Hu Yanlie wasn’t just standing there; his muscles twitching, a literal aura of crimson beast-fire passively melting the obsidian stone beneath his bare feet.
Lu Jianheng, the elegant Sword Lord, had a thousand-yard stare that could cut glass, his hands heavily bandaged, an icy-blue sword aura expanding and contracting around him like a heartbeat.
Even Wen Shiru, the scholar, was vibrating with a terrifying aura of malice, his glasses cracked, calculating the exact force required to kill everyone in the courtyard if they tried to make him do another pushup.
They didn’t look like diplomats. They looked like a platoon of battle-hardened, heavily traumatized, blood-crazed gladiators who had just fought their way out of the deepest circle of hell and were currently looking for a reason, any reason, to snap someone’s neck.
The senior elite disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect felt their arrogant smirks melt off their faces.
’What is wrong with them?!’ the lead disciple panicked internally, taking a subconscious half-step backward. ’Why are their eyes twitching?! Why is the blonde one floating two inches off the ground?! They feel like actual, literal dragons!’
And then, descending with the soft, gentle, entirely silent grace of a drifting autumn leaf, the palm-leaf yacht touched down at the front of the pack.
The terrifying, aura-leaking, blood-soaked monsters instantly parted, forming two rigid, perfectly straight lines, bowing their heads slightly as if in submission.
The thirteen demigods snapped to attention, their boots slamming into the stone in perfect synchronization.
Stepping off the yacht, untouched by the horrors of the wilderness, was Lin Ji’an.
The contrast was so jarring it practically caused a aneurysm in the minds of the welcoming committee.
Lin Ji’an was immaculate. Her Szechuan Red Vanguard robes were spotless, tailored to emphasize her lean, sharp waist.
Her dark hair was pulled back into a neat, effortless, roguish ponytail. She carried no visible weapon, save for the heavy Black Iron Spatula strapped casually to her calf.
She looked relaxed and refreshed. She possessed the cool, unbothered, effortless swagger of a young lord returning from a leisurely vacation, holding a half-eaten stick of candied hawthorn berries in one hand, chewing lazily.
She possessed a striking, almost feminine handsomeness, sharp jawline, silver-flecked eyes, and a smooth, unblemished complexion that completely defied the rugged, battle-scarred aesthetic of the men standing behind her.
Ji’an stepped forward, ignoring the terrifying, toxic waterfalls and the imposing martial rows of the host sect.
She offered a polite, shallow, and charming bow.
"Greetings, Sect Leader," Ji’an drawled, her baritone voice smooth as silk, offering a devastatingly handsome, lazy smirk. "I am Lin Ji’an, the Vanguard Leader. Apologies for the rough landing. My boys have been doing a bit of... cross-training on the commute."
The reaction was instantaneous.
In the rear rows of the Azure Dragon assembly, the female disciples, who were entirely accustomed to pale, gaunt, sickly-looking poison masters, collectively stopped breathing.
A wave of aggressive blushing swept through the maiden ranks.
’He is gorgeous!’ a junior female alchemist squeaked to her friend, clutching her chest. ’Look at that effortless smirk! Look at the red robes! He is the absolute epitome of the cool, untouchable bad boy!’
’He didn’t even flinch at the miasma!’ another girl swooned, fanning herself rapidly. ’And those terrifying, muscular brutes behind him are treating him like an emperor! He must possess a charisma that transcends mortal understanding!’
While the maidens were busy planning their weddings in their heads, the Azure Dragon Sect Leader and the male disciples were engaged in a frantic, deeply confused mental reboot.
’This is the Leader?’ the Sect Leader thought, staring at the pretty, relaxed boy eating candied fruit. ’This delicate-looking youth with the palm-leaf fan is commanding a retinue of unstable, lethal beasts? How? Is he holding their families hostage? Is he a supreme mental-manipulation master?’
Before the Sect Leader could articulate a response, Elder Viper stepped off his glowing staff, landing beside Ji’an.
The moment the Azure Dragon Sect members laid eyes on their returning Elder, the confusion escalated into a reality-breaking shock.
Elder Viper, the terrifying, gaunt, notoriously sickly poison master who had suffered from chronic miasma-lung for two centuries, did not look sickly.
He was practically glowing.
His normally pale, graying, scaly skin had taken on a rich, vibrant, healthy, iridescent emerald sheen. The deep, dark bags under his yellow eyes were completely gone.
He had actually put on five pounds of healthy muscle mass in the span of a few days. He wasn’t wheezing. Even his pet serpent, normally a vicious, malnourished rope of malice, looked fat, happy, and positively radiant.
"Elder Viper!" the Sect Leader gasped, abandoning all decorum. "You... you look... you look twenty years younger! Did you discover a mythical longevity herb in the western plateaus?!"
Elder Viper let out a robust, healthy, and raspy chuckle. He patted his stomach affectionately.
"I did not find an herb, Sect Leader," Elder Viper smiled, his yellow eyes shifting to Ji’an with a look of reverence. "I found an interesting friend. The Vanguard Leader’s Braised Shadow-Bear Ribs in Lotus-Alkaline Reduction completely neutralized the necrotic buildup in my lower dantian. I have not breathed this clearly since the Ming Dynasty."
The entire Azure Dragon assembly stared at Ji’an, their jaws unhinged.
The pretty boy in red hadn’t just subjugated a platoon of demigods. He had somehow, miraculously, cured their oldest, most crotchety Elder using barbeque.
"Ahem," Ji’an coughed politely, tossing the wooden stick of her candied fruit into a nearby disposal bin with perfect accuracy. "If the welcoming formalities are concluded, Sect Leader, my retinue requires access to the guest dormitories. Their meridians are highly congested, and if they don’t circulate their Qi in a stable environment within the next hour, they are going to accidentally detonate your courtyard."
Right on cue, Hu Yanlie let out a loud burp that accidentally released a shockwave of beast-fire, singeing the eyebrows of the closest Azure Dragon disciple.
"Of course! Immediately!" the Sect Leader stammered, frantically gesturing to his stewards.