Chapter 925: Talents of the Nine Provinces (I)

"The Four Seas, the Nine Provinces, the Three Islands of Penglai, and the Five Sacred Mountains all celebrate as one today!"

"All over the world, we gaze at the same moon. We've experienced various events and transformations all leading up to this point!"

"Honored guests..."

"Our dear friends watching from the precious mirrors in the thirty-six cities and our dear demon friends in the East Sea..."

"Welcome to the first-ever Nine Provinces Gala, proudly hosted by the Mount Shu Sect's Red Cotton Peak. I'm Baozhu Liange from the Ruins of Return in the South Sea, and I'm one of your hosts for this evening!"

"And I'm her co-host, Xu Ziyang from Jade Sword Peak of the Mount Shu Sect!"

Golden light shone down from overhead, illuminating the young man and woman standing on the stage. The young man was tall and handsome, with long, narrow sword-like eyebrows and a perfectly upright posture. The young woman was elegant and beautiful, with flawless fair skin and hair that cascaded down like torrential waves.

They were the hosts that Chu Liang had selected for the event—Baozhu Liange, the princess of the South Sea merfolk, and Xu Ziyang, the eldest senior brother of Jade Sword Peak.

When Chu Liang was considering who to pick as hosts for the gala, he realized that it was fairly easy to find good-looking and talented cultivators in the world of immortality cultivators. However, if he wanted to show unity between the human and non-human races and showcase the spirit of Mount Shu, he would need to spend quite some time mixing and matching to find the right hosts.

Then Princess Liange and Xu Ziyang happened to walk into Chu Liang's line of sight. The timing was perfect. Chu Liang couldn't be bothered thinking about who should be the hosts anymore, so he just entrusted the task of hosting the gala to Xu Ziyang and Princess Liange.

At the time, Xu Ziyang and Princess Liange were merely out on a quiet stroll and were caught off guard by the sudden request. They refused to take on a task that would place them in the public eye.

However, Chu Liang went to discuss it with Wang Xuanling, and he immediately made his disciple accept the task. After all, this was a chance for Xu Ziyang to appear before the people of the four seas and nine provinces. If he performed well, it would bring great honor to the Mount Shu Sect.

As expected, Xu Ziyang lived up to his teacher's expectations and fully embodied the righteous spirit of a Mount Shu Sect disciple.

"Today is a day to celebrate," Princess Liange said with her gaze fixed forward. "Our dear friends from the Divine Nine and the Terrestrial Ten have gathered here as one."

The audience at the venue consisted of the upper echelons of various immortal sects, but Princess Liange was not looking at them. Her eyes were locked on the golden screen before her, as if she could see through to the other side of the Divine Mirror of the Eight Trigrams.

"Today is a day to remember," Xu Ziyang stated sonorously. "Never before have humans and demons sat together in such harmony."

"That's true," Lin Bei whispered from behind Chu Liang. "The last time all the immortal sects and the demons gathered like this must have been the Demon God War three thousand years ago."

"What are you saying..." Chu Liang elbowed him discreetly and gently covered one of Tuntun's ears. "We're not listening to his nonsense. Let's just focus on the performances."

Tuntun didn't seem to mind at all, though.

Chu Liang was seated to her left, and the demon race's Great High Priest was seated to her right. And to their right and left were the leaders of the Divine Nine and the Terrestrial Ten.

Normally, someone of Chu Liang's standing would never be seated in such a place. But the Demon God had to be placed at the center, right? Since the Demon God was there as a guest, the Great High Priest

had

to be seated next to her. With the Great High Priest and the leaders of the Divine Nine and the Terrestrial Ten seated beside the Demon God, how could Chu Liang be at ease if he weren't beside her to make sure nothing happened?

That was how the seating arrangement ended up this way.

Still, Chu Liang was the organizer of this gala, and Red Cotton Peak was the organizing party. So, there wasn't really anything odd about him sitting there.

"Now, please enjoy this joint performance by South Melody Conservatory and the South Sea merfolk—‘Our Beautiful East Sea'!"

After the announcement, two groups of female dancers from the South Melody Conservatory stepped gracefully onto the stage from both sides, waving colorful fans. They fanned downward, and the swirling mist behind them shifted to reveal Xue Lingxue sitting at a table with her guqin and three mermaids standing beside her. As the haze gradually faded, Xue Lingxue plucked the first note, and the mermaids began to sing.

This was one of several performances that Chu Liang had personally commissioned. The song had been written to show the demons what a paradise the East Sea truly was.

Of course, their friends from the Penglai Supreme Sect might not be too happy to hear it. Nonetheless, they were too busy working to atone for their crimes to care. They were very grateful to Chu Liang for helping them keep their sect's seat in the Divine Nine. With the Three Islands of Penglai already stripped bare, they weren't particularly attached to it anymore.

...

During the performance, the audience was alive with cheers and excitement, but Chu Liang was quite distracted. He kept his head down and gently rubbed the United Hearts Jade in his hand, waiting for a message from Jiang Yuebai.

[Chu]: "Are you not here yet? The gala has already started."

[Chu]: "Did you run into trouble?"

Some days ago, the Whale-Riding Immortal, Jiang Yuebai, and the Sword Emperor of the West Sea had gone into the Divine Ruins in search of something. Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai had been keeping in touch through the United Hearts Jade, and she had told him that if she could make it in time for the gala, she would return to Mount Shu.

However, the gala had begun, and there was still no word from her. Chu Liang was worried that something might have happened to her.

When the joint performance ended, Lin Bei and Shang Ziliang quickly took their places on the stage for their two-man comedy act, "Let's Talk About What Happened at Mount Shu."

No one in the audience had seen an act like this before. It was just two men coming on stage to chat. What was there to see? The audience immediately booed them. Of course, the loudest booing came from the master of Silver Sword Peak, who loved looking at beautiful women.

Nevertheless, it didn't take long for the audience to realize the charm of the act.

Lin Bei laughed heartily, "

Heheheh!

Hello, everyone! I'm Lin Bei, a disciple of the Mount Shu Sect's Jade Sword Peak. I'm super happy that I can perform on the stage of this grand gala for all of you. This is my partner... but that's not important. Today, we're performing—"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Shang Ziliang grabbed Lin Bei's arm. "You can't do that. You've got to introduce me!"

"

Tch.

" Lin Bei shot him a glare. "You don't know your place. This is such a big event, and you think I'll introduce you just because you tell me to? Do you even deserve it?"

Shang Ziliang asked hurriedly, "What do you mean? Why don't I deserve it? We came up here together. Come on, give me a proper introduction."

"Fine, fine, fine," Lin Bei replied with a nod. He then turned to the audience and said, "This is my partner for tonight, Lin Ziliang."

"Hey!" Shang Ziliang shoved him. "Since when did I start sharing your surname?"

Lin Bei shrugged. "I wonder who this kid takes after in being so picky?"

"Screw you!" Shang Ziliang yelled, smacking Lin Bei again. He paused for a moment before adding, "My father's in the audience, so you better watch what you say."

"Is that so?" Lin Bei looked down at the spectator stands. "Which one of you is his father? Give me a round of applause!"

The atmosphere at the venue instantly heated up, and the audience erupted into loud applause and cheers. "WHOOOOOOOOA!"

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Beautiful women singing and dancing certainly made for a pleasing sight, but there was nothing better than a comedy act to ease the tension. It finally felt like the gala had truly kicked off. Lin Bei and Shang Ziliang clearly had a knack for comedy, drawing wave after wave of laughter from the crowd.

It wasn't until the end of their act that the United Hearts Jade buzzed.

[Jiang]: "We're hurrying back at full speed. Everything's fine, don't worry."

Seeing the message, Chu Liang finally felt at ease. Jiang Yuebai was a reliable person. If she said there was nothing to worry about, then there really was nothing to worry about.

At last, he was in the mood to lift his head and watch the performances.

The current act was a martial demonstration called

"The Strength of the Great Astral Sect," performed by one hundred and eight topless muscular men from the Great Astral Sect.

The demonstration was full of manly vigor, perfectly showcasing the Great Astral Sect brothers' intense passion for martial arts. Many female cultivators in the audience watched excitedly with bursts of light flashing in their eyes.

Then, just when the muscular men were done striking their final pose and prepared to leave the stage, Yun Chaoxian suddenly pulled out a durian out of nowhere and crushed it under his armpit with a loud crunch, spraying juice everywhere.

To finish off the act, he let out a howl. "

Awooooo!

"

Smack.

Chu Liang facepalmed.

Strict checks had been conducted before the performers went on stage. They were not allowed to bring storage enchanted tools unless the tools were absolutely necessary for their act. And to prevent any mishaps, they were not allowed to carry unrelated items in the storage enchanted tools.

So, where on earth had that durian come from?

Fortunately, no one could tell that it was Yun Chaoxian's solo addition. Most of the audience thought it was just part of the group act. It was strange but ultimately harmless.

Utterly dumbfounded, Chu Liang said, "Give Yun Chaoxian a formal warning. If he pulls something like this again, the Great Astral Sect won't be allowed to perform for the next gala!"

...