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**
Hearing his words, Xuan Kongzi nodded and then walked toward the outside of the main hall.
After Xuan Kongzi stood up, the Cao Clan's Clan Leader once again cupped his hands toward the others in the hall and said, "Everyone, please follow me."
After speaking, he also walked toward the exit.
Hearing this, Lin Feng and the others all stood up and quickly followed behind. Once outside, the group walked for more than ten minutes, turning through several corridors before arriving at the entrance of another luxurious venue.
Under the servants' guidance, they entered the wide building one after another. Inside, Lin Feng swept his gaze around and noticed that this place was just as spacious.
At this moment, many tables and chairs had been arranged throughout the large hall. A large number of Cao Clan servants were moving in and out, busy with various tasks.
However, just as Lin Feng stepped inside, he immediately noticed a charming silhouette not far ahead. She was speaking with several unfamiliar young men and women he didn't know at all.
"No wonder I couldn't find her earlier. So she was here."
Seeing that enchanting figure, Lin Feng couldn't help thinking to himself. At the same time, when Lin Feng's group entered, those young people also turned their heads to look over.
Cao Ying was among them. Her beautiful eyes swept across the group led by Xuan Kongzi and the Cao Clan's Clan Leader. When her gaze landed on Lin Feng, Cao Ying instantly recalled what her father had told her.
A faint blush flashed across her face.
However, she quickly suppressed that trace of emotion, and with most eyes in the venue focused on Xuan Kongzi and the Cao Clan's Clan Leader, no one else noticed the change in her expression.
Then, Cao Ying put away her other emotions, walked forward, and greeted, "Father, Master."
Hearing her, the two of them smiled and nodded.
After that, Cao Ying turned her gaze to Lin Feng, smiling sweetly as she said, "Young Master Lin Feng, congratulations. You managed to win yourself a beautiful bride at the Dan Clan. But I thought you'd be stuck at the Dan Clan accompanying your little fiancée and wouldn't be able to come here."
"Hehe. Miss Cao Ying, you're teasing me. I only received Uncle Dan's generosity, that's all."
Hearing her words, Lin Feng let out an awkward laugh before replying. He didn't know why, but he felt that her tone carried a faint hint of unhappiness. But in this situation, he couldn't just ask her about it, so he could only give a stiff reply.
Not only Lin Feng sensed something, even Dan Xuan beside him slightly furrowed his brows. From her tone, he seemed to pick up a trace of hostility. That hostility felt like… it was directed toward his little sister.
"I'm probably overthinking it. Those two were rivals from the beginning, always trying to outdo each other. A bit of hostility is normal."
Dan Xuan shook his head, pushing aside those thoughts.
As for the Cao Clan's Clan Leader, when he heard his daughter mention Lin Feng's engagement to that Dan Clan girl, he couldn't help sighing in his heart, lamenting how fast that old Dan codger acted.
Then he suppressed his wandering thoughts, looked around at the others, and chuckled, "Come, everyone, take your seats."
As he spoke, after arranging Xuan Kongzi's seat—the most important guest present he placed Cao Ying beside himself.
Lin Feng was placed right next to Cao Ying. Seeing his own seat positioned far away from Lin Feng and Cao Ying, Dan Xuan slightly narrowed his eyes. He felt strongly that the Cao Clan… definitely had something planned!
After the Cao Clan's Clan Leader, the central figure, took his seat, the others were also guided by the Cao Clan servants and sat down one after another.
However, what felt strange to Lin Feng was that at this banquet, Cao Ying simply sat down without doing anything. Meanwhile, Cao Xiu — someone he had only met once — was the one running around taking care of everything.
"That's odd. Could it be that the Cao Clan is planning to groom Cao Xiu as the future clan leader?"
Seeing this, Lin Feng couldn't help feeling surprised.
Because whether it was in terms of Dou Qi or alchemy, Cao Ying was far more outstanding than Cao Xiu. If they were choosing someone to train as the future clan leader, shouldn't they pick the more capable one?
After all, Cao Ying could already refine two-colored eighth-tier pills. Even her Dou Qi — judging from the aura coming from her — had likely just broken through to Nine-Star Dou Zong recently.
With her talent, she might be able to break past the Dou Zong barrier and reach the Dou Zun realm within three years.
As for Cao Xiu, although reaching the level of a high-grade seventh-tier alchemist and Six-Star Dou Zong at his age was already quite impressive, compared to Cao Ying, the gap was still obvious.
"Cao Ying, why do I feel like something is off with you today?"
Thinking of her expression earlier, Lin Feng noticed that everyone at the table was engaged in their own conversations. He quietly leaned toward her delicate ear and whispered.
"What are you doing? Stay away from me!"
Seeing him suddenly get so close, a hint of panic flashed across Cao Ying's porcelain-like pretty face. She scanned her surroundings while lowering her voice.
"Hehe, I just didn't want you to mishear."
Lin Feng grinned as he replied casually.
Hearing such a lousy excuse, Cao Ying couldn't help rolling her charming eyes at him. She wasn't deaf. Even for someone without Dou Qi, at such a close distance she could hear perfectly fine.
As for Lin Feng, he naturally ignored her eye roll and continued, "You still haven't answered my question."
Hearing him press on, Cao Ying sighed helplessly. "What emotion could I possibly have wrong? If anything, it's you. So then, how was it? What's it like being with the Dan Clan's genius girl?"
As she spoke, Cao Ying nudged him with her elbow, her expression turning curious.
"Don't talk nonsense. Dan Chen and I are only engaged, not married. How could anything like that happen?"
Lin Feng said with righteous seriousness.
If Dan Chen were here, she would probably be shocked speechless. If she hadn't reacted quickly that night, she might've really gotten… well, something would have happened.
But now Lin Feng's expression looked as if that night never even existed. When Cao Ying heard that he still hadn't done "that" with Dan Chen, for some unknown reason, her pink lips curled up just a tiny bit.
Lin Feng didn't notice her reaction and instead said irritably, "And you're a girl. Why are you saying things like that?"
"So you do know. Yet back at the Pill Gathering, you actually dared to force a kiss on me. If someone had seen that, I'd like to see how you'd explain yourself!"
Thinking of that day, Cao Ying's pretty face uncontrollably turned red again. Although nothing else happened besides the kiss…
For a pure maiden like her, the whole thing was still extremely thrilling.
**
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