Chapter 438: Banquet
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
The carriage, being pulled by multiple beasts, traveled very fast towards its destination..
Xue Ying and Jing Qiu were surveying the passing scenery from their seats inside the carriage. As a whole, the Calm Sea Prefecture Capital reached enormous proportions, making sights such as vast and grand structures, as well as undulating mountains, common.
“I didn’t even get the chance to properly see the Calm Sea Prefecture Capital in its entirety. At most, we got a glance from the distance because of that huge wall blocking off the path.” Jing Qiu sighed in praise.
“Indeed.” Xue Ying turned his sight towards the enormous wall shrouded by clouds blocking off the end of the road. “The Calm Sea Prefecture Capital is an extraordinary place. It’s only normal, seeing how it’s been crafted by the first Prefecture Master, and then fortified by the many subsequent generations. The arrays on the wall are truly deep, nothing someone like us could hope to understand.”
Together with his amazement, a feeling of pride surged up in Xue Ying’s heart.
As long as he did not slack off, he was predestined to become a stage four World Deity in the future, and he even had hope to join the ranks of powerful existences!
“We’ll arrive soon,” the green-robed carriage driver interjected.
The nine beasts were now descending towards the clump of towering palaces. One of them belonged to none other than the Calm Sea Prefecture Master himself, and the territory of the Long Shi Clan was in that area also.
As it rapidly descended, the carriage soon arrived in front of the door leading to a side palace chamber.
“Sir Dong Bo.” A female attendant dressed in violet robes was waiting by the entrance; she was the one responsible for receiving guests.
Xue Ying and Jing Qiu came down from the carriage.
Heavens! Xue Ying swept his vision across his surroundings. Standing right outside the entrance to the palace was a row of legion soldiers wearing golden armor, all of them emitting auras at the level of World Deities!
There are ten World Deities standing outside the palace as mere guards? Xue Ying inwardly sighed at the thought of how deep the foundation of the top clan in the Calm Sea Prefecture was. Accompanied by his wife, he finally entered the towering palace, as led by the attendant.
A number of guests had already arrived at the palace hall, a group which also included the handsome teenager dressed in white robes, Seventh Mei Yu. He was sitting cross-legged by the side of a long table, with two beautiful women at his back.
“Sir Dong Bo, this way, if you please.” The violet-robed attendant brought Xue Ying to his seat which was located right next to Seventh Mei Yu’s.
There, he also entered a cross-legged posture, with his wife at his side.
“Brother Dong Bo, is your wife the only one accompanying you?” Seventh Mei Yu turned over.
“We’ve come here merely to broaden our horizons. Is Madam Sang not here also?” Xue Ying asked, a hit of surprise in his tone. Madam Sang was the stage two World Deity charged with protecting Seventh Mei Yu, yet she was not present?
“There is no need in her attending such a banquet,” Seventh Mei Yu said frankly. What a joke. Monarch Mo Xue was currently there, at the Long Shi Clan, accompanied by the Prefecture Master himself! As long as she remained in the Calm Sea Prefecture Capital… it would be impossible for her to face danger. With how powerful her father was, he could easily suppress the entire region of the Calm Sea Prefecture Capital with but a thought. There was simply no need for Madam Sang to guard her closely under such circumstances.
As they chatted, attendants stepped up again and again, respectfully kneeling down before bringing more delicious food and wine to Xue Ying’s table. “This is a token of appreciation from the second prince. Sir Dong Bo, please enjoy,” an attendant said as he left.
“A token of appreciation from the second prince?” Xue Ying saw a stony food tray holding a flask of wine, as well as six separate plates, atop of which spirit fruits and various other types of food were placed.
Xue Ying removed the stopper from the flask, lightly sniffing its contents before turning to his wife with a laugh. “Jing Qiu, it would seem this second prince has spent quite a lot. Altogether, the flask of wine and the spirit fruits should cost around 1,000 Deity crystals.”
“Xue Ying, take a better look at the tray,” Jing Qiu replied.
Giving the stone tray a more thorough investigation, Xue Ying was stunned to find that, despite seeming like a commonplace item at first, an incomparably pure energy was emitting from it.
“Faith Stone?” Xue Ying was startled.
The reason World Deities would try to spread their name and gather the faith of countless living beings was precisely the incomparably precious type of energy known as Faith Energy.
Meanwhile, Faith Stone a material condensed from the Faith Energy itself! Normally, it would be cut into smaller pieces of standardized sizes, normally as large as the thumb pig. The tray before him would have to be crafted out of several thousand Faith Stones. In this case, the material used was most likely the primitive form of condensed Faith Energy, which was then cut into this specific shape.
Her Highness, Seventh Mei Yu, laughed from the side. “Those rich clans sure love doing such things most. Other than cutting Faith Stone in the form of trays, they would even use some larger chunks which accumulated over longer periods of time to make sculptures. Even the material used to make this tray alone, if calculated in terms of Deity crystals, would likely cost around 100,000 Deity crystals! And that gift wasn’t sent to you alone; all those who ranked in the top ten have likely already received a similar tray. This is the true present the second prince sent.”
“100,000 Deity crystals? Adding up the cost of ten such items will bring the total to one million Deity crystals.” Xue Ying shook his head and sighed. “That’s one incredible sum.”
One million Deity crystals was around roughly equivalent to what an ordinary stage one World Deity could normally save up, yet it was nothing more than a welcoming gift in the hands of the second prince!
In truth, it was not that exaggerated. Any one who could rank in the top ten was devilish, and had most likely been through various miraculous encounters in their pasts. Even a million or two Deity crystals would not be anything much to them! However, for a gift of 100,000 Deity crystals to be a ‘token of appreciation’… This gift of a tray made from Faith Stone would most likely be remembered by the top ten rankers for the rest of their lives.
More guests arrived, one after another. Amongst them were other top ten rankers from the Calm Sea Prefecture ranking battle, as well as various personages from rich clans throughout the Calm Sea Prefecture.
Finally, after everyone else arrived, the second prince finally made his appearance.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, the Bloodshed God Palace only hosts the Myriad Flower Feast every 10 million years, and as such, it is known as the the grandest occasion in the entire Deity world. Today, I have invited the top ten rankers of the ranking battle because I believe that, nine years from now, they will all be on their way to the Bloodshed God Palace itself, to fight in the final battle before the very eyes of His Majesty and many other powerful existences. Come now, all of you, in commemoration of this grand occasion, and in celebration you ten, let us have a toast.” The luxuriant-looking teenager in black robes who was seated in the highest position, raised his wine goblet.
Everyone else raised their wine goblets in response to the second prince’s words.
“Let me briefly introduce the others.” The black-robed teenager laughed. “To my left is Brother Zhen Feng, and he is none other than the great-grandson of the Left Palace Master.” The full names of powerful existences could not be casually mentioned.
The one mentioned was a blue-robed man with a full beard, his appearance rather decadent as a whole. He was sitting there, focused on his wine. When he was referred to, he casually glanced around him, and then went back to his drinking.
“This is Old Brother Luan Qi, the only son of the West Yong Legion Marshal.”
“This is…”
The second prince gave a short presentation of the other guests.
A total of twelve heirs from the rich clans had come over today, with nine of them being World Deities, and three others being Deities! For the most part, Deities would not be able to keep their true hearts stable. They would eventually crumble and, after a period of time, they would die! In the case of the West Yong Legion’s Marshal Luan… he had a total of nine children, but only one of them had became a World Deity, while the other eight remained ordinary Deities. Eventually, each and every one of their True Deity Hearts had crumbled, causing them to die. The only one still alive was this Luan Qi.
Among those invited over today were heirs from the clans that wielded real power in the Calm Sea Prefecture.
After the introductions were concluded, everyone became more familiar with each other.
There were beauties singing and dancing within the hall, and the heirs from the rich clans had also taken to conversing with Xue Ying and the other nine Deities.
This is not that bad. Any one of these heirs from the rich clans is more polite than that Young Master of the Soaring Cloud Lake. Xue Ying discovered that most of them were World Deities, two of them even at the stage two, yet they were all speaking respectfully to him. It was only the three Deities who were more lacking in terms of etiquette.
“Big Brother Luan Qi, come, come. Why don’t the two of us have a bet?” A tall, silver-garbed teenager shouted.
“Since Old Brother Ying wants to bet, there’s no way I could refuse.” A strand of coldness flashed through Luan Qi’s eyes as he casually laughed. “I wonder, will it be in war or beauty?”
“It’ll have to be beauty! A fight would only serve to dirty this place, which would make the second prince unhappy. I would have to suffer the consequences of that myself,” the silver-robed teenager said. “There’s this World Deity treasure I have which my father gave me to play around with. However, I find it rather boorish, so I’ll use it as my part of the best.”
With those words, the silver-robed teenager flipped his hand to take out a blood-colored, twin-headed axe.
Luan Qi frowned for a second, before a smile returned to his face. “Alright. I’ll play with you. The only thing I can bring out is this World Deity treasure worth one million Deity crystals.” He casually flipped his hand, taking out a sword kept in an azure sheath.
At this sight, Xue Ying could not help but feel that some sort of enmity existed between the Deity known as General Ying and Luan Qi. Otherwise, there would have been no sense in bringing out such expensive items for a bet.
**
