The group on the other side of the waterfall, having noticed the incoming carriages on the bridge, stood up and jumped down on the ground.
As the carriages got closer, Ye Tian Yun finally caught the clear sight of the group in front of him.
Five people were standing near the ruins.
As the carriages got closer, they began to slow down and finally stopped in front of the group.
Leading the group was a teenager between the age of seventeen to eighteen, and the remaining four people in his entourage had surrounded him.
It was not hard to judge that they were his guards.
Surprisingly, all five of them were in normal clothes, most probably not to attract unwanted attention.
The carriages slowly came to a halt and stood in one horizontal line in front of Crown Prince Xin.
Ye Tian Yun's carriage stood at the far left, and Xiao Ming's carriage was in the middle.
After a moment, the curtains of the carriages opened up, and slowly the disciples began to come out.
As Yuan Shuchun took her first step on the ground, Crown Prince Xin cupped his fists, "Greetings, Miss Yuan. The rumors don't give the full credit to your beauty."
Yuan Shuchun smiled, "Greetings to you too, Crown Prince. Thank you for the compliment."
The Crown Prince nodded and then turned his head towards Jun Xie, "It's been quite a long time since we last met, Brother Jun."
"Yeah, how does it feel to be the Crown Prince?" Jun Xie had a friendly smile.
The Crown Prince shrugged, "Well, I can't mingle among my old friends anymore. That's definitely a loss for me."
Jun Xie shook his head, "It's alright. We still have a long way to go."
Crown Prince let out a sigh, and then, turning towards the other disciples, he cupped his fists and said, "Greetings everyone, I am Crown Prince Xin Xue Feng."
The disciples cupped their fists too, and Ye Tian Yun was no different.
However, he was surprised at one thing - the exchange between Jun Xie and Crown Prince Xin.
They had completely unrelated stories as far as he knew, and here they seemed to act like old friends who hadn't met for a long time.
'Well, I will just keep it in my mind. Random things like these are sometimes more helpful than the reports.'
"Everyone, our meeting will be short," Crown Prince Xin said, "However, there's a small lodging we have created. Let's eat before we start the meeting."
Everyone nodded and followed behind.
Ye Tian Yun whispered to Fu Kai, who was walking beside him, "Aren't you quite close to the Crown Prince?"
Fu Kai shook his head, "Well, things are complicated. It's better not to delve into old times."
Ye Tian Yun shrugged. It's not as if he was interested in knowing about the backstory; he just asked to pass the time.
…
The ruin on which Crown Prince Xin and his guards were waiting earlier was also their prepared lodging.
Even though from the outside it was no different from a ruined hall, on the inside, this place was quite extravagant and well decorated.
In the hall, there was a huge table with about thirteen seats.
The long dining table had a lot of delicacies and cuisines in a well-arranged manner.
"Everyone, please take seats."
The Crown Prince smiled and proceeded to take the one in the middle.
Yuan Shuchun and Jun Xie took a left and right seat to him.
Ye Tian Yun and Xiao sat just beside them.
Seeing Ye Tian Yun taking the seat right beside him, Jun Xie felt surprised, though Yuan Shuchun didn't seem to care much.
Xiao Ming just smiled, and he, too, didn't think much about it. He was more interested in the meeting.
And soon, everyone was seated, except for the four guards, who were on alert against any sudden intruder.
"I didn't expect this place to have arrays." Jun Xie suddenly said, "And working so well at that."
While everyone frowned at his words, Ye Tian Yun nodded his head.
He, too, had noticed the arrays as they entered the hall, but he just didn't pay much attention to them.
Jun Xie, whose main talent was in Spirit Sense, could easily notice the arrays around him.
Hearing his words, the Crown Prince let out a wry smile, "Well, these are just basic precautions. This meeting is supposed to be short and secret. So, of course, I had to make a few arrangements."
Jun Xie nodded, "Fair enough."
"What is the meeting for?" Yuan Shuchun came straight to the topic.
The Crown Prince gestured at one of the guards to serve food and said, "Well, why don't we have good food first."
"You want a short meeting, but you also want everyone to rest and eat?" Someone said.
The Crown Prince slightly frowned and looked at the disciple, "What's your name?"
"Xiao Ming."
"Well, Xiao Ming, if I say you eat, you eat. If I say the meeting will be short, it will be short." Crown Prince replied.
Xiao Ming smirked but didn't say anything else.
Though on the inside, he felt quite offended by the way Crown Prince Xin looked down on him.
Ye Tian Yun, on the other hand, couldn't help but roll his eyes.
'What's the point of creating rivalries? One of you will be dead soon.'
*clink*
"Hmm… good food, Crown Prince Xin." Ye Tian Yun said as he took a bite of the delicacies.
It was a genuine compliment but seemed more like bootlicking to everyone else.
Ye Tian Yun didn't care about their opinion; he continued to eat as the Crown Prince gave him a restrained smile. He had a similar view to that of others; having been in a high status for his whole life, he was used to bootlickers.
Unfortunately, his thoughts were cut short by Ye Tian Yun's next words, "Every second we waste here, we lose time to prepare for the ambush.. I am sure you're the last person in this room who wants to see this mission fail."