Huo Clan Manor, Banquet
Soon after Huo Chen's show of strength and the crowd's dispersal, the gates of the Huo Clan manor swung open.
The person who opened the door was dressed in a plain set of black robes branded with a flame with a set of dragon wings protruding from the back.
Looking at the person's face, Xue Bai found the two to look similar to Huo Chen, but once he looked at their completely different temperaments, he realized who the person was.
Huo Chen walked with a ramrod-straight spine he learned from his military training and had an emotionless and cold facial expression that was the result of seeing hundreds of battlefields.
However, the man who opened the door didn't have any of these ruthless features and even walked out of the manor, hunched over in exhaustion. Adding on the graying temples, while the two looked the same and were about the same age, he looked almost 20 years older.
But once he saw Huo Chen, the man's hunched back, and his exhausted face lit up as he gained some energy he didn't have before
"Cousin Chen, is it that time of year already? Come inside. I already made sure the clan would prepare a feast that would await you once you sent the message." The man laughed happily.
Huo Chen also broke into a smile once he saw his cousin.
"Cousin Ming, I've always told you guys that you can see me as another member of the clan." Huo Chen replied with a smile as he gave his older cousin a bear hug.
"Cousin Chen, you are one of the mighty ten commanders under Duke Xue. How can we not give you the treatment you deserve? If anything, we feel like we don't give you a big enough welcome." The man called Huo Ming replied as he also reciprocated the hug.
As the two were talking happily and giving each other hugs, Xue Bai, who was on the side, started to think to himself.
'Leave it to the protagonist to have a completely conjoined clan. Commander Huo is a whole cultivation realm, and some change stronger than Huo Ming, and they yet speak so nicely with each other.'
If Commander Huo weren't a part of the Huo Clan and Huo Long's uncle, most likely, he wouldn't even bother returning home. But as the uncle of the protagonist, not only did he visit annually, but he wanted his cousin to talk to him equally.
In fact, there was a commander like that under Xue Feng who was practically in the exact same scenario as Huo Chen, and that man barely even sent letters home, let alone visited them annually.
The two Huo Clan elders would stay locked in a bear hug for some time until Huo Ming felt his muscles ache.
"Cousin Chen, have you gotten stronger? Before I could stay in the hug for almost twice the time." Huo Ming spoke with a wry smile.
Though he couldn't say that he wasn't jealous of Huo Chen's strength, he didn't hate the man because of it.
Still, once he realized that Huo Chen once again got stronger while he stayed at his bottleneck, he couldn't help but get depressed.
Getting stronger was the goal of every cultivator, so it was only right for Huo Ming to get depressed once he realized his younger cousin was now so far ahead of him.
However, after he sighed, he also noticed the three other people next to Huo Chen.
"Cousin Chen, who are the people with you?" Huo Ming curiously.
He could sense that Xue Bai was a noble-looking person and assumed that the boy was affiliated with the dukedom, and since the twins were standing behind Xue Bai humbly, Huo Min labeled them as bodyguards.
"Cousin Ming, you know how I work under Duke Xue, correct?" Huo Chen, not wanting to say directly, asked back.
"How could I not? You are the pride of our Clan!" Huo Ming nodded at this.
How could he not?
"And I assume you also know that the Duke birthed a son a few years ago." Huo Chen felt like a parent who was trying to teach their child simple math, but this was the only way.
"Yes, how could I not know that the legendary Duke of Snow birthed a son, but what does that have to do with the beautiful Young Miss you brought?" Huo Ming replied, not knowing he was talking about the son of the legendary Duke of Snow.
Huo Chen immediately became exasperated. He had not expected his cousin to guess so badly. He had so obviously implied who it was. So why couldn't his idiot of a cousin guess?
Huo Chen felt like knocking some sense into his cousin.
But thankfully, Xue Bai was too far to hear their conversation.
So instead of beating his cousin down, Huo Chen only pulled Huo Ming over.
"That's the Young Duke himself, and while he isn't bothered much by people misgendering him, I am a commander under the Duke himself, and my family won't misgender him. Also, tell our Clan that anyone who does so will face the paddle." Huo Chen whispered to his cousin, scared that Xue Bai would hear them.
Huo Ming nodded heavily at this and felt lucky that Xue Bai was still far away and talking with the twins.
'Thank the heavens the Young Duke didn't hear me.'
After some more small talk, Huo Chen waved over Xue Bai and the twins to enter the manor.
Once Xue Bai entered through the large several-meter-tall gate, he saw that a lot of the Huo Clan members were gathered around the entrance for a formal reception.
Obviously, Huo Ming, as the Patriarch, ordered this grand reception to welcome Huo Chen. Because if he had known Xue Bai was coming, every clan member, young or old, would've come out to greet him.
However, even without mentioning his status, once the Huo Clan members saw how Huo Chen and Huo Ming looked so respectful to him, they were quick to notice that a guest, even more important than Huo Chen, had visited.
And unable to suppress their curiosity, the Huo Clan quickly started various quiet discussions about who Xue Bai was.
"Who's that beautiful child with the Patriarch?"
"How would I know? But even Uncle Chen is being respectful to her, so don't try to antagonize her."
"Maybe she is from the dukedom and is out for experience?"
The Huo Clan members all had various guesses, but since none of them dared to ask the person in question and neither Huo Chen nor Huo Ming bothered to explain, they all stayed in the dark.
However, they all knew that such an important thing couldn't be kept secret for too long, and they all followed Huo Ming, who was walking toward the main hall where the banquet was being held.
The main hall was built just like the one at the Duke Estate, except for the fact that, since the Huo Clan was much better off than the Dukedom, it was less grand.
But currently, it wasn't set up for a meeting like it usually was, but instead, in place of the small number of chairs, the main hall now had dozens of Kang tables in preparation for the banquet.
Each table was precisely set up to face the back of the main hall, where two larger and grander-looking tables were set up.
Those two tables were originally set up for Huo Chen and Huo Ming to sit and eat at.
However, now that Xue Bai and the Wang twins were joining in, their previous planning was deemed inadequate.
Sensing the mistake, Huo Ming quickly ordered some clan members to bring in two more equally grand tables for Xue Bai and the twins.
This didn't take very long, and within 2 minutes, another pair of Kang tables were set.
After Xue Bai and his group took their seats, the rest of the Huo Clan also sat down at their tables. With everyone sitting down, Huo Ming clapped his hands and called for the maids and servants to bring in the food.
The dishes were soon quickly served, and once Huo Ming had his food in front of him, he stood up and started to speak to his clan members.
"While there have been some more guests to join us, the banquet is starting, my Clan members. You may eat!"
After Huo Ming sat back down, the Huo Clan started to chat amongst themselves.
Most of the conversations below were about who Xue Bai was. However, this was only for the adults, as most of the children in attendance didn't care about who Xue Bai was and were instead focused on the delicious food in front of them.
Their clan usually lived frugally. So once there was such a luxurious feast before them, the kids naturally shut out their surroundings and feasted. And from the looks of it, they were all having a great time.
Huo Ming saw all of this and smiled. It was rare to see his clan look so lively. It was moments like this that reminded him of what he was protecting and further reminded him to continue on.
After the refreshing motivational reminder, Huo Ming then looked over at Xue Bai.
"Young Duke, while I know our food isn't like you'd receive at the Dukedom, they are the best our chefs could offer, so I hope you'll enjoy it." Huo Ming apologetically said.
But once he looked over at Xue Bai, his mouth opened wide.
After eating bland, calorically dense hospital food for five years, Xue Bai had long lost his pickiness.
And meat in the Baishen Plane was beyond heavenly tasting.
Other than humans, normal beasts could also cultivate. And once they stepped on the path of cultivation, their flesh, blood, and muscles would be enhanced by the Spiritual Qi of the Heavens.
And after being enhanced by Spiritual Qi, the meat of demonic beasts would become amazing.
Even the blandest and poorly cut piece of meat of a demonic beast would become world-class on Earth.
So currently, Xue Bai had shed away his detached temperament and arrogance and was already engrossed in the meal.
Thankfully while he was engrossed in the food, he still managed to hear Huo Ming speak.
Putting down his chopsticks for a moment, Xue Bai gave the man a thumbs up. But after he saw Huo Ming's face scrunched in confusion, he realized he had used another Earth trend.
Hurrying to correct his mistake, Xue Bai quickly swallowed the piece of meat he was chewing on before responding.
"Don't worry, Patriarch Huo, the food is wonderful." Xue Bai said.
Currently, Xue Bai had a table to himself, so he could pick whatever food he wanted from the options without another mouth taking any. And knowing this, Xue Bai planned to have a merry good time.
Besides, Huo Ming made this feast for him, right? So wouldn't it be rude not to eat a lot?
After Huo Ming saw Xue Bai enjoy the food they prepared, he sighed in relief.
Now without any worries, he turned to his cousin and started to talk to him.
"Cousin Chen, you got my message about my son, right?" Huo Ming said as he nudged his cousin.
Now that the Young Duke had been satisfied, Huo Ming wanted to complete his original mission and brag about his son.
"Yes, I did. I can still hear your bragging throughout." Huo Chen spoke irritably.
He had read the letters Huo Ming sent him and knew where his cousin was going with his words. But since he did, he started to get irritated.
The letters practically described Huo Long as the reincarnation of an Immortal Emperor.
It was beyond his comprehension how his cousin could brag so much and not feel any embarrassment. Did Huo Ming not cultivate his Spiritual Qi but instead the thickness of his face?
Huo Ming only smiled at that. Yes, he did exaggerate about his son's talents, but how else would he attract the attention of his extremely talented cousin?
It was a necessary evil.
"Don't get so angry, Cousin Chen. If anything, Xiao Long might be even more talented than I described him. Let me call him over right now." Huo Ming spoke with a broad smile.
After speaking, Huo Ming stood from his seat and went to call over his son. And soon, Huo Ming returned with the Child of the Plane himself.
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