Chapter 153: Reverse Scale

Mount Ti Shan, not far from the Xuanqing Palace, is a low mountain heavily covered with pine and cypress trees.

Guo Hongchang, an elder of the Xuanqing Palace, built a summer villa on the summit of this mountain. His banquet was held in this very villa.

For this Ti Shan banquet, Guo Hongchang had issued only nine invitations. In other words, among the students currently studying at the Xuanqing Palace, he deemed that only the family members of eight students were qualified to come to Ti Shan and drink with him.

As for the ninth invitation, Su Xiqiu had specifically requested it from him, claiming it was for the family member of a student named Song Yan. Guo Hongchang had naturally already investigated the family backgrounds of all these students.

He knew very well that not only was Song Yan mute and possessed inferior grade-D aptitude, but her only brother was merely a minor clerk working in a prefecture government office.

Such a student was entirely unqualified even to come to the Xuanqing Palace for studies.

Therefore, Guo Hongchang could not understand why Su Xiqiu would make such a special request for her.

Out of regard for Su Xiqiu, however, Guo Hongchang still granted her an invitation, merely arranging the seat at the very end of the banquet table.

When the banquet officially commenced at the hour of Shen in the afternoon, the seat at the very end remained empty. Evidently, the family member of this Song Yan had either arrived late despite holding Guo Hongchang's invitation, or simply failed to show up at all.

Preposterous!

Just as Guo Hongchang was about to instruct a servant to remove the seat at the very end of the banquet, a loud shout suddenly echoed from outside the villa's gates:

"Family member of Song Yan, Li Qingyu, direct disciple of the Guyu Sect, arrives at the villa!"

Immediately afterward, Guo Hongchang and all the guests present saw a woman clad in a blue pleated dress, barefoot and of breathtaking beauty, slowly walk into the grand hall.

Guo Hongchang could not help but gasp inwardly in sheer amazement:

Never had he imagined that such peerless beauty could exist between heaven and earth!

At that moment, Qin Xuanxi glanced at the only empty seat situated at the absolute end of the banquet table, her brows slightly furrowing.

To think these people actually arranged the very last seat for this deity!

So be it. After all, she was currently assuming someone else's identity, and furthermore, she was acting upon her little husband's request to secure a backdoor entry for her sister-in-law. Enduring a temporary grievance was of no consequence.

Thus, Qin Xuanxi took her seat at the very end of the banquet table.

Just then, a potbellied guest addressed Guo Hongchang from across the table, "Elder Guo, might you be so kind as to make an exception regarding my canine son? Although his aptitude is somewhat lacking, his comprehension is remarkably high. I do hope the Xuanqing Palace can grant him a chance."

"We shall discuss the children's matters later. Someone, play the music and begin the dance!" Guo Hongchang shouted.

Instantly, melodies resonated as four women dressed in bewitching long gowns began to dance gracefully in the center of the banquet.

Yet, having just gazed upon Qin Xuanxi's peerless countenance, Guo Hongchang found this spectacle utterly insipid. He began to regret assigning the seat of Song Yan's family member to the very tail end of the banquet.

Guo Hongchang ordered the music to halt, dismissed the four dancing maidens, and looked directly toward the seat at the end of the table.

"May I ask what relation you bear to Song Yan?"

Qin Xuanxi smiled faintly and replied, "I am her sister-in-law."

Guo Hongchang froze, a deep sense of extreme regret instantly welling up in his heart.

That Song Yan's brother was merely a mortal official, yet he had managed to win the hand of such a celestial beauty!

However, the Guyu Sect had always maintained the custom of marrying mortals and having children to pass down the sect's lineage to future generations.

Viewed in this light, the matter was not so strange after all.

Guo Hongchang only lamented that they had met too late; upon their very first encounter at the banquet, she had already become another man's wife.

"You must be Elder Guo of the Xuanqing Palace?" Qin Xuanxi asked proactively.

"Indeed, I am," Guo Hongchang nodded.

"My sister-in-law wishes to remain at the Xuanqing Palace to continue her cultivation. Might Elder Guo be so accommodating as to grant this convenience?" Qin Xuanxi said. This was, after all, the sole purpose of her trip here—to share worries for her little husband.

Guo Hongchang smiled and said, "Easily done, easily done. I have heard that disciples of the Guyu Sect possess extraordinary skill in the zither. Might you favor us with a tune first?"

Qin Xuanxi said indifferently, "That is rather inconvenient."

After all, how could she, the dignified Xuanyuan Demonic Venerable, strum the zither in such a setting to amuse these mere ants?

Guo Hongchang, however, was stunned. Wasn't she here today to beg him for a favor? Was this the attitude of someone asking for help?

At this moment, a rugged, burly-looking middle-aged man coldly addressed Qin Xuanxi, "You asked Elder Guo for a favor, and Elder Guo merely asked you to play a single tune on the zither, yet you refuse. You are showing far too little regard for Elder Guo's face."

This brawny man was named Yuan Tian, proprietor of a security agency in Wencheng and the father of Yuan Liwen, a student of top-grade aptitude.

Several other guests at the banquet immediately chimed in to support him:

"Precisely so. It is merely playing a zither tune, what could possibly be inconvenient about it?"

"Utterly devoid of manners, showing blatant disrespect to the host."

"If playing the zither is inconvenient, then perhaps you could dance for us instead,哈哈哈!"

Witnessing this scene of jeering and heckling, Qin Xuanxi felt anger rising within her heart.

She truly longed to slaughter every last one of these people, but in order to avoid bringing trouble upon Song Ye, she forcibly suppressed the murderous intent surging inside her.

Even so, she could no longer remain here.

After all, staying in this banquet for even a single minute longer, she genuinely feared she would fail to restrain herself from embarking on a bloodbath.

Consequently, she stood up immediately and stated, "My apologies, everyone, but I must excuse myself."

"Leaving just like that?!"

A furious expression blossomed on Guo Hongchang's face. "First you arrive late, and now, after coming here without drinking a single cup of wine, you intend to leave the banquet. You are deliberately trying to make me lose face in front of all these guests!"

"Having offended me Guo Hongchang today, do you truly believe your husband and that sister-in-law of yours will ever have peaceful days ahead in Yancheng?"

After all, Yancheng lay well within the sphere of influence of the Xuanqing Palace. Given Guo Hongchang's status and position, crushing a mortal minor official working in Yancheng was even easier than squashing an ant.

Yet Guo Hongchang did not expect that these words had stepped upon Qin Xuanxi's absolute reverse scale.

"You dare to threaten this deity!"

Dense black demonic Qi instantly surged from Qin Xuanxi's body. Beneath the shroud of that demonic Qi, the blue pleated dress she wore transformed entirely into a robe of the Xuanyuan Netherworld.

"This... this is the Xuanyuan Netherworld Robe!"

All the guests at the banquet, including Guo Hongchang, revealed expressions of sheer terror.

Guo Hongchang trembled from head to toe, staring at Qin Xuanxi's retreating back as he stammered, "You... exactly who are you?!"

His voice was quaking uncontrollably at this moment.

"In this world, who else dares to wear this Xuanyuan Netherworld Robe!" Qin Xuanxi laughed coldly.

"You... you are actually that female fiend?!"

Even now, Guo Hongchang found it hard to believe that the number one female fiend of the Xuanyuan Continent could be Song Yan's sister-in-law. Did that not mean this female fiend had lowered herself to become the wife of that mortal minor clerk Song Ye? Such a tale could never be concocted, not even by the most boastful storyteller.

The overwhelming shock momentarily caused Guo Hongchang to forget to flee for his life. But even had he wished to run now, it was already too late.

The moment Qin Xuanxi harbored the intent to kill, every living soul within the entire Ti Shan was doomed to be buried here.

Qin Xuanxi formed hand incantations with her demonic form, and a colossal black pillar abruptly descended from the clouds, enveloping the entire Ti Shan. Every living creature within that black pillar, save for Qin Xuanxi herself, was instantly annihilated and reduced to ashes.

When all was said and done, this banquet had ultimately transformed into Qin Xuanxi's slaughterhouse.

After finishing the slaughter, Qin Xuanxi felt a lingering sense of bemusement. Perhaps she really should have listened to her little husband's advice and refrained from attending this banquet in the first place. In the end, she had failed to assist her little husband, nor had she managed to secure her sister-in-law's stay at the Xuanqing Palace for cultivation.

However, perhaps this simply meant Song Yan was destined not to have such immortal affinity, and none of this could be blamed on her.

At that moment, a thunder pigeon came flying across the horizon.

Qin Xuanxi raised her eyebrows slightly.

This was the message-delivering thunder pigeon of her chief disciple, Qi Xinyue. Could it be that Qi Xinyue had already uncovered the true identity of the Wine Immortal?