Song of Adolescence

Chapter 156 Heroes Attending Banquet

The next day, noon.

Heroes Banquet.

As an annual event in the martial world, it would be organised by a prestigious and powerful sect every year. All under Heaven would gather to discuss major issues if there were any, drink merrily if there were none, exchange martial arts pointers, or privately form alliances and make deals. There would also be sects with grievances amongst them, which would be brought up for mediation at the Heroes Banquet. Then, the sect hosting the Heroes Banquet would serve as mediator to resolve such matters.

But these were Heroes Banquets of previous years.

In the Heroes Banquets of previous years, although the organising sects were considered prestigious and powerful in the martial world, none of them could compete with Lei Clan Fort. Because a prestigious family like Lei Clan Fort were like tall trees that attracted the wind. Although they were prestigious, they also made lots of enemies and were not suitable to play the host of the Heroes Banquet. But this time, Lei Qianhu, who had always acted low-key, took over the Heroes Banquet from the Jiangnan Duan family.

Duan Feihong was the head of the Duan Family, who once uttered a bold statement, "Jiangnan has a refined and distinguished style, and my Duan family has eight-tenths of it." When he saw the Lei Clan Leader visiting him personally, there was nothing refined and distinguished about him as he brought his entire family, young and old, to receive the guest. Then, the next day, an order was passed through the entire martial world that the Heroes Banquet this year would be hosted by the Lei Clan Fort of Thunderbolt Hall in Jiangnan.

This change meant that one of the four great cities under Heaven, the martial city Unrivaled City and their allies would not participate in this year’s Heroes Banquet. Although Unrivaled City and Lei Clan Fort had no grudges against each other, Unrivaled City and Snow Moon City had competed for many years for the status of number one city in the martial world. Since Lei Clan Fort was Snow Moon City’s largest ally, Unrivaled City naturally would not attend. Hence, this year’s Heroes Banquet, although hosted by the world-renowned Lei Clan Fort, had less than half the usual number of guests. But, this was to be expected. What the martial world did not expect was, would the Tang Clan come?

Snow Moon City had three impressive martial sects as allies, the Tang Clan of Central Shu, the long-established Wen Clan of Lingnan, and the Lei Clan of Thunderbolt Hall in Jiangnan. As equal allies, the Tang Clan should already have arrived.

However, the Tang Clan and Lei Clan Fort had been in a century-old feud. Decades ago, the Tang Clan and Lei Clan Fort clashed in a bloody battle, and no less than a hundred people died on both sides. Another few decades later, the then Grandmaster of the Tang Clan and the then head of family of Lei Clan Fort had fought in many battles to the death and finally they took each other down and died together. Had it not been for the Demonic Cult\'s Eastern Incursion, the two were forced to join forces, and finally after Snow Moon City’s reconciliation, they temporarily let go of their grudges. But even if they no longer came to arms the moment they met each other, they weren’t friendly to the point of sitting at the same table and sharing a drink.

Therefore, all the guests who came to the banquet were wondering whether Tang Clan would come? Who would be sent?

"Jiangnan Duan Family Head Duan Feihong brought his disciples to attend the banquet! Please take a seat!" Lei Tianhen stood at the door and announced loudly.

Duan Feihong, who was dressed in a clean robe, had a wisp of beard, and indeed an aura of refinement about him. He brought his eldest son, Duan Xuanyi, and a group of disciples to the door of the hall, cupped his fist and saluted Lei Qianhu at the door. "Lei-xiong."

"Duan-xiong." Lei Qianhu bowed and nodded.

"Shaolin Temple Elder, Master Yuanhui, brought his disciples to attend the banquet! Please take a seat!" Lei Tianhen continued. Although Unrivaled City and its allied sects in the martial world would not be attending, martial sects like Shaolin Temple and Wudang Sect that did not participate in the Heroes Banquet in previous years had sent their members to attend. This was considered giving Lei Clan Fort a lot of face.

"Wudang Sect Head Disciple, Yu Xingzhou, brought his sect disciples to attend the banquet! Please take a seat!"

"Xianxia Sect Elder, Venerable Lanyue, brought his sect disciples to attend the banquet! Please take a seat!"

"Jianlin Sect Sect Leader, Yu Changfeng, brought his sect disciples to attend the banquet! Please take a seat!"

"Huiyue Pavilion Master, Sima Luchen, brought his sect disciples to attend the banquet! Please take a seat!"

Lei Tianhen made loud announcements, one after another, for dozens of times. The whole dining hall was already full of people both downstairs and upstairs, with only a few empty seats left on the main table. However, the owners of those empty seats had not yet arrived. Lei Tianhen looked at Lei Qianhu, and Lei Qianhu said softly, "Wait."

Until a young man riding a donkey walked over slowly. The hooves of the donkey landed on the stone road, ringing clearly with each step.

The guests in the hall also fell silent, stretching out their heads to look at this strange guest.

"This is…" Lei Tianhen claimed to know countless people, but he couldn\'t recognize the origin of this young man.

The young man was still sitting on the donkey and he suddenly turned around, looked at Lei Qianhu with a smile, and shouted, "Hu-ye, it’s been many years since we last met."

Lei Qianhu smiled. "Insolent."

"Clan Leader, this is…" Lei Tianhen said in confusion.

"This one is Wen Liang, from the long-established Wen Clan of Lingnan. Our grandmaster said, we of the Wen Clan are all poisonous things. If we come, we’re afraid that the guests of the Heroes Banquet will not dare to eat the food, so we’ve never attended the banquet in past years. However, we have no choice this year. Since Hu-ye is hosting the banquet, the Wen Clan dare not miss it. I’m a small poisonous thing, my poison arts are not sophisticated enough. Everyone, please rest assured, and eat and drink as you please," Wen Liang said loudly.

The guests in the hall laughed loudly when they heard this, and Lei Tianhen also laughed. "Wen Liang of the long-established Wen Clan, has arrived to attend the banquet. Please take a seat!"

"Uncle, thank you." Wen Liang jumped off the donkey and whispered to Lei Tianhen, "My donkey carried me for two months to get here. It’s exhausted. Please look after it properly. Don’t let it get bullied by the fine horses of these great heroes."

Lei Tianhen thought this young man was really interesting, nodded and agreed with a smile.

"Hu-ye…" Wen Liang turned his head again and said to Lei Qianhu.

"Get the hell inside right now." Lei Qianhu cocked his head and didn\'t bother himself with the younger man.

"I’m gone!" Wen Liang stepped into the main hall and sat openly at the main table.

At this time, two more horses neighed at the front door, and two identical-looking young men reined in their horses. They carried long swords on their backs. One of them was more outspoken and he faced Lei Qianhu and the others boldly, while the other looked a little shy and kept his head down.

"Now, who are these…" Lei Tianhen wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Lei Qianhu.

Lei Qianhu was also stunned. "I have never met these two."

"He Qu, Sword Guardian of Sword Heart Tomb!" The voice was extremely bold.

“He Cong.” The other voice was timid.

"Have especially come to attend the banquet!"

"Sword Heart Tomb!" All the heroes in the hall were shocked. Why would Sword Heart Tomb, who had never bothered themselves with the affairs of the world, attend the Heroes Banquet?

"Is Lei Clan Fort’s influence really that big?" Someone in the hall whispered.

"It’s said that the current Sword Heart Tomb is still under the charge of the old Tombmaster Li Suwang. Considering that old man’s personality, would he send people to attend the Heroes Banquet?"

The ancestors of the Sword Heart Tomb once forged the fourth-ranked sword under Heaven, "Heart". The present old Tombmaster, Li Suwang, had also forged the seventh-ranked sword under Heaven, Moving Mountains sword. Li Xinyue, who had inherited the Heart Sword formula had also used that skill, and forced her sword right up to the Emperor, making herself famous in the world. From the outside, the Sword Heart Tomb appeared to be merely sword-forgers, but their status in the martial world was not lower than that of many noble clans.

"Our old master said that our Sword Heart Tomb is a difficult place to find, so it’s normal that we did not receive your invitation. Nonetheless, we’re family by marriage after all, so we couldn’t miss this banquet. Hence, we two brothers have specially come to attend the banquet!" He Qu spoke loudly.

Everyone knew that Lei Mengsha and Li Xinyue were married, of course. However, Lei Mengsha had been expelled by the Lei Clan Fort. These words, family by marriage… Would Lei Qianhu dare to accept?

Lei Qianhu cleared his throat. "Sword Heart Tomb Sword Guardians, He Qu and He Chong, have arrived to attend the banquet! Our family by marriage has come, we’re unable to contain our joy. Take a seat!"