"Indeed, I didn't expect to meet Miss Summers here as well."
Ian Song responded with a broad smile. For Sherry Summers to appear here, she was clearly no ordinary auctioneer. Besides, her surname was Summers—she must be a high-ranking daughter of the Daxia Merchant Guild.
The manor was enormous, filled with numerous guards and beautiful maidservants.
Ian Song chose a small, elegant courtyard to settle in. Sherry Summers suggested hosting a welcome banquet for him, and Ian did not refuse.
The welcome banquet was arranged at Summer Tower, Dragonfang City's premier venue—also a property of the Daxia Merchant Guild.
Upon entering the top-floor private room at Summer Tower, Ian Song found that people were already inside—five men and three women, all with extraordinary presence.
Sherry Summers pointed to a white-clothed young man with a proud look and said, "Young Master Chu, let me introduce you. This is Brian Zhang, Young Master Zhang. His older brother Adrian Zhang is ranked 90th on the Soaring Dragon Ranking."
"Hello, Young Master Zhang," Ian Song greeted him with a smile.
"Mm." Brian Zhang nodded arrogantly, offering nothing more.
Seeing this, Sherry Summers' eyes grew cold; she was clearly displeased, but she held her temper. She then pointed to another young man in green robes and introduced, "This is Victor Wang, the Green-Robe Swordsman. Young Master Wang's swordsmanship is truly exceptional."
"Hello, Young Master Wang," Ian Song greeted him with a smile as well.
"Young Master Chu, you are too polite," Victor Wang replied, standing up and returning the greeting with a gentle smile.
After that, Sherry Summers introduced Ian Song to three other men and three women. Overall, they were all standouts among the younger generation—except for Brian Zhang, everyone else was quite courteous.
Among the three women, Rhea Yan was not a martial artist, but an Immortal-Dao cultivator.
In this world, humans include martial artists, Immortal-Dao cultivators, and Divine Path practitioners.
The Immortal-Dao realm is divided into four stages: Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit to Void, and Merging Void with Dao.
Rhea Yan had already reached mid-stage Refining Qi into Spirit, making her strength roughly equal to a Sigilforge Realm martial artist.
In addition, another woman, Moira Ji, was a Divine Path practitioner.
The Divine Path is a special cultivation system: its practitioners spread faith among the populace, collect belief power, and then the god they worship bestows strength upon them.
The Divine Path realm hierarchy is rather vague, since the gods they worship vary in strength and thus the power granted differs. The rough divisions are: trainee priest, priest, high priest, earth priest, sky priest, holy priest, divine priest, sacred priest, god-attendant, and divine envoy.
According to Sherry's introduction, Moira Ji's church worships Vulcanus, God of Flame, one of the more powerful deities among the gods.
As a Sky Priest, Moira Ji's strength is very close to the Sun-Soul Realm.
The third woman is named Hannah Chen, a martial artist with late-stage Sigilforge cultivation. According to Sherry, she's the second daughter of the prominent Chen family and is extremely formidable, having once fought a Sun-Soul expert to a draw.
What's more, she's only twenty-two this year and is expected to join the Soaring Dragon Ranking in the future.
After everyone was introduced, Sherry said, "Let's all take our seats!"
Everyone stood up and headed toward the dining table.
"Young Master Chu, please take the—"
Before Sherry could finish her sentence, Brian Zhang plopped himself down in the seat of honor.
Although the seat of honor looks identical to the others, it represents prestige. Ian Song is ranked on the Soaring Dragon Ranking—even if it's only at one hundred, none of those present can compare. He is the most qualified to sit there, and as the guest of honor at this banquet, he should have the main seat.
But now Brian Zhang had taken the seat, not only disrespecting Sherry as the host, but also openly provoking Ian Song.
Ian had let Brian Zhang's earlier rudeness slide for Sherry's sake, but if he tolerated this again, he'd become a laughingstock by the end of the banquet—looked down on by everyone.
Still, he didn't explode right away—he simply glanced lightly at Sherry.
At this moment, Sherry was furious. The Daxia Merchant Guild genuinely wanted to befriend Evan Chu, so she'd deliberately invited several young elites to this welcome banquet—both to show the Guild's sincerity and to help Ian Song expand his network. After all, the Guild assumed Ian had risen from humble beginnings and likely lacked connections.
Originally, she hadn't planned to invite Brian Zhang, but Gordon Zhang, the Zhang family's second master and a business partner of the Guild, sent a special letter asking her to include Brian.
Sherry had never thought much of Brian Zhang. Although his cultivation was decent—late-stage Sigilforge—he lacked tact and was far inferior to Adrian Zhang.
Worse, he was self-satisfied and arrogant. Many people indulged him out of respect for the Zhang family and his elder brother Adrian, which only made him more conceited.
In his eyes, Ian Song's reputation for killing multiple Sun-Soul experts was just formation tricks—not real personal strength. So he looked down on Ian with obvious disdain.
Sherry held back her anger and said, "Young Master Zhang, today's banquet is in honor of Young Master Chu. The seat of honor should go to him."
"Is that so?"
Brian Zhang curled his lip, "Oh, really? Sorry, I had no idea. But since I'm already seated, I don't feel like moving. Evan Chu, why don't you just pick any seat?"
For a moment, everyone's gaze fell on Ian Song, waiting to see how he'd respond.
Sherry's face turned iron-blue with anger. If she'd known Brian Zhang would cause so much trouble, she never would have invited him. If Evan Chu misunderstood and thought the Daxia Merchant Guild was deliberately trying to embarrass him, it would be a disaster. The Guild wasn't afraid of him, but recruiting a young martial artist with such outstanding potential would be ideal.
Ian Song looked calmly at Brian Zhang and said, "Will you give up the seat yourself, or shall I throw you out?"
"What did you say?" Brian Zhang was genuinely surprised, not expecting Ian Song to speak to him like that.
"You heard me. Either you leave on your own, or I make you leave. If you go yourself, it's fine, but if I have to act, you won't look so good in front of everyone." Ian Song repeated, his voice calm but firm.
"How dare you!" Brian Zhang slammed the table, glaring at Ian Song with hatred. "You just lucked your way onto the Soaring Dragon Ranking—what right do you have to disrespect me?"
"So you're refusing to leave?" Ian Song asked again, his voice growing colder.
A few of the others felt a spark of anticipation. They'd heard of Ian Song's reputation but had never seen him fight. Brian Zhang might be arrogant, but his strength was undeniable—he was among the best present.
"So what if I am?" Brian Zhang replied coldly.
"Good."
With a light shout, Ian Song reached out to grab Brian Zhang. The move looked simple, but as his hand extended, Brian suddenly felt the air around him grow thick and viscous, as if he were trapped in a swamp.
"Hmph!"
He snorted coldly, shook his divine sigil within, and instantly broke free from the sticky air. Then he raised his hand and jabbed a finger toward Ian Song's palm like lightning.