774 Banquet 1

Every year, before the Spirit Battle Tournament commences, the Yan Country would hold a huge banquet in honour of all the participating disciples from the various academies. But this year's banquet was a little different, as the entire Spirit Battle Tournament would be fully handled by the Crown Prince, Lei Chen, and even the banquet was to be hosted by him, and would be held within the Crown Prince's Residence which would receive more than a thousand guests consisting of all the disciples from the various academies taking part in the competition.

Night had just begun to fall and the youths from the different academies within the Imperial Capital gathered in groups to make their way towards the Crown Prince's Residence. They had all thought it out carefully, on how they were to present their best side, before the eyes of the Crown Prince, in order to increase their chances of being discovered and serve under the Crown Prince. The youths were all dressed in the uniforms of their respective academies, all excited and highly motivated, as they stepped on the moonlit path, on their way to the Crown Prince's Residence.

The guards of the Crown Prince's Residence were lined up on both sides of the main gates, long spears firmly grasped in their hands, their faces stalwart and grim, looking impressive and formidable.

The Crown Prince's Residence sat on a sprawling and vast amount of land, huge enough to be able to accommodate such a large number of people. The premise inside had been tastefully decorated to make it look even more lavish than it already was and as it was the first time the disciples had set foot into the Crown Prince's Residence, their eyes were wide with wonder as they stared at the blossom filled place, the light from the bright lanterns, further mesmerizing the naive eyes of the young and inexperienced youths, igniting an unextinguishable spark of yearning and anticipation.

The servants with led the disciples from the various academies to their allocated seats, in an immensely large open plaza where the banquet would be held. The youths were separated onto four sides, forming a large rectangle, with a large space empty in the middle. The Crown Prince sat upright on his elevated seat as the host, smiling and nodding in acknowledgement to the youths entering the banquet floor.

"I've seen extravagance, but not to such a large extent. How much did they actually spend on this Crown Prince's Residence? Just for the Crown Prince's Residence, the size of the land alone is already almost just as big as the entire Phoenix Academy!" Qiao Chu said, his eyes looking all around the lavishly decorated Crown Prince's Residence, gazing at all the furniture made from high grade rosewood, the various decorative ornaments littered throughout the place made out of beautiful lustrous jade with various precious gems embedded within. Even for Qiao Chu who knew nothing about these things could see that even the crockery they were using that the Crown Prince's Residence had provided them with for the banquet were already incredibly expensive!

"The Yan Country was the first country to be founded and they are currently the mightiest power. The country and their people are rich and even the commoners here are much more well off than their neighbouring countries, needless to mention their ruler." Fei Yan said with a shrug. He had already known all this when he was investigating into the place.

The Yan Country was really so rich they were oozing with money and their military were strong. Although they did not have any elite strike forces like the Rui Lin Army, but their numbers alone were highly daunting, and no other country even came close to them.

Jun Wu Xie looked at everything in the Crown Prince's Residence without expression. Compared to this place of Lei Chen's, the Crown Prince Residence that Mo Qian Yuan's had used to live in could only be described as rundown and decrepit. Although they had both shared the same title of being Crown Princes, their circumstances had been a whole world of difference, just like there was no way the tiny Qi Kingdom could be compared to the humongous Yan Country.

"Are our esteemed guests from the Zephyr Academy?" A servant approached them smilingly.

Jun Wu Xie nodded slightly.

The servant then replied: "Would our esteemed guests then please proceed to the banquet? It should begin in just a little while and allow your humble servant here to lead you there."

Jun Wu Xie and the others followed behind the servant to walk into the banquet hall. They had not arrived early and the banquet was about to start. The banquet for a thousand people extended over a huge area and they could see that many other youths were already seated. The rows of seats on the same side as where Lei Chen's seat was already had quite a number of people there. Among them, a number of the youths could be seen dressed in the uniforms of the Dragon Slayers Academy and of the War Banner Academy.

"Looks like there are underlying reasons even in the seating arrangements." Fan Zhuo said smilingly after glancing over the banquet hall. The more famous and prestigious the academy was, the closer the arranged seats would be to Lei Chen, for the academy's disciples. As for those academies which were relatively unknown, their seats had been arranged to be at the back row, furthest away from him.