So Good

At that moment, these cultivators truly felt how much the Lingxian Sect cared about the common people of Xiushui City.

Otherwise, what sect would go to such lengths to hold an entire festival for the mere thousands of ordinary folk in this little city—people who could never possibly fill Xiushui City?

Yes, it was all for these commoners.

Although the cultivators had received the sect master’s verbal invitation relayed by Lingxian Sect disciples, after witnessing everything before them, they understood that this celebration had been arranged for the common people. Whether they stayed or left was not particularly important to the Lingxian Sect.

As for putting on a show, not a single one of them thought that.

Recalling everything they had seen since arriving in Xiushui City, they could not help but admit that, given the Lingxian Sect’s foundation and strength, the sect had no need to put on such a painstakingly elaborate performance for them—or for anyone else.

This sect was genuinely kind to these ordinary people.

That realization left a small number of cultivators feeling somewhat displeased.

Could it be that, in the eyes of the Lingxian Sect, commoners were actually more important than cultivators like them?

Most of the cultivators, however, were filled with complicated emotions, with sighs outweighing everything else.

Venerable Xunfang had not gone out to investigate anything that night. He leaned against the window, observing from afar with his divine sense as the commoners beamed with happiness. Yet his gaze was fixed on the night sky, where, after the lantern formation had exploded into the words “Happy New Year,” countless gorgeous fireworks continued to bloom.

He felt as though something within his heart—something that had long since gone out—was beginning to stir faintly.

This year was different within the Lingxian Sect as well.

Because the sect had grown so much, the New Year’s Eve dinner was being held in the sect’s main square.

For the first time, the disciples of Qingyun Peak were eating the New Year’s Eve dinner together with the sect master, the elders, and the other senior figures of the Lingxian Sect.

Elder Liu had sent out a notice long ago, saying that everyone would be off for the several days surrounding the New Year. Thus, the disciples of Qingyun Peak had assumed that after dinner, they would simply make their own arrangements for the rest of the evening.

But after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the table where the senior members of the Lingxian Sect were seated suddenly became lively. They began raising their cups and chatting among themselves.

Not long afterward, Senior Liao, who had just emerged from seclusion, beckoned to Yuan Jinsheng, the oldest among the Qingyun Peak disciples. After exchanging just a few words, he drew Yuan Jinsheng into the conversation.

Yang Jinshu and several other seniors also came over to call over the older disciples of Qingyun Peak, and soon the group of people chatting together grew even larger.

This part of the celebration clearly had nothing to do with cultivation level. Only age and worldly seniority mattered.

As for the younger Qingyun Peak disciples who had not been chosen, Liu Yunan simply waved a hand and led them toward the Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Trees.

There, they discovered that their sect master was standing beneath the trees, casting some sort of spell toward Xiushui City below the mountain together with Elder Jiang, Elder Qin, and Elder Sun.

Several other youths were nearby, pointing toward the city and cheering.

When they saw the Qingyun Peak disciples arrive, the youths laughingly ran over and led them to the best vantage point, where they could watch the excitement unfolding in the city below.

There was not the slightest trace of a sect senior’s usual dignity.

The Qingyun Peak disciples focused their attention and looked down at the lively streets below. Before long, they spotted something that seemed very familiar.

“Hey, isn’t that a lantern I made?”

“I see mine too! Aren’t those the lanterns we made for practice in the Artifact Refinement Hall a few days ago?”

The Qingyun Peak disciples were all astonished.

A few days earlier, the Artifact Refinement Hall had suddenly offered a small course on making lanterns. At the time, Elder Mo had said that the best ones would be taken out for display. They had assumed the lanterns would be exhibited within the sect.

They had never expected them to be brought down the mountain and displayed on an occasion like this.

It was rather embarrassing.

The lanterns that had lingered in the night sky for a long time suddenly exploded all at once under the control of the formation, bursting into flourishing blossoms of fireworks!

It was New Year’s, and according to tradition, the noise was meant to drive away the Year Beast. Naturally, there could be no shortage of thunderous excitement.

But the liveliness below did not end there.

Bonfires, lanterns, and fireworks naturally called for one more thing: delicious food.

Food was the first necessity of the people.

When dish after dish of fragrant delicacies began floating orderly out of the Lingxian Food Pavilion, which had moments earlier been empty, the tightly packed crowd erupted in astonishment once again.

The dishes seemed almost sentient as they divided into two lines and floated forward at a steady pace from both sides of the crowd.

They hovered at precisely the right height—high enough to avoid the little children, yet low enough for them to reach if they rose onto their toes. Each dish was accompanied by its own bowl and chopsticks.

Unable to resist the enticing aroma, one person finally picked up a bowl and chopsticks and became the first to taste the food. The people around him watched as, the moment he took a bite, the bowl and chopsticks in his hands suddenly scattered into specks of starlight and vanished.

At that, everyone understood.

The immortals had prepared a flowing banquet for them!

The people turned their attention to the dishes slowly floating along both sides of the road. They imitated the first diner, picking up the bowls and chopsticks beside them and sampling every delicacy that passed by.

The only inconvenience was that the bowls and chopsticks vanished after a single bite, forcing everyone to take new ones each time.

It was a little troublesome, but in the face of such extraordinary food, that hardly counted as a problem.

The ordinary people knew only that the immortal food was delicious and that a single bite left their entire bodies feeling refreshed and comfortable.

They had no idea how shocked the cultivators among them were after tasting those dishes.

Every one of them had been cooked from spiritual ingredients!

These were not ordinary ingredients transformed by a spiritual chef into something beneficial to cultivators. They were spiritual ingredients, rich in spiritual energy, prepared through special methods so that even people who had never cultivated could safely eat them as spiritual food!

This was truly completely upside-down!

They had always heard of spiritual chefs racking their brains to turn ingredients with scant spiritual energy—even mundane ingredients—into food that could benefit cultivators. But they had never seen anyone turn spiritual food brimming with spiritual energy into something that commoners could eat!

For a moment, the visiting cultivators could not stop their hearts from twisting with envy.

They were actually living worse than the commoners of Xiushui City!

Just look at them! The ordinary people of Xiushui City could enjoy an expertly prepared spiritual feast once a year—and it was even a flowing banquet!

These cultivators, who struggled bitterly through their cultivation and often lacked spiritual food to replenish themselves, could not even enjoy a meal like this once a year!

Where were they supposed to go to complain about that?

The people in charge of the various sects that had remained in Xiushui City immediately could not sit still.

The Lingxian Sect had to be befriended!

Their sects had to establish a presence in Xiushui City!

What? There were still many matters to consider, and everything had to wait until the sect council convened later?

To hell with the meeting! The decision was made. Even if they held a hundred more meetings, nothing could shake it.

They would simply appoint themselves as the first administrators stationed in Xiushui City.

At that moment, this was the unanimous thought of every sect representative present.

As for the cultivators who had previously clung to their dignity as immortals and refused to join the crowds in the streets, they had long since forgotten all about it. They hurriedly mingled with the crowd, obediently picking up bowls and chopsticks formed from spiritual energy just like the commoners around them, determined not to miss a single dish that floated past.

Tsk. That was delicious!