Translator: TYZ Editor: Book_Hoarder
Everyone was looking at Ren Baqian enjoying the food. Ning Caichen picked up a spider in doubt and examined it closely. After hesitating for quite some time, he closed his eyes and placed the spider into his mouth, appearing as though he was eating a bitter gourd. After chewing it for two seconds, he opened his eyes and gave the distant Ren Baqian a thumbs-up. It indeed tasted not bad.
It was just that it looked disgusting.
When everyone else saw what Ning Caichen did, they thought to themselves, “Maybe the dishes indeed taste good, it’s just that they look disgusting.”
One by one, the rest picked up the spiders and tasted them. Following which, they nodded their heads in approval.
Those pretty boys’ face twitched. Eventually, they decided to go back and eat sauteed pig intestines after the banquet had ended.
As for the rest of the dishes, no one dared to taste them yet.
On her seat of honor, the empress looked at everyone beneath her. Then, she raised her up and said, “This is a toast to Dayao’s eternal existence.”
“Dayao’s eternal existence!” Everyone on the left side of the palace hall raised their cups and returned the empress’s toast.
On the right side of the palace hall, everyone drank their alcohol silently.
The empress’s next toast would be to thank everyone for bringing gifts from distant lands to Dayao. No matter what, she would still show everyone respect after receiving their gifts. After all, she had used the gifts that she received these few years to exchange for weapons from other nations.
“We wish the empress of Dayao longevity!” Everyone on the right side of the palace hall raised their cups and gave the empress a toast.
At this point of time, the empress had finished commencing the banquet. There was an announcer at the front of the palace hall announcing the gift list. After all, the gifts were brought to flaunt about.
“General-in-Chief Who Supports the Nation, Hong Wu, presents a Jade Embryo!” The first person was Hong Wu. Ren Baqian wondered what a Jade Embryo was. It sounded as though it was something high-end. Everyone else broke into a lively discussion.
When Seventh Prince heard “Jade Embryo”, envy arose in his heart. One could only come across a Jade Embryo serendipitously. In his entire lifetime, he had only heard of it but had never seen it before. The imperial family of Great Xia spent so many years searching for it, and they could only find one. Seventh Prince wondered where Hong Wu found it. Not only did Hong Wu not hide it, he even gifted it to Qi Zixiao.
Seventh Prince had heard that Hong Wu and Qi Zixiao had an extremely good relationship. It seemed like it was true. After all, Hong Wu would definitely not gift the Jade Embryo to Qi Zixiao for the sake of currying favor with her. Given his status, he did not need to do so.
The Jade Embryo only had one use but the emperor of Great Xia would be willing to exchange for it with a city…
It could extend one’s life by twenty years and preserve his or her facial appearance. The person who used it would only start ageing rapidly when he or she was dying.
Longevity was mankind’s eternal goal.
Maintaining a youthful facial appearance was every woman’s eternal goal.
These two points alone could make everyone in the world go crazy over the Jade Embryo.
Hong Wu took out a box from nowhere, took two steps forward and placed it before the empress. This thing was too precious, so he had to give it to the empress personally.
A warm feeling flowed through the empress’s heart. She clearly knew that if it was someone else that gained the possession of the Jade Embryo, he or she would not hand it over this easily.
Without needing anyone to pass it to her, the empress reached out her hands and took it. Then, she opened the box and revealed a circular jade. Subsequently, she placed it on her palm. Under the light, she could see a human-shaped object within the jade
“Thank you very much, General.” The empress nodded her head and placed the jade back into the box. Then, she placed the box beside her hand.
This artifact was extremely precious to her. It wasn’t the life extension of twenty years that moved her, but rather, its ability to provide her with eternal youth.
Hong Wu returned to his seat. Everyone else began to stand up and congratulate the empress, “Your Majesty, congratulations!”
Other than Hong Wu’s extraordinary gift, the rest of the gifts were mainly Heaven-grade weapons, meteorite ores, precious treasures and etc. Even though all of them were considered priceless gifts, they still paled in comparison to Hong Wu’s Jade Embryo.
“Honglu Deputy, Storyteller of Qingxin Palace, Ren Baqian…” the announcer stopped his announcement momentarily before continuing, “… presents a ‘The Ultimate Mirror That Is Only Fit for Her Majesty’.”
An absolute silence descended upon the palace hall once again. This gift sounded as though it was comparable to Hong Wu’s Jade Embryo.
However, just now, everyone was shocked because they did not expect Hong Wu could present such an extraordinary gift to the empress. On the contrary, at this point of time, everyone was thinking to themselves, “What the hell is this thing?”
Everyone shifted their gazes to Ren Baqian.
The empress, who was already in a good mood, was stunned after hearing those words from the announcer. Following which, her eyes curled up as she almost laughed out loud on the spot.
Next up, the announcer announced the gifts from the nobles of the three nations. Seventh Prince’s gifts shocked many people as well. Seven dragon scales and one drop of dragon blood.
These gifts were considered extraordinary. Previously, the arrival of the Seventh Prince already surprised many people. Why would a prince of Great Xia want to celebrate the birthday of Dayao’s empress? At that time, everyone reckoned that he must have other motives.
At this moment, Seventh Prince’s gifts had validated everyone’s conjecture.
Only the empress and Seven Prince knew that these seven dragon scales were real dragon scales and the drop of dragon blood was a drop of real dried-up dragon blood. The word “real” meant a lot.
After falling out with the empress that day, Seventh Prince had been thinking very hard about what made Ren Baqian so valuable that the empress would fall out with a prince from Great Xia for him. She did not care even after he corrected himself. After thinking about it for a few days, he decided to try his luck.
Even for the seventh most powerful expert in the world, this gift was considered very precious. Furthermore, it was from a powerful individual like the Seventh Prince.
The Seventh Prince betted that Qi Zixiao would give him what he wanted.
That bottle of blood was exceptionally important to him. It could save him tens of years of hard work.
Even if this private transaction came into light and the news of him giving such treasures to Dayao’s empress was spread to Great Xia, he did not care at all.
When the empress heard about these gifts, she immediately knew the Seventh Prince’s intention. Since the other party had shown his sincerity, she had decided to give him a bottle of kirin blood.
The next gift that the empress received was an interesting one, and it was from Ning Caichen. It was actually a painting that depicted one hundred beauties. It would be suitable gift if it was given to a male like an emperor. What’s point of giving such a gift to the empress?
Most of the gifts were jewels, paintings and calligraphies. These kinds of gifts were rather boring.
Everyone was only interested in two gifts. One was Ren Baqian’s “The Ultimate Mirror That Is Only Fit for Her Majesty”.
Another one was Ning Caichen’s “One Hundred Beauties”.
Many people felt there was definitely something strange with “One Hundred Beauties”.
The empress seemed to know what everyone was thinking. She bluntly said, “Bring up ‘One Hundred Beauties’ and Ren Baqian’s gift. I believe everyone wants to see how they look like.”
The gift that was brought up to the empress first was “One Hundred Beauties”. It was a scroll that was 1.2 meters long. After it was pulled open, it was 10 meters long. The women drawn on the painting were vivid and lifelike. Every one of them was indeed remarkably beautiful. The guests from the Yun Nation, the Chen Nation and Great Xia realized the women on the painting were all the most stunning beauties in today’s world. Not only were their looks exceptional, but their martial arts, backgrounds, and etc. were as well.
The person who drew the women on the painting was also an extraordinary individual. To meet even one of the one hundred beauties would take a tremendous amount of effort and time.
There was one beauty on the painting that everyone was familiar with. Following which, all of them shifted their gazes to the Seventh Prince. That beauty was actually Xiu Wu, the girl who always by Seventh Prince’s side.
If other people could recognize her, then Seventh Prince could definitely recognize her as well. He could not help but furrow his eyebrows, wondering who drew this painting.
