Dongfang Xun's words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Nangong Wentian's head. However, it was indeed Nangong Ao who first attacked Han Feng, and Han Feng was indeed not from an ancient martial arts family.
"Good! Very good!" Nangong Wentian suddenly laughed wildly, and a terrifying heat wave erupted from his body. "Let's go!" he said, staring intently at Han Feng.
The guards of the Nangong family carried the unconscious Nangong Ao away in a hurry. Only after the last person's figure disappeared through the door did Dongfang Xun let out a soft breath. The slightly trembling fingers in his sleeve betrayed that he was not as relaxed as he appeared.
"Thank you for helping me out, Brother Dongfang." Han Feng clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, but found that Dongfang Xun was looking at him with a strange gaze.
"Brother Han, there's no need to be so polite. Would you do me the honor of finding a place to chat later?" Dongfang Xun said, still maintaining his elegant demeanor.
"Okay." Han Feng glanced at Liu Mengran beside him and replied.
"Alright, wait a moment while I go say hello to Old Master Liu." With that, Dongfang Xun walked towards Old Master Liu.
Han Feng's gaze unconsciously followed that tall, upright figure. The man's clothes fluttered as he walked, and although he was wearing a modern suit, he gave the illusion of having stepped out of an ancient painting.
"Are you sure you don't know him?" Liu Mengran lowered her voice and tugged at Han Feng's sleeve.
Han Feng shook his head, his brows furrowing slightly: "Never seen it before, but..." A strange sense of familiarity lingered in his heart, like hearing a long-forgotten melody.
Not far away, Dongfang Xun bowed slightly to Old Master Liu, and the two spoke in hushed tones. Han Feng noticed that Old Master Liu's brows were initially furrowed, but as Dongfang Xun spoke, the old man's tense shoulders gradually relaxed, and finally even revealed a barely perceptible smile.
"Strange," Liu Mengran muttered softly. "Grandpa doesn't seem to recognize him at all, but the way they chat is making it seem like they haven't seen each other for years."
As they were talking, Dongfang Xun had already taken his leave of Old Master Liu and was walking towards them. Sunlight streamed through the crystal chandelier in the banquet hall, casting dappled patterns of light on his sharply defined face.
"Brother Han," Dongfang Xun stopped two steps away, gesturing for him to enter. "There's a private tea room not far from here; it's a quiet place."
Han Feng glanced at Liu Mengran, and the girl immediately understood: "I'll wait for you here." She loosened her grip on Han Feng's clothes.
Han Feng was about to say something.
Dongfang Xun seemed to read their minds, chuckling softly, "Brother Han, rest assured." He snapped his fingers, and four men dressed in waiters' uniforms appeared out of nowhere, silently standing around Liu Mengran. "My Dongfang family's secret guards are all experts capable of taking on ten men each."
Han Feng's pupils contracted slightly—these four "waiters" possessed restrained auras and moved with the lightness of cats, indicating they were all experts at the Innate Realm. What alarmed him even more was that these people had clearly been lurking in the banquet all along, without his knowledge.
"Please." Dongfang Xun invited again, his eyes open and honest.
Han Feng nodded and followed Dongfang Xun out of the hall.
The two soon arrived at the teahouse that Dongfang Xun had mentioned, which was just a small courtyard.
In the enclosed space, Han Feng keenly smelled the faint fragrance on the other person's body—not any modern perfume, but rather like "ambergris" described in ancient books, a rare fragrance that is said to have the power to calm the mind.
"Brother Han, there's no need to be nervous." Dongfang Xun sat down in a chair. "I just have some questions I'd like to ask you."
Han Feng surveyed the place; the tea room was unexpectedly simple. There was a rosewood tea table and two official's hat chairs. Dongfang Xun personally brewed the tea, his movements fluid and graceful, clearly a master of tea ceremony.
As Dongfang Xun moved, the stellar power within Han Feng suddenly stirred, as if summoned by some unseen force. He secretly circulated his inner energy to suppress the disturbance, maintaining a calm demeanor on the surface: "Brother Dongfang, do you know me?"
Dongfang Xun smiled but did not answer, but his hands did not stop moving.
"Try it, this is Da Hong Pao from the mother trees of Wuyi Mountain. The annual yield is only a little over a pound." Dongfang Xun pushed a cup of amber-colored tea over.
Han Feng didn't touch his teacup: "Brother Dongfang, please speak frankly."
"Excellent." Dongfang Xun's smile faded, and he suddenly took something out of his pocket and placed it on the tea table—a palm-sized bronze plaque engraved with an intricate star map.
Han Feng's breath hitched. The arrangement of the star chart was seven-tenths similar to the trajectory of the stellar power within his body!
"This item is called the 'Star Mirror,' an heirloom of my Dongfang family." Dongfang Xun lightly tapped the bronze plaque with his fingertip. "Brother Han, do you know why it glows when it sees you?"
Han Feng's gaze was fixed on the bronze plaque. The star map on the surface of the Star Mirror seemed to have a life of its own, flickering slightly and resonating in a strange way with the stellar power flowing through his meridians.
The feeling was like a long-lost friend calling out to you from afar, both familiar and strange.
"Brother Han, why don't you pick it up and take a closer look?" Dongfang Xun pushed the Star Compass closer.
The moment Han Feng's fingertips touched the edge of the bronze plaque, a visible burst of starlight suddenly erupted from the point of contact, flowing swiftly along the patterns of the star map. The entire tea room was instantly enveloped in azure starlight, and the utensils on the tea table cast strange shadows.
Dongfang Xun's pupils contracted slightly, and the teacup in his hand clattered onto the table. Even though he had expected it, witnessing the extraordinary phenomenon of the Star Mirror recognizing its master still made him breathe rapidly.
Han Feng quickly withdrew his hand, and the starlight dissipated. He suppressed the surging energy within him, his voice even colder than before: "What exactly is this?"
"The Star Mirror is the treasure of my Dongfang family, passed down for over a thousand years." Dongfang Xun carefully picked up the bronze plaque, his fingertips tracing the now-calm patterns.
Han Feng noticed that Dongfang Xun's hands were trembling slightly. This usually composed scion of a prominent family was now revealing an undisguised excitement.
"What does it have to do with me?" Han Feng asked deliberately, while secretly using his star power to check his body and confirm that there was no abnormal energy residue.
Dongfang Xun took a deep breath and put the Star Mirror back into his robes: "Three months ago, the Star Mirror suddenly shone inexplicably in the ancestral hall. The patriarch summoned the elders of each clan for a series of divinations, and the final divination pointed to the capital."
He looked intently at Han Feng, "And at that time, Brother Han had just returned from R Country, his Stellar Power breaking through to the late stage of the Acquired Realm."
The water in the teapot gurgled, and fine beads of sweat appeared on Han Feng's back. The Dongfang family not only knew his whereabouts, but also his cultivation progress. This feeling of being completely seen through made him feel uneasy.
"You're spying on me?" A wisp of starlight flickered at Han Feng's fingertip.
"No," Dongfang Xun shook his head. "The Star Mirror can automatically sense changes in the celestial power. Ever since Brother Han broke through, whenever you use the power of the stars, the Star Mirror will react." He smiled wryly, "To determine our location, my Dongfang family lost seven high-grade star plates."
Han Feng frowned. Zero had said that the power of the stars originated from the very source of the universe. Could it be that the Eastern family's lineage shared the same origin? But Zero clearly claimed that this was a unique power...
"Is it true that Brother Han helped the Liu family reopen their cultivation path?" Dongfang Xun suddenly changed the subject.
"The Liu family?" Han Feng was taken aback, then thought of Liu Xiaoran and his sister, "They are originally an ancient martial arts family."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com