The Pan Peach Meeting was scheduled to begin tomorrow afternoon.
On one hand, some sects were located in remote areas and would only arrive tomorrow.
On the other hand, the Immortal Alliance needed to divide the arriving sects into groups.
When they followed Tang Zhi into this exquisite pagoda, Su Zhan and the others received a dull, lightless card at the registration desk by the entrance.
There were no patterns on it.
She did not know what material it was made of, but it felt smooth and cool to the touch.
Under the guidance of the receiving disciple, Su Zhan injected a thread of spiritual power into it.
The card lit up for an instant.
When she held it in her hand, the surface of the card displayed Su Zhan’s name.
It was worth noting that Yun Zhao and Xu Yanrou had taken out identical cards from their own storage rings.
However, compared to the others, their cards were darker and brighter in color.
Besides their names, there seemed to be other information marked on them.
Because it had only lit up for an instant, Su Zhan had not seen it clearly.
“What is this?”
Yun Li expressed her curiosity.
Things that bound themselves to a cultivator by injecting spiritual power were not uncommon.
The storage ring in her hand worked on the same principle.
But when she tried to activate it, aside from making the card a little brighter, there was no other reaction.
“This is an Immortal Alliance token. Besides proving one’s identity, it has other uses as well.”
Tang Zhi explained.
She picked up her card and held it toward Su Zhan.
Her tone was calm, but her actions were impatient as she asked, “Sister Su… May I demonstrate it together with you?”
“Alright. I will trouble you.”
Su Zhan nodded in agreement.
Because in the original novel the Immortal Alliance had only been a background element and was rarely mentioned, this thing had never appeared in the original work at all.
She was extremely curious.
The corners of Tang Zhi’s lips curved upward.
She gently bit her lower lip, reached out, and lightly took hold of Su Zhan’s wrist.
She made Su Zhan hold the card with that hand and lay it flat.
Then she overlapped her own card with it.
Both cards trembled at the same time.
Immediately afterward, Su Zhan heard an ethereal echo in her mind.
“Sister Su… Can you hear me?”
“I can.” Su Zhan blinked and subconsciously replied.
“What can?” Ning Yao furrowed her brows.
She had not heard anything just now.
She only saw the card flash once, and then Su Zhan inexplicably said that sentence.
“I just heard Tang Zhi calling me…” Su Zhan explained.
She had wanted to ask why they had not heard anything, but the words reached her lips and she suddenly realized.
“Just now… was that sound transmission?”
Sound transmission techniques were not particularly rare.
One only needed to cultivate a specific art to achieve it.
However, the prerequisite was reaching the Divine Transformation stage and tempering one’s divine soul.
Otherwise, it was impossible to send one’s inner voice into another person’s mind.
Some special artifacts could also achieve a similar effect.
The principle was to use the artifact itself in place of the divine soul to receive the message.
From what she remembered, a pair of voice-transmitting artifacts would cost roughly four to five thousand spirit stones to customize.
They were luxury items that low-level cultivators could not afford and high-level cultivators had no need for.
Comparing it to a mobile phone was too crude.
If she had to say, its function was more similar to a pager.
The Immortal Alliance really is rich… They just give out something like this so casually…
“Precisely.” Tang Zhi nodded.
“By bringing the cards into contact, one can record the other party’s spiritual power fluctuations. Once used within the specific areas designated by the Immortal Alliance, it can also receive announcements from the Immortal Alliance’s sound-transmission stones.”
“Wow, that is amazing.”
Ning Yao’s eyes lit up.
She took two steps in three and rushed over to Su Zhan, snatching Su Zhan’s wrist out of Tang Zhi’s hand.
“Su Wood, quickly try it with me!”
The faint smile on Tang Zhi’s face froze.
Watching Ning Yao imitate what she had just done, her willow-leaf eyebrows could not help but furrow slightly.
Without waiting a moment, Ning Yao brought their two cards into contact.
She tightly pressed her lips together while holding her own card, then stared fixedly at Su Zhan.
A moment later, Su Zhan raised an eyebrow.
She lifted her hand and flicked Ning Yao’s forehead with her finger, causing Ning Yao to let out a pained “ow.”
She had heard Ning Yao transmit a message saying that one day she would also send her flying more than forty times in a row and make her cry while admitting that Ning Yao was the strongest.
“I told you not to be so disrespectful. I know you want to defeat me, but do not transmit your inner thoughts to me as well.”
“It really can be heard…” Ning Yao was not angry.
She rubbed her forehead and let out two silly laughs.
She put down Su Zhan’s hand and went to find the others.
Tang Zhi was somewhat unhappy.
She had finally found a chance to hold Su Zhan’s hand, but now it was no longer appropriate for her to take the initiative again.
After the commotion died down, the group arrived at the main hall.
A massive stone stele stood in the very center.
In front of the stele were four or five display boards.
Half of them were blank while the other half had names written on them.
Above each board were the words “Combat”, “Treasure Snatching”, “Realm Exploration”, and so on.
“Later, when you walk closer, simply press your card against the stone stele and your registration will be successful. The stele will randomly assign participants for each competition.” Tang Zhi said softly.
“Are we not participating together?” Xia Liu asked.
“This is for the sake of fairness.”
Tang Zhi shook her head and said, “Some sects only sent one person this time. If they had to find a temporary partner, they probably would not make it in time. Other sects have many people. If they are not separated, it would definitely be unfair and cause dissatisfaction.”
“That does make sense…”
Xia Liu coughed awkwardly.
Along the way, they had seen that the sect with the most people only had four.
Most sects had even sent only two people.
One could imagine that if their group of six participated, they would definitely be attacked by everyone.
“A situation where one family dominates is not what the Immortal Alliance wants to see. After all, the purpose of holding the Pan Peach Meeting is ultimately to promote exchange between the various sects, not to suppress or compare.”
A middle-aged man with a calm and refined appearance walked over at this moment.
He picked up the thread of conversation and added, “Of course, if you already have chosen teammates, the Immortal Alliance will not deliberately separate you. You only need to press your cards against the stone stele together.”
Behind the middle-aged man were several disciples who looked like stewards.
He was clearly a person of high status and authority.
“We greet Sect Master Tang.” Yun Zhao and Xu Yanrou bowed to the middle-aged man.
“We greet Sect Master Tang.” Su Zhan and the other junior sisters also bowed.
While the girls were still stunned, Xu Yanrou was the first to react.
She used sound transmission to briefly introduce him to her junior sisters.
“Mm. There is no need for the members of Qingyun Sect to be so formal. Welcome to North County. Later, I will have my disciples arrange accommodations for all of you.”
Sect Master Tang stroked his beard and nodded slightly.
Tongwen Sect and Qingyun Sect had been on good terms for generations.
He himself had received help from Qingyun Sect many times.
Therefore, he was still willing to support and look after these juniors to some extent.
However… he glanced at his unfortunate daughter who did not want to greet him.
His gaze ultimately landed on Su Zhan, who was standing beside Tang Zhi.
He could not help but sigh inwardly.
After not seeing her for several years, this child had grown even more outstanding.
No wonder Zhi’er could not forget her.
“So you are Su Zhan? I have been friends with your father for many years. You should call me Uncle.”
“This junior was remiss with her words. Su Zhan greets Uncle Tang.” Su Zhan naturally accepted the address and bowed again.
“Mm. Good child. There is no need for so much ceremony.” The middle-aged man smiled.
In his heart, he had already formed an opinion of Su Zhan.
Appearance, talent, and family background were all excellent.
He had heard that she had completed a mission a few days ago that the Immortal Alliance had been unable to solve for several years.
Her strength and character were probably not bad either.
It was a pity…
When the marriage engagement had been verbally agreed upon back then, he had never expected that both of them would choose the path of the Ruthless Dao.
It was fortunate that this Su Zhan was sensible and did not act as recklessly as his daughter.
“Father should still have matters to handle in the pavilion. I will entertain the members of Qingyun Sect on your behalf. Please rest assured, Father.”
Seeing that her father kept staring at Su Zhan, Tang Zhi expressionlessly blocked his line of sight.
Previously, he had threatened Tang Zhi that he would directly announce the annulment of the engagement in front of everyone.
Although she knew that her father cared about face and would not actually do such a thing, Tang Zhi still did not want him to spend too much time with Su Zhan, lest something unexpected happen.
This brat… She is giving me the boot in front of outsiders…
Sect Master Tang’s brows furrowed for an instant, but his expression quickly returned to calm.
He said indifferently, “In that case, I will take my leave.”
Hmph. In front of outsiders, I will give you some face for now.
When we get back, I will definitely punish this brat by making her copy books.