At the Middle God Galaxy's Thunderous Collision realm; in the Huang Royal Palace.
Days passed, and life continued normally for nearly everyone. But there was an exciting atmosphere permeating the entire Royal Palace.
With the once-in-a-year Heavenly Banquet slowly closing in, nearly everyone in the younger generation was honing their abilities to their absolute limit.
Even as there is a clear separation of Martial Talent, these young Royal elites still rather try to win than give up entirely. In a way, they're similar to the everyday struggles of Lower Real cultivators wanting to make it big.
As of now, deep in the Royal Palace, where only the true imperial family resides, a meeting between two of the most spectacular of the younger generation was taking place.
Inside this luxurious chamber was the beautifully solemn Huang Xun. She still carried that oddly unique dark-color black sword, keeping it on her waist as she sat back on a chair.
Her gaze remained primarily focused on the sword, slowly caressing as if it was a precarious object.
Evidently, her mental state was calm, almost like nothing much could ever make significant waves in her mind.
Achieving this level of calmness is undoubtedly a testament to her Divine Level of Martial Talent. No matter if situations don't go her way, she'll be ready to face the waters and rework everything.
In direct contrast, the only other person in the chamber embodies anxiety itself.
This person was a devilishly handsome young man whose whole appearance is a legitimate danger to all innocent young maiden.
His face carried a charming, noble grace, his eyes were sharp like lightning, having a gaze that can pierce right through you, and his body was perfectly lean yet rippled with powerful muscles.
Combined with his looks was a natural Aura that emitted a suppression that would make Mortals bend to their knees; this young man embodied true Royal grace.
He is one of Cain's genius siblings, Huang Dai.
And currently, Huang Dai was continually pacing about their luxurious chamber. His eyes stayed pointed to the ground as his expression was fraught with a mix of worry and confusion.
At this moment, he felt like he was the only one taking their situation seriously.
Even with the years he had known Huang Xun for, he still couldn't understand how this girl barely let any emotion surface on her face.
Sometimes, there was a need to let urgency show. But it seems like he's the only one that believes this.
"TchâŠ.I still can't believe it. No way that brat should've gotten up so soon. And worst of all, neither him nor her are anywhere around. It's like they vanishedâŠ." Huang Dai quietly muttered.
Never before would he think he'd have to seek out his useless crippled siblings. But, after their current plan failed, the stench of consequences did crawl upon him.
However, no matter how hard they tried, Cain and Kali weren't anyone.
Considering this pair of cripples can't even properly leave home, just how the hell could they hide so well?
Huang Dai had a naturally sharp mind. The only context clues he could pick up from his parents is that their grandmother is possibly training them.
Although, he doesn't know how true that rumor is. It's virtually impossible to do anything with people with low cultivation aptitude.
This was the simple, cold hard truth that, for some reason, neither his grandfather nor grandmother could grasp their minds around.
Their actions concerning Cain and Kali were always far too confusing that Hunag Dai never seriously tried to consider why.
"Will you quit pacing around the room and muttering? Do you know if simply doing that will solve anything?"
Finally, after a few quiet minutes, Huang Xun looked up from her sword and spoke, using an indifferent tone.
Her sharp, sword-like gaze crashed onto Huang Dai, stopping him in an instant.
Huang Dai only clicked his teeth and folded his arms. Matching his own lightning-like gaze, he said, "You know, we need to do something. The banquet is right around the corner, and we need those Dragon Charms. One of us needs to outshine the Crown Prince."
Hearing this, a light sigh escaped Huang Xun's lips.
To say she didn't have some tension would be a lie. Every year, the pressure building to the Heavenly Banquet would always be significant.
This was an event she needed to be on her best behavior, no question asked. The consequences for not doing so were horrific. And ever since she's been old enough to participate, the pressure only doubled.
She needed to outshine above all others; settling for a lower performance was the equivalent of failure. No matter how firm one mind is, this pressure isn't small at all.
But, even with this nestling in her mind, Huang Xun still focused herself on contemplating one strange thought.
She sorted out her mind, remembering all that she contemplated in this last week. "Barring the banquet, don't you think this whole disappearance is far too strange? How only our grandmother is involved with this is strange? Did you never put more thought specifically into this?"
"WellâŠ.I can't say that I haven't tried to understand it." Huang Dai conceded with a shrug. But puzzlement still swirled his mind as he asked, "But so what about it? If grandmother has them, we just have to forget about this plan."
"NoâŠ.you have to think about everything." Huang Xun shook her head. "Cain suddenly waking up, seemingly completely fine. Then, just hours later, a mandatory meeting happened. Afterward, grandmother took both him and Kali for something special. First, grandmother very rarely holds grand meetings. The last time she did so was when Cain was still in his infancy. Second, grandmother never trained anyone of us, despite the level of our Martial Talent. I have only a faint clue. But something important is surely happening."
Hearing all of this, Huang Dai was utterly stunned. His expression contorted into a maze as surprise revel upon him.
If he really thought about it, then everything Huang Xun mentioned wasn't wrong in the slightest.
The facts are there, and yet he simply chose to ignore it. But, even so, Huang Dai honestly couldn't muster that much effort to overanalyze their grandmother.
A shudder passed through him at this thought.
He shrugged, saying, "Even if what you said all line-up, what can we do? Grandmother's ways are far too mysterious and eccentric. We'll only be tiring ourselves out even trying to think about it."
"And that's exactly it. Nobody ever dares to question grandmother. Not our parents, not any of the Elders, not even the Dragon Emperor or Dragon Empress. We're all far more submissive to her than we think."
Huang Dai tightens his brows. This revelation wasn't particularly shocking. He been noticed this ever since childhood but chose to never speak on it.
Pushing back on her point, he said, "YeaâŠ.and? What can we or anyone else actually do about it? Grandmother practically pushed us to the upper-tier of all Middle God Galaxy realms by herself. She's far too charismatic and powerful. Even grandfather bows his head to her on some serious issues at times."
"Indeed. But, what I'm more so getting at is exploring clues for their disappearance within their rooms. Perhaps they have left something around, thinking that grandmother would always cover them. It's worth a try given our current situation." Huang Xun put forth her final point.
She never thought to explore their rooms before, but everything related to her grandmother pushed her towards this conclusion.
In all honesty, Huang Xun didn't believe either Cain or Kali were some crafty plotters. These two are simply far too naive and inexperienced. The chances of finding a clan may be far higher than she even thinks right now.
"Haah~. I hope you're right. You heard the rumor, right? The Crown Prince may have achieved another small breakthrough in his Divine Laws and his Great Divine Sea! It's merely been only a few years at most! His level is far too terrifying for us to naturally catch up to."
A genuine sense of helplessness emitted from Huang Dai. Anything related to the Crown Prince would always make him feel this way.
Huang Dai certainly didn't have a weak Martial Heart. In fact, it's been frantically tempered from venturing out in various other God Galaxy planets.
The danger in God Galaxy is at a level Lower Realm cultivators wouldn't be able to even think of.
Here, death can mean your body turning to ash piece by piece, your soul getting shredded to bits or destruction on your mental psyche, turning you into a complete idiot for the rest of your lifespan.
All terrifying methods that no average Martial Heart can stand against.
And Huang Dai used all of these experiences to temper himself without even attempting to cultivate his Soul's Core.
Yet, even considering all of this, the Crown Prince is one of the few people who can heavily shake his Martial Heart.
The mere majestic presence of the Crown Prince is at a Divine Level even in his eyes.
Just from how heavily affected Huang Dai was, one can just imagine the sort of effects the Crown Prince would have on weaker God-Galaxy youths or even Lower Realm Mortals.
He was an existence that can be directly called a genuine uprising Martial Genius.
Something that both endlessly frustrated Huang Dai but also garners a massive amount of respect in him.
Naturally, since Huang Dai is so heavily affected, a similar amount of pressure swirled within Huang Xun's Martial Heart.
She sometimes wished the Crown Prince simply never existed. That way, she would be the shining Heaven daughter of their entier Dragon Royal Family.
In the end, Huang Xun could only tiredly sigh. She slowly stood from her chair, placing her black sword in her spatial ring, and said,
"Let's not focus on him. We need to scourge for all the resources we can know. Time is of the essence, and we need to play this perfectly no matter if our plans failed."
At the same time, a look of determination filled Huang Xun and Dai's faces.