Chapter 237: Generous Gifts
When Yu Nianzhen heard the words, a thought flashed in his mind.
However, the thought was so fast that he didn’t catch it.
With a frown on his face, he turned to the front and looked at the Ice Palace sect elder.
"Please welcome our palace master, Shui Qingqing."
At the same time, a woman appeared on the throne.
She was dressed in white like others of the Ice Palace sect. Had a pale but beautiful face, red lips, and a pair of seductive eyes.
More importantly, her skin was supple and she didn’t look a day above thirty.
While looking at the woman, the thought that previously flashed in Yu Nianzhen’s mind, flitted again.
He recalled hearing that the ancestor of the Great Zhu empire was the oldest in the Cangxing world.
However, nascent soul realm cultivators had a lifespan of five thousand years.
If they couldn’t break through to the realm above, they would die when their lifespan ended.
In that case, how could the ancestor of the Great Zhu empire be older than the ancestor of the Ice Palace sect who was only a year away from the end of her lifespan?
As these thoughts crossed his mind, a thousand possibilities occurred to him and he suddenly looked at Zhu Bing.
However, looking at him only represented one possibility and Yu Nianzhen soon looked away.
"Let the banquet begin." Shui Qingqing said without much ado.
The elder of the Ice Palace sect bowed and looked toward the guests.
"Please invite the sword sect to present their gift to our palace master."
After she said that, the highest-ranking elder of the sword sect stood up.
He walked to the front and presented a jade box to the Ice Palace master.
However, he didn’t leave after presenting the gift. Instead, he stood in front of the palace master and waited for her to open the jade box.
Shui Qingqing took her time to open the box and look at its content.
After that, she nodded and showed the contents to the elder who was conducting the ceremony.
"The sword sect has gifted three metres of ten thousand years jade ice silk." She said and whispers broke in the hall.
Jade ice silk was a refining material used to make soft armour.
It wasn’t rare but finding a piece that was ten thousand years old was almost impossible.
As such, the gift was appropriate for the occasion and the sword sect elder stepped down with a proud look on his face.
"The Great Zhu empire may come up to present their gift." The Ice Palace elder continued.
Immediately, an elder from the Great Zhu empire stood up.
Like before, he presented the gift to the palace master and then waited for the contents to be announced.
"The Great Zhu empire has gifted one ice soul fruit." The gift was announced and the hall broke into louder whispers.
Even Yu Nianzhen was surprised.
The ice soul fruit was a rare spirit herb that could strengthen the soul of ice-origin cultivators.
From what he knew, the ice soul tree took five thousand years to bear three fruits and another three thousand years for the fruits to ripen.
’The Great Zhu empire has really gone out of its way.’ Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but sigh.
After that, several regional rulers went up to present their gifts and the turn of the Sea Cloud sect eventually arrived.
Although Yang Xu was a supreme elder and should have had the highest rank, his cultivation realm did not match.
As such, elder Chen went to present the gift and the process was the same.
"The Sea Cloud sect has gifted two tendons of a class six ice dragon."
When this was announced, the hall fell silent.
A class six ice dragon was equivalent to a reincarnation realm cultivator.
However, there hadn’t been any reincarnation realm cultivators or class six demonic beasts in the Cangxing world for many years.
Even when class six demonic beasts existed, dragons were rare and their parts were precious.
This time, the dragon tendons were an extremely generous gift and others couldn’t help but think a little more.
’What is the Sea Cloud sect plotting?’ Yu Nianzhen wondered and narrowed his eyes.
He didn’t have a good impression of the sect and knew that such a gift wasn’t given in vain.
However, he couldn’t figure anything out.
With a sigh, he turned to Jiang Yue and his husband was also looking at him.
[Any ideas?] Jiang Yue transmitted.
[None.]
[Me too.]
After that, the two kept one eye on the gifting ceremony but chatted in secret.
[You think that Zhu Bing is the ancestor and emperor of the Great Zhu empire?] Jiang Yue asked when Yu Nianzhen told him his guess.
[I remembered what I heard from my master and it doesn’t add up. The ancestor of the Great Zhu empire is definitely more than five thousand years old. However, we haven’t heard news of his death. How is that possible?]
[You may be right.] Jiang Yue said and frowned.
He remembered the Zhu Bing they met at the beginning and the current one.
The two had different temperaments and it was difficult to accept they were one person.
However, it was also not easy to accept that the ancestor had seized Zhu Bing’s body.
After all, the original Zhu Bing’s talent was not great.
If the ancestor was going to seize someone’s body, shouldn’t he have looked for a talented person in the Great Zhu empire?
These conflicting thoughts fought in his mind and Jiang Yue felt a little pain in his head.
[Let’s not think about it for the time being.] Yu Nianzhen said.
He wished to move over to massage his lover’s temple. However, that was not possible so he could only stop talking about the Great Zhu empire.
[Do you think the palace master of the Ice Palace sect is planning to seize someone?] Jiang Yue suddenly asked.
[It is possible.] Yu Nianzhen said and frowned.
He thought about the ice soul fruit given by the Great Zhu empire and his doubts increased.
However, what the Ice Palace sect and the Great Zhu empire did had nothing to do.
As long as they didn’t plot against him or Jiang Yue, he didn’t want to get involved.
Three hours later, the Ice Palace sect finished accepting gifts and the banquet officially started.
Ice Palace sect disciples went on stage to perform while everyone ate and drank.
Soon after, the formal atmosphere mellowed and the disciples of different sects began to interact.
Seeing this, Xuan Ke didn’t waste time.
He immediately walked to the Sea Cloud sect sitting area and formed a group with Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen.
"What happened to you back then? Didn’t you get the scarlet rock herb?" Jiang Yue asked as soon as they met.
When he heard the question, Xuan Ke flushed.
He didn’t want to say that he ate some suspicious glowing mould and fell unconscious for more than seven years.
However, he couldn’t stand Jiang Yue’s accusing look and immediately told everything.
"Are you stupid?" Jiang Yue asked and looked at his sworn brother in disdain.
Everyone knew not to eat strange things but Xuan Ke had not only eaten them but also fell asleep in the open.
’Fools have their idiot’s luck.’ Yu Nianzhen thought and looked at Xuan Ke.
What are the odds that Xuan Ke would eat strange mould, sleep for seven years, and break through to the origin tempering realm when he woke up?
Such kind of luck rivalled theirs but Yu Nianzhen was not envious.
The seven years he spent in the Black Wind Abyss were very important for his swordsmanship and he wouldn’t trade them for Xuan Ke’s experience.
"It’s good that you are okay." Jiang Yue relented and Xuan Ke heaved a sigh of relief.
He also knew he did a stupid thing back then but everything turned out well so he didn’t want to think about it.
"How did the two of you do in the Cangxing ranking?" He changed the subject.
"Azhen took first place." Jiang Yue said proudly.
At that, Yu Nianzhen smiled and rubbed his husband’s hair. He liked that Jiang Yue was proud of him and couldn’t help but want to work harder.
"I took fifth place. What about you?"
"I am in the thousands." Xuan Ke said and sighed.
When he woke up, he had already broken through to the origin tempering realm.
As a cultivator on the first level, there was no way for him to stand out in the origin tempering realm category.
"You will do better in the next ranking." Jiang Yue comforted.
The next ranking was a hundred years later and would happen when they were in the Nine Treasures secret realm.
If everything went well in the secret realm, Jiang Yue felt they wouldn’t have trouble making the top ten.
"Mmmm." Yu Nianzhen also encouraged.
"What about Li Futian? I haven’t seen him around."
