The Emperor turned back towards Long Chen and lowered the weapon.
Emperor Lu Junwei told Long Chen while shaking his head, "Even though this fight didn't go as I had planned, I'm still happy you could defeat me even though it was a bit of a trick and not a pure battle."
"Let's go back," he added as he started walking towards the door to leave.
A look of disappointment was evident on his face.
"Where are you going?" Long Chen asked as he gazed at the Emperor leaving.
"What do you mean? The battle is over. So I'm leaving," the Emperor told Long Chen as he glanced back.
"The battle isn't over. The first fight was to finish your task of winning. Now that I won, you can't stop me from meeting Mingyu or staying with her. As for the real fight, that will begin now. And this won't be without any terms. Even if I lose, you won't stop me from meeting Mingyu since I already finished the deal by winning!" Long Chen told the Emperor.
He wanted to go through a hearty fight against a strong and talented opponent that where no one was going to try to kill each other. It was a great opportunity, and he wanted to fight to his heart's content.
He only chose a shortcut in the first battle to win the battle and finish the requirement of getting the man's approval. The main thing was yet to come. It was going to be his training as well as him testing his strength without using any Laws.
The Emperor couldn't help but stare at Long Chen blankly in disbelief. Was this guy for real?
"Hahahaha!"
He soon started laughing out loud as he held his stomach.
"What happened?" Long Chen asked, wondering why he was laughing.
"Good. Very good. You are really lucky. If you hadn't stopped me, I wouldn't have liked you. Even though you won, it was through a shortcut. If you had allowed me to leave, that would have meant that you were scared of a proper battle. That would be a failed son-in-law in my eyes," the Emperor told Long Clen as he laughed out loud.
"Don't worry. Even if you fail, I won't stop you from being with Mingyu. I accept you as my Son in law. Now don't worry about that, and let me see how strong you are!" He added as he grinned.
*****
Three hours passed. Long Chen was sitting on the ground, breathing heavily.
'Sigh, I guess experience is truly a strong thing. Without using any Laws or my Demon Monarch Physique, I am so weak against him. I can't even win against a guy that has the same Cultivation as me,' Long Chen thought as he gazed at the Emperor who was still standing tall at some distance.
"Three hours… It took me three hours, and I still couldn't defeat you. But it seems like you ran out of Qi faster. That's to be expected. Even though our Cultivation is restricted, our Qi reserves are unaffected. Still, to not be defeated until your Qi ran out, that's pretty impressive," the Emperor praised Long Chen.
"Don't flower your words. I have no Qj. You can defeat me easily now. It's my defeat. Having less Qi reserve is no excuse for me not to be able to win," Long Chen let out as he smiled wryly. He dusted his clothes as he sat up.
"Oh, really? Did you actually give it your all? Why do I have a feeling that you still had some tricks up your sleeves," the Emperor told Long Chen as an amused smile appeared on his face.
That was true as well. Long Chen wanted to enter this fight as a pure Cultivator against another Cultivator. He didn't use his Laws and many more abilities.
"I can say the same for you. For an Emperor of your strength, it's impossible for you not to possess a Law. You don't use it either. It was a fight of skills, and I am defeated. That's all," Long Chen let out as he shook his head.
The Emperor smiled gently as he walked towards Long Chen.
As he reached near Long Chen, he placed his hand on Long Chen's head as he ruffled his head.
"You have honestly exceeded my expectations, boy. I'm glad Mingyu has a husband like you. You can stay with her from today," he told Long Chen.
He turned back and started walking towards the doors.
He stopped right before the doors as he turned back.
"Oh right. Go and rest. After resting, meet me in the throne room. I have something for you for winning," he told Long Chen, who nodded his head.
"Oh right. Since you can stay with Mingyu, you don't have to sneak out of the room at night. So I don't think you'll need to lie to me again," he shook his head as he left, leaving a stunned Long Chen behind.
"That guy… He knew," a wry smile appeared on his face as he realized that Lu Junwei probably knew that Long Chen sneaked out at night.
Could it be that he also guessed about his Law of Space?
'Sigh, I underestimated him,' he thought as he shook his head.
He also started walking towards the exit.
He walked straight to Mingyu's room.
As he was walking through the corridor, a thought crossed his head.
"Oh right. He accepts me now. And he's the Emperor here. He must have High-Level artificers under him. If I ask that guy, he might be able to help reforge my Spirit Sword into a stronger artifact. It wouldn't be impossible to have it upgraded to an Earth Grade Sword or even higher here," he muttered as he thought of his Spirit Sword.
"I think I'll talk to him when I meet him in the evening. He wouldn't refuse such a small thing."
****
Within the same Palace, inside a room, Prince Lu Wang was sitting on his bed, trying to think of a way.
"I just met that guy. I can't form lies about him to make Mingyu hate me. I can only do something that will make him do something that would be enough to create a misunderstanding," he muttered as he frowned.
"Mingyu loved me, her brother. And she loves him, her husband. If I make it so that they think he tried to kill me? That might work," he wondered. "But how should I go about doing it?"
He laid on his bed, lost in deep thought.
