Ye Fan used the storage bag to put away all the Yuan stones and mysterious weapons on the table, then put on his clothes and calmly opened the door.
Standing outside the door were an inn waiter leading the way and a middle-aged man wearing the attire of a housekeeper from the Cao Mansion.
"Master Ye, my master has organized a family banquet. Please be sure to go to the banquet tonight. He also said that he will entertain you with many fine wines he brewed himself!"
The housekeeper of the Cao Mansion looked a little strange when he saw Ye Fan coming out, but he respectfully handed over a beautifully made purple invitation with both hands. Although Ye Fan is not on the "Donglai List", he has participated in the rafting party and is already a well-known martial arts figure in Donglai City.
Besides, Dean Cao Hao hosted a family banquet. This kind of treatment is not something ordinary people can enjoy.
In the entire Donglai County Academy, there are countless talented martial arts students, but only a handful of them can set foot in the Cao Mansion. And even Li Hao, Pan Yun, and Princess Ling Jiaojiao have never been able to attend the Cao Mansion's family banquet.
This shows the importance of Cao Hao's courtesy to Ye Fan.
Naturally, he, the housekeeper, did not dare to neglect Mark in the slightest.
"Family dinner?"
Ye Fan was a little surprised.
He originally thought that Cao Hao was just looking for him to have a drink together, or maybe he was looking for a few more drinking buddies, a small private banquet for just a few people.
But I didn't expect it to be a family banquet of the Cao family. Usually, outsiders are rarely invited to such banquets.
"That's right, the only guests at the Cao Mansion's family banquet are the Cao Mansion's family and you."
"Well, please ask the butler to reply to the dean, and the student union will attend the banquet on time!"
Ye Fan nodded and accepted the invitation.
After the housekeeper of the Cao Mansion sent the invitation, he left with the waiter of the inn without further interruption.
Ye Fan closed the door again.
The invitation from Cao Mansion is tonight.
It's just early morning, so there's no rush.
Ye Fan slept soundly in the inn for an hour, regained his strong energy, and then got up. For people in the martial arts realm, one or two hours of sleep a day is enough.
It was still a long time before night, and Ye Fan didn't know what to do.
After being stunned for a while, Ye Fan finally thought of what he should do. Sort out what you have learned today and draw lessons for the future.
He quickly took stock of today's harvest.
In addition to harvesting a large number of yuan stones and a storage bag from the night rafting party. During the ten-boat race during the day, he also won a lot of good things. Because he was almost always the one to answer the most difficult questions, he took away the best prizes on the tenth level of the ten-race boat race.
Such as the blueprint of the third-level mechanism sword, a stick of second-level beast gathering incense, a small gourd of third-level fire cloud soju... ten boat race tokens, etc., these benefits are no less than the gains from the rafting party.
In addition to these financial gains, there is another important gain, which is the experience of a life-and-death fight with Chu Hailiang.
The experience of this battle is obviously very valuable.
Ye Fan used to fight a lot with the orcs, and rarely fought with people, especially life-and-death battles with masters in the martial arts realm.
A fierce battle with the orcs is completely different from a fierce battle with the Martial Lord.
The bodies of sea beasts are often several times more powerful than humans, but their brains are not very bright. They often rely on instinct to fight. Orcs born from tribes are better at group fighting, like the Green Wolf tribe in the Lieyang Mountains, who know how to fight in groups. However, the scattered orcs in the wild rely more on instinct and rarely cooperate in hunting.
This led Ye Fan to use methods to trap and kill the Sea Beast Lord, which was easy to succeed.
The body of the Martial Lord is obviously weaker than that of the Beast Clan, but the danger brought by high intelligence is far greater than that of the Sea Beast Lord. As long as you make a small mistake and are caught by the enemy, you will be hit like a storm.
Ye Fan has a deep understanding of this. A short fight with Chu Hailiang is almost more laborious than a fight with dozens of sea beasts.
If it weren't for the fact that he had a small gourd of third-level Wuhou-level wine, the burning wine turned into vitality and exploded into a powerful thunder pillar attack, he would have been unable to do anything to Chu Hailiang.
"It seems that in the future, we must not only increase our combat experience with the beasts, but also improve our combat experience with the human warriors. Otherwise, even if you have a high level of cultivation, you will be at a disadvantage."
...
During the day, Ye Fan stayed at the inn with nothing to do.
He thought that he might not stay in Donglai City for long, and might go out to practice soon. Before that, he needed to prepare some items for use outside, so he went out to stroll around the streets and various grocery stores in the city to purchase some items for future use. Things you need.
The second-level beast-gathering incense is a must. It contains a large number of exotic fragrances containing hundreds of precious fruit materials, and is used to attract sea beasts at the level of beast masters. One can burn for a whole day, but it is expensive, costing up to three yuan stones.
Ye Fan purchased a hundred of them at once, thinking that these would be enough for him to use outside for a year and a half.
As long as there are enough Sea Beast Lords to provide a large amount of Qi and blood, which can be tempered into drops of blood essence to increase the concentration of one's own blood.
Increasing the concentration of each bloodline to meet the requirements for bloodline awakening is the most important thing in cultivating the Martial Lord realm. Then you can cultivate to the sixth or seventh level of the Martial Master Stage as quickly as possible.
Ye Fan's large-scale purchase made the shopkeeper of the grocery store very happy. It was rare for such a big customer to purchase so much Jushouxiang in one go.
The shopkeeper hurriedly transferred goods from various stores to meet Ye Fan's purchasing needs.
Ye Fan went to the Xuanqi Merchant Pavilion again and unexpectedly saw a pair of second-order high-quality eight-color black silk soft hedgehog armor, which was refined from eight kinds of second-order high-grade black silk. This soft hedgehog armor can be worn close to the body and has good resistance and defense against eight series of vitality combat skills.
Whether it is fire, ice, or vitality skills such as lightning strikes and wind blades, most of the power will be offset when hitting it. Of course, this is soft inner armor and cannot withstand heavy blows from mysterious swords.
The price of this armor is as high as two thousand yuan stones, which is almost more than most second-level mysterious weapons and second-level mysterious armors on the market. An ordinary mysterious weapon, Xuanjia, can be purchased for a hundred yuan stones.
Ye Fan gritted his teeth and bought it.
No matter how many Yuan stones you have, you still have to have the life to keep the flowers.
Chu Hailiang was attacked by one of his lightning pillars and was paralyzed by the strong lightning strike, which resulted in his death. If you wear a pair of soft hedgehog armor like this, I'm afraid the thunder pillar may not be effective.
Ye Fan doesn't know what dangers he will encounter in the future. Wearing such a soft hedgehog armor can prevent accidents and unexpected sneak attacks.
Later, Ye Fan bought some sundries from the shops on the street, such as healing elixirs, in case of emergency.
...
at dusk.
After Ye Fan purchased what he needed on the busy streets, he finally strolled to the Cao Mansion in Donglai City and was invited to attend the appointment.
In Donglai City, the Cao family is one of the few top families with many members. In terms of power and position, Cao Mansion is at least among the top three in Donglai County.
The Cao's Mansion naturally occupies a huge area, occupying dozens of acres of land in the luxury neighborhood of the city. There are countless attics in the courtyard of the Cao Mansion.
The luxury of Cao's Mansion is unimaginable, the gates are luxurious and noble, and the interior of the Mansion is full of atmosphere.
The gate of Cao Mansion alone is as grand and majestic as a Luyang Mansion.
Standing in front of the gate of Cao's Mansion were a row of more than ten guards and servants, all of whom were surprisingly masters of the martial arts realm. Two early martial masters were even the leaders of these guards and servants.
Ye Fan looked up and sighed in his heart.
Back then, he practiced hard in Luyang Mansion and reached the peak of the ninth level of the warrior stage, which was enough to become a first-class figure in Luyang Mansion and attract everyone's attention.
But in Donglai County, the people at the peak of the warrior realm are just servants of this wealthy family, not worth mentioning.
Even a seemingly aloof Martial Lord, if he has mediocre qualifications and average prospects, can only become the head servant of a wealthy family, just to earn a few yuan stones every month.
"As expected of the Cao Mansion! There are two leaders of Wuzun's servants standing guard at the door alone, and I'm afraid there are even more Wuzun in other places."
Ye Fan thought to himself and went to hand over the invitation.
Immediately, a housekeeper from the inner palace who had been waiting for a long time appeared and took him to the inner palace of the Cao family.
Ye Fan walked through the luxurious courtyards of Cao's Mansion and was secretly shocked by the size of Cao's Mansion.
The Qianfu is the residence of the ordinary members of the Cao family, as well as the descendants and servants of the side branches.
After a while, they finally arrived at an elegant courtyard in the inner palace of Cao Mansion. This courtyard is not big, but it is the daily residence of Cao Hao, the head of the Cao family.
As the housekeeper walked, he introduced to Ye Fan the various courtyards along the way.
Only the core descendants of the direct descendants of the Cao family are allowed to enter and exit this small courtyard freely. Others, even ordinary disciples of the Cao family and side branches of the Cao family, must pass the rules before they can enter.
Today's Cao family banquet is small in scale, with only a few direct disciples attending.
Ye Fan followed the housekeeper to the courtyard and arrived at a pavilion near the rockery and small lake in the courtyard. A small bamboo forest swayed next to the pavilion, and the breeze came, which was very refreshing.
There is a long table in the pavilion, which can only accommodate less than ten people.
I saw that Dean Cao Hao was sitting on the front seat, and a beautiful woman and a beautiful girl were sitting on the right side. On the other seats, there were five or six middle-aged and young men and women of the Cao family, who were drinking and laughing.
But there is a vacant position for the chief on the left side of Dean Cao.
"Ye Fan is here! Come, sit here!"
When Cao Hao saw Ye Fan coming, he couldn't help laughing and pointed to the chief seat on his left.
"The students have met the dean!"
Ye Fan bowed his hands towards Cao Hao and saluted. Seeing the kind look on the beautiful woman's face, he thought that since this was a family dinner, she should be Dean Cao's wife, "I have met Mrs. Cao!"
As for the others, I don't know their identities.
Dean Cao looks like a middle-aged man, but in fact he is over a hundred years old and has many descendants. They might be the sons, grandchildren, or great-grandsons of Dean Cao. I couldn't guess, so I wasn't polite.
Ye Fan smiled lightly and nodded at them, then sat down.
The expressions of the young people in the Cao Mansion changed, and they suddenly felt unhappy.
For any large Donglai family, banquet seating arrangement is a very important matter. Even if it's just a family dinner, it's no exception.
At this family banquet of Cao Mansion, an outsider actually sat in front of them, sitting on the left and right seats with Mrs. Cao respectively. Are they, the direct descendants of the Cao family, no better than an outsider?
Moreover, Ye Fan is just an early martial master, and his cultivation level is lower than all of them. Is it necessary to show such respect to an unknown guest? ?
"Dad, he is the important guest you invited tonight?! The child is not happy to say something, our Cao family is a wealthy family in Donglai County, not a common citizen! The hierarchy is clear, and the elders and younger ones are orderly. Even if it is just a family banquet , and the seats are in order. If Princess Jiaojiao comes, I have nothing to say. Even if Li Hao is at the table today, he will be behind the child. "
A middle-aged man from the Cao family put down his chopsticks and said.
"Grandpa! That's right! He is a nobody, why should he be listed as the chief of the left? If word spreads, our Cao family's face will be lost!"
The other young people all shouted dissatisfied.