It was nearing sunset when Su Zhan finally led her two restless junior sisters to the dining hall for a meal.
Because it was not mealtime, there were no disciples cooking in the dining hall.
The three of them prepared the meal themselves.
Although they said they would cook themselves, the only one actually busy at the stove was Xia Liu.
Su Zhan had wanted to try Xia Liu’s cooking.
The meat soup Yun Li made a few days ago had tasted quite good and left her with lingering thoughts.
Reality proved that while imagination was beautiful, reality was cruel.
Perhaps because she was used to brewing bitter medicines, the medicinal cuisine Xia Liu prepared also carried a faint bitter taste.
Ning Yao frowned at the first bite.
But after chewing carefully for a while, she tasted something different and soon began eating heartily.
Although she was picky about food, she knew what was good.
As she ate the medicinal cuisine, she felt her body being nourished.
Even the pain from being thrown dozens of times felt lighter.
They had only eaten half the medicinal cuisine when the three of them received a sound transmission from the Sect Master.
They were told to hurry to the study in the Sect Master’s main hall to discuss important matters.
Since the Pan Peach Meeting was imminent, the important matter could only be related to that.
The three of them exchanged glances, set down their chopsticks, and headed over.
When they arrived at the Main Peak, they happened to run into Yun Li, who was covered in sweat.
She had just finished the extra coursework under Elder Liu’s supervision.
She had not even rested for a moment before hearing the sound transmission and had rushed over in a hurry.
After arriving at the study, Su Zhan first looked toward the leftmost seat.
A girl was sitting there, wearing a plain long dress.
A square table was placed in front of her with a teapot and several cups on it.
She must have been waiting for a while.
The girl had a gentle and refined temperament.
Her willow-leaf eyebrows curved with a smile.
Her ink-black hair was braided into several small plaits that intertwined like twisted ropes and rested lightly on her left shoulder.
She looked like a refined young lady from the Jiangnan region.
She was Yun Zhao, the head disciple of Qingyun Sect’s inner sect and the senior sister of Su Zhan and the others.
In terms of age, Xu Yanrou was actually the oldest among the inner sect disciples.
Yun Zhao was only one year older than Su Zhan.
Therefore, Yun Zhao’s appearance still carried a contrasting cuteness of being young yet mature beyond her years.
In the seat directly below hers, Xu Yanrou was holding the white cat and waved at Su Zhan and the others.
There happened to be four seats beside her, which were clearly meant for Su Zhan and the rest.
On the right side sat the Yao Elder who managed Dan Peak affairs, the Yan Elder who managed the Merit and Virtue Pavilion, as well as Lin Wan’er and Cheng Shuang.
As for the central main seat, where the Sect Master of Qingyun Sect should have been sitting, it was currently empty…
Su Zhan was full of doubts.
But seeing that Yun Zhao looked as if this was normal, she did not ask further and sat down beside Xu Yanrou.
Everyone took their seats.
The Yan Elder cleared her throat.
Her voice was somewhat hoarse.
She picked up her teacup, moistened her throat, and then spoke softly.
“Since everyone is here, let us begin.”
Her gaze swept over Yun Zhao and then over Su Zhan and the others as she explained.
“The Sect Master is busy with official duties and cannot get away. I will preside over this matter on her behalf.”
What followed was three minutes of silence.
The Yan Elder rubbed the teacup in her hands, as if carefully considering her next words.
“The Pan Peach Banquet has not been held for a hundred years. Now that it is suddenly being convened, this trip will surely not go smoothly.”
“Especially since this Pan Peach Banquet has imposed all sorts of restrictions. For example, participants must go in pairs, are not allowed to carry artifacts, and spirit cultivators, sound cultivators, and many other law factions are prohibited from participating. The age limit is under twenty years old…”
Just as previously mentioned, the Pan Peach Meeting was a method used by the Immortal Alliance to win over the major cultivation sects of Central Province.
The usual process was to find a small secret realm, throw all the prodigious disciples from every sect inside, set a time limit of several days, and finally rank them according to the rarity of the resources they obtained.
Because the secret realm belonged to the Immortal Alliance, those resources ultimately still belonged to the Immortal Alliance.
In plain terms, the immortal peaches were actually wages paid to the disciples for their hard labor.
The Immortal Alliance gained resources, the disciples gained benefits, and the sects gained face.
Everyone was happy. The winners took all, and the losers ate dust.
The Yan Elder listed more than twenty restrictions in one breath.
Some of these restrictions were reasonable, while others were inexplicably strange.
For example, those who had visited the Great Barren Continent within the last three years were not allowed to participate.
Those who liked peach blossom category foods were also not allowed to participate.
Even those who liked drinking alcohol or talked in their sleep would be screened out.
Fortunately, none of Qingyun Sect’s six disciples had violated any of the above restrictions.
According to the Yan Elder’s estimation, more than half of the sect disciples participating in this Pan Peach Meeting would be unable to take part.
It was also lucky that there was no restriction against smoking.
Otherwise Xu Yanrou would definitely have been among those who could not participate.
Su Zhan silently looked toward Xu Yanrou.
The other junior sisters also thought of this point and turned to look at her one after another.
This left Xu Yanrou, who had been completely absorbed in petting the cat, completely bewildered.
“In the past, there have been cases where restrictions were imposed due to the special nature of the secret realm. However, this time the restrictions are far too harsh. It makes me feel somewhat uneasy, as if they are screening based on certain criteria, searching for specific people.”
The Yan Elder paused.
She noticed that the people in front of her still seemed somewhat distracted, so she strengthened her tone.
“Therefore, when you participate in the Pan Peach Meeting this time, you must be extremely careful and cautious. You must not be negligent. Although spiritual fruits and immortal medicines are good, your life is more important. Without your life, everything else is empty talk.”
“Yun Zhao, you will lead the team this time. Your partner is Xia Liu. The two of you will be the main force. Xu Yanrou and Ning Yao will be in one group and are responsible for support. As for Su Zhan… you just need to protect Yun Li.”
Su Zhan pondered for a moment and nodded inwardly.
This arrangement was indeed reasonable.
Yun Zhao was a spell cultivator and the strongest among the six.
Paired with Xia Liu, the only healer, the two complemented each other perfectly.
Xu Yanrou was a talisman cultivator who excelled at support and self-preservation.
With Yun Zhao present, she only needed to provide assistance and keep an eye on the most impulsive Ning Yao.
As the second strongest fighter among the six, Su Zhan was naturally assigned to protect the weakest Yun Li.
With this distribution, even if they could not regroup for a short time due to the pairing, they would not be in too much danger.
Yun Zhao slightly furrowed her brows.
She pressed her lips together and glanced at the Yan Elder, then looked toward Su Zhan.
Afterward she lowered her eyes and rubbed her fingertips together for a while before slowly nodding.
“Yes. This disciple accepts the order. I will naturally ensure the safety of my junior sisters.”
“Tsk… What a pity. We are not even allowed to bring artifacts.” Xu Yanrou clicked her tongue regretfully.
These past two days she had taken out all her artifacts and carefully selected them.
If she could bring artifacts, the role she could play would probably be much greater.
It seemed the Immortal Alliance had also considered that there would be people with deep pockets who might disrupt the balance?
Su Zhan inexplicably thought of the artifacts she had seen casually thrown on the ground when she went to find Xu Yanrou that day.
Even Qingyun Sect, which could only be considered a mid-to-large sect, could produce one Xu Yanrou.
Then those top-tier sects would certainly not be inferior.
At that time, a proper competition would turn into a contest of who had better props. What fun would that be…
“Second Sister, do not worry. It is fine even without artifacts. I will protect you and guarantee that not a single hair on your head will be missing.” Ning Yao patted her flat chest.
“Just you? It would already be good if you do not drag Second Senior Sister down. Who knows, maybe it will be the other way around.” Xia Liu made a face at Ning Yao.
“Xia Lao Si, what do you mean by that!?” Ning Yao said angrily.
The girl who had just been behaving obediently and sensibly once again started bickering with Xia Liu.
Across the table, the Yan Elder shook her head helplessly.
If possible, she actually did not want these girls to participate in that Pan Peach Meeting.
Before this, she and the other elders and the Sect Master had indeed planned to do exactly that.
However, last night the Sect Master received an urgent letter from the Immortal Alliance.
After reading the letter, she changed her mind during this morning’s meeting.
What exactly was written in that letter, the Yan Elder did not know.
But she hoped that these girls would all be able to return safely.