Many powerful individuals, including elders from various sects and families, crowded the banquet grounds, yet at this moment every single one rose to their feet.
Saints stood among them—beings who could shatter mountains with a gesture—but even they dared not show the slightest disrespect.
The Young Master remained young, his cultivation pathetically weak compared to the assembled powerhouses.
His identity, however, transcended such petty concerns as personal strength.
Cross Ye Qian, and the consequences wouldn't stop at death. Families would burn. Sects would crumble. The Ye Family's wrath knew no bounds and accepted no apologies.
No one dared posture here. They weren't qualified.
The qilin carriage, which had been tearing across the sky moments before, descended with impossible grace and settled beside the rhinoceros beetle carriage with barely a whisper of displaced air.
These rhinoceros beetle horses possessed strength inferior to the Four Qilin pulling Ye Qian's carriage, their bloodline a pale shadow of true qilin nobility.
The beetle horses, who normally held their heads high with arrogant pride, now tucked their snouts low and refused to meet the qilin's gaze.
They understood perfectly well—the distinguished personage within that carriage was their mistress's son.
One wrong move, one moment of perceived disrespect, and their mistress would flay them alive without hesitation.
They could look down on outsiders all they wished. Before this person, they bowed.
Ye Qian emerged first from the qilin carriage, and his three personal maids followed in practiced synchronization.
Xia He and Qiu Lan had attended countless banquets. The scene before them warranted barely a flicker of interest.
Yue Ming, however, the newest addition to Ye Qian's retinue, had no such composure to draw upon.
She'd accompanied her father Yue Bo to grand banquets before, but always as a guest—one supplicant among many seeking favor.
Now everything had inverted. Her position occupied the absolute pinnacle.
Though she wasn't the master, she stood among Ye Qian's only three personal maids. Standing here broadcast her status louder than any announcement could.
Pride swelled in Yue Ming's chest, unbidden and intoxicating.
She surveyed the crowd standing respectfully below—important figures her father treated with utmost deference, men and women who could decide the Yue Family's fate with a word.
At this moment, they stood like common servants waiting for dismissal.
Perhaps her new status wasn't so difficult to accept after all.
Then the assembled powers spoke in perfect unison.
"Greetings, Young Master Ye!"
Even Saints bowed with genuine respect.
Facing such a scene, Ye Qian's heart remained utterly calm.
These people showed him deference, even kowtowed before him, purely because of his identity as the Young Master of the Ye Family.
This feeling is too good.
Why struggle and claw for every scrap of power? Better to enjoy the shade of a towering tree. With such an extraordinary family backing him, only a fool would refuse to leverage it.
Ye Qian offered a slight nod, his expression betraying nothing, and spoke with measured calm.
"You may resume your conversations. No one is being scrutinized here.
Let decorum and refinement guide you, not caution.
After all, this is a banquet. If tension outweighs pleasure, then the host has failed."
His unhurried bearing and silver tongue painted the picture of an exceptionally astute Young Master who understood the delicate social machinery around him.
Only after receiving his permission did the assembled guests dare reclaim their seats, many regarding him in silent awe, their expressions a mixture of respect and wary admiration.
Among the many figures below, Yue Bo stood with carefully maintained composure.
Normally, the Patriarch of the Yue Family wouldn't need to attend such events personally—he had his own pressing matters to handle.
This time, however, he had no choice.
He feared Ye Qian might obliterate the Yue Family over Yue Qingshan's transgression.
Meeting Ye Qian under normal circumstances proved nearly impossible. Even as Patriarch of the Yue Family, Yue Bo lacked the necessary access.
He could only seize this opportunity, gambling that with his daughter serving at Ye Qian's side, he might steal a few private words with the Young Master.
To gauge his true intentions. If the incident wouldn't implicate the Yue Family, nothing else mattered.
Every important figure present had to crane their necks upward to regard Ye Qian with proper reverence, while his daughter stood directly behind the Young Master.
Pride blazed through Yue Bo's chest despite his best efforts to contain it.
Even if his daughter served merely as a personal maid, who could predict what the future held?
If she gained even modest standing in Ye Qian's eyes, the benefits for the entire Yue Family would be immeasurable.
The families and sects below who maintained connections with the Yue Family naturally noticed Yue Ming standing behind Ye Qian.
Shock rippled through their ranks. They knew the general outline of why Ye Qian had suffered Qi Deviation.
They simply hadn't expected Yue Ming—the culprit who caused Ye Qian's Qi Deviation—to stand there alive and apparently thriving. Incredible didn't begin to cover it.
From all appearances, Yue Ming's status matched Ye Qian's two other personal maids exactly.
She'd caused Ye Qian's Qi Deviation, nearly killed him, and received not punishment but promotion to personal maid? Unbelievable.
How could this be?
After Ye Qian recovered from his Qi Deviation, shouldn't he have tortured Yue Ming for days before finally granting her death? The Yue Family itself should have been ashes by now.
But reality defied all expectations. Events had unfolded completely contrary to every prediction.
Yue Ming became Ye Qian's personal maid. The Yue Family remained intact.
They couldn't begin to comprehend it. In their view, for Yue Ming to become Ye Qian's personal maid represented an honor beyond measure.
Many of them had beautiful daughters, talented daughters. None of them believed their children could catch Ye Qian's eye.
Beauty alone meant nothing if Ye Qian felt no interest.
"This Yue Family won the heavenly lottery. They weren't even punished!"
"Exactly! Strange beyond belief. Yue Ming clearly committed an unforgivable sin, but she wasn't executed—instead she remained at the Young Master's side. Truly incomprehensible."
"Perhaps the Young Master possesses a benevolent heart and didn't hold the incident against Yue Ming. Having her as a maid serves as punishment enough."
"Punishment? This is an honor! If my daughter could earn the Young Master's favor, even as a personal maid, I'd burn incense to my ancestors for a year straight."
"I think the Young Master genuinely likes Yue Ming. That's why he kept her close. Such deep affection!"
Everyone harbored their own theories and interpretations, but without exception, every single person envied Yue Ming and the Yue Family with burning intensity.
In their eyes, becoming Ye Qian's personal maid opened a direct path to entering his inner circle eventually.
When that happened, their faction would receive the Ye Family's protection. Even the smallest gesture of support from the Ye Family would send them into raptures.
If their own daughter could become Ye Qian's personal maid, they would thank heaven, earth, and every ancestor back seven generations.