The Divine King Mansion wasn’t as bustling and extravagant like the Grand Chancellor’s. It carried a solemn and dignified aura instead, a grand temperament in general.
There were very few palace maids chatting and talking along the way; their refreshing sight was instead replaced by soldiers in black scaled-armor with a spear as their weapon of choice. They were on patrol while riding bulls. Each of them was elite; ferocious and brave.
“Rumble.” Four gluttonous half-dragons were pulling an imperial carriage with eight compartments.
These beasts were seven-hundred-year old with the power to resist mountains. The imperial dragon carriage itself was luxurious to the extreme; this was a spirit treasure of the royal clan.
One would immediately know who was sitting inside after seeing it, Princess Luofu.
In the back was another imperial carriage three or four times smaller than the princess’ ride. It had many palace maids and eunuchs keeping it company.
This must be another prince or princess.
The two carriages and the servants stopped once they were close to Feiyun and Attendant Gui.
Feiyun quietly stood and watched as the violet energy inside his dantian began to churn because of the princess’ aura.
The Ascension Platform in his palace emitted faint lights. A soul image that looked exactly like the princess began to dance as if coming back to life.
The princess had left her name and a strand of soul on the sacred tablet, or rather, the Ascension Platform.
It was sensing her aura so the soul became animated again, floating on the platform.
Feiyun quickly calmed down the platform and even closed the inner dantian, not wanting the princess to notice anything.
The imperial dragon carriage parked here for a while before the princess finally spoke: “Feng Feiyun, I didn’t expect you to still come to the capital.”
Attendant Gui slightly bowed towards the princess but Feiyun kept his proud stature: “Your Highness, how have you been?”
“Fine.” The princess didn’t show the slightest hint of emotion before channeling the carriage to leave the Divine King Mansion.
He stood there contemplating: ‘This woman is too crafty and unpredictable. Who knows what she is thinking?’
She was currently the number one ranked on the lower list while Feiyun was third. This list was created by Scholar Heaven Calculating so it was surely accurate. This woman was very strong so defeating her wouldn’t be easy.
“You are the demon’s son?” A young male voice came from the other carriage.
Attendant Yui sent him a mental message: “This is the eighteenth prince, a young king of the royal clan, one of the three backups for the Divine King position.”
Feiyun nodded. That’s the royal clan for you, possessing the most excellent bloodline, training methods, and great resources. That’s why they could produce so many top prodigies.
One’s background was very crucial to their cultivation path.
Just imagine, being born in a cultivation clan would mean being nourished by spirit medicines during the fetal stage. Experts would even send spirit energy to the fetuses. Thus, the moment the baby came out, they had better cultivation than ordinary people.
Moreover, if the father was an expert, the mother was most likely one too. This meant that their bloodline was quite powerful and their offspring would be more talented than the mass.
So for this royal clan, their future generations were normally brilliant enough from years of accumulation.
This was the reason why the majority of real experts all came from cultivation clans.
Furthermore, powerful female cultivators were normally quite pretty. The strong ones normally came from a powerful clan and a strong man naturally wouldn’t marry an ugly woman. Thus, with such good genes, their daughters would be beautiful as well. There were more implications with marriages in the cultivation world beyond love since it directly affected the next generation.
Even though the speaker was the eighteenth prince, Feng Feiyun didn’t perform any ceremony and simply said: “That’s me.”
This prince was definitely a famous character in the capital and his value doubled after becoming a backup candidate for the Divine King’s position. No one dared to take him lightly outside of the top geniuses.
“That’s the Divine King successor for you, a bit arrogant, aren’t you?” The prince’s voice was cold.
An invisible wave came from the carriage and caused a clear fluctuation in the air. Ordinary people couldn’t see anything but Feiyun had the Heavenly Phoenix Gaze. He could see the sword finger clearly.
Rippling Shadow Sword, a powerful technique from the royal clan. The eighteenth prince was the only one in the young generation who managed to learn this art.
Attendant Gui slightly frowned while worrying for Feiyun. This sword technique was bizarre and few could predict its form and trajectory. His Young Lord’s cultivation was amazing but he was still too young.
Feiyun responded at this moment by also raising his finger to channel the water nearby. He directly shattered this sword wave and his attack continued toward the carriage while being invisible and soundless.
“Boom!” The prince stopped the attack but his entire carriage slightly trembled.
“You are worthy of your fame, demon’s son. We shall meet again at the royal sacred ground.” The prince snorted and left.
Feiyun smirked and didn’t give a damn about the guy. He followed Attendant Gui inside.
The Divine King was still as spirited and gallant as before. His gray set of hair didn’t diminish his prestige.
“Your vitality is powerful and had the upper hand against the eighteenth prince earlier. Looks like you have reached the second level of Heaven’s Mandate.” The king said.
Nothing happening in his mansion could elude his eyes.
Feiyun was very respectful towards the king so he admitted: “I broke through a few days ago.”
His cultivation rose instead of declining. It was obvious that his poisonous blood had been cured.
The king didn’t ask how he did it. After all, everyone had their own secrets. Overly prying wasn’t a good thing.
For someone at his level, only the result mattered, not the process.
The king’s sleeve flashed brightly; a yellow bottle flew out and floated in his palm. He said: “This is Luofu’s Mystical Golden Ginseng, 5,000 years of age, allowing someone to live for fifty years longer. You can’t find a second one like this at the Jin Dynasty.”
Feiyun could feel the life essence within the ginseng despite it being stored in the bottle.
“The princess is truly filial.” Feiyun said.
The king slightly raised his brow and said: “It’s because she’s about to face a big problem so she came to ask me for help.”
“It’s about the prince-in-law selection.” Feiyun said.
The king nodded: “I’m sure you have heard about the competition between her and the crown prince.”
“Yes.” Feiyun replied.
In the Jin Dynasty, as long as they were talented enough, both sexes could become its ruler.
Feiyun asked: “Does the princess not want to marry?”
“Of course she doesn’t want to but it’s not up to her.” The king said.
“That’s why she came to you, hoping the Jin Emperor would remove that decree.”
The king shook his head: “No one can change the decree of the emperor. She only wanted me to buy her more time.”
“Isn’t the date already picked? One month after the start of winter. There’s no delaying this if the emperor had spoken.” Feiyun wondered.
The king explained: “If there is a bigger matter in the royal clan, then the prince selection needs to be delayed.”
“Something even more important?”
“For example, picking the successor to the Divine King position.” The king solemnly said with a profound glare: “This relates to the prosperity of the dynasty so naturally, the prince-in-law selection will need to be postponed.”
Feiyun understood right away. No wonder why the eighteenth prince came with the princess. So it was about this issue.
The king had accepted the ginseng so he must have accepted the princess’ plea.
The king went on: “There are many exceptional prodigies in the young generation of the royal clan but none is enough to take on this role.”
The best genius in the clan was none other than Long Shenya, a ranker on the upper historical list. He was part of the Trio of Excellence in the capital with Dongfang Jingshui and Beiming Potian.
Unfortunately, his crown prince position removed him from being a candidate.
The other three top prodigies in the royal clan were at the young king level. Their talents were at the highest level of heaven-defying. However, this was still a bit lacking for this prestigious position. The Divine King naturally liked Feiyun the best.
“Right.” Feiyun briefly said.
The king waved his hand and the bottle containing the ginseng flew in front of Feiyun: “You have just made it to the second level so there is some instability. You can barely fight against ordinary young kings so fighting against the three prodigies of the royal clan is even more prohibitive. Take this ginseng, this is enough to save you fifty years of cultivation.”