The New Year's Banquet That Never Happened

Just as Tu Shanlan was about to turn and leave, asking Qian Jin to settle in, Qian Jin opened her mouth slightly, her eyes flashing with shrewdness.

She was just about to ask this gentle senior about the seemingly lively welcome dinner:

If I don't go, can I get a cash refund for the meal?

Even half price would be fine?

How many spirit stones are allocated per person for meals?

If we don't get our money's worth, can we pack up the remaining immortal wine and spiritual fruits and take them with us?

"Sister Lan, that banquet..." Qian Jin had just begun to speak.

"Senior sister! Senior sister! Something terrible has happened!"

An anxious voice, accompanied by hurried footsteps, came from afar and instantly interrupted Qian Jin's words.

Ao Ming, still clutching his slightly swollen cheek, rushed to the door of the room, his forehead damp with sweat and his expression unusually flustered.

Tu Shanlan frowned, her gentle demeanor instantly transforming into a capable one: "Ao Ming? What's the panic? Speak slowly, what happened?"

Ao Ming gasped for breath, speaking rapidly, "It's...it's Da Qiangzi! Something's happened to him! Something terrible has happened!"

Qian Jin blinked curiously. Da Qiangzi? The last member of the Chen Group? The one Sister Lan just mentioned?

"Wasn't he sent to the north to oversee that major project, the 'Northern Border Trade Route Prosperity Prayer'?" Tu Shanlan pressed, knowing that for Ao Ming to be so anxious, the matter must be significant.

"Yes! That's the project!" Ao Ming slapped his thigh, his face a mixture of anxiety and frustration. "He's made a huge mess of it! I heard that the wishes of those wealthy businessmen he handled not only didn't come true, but... but those businessmen all went bankrupt! They lost everything! Now they've banded together, with their servants and men, and have completely surrounded the Northern God of Wealth's palace! They're crying and wailing, demanding an explanation and compensation from the Northern God of Wealth! Da Qiangzi... Da Qiangzi has been detained and locked up too! They say if they don't give us an explanation, they'll... they'll..."

Ao Ming didn't finish speaking, but his meaning was clear.

While wealthy merchants in the mortal realm might not dare to truly harm immortals, such an act of gathering a crowd to besiege the immortal palace is itself a great disrespect, further indicating the seriousness of the situation and the boiling resentment among the people.

Tu Shanlan's face darkened: "What are the specific details? Has a detailed report been submitted?"

"This is too sudden!" Ao Ming shook his head. "The news came urgently from the Northern God of Wealth, and the details are still unclear. Lord Sudhana already knows about it, and he has ordered our Chen Group to set off immediately for the Northern God of Wealth's palace to assist in handling this matter. We must appease the mortals and find out the cause!"

The mission is urgent and cannot be delayed.

Tu Shanlan immediately made a decision: "Understood. Ao Ming, go and prepare the fastest cloud boat. We'll set off immediately! Junior Sister Qian," she turned to Qian Jin, her voice tinged with apology, "I'm really sorry, it seems the welcoming banquet will have to be postponed. You can come with us to the God of Wealth's place on the North Road first, familiarize yourself with the group's affairs, and it will also be a good experience."

Qian Jin nodded obediently, "Don't worry, Sister Lan, I understand. The important matter comes first." She quickly checked her storage bag, confirming that her identity jade token and a few simple personal items were still there.

The three of them quickly boarded the small cloud boat that Ao Ming had prepared.

This boat was much smaller than the one that carried the offerings of the Old Man of the Moon, but it was extremely fast, transforming into a streak of light as it sped towards the northern horizon. Outside the window, the magnificent sea of ​​clouds rushed past, and the celestial mountains and palaces vanished in an instant.

However, the atmosphere inside the cabin was somewhat somber.

Tu Shanlan sat at the bow of the boat, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, clearly pondering the possible situation with Da Qiangzi and how to deal with it.

Ao Ming paced back and forth, somewhat agitated, occasionally touching his cheek.

Qian Jin sat by the window, watching the clouds rushing by outside, her face gradually falling.

She sighed softly, her shoulders slumped, and she exuded a visible air of dejection.

The unusual silence caught Tu Shanlan's attention. She turned her head and asked with concern, "Junior Sister Qian? Did the cloud boat accelerate too fast just now, and you feel a little uncomfortable?"

Qian Jin shook her head, muttering listlessly, "No..."

Ao Ming glanced at her, as if he suddenly understood something, and sneered with a hint of schadenfreude: "Senior sister, she's not feeling unwell at all! She's just upset about the welcome banquet she missed!"

He mimicked Qian Jin's tone, exaggerating his voice, "Oh, Sister Lan~ Can we get cash back for the dinner we didn't get to eat at?"

Qian Jin, her thoughts exposed, glanced at Ao Ming with a resentful look, but didn't refute him. She simply rested her chin on the windowsill, her eyes vacant, and let out a long, extremely melancholy sigh: "Sigh... I always feel... like I've lost something..."

The tone was filled with as much sorrow as could be.

Ao Ming was thoroughly amused by her appearance and temporarily forgot his own troubles. He crossed his arms and lectured her in his unique, dragon-clan-superiority-laden tone, "Tsk tsk tsk, Qian Jin, I have to say you're a complete money-grubber! Your eyes are only on those pittances for food! What use are those mortal gold, silver, and spirit stones to us cultivators? You can't take them with you when you die! I really don't understand how you managed to pass the character test during your entrance examination when you were so obsessed with gold and silver. Did you use some back channels?"

"Ao Ming!" Tu Shanlan scolded him lightly, signaling him not to talk nonsense.

She looked at Qian Jin, her tone calm yet protective, "Junior Sister Qian's character test was not only not a fluke, but a genuine perfect score. That Heart-Questioning Mirror is an ancient artifact that can reflect one's true heart and distinguish truth from falsehood, with absolutely no possibility of forgery."

"Perfect score?!" Ao Ming's eyes widened instantly. Pointing at Qian Jin, he had a "you're kidding me" look on his face. "Her?! Senior sister, look at her! She's so dejected over a little food money! How is this the image of someone of noble character and detached from worldly affairs? Is this Mirror of Inquiry out of order?"

After he finished speaking, he felt that his argument was a bit far-fetched. After all, he had heard that the sect Qian Jin had been in before was so poor that it didn't even have a proper training ground, and it had no reputation whatsoever. It was practically an invisible presence in the cultivation world.

Where would a sect like this find a back door? It's possible Qian Jin's sect doesn't even have a proper main entrance...

Besides, the authority of the Heart-Asking Mirror is beyond question. But she still couldn't help muttering to herself, "Anyway...anyway, she just doesn't seem like it!"

Qian Jin's previously dejected face slowly lifted after listening to Ao Ming's rambling. The disappointment in her clear eyes was replaced by a strange, slightly dangerous light.

She didn't refute, but slowly rotated her wrist, her slender fingers pinching her knuckles, making a soft "click" sound.

Her gaze shifted from the rolling sea of ​​clouds outside the window, slowly sweeping over Ao Ming's face. A subtle, even slightly wicked, curve appeared at the corner of her lips. Her voice was light and airy, as if she were talking to herself, or perhaps asking a question:

"Hey... speaking of which, this cloud path looks pretty secluded, huh? I wonder... if there are any clueless thieves who want to rob a lone cloud boat... who could let me stretch my muscles and practice my skills?"

Her tone was calm, even tinged with anticipation. But to Ao Ming, it was like a thunderclap!

"You...you you you!!!" Ao Ming was so frightened that he jumped back a big step, his back hitting the cabin wall of the cloud boat. His finger pointing at Qian Jin trembled like a leaf in the wind.

Tu Shanlan looked at Ao Ming, who had instantly transformed from a flustered little dragon into a frightened little quail, and then at Qian Jin beside her with a wicked grin. She rubbed her temples helplessly.

Her new junior sister's ability to say the most frightening things in the calmest tone is truly... unparalleled in the three realms.

"Alright, stop fooling around." Tu Shanlan spoke up to stop this one-sided intimidation. "We're just ahead of the area of ​​the North Road God of Wealth Palace. Calm down and get ready for business. Junior Sister Qian," she looked at Qian Jin with a reassuring and cautionary look in her eyes, "stay close to me, observe more, and speak less."

"Yes." Qian Jin responded obediently, instantly reverting to her harmless and docile demeanor, as if the shrew had never appeared.

She even smiled sweetly at Ao Ming, revealing a row of fine, white, and even teeth, looking so adorable that you could squeeze water out of her.

With lingering fear, Ao Ming clung to the cabin wall and carefully moved to Tu Shanlan's side, no longer daring to approach Qian Jin even a step closer.

The cloud boat began to slow down and descend, gradually decreasing in altitude. Through the carved portholes, the view below came into clear view.

A magnificent ice and snow palace, as if carved from a giant piece of cold jade, stood atop the rolling, snow-covered mountains, reflecting a dazzling cold light under the sun.

This should have been a place of serene solitude and ethereal beauty.

However, at this moment, the magnificent plaza and long staircase of the palace, forged from millennia-old ice, were packed with people!

Hundreds of wealthy merchants, dressed in fine silks and satins but now displaying expressions of sorrow and even anger, along with numerous servants, assistants, and guards, completely blocked the entrance to the palace. They held aloft various signs and banners, bearing alarming characters written in vermilion or thick ink:

"The God of Wealth is wicked and harms his believers!"

"Give me back my hard-earned money!"

"Severely punish the derelict celestial official and compensate us for our losses!"

The crowd was furious, and the sound waves could be faintly felt through the thick soundproof array of the cloud boat, conveying their boiling resentment.

The cries, curses, and the pounding of fists against the palace gates and icicles mingled together, forming a suffocating torrent of noise.

Many people were agitated, waving farm tools and sticks, and some even tried to ram the huge palace gate that shone with defensive runes. The scene was chaotic.

Above the palace, the originally pure icy and snowy spiritual energy seemed to be tainted with a layer of gray, resentful energy, so heavy that it was almost impossible to dissipate.

"My God..." Ao Ming peeked out the window and gasped. The embarrassment of being frightened by Qian Jin was instantly forgotten by the sight before him, leaving only shock on his face. "This...this is too outrageous! What heinous thing did Da Qiangzi do?"

Tu Shanlan's expression also turned extremely solemn, her delicate brows furrowed: "The situation is worse than we imagined. It seems these mortals have suffered extremely heavy losses and are filled with resentment. A direct landing might provoke them."

She immediately ordered Ao Ming, "Ao Ming, control the cloud boat and land at Tingyunping behind the palace. We'll enter through the side gate and find the God of Wealth of the North Road to learn more."

"Understood!" Ao Ming immediately ran to the bow of the ship to control the magic array.

Qian Jin also put away her joking and dejected thoughts, her small face tense as she focused on observing the chaotic crowd below.

The cloud boat traced an arc, bypassing the bustling crowd, and quietly descended towards Tingyunping, a relatively calm area covered with thick snow behind the Ice and Snow Palace.

The mood of the three members of the Chen Group, like the cold wind of the northern border, suddenly turned frigid.

It seems the real trouble is just beginning.