“Lu Yun of Dusk Province!” The two East Sea monster spirits started when they heard the name and hastily bowed.
“So Sir Lu has come. Please wait just a moment, we will announce your arrival to His Highness the Crown Prince at once!” The two monster immortals withdrew as they spoke.
“Strange, East Sea’s monster spirits have always prided themselves about the legitimacy of their reign over the other facets. They’re usually a pretty arrogant bunch. I’m surprised those two are being so respectful toward you.” Qing Han found the treatment of his friend rather curious.
Lu Yun blinked twice in rapid succession. While he had no quarrel with the monster spirits of the East Sea, neither did he have a deep friendship with them. In light of that, these two guards’ overly cordial response seemed out of place.
“That’s my palace!” The now-humanoid Beigong Yu nattered in complaint, forlornly looking down at the grandiose complex beneath him. The palace stretched across the entire peninsula!
Hum.
The luxurious palace below suddenly trembled, extending a path of rainbow light all the way beneath their feet. Illusory flowers and delicate music filled the air, turning the premises into a small slice of paradise.
“That’s the guard of honor I used to greet special guests!” Beigong Yu was becoming increasingly upset. All of this used to be his, and seeing it so brazenly used by others gave him a stomachache.
“Hahahaha! We are truly honored to receive you, Sovereign of Dusk Province. Delighted, flattered, honored!” A regal youth dressed in robes of brightest gold came striding down the path, accompanied by ringing laughter. The handsome young man gazed at Lu Yun with positively worshipful eyes.
“Lu Yun of Dusk Province greets the Crown Prince of the East Sea.” Lu Yun fidgeted uncomfortably before bowing in salutation.
“Hahaha… it really is Dusk Province’s sovereign! Honored, what a great honor!” The dragon crown prince’s voice was oddly loud. He extended a hand in friendly support, then boomed with laughter once more. His guests glanced askance at each other with some confusion.
“Honored! Truly a great honor!” continued the dragon prince.
“…Your Highness?” Lu Yun blinked once more, this time in caution.
“Come, come, come. Let us chat inside the palace. The honor is all mine, and what a great honor it is!”
The prince didn’t appear to react to anything Lu Yun said and invited his visitors with a strange, hospitable air, still muttering vague exclamations of how flattered he was to receive his visitors.
Well, at least there was no doubt the prince was honored to have them!
“This East Sea monster prince is a xiangliu, a nine-headed snake divine beast. Why does he call himself a ‘dragon prince’?” Aoxue frowned slightly.
The dragons of the North Sea had ruled their domain since the divines’ downfall. As a member of royalty, she knew the background of the East Sea monster spirits quite well. This monster spirit prince was a full-blooded xiangliu, one of the greatest divine beast species among his race. Long ago, his brethren were often named gods of water. It confused her that the prince would bother to call himself a ‘dragon’ at all.
Lu Yun felt rather the same way. He’d thought the ‘dragon prince’ to be a mix of xiangliu and dragon bloodline alike, hence the name. After meeting face to face, it was obvious that the prince was a pureblooded member of the former.
Xing Mou bit back a giggle as she bounced along, trailing a little behind the others. As a peak transformed spirit cultivator, the dragon prince made no effort to hide his admiration and passion for his idol.
Lu Yun’s month of fierce battles were still fresh on many minds. His incredible record and the ease with which he’d dispatched peerless immortals had earned him the title of First Youth Sovereign in the world. Because of that, he’d become an idol for the young practically overnight.
Lu Yun’s fame had been earned entirely by his sweat and blood, and his two forays in and out of Xiankan had quite literally shaken the world. So in front of him, the prince behaved just like an ordinary fan. Indeed, the only thing he could find fault with was the prince’s extraordinary volume—it hadn’t reduced a whit, despite the fact that they were now indoors.
“I am Xiangliu Hongzhen and so very honored to meet you, Sovereign of Dusk Province!”
“Please, don’t call me ‘Sovereign’. Just Lu Yun is fine, Your Highness!” Lu Yun replied hurriedly.
“Hahahaha… come in, honored sovereign, please come on in! I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time now, ever since I heard you were around these parts, but I’ve been occupied by all sorts of unimportant business. Imagine my joy and surprise when I found you on my doorstep! Honored, truly honored!” The dragon prince projected every word from his dantian with thunderous force.
Lu Yun’s eardrums quavered at the stress. He exchanged a look with Qing Han; neither of them knew what to say. The prince was flattering him a great deal, but sounded almost like he was talking to himself.
Although the palace’s exterior was little different from when Beigong Yu had owned it, its interior had been lavishly renovated and refurnished. Pearls and gemstones glittered as far as the eye could see, decorating nearly every visible surface with brilliance. The palace formations, too, had received a fresh helping of maintenance and improvement.
As a dedicated cultivator and killing machine, Beigong Yu had hardly cared about how his palace looked. This particular one was only a temporary, seasonal residence, not his actual home. That didn’t make him any happier, though.
The other monster kings of the North Sea had hereditary titles and honors that passed on to their heirs and disciples. For example, the King of Southern Subjugation’s eldest son was now the new king.
After Beigong Yu’s death, however, his faction had immediately crumbled and his disciples had either betrayed him, or died in battle. Even his old nest had fallen! It was at this moment that he finally understood how awful his behavior had been in the past.
……
Inside the palace’s main hall, a feast of unending delicacies had already been prepared, and beautiful immortals danced on the sides to liven the mood.
“Your Royal Highness!” Lu Yun tried to get the prince’s attention once more mid-banquet, but he was ignored with the same characteristic sonority.
“Sovereign, what do you think of my palace? Let me tell you, this place used to belong to North Sea’s number one king, the Kunpeng King! After Your Eminence killed him, I bought the palace from the North Sea court for a hundred million premium immortal crystals! I’ve given it a new name: the Xiangliu Palace. It’s a very nice place to live, eh?”
Beigong Yu’s face darkened ominously at the words. He’d thought the prince had forcibly taken over his Kunpeng Palace, not that it’d been sold off!
“I’ve got nothing but money, money, money!” The prince roared with laughter. “The East Sea would want for anything else before we wanted for that! Why, we have all the money in the world to spare. Sovereign, I hear you snatched a war treasure from the Nephrite court—that’s a money-burner, alright. Come, five billion premium crystals for my good friend! A token of our amity!”
A monster immortal nearby bowed, then retreated to fulfill his master’s request.
“Your Highness!” Lu Yun shouted again.
“Why haven’t you said anything, Your Eminence? Do you think five billion too little? Come, another five billion more!” The crown prince tilted his head with a mixture of excitement and concern.
The only response Lu Yun could muster to that was slack-jawed shock.
“Senior martial uncle, he’s not actually a ‘dragon’ prince. People call him a ‘draggin’ prince’ because he’s well, a drag to talk to.” Xing Mou finally chimed in. “He’s deaf, see? He can’t hear anything. You have to talk to him via transmission.”
“Huh? Why didn’t you mention it to me earlier?!”
A deaf prince, eh? No wonder he hadn’t responded to a single word.
“I thought you knew already,” Xing Mou muttered under her breath.
“You’re not doing a very good job as a guide, Xing Mou. Watch out, your martial uncle might dock your pay.” Qing Han couldn’t resist a tease.
Xing Mou drooped in dejection. A palm-sized piece of scallop cheered her right back up, though. After sneaking it into her mouth, she grinned from ear to ear at its savory sweetness.