A moment later, the Landlady's expression darkened—the communication clearly hadn't gone smoothly.
Just then, the colossal palace arrived before them and came to a steady halt. Yang Kai looked up, his heart shaken.
Even from a distance, he had known the palace was enormous, but only now, at close range, did he truly grasp just what a behemoth it was.
The Lotus Falling wasn't exactly small—it could comfortably accommodate dozens, even a hundred people without feeling crowded. Yet compared to this traveling palace Artifact from Xuanyuan Cave Heaven, it was like a blade of grass standing next to a great tree.
The palace had to be at least ten times the size of the Lotus Falling. Its vast shadow fell over them, swallowing the Lotus Falling entirely and blocking out every glimmer of light. Above the palace's main entrance hung a plaque bearing three golden characters—"Five Elements Palace"—resplendent and gleaming with brilliance.
On the steps before the Five Elements Palace stood three figures side by side, two men and one woman. One of them was indeed the Senior Brother Guo whom Yang Kai had seen at the auction house.
At this moment, Senior Brother Guo forced an awkward smile in the Landlady's direction, looking rather helpless.
Besides him, there was a gaunt half-aged man, thin and wizened, with a withered complexion, resembling a stalk of bamboo. His voluminous robes fluttered in the wind, and his expression carried a natural authority that inspired dread without anger. The third was a gorgeous woman of petite and delicate build, with seductive peach-blossom eyes that roamed with a soul-captivating allure.
As for the cultivation of these three, Yang Kai couldn't gauge it at all. He only knew that Senior Brother Guo was on par with the Landlady—a Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator for certain. Even so, this visit from Xuanyuan Cave Heaven didn't seem to center on him, given that he and the gorgeous woman were standing on either side of the gaunt half-aged man.
The positioning spoke volumes. The old man clearly held a status in Xuanyuan Cave Heaven that was a cut above both Senior Brother Guo and the gorgeous woman.
Yang Kai's heart jolted. Senior Brother Guo was already a Sixth-Order Open Heaven—could this old man be Seventh-Order? That seemed unlikely, though. The Blood Demon Cave Heaven, while of tremendous importance and a grand event that swept across all three thousand worlds, drawing virtually every power large and small, was still just that. The noble status of upper-grade Open Heaven cultivators was incomparably exalted—why would they go to the trouble of traveling all the way here for something like this?
After all, the incident at the Golden Crow Divine Palace had only drawn out a mere handful of upper-grade Open Heaven cultivators.
While Yang Kai was still turning suspicions over in his mind, the Landlady stepped forward and offered a graceful bow. "Lan Youruo of the First Inn greets Elder Chu." She then inclined her head slightly toward the gorgeous woman. "Junior Sister Han."
As for Senior Brother Guo, she ignored him without the slightest pretense.
Junior Sister Han returned the courtesy, her voice soft and sweet as honey. "Senior Sister Lan!" Her lovely eyes drifted with keen interest over Old Bai and Yue He, lingering on the latter for a few extra moments of scrutiny.
The Landlady nodded and turned to Elder Chu. "The Blood Demon Cave Heaven is about to open. May I ask what brings Elder Chu here?"
Elder Chu was as dry and withered as he looked, his voice equally desiccated, as though he had never drunk a drop of water since the day he was born. "Do you not already know why I've come? Why must you ask when you already know the answer?"
The Landlady replied coolly, "Please do explain, Elder."
Beside them, Senior Brother Guo cleared his throat with a light cough and said, "Here's the situation, Junior Sister Lan. You should know how far our Sect is from here. Elder Chu and the others calculated their departure time carefully and should have arrived in the Blood Demon Region a fortnight ago, but they ran into some trouble along the way and were delayed considerably. It wasn't until today that they finally made it, which is… rather late."
"And?" The Landlady cast him a glance.
Senior Brother Guo scratched his head. "Since we arrived late, we really can't find a suitable spot anymore. The Blood Demon Cave Heaven has drawn far too many people here. The entire Blood Demon Region is simply teeming with bodies."
The Landlady folded her sleeves. "What does that have to do with me?"
Senior Brother Guo gave an awkward laugh, and was just about to say something more when Elder Chu, standing in the center, raised a hand to cut him off. He fixed the Landlady with his gaze and said, "I won't beat around the bush. Let's speak frankly—our Sect cannot find a suitable location, so I would like you to yield this place and use it as our landing ground."
Yang Kai's fury flared the moment he heard that, and the words shot out before he could stop himself. "On what grounds?"
Granted, this territory had also been seized from the Senluo Altar by the Landlady and the others, but that had been for good reason. Both the Landlady and Old Bai had prior grievances with the Senluo Altar. Had that not been the case, they wouldn't have resorted to bullying the weak to snatch someone else's ground. Along the way, there had been plenty of places they could have seized, but the Landlady and her group hadn't laid a hand on any of them arbitrarily.
Yet now this old man named Chu, with a single casual remark, expected the First Inn to hand over their spot? Wasn't that just an open display of bullying? To make matters worse, from start to finish, Elder Chu had maintained an air of lofty superiority and an unquestionable tone, as if everyone owed him something. It was deeply irritating.
Yang Kai couldn't help recalling what Senior Brother Guo had said back at the trade fair—that there were people within Xuanyuan Cave Heaven who had taken issue with the Landlady. It seemed this Elder Chu was one of them.