"Wait! What are you two doing? Stop fighting right now!" Long Chen shouted, attracting the attention of everyone.
As the tensions were so high, no one had seen Long Chen enter the room. It was only now that they realized about someone else's presence.
"Hah, here comes another guard to interfere," Pei Zen let out as he gazed at Long Chen.
"It's you? What are you doing here now?"
Even Bing Lui recognized Long Chen as the person with whom they spent the entire day yesterday.
"You little man, who do you think you are to command me to stop? Scram out of here and let me have some fun while I'm here. I was just starting to have fun," Pei Zen let out mockingly.
"I am one of the Royal Guards. And you are all guests here in our Empire. You must follow our customs. You aren't allowed to fight," Long Chen insisted without backing off. He needed to stop this fight before it could get out of hand.
"So what if that's the case? You're nothing but a guard, and I'm a Royal guest. What are you going to do if I don't stop? Are you going to attack me?" Pei Zen rolled his eyes as an amused smile appeared on his face.
"You don't have to interfere. Step back and let me teach this guy," Bing Lui also said the same thing. She also didn't wish to stop now.
She had received the short end of the stick. If they stopped now, it was going to be her defeat. She still had confidence that she could beat Pei Zen.
"As I said, I can't let you two fight. You must wait until the events start in the evening. If you two fight now, one of you will be injured, and the other one will be disqualified as a punishment," Long Chen informed the both of them.
"What? There shouldn't be any rule like that. I should've known," Pei Zen retorted, not believing it.
"You don't know doesn't mean there's no rule like that. His Majesty told us about this. I don't believe he would lie to us about that. But if you really want to test it, you can," Long Chen answered as he folded his arms.
Watching the confidence on Long Chen's face, Pei Zen also felt like it might be the truth. Could it really be true? It was possible that they made these rules to make sure that no candidates were injured before the trial.
If it was, he was going to get disqualified and sent back if he did injure the enemy? In that case, he certainly couldn't do it. Many things depended on him getting a good rank. If he didn't get a good rank, that was going to be troublesome. He didn't want to be disqualified before even taking part in this event.
"Fine. I'll believe your words," Pei Zen let out as he rolled his eyes.
He gazed back at Bing Lui before he commented, "You are really lucky that these rules exist. What a disappointment. I thought I would have fun."
"I should say the same to you. I hope that you don't face me in the rankings. Or you'll really see what it feels like to be thrashed by a girl," Bing Lui answered in kind without backing off.
Pei Zen laughed out loud as he shook his head. "I really hope you get your wish to face me."
He laughed out loud as he started leaving.
Long Chen watched the man leave. He also started following after him.
"Wait!" Bing Lui called out to stop Long Chen, but he didn't stop. He couldn't miss Pei Zen. It was after a long time that he managed to find him. If he lost the guy now, it would be really frustrating.
Bing Lui grew frustrated to watch Long Chen ignore him. She called out again, but Long Chen left the hall by then.
"Since they're gone, should we continue our training?"
Bing Lui wanted to go after Long Chen to stop him when she heard a voice coming from behind her. The red-haired man had asked her a question.
"Right. We don't have much time to train. Let's continue our training. Everything else can be handled later," Bing Lui said as she nodded her head while taking one last glance towards the door.
She got back to the training.
*****
"Where is he? Did he die or something? He couldn't have gone silent for so long," Qian Yu let out in confusion.
She was still in Long Chen's room, waiting for the attack that never came. She was very confused now.
She also started wondering if Long Chen actually left or if he was still here.
She took one last glance around the room before she sent her Spirit Sword back in her storage ring. She lowered all her defenses as she stood idly.
She stood still for a few minutes; still, no attack came. She was finally sure that Long Chen wasn't here.
"That bastard! He left me hanging here!" She cursed as she left the room.
She wished to find Long Chen, but she didn't know how she could. She couldn't go ask the Emperor. She also doesn't know that the man she wanted to find was someone that not only her but the entire Empire wished to find.
He was someone who was being searched through the continent, yet no one had managed to find him successfully.
She decided to give up on Long Chen and walk back. She still didn't leave hope of meeting Long Chen along the way.
"Why are you following me?" Pei Zen asked Long Chen, who was following him for quite some time.
Long Chen had been following that guy silently, but he wasn't doing anything since there were many guards in the hallway. He wanted to be in some alone place with the guy.
Hearing the man's question, Long Chen ran up to the guy.
"I heard you are a Prince," Long Chen said softly.
"Yeah. So what?" Pei Zen asked casually. He couldn't help but feel proud, though.
"You must be very rich then, right?" Long Chen asked softly.
"Yes, I am," the man answered proudly.
Long Chen looked around, making sure that no one was there. After making sure, he said in a low voice, "I have an offer for you then. I know some things about the upcoming ranking tournament. I can tell you some secrets. If you prepare after knowing them, you'll definitely get the first rank."
"Hmm? A secret like that?" Pei Zen grew surprised to hear Long Chen words. He soon understood everything. "Ah, I get why you were asking if I'm rich."