At the same time,
Chen Zhiyu who had been cuddling lightly with his newly tamed demonic beast, the Wind Tiger Bear received the 'formal invitation' to the banquet.
He had been lying on the ground, his face was rightly projected to the ceiling while the Wind Tiger Bear trotted around. Currently, it had already returned to its normal size, the height of a big cub.
Earlier on, it had transformed to a stronger version so it could hunt at a quicker pace using its deterrence. However, now that it had returned to its standard size, it was less terrifying to behold.
While he was reminiscing about the day's event and his meeting with Old Zhang, an invitation slip flew past him. The Wind Tiger Bear was quite intelligent and it pinned down the flying slip before using its maws to push it in between its teeth.
It then strotted over to Chen Zhiyu with the slip between its teeth. It's feline eyes fluttered as it dropped it at Chen Zhiyu and turned around to wait for his reaction.
"A slip?" Chen Zhiyu's brows furrowed as he picked up the slip and began skimming through its content right after, "Oh, an invitation from Uncle Yao to his banquet"
Chen Zhiyu's expression didn't look so good and he seemed to be unexcited about the feast set up by Chen Ziyao. However, even in the sadness, he was helpless as he was not permitted a chance to turn down this invitation.
By outrightly turning it down, he would be forced to suffer a lot of grave consequences. The least of them would be months of imprisonment and the worst of them could be instant or torturous death, depending on his uncle's mood.
Chen Zhiyu sighed out of unhinged frustration as he got up. He readily changed his attire to a cool black robe. His hair was also tied up with a small silver crown. By the time he was done dressing, he had transformed into a handsome 'Young Master' figure, hence, he was ready to attend now.
"Little Wind, don't cause trouble around okay, I'll be back soon" Chen Zhiyu gently rubbed at the Wind Tiger Bear's furs as he spoke.
Shortly afterwards, he stepped out towards the direction of the Clan Leader's abode.
The atmosphere at the Chen clan was back to its rosiness and burdensome state. Chen Zhiyu could feel his ears thrumming from their chants and bickers which all hung around the topic of the invited guest that was from the Enlightened Immortal Peak.
He could pick certain worrying details from all their rubbish talks. One was that the guest was an acquaintance with his cousin Chen Hu. This detail alone was enough to give him an uncomfortable feeling about the entire feast as a whole.
It would be really unfortunate if this so-called feast was just one of the many round-table humiliation and spite-dishing that he was invited to all these years.
However, he simply crossed his fingers and wished good luck for himself as he made his way finally into the Clan Leader's abode.
*******
Within the abode,
Chen Ziyao and his immediate family were seated linearly on evenly spread tables. There were also revered spots set up for Feng Tianyi and Yan Wuyin. As for the last empty spot that was almost at the exterior, it was naturally reserved for the Young Master of the Chen clan.
"Welcome to our Chen Clan" Chen Ziyao greeted courteously with an earwide grin.
"We are pleased to be here as emissaries from the temple. We are only here to deliver messages but as expected, the Chen clan still generously treated us to a feast. We can only thank Clan Leader Chen for his hearty extension of kindness" Feng Tianyi readily released words of flattery that fattened the pride of Chen Ziyao.
He had quite the political knowledge and knew that little words of flattery like that could melt the hearts and standards of these high ranking officials.
"It's worth it, haha. After all, our Chen Clan is more than happy to host an emissary from one of the great sects. It's our honour to hold" Chen Ziyao chuckled with the demeanor of a cheerful elder.
"I suppose we propose a toast to the Chen clan's success and prosperity" Feng Tianyi folded his sleeves and suggested with clasped hands.
"Sure! Let us toast then!" Chen Ziyao declared without hesitation.
Everyone of them seated at the table including Yan Wuyin lifted their already filled cups as a gesture of acknowledging the toast.
"Would Your Honour mind me introducing the Chen Family to you presently?" Chen Ziyao said with a look of thoughtfulness and sighed lightly.
"I'll appreciate Clan Leader Chen doing so. As of now, I'm only a bit more familiar with Brother Hu as am acquaintance alone" Feng Tianyi readily replied. Their conversation was seamlessly flowing and it didn't appear like they were in a hurry about feasting.
"For this great feast, I invited all of my immediate family to grace the occasion as well as our Young Master who's in absence for quite unknown reasons' Chen Ziyao began, though he didn't forget to throw shade at Chen Zhiyu as subtly as he could.
Hearing such words would make Feng Tianyi feel like Chen Zhiyu was being nonchalant and didn't even put an emissary from the great sect in his eyes. Thus, it could lead to Feng Tianyi having a very bad first impression which would ruin their future dealings.
On the table(s) was Liu Jingyi, Chen Ziyao's fifth wife. She was a beautiful women that looked to be in her mid thirties despite the advanced age of seventy that was her actual age. She was a cultivator at the Ninth Level of Foundation Establishment.
She was married over as one of the Liu Clan's jewels at the time when the Chen clan was at its peak of power. Due to complications from childbirth and marriage, her cultivation journey was short-lived and she couldn't break through to the Core Formation stage.