Shen Yanxing volunteered to take care of most of the affairs of the coming-of-age ceremony. Chen Xiao really didn't understand, so he didn't try to be stubborn and left everything to his disciples.
I woke up early in the morning and had my first cold meal on an empty stomach until nine o'clock. Although it was cold, Shen Yanxing had carefully prepared a meal that was easy to digest and would not hurt the stomach.
At half past nine, Chen Xiao went to the hot spring bath in the garden to take a bath. Because there were people waiting on him on weekdays, Chen Xiao usually took a bath in a tub. This was his first time to come to the hot spring bath here.
Standing in the half-person-high pool of water, Chen Xiao cleaned his body carefully. Compared to when he first possessed this body, he was taller, his legs were longer, his shoulders were rounder, and his chest was thicker.
As Chen Xiao had a clearer understanding of his current body, he couldn't help but think of Xi Yunting's body in his dream. Because he had not seen the sun for many years, Xi Yunting's skin was very fair. It was usually hidden in his clothes and could not be seen. In fact, he had broad shoulders, a distinct mermaid line on his waist and abdomen, and his masculine capital was also quite...proud. Thinking about it, his body, which was originally hot because of the bath, couldn't help but get hotter.
In order to avoid embarrassment, Chen Xiao quickly got out of the bathtub and scooped up the cold water next to him to cool himself down. Damn it! He is already twenty years old, why is he still so impulsive?
After drying his body, he put on a high-collared and slim-fitting Taoist robe, which is said to be the most ceremonial Taoist robe in the world of immortal cultivation. Chen Xiao left the bathroom and sat on a round stool in the outer hall. Behind him, two female waiters in the body-refining stage dried his hair. The two female waiters each held half of Chen Xiao's hair, and their fingers gathered their inner breath, which shuttled through the hair to take away the moisture. If he was not in a hurry that day, Chen Xiao would not have asked the two female waiters to do this. He felt that such service was too extravagant and would corrupt people's will.
After drying his hair, he simply gathered the top and sides of his hair into a bunch at the back of his head, and left the bottom and back of his hair hanging down. Chen Xiao had never tried this hairstyle since he came here, and he always felt that his hair was itchy on his neck. It was a pity that he had to comb his hair like this today, and he had no choice but to do it even if he was not used to it.
A few minutes before ten, Chen Xiao followed the guide to an open space in the garden. Now it had been arranged into a simple meeting place, and there were quite a few people standing there.
Although there was no publicity, Shen Yonghe, the old mayor of Jincheng, Hu Qingyun, several officials from the capital, and Chief Steward Long of the City Guard, who learned that Chen Xiao was about to turn 20, came specially to attend his coming-of-age ceremony.
It was not just to give Chen Xiao face. Generally, promising practitioners either grew up in aristocratic families or with their respective masters. Few of them spent their coming-of-age rites in a foreign land like Chen Xiao. It was only after they got the news that they knew Chen Xiao had just become an adult. They could not help but marvel at his promising future at such a young age.
After nodding and greeting everyone around him, Chen Xiao stepped forward and stood in the center of the venue. At ten o'clock, the cage containing the snow geese not far away was opened, and a flock of them flew out.
Chen Xiao originally thought that they could only catch five or six geese at most, but Tong Nonuo's words discouraged him. He said that he was worried that if they caught too few, Chen Xiao's skills would not be good enough and he would not be able to shoot more than three. Chen Xiao learned archery intensively after knowing that he had to shoot geese at the coming-of-age ceremony, and even he himself was not sure. In the end, he obediently followed Tong Nonuo's advice and caught more than 20 geese.
When ordinary people shoot geese during their coming-of-age ceremony, those with poor skills will starve the geese for a while in advance, so that they will not be as agile and fast when they fly that day. But Chen Xiao is now a cultivator in the Body Refining Stage, so not only can he not do such a shameful thing, but he also has to feed the snow geese well in advance to ensure that they are all alive and kicking.
More than 20 snow geese were flying in the sky in panic. Even with the practitioners chasing them away, they simply couldn't fly out of here. Chen Xiao stood in the middle of the field and shot seven or eight arrows before he finally completed the ceremony of shooting geese.
After shooting the wild geese, it was still some time before noon, and Chen Xiao was busy dealing with the guests who came to congratulate him. These people did not come empty-handed, and each of them brought some small gifts. Compared with their wealth, they were really "small" gifts. Some were a pair of wrist guards, some were a close-fitting inner armor, and some were a waist guard... These people probably discussed it in advance and just put together a set.
After Chen Xiao thanked him, he asked Shen Yanxing to accept them one by one. If it weren't for the custom that the gifts given at the coming-of-age ceremony were small gadgets that the person giving the ceremony would use in their daily life in the future, who knows what kind of lavish gifts these dignitaries would give.
The guests were arranged to take their seats before noon. Because the master of ceremonies had to appear on the hour, Chen Xiao had not seen Xi Yunting yet. He didn't quite understand why there was such a rule. Perhaps it was to avoid wasting the time of the important people? After all, if he appeared on time, other guests would not have the opportunity to come forward and chat.
Just as he was a little absent-minded, Xi Yunting appeared. On this day, he was wearing a ceremonial Taoist robe that was very similar to the one Chen Xiao was wearing. This style particularly highlighted the curve from the neck to the shoulders. Because of the slim design, the waist and legs were particularly straight and conspicuous. The crisp collar made Xi Yunting's square chin look particularly heroic. The drapey hem made him look as elegant as clouds and water even when he took big steps.
Xi Yunting's somewhat cold eyes suddenly warmed up the moment he saw Chen Xiao, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly. He went up to the stage and stood in front of Chen Xiao. According to the previous instructions, Chen Xiao bowed and saluted. After Xi Yunting exempted him from the etiquette, he recited a string of ancient Chinese texts in a difficult way. Even though Chen Xiao had the foundation of studying Chinese in his previous life, he still didn't understand. He only knew in advance that the general meaning was to bless, advise and guide the person who performed the ceremony.
After this step was completed, Chen Xiao bowed again to express his gratitude. After Xi Yunting was exempted from the formalities, Shen Yanxing, who was standing next to him, personally brought up a cushion.
Chen Xiao took a deep breath, and knelt on the mat facing the guests with a solemn expression, while Xi Yunting walked to stand behind him. Shen Yanxing beside him loudly introduced the identities of both parties to the guests.
This introduction is very detailed, not only covering his origin, cultivation, but also his master. The focus of this step is not to introduce the person who is performing the ceremony, but the identity and background of the master. Xi Yunting had not revealed his sect origin to anyone before. When the people present heard that he was actually a second-generation disciple of the Chongxuan Sect and a head of the Director's Office, they immediately caused a small commotion. The Chongxuan Sect is the largest immortal sect directly under the Great Heaven Realm. For the countries in the Small Heaven Realm, it is a truly top-level sect. And the second-generation disciple and the head of the Director's Office are identities that are more important than one!
Of course, Shen Yanxing knew it earlier, and at this moment, he straightened his chest with pride. From today on, Xi Yunting and the Chongxuan Sect behind him were not only Chen Xiao's backers, but as his disciple, Shen Yanxing also benefited a lot indirectly.
Shen Yanxing stepped forward and gently untied Chen Xiao's hair. The hair, which had grown to the middle of his waist and back, was thick and black, and spread out smoothly. Xi Yunting bent down slightly, raised his hand and took the comb from the tray in the hands of the waiter next to him, and combed Chen Xiao's hair one by one. There is a specific number of times to comb hair, which is usually a multiple of nine. Ordinary people would comb it nine times, but Xi Yunting patiently combed it ninety-nine times.
The guests below were not impatient, but the atmosphere became more solemn as time went by. The more times the hair was combed, the closer the relationship was.
After combing Chen Xiao's hair ninety-nine times, Xi Yunting tied her hair into a bun, put a jade crown on it, and then used the green Lanwei jade hairpin he had prepared earlier.
Chen Xiao resisted the urge to touch it. The jade crown was heavy, and his hair was tied tightly, so his scalp felt very stretched. Although Xi Yunting's hands were very gentle and didn't hurt him, he still felt very uncomfortable.
Perhaps seeing that he felt uncomfortable, Xi Yunting whispered in his ear, "If you are not used to it, you can take off the jade crown after the coming-of-age ceremony and only wear the jade hairpin."
Chen Xiao heaved a sigh of relief and turned around to smile at Xi Yunting. Shen Yanxing gently reminded him, and Chen Xiao quickly stood up and saluted Xi Yunting for the third time. After the third salute, the coming-of-age ceremony was over.
There was supposed to be a banquet to entertain the guests after the coming-of-age ceremony, but unfortunately, due to their busy schedules, they could only spare half a day, so they all declined the invitation to stay for dinner. Now they wanted to change their minds and take the opportunity to get close to Xi Yunting, but they didn't have the guts to do so.
After seeing off the guests, only a few people were left and they sat down at a round table. Because Chen Xiao was a good cook, the lunch was particularly sumptuous. Not only the food that he had praised after tasting it before, but also the three snow geese that he had just shot were served on the table.
After the birthday toast, Tong Nuonuo said with emotion: "Xiaoxiao's coming-of-age ceremony is the most grand one I have ever seen. When I came of age, only my master and the familiar casual cultivators near the sect attended. The master of ceremonies was an old friend that my master specially invited from another realm." Then he remembered something and asked Tang Ru, "A Rou, is there a coming-of-age ceremony in your village?"
Tang Ru rolled his eyes at him, took a sip of the fragrant snow goose soup, and said, "Of course. You think that we foreigners are too ignorant of etiquette. Not only did we hold a ceremony, but my coming-of-age ceremony was also very grand! Not only did everyone in the village come, but the old village chief presided over the ceremony for me."
Tong Nuonuo was a little depressed after hearing this. Not to mention Xi Yunting and Shen Yanxing, his coming-of-age ceremony was probably the most rudimentary among his friends.
Chen Xiao comforted him, saying, "When you celebrate your birthday in the future, I will help you celebrate it happily. This will make up for the regret that we didn't know each other then." After the coming-of-age ceremony, Chen Xiao realized that practitioners did not celebrate their birthdays every year. Instead, they had a small celebration when the birthday was ten and a big celebration when the birthday was a hundred.
Tong Nuonuo did some calculations in her mind and immediately became happy: "It's only a few years away from my 100th birthday. We agreed that we must celebrate it properly then, and you all must attend!"
Chen Xiao immediately took back the hand that was soothing his shoulder. This guy looks like a teenager, but he is almost a birthday! So, Tang Ru just said that she held a coming-of-age ceremony, and he was the youngest among all of them - even his disciples!
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