Chapter 137 - The Grand Entry Of The 2nd Prince

It was the next day after the night filled with colorful lights. It was officially the beginning of the long awaited Annual Tournament. The training ground, which now was decorated to appear as the stadium for the matches was filled with audiences in different robes.

While the whole stadium was for common people, there was a separate place for the participating sects so that it would be easier for conducting the matches. It was the opening day, but almost all the seat in the stadium was filled to the brim.

One could easily see that people held this tournament in a high regard unlike any.

Also, there was a higher alter made on the head of the stadium, on the northern side. It was the place where all the sect leaders and important people from the sects were seated in their glory.

But even among the four designated seats left for the sect leaders, there was a golden throne on the middle, which was also slightly bigger than the others.

"Do you think the heavenly emperor will come?" Elder Lin who was standing on the section of Eternal blossom sect whispered to a young lady dressed in white robe. As usual Elder Lin was fanning herself with her bamboo paper fan.

"He might come, just to show his face, you know," the other lady replied with a smile, her white lashes gently flutteruing in the wind.

The white robed lady was none other than the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Dragon Abode from the Azure Dragon Valley.

Her name was Shen Yuan, the sole inheritor of the one horn of the Azure dragon of the myth. Although many people thought it to be lies and scam spread around by people to bluff, nevertheless, the sect leader of the Heavenly Dragon Abode was still a powerful figure.

Elder Lin heard the contempt in her voice when she mentioned the Heavenly Emperor from the Central City of the Yellow dragon, and could not help but chuckle a bit.

"Hmm?" Shen Yuan looked at her in confusion.

"Is there anything wrong, Elder Lin?" She eyed her with a deep concentration.

"Your laughter sounded quite melodious to me," she added with a smirk on her face. She was a lady with a poker face that looked as cold as snow. Although her face made her look like she was snow queen, when she smiled, there was a different kind of charm that poker face emitted.

Elder Lin was taken by surprise when she saw the unexpected smile on her face. She stammered a bit as she denied laughing.

"Cough, my lady, don't you need to be somewhere else?" she said as she trailed her eyes to the designated seat. She was only looking for a way to change the topic but she found a real question she wanted to ask Lady Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan heard the meaning behind her words. She simply shrugged her shoulder and turned her face away from there.

'Tsk!!' Did she click her tongue right now? Elder Lin gasped inwardly as she looked at Lady Yuan.

"It's filled with old man and their lame jokes," she showed an expression of disdain.  "They talk about profound things that don't even make sense, all the while stroking their beards," she sighed helplessly.

"Instead of suffering among their constant superficial laughter and poems, I  would rather sit and speak with you, Elder Lin," she smiled with a slight bow.

"I hope you are going to send me away this soon, are you?"

"N-No, no, please, stay however long you would like," she smiled as she provided more space for Lady Shen Yuan to stand in. There was no way she was actually going to make her leave the place. She had no authority to do something like that. Even if she had, well, she still would not have done that.

Guests were equivalent to gods! She only hoped she was happy, regardless of the place she stayed at.

"So, Elder Lin, tell me what kind of youngsters have you recruited this year? Anyone impressive?" Lady Shen Yuan dropped her first question. Elder Lin was thoughtful for a bit but there was no one in her mind among the new youngsters who could live up to be called a genius in cultivation.

'Hmm, Le Fang Ling is still too low, her speed of cultivation is seriously slow paced,' she thought about how the five elemental spiritual roots of Le fang Ling was hampering her from cultivating properly. Still, she could not deny the grinding of the girl.

She had observed the girl workout and train without even eating to get her physical body foundation. Despite the limitations and barriers on her cultivation, she had witnessed her improvement and development in the small fight that took place a few days ago.

Also with how she had no means of storing the qi properly in her body, things looked bleak for her. It was the weird talisman that was working wonder till now and helping Le Fang Ling. She was curious about the mysterious man in the cloak and also the talisman.

It was as if he had predicted that a day would come from her to meet Le Fang Ling.

'If it loses its effectiveness, the qi inside her dantian will run amok and,'

Baam!!!

There was a loud explosion in the middle of the ground and the whole stadium was engulfed by a storm of sand and stones flying around in circles along with a slight rise in temperature in the air due to the sudden impact and increase in pressure.

This made the whole crowd uproar in confusion while it forced Elder Lin out of her thoughts and back to the reality.

The dust finally cleared a bit, making the center of the stadium appear much clearer than before.  Everyone could finally make out the figure on the ground; however, it still was not clear.

"That scared the hell out of me," Elder Lin patted her chest that was heaving up and down. She turned to look at Lady Shen Yuan but she was only met with a tall lady who was covered in dust. Since her hair, face and entire dress was in pure white color, she became the best victim of the explosion just now.

As for her, she was able to timely cover herself with a wind shield and protect herself from the dust.

'Oopsy, forgot to hide the lady,' she coughed inwardly when she realized what had happened.

"Who just made this flashy entrance?" Lady Shen Yuan exclaimed in disgust as she looked at the silhouette of a man in the whirlwind of the sand and dust. She dusted off her dress with palm.

Frowning, she snapped her finger and she was immediately covered by clouds. Her entire body was shrouded by a piece of fluffy cloud as white as her dress.

Just as if had appeared, the cloud disappeared once again in blink of an eye.

"Wow, you changed so quickly," Elder Lin exclaimed in surprise when she saw the white glittering robe of Lady Shen Yuan. But well, it was the same as before.

Lady Shen Yuan nodded her head and turned her gaze at the ground.

The dust finally cleared off totally and the silhouette finally became clear. There was a golden chariot on the middle of the training ground. It was pulled by two huge white horses with golden piercing in their ears and nose. Their bushy tail looked well combed and taken care of.

On the chariot, there was a golden crest.

And the crest belonged to the royal family of the Heavenly Emperor who lived in the Central City of the Valley of Yellow Dragon.

"It's the emperor!" someone exclaimed out with a gasp. It attracted attention from everywhere, causing the crowd to once again cause an uproar.

"I knew it," Lady Shen Yuan rolled her eyes when she realized that it was indeed the chariot that belonged to the royal family.

'Tsk, what royal? They are just bunch of degenerates who have their head in the cloud,' she commented inside her head but maintained the apathetic poker look in her face.  This was the highest form of respect she could show the royal family.

"That is the Emperor?" elder Lin asked with a doubt when she finally traced the person inside the chariot. He looked as if he was in his late twenties and his face was too young for the heavenly emperor who was considered to be the one of the oldest cultivator in the continent.

It was Elder Lin's first time attending the Annual Tournament so she was more or less unsure about how this entire thing.

"No, the emperor will not show himself to the like of us," Lady Shen Yuan shrugged as she flipped back a fee strands of her hair.

"Hmm?" Elder Lin widened her eyes in surprise, urging her to elaborate about what she was saying.

"That is the 2nd prince of the Emperor," Lady Shen Yuan started to explain.

"Also, the one in line favored by most of the elders and masters to be the next emperor, much more than the crown prince himself," Lady Shen Yuan added.

Elder Lin nodded her head but her mouth was still open in shock, underneath the silk veil she wore. She had just been away for few years and there were so many things that she had absolutely no idea of.

"It had been the 2nd prince always in the tournament who represents the royal family, for both of the tournament that happened in the past."

Elder Lin turned her gaze at the chariot again and saw that there was someone else in there. A Nobel lady stepped out along with him and looked up at the place where Elder Lin and Lady Shen Yuan were standing.

"And there she is, that poor girl," Lady Shen Yuan sighed.