisfied smile. Elder Qin’nyao, on the other hand, showed a slightly upset expression, as she felt Xiao Jianming’s sword dance had easily defeated Xu Linyun.

　　Once Xiao Jianming completed his performance, he himself was also quite satisfied with it. With a small amount of hesitation, he bowed towards Xuan Si’nyang, and everyone else looked up towards her as well to see what sort of reward she would give out this time.

　　Based on the previous few performances, this Xuan Si’nyang was someone who was knowledgeable and experienced and had been able to tell apart the great from the good. Those that were better had received a greater reward, and those that were not so great had been rewarded with less. As for Xiao Jianming’s performance, no matter how one looked at it, it was hands down the best performance of the night; it was likely he would receive the greatest reward.

　　Yet even after a long time had passed, Xuan Si’nyang did not speak.

　　Just as everyone was growing worried, it was Granny Qian who noticed something and realized it was her master’s old weakness again. She forcibly held back her desire to laugh and secretly pushed Xuan Si’nyang’s leg, causing Xuan Si’nyang to come back to her senses. She raised her head up from her right hand in a panic and asked, “Oh? Finished? Granny Qian, let’s reward him a few Cleansing Pellets?”

　　Everyone was left astonished. This was when they also realized that while Xiao Jianming had been sword dancing, Xuan Si’nyang had fallen asleep. Xiao Jianming’s face was extremely unamused by this; he had put more than one hundred percent of himself into this performance, yet who would have anticipated she wouldn’t have seen even a single bit?

　　Even when it came time to reward him, she’d said “reward him with a few Cleansing Pellets”; was this a reward or trying to get rid of some beggars?

　　Noticing the growing anger of his nephew, Xiao Shanhe let out a soft cough before Xiao Jianming could break free from his thoughts. Xiao Jianming swallowed his anger, putting a smile on his face as he accepted the three Cleansing Pellets, appearing humble and polite as he thanked Xuan Si’nyang.

　　This was assuredly tough for him. He’d given the best performance, yet he’d received the least reward.

　　“There’s no more, right?” Xuan Si’nyang—clearly growing impatient—asked Chen Xuanhua once more.

　　Just as Chen Xuanhua was still hesitantly considering whether or not to tell her about the inner court tournament he’d been preparing, a loud clamor rang up from outside the hall. It was as though all hell had broken loose, and an arrogant voice could be heard mingled amidst the mess. “Motherf*cker, so what if you’re an elder? Do you think I—your grandpa—am scared of you? If you’re so good, why are you running away! Come back and let’s fight for a few more rounds….”

　　“You’re pushing your luck, little brat! I’m going to fight you with my life—”

　　“Fight your uncle, watch your grandpa chop you up…. Don’t you run away…!”

　　The voice resounded through the grand hall nonstop, and amidst it all it was possible to hear a few disciples trying to stop it, leaving all of the elders within the grand hall surprised. Chen Xuanhua was even more furious; he’d clearly commanded that no one was to stir up any trouble during this time, so who would dare to create such a scene on this peak?

　　Chen Xuanhua hastily apologized to Xuan Si’nyang and immediately made his way outside. Beneath the moonlight, he saw a youth flying atop a golden crow with a giant saber in his hands as he chased after an old man flying away atop a Flying Sword. The old man was an elder in charge of disciplining the inner court disciples—and whose cultivation level was quite respectable at Spirit Stage tier eight—yet he was obviously no match for the youth.

　　Flying in the air using only a Flying Sword was extremely taxing on Qi, and the sword was not as flexible in its aerial movements as the crow was. The old man had been yelling out loudly while being sliced up by this youth, and it didn’t take long before the only thing he could do was flee with his robe tattered and shredded.

　　“Fang Xing, you little turtle-egg bastard, what are you doing!” Before Sect Master Chen Xuanhua could speak, someone else beside him had yelled out at Fang Xing—it was none other than Tie Rukuang.

　　“This kid, how dare you create trouble! This is enough to warrant death!” another person yelled with a sinister voice—it seemed Xiao Shanhe had followed along to call out as well.

　　Chen Xuanhua was also furious. Fang Xing had been ordered into confinement yet had chosen such a terrible time to come out and cause a scene? And it was all just to chase after an elder? But this time, Chen Xuanhua wasn’t too concerned with the trouble itself, it’s just that he was thinking about the very important guest within the hall; now that this little bastard had chosen such a time to stir up trouble, it seemed Fang Xing would not be able to escape a harsh punishment after all.

　　Within the blink of an eye, Chen Xuanhua’s body began to move, filled with intent to stop all of this nonsense. At the same time, however, a soft hand suddenly placed itself upon his shoulder.

　　“Hehe, it’s so much more exciting to watch real sword fights….”

　　It was an excited voice, and it left Chen Xuanhua speechless. The voice had belonged to none other than Xuan Si’nyang.