Chapter 83 (3/3): The Peach Banquet Begins, All the Seas Pay Tribute

At that moment, gods and immortals from all directions began to arrive.

Among the guests, Su Fu immediately spotted Taibai Jinxing.

He arrived riding a cloud, holding a whisk, exuding an immortal’s grace.

The moment he appeared, several fairy maidens respectfully greeted him and led him to the main seat.

Then came the Barefoot Immortal, striding confidently into the banquet, greeting everyone with open-hearted exuberance, drawing many curious looks.

Also present were the Blessing, Prosperity, and Longevity Three Stars, descending on a giant celestial crane.

Fuxing wore a bright red brocade robe, beaming warmly; Luxing was refined, holding a Ruyi scepter; Shouxing held a dragon-headed cane, white beard flowing.

These three perfectly symbolized longevity, fitting for the Peach Banquet.

Next were the representatives of the Four Sea Dragon Kings.

Legend said the Dragon Kings often presented treasures to the Queen Mother of the West and were thus frequently invited to the banquet.

However, this time none of the Dragon Kings themselves had come—only representatives from their respective waters.

Then the Eight Immortals made their entrance, each showcasing their unique talents and charisma, adding lively atmosphere to the banquet.

Suddenly, a dazzling golden light appeared as a priest from the Sun God Palace drove a fiery chariot through the venue, illuminating everything in its path.

The Moon Goddess and her maidens arrived in a silver jade wheel chariot, the moon palace maidens graceful and cold in demeanor.

Su Fu lingered her gaze on them a little longer.

With the gods and immortals all seated, the banquet grew even more vibrant.

“Brother Taibai, I heard there were unusual disturbances recently in Dongsheng Divine Continent. Is that true?”

Taibai Jinxing smiled faintly, “It is true, but we’ve already dispatched Heavenly Soldiers to investigate. There should be no major issue.”

Elsewhere, the Barefoot Immortal chatted cheerfully with Fuxing.

“Old Fu, your blessings just keep growing. The last time I descended to the mortal realm, I saw even more people offering sacrifices to you than before!”

Fuxing stroked his beard and laughed heartily, “No, no, it’s you, Old Chi, who’s popular. Every time you descend, people stop you for drinks!”

Meanwhile, a Moon Palace maiden whispered to He Xiangu, “Fairy, any progress on the longevity elixir you’ve been refining?”

He Xiangu sighed softly, “Still missing the final medicinal catalyst. Hopefully, the Peach Banquet will yield some results.”

Su Fu couldn’t help but marvel—cups clinking, celestial music drifting—the image of a peaceful and prosperous era.

From her vantage point, a quick scan revealed at least a thousand attendees.

‘So many people…’ she thought quietly, ‘I wonder how many are candidates.’

If this were before, she might have thought candidates made up a large portion.

But now, having seen the Land Deity’s survival tactics, she doubted that was the case.

The rules for scoring the National College Entrance Examination were complicated, primarily based on the number and level of anomalies defeated, plus hidden comprehensive scores.

Though hidden, after years of testing, many had deduced some patterns—such as a high-value criterion: whether the candidate survived.

If a candidate died during the exam, their existing scores would be heavily deducted, severely impacting their final results.

“So in that case…” Su Fu mused, “Even with over a thousand people, many non-Heavenly Realm candidates probably wouldn’t come to this Peach Banquet.”

The reasoning was simple.

First, candidates from the mortal realm or other continents might not even receive invitations, eliminating many.

Second, if candidates already had enough anomalies to defeat in their own maps, they had no reason to risk this chaotic event.

Death here meant heavy point loss—not worth it.

“If I had to guess, there might only be about a hundred candidates here at most.”

Every candidate who made it to the Peach Banquet was undoubtedly an elite from their faction, quality far exceeding quantity.

The majority were undoubtedly Heavenly Realm candidates.

Even if they held the lowest status, such as Xian Servants, they still had an advantage over others in the banquet.

Because they were familiar with the environment, knew the rules, and had legitimate reasons to appear throughout the venue.

But with advantages came disadvantages.

Candidates assigned to the Heavenly Realm map were also forced to participate in this Peach Banquet with no choice—one misstep, and it was total defeat.

High ability, high risk, high reward.

There were pros and cons, Su Fu thought, the Shen Yan AI really knew how to balance things.

While Su Fu observed the crowd, many also watched her silently.

Especially Chen Jing and Lin Mo, standing inconspicuously behind a distant pavilion.

Blending into the crowd, they focused their gaze on the figure surrounded by two divine beasts.

Su Fu stood between Qingluan and Cai Feng, the two divine beasts obediently clustered beside her.

She occupied the best position, basking in the admiration of many—a stark contrast to their own situations.

Chen Jing whispered, “The Seven Fairies must be Su Fu.”

In truth, they had suspected this earlier.

Qingluan had said only the Seven Fairies could enter the Peach Orchard.

If anyone had arrived in the Heavenly Realm map before Chen Jing, it had to be a few fairies—among them, one must be a candidate in disguise.

The Great Fairy was impossible—her status was too high to need a scapegoat.

As for the Sixth Fairy Maiden, she had already been in the Peach Orchard when Qingluan entered the map.

Candidates could not have such a privileged start, arranged so near the treasure trove—unless the Shen Yan AI played favorites, which would surely get reported.

So only the Seven Fairies remained a possibility.

When they deduced this, both were horrified.

Even now, it shocked them deeply.

That a candidate could impersonate a fairy so well, hiding their true identity in front of so many Heavenly Realm immortals—it sounded like a fairy tale.

Their teammate was even more incredulous, so they devised a plan to send those Second Star Ring candidates to test and prove it true.

But in doing so, they lost an extremely useful surveillance teammate.

Credit where it was due—Su Fu was indeed cunning and quick to respond.

Chen Jing clenched his teeth in hatred and said, “She once made me take the fall. This grudge must be avenged. Not only that, Lin Mo, she also stole all the peaches from the Peach Orchard. You know how rich those resources are and how crucial they are for us.”

He turned to Lin Mo, “What are you hesitating for?”

Lin Mo was silent for a moment, her gaze complex.

She looked at the purple-clad fairy figure in the distance, then at the divine beasts surrounding her, and finally lowered her eyes.

“Then… let’s proceed according to plan.”

‘What was the plan?’

At the height of the banquet, use Su Fu as bait to expose the identities of all candidates—or rather, their demon identities.

To the gods here, only demons could replace and impersonate immortals.

Once so many demon identities were revealed, chaos would surely erupt, sparking a massive battle.

In disorder lay their chance to seize opportunities.

No choice—because their assigned initial identities were inferior.

According to the strict hierarchy here, they had no advantage at all.

Like now, Su Fu only needed two birds as mascots to secure the best observation position.

Meanwhile, how many of their teammates were busy working?

On what grounds?

So, let there be chaos.

Only in chaos could one rise.

At that moment, Lin Mo suddenly whispered, “They’re coming.”

“Who’s coming?” Chen Jing snapped back to attention, following her gaze.

The highest-status candidates were arriving.

Su Fu also saw the commotion at the entrance.

First came the imposing Water Army, causing others to step aside as they dispersed throughout the venue—among them, Yuelun Yuan.

Then several familiar figures appeared one after another, gathering together: a youth in resplendent sunlit robes—none other than Zhou Tianhao from the Sun God Palace.

Beside him was a young man clad in bright red armor—Chu Mingyuan from the Fire God Palace.

And one of the Moon Palace maidens, Yuelun Meng, whom Su Fu had just seen.

Along with the Lin siblings from earlier, this group had just arrived when the celestial officials greeted them and led them to the best seats.

No sooner had they settled than numerous immortals surrounded them, greeting and chatting warmly.

Zhou Tianhao was beaming, laughing and talking with everyone.

The others behaved politely.

These noble families were clearly at home in such social situations.

Su Fu thought quietly: ‘even among candidates, the disparity in assigned status was staggering.’

But at least they had arrived.

According to information from the Lin siblings, the three from the Sun and Moon Palaces, despite their high status, were almost completely restricted in their movements, somewhat balancing the scales.

Strictly speaking, this was their first time meeting.

Su Fu was genuinely curious—what information had these Second Star Ring elites gathered through their respective identities?

And what countermeasures would they devise?

So she quietly intensified her surveillance around them, even sending the Land Deity over.

After their greetings, the group silently erected a soundproof divine barrier around them.

Not just soundproof, it also created illusions to mask the true situation inside.

Zhou Tianhao revealed his true nature, excitement shining on his face: “I’m finally out! That place nearly suffocated me! Ever since I got there, I’ve been working nonstop. I really don’t get how the gods have so much to do. Time is limited—no more nonsense. I’ll start.”

Chu Mingyuan quickly interrupted, “Let’s hurry and compile the intel.”

Zhou Tianhao eagerly began, “I found an S-grade divine artifact on the exam paper—the Nine-Thousand-Year Peach!”

“Me too,” Chu Mingyuan raised the Hephaestus Fire Ring on his right hand.

“I can use the artifact to control flames and get a visual feed. So I listened to my direct superior, the Fire Spirit General,” he continued, “who opened a certain invitation mentioning the Nine-Thousand-Year Peach has ripened and invited him to share in it.”

At that moment, the small pendant in Yuelun Meng’s hand suddenly emitted a sound.

It was Yuelun Yuan.

“Then that means the Fire Spirit General from the Fire God Palace, the Sun God Palace’s…”

Zhou Tianhao jumped in, “Sun Duty General!”

“Right,” Yuelun Yuan said, “and also the Celestial River General and Great Fairy—both coveting this Nine-Thousand-Year Peach.”

Lin Yaowei was excited, “Then we have to get it! It will definitely appear at this Peach Banquet, right?”

“Yuelun Yuan, what do you say?”

Yuelun Yuan was deep in thought.

So these four deities were all coveting the Nine-Thousand-Year Peach?

He thought, these fools actually proved useful after all, delivering so much useful intel.

After some thought, Yuelun Yuan said, “As long as we eliminate those four core anomalies, we will definitely earn massive points.”

“So the key is the Nine-Thousand-Year Peach, especially when they gather to divide it—that’s the best moment for us to act.”

Lin Xuanye understood, “You mean we have to find a way to sneak in?”

“But how? They won’t just add more people unless…”

“Unless… you can replace someone?!”

Yuelun Yuan chuckled, “I can’t just be a water army forever.”

“Now that we have uncovered the key info of this instance and found the critical identities, the rest will be easy.”

“Just replace them.”

His main god was the Moon God, and the moon itself symbolized concealment, deception, and transformation—especially powerful at night.

As a member of the Moon Wheel family, he was particularly adept at Transformation Technique.

Therefore, he said, “We join forces and first find a chance to take down the Celestial River General.”

At that moment, Su Fu’s expression flickered slightly.

She looked toward the distant horizon.

Four dazzling beams of light streaked across the sky, heading straight for Yaochi.

The brilliance was so striking that everyone instinctively looked up.

The first to land was the Great Fairy, resplendent in red, flamboyant and radiant.

Then came the Celestial River General, clad in armor, majestic without speaking.

Next were two figures Su Fu hadn’t seen before—one in golden armor, recognized from gasps as the Sun Duty General.

The last was the Fire Spirit General, surrounded by scorching red flames.

The four descended from the sky, landing precisely at the center of the Peach Banquet venue.

Celestial music swelled, clouds curled, and resplendent light filled the air.

The Peach Banquet had officially begun.