Although technically a corporate establishment, the reception areas of the Five-Color Pavilion branches almost always resembled restaurants.
And the main branch, founded tens of thousands of years ago and carved by the Gold King himself, was no different.
Surrounding the huge mansion that served as a shelter for the main leaders, heirs, and managers of the Five Colors Pavilion was a vast courtyard, bordered by cherry trees that cast pleasant shadows under the midday sun.
Under each cherry tree, there was a table and chairs, where managers and high-ranking officials of the pavilion chatted with customers, drinking tea leisurely.
Their voices were obscured by sound suppression arrays, and they didn’t even seem to notice what was happening outside.
Watching all this, Qingyi couldn’t help but be impressed, his eyes falling on a group of children running around a lake of spirit carp.
Those were probably the youngest descendants of the Gold King.
"I knew you would like this place, hehehe~~" Meilin smiled beside Qingyi, grabbing his arm and pulling him against her breasts-modest compared to her sisters’, but voluminous and soft nonetheless.
"Hm... it would be better if it were a little less crowded," Qingyi nodded, taking a deep breath and smelling the sweet aroma of cherry blossom petals slowly falling to the ground.
It was inferior to Meilin’s scent, but still not bad.
"Come on, Father must be waiting," Meilin said, walking alongside Qingyi toward the main hall of the Gold King’s mansion.
Immediately after their feet stepped onto the wide white jade floors, Meilin stopped when a figure rose from the ground, immediately bowing to her.
"Young Miss Meilin... You arrived earlier than expected," the figure said, his voice dignified, masculine, and strong.
That was one of the Gold King’s Twenty-Four Shadows: Immortal Emperors with shadow spiritual roots, the best guards, assassins, and spies in all of Immortal Heaven.
This one, in particular, was the First Shadow, the most powerful among them and the personal guard of the Gold King.
"We were in a bit of a hurry, so we left Valemont early... Can Father meet us now?" Meilin flashed a gentle smile, beckoning for the shadow to stand up.
"Hm..." The shadow seemed to think. His eyes, red dots on an obscured and almost non-existent face, focused on nothingness for a brief moment before returning to the couple.
"He’s having a meeting with an important client right now. As soon as he’s done, I’ll let you know," the shadow said, coldly and hoarsely.
Realizing that Meilin had nothing else to discuss, he left immediately, disappearing into thin air.
"I wonder who Father is meeting that he can’t see me right away..." Meilin sighed, holding Qingyi a little tighter.
Unless it was a very important emergency, her father would always treat her as a priority.
After all, even if her cultivation talent was, or rather, had been, inferior to that of her siblings, her talent for business had always put her ahead of everyone else.
From the tenth brother to the first sister, everyone else only knew martial arts and cultivation; she was one of the few who truly took an interest in the family business.
After a minute of silence, Meilin just shook her head before speaking: "Let’s go for a walk, husband. Father’s personal cook makes rice cakes that are second only to Elize’s."
If she couldn’t find her father now, at least she would take advantage of this time alone with Qingyi to show him the place where she grew up!
***
Countless miles away, in a land north of everything, beyond all continents and seas.
A frozen and desolate plain, where nothing lived, but frightening Qis still spread, dominating the environment.
If any cultivator with keen eyes observed carefully, they would soon realize that most of these Qis did not come from the living, but from aged corpses buried in the ice.
Even the most recent of these corpses was at least a million years old.
This was the Cemetery of the Immortals, a region frozen in time where almost no one dared to set foot.
Yet, in the midst of all this desolation and destruction, there were two people.
Both were clearly unmatched experts.
The first, a mana user, was a man with an aged face, clear blue eyes, and golden hair.
His armor was a deep silver, and on his back, he carried a long two-handed sword.
The second was a cultivator, even older, dressed in golden robes and carrying a gentle gaze.
A long, sharp saber was in his right hand, while his left hand stroked his long white beard.
"What’s the matter, old friend? Don’t you want to continue our duel?" The old man asked, swinging his blade a few times and stretching his limbs.
"I wouldn’t mind continuing to fight for the next twenty or thirty years, but duty calls... My emperor wants war, and he shall have it," the knight replied.
"Ugh... what about those promises to take care of me until I became a bag of old, useless bones? What will a poor, abandoned old man like me do without my fighting partner?" the cultivator insisted, a miserable expression taking over his face.
"Poor, abandoned old man? You are the father of the wife of one of the richest men in the world—"
"The richest man in the world, not ’one of’," the old man corrected the knight, puffing out his chest with pride.
"My daughter certainly knows how to choose husbands, doesn’t she? Hahaha."
Ignoring the old man’s laughter, the knight just shook his head.
"Ask your son-in-law for a pension. Duty calls."
The moment that noble voice fell, the body of the knight in silver armor disappeared, swallowed by an explosion of light and rising into the heavens.
"Ugh... show-off jerk!" The old cultivator shook his head, snapping his fingers and sheathing his saber.
Well, like it or not, that battle had already lasted too long.
They had lived through good times, torn reality apart in a single exchange of attacks, and learned a lot from each other in almost three years of combat.
But even cultivators of the Astral Body Realm had limits to their stamina, especially in battles where they didn’t want to kill each other.
With a soft grunt, he looked up at the skies.
"Granddaughter, your grandpa is coming back!"