With the worship ceremony concluded, the leaders of the Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects all began to descend the mountain.
After the Crimson-Letter faction under Zhou Taihe finished their worship, they did not linger. The Crimson-Letter factions under Old Master Black Buddha and Old Master Blackwater, having paid their respects to the Monarch, also headed down the mountain. Soon, as the ritual ceremony ended, the Yanluo royal family, along with the hundred officials and hundred generals, began their descent.
At the foot of Panlong Mountain lay a vast open grassland.
Every year after the temple fair worship, the Yanluo royal family would host a grand banquet to entertain the hundred officials, hundred generals, and the elders of the Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects.
During the banquet, anyone could take the stage to display their immortal arts.
This was an old tradition passed down in the Yanluo Kingdom, the most anticipated annual feast for all cultivators, and an excellent opportunity for those talented youths blessed with Fortune to make a name for themselves. In the past, the Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects would secretly compete during today's grand feast, and the talented youths from their sects would engage in martial contests.
The Yanluo royal family had long since ordered the venue to be prepared. All sorts of delicacies and imperial delicacies were available in abundance. The Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects had their own designated seats. Of course, knowing that the Immortal Dynasty's officials and a host of Immortal Nobles would be present today, seats for the Immortal Dynasty had also been arranged in advance.
Due to limited space, the Yanluo royal family could not entertain everyone. Apart from the various elders of the Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects, elders from the Crimson-Letter factions under Old Master Black Heart and Old Master Black Buddha also had their own seats.
As for everyone else, they could only stand outside the venue.
But they didn't mind this. The crowd had come this time precisely to watch the spectacle.
In previous years, although the prominent figures of Yanluo Kingdom would show up, they came in twos and threes. A lineup like today's was unprecedented in the past century.
Sect Head Cang Kong of the Tai Chi Sect, Deputy Sect Head Cang Yun, and four other deputy sect heads.
The Heir Apparent Disciple, the leader of the Yanluo Eighteen Young Masters, Little Destiny Mu Dongsheng.
Four Ninth Tribulation Wandering Immortals, fifty Wandering Immortal Patriarchs.
The Tai Chi Sect was like this. Sect Head Wei Chang of the Southern Dipper Sect.
The twin brothers Guan Jin and Guan Yu, one a Little Destiny, one a Little Edict.
Two Ninth Tribulation Wandering Immortals.
Over twenty Wandering Immortal Patriarchs, two hundred Earth Immortals, and over a hundred geniuses of varying levels of Fortune.
The Luo Shang Sect, the Xiao Family, and the other Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects—almost all the prominent figures, both from the older generation and the younger generation, had arrived.
Furthermore.
Under Old Master Black Heart Zhou Taihe, experts were as numerous as clouds.
Over ten Ninth Tribulation Wandering Immortals.
Hundreds of Multi-Tribulation Wandering Immortals.
Over two hundred talented youths blessed with Fortune.
Eight hundred Ancient Earth Immortals.
Wen Cheng and Wu De, two Little Destinies; Zhou Yan, a Little Edict; and another, Dongfang Jian, who had not yet shown his face but possessed both a Little Destiny and a Little Edict.
And Old Master Black Heart Zhou Taihe himself was a True Immortal.
This couldn't help but make people marvel at Old Master Black Heart's immense power.
Then there were Old Master Black Buddha and Old Master Blackwater, plus a full three hundred or more Chixiao People. It was truly a spectacular sight.
It could be said that for today's temple fair, all the prominent figures of Yanluo Kingdom who should have come had come, and even those who shouldn't have come had also arrived.
However.
When it came to lineup, it still had to be the Yanluo royal family.
Yanluo Emperor Tang Yunqi.
Tang Yunhao and his wife Lingyan, two True Immortals.
A full five hundred or more Wandering Immortal retainers.
Countless Yanluo ministers and generals.
The crowd gathered at the periphery chattered incessantly. As they discussed, they were also anxiously waiting.
Because they all knew that today, the master of the temple fair would be neither the Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects, nor the three Old Masters Black Heart, Black Buddha, and Blackwater, nor even the Yanluo royal family, but the Immortal Dynasty.
Days ago, everyone had already heard that this time, over a thousand Immortal Nobles from the Immortal Dynasty would descend.
Among these thousand-plus officials.
There were thirty-six True Immortals alone.
Nearly eighty or more Ninth Tribulation Wandering Immortals.
Over five hundred other Wandering Immortals.
Over a thousand Ancient Earth Immortals.
Just hearing about such a lineup was enough to make one's heart tremble. Many cultivators had lived this long without ever seeing a True Immortal, not even once. And today, over thirty True Immortals from the Immortal Dynasty were descending. Under such circumstances, how could one not tremble?
And these were just the officials.
Apart from the officials, the Immortal Dynasty also had over two hundred Immortal Dynasty Noble Sons descending this time.
Six mysterious and unfathomable Purple-Gold Immortal Nobles.
Twelve Purple-Cloud Immortal Nobles, unparalleled geniuses of great Fortune.
Over two hundred second-generation Immortal Noble Sons.
It was rumored that among them was the famous Canglong Bari, the Purple-Cloud Immortal Noble Young Master Long Qianren, who possessed a Little Edict, a Little Destiny, and a Little Nature.
Also present was the Purple-Cloud Immortal Noble Liu Guangque, said to be the pinnacle of nines, possessing an 811-layer Great Nature Colored Spirit. Rumored to be able to command Pure Yang above and grasp Pure Yin below, transforming Yin and Yang and the Five Elements with a wave of his hand, determining life and death, seizing Heaven's Fortune, capable of anything under heaven and earth, hailed as the Son of Great Nature.
Whether it was Long Qianren or Liu Guangque, both were famous talented youths of great Fortune renowned throughout this world. Many had long admired them and yearned to witness these two legendary unparalleled geniuses of great Fortune.
However.
For some reason, the people from the Immortal Dynasty had still not appeared. Instead, the number of people who had come to watch the spectacle was increasing. Looking around, there was a sea of people everywhere, countless in number.
Inside the venue.
The leaders of the Four Great Families and Seven Great Sects were chatting and laughing.
The members of the Crimson-Letter faction under Old Master Black Heart Zhou Taihe all appeared solemn and unsmiling, their expressions complex—some worried, some cautious, some hesitant, some regretful.
The three hundred or more Chixiao People on the side of Old Masters Blackwater and Black Buddha were also quite serious, each brimming with murderous aura as if ready to start slaughtering at any moment.
The atmosphere on the Yanluo royal family's side was also rather heavy, their expressions growing increasingly grave. Although the tables were laden with all sorts of imperial delicacies and fine dishes, no one was in the mood to enjoy them.
"Your Majesty, where should the imperial throne be placed?"
At that moment, a minister in charge of arranging the venue walked over and asked in a low voice.
Tang Yunqi furrowed his brows and pointed to an already prepared pavilion, saying, "Place it inside the pavilion."
"Should the fine wine and delicacies you asked to be prepared separately also be placed in the pavilion?"
"That's right. It's getting late, hurry up with the preparations."
"As you command."
Beside him, Tang Yunhao, Lingyan, and their daughter Tang Manqing, a family of three, were somewhat unable to understand Tang Yunqi's actions. Tang Yunhao spoke up and asked, "Yunqi, why are you even moving the imperial throne here? The situation is critical, why are you still fussing over those broken royal rules? And you've prepared fine wine and delicacies separately? What are you here for today? To enjoy yourself?"
Tang Yunqi shook his head repeatedly with a bitter smile. "Elder Brother, this wasn't my idea."
"If it wasn't your idea, whose was it?"
"The Ancestral Patriarch specifically instructed this."
"The Ancestral Patriarch?" Tang Yunhao asked, puzzled. "What did the Ancestral Patriarch ask you to prepare these for?"
"He said... he said it's for that Monarch."