The Jade Horde traveled around the outer edge of the hall with Gao Yahui and greeted those who wanted to meet them. Those that were being standoffish he ignored, they were either small and weak or fair weather friends. The small groups had to choose their friends wisely, because if they befriended the wrong group that groups enemies might use them as an example. Sage couldn’t really blame the small groups for protecting themselves and he didn’t really care much for the groups that would only befriend you when it was in their own self interest.

After doing a lap, Sage was already tired of the whole affair. He kept King by his side, but gave the Seven Stars free reign. Perhaps in smaller groups or as individuals they could socialise or befriend more people than the Jade Horde could as a group. Sage was tired of all the socialising and so he just went over to the buffet and made himself a plate.

I didn’t think I’d ever see a buffet in this world. I should send the idea over to Wan Ling… or maybe partner with the Kang Clan.

After filling a plate he returned to where Gao Yahui was with his group, “Mister Gao. Are the tables off limits?”

The old man next to Gao Yahui, Uncle Shu, seemed to almost turn green. His face scrunched up and he looked almost nauseous. Gao Yahui actually laughed a little at the question and then pointed out the etiquette of the event, “There’s no rule against it, but until the hosts take their seats, it would be rude for the guests to.”

Sage nodded, the explanation made sense. It perfectly explained the hundreds of people milling around on their feet and not daring to sit down. Most of them refrained from the buffet or just took little bits here and there. From what he’d gathered of the Kang Clan’s personality so far, Sage ignored the advice from Gao Yahui and picked one of the biggest tables and pulled out a chair. He set his plate down, an action which suddenly garnered more than a few looks. He didn’t sit down, but he’d still used a table and immediately rumors started to spring up of his foolishness.

Sage ignored them, fetching a jug of wine, cups, and utensils. He set the table for himself and then sat down. He bowed his head towards the Kang Clan members that had glanced over to him and then started to eat. With his beast body, he could consume far more than an ordinary human could. Most cultivators didn’t even need to eat at all, and many cultivation techniques would ask that their practitioners refrain from it altogether. They would use the energy of the heavens and earth, and their refined Qi to supply all the energy their bodies needed. As those who sought immortality, they worked to overcome the limitations of the body, and that included basic bodily functions and needs like eating, sleeping, breathing, and of course using the bathroom.

As such, eating and drinking was usually only done for special occasions with the most rare and extraordinary dishes or wines. There were also cultivator chefs who prepared the bodies of demonic beasts for consumption. Body refining cultivators received great benefit from such meals, but such chefs were pretty uncommon outside of the sects that practiced body refining. A cultivator eating such large quantities of normal food was an unusual sight, and even stranger given that he was, in their eyes, being extremely rude to the host.

The Kang Clan members that had noticed Sage’s actions bumped some of the other Kang Clan members and before long it looked like the whole group had noticed what he was doing. Sage even finished his first plate and went over to the buffet to get another. He pushed aside the first plate, that was piled with bones and other scraps, then sat down to keep eating. He truly just treated it as a buffet. More murmurs started in the crowd about his display of rudeness to their hosts.

Instead of being insulted, many of the Kang Clan left from the central part of the hall and walked to the buffet. They also filled plates and brought out jugs of wine. Sitting down at the tables they did exactly what Sage was doing. Eating and drinking huge quantities. Astounded, a few others in the general crowd quickly joined in, grabbing plates and bringing food to take a seat. Most of them were acting half-heartedly, thinking that the leader of the Jade Horde had found a way to flatter the Kang Clan and they wanted to be an ‘early adopter’ of the trend.

Sage didn’t seem to care about what else was going on, just drinking and eating to his heart’s content for the next hour. Most of the other’s couldn’t keep up with such a thing and only a handful outside of the Kang Clan could eat much. Most of those in the Kang Clan also didn’t eat for the full hour long, just having a plate or two and then returning to the gathering to socialize. Sage was enjoying himself, he only ever got to eat his fill when he was in his beast form and hunting demonic beasts.

After an hour had passed, Sage was feeling quite good. He drank a whole jug of wine and only when he remembered the last time he got drunk, did he slow down and moderate himself. There was no way he wanted to pass out and wake up taking the fall for another murder he didn’t commit. At that point the Kang Clan cleared out from the center area and started taking seats at one side of the hall, all of them finding tables and sitting down. Some of them took this opportunity to grab plates and start eating, while others looked to be fired up and ready to go.

Before he could wonder what they were so excited about, one of the Kang Clan, an Elder from his cultivation level, walked out and cleared his throat, “Welcome to all our esteemed guests. Please enjoy a demonstration from some of our younger generation.”

The Kang Clan Elder walked back out and now that everyone was sitting in the space where the Kang Clan had congregated was now quite obviously a martial arena or training grounds, with the many tables arranged as a stadium to watch the show. One of the younger Kang Clan members, someone in the third rank, walked onto the stage. A huge mace appeared in his hands and he started to swing it around. The heavy head made huge sweeping arcs and every so often the cultivator would abandon his stance and allow the huge mace to carry him around like the weapon and man were dancing together.

Sage was impressed with the display of skill, and also the weapon wielding technique he’d never seen before. After a few minutes, the cultivator left the ‘stage’ and another walked up. This one used a spear, one that could change its size. Or well, it looked like it did. Actually, it was really just an enchanted staff, one that could create a blade of energy at the tip. The wielder was quite skilled and was able to change the size and shape of the energy blade. With skilled use he could make it many times longer or curve around defenses, or at least that’s what Sage took from the demonstration. The man was alone and merely stabbing and slashing at the air.

More cultivators came up to demonstrate one after another until finally the Elder walked up again and made another announcement, “I hope you were all pleased to see the exquisite skill of the Kang Clan youth. Now, we shall move on. It’s time for the husband selection!”

Wait… the what?