Three days later!
After finishing his daily cultivation, Ye Xuanqing left his small courtyard and headed towards the central plaza of the Blessings Cultivation Court.
The Blessings Cultivation Court wasn’t actually very large, covering a mere thousand or so square kilometers.
Having lived here for so long, this was Ye Xuanqing’s first time closely observing the internal environment of the court.
Usually, Ye Xuanqing would simply fly on his sword, seeing the Blessings Cultivation Court only from a bird’s-eye view from high above.
After walking for a long while, Ye Xuanqing noticed that most of the court consisted of uniformly sized courtyards. The ornamental spiritual plants outside these courtyards held little appeal for him.
Looking at these, he’d rather go find any random peak in the Xuantian Mountain Range. Most peaks there were imbued with immortal beauty, teeming with all sorts of marvelous flora and fauna.
Thus, Ye Xuanqing abandoned the idea of walking. He directly summoned his flying sword and rode it towards the central plaza.
Only after reaching the vicinity of the plaza did Ye Xuanqing stop flying and proceed on foot.
By the time Ye Xuanqing arrived, quite a few people had already gathered in the plaza.
There had been a hundred disciples from his cohort who joined the Xuantian Sect’s Blessings Cultivation Court together.
And now, within the entire Blessings Cultivation Court, aside from the stewards, only they, these hundred disciples, remained.
As for the previous batch of disciples, they had all broken through to the peak of Qi Refining in the past few years, left the Blessings Cultivation Court to contract with spirit lands, and become true Blessing Cultivators.
When Ye Xuanqing entered, he only attracted sidelong glances from a few people on the periphery. Since they didn’t know him, they didn’t come to bother him.
Preferring peace and quiet, he directly found a secluded seat at the outskirts and sat down.
The seating area was already laden with various spiritual fruits and wines.
After scanning the area, Ye Xuanqing couldn’t help but think to himself with a click of his tongue:
“Such extravagance! This banquet must have cost a pretty penny in spirit stones, right?”
Looking at the spiritual fruits and wine before him, Ye Xuanqing didn’t stand on ceremony. He began helping himself to the fruits and drinks.
Before long, all the seats were filled.
Beside Ye Xuanqing now sat a chubby little fellow with a face full of fortunate features.
Once seated, the little fatty directly picked up a spiritual fruit and took a big bite. Then, looking at Ye Xuanqing with a grin, he said:
“Hey there, buddy! I’m Fu Dingtian. What’s your name? Are you also a disciple of the Blessings Cultivation Court? How come I’ve never seen you before?”
Hearing the little fatty’s form of address, Ye Xuanqing gave him a strange look before replying calmly:
“I’m Ye Xuanqing, a disciple of the Blessings Cultivation Court.”
“Ye Xuanqing? Hold on, let me check!”
With that, the little fatty took out his disciple token. After fiddling with it for a moment, he exclaimed loudly:
“Whoa, buddy! You’re really well-hidden! I actually don’t have your contact imprint!”
Ye Xuanqing felt a metaphorical sweatdrop appear on his forehead.
Wasn’t it perfectly normal not to have his contact imprint? They didn’t know each other.
But the little fatty didn’t stop. He continued:
“I knew it! There were clearly a hundred of us who entered together, but I only managed to collect ninety-eight contact imprints! I thought it was haunted or something!”
Ignoring Ye Xuanqing’s increasingly dark expression, the little fatty leaned closer:
“Buddy, with yours, I’ll have the full set of a hundred imprints from our cohort! Let’s be friends, swap contact imprints, okay?”
“We’re not familiar. No swap.”
Facing the little fatty’s request, Ye Xuanqing flatly refused.
But the little fatty didn’t give up. Instead, he shamelessly persisted:
“Come on, buddy! First time strangers, second time friends! Meeting is fate; you can’t be so heartless!”
Ye Xuanqing was about to refuse again, but feeling the gazes drawn by the little fatty’s loud voice from those around them, he could only grind his teeth and say:
“Fine!”
Fortunately, after exchanging contact imprints with the little fatty, the chubby fellow happily returned to his own seat and didn’t continue pestering him.
Ye Xuanqing secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Now he finally understood how this little fatty had managed to get everyone’s contact imprint. You couldn’t really hit him, and with his thick skin, if he insisted, people probably just gave in.
After all, it was just an imprint, no real loss, not worth getting entangled with the little fatty.
After this unexpected little interlude, the banquet hosted by Lin Fan officially began.
Lin Fan, holding a wine cup, exchanged some words with a few close friends around him. Then, standing up full of spirit, he announced:
“I am deeply grateful that all my junior brothers could honor me by attending this gathering!”
With that, he downed the wine in his cup.
Many in the crowd who were on good terms with Lin Fan echoed his sentiment, raising their cups in a toast.
Ye Xuanqing showed no reaction to this, merely watching the proceedings with detached calm.
The little fatty beside him, however, was getting excited over every little thing, though it was unclear what exactly was so thrilling.
After finishing his drink, Lin Fan continued:
“The purpose of hosting this banquet for all junior brothers is twofold. First, to gather with everyone before my departure. Second, there is a matter I wish to discuss, hoping you all might agree to it!”
As soon as Lin Fan finished speaking, many from the inner circle chimed in, expressing their support:
“Senior Brother Lin, just tell us what it is! If we can help, we certainly will!”
“That’s right! Senior Brother Lin, no need to be polite with us, just say it directly!”
“I’ve been friends with Brother Lin for many years. His matters are my matters. Brother Lin, don’t hesitate, just say it. Everyone will agree.”
Those in the inner circle spoke one after another, almost as if they were agreeing on behalf of everyone present.
But many on the periphery, including Ye Xuanqing, simply watched coldly. Quite a few even wore faint sneers on their faces!
“As expected, no banquet comes without an agenda!”
Ye Xuanqing thought to himself, starting to snack on the fruits while watching this good show with interest!
After receiving enthusiastic agreement and support from his many friends, Lin Fan declared loudly:
“Good! In that case, I’ll speak frankly!”
“We are all fellow junior brothers who entered the Blessings Cultivation Court together. The reason for gathering everyone here today is to propose forming a Blessing Cultivators Alliance. In the future, we can watch out for and support each other. What does everyone think?”
Upon hearing Lin Fan’s words, someone immediately asked:
“Senior Brother Lin, how exactly would this alliance function?”
“Yes, Senior Brother Lin, what would we need to do after joining the alliance?”
Facing these questions, Lin Fan raised a hand slightly with a smile:
“Don’t worry, everyone. Let me first introduce two good friends!”
He then pointed to two individuals standing not far behind him and said:
“These two are Senior Brother Li Xuan and Senior Brother Zhu Dafu. They are senior brothers who joined the Xuantian Sect in the same batch as us. Although they are not disciples of the Blessings Cultivation Court, they are now outer sect disciples at the Foundation Establishment stage.”
Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu stepped forward. They didn’t interrupt Lin Fan, merely smiling at the crowd.
After a pause, Lin Fan continued:
“After we form the alliance, the future produce from everyone’s Blessed Lands can be handed over uniformly to Senior Brothers Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu for processing.”
“Of course, rest assured, the alliance will purchase the resources produced in your Blessed Lands at market prices.”
“Moreover, after joining the alliance, any supplies you need to procure can be reported uniformly to the alliance. Senior Brothers Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu will then arrange for their procurement on our behalf!”
