Chapter 215 Ji Rong Prepares the Banquet (1)
The banquet had to be held, but Ji Rong already knew who to consult.
In this Jade Void Palace, besides Palace Master Qingpingzi and the cultivators from the Unloading Workshop, who else would know better than you how to hold a banquet in the Jade Void Palace?
So, after tidying up the place, Ji Rong asked Shan Zhongfeng to go to the unloading workshop to inquire with familiar cultivators.
She herself climbed to the top of Jade Void Peak again to seek advice from Qingpingzi.
When Qingpingzi heard that Ji Rong wanted to hold a banquet, he was quite surprised for a moment, but soon he thought he understood.
After all, there have been many such examples in the past.
They were all unsung cultivators like Ji Rong, who suddenly rose to high positions and immediately wanted to show off and be elegant, ultimately accumulating a mountain of debt.
So Qing Guangzi adopted the demeanor of an elder and said, "Junior sister, hosting a banquet is quite expensive. You should save your spirit crystals for everyday expenses."
If you want a lively event, the Three Peaks and Five Valleys regularly hold treasure recommendation meetings, and the Jade Void Palace also holds a skills competition every year.
"Then you can sit on the high platform and watch the younger generation perform; why bother spending your own money on the ring?"
Ji Rong shook her head and said, "Senior brother, I just want to hold a simple banquet and invite all the senior brothers and sisters to my place for a visit."
After all, my temple was built with the generous donations of all my fellow disciples. I have received your kindness, but I cannot give you any gifts in return. So I would like to invite you all to drink fine wine and eat some delicacies as a token of my appreciation.
"Senior brother, when I was in the Canglan Mountains, I also attended banquets there. Buying spirit meat from Yaochi was quite expensive, so I wanted to ask... Is meat expensive at our unloading workshop? If I were to host a banquet, could I buy some cheaper meat there?"
Upon hearing this, Qingpingzi realized that his junior sister wanted both face and substance.
He shook his head and said, "At the Unloading Workshop, we only kill our own cultivators. Although they were evil in life, if we eat them all, it will cause internal strife. Therefore, after I became the Palace Master, I changed the rule. Those who commit such crimes are all sent to Yaochi for treatment after being skinned alive."
Upon hearing this, Ji Rong immediately praised, "Senior Brother is benevolent and righteous!"
Upon hearing Ji Rong's praise, Qing Pingzi shook his head and said seriously, "It's all hypocrisy, Junior Sister. Before I became the Palace Master, I looked forward to the Unloading Workshop starting work every day so that Master would have materials to refine meat pills."
Ji Rong also shook his head and said seriously, "Benevolence is benevolence. Senior brother, you changed the unreasonable rules in the unloading workshop, which is an act of benevolence. Why do you not acknowledge it?"
Upon hearing Ji Rong's words, Qing Pingzi no longer objected. He nodded slightly, descended from the cloud platform, entered the glittering golden cave, took out a considerable amount of treasure, and handed it to Ji Rong, instructing her to find the manager of the unloading workshop to procure banquet supplies.
He then had Ji Rong perform "three sword strikes" in front of him. After carefully reading through and correcting Ji Rong's sword-wielding technique, Qing Guangzi allowed Ji Rong to return.
Ji Rong hadn't expected that the butcher wouldn't sell meat to its own cultivators, but that didn't stop her from using this opportunity to get closer to the butcher.
The next day, Ji Rong took Shan Wu to the unloading workshop to order banquet materials. The two managers of the workshop had seen Ji Rong many times before, and they had received gifts from Ji Rong that day.
While secretly marveling at Ji Rong's good fortune, they showed her a wooden plaque with the ingredients listed. Ji Rong looked at the menu and said, "May I take this plaque back and think about it? I can decide on the ingredients when I return it tomorrow."
This wooden plaque is universal. Although no cultivator had ever requested to take it out before, the cultivators at the Unloading Workshop would not make things difficult for Ji Rong, so they naturally agreed.
Ji Rong then took the wooden plaque and headed back to the top of Jade Void Peak, while Shan Wu stayed behind again to drink wine with the familiar cultivators.
Ji Rong climbed to the top of the mountain and craned her neck to look up at the broad, thick cloud cliff. There she saw a bright red figure hidden in the clouds, which was very conspicuous.
Ji Rong did not shout immediately this time. She felt that she had been looking for Qing Pingzi many times recently and should be more respectful. So she stood at the foot of the cliff and waited for Qing Pingzi to turn around.
Qingpingzi knew that Ji Rong had arrived, but he was currently drawing out the dew and did not want to come out.
After he had drunk his fill, he turned back to Ji Rong and asked, "Junior Sister, what is it?"
Ji Rong then went up to the cloud cliff, took out the wooden plaque and showed it to Qingpingzi, saying, "I know my senior brother certainly doesn't lack these things, but this is the first time I've hosted a banquet, and I probably won't host another one in the future."
Therefore, I, your junior sister, would like to buy some of your favorite foods.
"Senior brother, you choose."
Hearing this, Qingpingzi was even more satisfied with Ji Rong's actions. He symbolically picked out four items and said, "These are enough."
Ji Rong nodded and praised, "Senior Brother is so frugal! I thank you so much for thinking of me!"
Then they took the wooden signs and went to the residences of the other 37 senior students, letting them choose the ingredients.
These cultivators clearly heard that Pingzi had already made his selections, and that he had only chosen four items. So what was there that they didn't understand?
They each only chose one to three kinds of inexpensive but delicious spiritual ingredients, showing Ji Rong a great deal of face.
Ji Rong took the list, calculated the ingredients, and added a few more items, so that each table would have eight bowls and two kinds of soup, and each one would be different.
Ji Rong was satisfied, so she flapped her wings and went to the unloading workshop to return the wooden plaque to the manager and order the materials for the banquet.
With the materials ordered, the question then became who would do the work at the banquet. At that time, high-ranking builders would insist on having two attendants at each table, as well as two stewards in charge of the dishes, drinks, and gifts during the banquet.
Including Ji Rong, there are 39 of them in total, which means at least 78 servants are needed. Adding the steward, that makes 80.
But how many cultivators does Ji Rong have at this time? She counted them on her fingers and realized that even if she brought the Leaping Earth from the Kun Dan Room, she could only bring out six.
"Sigh," Ji Rong looked up at the sky, feeling that the An family had gone through a lot, and that organizing this banquet was very troublesome. She would never want to hold it a second time.
Without any cultivators available, Ji Rong had no choice but to borrow some.
Ji Rong had many senior brothers and sisters, but Qing Guangzi was the only one who was truly familiar with her.
Ji Rong pondered for a moment, then prepared a gift and went to Qing Guangzi's place.
Qing Guangzi lived alone on a single peak called Gongdao Mountain. Eight alchemy rooms, some near and some far, surrounded his Daoist temple, which was a cluster of alchemical buildings.
This Danlou was built by Qing Guangzi, who took over the work of his late twelfth senior sister, Qing Lanzi. Therefore, he didn't actually contribute much to the construction of the Danlou.
However, when Qing Lanzi was in office, she only appointed eight house owners. Those eight houses operated independently under Qing Lanzi's control, which is why they incurred a large debt.
After Qing Guangzi took over, he established rules and regulations and removed many alchemists who had been extorting money and favors, gradually putting the alchemy workshop on the right track.
Therefore, Kiyoshi was extremely knowledgeable in both spiritual practice and worldly affairs, and most of his disciples inherited this characteristic.
Therefore, Ji Rong's decision to seek help from cultivators and find Qing Guangzi was a lucky accident.
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