Qin Yu said slowly, "When father regained consciousness not too long after he injured you due to Qi deviation, he felt extremely guilty about hurting you. Moreover, the Qi deviation could happen again. Hence, he didn't want to return to King Qin's Mansion. Soon after, he met my mother and fell in love. Not long after I was born, my father left home due to another Qi deviation. My mother brought me with her to look for him but we were robbed during our journey. They tried to kill us, and my mother sacrificed herself to protect me, allowing me to escape." His eyes reddened when he spoke, "After killing my mother, those people came after me… At the critical juncture, my father who had regained consciousness found me and killed all of those people, saving me. He lost his will to live, blaming himself for my mother's death. He told me of his origins and gave me his order token after that. Before I could react, he committed suicide in front of me. Before he died, he asked to be buried with my mother." After he finished speaking, he took out an order token.
"That's fourth brother's order token!" The Third Prince took the order token from Qin Yu with shaking hands and studied it. The word 'third' and his brother's name were carved on the token. Tears began to well up in his eyes.
King Qin inhaled deeply before he said, "Yu'er, from now on, you can rely on your uncle and King Qin's Mansion!" Then, he patted Qin Yu on his shoulder.
"When father told me about his origins, he asked me to return to King Qin's Mansion and to reunite with my family… He said his greatest regret was not being able to return to King Qin's Mansion and protect it due to his condition," Qin Yu said.
"Yu'er, you have a family now, You don't have to wander around anymore. From now on, all of us, your first uncle, me, and your fifth uncle, will be your pillars of support!" the Third Prince said as he returned the order token to Qin Yu.
"En." Qin Yu nodded as tears streamed down his face. In the past, he could only rely on himself. He relied on himself and encountered many hardships to come to King Qin's Mansion. Since he was alone previously, he would need to be a Great Overarching Golden Celestial to be able to travel freely in the counties under King Qin's Mansion. Otherwise, there was no doubt he would meet with peak Golden Celestials robbers and die. However, now, he could finally rely on his family. This was such a huge chance that he did not know how to feel about it.
The Third Prince was confused. "Why? Is something wrong?" He did notice the grey-clad figure since he found it strange how Wang Qi Ling was extremely respectful to that person. However, a few days had passed, and the grey-robed figure did not cause any trouble so he stopped paying attention to that person.
King Qin said grimly, "Yes, we have a major problem."
"Did Wang Qi Ling hire him to kill Duan Ling Tian from Nine Specters County?" The Third Prince asked with a frown. He had heard about how the other 15 counties had colluded to hire someone to kill Duan Ling Tian from Nine Specters County. However, he did not expect they would dare to act so brazenly in King Qin's Mansion. Was this not akin to a challenge to King Qin's Mansion?
"Kill Duan Ling Tian?" Qin Yu's expression changed drastically. Duan Ling Tian was his only friend. Moreover, Duan Ling Tian had saved his life.
King Qin said solemnly, "No, this is much more than that. A mere Wang Qi Ling isn't capable of getting a core elder of the Compassionate Celestial Sect to come here, let alone hire a core elder to kill Duan Ling Tian."
"T-the Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect? A core elder at that?!" The Third Prince was thoroughly shocked when he heard King Qin's words. An expression of disbelief could be seen on his face when he looked at King Qin with a pale face.
The Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect was a powerful sect that was much more powerful than the Cloudy Rock Celestial Kingdom where King Qin's Mansion was located. In fact, the Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect was even more powerful than most high-rank Celestial kingdoms…
Even a high-rank Celestial kingdom would not dare to simply provoke or offend the Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect. After all, the Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect was a huge threat even to a high-rank celestial kingdom. Moreover, he heard that almost all of the Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect's core elders were top-tier Celestial Dukes.
"Yes." King Qin nodded.
"The Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect's core elders are peak Celestial Dukes. Brother, are you sure the grey-clad figure is a Celestial Duke?" The Third Prince asked. A horrified and wary expression could be seen on his face.
"I tried to probe her cultivation base…. It… It was too profound for me to find out anything!" King Qin said solemnly.
The Third Prince shuddered.
'Celestial Duke?!' Qin Yu who was standing aside could not help but widen his eyes when he heard his uncles' conversation.
Celestial Dukes were even stronger than Overarching Heavenly Supreme Celestial!
It should be noted that the strongest person in King Qin's Mansion was only King Qin who was an Overarching Heavenly Supreme Celestial. Even if the Fourth Prince was still around, there would only be two Overarching Heavenly Supreme Celestials.
Currently, a Celestial Duke had appeared, according to his uncles, at the Martial Competition of the 16 Counties. Moreover, the Celestial Duke came from an extremely powerful sect, the Compassionate Celestial Traveler Sect. It was even more peculiar that such an elite was standing with Wang Qi Ling, the County Governor of Fair Mountain.
Qin Yu was thoroughly shocked when he found out the grey-robed man was a Celestial Duke. He had noticed the grey-robed figure earlier. He was one of the two people who had hidden their appearance. The other person was a black-robed man who stood with the Flying Dragon Sect that was also a powerful sect under King Qin's Mansion governance. Based on the black robe with the word 'Kun' on it, which was a Celestial Master's Robe, it was obvious he was either a Celestial Alchemist or Celestial Craftsman. However, there was no doubt the grey-clad figure was more mysterious than the black-robed man.
Seeing the Third Prince's skepticism, King Qin added, "Moreover, that person briefly showed me his or her order token. There was no doubt it's an authentic order token of a core elder from the Compassionate Celestial Sect. In addition to that…"
The Third Prince said, "Since that person's identity is confirmed, we must not offend them and cooperate with them!"
"You're right," King Qin nodded.
...
Meanwhile, the Martial Competition of the 16 Counties continued on.
After Qin Yu withdrew from the competition, the temporary top three candidates had been selected.
"One Heart County's Yan Shi Hu is ranked third in the Martial Competition of the 16 Counties for now. Horse Teeth County's Tong Yuan is second while the Soaring Wind County's Chu Yu is ranked first for the time being," the Martial Competition of the 16 Counties' master of ceremony stood above the arena and announced, "Next, the 13 strongest participants that had been selected by their respective counties will have a chance to challenge the current top three participants. If they succeed, they will take over the defeated person's rank. If the challenger fails and wishes to try again, they would have to challenge those in the top ten, apart from the top three, before they can challenge the top three participants again. If those below the top three are defeated, their ranks would drop, ranking behind the person who defeated them." He was very thorough with his explanation.
At this time, the climax of the Martial Competition of the 16 Counties was about the start.
The spectators began to whisper among themselves.
"I didn't expect the person to rank first for the time being to be a woman."
"Yes. Who would have thought she would rank first in the Martial Competition of the 16 Counties?"
"She's from the Soaring Wind County, right? So I guess to rank first she must be pretty powerful."
"I beg to disagree. I think the Soaring Wind County's best candidate should be Chu Yu's brother, Chu Yan!"
"Chu Yan... I've heard of him… He's the son of Chu Ting Xuan, the County Governor of Soaring Wind County. He isn't very well known in the past. He only gained a modicum of fame when he joined King Qin's Mansion's Martial Competition of the 16 Counties. In the past, the world only knew about Chu Yu, the daughter of the Soaring Wind County's County Chief. She's a woman who's not inferior to men!"