Chapter 192: Reputation Spread Far And Wide
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Standing before the imperial guard, Xu Que styled himself as Hua Wu Que of the Heavenly Explosion Faction.
If only he had the luxury of time and could afford to delay revealing his identity, he would take out his Prince Consort tile and messed around with the guard. This guard would certainly be so startled he wouldn’t know what to do.
As soon as this guard heard what Xu Que said about the "Heavenly Explosion Faction", his face revealed a look of shock.
As an imperial guard of the palace, he always kept a ear out for the latest news and gossip. He remembered hearing Li Bai of the Heavenly Explosion Faction coming up in conversations, something about him making a name for himself within Imperial City. There was no reason why he shouldn’t have heard of Li Bai.
However, he was incharge with the duty of protecting the palace and thus couldn’t make an exception for Xu Que despite the familiarity of the faction.
Hence, the Imperial Guard wore an expression of friendliness and warmth. He spoke softly, "My daoist friend, can I invite you to return to where you came from? The Fire Emperor has given new orders. Before the layout of the training grounds have been finalized, nobody is to enter or leave this palace. Even the Flaming Sun Princess would be denied exit!"
"Training grounds?" Xu Que paused in shock.
Why were they changing the layout of the training grounds at this time? Could it be because of the Prince Consort selection tomorrow?
Aye, it looks like I’ve discovered a piece of news which would be useful!
He squinted and laughed plainly, "So what he means to say is that the training grounds would look incredible, huh? Even the Flaming Sun Princess won’t be able to leave the palace?"
"Don’t you know about this? The Fire Emperor has already issued an imperial edict. The training grounds will be used for the selection of the Prince Consort. There will be a total of three stages. The first stage will test the candidate’s literary abilities. The second stage tests the candidate’s fighting abilities. The third and final stage was called the palace test. Candidates will have to draw lots and be tested according to what they’ve drawn. In a sense, this was a test of luck as well. If a candidate were to draw an easy test, he would pass through easily. I’ve heard there’s a possibility of getting an extremely challenging task. This task was the sole reason for the change in lay out!" The guard exclaimed.
Xu Que was taken aback. So it seemed like the training grounds was being utilized for this purpose. Is it because you’re afraid that the palace would get wrecked? Since that’s the case, it’s not half as fun as I expected it to be. I thought I chanced upon an earth shaking secret which the grounds were being used for!
Forget it then. I’m in no hurry anyway. Tomorrow, yours truly will personally make the palace explode!
My Heavenly Explosion Faction even dares to explode the heavens. Why shouldn’t I dare to explode your lame palace? Just you wait Fiery Dog Emperor!
Xu Que sniggered to himself before he saluted the guard and turned to leave.
When he returned to the inn, he realized that the entire area was swamped with people. Evidently, many people had found out that this was the place where Li Bai of the Heavenly Explosion Faction was staying in. Hence, they came to seek him out!
The owner of the inn was rather pleased with the huge surge in popularity of his inn as well. He was elated that the news was spreading about the great genius, Li Bai and that he was a resident of the establishment. Without an hour, the entire inn was filled with people.
When Xu Que returned back, he took off his headwear and forgot to keep it on.
As soon as his face was revealed, a swarm of people rushed up to him like bees surrounding their hive. There was even a middle aged woman who started dancing excitedly while waving her handkerchief around as soon as she saw him.
"Please wait young master Li, I’ve had to cross many mountains and lakes before I could get here, all just to meet with young master Li for a little while!"
"Quick! Young master Li is over there. Haha… I’ve finally seen how he looks like. I even got a quick grab at his butt. His little butt is so perky and tight…"
"I managed to touch it too. Young master Li’s chest is so tough and strong. I shall not wash my right hand for a year after managing to touch him. With the aura of young master Li with me, I will most certainly have a newfound inspiration for poems and essays…"
It took a great deal of effort before Xu Que managed to squeeze his way past the crowd. He was feeling rather strange deep down, for he had never expected to be this popular and well-liked by the crowd.
Xu Que was rather startled by a large group of old perverted women who nearly caused him to pee in his pants with their forceful mannerisms. Xu Que had to cling onto his black robes and squeeze past the frenzied crowd who were trying to tear his clothes off his body.
Just as Xu Que managed to escape the raving crowd, he shook his head before looking over his shoulder warily and noticed that they were still chasing after him.
Why was there a meet and greet session for fans so early in his career?
Grope? Grope your sisters!
I can’t tolerate it! I mustn’t tolerate it!
Big brother is here to act tough and not here for you to grope!
And you even spoke about not washing your hands! That’s so disgusting!
The core of acting tough!
Consists of a main point and two secondary points.
First off, the core of acting tough was to maintain a low profile and privacy during daily routines!
No fans, no followers!
And yet this bunch of brain dead followers have come here to create a scene and even started chasing after me. How am I supposed to act tough this way?
Can you please let me act tough in peace without groping me or making a scene? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?
He shook his head as he sighed. He then turned around and walked to another inn nearby. This time, he didn’t dare to reveal his Li Bai’s face to the crowd again.
On the morning of the next day, the sky had just turned bright when Xu Que woke up and rushed to the Imperial Palace.
Today was a big day since it was the day which the Imperial Family will be searching for a worthy Prince Consort.
Despite the fact that Xu Que had left early, there’s already a large group of people gathered outside the palace. Apart from several cultivators present who came to register themselves as candidates, there were many other hundreds of people who had come to witness the event!
The queue into the palace was extremely long by this time and was moving rather slowly. Even if Xu Que decided to join the queue immediately, he would probably have to wait till noon before he could enter.
"Damn it! Why did all of you arrive so early? Are you all rushing to be reincarnated or something?!"
Xu Que cursed under his breath before he scanned his surroundings sneakily. He then noticed several young masters who had been present at Madam Ya’s banquet just arriving as well. These were the same people who had laughed at Xu Que earlier during the banquet. However, when they came, they started laughing at those people in the queue loudly while they strode over to the front.
When Xu Que craned his neck, he then realized that these young masters had instructed several younger students to wake up early and queue up for them. Hence, they could afford to sleep in before taking the places of these younger students and still be ahead in the queue.
"Outrageous! Are you taking advantage of the fact that I don’t have any younger juniors to do this for me?"
He thus decided to follow closely behind the group of young masters walking to the front and waited for them to change places with the young juniors. Since he moved rather quickly and deftly, he managed to squeeze himself to the front of this group while they were swapping places.
However, despite how quick Xu Que was, he still managed to get discovered by these students and received a scolding, "Ai yo! Who’s this person standing in front of me?"
"Me? You’re asking who I am? I am me! Why would you have to ask such a silly question? Is there something wrong with you?" Xu Que smiled as he replied, feigning ignorance.
When a young master heard this, he turned angry and started pointing at Xu Que, "Outrageous! Everyone’s here queuing up! How can you cut the queue? Who do you think…"
"That’s because I have no morals!" Xu Que laughed as he replied matter of factly.
"You…" The few young masters wanted to berate Xu Que further but were caught speechless. They were just about to scold and insult Xu Que for having no morals and for being shameless. Right before they could berate his lack of virtues, he actually admitted to it himself.
This… This was damned unconventional! How could he speak in such a manner?
"Guard! Guard! This bastard here had cut the queue. Chase him away!"
The few young masters were clearly agitated by Xu Que and waved their hands in the air to attract the attention of the Imperial Guard.
As coincidence would have it, the guard who walked by was the same guard who had met Xu Que yesterday.
He had a rather deep impression formed for the black robed man from Heavenly Explosion Faction and was rather afraid of offending this fearsome sounding "Heavenly Explosion Faction". Hence, he regarded those students with impunity and treated them as though they were making a scene. He stepped forward and started berating the students, "What are you shouting about? Who cut the queue? Why didn’t I see anyone cutting the queue?"
"You…" The few young masters opened their eyes wide in surprise and helplessness as they realized that the guard was defending Xu Que.
This guard decided to close an eye and let Xu Que get away with this matter without consequence.
After he had finished scolding these students, he then turned around to leave.
However right at this point, Xu Que started raising his hands anxiously as he shouted out at the guard, "Comrade! Over here, over here! I’m the person who cut the queue!"
Guard : "..."