Being driven over from the Grand Star Luo Hotel, She Meixiao and Sheng Feilong alighted from the car in front of the Imperial Palace. The towering palace was located in the middle of Star Luo City and is said to have been recreated in the image of the Star Luo Empire's palace from when they were still on the Douluo Continent.
The Star Luo Empire's Royal Family, the Dai family, were proud people. Although they were forced to flee from the Douluo Continent 10.000 years ago, they always held their heritage dear and thus built the new palace exactly like the old.
This pride not only stems from their long history, but also the fact that the Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao came from their Dai family. Huo Yuhao's original name was Dai Huyao and he was a direct descendant of the Dai family. However, circumstances brought him to change his name. There were few who knew the specific reasons as the Dai family always kept a those secrets tightly locked.
The luxurious cars that were sent to fetch the people from the Douluo Continent's delegation arrived one by one. After a while, everyone arrived and Sheng Feilong quickly found Tang Wulin and the others. They were the only other people around his age as well as his friends, so he naturally went over to stand with them.
She Meixiao didn't seem to mind and greeted everyone with a smile before taking a place besides Elder Cai. The latter did seem rather displeased about this in Sheng Feilong's eyes, but she put up with it.
The whole delegation was soon led to the palace's main plaza where a red carpet lay all the way from the gate into the palace. The sounds of loud horns echoed out and the grand national ceremony began in front of the palace. The Douluo Continent's Federation's Vice President stood at the forefront of the delegation. Just behind him stood a few more people, including the top Soul Masters like She Meixiao and Elder Cai.
With all the important people present, Sheng Feilong and the other children could only stand in the back rows behind their respective leader's. After the initial horn, majestic music started playing. The whole ordeal was long and boring and Tang Wulin even seemed to be dozing off by the side. Sheng Feilong really couldn't really blame him for this; He himself was just as uninterested in the ceremony as well.
A gunfire salute took place after the music faded into the background and a multitude of weapons were shot into the air. One of them was extremely loud and send a loud boom through the whole plaza. Tang Wulin instantly woke up and Gu Yue had to hold him back from jumping into action and taking a fighting stance.
Sheng Feilong had to hold back his laughter as Xie Xie and Xu Lizhi began teasing Tang Wulin a bit before calming down again. Meanwhile, a tall, middle aged man with a golden crown on his head came out of the palace with a few people behind him. The Federation's Vice President exchanged greetings with the man and showed great respect for him.
'He's the Star Luo Empire's Emperor? The people around him... Guards and... a princess? Where's the rest of the royal family?' Sheng Feilong looked at the front and observed the few different people.
The gunfire salute continued for quite a while without anything happening and Tang Wulin actually dozed off again! This time Sheng Feilong could only shake his head. 'He's really taking it too far with this...'
A short while later, the girl Sheng Feilong thought to be a princess suddenly looked into their direction. She stared at Tang Wulin for a while and her expression changed a few times for surprise, to anger and finally to a cold grin. Sheng Feilong didn't think much of it at first, but he suddenly felt a rather powerful Spirit Power sneakily wagging around the people in the plaza.
Surprisingly, this power felt rather familiar. He was sure the princess was the one releasing this power, but that wasn't where the familiarity came from. Rather, it felt like the type of Spirit Power itself was similar to his own. Sheng Feilong continued observing the Spirit Power with his own for a while, when his expression suddenly turned cold.
A cold glint flashed past his eyes and they suddenly turned a deeper shade of gold while the strange, winged symbol appeared on his forehead. He sent out a spiritual attack of his own, disintegrating the Spirit Power that was sneaking it's way towards Tang Wulin's spiritual consciousness.
The Spirit Power was destroyed with next to no resistance, showing how much stronger Sheng Feilong's Spirit Power is and a shrill scream suddenly echoed through the plaza. "Hyaa!" The princess behind the emperor suddenly held her head with both her hands, lost her balance and fell to the ground with a pale face.
"Princess!" The guards next to her immediate released their Soul Power and pulled their weapons out while one of them flashed to the princesses side, making sure she was alright. The emperor's face changed as well and he flew to his daughter's side in the blink of an eye as well, his face contorted in anger and worry. "Yun'er! What happened?!"
The princess stood up after two seconds, still with a hand on her head. She looked even more angry than the emperor and her face was completely red from anger and embarrassment as pointed at into Sheng Feilong's direction. Her finger shook from her anger and the people started turning around to see Sheng Feilong stare at the princess with a cold expression.
Before anyone could say something, Sheng Feilong's cold voice rung out through the plaza in an unhurried manner. "Princess Dai, I'd appreciate it if you would refrain from targetting my friends with a spiritual attack." The princess continued to point at Sheng Feilong in anger and the whole plaza was silent and people stared at Sheng Feilong in shock.
The emperor looked at Sheng Feilong in cold anger and raised one of his hands. Two of the guards that had their Soul Power already released flashed away from their positions and towards Sheng Feilong at extreme speeds. Before they could come near them, She Meixiao blocked their path with a smile. She didn't release her Soul Power, but none of the guards dared to move in her presence.
She Meixiao looked at the emperor and bowed ever so slightly. "Respected Emperor Dai, I apologize for my disciple's sudden behaviour." She glanced at the princess for a split second, which the emperor saw clearly. His expression sank slightly and She Meixiao continued to speak. "My disciple tends to react rather protective of the people close to him. I hope Emperor Dai and Princess Yun'er won't take offence from this."
Princess Yun'er didn't seem to content with the situation and still glared daggers at Sheng Feilong and She Meixiao, but the emperor took a deep breath before glancing at Sheng Feilong and then back at She Meixiao. He was aware of who She Meixiao was from what the members of the star Luo Empire's delegation reported of the Soul Beast's attack on their journey.
If it was someone else attacking his daughter, the emperor would have already executed the offender, but with She Meixiao's status as a Hyper Douluo and Four word Battle Armour Master, as well as Sheng Feilong's status of being a guest in his empire and a member of the delegation, he didn't want things to escalate. Moreover, he was aware of his daughter's mischievous behaviour, so he could already guess that she did indeed targetted someone with a spiritual attack.
He breathed out deeply before staring She Meixiao into the eyes with an indifferent expression. "No offence taken, Madam. It was indeed my daughter's fault for trying to pull a prank. Your disciple didn't do her any great harm and only intended to protect his friends, so there is no need to apologize."
With the emperor's words, the guards took a step back and returned to their positions while She Meixiao slightly bowed towards the emperor again. The princess seemed displeased by this and wanted to say something, but seeing her father glance at her, she quickly held it back and returned to her place as well.
The emperor turned around and walked back over to the Federation's Vice President while already starting to speak on the way. "I apologize for the interruption. Let us continue, valued friends of the Douluo Continent."
The ceremony continued without any issues and slowly came to a close when the emperor invited everyone inside for a banquet. For the whole time, the princess continued to shoot a death glare at Sheng Feilong, while the latter just decided to ignore her. He didn't have any interest in interacting with the princess more than needed; Someone who attacked his friends at their first meeting wasn't worth his attention unless it was in a fight!
The emperor and the princess retreated from the banquet hall for a while and later returned with another person in tow to host the banquet. The princess seemed to have calmed down by now and didn't stare at Sheng Feilong anymore. Instead, she seemed to completely ignore the existence of Sheng Feilong and the Shrek students, much to Sheng Feilong's delight.