Dai Yuan's brows furrowed upon hearing the shouting coming from the other side of the door. She looked towards the two guards next to the door.
"What's going on?"
One of them bowed from the waist, "A fight broke out between the Hall's and the Academy's guardians, Lady Yuan."
She nodded and waved her hand, "Open the door, I'll deal with it."
"Yes," the guards bowed once again and stood aside. The door opened on its own and the scene on the other side became clear.
There were two groups of cultivators standing not far from the Northern door confronting each other. Actually the entire hall had been divided into three portions.
Two groups were facing each other with some blood already spilled and the last group was of the spectators that hadn't chosen sides yet.
At the center were two men less than two feet apart from one another. There was no one else around them for a dozen meters.
The one on the left had a silver katana in his right hand. The katana's blade was coming out the back of the cultivator in front of him. Whereas the other cultivator's arms were almost twice their normal size and one of them was grasping the blade while the other was on the katana wielder's neck.
From the looks of things, both of them were at a stalemate. If the katana wielder circulated his Qi through the blade, he could send it rampaging inside his opponent's body. While the other person was already tightly grasping his neck and could kill him instantly.
Either way, neither of them would come out unscathed.
Behind both these cultivators stood their respective groups and anyone they supported.
The katana wielder was, of course, Stasa while his opponent was Hao Xuan.
Behind Stasa stood the Hall's students, warriors, participants, and cultivators while behind Hao Xuan stood the Academy's. A few familiar faces were visible in the crowd as Guo Min and Fulke both stood right behind Hao Xuan along with Wu Jin and Henrik.
Even the playboy Micha was standing not far from him on the Academy's side.
The atmosphere was tense, to say the least as a massive brawl was about to break out any second. By the time Dai Yuan and Ceni entered, the hall was shrouded in utter silence.
Many people turned to face them when the sound of their footsteps echoed in the hall.
Without losing her composure in the slightest, Dai Yuan walked towards them with Ceni right next to her. A genial smile adorned her face as she looked at them one by one.
"Gentlemen, please. There is a time and place for everything and this isn't it. If you want to fight so badly, we can set something up later. So please, put your weapons down and enjoy the wine. I had it especially imported from the Divine Monkey King's region."
Her words were like spells that instantly warmed up the mood. Many princes and princesses spoke up soon after.
"Lady Yuan is so generous!"
"Lady Yuan, Lady Ceni, a toast to you!"
"Monkey King's wine? I've heard rumors about it but have never tasted it. Even father couldn't bring me any. I must buy a few bottles today!"
No one really wanted to fight here so most of the people instantly backed up. Hao Xuan and Stasa were the only ones that didn't bat an eye and kept staring at one another without saying a word, neither of them moving an inch.
The bald teen in the golden robes went up to Stasa.
"Brother, stop already. There will be other chances," he said lightly but everyone nearby heard him. Hao Xuan peered at him with squinted eyes.
'This kid…'
He gave him a bad feeling.
Stasa looked behind Hao Xuan at Henrik who was smugly standing behind several other people and knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to him today. If he continued like this, it would be rude to the Fehim Group that were the host of this ball.
But still, his reputation and more importantly, the Hall's reputation was at stake. He couldn't be the first one to back down. It was a matter of pride.
"Tell him to let go first," Stasa replied coldly.
The bald teen was taken aback by Stasa's answer. He was expecting him to just leave it like this but now that he had said that out loud, if Hao Xuan did actually let go first it would look bad for the academy.
He went even closer, "Brothe-"
But the words got stuck in his throat when he saw a silhouette walk up to Hao Xuan from the corner of his eyes. His mouth almost fell upon looking at them. It was the same for everyone else around them as well. Henrik, Guo Min, Micha, and even Dai Yuan had the exact same reaction to some degree.
Hao Xuan looked slightly to his left at the person now looking up at him curiously. The distance between them was even closer than between him and Stasa which was just a couple of feet.
"Everywhere I go, why do I always run into you?" Ceni asked with a questioning gaze. Hao Xuan met her gaze and was caught off guard. Her eyes were completely fearless. Standing so close to these that were already at each other's throat, literally, she wasn't fazed in the slightest.
"I could ask you the same thing," Hao Xuan asked in return.
Instead of replying Ceni simply stared at him.
Stasa actually felt very awkward standing a couple of feet away from them and wanted to distance himself as soon as he could. He cursed himself for not doing so when the bald teen had given him the opportunity.
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait much longer.
Ceni gripped Hao Xuan's cuff and turned around.
"Come with me for a bit," she said lightly.
Stasa took the chance when Hao Xuan was distracted and quickly retracted his blade and took a few steps back. Blood splashed on the floor from Hao Xuan's open wound.
Hao Xuan looked at him with a frown and then at Ceni.
He didn't want to follow her but she was the host and broke up their fight. Plus maybe he could find an opportunity to ask her about PAR so he decided to go with her.
And just like that, Ceni dragged Hao Xuan out of the hall and disappeared within seconds, leaving a dumbstruck crowd behind.
"Wow, are those two dating?!"
"Pfft, you know that's not possible."
"Yeah. She is a princess and he…I don't actually know about him but it shouldn't be anything serious. They're probably just sleeping together or something."
"Damn, yeah probably. They seemed pretty close."
Dai Yuan's eyes flashed with a cold light as she looked at Ceni's back vanish from view. She clicked on her Spirit Band and dialled a number.
"Find me everything about the man with Ceni, right now!"
