I Cultivated Too Long and Got Isekai'd Into a Game-Chapter 197: A Familiar Face

After Xu Tao left, they were welcomed by the hustle and bustle of everyone partying. The sound of chatter, drinking, and nobles mingling, along with light music that filled the atmosphere.

"This must be the table," Xu Tao mused, staring at the only table that was far ahead of everything else.

Of course, the idea that this wasn’t the table Alexis was talking about, but the one slightly behind it, didn’t even cross his mind. Without a hint of hesitation, he moved through the crowd and sat at the table.

Jehanne and Zetian followed suit, finding their seats on either side of him.

"Hey, who’s that?"

"Taking the seat of honour... They must be out of their minds."

"Looks like we’re up for a great show in a bit!"

The whispers spread quickly, nobles covering their mouths with fans as they peeked at the strange man who had seated himself so brazenly.

Most had no idea who Xu Tao was. And the few who did know about him chose to keep their mouths shut, keeping watch over how the situation will change.

Zetian calmly snapped open her fan, covering the lower half of her face as she sneered at the mutterings. Jehanne, on the other hand, sat stiffly, glaring right back at anyone who dared stare too long.

"Those people really can’t help but yap like ducks at a pond," Zetian muttered under her breath, her eyes glinting with contempt.

Xu Tao, however, ignored them all.

He was good at that, after all: ignoring problems.

He poured himself a glass of wine from the table’s bottle, swirled it once, and then set it back down without taking a sip.

"This is too weak, but more than that, it’s not even worthy of drinking." He said simply.

Comparing this one to the wine he had at the Silver Chalice would be like comparing heaven and earth. But more than that, the reason he didn’t partake of the wine was that "something" was making the alcohol unappealing.

Jehanne, curious, blinked at him. "You can tell without drinking it?"

"Naturally." Xu Tao leaned back in his chair, pushing the cup to the middle of the table as if it were cursed. "When you reach my level, you don’t need to taste poison to know it’s poison."

Jehanne and Zetian gasped, exchanging glances, before glaring at the wine bottle. Zetian was faster, quickly using a technique to tell that the wine truly was poisoned.

"This is... the fast-acting Abyssal Venom of a Krait Sovereign. One drop of it can kill everyone in this venue with change to spare..." She explained, lips curling further into a frown.

Jehanne wasn’t too keen on detecting poison, but with her senses, she could tell that all the wine present in the venue was roughly the same... contaminated with the same poison.

"This is bad..."

"True. We should gather the bottles now—"

"No."

But just as the two girls were discussing countermeasures, Xu Tao warned them to stop.

"Leave those bottles alone for now. I already half-neutralised all the toxins present in the venue, so nobody should die from it, at least."

His cultivation was currently at the Divine Heaven Immortal. Doing something like gathering poison from sealed bottles, or from within someone’s body, wasn’t even that hard for him.

"As expected of Sir Tao!" Jehanne smiled, amazed by his antics. "Then, all we need to do is to catch the culprit, right?"

Xu Tao waved his hand casually, shaking his head at the same time. "No, that would be difficult right now."

"Why?" Zetian asked, her eyes narrowed down to slits—radiating intense killing intent. "A bastard who dared poison my Emperor deserves an end worse than death in my opinion."

He glanced at her as if looking at a psychopath before clarifying.

"No, it’s not that I want to let the culprit go. Rather, it’s because all we can capture is their scapegoat, the one who was tasked to set these poisoned wine bottles around."

The trace of intent on the bottle was that of a single server of the hotel. But rather than a crazed desire to reap the life of everyone present, his was the cold fear towards impending doom if he failed to do what he was told to do.

"I doubt he’s still here, and even if he was, I don’t think he can point us to the culprit either." Xu Tao shrugged. "As such, we should keep watch over the situation for now. I’m quite sure that the culprit will come out soon enough."

Though he spoke lightly, his eyes scanned the crowd. At every table, the opened wine glasses glinted under the glare of the sun. Guests raised their wine glasses to their lips, laughing as they continued chatting... unaware that death had nearly been poured down their throats.

Xu Tao’s gaze lingered for a moment longer before he leaned back again, shoulders relaxing. "Still... this little incident tells us one thing."

Jehanne tilted her head. "Which is...?"

Xu Tao closed his eyes, as if about to fall asleep.

"That today won’t end quietly."

🔷🔷🔷

A few moments later, the ambient music quieted further as an emcee’s voice rang across the venue.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Today, we stand here to witness..."

His greetings were long-winded, taking dozens of sentences to say what he could’ve shortened in one. However, nobody found this weird at all. Instead, everyone’s excitement grew as their anticipation rose.

And finally, the moment arrived.

"Presenting the young lady of the hour, Miss Henrietta Campbell!"

Polite applause and cheers swept through the nobles, all eyes turning toward the raised stage where Henrietta stepped out gracefully.

Draped in a pale blue gown embroidered with silver threads, she moved with a poise befitting her station. The sunlight caught her hair, making it gleam like tongues of flames as she smiled, waved, and took the stage, giving courteous greetings to the crowd.

Unlike the emcee, Henrietta’s greetings didn’t last more than a couple of minutes. Right after, she went down the stage, walking to where her family was.

Alexis and the rest of the Campbell family walked from the edge of the stage toward the centre, every step radiating authority. Wherever they walked, the air grew heavier, nobles bowing deeply in respect.

While on stage, Henrietta’s gaze already locked onto a single table. One that was situated at the forefront, where a certain man sat casually—Xu Tao. He was lounging in the seat of honour as though it had always belonged to him, flanked by a pair of beauties. The unflinching Jehanne and the ever-sharp Zetian.

Seeing that Henrietta and the rest were coming right at them, the whispers started again, sharper than before.

"What insolence... He’s not even standing even now!"

"Why isn’t anyone dragging him away? They had already overstayed their welcome!"

"Just who is that man? He got guts at least..."

Tension rose as the two parties gradually came closer. Everyone waited, anticipating an outburst, a clash between Alexis and Xu Tao, or him calling guards to drag the three away.

But instead—

"Bring out another table. Set it beside that one," Alexis commanded coolly to the nearby servers.

Gasps erupted from the crowd. Not only did he not chase Xu Tao away, but he also chose to put a table next to him! This small incident wasn’t something they could ignore either. It was something that’s worthy of being on the front page of the news the next day!

The servants rushed, quickly arranging a grand table directly next to Xu Tao’s, aligning them as if they were meant to be together from the start.

"This... what does it mean?"

"Did the Campbell family just...?"

"Could it be... He’s someone far beyond our imaginations?!"

The murmurs turned into heated speculation. Some faces paled, others lit with suspicion, while a few silently regretted their earlier mockery.

Henrietta herself ignored the noise.

She stepped toward Xu Tao’s table, her smile warm and unshaken as she dipped her head slightly in greeting. "Master, Lady Zetian, Lady Jehanne. Thank you for coming."

Jehanne straightened proudly, giving a nod. Zetian only flicked her fan with the faintest smirk, while Xu Tao waved lazily in response as if she had just greeted a neighbour.

Everyone sat around the table, filling it to the brim. Alexis, his two wives, his two sons, his daughter, along with Xu Tao and the two beauties... They were a tad too many for two small tables.

But before the air could settle, Alexis’s expression stiffened. His brows furrowed, gaze sharpening toward the open space hidden further behind the stage.

"...It’s earlier than expected," he muttered under his breath.

His words sounded cryptic to almost everyone but Xu Tao. After all, he was the first one to notice the change—minutes earlier than Alexis did.

The air trembled.

A ripple of dark energy surged across the venue, shattering the cheerful atmosphere. The stage cracked and fell, disappearing without a trace. Tables flew, toppling wine bottles and food.

Gasps and shrieks spread as a rift tore open in the space before them, twisting into a jagged black portal. The sweet scent of wine and flowers was instantly drowned out by the rancid stench of death.

From the portal, shadows writhed and clawed their way into the world—evil spirits.

The crowd panicked.

Not everyone present were cultivators, after all. And with the sudden appearance of these fearful creatures, a lot of the guests fainted. Others scrambled backward, trying to escape, while a few stood their ground, glaring.

Xu Tao’s eyes narrowed.

Of the creatures stepping through, one he recognised immediately—the Dual-Soul Wraith who messed with him twice already.

But what froze Xu Tao’s breath for a moment was not the Wraith.

It was the other figure.

Amidst the tide of twisted spirits, a face emerged—pale, distorted, yet unmistakable. A face Xu Tao knew all too well.

"...You."

Xu Tao’s eyes grew colder than steel.