Suitable for Relocating Graves

Judging by what the waiter said, some kind of performance had already been arranged for later. Clearly, no matter where the storyteller was now, there would be no stories to hear today.

He Yi rose regretfully and walked out of the private room.

As he passed the waiter, he tossed him a silver ingot before leaving the teahouse.

The ingot was worth far more than the tea and room charge.

Moreover, this unfamiliar customer had been spending just as generously every day.

“Please come again, honored guest!”

Clutching the beautiful silver ingot, the waiter grinned until his eyes narrowed. He hurried off to settle the account with the proprietor.

In truth, after spending the past few days in the teahouse, He Yi had heard nearly everything there was to hear about the Lingxian Sect.

Normally, storytellers would repeat the same section of a tale over and over for many days before moving on to the next part.

But He Yi paid—and paid handsomely.

Thus, the storyteller abandoned his usual habit of reheating the same old material and spent several consecutive days recounting the entire story of the Lingxian Sect from beginning to end.

After all, the stories told by storytellers in teahouses were generally limited to matters known by ordinary people. As for the sect’s internal affairs, the storyteller occasionally mentioned them, but He Yi could tell from the vague, embellished wording that most of those details had probably been fabricated by the storyteller himself.

So recounting the entire tale did not take all that long.

The story had likely been told as far as it could go for the time being. And since the storyteller wanted to retain He Yi, this exceptionally generous customer, he had hurried overnight to Xiushui Village to gather material.

Little did he know that this particular customer was unwilling to wait even that long.

He Yi decided to go to Xiushui Village himself.

He had heard almost everything there was to hear. Now it was time to take a look in person.

As for the Shangyang Sect, which was said to have been established in Hufang Province for many years, he had no particular interest in it.

He had made inquiries about the sect as well. It was merely an ordinary sect in the mortal world, lacking both strength and anything particularly interesting.

He had already learned back in the imperial capital that the sect had been destroyed and occupied by a rogue cultivator.

However, in that story, the Shangyang Sect had merely been a backdrop. The focus had been on the sect known as the Lingxian Sect.

Therefore, He Yi had no interest in visiting the Shangyang Sect.

Still, if he found nothing new or interesting in Xiushui Village, he would go there and take a look for the sake of tracing the direction of the sinister aura he had sensed earlier.

That was, of course, provided the Lingxian Sect turned out to be uninteresting and had nothing to do with the flow of that sinister aura.

He Yi idly entertained these scattered thoughts as he leisurely made his way toward Xiushui Village.

His pace appeared unhurried, yet he moved incredibly fast. The pedestrians, buildings, and scenery around him seemed to fly backward.

The people along the road, however, remained completely unaware.

This was the day the Lingxian Sect had selected after consulting the almanac—a day suitable for breaking ground, burying the dead, and moving into a new home.

Yang Jinshu, Lin Dayou, and the others who had already made their decisions were all in place.

The disciples at Qingyun Peak had also been informed beforehand that any of them who wished to relocate the graves of deceased relatives could have them buried on Everbright Mountain.

As it turned out, quite a few Qingyun Peak disciples were tempted by the offer. The very next day, they went to the General Affairs Hall and submitted applications to Elder Liu.

The applications were necessary because the disciples needed permission to leave the sect. Some of their hometowns were quite far away, and others were not even located in the Kingdom of Pusi.

If they had to handle everything themselves, then even without counting the time needed to exhume the graves, the journey there and back alone would take half a year.

Therefore, the sect decided to assign spirit ships to transport all disciples who needed them.

With the sect’s spirit ships handling the transportation, and Lin Xiao making a simple itinerary based on each destination, several spirit ships were arranged to carry disciples in different directions.

As a result, even disciples whose hometowns were extremely far away were able to return to the sect within a few days.

Everyone arrived before the auspicious day selected for the occasion.

Thus, the groundbreaking ceremony for Everbright Mountain officially began that day.

When Lin Dayou carried his wife’s wooden coffin into Everbright Mountain, his emotions were excited yet complicated.

From now on, he would be able to come and chat with his wife whenever he wanted.

Although Lin Dayou had brought Lin Xiao’s mother’s coffin up the mountain, he had also erected a cenotaph at her original gravesite.

That place was, after all, the ancestral burial ground of his family. If he removed the grave without even leaving behind a cenotaph, it would seem as though he did not want his wife to be buried with the rest of the family. That would not be appropriate.

It was precisely because of Lin Dayou’s arrangement that many of the Xiushui Village natives who had originally been hesitant about moving their ancestors’ graves made up their minds to do so.

Together with the many Qingyun Peak disciples who had left their hometowns to join the sect, a considerable number of people took part in the groundbreaking ceremony at Everbright Mountain that day.

Once so many people gathered together, the atmosphere naturally became lively.

After Lin Xiao, the sect master, took the lead and dug the first shovelful of earth at the entrance to Everbright Mountain, everyone who needed to relocate a grave entered the individual spaces within the mountain that belonged to them and began personally burying their loved ones.

Several months had passed. Even the weakest disciples from Qingyun Peak possessed physical strength far beyond what they had once had.

Digging a hole, erecting a gravestone, and building a grave on their own was no trouble at all.

The gravestones had already been commissioned from the Artifact Refinement Hall at the very beginning of the project.

As a result, everyone who needed one now had a gravestone made entirely according to their own specifications.

Everything had been arranged so perfectly that everyone was extremely satisfied.

After everyone had finished, the Spirit Food Hall specially prepared a sumptuous feast for the occasion.

No one knew where the Spirit Food Hall had obtained so many long tables, but several rows had been set up in front of the sect’s main hall.

Every table was covered with all kinds of dishes. There were cold appetizers and hot dishes, various meats, an abundance of vegetables and fruits—in short, nearly every ingredient anyone present had ever eaten could be found there.

There were also all kinds of alcoholic drinks, fruit juices, and other beverages.

Some were clear, some cloudy; some red, some yellow. Droplets of condensation clung to the outside of the containers holding the chilled drinks, while wisps of pale steam rose from the hot beverages.

Just looking at them made people thirsty enough to gulp down several mouthfuls.

The wide variety of dishes also seemed to have been arranged with great care. Each dish complemented the others, and the spread was a feast for the eyes even before anyone had taken a bite.

This was the work of Ma Changlong, a Qingyun Peak disciple employed by the Spirit Food Hall.

As a lifelong gourmet, he understood every aspect of fine food. This time, after seeing Elder Jiang personally prepare so many delicious dishes, he had volunteered to arrange the presentation so that the “beauty” of the food could be displayed to its fullest.

As expected, a true expert’s touch made all the difference.

Once Ma Changlong had finished arranging the tables, the other Qingyun Peak disciples working in the Spirit Food Hall all praised his work.

The already mouthwatering dishes looked even more irresistible.

Jiang Youfu was delighted when he saw the result and offered several words of praise as well.

He felt that Grandpa Ma had opened up an entirely new way of thinking about food for him.