Surrounded by screams of agony and fear, Feng Yu felt frenzied.
Falling from a distance of a thousand meters, even if he was a 5-star master teacher, a Transcendent Mortal 6-dan expert, he would be severely injured.
These spirit beasts had been properly tamed, and their flight should be extremely stable. Why would all of them fall simultaneously out of the blue?
“It must be that lad’s call!”
After a moment of thought, he quickly came to a realization. The last thing that happened before their plummet was that fellow’s call.
That call was reminiscent of the voice of a dragon. While humans might not feel anything from it, the spirit beasts facing it immediately felt an immense pressure pressing against them. Unable to withstand the pressure, they spurted blood profusely in midair. It was only out of sheer willpower that they were able to retain their consciousness at this point.
But knowing that this wasn’t the time to be thinking about all of this, he anxiously communicated with the spirit beasts beneath him.
“Hurry up and fly up…”
But to his agony, he realized that the spirit beast seemed to have gone into a state of shock. Not only did it not reply to his words, it was even trembling non-stop. Given its current state, it was clearly incapable of flight.
“Damn it!”
Seeing the ground approaching him swiftly, Feng Yu nearly spewed a mouthful of blood out of frustration.
What the heck was this?!
He had come over here prepared-the formation and Chen Mo-and he was confident that he would surely be able to obstruct the other party’s passage for sure. Never in his dreams could he have expected that the other party would possess a type of sound offense as well, and furthermore, from the looks of it… it was much more effective than his side’s!
Chen Mo’s melody was beautiful, and he could easily earn a fortune by performing concerts with this piece. On the other hand, the other party’s sound was like the call of the grim reaper, threatening to take their lives mercilessly…
“Hong Qian, I’ll be back!” Feng Yu roared furiously, but before he could finish his words, his body came to an abrupt halt, and an immense force rippled through his body.
Padah!
The sheer force of his crash created a colossal hole in the ground. A violent aftershock traveled through Feng Yu’s body, breaking nearly all of the bones throughout his body. Mouthful after mouthful of blood spewed freely from his mouth.
He had come to intercept Hong Qian and his group to prevent them from entering the capital, but in the end, not only did he fail in his mission, he even sustained such heavy injuries instead… Just the thought of it made his blood boil.
He struggled to his feet and scanned the surroundings, only to see Chen Mo and the others in a worse state than him. Lying on the ground, they were inhaling much more than they were exhaling. If emergency treatment wasn’t applied, they would all probably die here.
While they were all Transcendent Mortal 4-dan experts, falling from such a high altitude was still lethal to them. If not for the spirit beasts cushioning their fall, they would have probably died on the spot.
“Damn it…”
The more he thought about it, the angrier Feng Yu felt. He quickly took out a recovery pill and fed it to everyone.
They had come over here confidently, thinking that they would be able to accomplish their goal easily. But in the end, they ended up being done in instead. Several spirit beasts had died from the impact, and even Feng Yu himself had sustained grievous wounds…
“Hong Qian and that fellow, I won’t let you go…” Feng Yu roared loudly in rage.
…
“All of them fell down?”
Watching as Feng Yu bellowed furiously below, Hong shi and the others stared at one another, dumbfounded.
They knew that Zhang shi was a formidable person, and they thought that he might be able to come up with some unique solution to their desperate situation. Who knew that his solution would actually be so unique…
To make more than a dozen spirit beasts fall from the sky with a roar, to the point that even their masters were unable to do anything about it… This was way too overpowered!
If that was the case, wouldn’t it mean that anyone who faced him on an aerial savage beast would face the threat of falling off his flight?
Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Hong shi asked, “Are they… dead?”
No matter what, Feng Yu was a master teacher of equivalent standing as him. If he were to die from falling from a high altitude, he would probably become a laughingstock for the next few centuries.
“Unlikely, but even so… they will be in for a round of great suffering. Anyway, let’s put that aside for now. We should rush to the royal palace first. Considering how far the other party went to obstruct our advancement, something must have happened!”
Zhang Xuan waved his hands.
In truth, he had no choice but to resort to such a trick. While he was capable of flight, he couldn’t possibly expect to match a Transcendent Mortal 6-dan expert!
After some deliberation, this was the only feasible solution he had at hand.
As for whether the other party had crashed to their deaths, that was none of Zhang Xuan’s business.
Since they came over to pick a fight, they should have known the potential consequences that could befall them… And honestly speaking, Zhang Xuan thought that he had gone light on them.
“You’re right, let’s go!”
As a 5-star master teacher, Hong shi was not an indecisive or overly kind person either. Nodding his head, he instructed for his spirit beast to advance to Huanyu Capital.
Without Chen Mo’s zither influencing the spirit beasts, they swiftly recovered and advanced forward at a rapid pace. A few minutes later, a majestic building appeared before them.
Grand and refined, it exuded an incredibly noble atmosphere.
“This is the royal palace of Huanyu Empire. No aerial spirit beast is allowed to approach it, so let’s stop at the square in front!”
Hong shi pointed forward, and the spirit beast beneath him began descending slowly to the square outside the royal palace.
As soon as the group stepped away from the back of the spirit beasts, several master teachers dressed in robes quickly rushed forward to welcome them.
“Hong shi, you’re here…”
The one speaking had an emblem of 4 stars pinned on his chest-a 4-star master teacher.
“Zhuang Qin, didn’t I tell you to inform teacher of our arrival? Why did no one come to pick us up, and Feng shi and his group came over instead?”
Hong shi frowned.
Zhuang Qin wasn’t from Huanyu Empire but from Hongfeng Empire Master Teacher Pavilion. He was dispatched here earlier so as to take care of various arrangements.
The person who was supposed to liaise with Huanyu Empire in their stead was him.
“You met Feng shi?” Zhuang Qin’s face darkened. He immediately looked over worriedly. “He… didn’t do anything to you all, right?”
“Fortunately, he didn’t!” Hong shi shook his head. Then, with a perplexed expression, he asked, “What happened?”
“I reported to Wei shi the news of your arrival, and he dispatched aerial spirit beasts to us to pick you up. But who knew that… before we could even fly on those aerial spirit beasts, we were stopped by Feng shi… He’s a 5-star master teacher, so there’s nothing I could do about it,” Zhuang Qin explained with a look of difficulty.
He should have been the one to pick everyone up, but in the end… his aerial spirit beast ended up being snatched away, and he could only wait here nervously.
To his relief, it seemed like Hong shi and the others were fine.
“I heard from Feng shi that the total number of slots has been reduced by three. Is that true?”
Knowing that there was nothing that Zhuang Qin could have done in the situation, and there was no loss incurred from that encounter as well, Hong shi decided to let the matter go. Thus, he began asking about the slots.
“That’s true!” Zhuang Qin nodded. “Each of the Four Great Vassal States should receive three slots to train at the Cleansing Lake, and taking into account the three from Huanyu Empire’s royalty as well, that totals up to 15.”
Hong shi nodded.
It was no secret that the Cleansing Lake only had fifteen slots when the grounds were opened each decade, and thus, he knew of it as well.
“The distribution of the fifteen slots was decided by the founding emperor, and it has never been changed before. However… something happened this time round!”
After a moment of hesitation, Zhuang Qin began explaining, “Upon learning of that the Cleansing Lake is going to be opened, Princess Fei-er of Hongyuan Empire specially made the trip here, and she needs a total of four slots! The royal family has given up one slot, and they have decreed that the remaining three slots will be contributed by the Four Great Vassal States…”
“Princess Fei-er?”
Hong shi was taken aback.
If the other party was a princess of Hongyuan Tier-1 Empire, she should have no lack of cultivation resources. Why would she head to a Tier-2 Empire and vie for resources with the locals?
Not to mention, she even demanded four instantly!
Besides… Who in the world was this Princess Fei-er?
I don’t seem to have ever heard of her!
“Princess Fei-er… is a student of Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy, and from what I’ve heard… it seems like she’s a senior of Crown Prince Ye Qian…” Zhuang Qin replied awkwardly.
Even though his words were a little unclear, it didn’t take long for the crowd to understand the situation.
Crown Prince Ye Qian was a talented master teacher. Three years ago, he was recommended by Huanyu Empire Master Teacher Pavilion for further studies in Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy.
And this Princess Fei-er, a student of Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy as well, was his senior and an extremely famous figure there. Due to either Crown Prince Ye Qian being infatuated with her or some other purpose, he intentionally revealed to her the secret of the Cleansing Lake and invited her over in hopes of getting on her good side… As a result, such a situation occurred.
Considering her fame in the Master Teacher Academy, it was likely that she was at least a half 5-star master teacher. Considering her position as the princess of a Tier-1 Empire on top of that, she was indeed a person that the crown prince should get along with.
That was the reason why Feng shi said that the crown prince needed three more slots.
“To give out the slots of the Cleansing Lake to please the royalty of a Tier-1 Kingdom is fine by me, just that… how does His Majesty intend to divide the slots?” Hong shi asked.
To give out some slots to get acquainted with higher-ranked master teachers and higher-ranked empires was something understandable, and he could accept this part.
However… how were the three slots going to be divided among the Four Great Vassal States? Surely no Vassal State would be willing to give up their slots, so how would this matter be decided?
“His Majesty has instructed us to settle among ourselves, and there will be a banquet conducted by the crown prince in the Eastern Palace so as to determine the rules to solve this matter,” Zhuang Qin replied.
On the day that he reported that Hong shi was going to arrive today, Crown Prince Ye Qian fixed the date of the banquet for that night.
This was the reason why Feng Yu went so far as to obstruct Hong shi’s passage.
If they were unable to attend the banquet, without a doubt, the other three powers would surely have Hongfeng Empire fork out all three of their slots.
After all, each Vassal State was only given three slots once every decade, and thus, they were reluctant to fork out any slots. Since there was someone they could push everything onto, they were delighted to do so… Besides, who asked them to be late?
“This probably isn’t just Feng Yu’s intent. Those old fogeys of Qianfeng and Zhuyue probably contributed to this as well!”
Upon understanding what was going on, Hong shi harrumphed in anger.
Obstructing their passage was beneficial to the other two powers as well, and Fengyuan Empire was unlikely to go so far if they didn’t have any allies on their side. Most likely, the other representatives of the other three Vassal States had decided on this plan, and Feng Yu was only the one to execute it.
It was fortunate that Zhang shi was able to foil their plans. Otherwise, Hongfeng Empire would have had to give up all three slots!
If so, they would have made the journey here in vain.
“Since there’s some time before the banquet, you all should head to your allocated rooms to rest first. I’ll go and pay a visit to those old fogeys!”
Hong shi flung his sleeves.
He had his pride and dignity as a 5-star master teacher, so how could he possibly overlook it when someone schemed so blatantly against him? Naturally, he had to get back at them!
“I’ve already prepared your living quarters, it’s not too far away from here. I’ll show you the way!”
Knowing that he couldn’t interfere in a conflict among 5-star master teachers, Zhuang Qin could only change the topic and lead the group to their rooms. But all of a sudden, he thought of something and turned around to ask Hong shi with a doubtful expression, “Hong shi, from what I saw… Feng shi probably made a lot of preparations to intercept you. How… did you manage to get past them?”
“This…”
Hong shi hesitated for a moment before replying, “We were on our aerial spirit beasts when we met, and then… they fell down.”
“Fell down?”
Zhuang Qin was dumbstruck.
