Night fell.
On the Iron Bones Sect’s martial training ground, there was a huge bonfire, its rising flames illuminating the surroundings clearly.
Hundreds of tables surrounded the bonfire, with all kinds of delicacies, pastries, and jars of wine placed on them.
A thousand disciples stood in a casual arrangement, the atmosphere lively and high-spirited, as if they were holding a celebration party.
“Come!”
Jun Changxiao raised his large bowl, saying, “For defeating Sacred Spring Sect this time and raising the prestige of our Iron Bones Sect—drain this bowl of wine.”
“Sect Leader is mighty, senior brothers are mighty!”
All the disciples raised their bowls and drank heartily.
The mood from being under high-intensity training was also considerably relieved under the stimulation of alcohol.
Balancing work and rest.
This was something Sect Leader Jun always emphasized.
So gatherings like this would naturally be held once every period of time.
First, it allowed disciples to relax, and second, it let everyone better integrate into the Iron Bones Sect family.
“Sect Leader.”
Su Xiaomo raised her wine, saying, “Thank you for over a year of cultivation. This disciple toasts you with this bowl.”
“Hey, hey.”
Jun Changxiao said, “If each of you comes to toast me with one bowl, I’m afraid this seat will end up drinking himself into a puddle of mud today.”
Though he said this, he still raised his bowl and drank together with Su Xiaomo.
After all, in his previous life he was an authentic Shandong person—at the drinking table, one was bold and refused no one!
Besides.
Spiritual energy could dispel alcohol.
As long as he didn’t want to get drunk, it didn’t matter how much he drank!
“Sect Leader!”
Xiao Zuiji raised his bowl, saying, “This disciple toasts you with this cup, and also hopes the sect will prosper day by day and become the strongest sect on the Xingyun Continent.”
Su Xiaomo laughed, saying, “Junior Brother Xiao spoke incorrectly—it should be the strongest sect, not sect!”
“Penalty drink, penalty drink!”
Li Fei and Tian Qi hurriedly joined in the commotion.
Xiao Zuiji, rather embarrassed, drank two large bowls in succession. Unable to hold his liquor well, his face immediately flushed red.
When he won the sect grand competition championship in Liyang City, he had gotten drunk, hugging a wine jar and crying his heart out—that was an emotional release from bearing five years of grievance.
Now drunk again, his face overflowed with smiles.
Because there were no more grievances, no more dejection—there was only a stronger heart.
Pouring chicken soup and training him, making the extremely depressed and sunken Xiao Zuiji stand up again—this was what Jun Changxiao was happy to see.
“Sect Leader.”
Li Qingyang held up wine, saying, “This disciple toasts you with this cup.”
If he hadn’t encountered Jun Changxiao, his life would have ended outside Qingyang City, and he wouldn’t have today’s achievements.
Other disciples successively toasted, expressing their admiration for the sect leader.
In a short while.
Jun Changxiao had drunk several dozen bowls of wine.
Although he periodically used spiritual power to dissolve some of the alcohol, the intoxication still invaded his consciousness.
“Come, come!”
Su Xiaomo drunkenly took a bowl of wine, putting her arm around Li Fei’s shoulder, saying, “We brothers will have one together.”
“How is one enough?”
“You tell me how many!”
“At least six—that’s auspicious!”
“Wow, you’ve got guts. Come, come, let’s do six then!”
Su Xiaomo and Li Fei started competing, the two placing ten large bowls on the table, then filling them all with wine.
“They’re going at it!”
Disciples gathered around to watch the excitement.
“Glug! Glug!”
Su Xiaomo and Li Fei each stood on a chair, then began drinking bowl after bowl boldly.
“Two senior brothers.”
Li Shangtian heckled, saying, “One bowl of wine is more expensive than a pound of meat—please don’t spill any!”
“Pfft!”
Li Fei couldn’t hold back and directly sprayed out wine, which splashed entirely on his face.
“Hahaha!”
“Ahahaha!”
The disciples laughed until they bent over backwards.
Jun Changxiao held a bottle of wine, half-reclining on the steps in front of the main hall, watching the disciples play to their hearts’ content, a smile rising at the corners of his mouth.
He wanted to build the strongest sect.
He also wanted to build a joyful and warm home.
At present, he had the joyful and warm home, but there was still a very long road to walk before reaching the strongest sect.
Not everyone was drinking.
For instance Lu Qianqian, for instance Ye Xingchen, and for instance Zhou Hong.
Although the three didn’t drink, standing by the tables, the cheerful atmosphere around them was also influencing their hearts.
Especially Ye Xingchen.
Watching fellow disciples drink without restraint, watching the genuine smiles that appeared on their faces, he thought to himself, “In my past life, when did I ever see such a happy sect?”
Wine flowed freely.
Jun Changxiao turned on the sound system, and to the musical accompaniment, disciples danced around the bonfire.
“Sect Leader.”
Lu Qianqian walked over, standing before the steps, saying, “Relaxing our guard like this is somewhat inappropriate, isn’t it?”
“It’s fine.”
Jun Changxiao took a sip of wine, saying, “No one can break in…”
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud sound came.
The disciples who were dancing all stopped, their gazes showing surprise.
“Snap!”
Jun Changxiao turned off the sound system, stood up, and quickly dissolved the alcohol with spiritual energy, the entire person immediately becoming incomparably clear-headed.
Boom! Boom!
Right at this moment, two more loud sounds came.
They could see the formation that had been hidden in space gradually manifesting—clearly, it was being attacked.
Lu Qianqian furrowed her brows, saying, “The Demonic Malice Sect people have arrived.”
“They really are fast.”
Jun Changxiao strode forward and opened the crimson red gate.
At the mountain gate steps’ entrance, a man wearing black practical combat attire scratched his head, saying, “Didn’t expect this small Iron Bones Sect to even have formation protection.”
Who was this person?
Jiang the King of Hell, Beggar Jiang!
Still at dusk thousands of miles away, he had rushed here so quickly—his speed could be called quite fast.
Jun Changxiao said, “Who might you be?”
Jiang Xie raised his head, tousled his disheveled black hair, and smiled, saying, “Demonic Malice Sect, Jiang Xie.”
“Creak.”
The gate directly closed, and Jun Changxiao’s voice came through: “Sorry, our Iron Bones Clanging Sect does not welcome people from the Demonic Malice Sect. Please return.”
Jiang Xie grinned, saying, “Boy, is it because you have a defensive formation that you’re so unafraid?”
“Swish!”
As he spoke, his right fist raised.
Streams of spiritual power visible to the naked eye instantly surged from all directions, then fiercely bombarded forward.
“Bang!”
The force of this punch was at least over a million pounds, quite explosive, but when it bombarded the sect protection grand formation, it didn’t cause the slightest ripple.
Jiang Xie was a bit dumbfounded.
His earlier force had already condensed to 2 million pounds—even if he couldn’t break the formation, at least give him some face and shake a bit!
“This Iron Bones Sect’s defensive formation is quite strong.” Jiang Xie rubbed his hands together, yet he also smiled, saying, “However, for me, it’s quite challenging.”
“Whoosh whoosh!”
He released magnificent demonic energy from his body, then under the control of his spiritual thought, it instantly transformed into fists that bombarded the formation barrier.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
A series of explosive sounds came, like firecrackers.
However, after the wild bombardment, Jiang Xie grabbed his hair and collapsed, saying, “What the hell kind of formation is this—I’ve bombarded it dozens of times and there’s no reaction!”
There was a reaction.
With that series of bombardments just now, the originally slightly blurry sect protection grand formation had become increasingly clear.
The disciples within the sect could see the arc-shaped formation barrier appearing in the sky above.
“Darlings.”
Jun Changxiao clapped his hands, saying, “It’s getting late. Everyone go back and rest.”
“Yes!”
The disciples cleaned up the martial training ground a bit, then returned to the inner courtyard to sleep.
Although bombardment sounds occasionally came from outside during the night, they slept extraordinarily soundly.
This was because they had trained for too long and had relaxed by drinking and playing.
Jun Changxiao also slept beautifully.
The next day when he got up and opened the crimson red gate, he saw that fellow called Jiang Xie still standing in front of the mountain gate, his eyeballs filled with blood vessels.
This wasn’t from staying up all night.
This was from being angry that he bombarded all night and couldn’t break through the formation!
“Boom!”
Jiang Xie fiercely bombarded the barrier again with a force still at two to three million pounds, but he still couldn’t shake it in the slightest. Finally, he squatted on the ground, clutching his hair with a face full of despair.