"What matter? I don't quite follow." Bingtang frowned slightly and answered, her tone flat and cool.

"Heh, it seems the Ice Palace Master is too busy to remember. What of the matter of the young sect master wishing to take you as his young madam—have you considered it?" The Profound Elixir Sect's envoy spoke bluntly, entirely unbothered. "The young sect master has already persuaded the Old Ancestor. With the Old Ancestor himself overseeing the furnace, the success rate for the Ice-Heart Jade-Bone Pill will rise greatly! By then, the Ice Palace Master shall obtain exactly what she desires…"

"Young madam? You mean concubine, don't you?" Bingtang gave a cold humph, then looked at the Profound Elixir Sect's envoy and said mildly, "Save your foolish dreams. Even if I were to be a concubine, I would never go to the Profound Elixir Sect…"

Somehow, Bingtang suddenly recalled the business of becoming Wei Zhao's teeny-teeny-teeny-teeny concubine. She was furious about it too, yet she did not loathe it—a wholly different frame of mind from the way she regarded the Profound Elixir Sect's young sect master.

"Since the Ice Palace Master gives so little face, then I can only report as much to the young sect master. But as for the Ice-Heart Jade-Bone Pill, allow me to offer the Ice Palace Master a word of advice: without our Profound Elixir Sect acting, it is likewise a foolish dream!" The envoy was somewhat irritated at heart. Before setting out, the young sect master had instructed him to do his utmost to see the matter through, yet he had never expected Bingtang's stance to be so airtight, not the slightest hint of relenting—leaving all his prepared persuasions with nowhere to go.

He had prepared for ages beforehand, and before he could even begin, he had been cut off at the pass. How could he not be irritated? Thus the Profound Elixir Sect's envoy began to harbor a deep grudge against the Ice Palace Master in his heart. Recalling the young sect master's words—if the Ice Palace Master gave no face, then take the chance to give her a knock and let her know that the Profound Elixir Sect was no longer the Profound Elixir Sect of old, but an existence on par with top-tier sects like the Ice Palace and the Tomorrow-After-Tomorrow Sect!

The Ice Palace Master frowned. Had anyone else dared speak to her in such a manner, she would long since have taken his life. But with the Profound Elixir Sect's envoy, she truly felt somewhat helpless—this man really could not be touched. In recent years the Profound Elixir Sect had developed with startling speed, allying itself with many ancient families and ancient sects through ceaseless marriage ties, and its influence could not be underestimated.

And though the Ice Palace's power was no small thing either, it could not afford to make an enemy of the Profound Elixir Sect at this moment. So the Ice Palace Master could only give a casual wave of her hand, sending a streak of true qi slicing across the envoy's cheek like an invisible slap. At once the envoy's face burned with searing pain.

Though she could not kill him on the spot, there was no problem in administering a rebuke. He was merely an envoy of the Profound Elixir Sect, not its young sect master; the Ice Palace Master had no need to give him face. So long as she did not kill him, she believed the Profound Elixir Sect could only swallow this bitter loss in silence.

Sure enough, the Profound Elixir Sect's envoy nearly staggered and rolled under the table. Even if the Ice Palace Master had not meant to slap him to death, how could a mere Earth-rank expert withstand the force of a Heaven-rank blow? The envoy's cheek swelled up hugely at once. He shot the Ice Palace Master a look of hatred and rage, yet dared not make a scene.

He was no fool. No one else had seen the Ice Palace Master slap him; the methods of a Heaven-rank expert were too deft, and he could only swallow the mute loss. But if he stood up now to make trouble for the Ice Palace Master, then in full view of everyone he would be the one who started it—and if he were beaten then, even crippled, there would be nowhere to seek justice.

So he could only secretly circulate his true qi to dissolve the pain in his face, and casually fish a bottle of pills from his robes, swallowing one to reduce swelling and stop the pain. Otherwise, a dignified envoy of the Profound Elixir Sect getting his face slapped—were anyone to see it, he would be laughed to death.

"Whoo—" The Profound Elixir Sect's envoy drew a cold breath in secret, thinking: Bingtang, very well, very well indeed. Just you wait—I will not let you off easily.

And the birthday feast began at this moment. After Tang Lingtou had delivered a long, flowing speech of gratitude, he announced the start of the feast and the presentation of gifts by the guests—much resembling the Kang family's birthday feast.

Representatives of all the Tang family's various relatives came forward in turn to present their gifts, which ranged from antiques to calligraphy and paintings—everything under the sun. The most welcome, of course, were spirit medicines and pills. In the blink of an eye it was the hidden You family's turn to present their gift.

The You family's representative was You Panhu. Someone of You Zhentian's standing would naturally not take the stage to present gifts in person, so You Panhu acted in his stead.

"Uncle-in-law, I offer birthday congratulations on behalf of the hidden You family. This is our gift list: fifteen Spirit-Gathering Pills, three Foundation-Establishing Pills, five Meridian-Unblocking Pills, five Minor Qi-Gathering Pills…" You Panhu recited a whole string of pill names—some of which, of course, had been refined with the Profound Elixir Sect's assistance. For pills like the Minor Qi-Gathering Pill, a Yellow-rank second-grade elixir, the hidden You family's failure rate in refining was very high.

The so-called Minor Qi-Gathering Pill was a lower-tier version of the Qi-Gathering Pill. Yet according to Zhang Liju, the Qi-Gathering Pill proper was already his simplified version—in truth, it was the Minor Qi-Gathering Pill. But the Minor Qi-Gathering Pill now referred to was of an even lower grade: it could only increase true qi, with no effect on advancing through bottlenecks. So such a thing merely added somewhat more true qi than the Spirit-Gathering Pill.

Even so, at the level of the hidden families, it was still a precious existence of the spirit-pill, wondrous-medicine tier.

"Good, good, excellent!" Tang Lingtou was overjoyed when he heard the names of these pills. "Good nephew, stand here and wait a moment. Today, in this happy hour, I have another great matter to announce!"

"Yes, Uncle-in-law!" You Panhu seemed to sense something; a flicker of delight crossed his eyes as he looked toward Tang Yun's table not far away… Clearly, his aunt's words from yesterday had taken effect, and his uncle-in-law had reached a decision on his side, preparing to betroth Tang Yun to him.

"Today is the great day of my father's eightieth birthday, and I too have a great joyous occasion—my daughter, lost to me for many years, has finally been found. The daughter of my third wife, Xiaoming, was lost back then at the hands of a wicked servant. All these years, not a moment has passed when I did not think of her…" Tang Lingtou lied without a blush; Wei Zhao truly wanted to hurl a wine bottle at him. Tang Lingtou went on: "Xiaoming, Tang Yun, both of you come up here…"