"He's feeling threatened." Prince Lin Xian furrowed his brows. "There are several powerful people who are neutral right now and if they all fall to your hand, their authority might decrease."
"And if you're allowed to grow, he might not be able to deal with you again in the future. Just like the usual saying, nip the bud before it could grow," Prince Lin San added, his eyes were cold.
Lin Xiao's eyes were solemn. But thinking about it, Fan Ling followed him and she had quite the ability. The others who were following him were also not easy to bully. After seeing them, the other princes might have truly started to feel threatened and feel that they needed to make their move to ensure their path.
"How troublesome."
Prince Lin Yan sighed. "You can hunt peacefully for now. They won't be able to get close so easily with me around. However, I can't stay here for a long time and if those people appear, I won't be able to protect you."
Lin Xiao nodded. He knew that Prince Lin Yan was not the only Golden Core Stage 2 in the academy. There were several others who might be more powerful than him or on par. If those people ganged up on him, he wouldn't have the time to spare for taking care of Lin Xiao anymore.
"I understand."
"Alright, I will leave…"
"Uh wait, I need your help," Lin Xiao stopped Prince Lin Yan and smiled sheepishly. "Could you please divulge my position as a prince right before my bet with Teacher Su Lou to the Emperor? Around one and a half year from now."
Prince Lin Yan's eyes widened when he looked at Lin Xiao. "Divulging your position will make you a threat to the other princes."
"At that time, I should be ready. Besides, I would like to ask for permission to marry Princess Lan Yi Hua…." Lin Xiao's voice trailed a bit at the end. When they were talking a few months prior, Princess Lan Yi Hua had told him that she was tasked to get married to any of the prince here. It meant that as long as one of the princes took fancy of her, they could just propose.
Hearing that, the others were speechless. To think that the youngest one was already thinking about that when the oldest was still single. The two princes looked at their eldest brother, thinking about how their oldest brother was always alone.
It seemed that they needed to persuade their older brother to get married too.
Prince Lin Yan smiled and nodded. "Fine. I got it."
"Thank you!"
Lin Xiao was happy. He knew that it might not pass so easily, but probably there might be some method along the way.
They chatted a bit more before Lin Xiao left the three brothers, who were still looking at each other. Without Lin Xiao, Prince Lin Yan now swept his gaze to his two younger brothers, who had somehow got closer to Lin Xiao in such a short period of time.
"Now, care to explain the meaning behind your action of supporting our younger brother?" Prince Lin Yan asked.
Prince Lin San looked at his older brother then sighed. "Emperor's Inheritance."
Hearing that, Prince Lin Yan's pupil constricted. Just two words were more than enough for him to know that these two didn't only plan to just help Lin Xiao but also to support him. He sighed. "You see it?"
"He shows it to us. I already have my suspicion when I checked that his dragon power is so high. It was as if I'm seeing the Emperor that had the artifact to help him maintaining the throne," Prince Lin San admitted and smiled sheepishly.
Prince Lin Yan sighed and nodded. "I'll do my part. You two, don't die."
"Yes, Brother!"
Swish!
Another month passed by peacefully and by now, Lin Xiao had already collected enough points to pass for the examination. They were still busy gathering the beasts body and only collected in six of their Spatial Ring, though. Based on the record, they would only lack another 100, which was in the last Spatial Ring.
They wanted to make a good use of this chance to practice in the forest.
Bang!
The faint voice coming from a distance stopped them from what they were doing. It sounded as if there was a fierce battle on a distance.
"Brother, we lost contact with the scout on that area," Prince Lin San informed with grave expression. He felt that there might be sudden beast horde coming in their way when he felt how the earth shook.
"I'll check."
Climbing the tree as fast as possible, Lin Xiao glanced into a distance. His lips twitched when he saw the dust that was heading in their way as he looked down to the others. "Beast horde is coming this way. Run!"
"Oh."
Everyone was quick to start utilizing their movement technique and began to run as fast as possible. No one wanted to stay in the same place for an extended period of time. They would be trampled to death if they dared to stay here any longer.
Swish!
Lin Xiao also leapt down of the tree. His eyes naturally followed Princess Lan Yi Hua as he rushed over in her direction. She also noticed him and nodded.
They all scattered in all direction as they began to run. However, the faint rumble didn't only come from the forest but also the sky.
Looking up, Prince Lin San felt that there was something bad that was about to happen. He looked around and realized that they had scattered from each other when they were escaping. "Brother, we need to find Lin Xiao!"
"Ah?" Prince Lin Xian almost stopped but he nodded. "Did you see where he goes?"
Prince Lin San then recalled that Lin Xiao climbed the tree to take a look. By the time the young man was back, the others were already running in every direction. His expression turned grave.
"No."