Chapter 550: Dining Hall
Pei Ze was usually incredibly stoic in his behavior. He was proud and never spoke much with anyone, even the people who followed him saw him as the silent type of person who only spoke when necessary.
Hui Yue, who was seated in Pei Ze's room, realized that this young man in front of him was actually not as silent as he might seem to others. It was just that he dared not open himself up to most people, nor did he dare to fully be himself as he was always being watched. But now when he was alone with Hui Yue in his room, Pei Ze had a great smile on his face and was constantly speaking.
Pei Ze spoke about what it was like to grow up in a massive sect, and how one's talent was what determined how many resources one would get.
Although they were all born as Gods, they had differing levels of power. This was not only because of their talent, but also because of the medicinal pills that they had consumed. There were pills which would strengthen their souls, allowing for them to consume more Ancestral Worldpower. There were pills which made it easier to comprehend the dao, much like the Pill of Clarity which Huli and Hui Yue had sold back in Skydragon Fortress, and there were pills which could boost one’s strength for a short amount of time. There were even pills which could replenish one’s Ancestral Worldpower during fights.
The profound pearls that Pei Ze and Hui Yue had been gifted were pills which strengthened one's soul. They were some of the strongest medicinal pills that a new God could consume, and they build a strong base for the soul to mature later on. Being gifted just five hundred was already enough to make quite a strong foundation, but to be gifted a thousand was enough to have an extraordinary foundation. There was no doubt that Pei Ze was incredibly excited, and after hearing about these pills, Hui Yue was also quite astonished. After hearing everything Pei Ze told him, he was grateful. It seemed that being the nephew of the patriarch held quite a few benefits.
Speaking with Pei Ze, Hui Yue felt that this was the beginning of a great friendship. Pei Ze told him all about life in the Celestial Sword Sect, and it seemed that he had fully accepted him as an ally and friend. He told him about how one was expected to act, and how others looked at the direct descendants of the great roc.
Huli, who had been by Hui Yue's side the entire time had long ago taken the shape of the small fox and was sleeping in Hui Yue's arms while he was speaking with Pei Ze.
Seeing her sleeping comfortably, Pei Ze was amazed that Hui Yue had managed to get his hands on such an outstanding companion, but every time he asked about Hui Yue's past, the young man avoided the question. After a few probing questions, Pei Ze understood that Hui Yue was not willing to answer, so he stopped asking. Pei Ze was already incredibly happy that his contribution had given him a thousand profound pearls on top of the fact that he found the patriarch's long-lost nephew, a new powerful ally. Now the elders had a better impression of him, and he was so much closer to his goal all because of having stumbled upon Hui Yue at the City Lord’s banquet.
Hui Yue was different from all of Pei Ze’s other supporters. Although he had decided to support Pei Ze, the young man Hui Yue had a place in the sect that even he was incapable of contending against. Hui Yue was a third generation disciple! He was not a normal disciple of the younger generation, and the older he became, the stronger he would be. The stronger he became, the more famous he would be.
Pei Ze was not dumb; he already knew that Hui Yue would sooner or later rank as one of the top experts of the Celestial Sword Sect as long as he was alive. He had so many secrets like his dual bloodline, his understanding of the dao of space, soulforce, and from what Pei Ze had understood, he also had some other daos that none of them knew about yet. In short Hui Yue was a genius the likes the Celestial Sword Sect had not seen in a very long time.
Pei Ze really felt like celebrating because such an expert had chosen to support him, but he also spent a lot of time warning Hui Yue about Pei Feng.
Pei Feng truly was quite the ruthless individual. Originally there had been five candidates for the sect leader position but one after another the others had died.
One had gotten sick, which was very rare for a God, while the others had died while doing missions for the Celestial Sword Sect.
Every time they had died, Pei Feng had been out on his own missions, and no one could blame anything on him. If a descendant were to die outside the sect, the sect would do anything to get revenge especially when it was such outstanding youths like the two who had died, but no matter how much they searched, no culprit was found. It seemed as if they had just dropped dead and no cause of death could be found.
Hui Yue listened to everything that Pei Ze told him and his heart turned cold. If Pei Feng was going to try and kill him, he was not going to succeed. Hui Yue had been in many battles previously; he had been in situations where just the smallest mistake would have been fatal, and he had gained much from these situations. If he were to fight Pei Feng, he would use his full power.
Having spoken all the way until evening, Pei Ze said that it was time for them to enter the dining hall and have their dinner. It was possible to have food delivered to one's room just as it was possible to skip meals entirely if one was training, but the majority of the inner disciples went to the hall to converse with one another in the evenings.
Being a new member of the Celestial Sword Sect, and the subject everyone was talking about, Pei Ze suggested that Hui Yue go to the dining hall as well.
Hui Yue neither agreed nor disagreed. He could see the benefits of having everyone knowing who he was so that people like Pei Chen who might suddenly attack him would decrease. But he also thought it was quite a bother to go and actually mingle with these experts who he did not know.
"My advice from experience for you is that it is best to not speak too much. The less you say, the less people will expect from you," Pei Ze said as the two left the room. True to his own words the moment they left the room, his mouth was shut, and not even pleasantries could be heard any longer. Had Hui Yue not previously seen this man so quiet before, then he would fail to believe that it was the same person he had spoken to so much earlier that day.
Side by side Pei Ze and Hui Yue walked through a few gardens before they reached a building which was rather large. Two large gates connected to this building. One was where all the inner sect members entered through, and the outer sect disciples used the other.
Although Pei Ze said nothing, it was easy for Hui Yue to understand that this building was split into two dining halls. He felt rather uncomfortable knowing that this sect cared so much about who had a very strong bloodline and who did not.
The moment they entered the dining hall, Hui Yue saw that the seating arrangement also depended on one’s rank. Furthest up he saw a few of the head elders seated. All of the head elders from the conversation previously had shown up. Then there was a location for a sect master followed by the other elders.
Further down he found the locations of the normal disciples of the Celestial Sword Sect. The seating was mostly arranged by the generation with the youngest all the way at the end.
Pei Ze and Hui Yue both found some food at a big banquet that was placed in the dining hall which was constantly being filled with food and delicacies. After getting their food, they found a place to sit at the location belonging to the younger generation.
The moment they entered the dining hall the room lapsed into silence. No one had spoken, and no one had eaten, not even the head elders spoke as all of them looked at Hui Yue and Pei Ze.
As they sat down, murmurs started erupting from different parts of the room. Everyone it seemed had heard about this long lost brother of theirs, Hui Yue, but the majority had not seen him before.
As soon as they noticed him, they started to consider how to get closer to him. He was most likely talented, but above all, he was a nephew of the patriarch and the ancestors! He was a third generation descendant and an outstanding genius. Becoming friends with him would be beneficial to anyone, but seeing him together with Pei Ze, no one wanted to be the first to come close.
The head elders were not that keen on speaking with Hui Yue as they had already met him, but the regular elders and the normal disciples of the Celestial Sword Sect were all eager to get to know Hui Yue.
The head elder nodded approvingly when they saw that Hui Yue had chosen to sit with the younger generation. He was allowed to sit in the seat just below the sect leader considering he was of the third generation, but instead of relying on this right, he had chosen to sit together with Pei Ze and be humble. This clearly pleased the head elders, and they smiled to one another.
While many were filled with curiosity towards Hui Yue, there was a group of experts who were anything but thrilled to see him.
At one end of the dining hall was a group around Pei Feng. Pei Feng's face was calm, and if one gave it a glance, it would be impossible to tell that beneath his calm exterior murderous thoughts were brewing.
The fact that Hui Yue was seated with Pei Ze said it all. It was clear that this young man, who happened to be from the third generation, had chosen to support Pei Ze, and by doing so, it was likely that this Pei Ze would be looked at more favorably by the head elders.
The more favorably they looked at Pei Ze, the more likely it was for him to become the next sect leader and this was something that Pei Feng refused to accept.
He could not help but think that it was necessary for him to get rid of both Hui Yue and Pei Ze. However, he was not certain of how to get rid of either of them yet.
Ideally, he would have Hui Yue killed and blame it all on Pei Ze. But it was one thing to wish for something to happen, and quite another to actually accomplish it. He knew that to attempt killing a descendant of the third generation, was a very grave undertaking. If he succeeded, the hunt for the killer would be many times more intense than anything he had seen before.