Snapping out of his inner thoughts, Red turned to Patriarch Devure.
"My apologies, Patriarch Devure. My wife can be a bit possessive sometimes, please don't mind it. As for your question, I can't promise you anything, but I can meet your granddaughter and we'll see what happens."
Patriarch Devure barely managed to collect himself after that scary stare. Who was this woman!? How could she be so scary? He felt that he was just a step away from death. To be able to give him such a terrifying feeling of oppression without releasing her aura, she must have been a strong Martial Emperor! Even the Empress never gave him such a strong feeling of oppression.
After hearing Red's reply, he was scared even more, he hurriedly looked back at Eve to see her expression. When he saw that she didn't react much and was looking at Red without paying attention to him, he breathed a sigh of relief again. Now he didn't know if he should feel happy or scared about his granddaughter.
"Okay, I will introduce her to you later, this banquet will be the perfect opportunity." In the end he decided to gamble. As an old and strong cultivator he knew that, sometimes, you must take big risks to get big rewards.
Red nodded and swept his gaze over the rest of the people.
"Well, do you guys have anything to discuss with me now? Why are you all so silent?"
Was this guy messing with them? Who in their right minds would dare to speak now in fear of offending him or his wife!? Earlier they all felt shivers running down their spines when they looked at Eve, even though she wasn't looking at them, they still felt terrified.
"... Cough. Patriarch Vaelanor, are you informed about the entrance of the secret realm that will appear in the territory of our Empire?"
In the end, Patriarch Quinn finally gathered some courage and spoke.
"Yes, Aeriel told me about it earlier today."
!!!!!!
What!? Did he just call the Empress by her name? And not even by her full name? All of them were petrified and franticly looked around to see if the Empress was nearby. Not seeing any trace of her, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Y-young Patriarch Vaelanor! Even if you are a Martial Emperor now, it's still not wise to call Her Majesty by her name so easily!"
The Patriarch Devure hurriedly spoke. He was worried for this young man! Even if he was a Martial Emperor now, Her Majesty was still a Martial Emperor at the peak of the 3rd-stage! Even the emperors of other empires must politely address her as The Empress Aeriel!
"Hahahaha, relax. She herself told me to call her by her first name so there is no need to worry."
!? The Empress herself told you to call her by her first name? Everyone around opened their mouths in disbelief. What is happening today!? So many shocking events in one day, their hearts couldn't withstand all that!
Red laughed inwardly. He wondered what their reaction would be if they knew that he addressed her as "little phoenix" and "honey" earlier. Or what if they knew that she even promised him a date?
"So, what did you want to say about the secret realm? I know it's about to open but I have no other details about it. Let's finish this over with so we can go and enjoy the banquet!"
Red was getting bored in this room with these old men. Couldn't they do anything but stare in shock at everything he said? He felt like he was an elementary school teacher asking kids questions that were meant for high-schoolers. Were they renting their tongues per minute?
If he knew that he would waste so much time in a room full of some old men who were blankly looking at him, he would rather have stayed home to cuddle with Eve. At least there were Eve and Catherine here, right? At least he was not alone in a room with old men.
'Sigh...'
[Host, what did you expect? You keep dropping shocking facts at them, you already turned their worldviews upside-down.]
'They are just a bunch of stuck-up old men! Why would I care for their narrow worldviews? Frogs at the bottom of the well! This young master can't be bothered with them anymore. If they don't hurry and state their purpose this young master will be sure to fetch a belt to broaden their horizons!'
'Damn, it feels good to speak like those young masters from novels. Next, I just need to cultivate my dao of shamelessness to their level for an even better result!'
[Host, your dao of shamelessness is reaching new heights by itself, there is no need to cultivate it!]
"T-this... It's like this. This specific secret realm opens once every 10,000 years. There are records of the last 3 openings in the library of the Arcadia Clan, and each time it opened in the same place exactly 10,000 years apart. This secret realm was left there by a strong cultivator from the Celestial Realm."
Seeing the impatience on Red's face, Patriarch Quinn hurriedly spoke.
"And?"
"A-and... And this secret realm harbors many spiritual plants that are extremely rare. Some of them can be used to concoct pills to help Martial Kings to advance to the Martial Emperor realm, and some can even help Martial Emperors to advance. But the rarest herb inside is the Divine Soul Nurturing Grass! Only one appears in this realm each time and it can greatly help Martial Emperors to ascend to the Celestial Realm!"
"And?"
"And... And this herb... Wait!? Aren't you interested in this at all!?" The Patriarch Quinn practically roared in disbelief!
First he needed to overcome his shock of the previous news he heard. And just when he collected himself to speak about the amazing secret realm, he found out that the other party didn't seem to be interested at all! Even when hearing about the Divine Soul Nurturing Grass! He was now questioning his sanity once again.
"Damn you! Will you finish your story to the end once!? Quickly finish what you want to say!"
Red was seriously losing his patience by now. What secret realm? What Divine Soul Nurturing Grass!? That cheap stuff can be conjured by him with a wave of his hand! Why would he be interested in this? He would rather go to enjoy good food and drinks at the banquet and maybe chase some ladies.
"T-t-this herb is sought after by all the empires around us! All of the Martial Emperors in the world will come to fight over this! Our empire and our families might be in danger by then!"
The Patriarch Quinn was both startled and angered by now. This was a serious topic! Okay!? This concerned all of their lives! Couldn't you patiently listen and show some interest when talking about this?
"And when is this realm going to appear?"
"Nobody knows the exact date but it can be as soon as a couple of weeks from now and a year at the latest!"
"Huuuh? Weeks? A year? Are you being serious right now? From the panic in your voice I thought it's going to appear tomorrow!"
Red was really questioning his decisions of coming here by now. Are these old guys insane? Weeks? A year? Who would care about something that far away?
[Host, calm down! These people are hundreds of years old! In their eyes, a few weeks or a year is as soon as tomorrow.]
'As I said, just a bunch of stuck-up old men!'
While Red was inwardly venting his frustrations, everyone else around was baffled by him once again! Was this guy serious? He didn't care about this urgent thing at all? They didn't know what to say anymore.
"Listen now, very carefully. I'm now a Martial Emperor at the peak of the 3rd-stage. This gorgeous, lovely woman beside me, my wife Eve, is also a Martial Emperor at the peak of 3rd-stage. Our Empress, Aeriel, is also a Martial Emperor at the peak of the 3rd-stage. Tell me, what's there to worry about?"
!!!!!!
What did he say!? He was at the peak of the 3rd-stage? And his wife was at the peak too? Some of them stared at the ceiling trying to see the sky through it. They cultivated for hundreds of years and barely reached the Martial King realm. And this guy who just came out of his dippers is a peak 3rd-stage Martial Emperor!? They felt like they lived all their lives for nothing.
"... You... you... Are you serious!?"
"Yes. Dead serious. Now, if you have nothing more to say, can we please go back to the banquet? I need a drink after all this talking!"
Others didn't doubt his words anymore. There was no reason for him to lie to them, right? He already proved his cultivation as a Martial Emperor earlier and lying about his actual stage, at this point, was completely unnecessary.
"Alright."
Finally, they started walking towards the exit of the private room to join the banquet.
"This... Patriarch Vaelanor, as a guest of honor of tonight's banquet, would you be willing to give a short speech after we enter? We would also like to publicly announce the status of your family and your cultivation realm."
".... Sure, whatever, just hurry up. I am already bored to death!" Red didn't even care anymore.
......
The banquet hall was full of people at this time. Just 3 hours ago all of these guests received urgent invitations to the banquet and, since it was a Friday, all of them happily arrived. At the moment guests were standing in groups around tables, drinking wine and discussing with friends and family.
Everyone was in a good mood and was waiting for the members of the Quinn family to announce the reason for this banquet. They all knew that there must have been a reason for a banquet on such a short notice. Even though 4 great families often held banquets, it was still unusual for a banquet to be organized suddenly.
Just then, some of them noticed the people coming downstairs and they exclaimed.
"Look, the Patriarchs of 3 great families are all here! There is even the Young Master of the 4th great family with them!"
"Shh, you may have not heard yet, but I received some news earlier. That young man is now the Patriarch of the Vaelanor family!"
"So what? Doesn't everyone know that he is just a waste? Even if he became the Patriarch now, it doesn't change a thing. It's just a matter of time until his family drops from the status they held so long."
"Hush, based on the news I received today, it seems that this young man is not so simple as we thought. But I'll need to wait and see. The news was vague and might be false, but it's still better to be careful. Look, do you see that other Patriarchs are walking one step behind that young man? There must be something going on."
Hushed conversations continued, this time directed at the group of men and women walking down the stairs.
Red could easily hear everyone around. His hearing has been enhanced countless times as the Martial Emperor and progenitor. Still, he didn't care. Now he viewed most people around just as mosquitoes buzzing around, not worthy of notice unless they tried to bite.
While walking downstairs, Patriarch Quinn issued some commands to one of his subordinates and the man hurriedly ran somewhere.
Not long after, a beautiful young lady with striking blonde hair and blue eyes stepped onto the stage, holding a microphone as she slightly bowed. Between her distinct blonde hair and her role as the announcer for the banquet, the guests instantly recognized her as a descendant of the Quinn family.
"Greetings, dear guests. We sincerely thank all of you for attending this banquet on such a short notice. First, I will remind you that our Quinn family will host an auction at the East City Auction Hall in two days, on Saturday. The admission of treasures that you may wish to display at our auction will be continue to be accepted until the auction starts."
Many guests were excited by this news. The Quinn family was famous for holding the biggest auctions in the whole empire and they would usually hold just one auction a year. This year's auction was already scheduled for this date and many guests were eagerly waiting for it.
"Next, our Patriarch has something to announce."
* * * * * *
[A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! If you have any suggestions, please comment.]