Chapter 4649 — The West Island Birthday Banquet

This half-finished automatic forging contraption was of vital importance to him and Scrap King. The electronic components had yet to arrive, but that did not mean there was nothing they could do. Forging was slow, patient work, and building an automatic forging contraption of this kind was slower and more patient still—every single part was worth turning over and over in the mind, worth polishing to perfection.

Of course, the real workers here were Han Jingyi and Ning Xuefei; Wei Zhao and Shangguan Lan'er were merely lending a hand. Wei Zhao, a half-baked forger at best, could at least make himself somewhat useful; Shangguan Lan'er was there purely for the fun of it. As for little Curly Bear, the little creature had been packed off to the outer room—if it did not make a mess for them, that was thanks enough.

Three days passed quietly in this fashion, and on this day the long-awaited birthday banquet finally arrived. This was no ordinary birthday, but Ning Xuefei's coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen—a grand festival belonging to the whole of West Island.

Princess of West Island though she was, an ordinary birthday would never warrant such fanfare. At most, North Island might have sent Shangguan Lan'er with two skilled guards; there was no need to dispatch an entire embassy.

The island lord's palace was hung with lanterns and colored silks from top to bottom, every face alight with joy as the guests gathered in the Intercontinental Banquet Hall at the palace's very center. This was West Island's largest banquet hall, a sacred and solemn place since ancient times, opened only on grand festivals—and Ning Xuefei's coming-of-age ceremony was certainly not beneath any festival in importance.

There was still some time before the banquet formally began, but Wei Zhao had arrived early at the Intercontinental Banquet Hall. Only after entering did he discover that the interior had been divided into several zones, each marked with clear lettering.

The largest area was, naturally, the guest zone for West Island itself. Beyond that were laid out in turn Middle Island, North Island, South Continent—and even East Continent!

Among the five great islands of the Heaven Tier, East Continent stood aloof and exalted, a place that generally only people from the other Cloud Tier islands had the privilege of visiting; it was rare indeed for East Continent guests to come out and do anyone honor. It was plain that West Island, though peopled entirely by female cultivators, was not to be underestimated in either strength or connections.

Yet this only surprised Wei Zhao somewhat; he was not greatly shocked. West Island, after all, was a hegemon in its own right—such depth was hardly strange. But when Wei Zhao caught sight of another of the zone markers, he froze on the spot. On that marker were written two characters: South Island.

Wei Zhao could not help glancing back at the marker that read South Continent. Was there not already a South Continent? Why had a South Island appeared separately?

"Could it be…" A possibility suddenly occurred to Wei Zhao. South Continent and South Island looked like the same place, but strictly speaking their meanings were entirely different. South Continent was the collective name for South Island and the surrounding South Continent seas, home to vast numbers of human cultivators; South Island, however, referred specifically to the stronghold of the spirit beast clan!

At this moment, not only Wei Zhao but even Ghost Thing could not help feeling somewhat aghast. From the look of things, those coming to West Island to observe the ceremony were not merely human cultivators from the South Continent seas—there were actually members of the spirit beast clan as well?

Had the spirit beast clan not always kept its distance from human cultivators? How had it come to enjoy such ties with West Island? Wei Zhao and Ghost Thing were both full of doubts, but there was no one they could ask at the moment—the girls who had been with them all along were nowhere nearby.

Ning Xuefei need hardly be mentioned; she was the star of this birthday banquet and was at that moment busy with her dress and makeup. Han Jingyi and Shangguan Lan'er, as her closest friends, were naturally keeping her company throughout, so Wei Zhao was alone for the time being.

The scale of this birthday banquet far exceeded expectation; by the look of it, the elite of all five great islands of the Heaven Tier were gathering here. This was Wei Zhao's first time attending such a grand feast—at the very least, he could broaden his horizons.

Wandering about, Wei Zhao found a seat in the North Island zone and waited for the banquet to formally begin.

After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the entrance of the Intercontinental Banquet Hall grew bustling as guests from the five great Cloud Tier islands finally began filing in one after another. Wei Zhao raised his head for a glance, then promptly closed his eyes again—for no other reason than that those entering now were no one of consequence, and naturally there was nothing worth seeing.

The truly great personages, bound by status and propriety, would inevitably make their grand entrance last to offer their congratulations. What rather puzzled Wei Zhao, however, was that although none of the great personages had yet appeared, people had already taken their seats in every other zone—yet the South Island zone alone stood empty and bare, without a single soul.

After another moment, a large contingent of female imperial guards suddenly surged in through the main doors, and the atmosphere in the hall turned fervent in an instant. The star had arrived!

Amid the clustered women, Wei Zhao spotted Ning Xuefei at a glance. Though this girl was a princess of West Island, her manner of dress had never differed much from anyone else's.

But today was different. Today was her great day, and willing or not, she had to be carefully dressed and made up. Even Wei Zhao, who had long since grown familiar with her, was struck dumb by the sudden sight of so ravishing and delicate a Ning Xuefei—a beauty to shame the nation was no exaggeration at all!

Han Jingyi and Shangguan Lan'er were both at Ning Xuefei's side as well, and the three women standing together, each exquisite in her own way, left the guests from every quarter stunned as though they had seen immortals. One after another they could not help sighing that such peerless beauty could exist beneath the heavens—truly this journey had been worth it!

Yet though the three women drew every eye in an instant, beside them stood another woman in no way their inferior. She had the looks and bearing of a woman of thirty, and her brows and eyes resembled Ning Xuefei's by seven parts, but the serene nobility and grandeur that clothed her far surpassed Ning Xuefei's.

She too was a peerless beauty of the mortal world. Ning Xuefei and the others left one dazzled; this woman left one shaken. In every frown and smile there was an air of commanding valor that made a person want to fall to their knees at the hem of her skirt without knowing why. At the first sight of her, Wei Zhao's mind went, of all things, to that legendary empress of the secular world, Wu Zetian!

This woman was none other than one of the handful of top-tier personages across the five great Cloud Tier islands, the island lord who held sole dominion over an entire island's power—the West Island lord, Ning Shanghe.

This was Wei Zhao's first sight of the legendary West Island lord. He had entertained many conjectures beforehand, but now, seeing the real person, he knew his conjectures had been far too petty. Here was a woman of peerless elegance—and yet assuredly not merely a woman.

Strength, status, power, and beauty all gathered into one: here was a woman whom every man under heaven would admire and crave, and yet regard with awe, never daring the least sacrilege—a woman truly standing at the summit of the world. R1152