Banquet in the Palace (1)
Night fell, and the Yan Country’s Imperial Capital was brightly lit up with countless lanterns. The dazzle of candle flames threw out their light, pushing back the darkness the shrouded the prosperous city.
Two horse carriages belonging to the Zephyr Academy slowly moved off from the Immortals’ Loft, rolling towards the gates of the Imperial Palace.
As they passed along on the street, there were many youths from the various academies who had not yet left and they stopped in their tracks to peer at them. Before the Spirit Battle Tournament began, none of them had expected that the Zephyr Academy which had seemed to be on a decline, would put up such an astounding show of power in this year’s Spirit Battle Tournament. The Zephyr Academy’s fame had now grown instead of a decline, giving everyone a faint and indistinct feeling that they might have surpassed the War Banners and the Dragon Slayers, all ready to fully take the top spot as the most elite of academies.
The Imperial Palace was filled with hanging lanterns and colourful banners, to welcome the ten highly talented individuals who had stood out from the rest in this year’s Spirit Battle Tournament, where every place in there was filled with joyous celebratory decorations.
The horse carriages from the other academies were stopped before the palace gates. Among the top ten ranks, besides the Zephyr Academy having taken up six spots, the War Banners and the Dragon Slayers took two spots each. The ten youths had arrived at the palace gates at almost the same time. The four disciples from the War Banner and the Dragon Slayers were lavishly clothed, obviously having carefully dressed themselves up. They all stood under the night sky, their heads raised up to gawk at the majestic towering palace gates, their eyes deeply mesmerized.
The six of them, Jun Wu Xie and her companions, were still wearing their Zephyr Academy uniforms as if they did not have a second set of clothes besides those.
But when the six companions appeared, the Dragon Slayers’ and the War Banners’ demeanour immediately weakened, their arrogance quickly dissipating.
The might the six of them possessed was the best dress up they could give themselves and without needing any adornments, they were already seen as heaven defying monsters who outshone all of them!
The junior eunuch in the Imperial Palace led the ten of them inside. The Yan Country had indeed lived up to its name as the most prosperous country. Every part of the interior exemplified grandeur and lavish luxury. Although he four youths from the Dragon Slayers and the War Banner tried hard to hide their excitement, the pairs of eyes burning fervently however did not even subside a moment.
Jun Wu Xie and her gang on the other hand were calm and collected. Jun Wu Xie was the Young Miss of the Lin Palace and she was no stranger to Imperial Palaces. The Qi Kingdom’s Imperial Palace was her the garden in her own backyard where she come and went as she wished.
Although Qiao Chu and the others had lived a life of poverty for a long time, but they had grown up within the Twelves Palaces when young and the extravagant luxuries back in the Middle Realm was something the Lower Realm would find hard to catch up to.
After passing through almost halfway through the Imperial Palace, they finally arrived at the banquet. Within the banquet hall, their seats have been arranged and allocated and they had not arrived early as there were already some people seated in waiting.
All the four princes of the Yan Country were present and besides them, there were people from the Thousand Beast City that included Xiong Ba, Feng Yue Yang, Qing Yu and Qu Ling Yue at the banquet who were all sitting formally, straight backed in their seats. Xiong Ba had met Jun Xie once on the day they had gone to bring Jun Xie out from jail and he now saw Jun Xie as a delicate youth who had been unjustifiably implicated to suffer needless injustice. Xiong Ba saw Jun Xie coming in and he nodded to the youth with a smile on his face.
Qu Ling Yue was however looking at Jun Xie with her face deeply ashamed where she only managed a brief and quick flustered smile before lowering her head as she did not dare look at Jun Xie after that.
Jun Wu Xie and the others took their seats and sweet melodious music filled the Imperial Palace, accompanied by palace maids who served them fresh fruits and wine. Everyone quietly savoured the moment as they waited for the banquet to begin.
Lei Chen was looking at Jun Xie, his wide smile showing his great joy at the moment. Lei Chen knew very well that Lei Fan who was seated right beside him was at the moment gnawing with jealousy and highly infuriated by his big smile and his hands hidden below the table would be leaving countless deep scratch marks underneath.
