Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy - Chapter 2918: Welcome Gathering

Chapter 2918: Welcome Gathering
Bai Jingshen initially had 4 wives and 3 concubines, but upon returning to the Land of the Blessed Sun, he had made the final 3 his wives as well.
He was required to do so with Ren Xiao, the last of the concubines, since their union had given birth to a White Tiger. And since he was going to do that, he might as well make the rest his wives as well.
So, Bai Jingshen now had 7 wives, and they were all present to welcome Pearl and the rest.
“Grandma!” Pearl rushed to Ren Xiao, who stepped forward before everyone, giving Pearl a deep hug.
“How have you been, my child?” she asked.
“I’ve been well, grandma,” Pearl said. “How have you been?”
“Now that I saw you again, I’ve never been better,” she said.
“Pearl!”
“Child!”
“Oh, look at him. He’s grown so much.”
“Grandmas!” Pearl was never happier.
A massive gathering of people surrounded Pearl, all walking up to him and hugging him as he arrived. He hugged his great-grandmothers first, and then got to meet the rest of the family.
The staggering number of beasts that had come to welcome them all surprised Pearl as he hadn’t known there were so many people in his immediate family.
Bai Jingshen had 2 sons and a daughter with his first wife, Shu Shiren — the lynx.
He had 1 daughter with his second wife, Gu Xiaomo — the lioness.
He had 2 sons and 2 daughters with his third wife, Han Keixu — the snow leopard.
He had 1 son with his fourth wife, Xiang Yibai — the dark wildcat.
He had 2 daughters with his fifth wife, Wen Meirin — the puma.
He had 1 son with his sixth wife, Luo Beihan — the tiger.
And with Ren Xiao, the White Cat, he had one daughter — Pearl’s grandmother, who had long since died.
All of those children had their own children as well, nearing nearly 50 family members altogether. And almost all of them were present there.
Pearl was lost having to meet so many new family members, most of whom he didn’t even know existed. He had heard some of their names in passing, but had no idea there were this many.
Most of Bai Jingshen’s children had gone down with him to the lower realm, but when he had supposedly died nearly 5 thousand years ago, they had all returned to this realm. Here, they had lived long enough that the children no longer had a need to return down there, just for a single millennia.
As a result, Alex and Pearl had gotten to meet none of them.
The gathering was so big and took such a long time that by the time Pearl got to being introduced to everyone there, nearly an hour had passed.
Beasts in the streets stopped by to watch what was happening before leaving when they realized it was a family gathering. Not only were there normal beasts, but also the palace guards who came from time to time.
But they left as well when they saw there was a White Tiger involved.
Finally, there were some White Tigers who came by too. They were all uncles and aunts and cousins to Bai Jingshen, who introduced the few that came to check on what was happening.
Alex met with the family as well, soon becoming the one to guide his master and Wu Shaoze through the gathering. Whisker had long since disappeared inside the group, taken away by Pearl’s grandmothers who doted on him almost as much as they did Pearl.
Ren Xiao finally managed to pull herself away from her great-grandson and came to talk with Alex.
“How have you been, child? Has life been fair to you all?” she asked.
“It’s been good. Life has had its ups and downs,” Alex said. “But I’ve survived.”
“However it may have been, you’ve made it here, so it’s done something right,” Ren Xiao said. “Come. You must be tired. We’ll prepare a room for you and your guests to rest.”
Alex nodded and walked along.
Because they were only guests, Alex did not get to enter the main palace with the golden dome at the top. From what he observed, most of the family aside from Bai Jingshen and his wife did not go in there as well.
He didn’t think they weren’t allowed in there, but rather that they most likely had no rooms in there, so they all returned to their own places elsewhere.
While Pearl went to the main palace along with Whisker, Alex and the rest were taken to the other palaces around the main one. However, the side palaces he was led to were no worse than anything else he had seen before.
The beautiful white marble and alabaster walls of the outside palaces were equally pristine with just the right amount of gold in them to make it stand out. One of Bai Jingshen’s grandsons, a young cloud-spotted snow leopard, led them through.
The old man audibly gasped as they walked inside, watching the massive murals drawn on the ceiling of the main hall of the palace. What was drawn seemed to be a host of white tigers in a festival with a variety of other feline beasts.
It was a simple painting that seemed made just so the inside wouldn’t look hollow.
“This way,” the young snow leopard said, taking them further along.
They passed a few palace guards and many beast servants who had been working all along. They were then taken to the western wing of the palace where 3 rooms had been prepared for them.
They arrived at a section with a few rooms and were allowed to choose whichever they wanted. Bladedance immediately claimed one and went inside. She needed to prepare for her upcoming tribulation, so she could not waste any time.
Alex helped the old man settle into his own room as well, letting him prepare for his own upcoming tribulations.
Then, Alex finally entered his own room, a space of luxury and lavishness, and slumped down onto the bed as he finally got a chance to rest.
