"A mere disciple — how can he be so ill-mannered as to call our sect's Dao-son by his bare name?"

Inside the Mountain-Moving Sect the faces of a good many elders changed a little. Pan Boyang's name was certainly no small one; he stood within the top forty of the Dao Weapon Register, and on strength alone he was qualified to be a Dao-son of one of the Boundless Dao-Sovereign Sect's branches.

But whatever the reason for it, the man was not a Dao-son yet.

To come calling on a sect with an attitude as lofty as that, too idle even to keep up appearances, was simply to treat the Mountain-Moving Sect as a vassal of his Boundless Dao-Sovereign Sect!

There were plenty of powers in Xihong who wanted to climb the Boundless Dao-Sovereign Sect's high branch. But there was a difference in kind between being a sect they counted as a friend and being a dog they whistled up and shouted at.

If it was to be the latter… the Mountain-Moving Sect really had no need to give them that much face.

To put it unkindly, Beihong and Xihong lay a very long way apart, and however strong the Dao-Sovereign Sect might be, it would be hard for it to reach a hand into Xihong against the pressure of the North Dragon Palace.

"Quiet down."

Being Great Elder, Yang Yunheng was certainly the one to step forward in place of the Dao-son at an awkward moment like this.

Better an elder lose face than a future Sect Master.

Offending Pan Boyang now was not a sensible move. The young friend Shen had made a mortal enemy of him last time. If the Mountain-Moving Sect added fuel to that fire, this boy out of Beihong might well go home in a rage and truly fetch back two elders of his own… and that would be trouble.

"Go and invite the Nanhong Dao-sons to take a stroll about the outer gate, and keep them company against the tedium."

Yang Yunheng gave the elders a look. On one side a Beihong overlord,…