by Tony Tran
“Simple I propose that we both compete, with each person having one chance to show amaze her and then she will pick. Once she picks of course the loser must live with the outcome. What do you say brother Huang Zu?” Zhang said.
“Amaze her?” Huang Zu asked.
“Yea you can do anything as long as it does not cause harm to someone else and at the end she will decided who amazed her the most. Of course unless you are afraid that you are up for the challenge then maybe we can pick something else to do.” Zhang replied purposely provoking Huang Zu.
Of course he knew no matter the outcome Ling would pick him. But he did not want to make an enemy out of Huang Zu. He could tell that Huang Zu was not a bad person like Jin Chang so if he didn’t have to Zhang did not wish to make more enemies. So he devised a plan to make Huang Zu give up on Ling.
“Afraid? Hmph fine I agree to the challenge.” Huang Zu replied.
“Then Minister Wu please bear witness to the outcome.” Zhang said.
“Of course.” Ling’s father said. Although he had some doubt in his mind he felt that he knew the man under the helmet that was standing in front of him. Besides the voice there was that odd sense of confidence and mannerism that reminded him of the young man who had died three years ago. And the fact that this young man came with his daughter who did not interact with anyone from the opposite sex at all after the death of that certain young man.
Although he didn’t wasn’t sure who this young man standing in front of him was he felt that if his daughter picked him then he could trust her sense of judgement.
To amaze Ling, Huang Zu who was a level 7 mage decided to use magic. With his amplitude the highest in the element of lightning Huang Zu was one of the geniuses of the kingdom.
“You all watch I’ll amaze her for sure!” He said as he walked out into the middle of the courtyard.
Once in the middle of the courtyard Huang Zu assumed a stance with both of his feet spread out and his back straight. He then made a hand sign with his hand and concentrated his essence.
Ling was also a mage of the 7th rank and he knew he had to do something over the top that she probably has never seen before to amaze her. Thus he decided to use of the secret arts he had learned from the royal family’s private collection.
It was a technique called the wild dance of the lightning dragon. Once he had enough essence in concentrated Huang Zu unleashed it all from this finger tips that he pointed toward the sky. From his fingertips multiple giant white lightning builds shot out. After shooting into the air the ten odd lightning bolts transformed into the shape of dragons.
The dragons spiraled into the air and danced about. It was a sight to behold causing many people in the city to stop what they were doing and watch. After a while the lightning dragons turned into light and scattered. The white light fell down like snow.
Yuying could be seen yawning as she watched Huang Zu’s technique. Although she was only currently at the 6th rank of cultivation she was not impressed with this technique. To her it was somewhat boorish due to the vast number of techniques she already knew. When in the Underworld she had countless supreme techniques to pick and learn from. This was sort of like child’s play to her.
Whereas Ai simply did not even pay attention. She could not be bothered with such things because personally she did not care much about cultivation. That being said her cultivation was currently at the 7th level despite her lack of interest in raising it.
As for Ling she was fairly impressed she could tell that it was a fairly high level technique that needed a lot of concentration to pull off. There aren’t many techniques like that in the Royal Academy’s technique hall for her to pick from sadly. What seemed odd to her was the lack of reaction from Yuying and Ai.
“Impress? Now seeing my awesome technique will you give up on trying to ask for Ling’s hand in marriage?” Huang Zu said with a proud grin on his face.
“After my turn we will see who is the one that is to give up.” Zhang replied with a smile. Zhang did not have any flashy moves because up until now he had relied on strengthening his body physically thus making him more of a warrior than a mage.
However, he had something that no one else had and that something was the Underworlds Heart. Which allowed him to manipulate essence in the air at will. And he had said to impress Ling which meant that anything could do the trick and not necessarily techniques.
With a wave of Zhang’s hand, a continuous stream of purple energy from the Underworld Heart shot out of his finger tips and into the sky. Once the purple energy reached into the skies black clouds began to form out of thin air. Then after a few moments it began snowing. But the snow fell down in the shape of small flowers.
Once these small flowers touched the ground they would almost instantly melt and turn into water. It was a sight to behold a vast portion of the city was affected by this.
After a while Zhang stopped the stream of purple energy and the clouds dispersed and went away. He had to constantly control the purple energy or else it would have no rain the snow flowers at all.
Then in his hand Zhang formed a beautiful large crystal flower with five petals using the Underworlds Heart.
“For you.” He said as he gave the crystal flower to Ling.
If it were anyone else, it would be a simple beautiful flower however for Ling it had very significant meaning. This was not just any flower it was the flower that was called the king bloom which bloomed on apple trees.
For Zhang and Ling apple trees had a special meaning that only they knew. When they were growing up they would spend almost all of their time chatting on a branch of an apple tree in Zhang’s garden. For her this five petal king bloom meant that he did not forget about her or about their past.
Ling held the delicate looking crystal flower and stood silently without saying a word.
“So did I win? Although the snow flowers were fairly impressive but you have to admit my dance of lightning dragons was very spectacular.” Huang Zu said.
“I think we should give her some time to decide. How about you come back in a few days and then we will decide the winner.” Ling’s father said.
“I guess.” Huang Zu said and after a while departed.
After Huang Zu departed Ling’s father invited everyone to come in to the main hall and chat.
“You can take off the helmet now Zhang.” Ling’s father said.
“Uncle how did you know?” Zhang asked as he took off his helmet and stored it away.
“How wouldn’t I be able to recognize the young man that my daughter was going to marry. Boy I watched you grow up how could I not tell it was you under that helmet.” Ling’s father said with a chuckle.
“Now tell me where have you been all this time, we’ve thought you were dead for the last three years. Your parents have been very pain stricken you know.” He added.
Thus Zhang began recalling what had happened to him just like he had done with Ling.
Ling’s father listened to Zhang with intrigue as the tale went on and eventually reach its conclusion.
“I’m glad that you were able to come back to us.” Ling’s father said as he got up and gave Zhang a hug. He had thought of Zhang as his son for many years and was truly happy to see that he was alive.
“As for your father I will make arrangements for you to meet. You were right to not openly meet him. In the royal court there are many people against your father and I that would use any opportunity they can to strip us of our power.” Ling’s father said.
“Uncle there was something else I wanted to talk to you about.” Zhang said.
He went on to tell Ling’s father that he wished for their family to return with him to Red Mist city. He felt that it would be many times safer than staying here. For one Red Mist city did not border the Siwang empire.
“Let’s talk to your father first and we can all decide after that. Let’s have some dinner now and then you have to return to your villa that was arranged for you as to avoid susp
icion.
After dinner the trio and their guards returned to their villa while Ling stayed at her home.
“Brother that uncle seemed very friendly.” Yuying said.
“Of course he’s like a second father to me. Well he will be my father in law one day. But the point is that while growing up he had always looked after me when he was present.” Zhang said.
“Must be nice to have such loving family.” Ai said somewhat dejected. Ai still had no memories of her past and was somewhat pained seeing how kindly Ling’s father had treated them.
Seeing this Zhang put his arm around her shoulder and said “don’t worry you have us, we will be your family.”
“Now it’s time to get some sleep because we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” He added.
Tomorrow they would have to go meet the king of the Heilong Kingdom and then secretly meet Zhang’s father so the trio had many things to do tomorrow.
Chapter 41: Banquet
The day after the Zhang arrived at the capital of the Heilong kingdom the king held an extravagant banquet and invited all of the dignitaries from the various forces.
The king had waited for everyone who had replied to the invitation saying that they would participate in the tournament to arrive in the capital before holding the banquet.
He did not wish for anyone to feel that someone else was getting treated better or worse than anyone else. The king even had the banquet tables be arranged in a large circle to symbolize every force attending stood as equals.
Three years ago the kingdom had been on the brink of collapse due to the invasion. Most if not all of its western border cities were lost to the Siwang Empire.
Hundreds of thousands of people had lost their lives in the mindless slaughter. From all of this Heilong kingdom’s economy took a huge hit, the loss of resources and manpower had nearly drove them bankrupt.
If a kingdom did not have resources or manpower to produce revenue, then it would not be able to maintain an army and without an army it would not be able to protect its domain nor maintain its rule over the people. Had it not been for the current minister of finance and minister of war then the kingdom would have most likely collapsed.
It took them nearly three years to stabilize the kingdom and to prevent such a catastrophe from happening again the Heilong kingdom needed allies. The more they could get the better. Thus the king was extra courteous to his guests that were attending the banquet. King Huang He was a king for the people so for the people he would treat every representative at the banquet with uttermost care.
Today the banquet would be taking place in the main hall of grand arena that was built for the tournament. The first person to arrive was the minister of finance then after him many princes, princesses, and other people of high statues showed up.
Everyone used the time before the king arrived to converse and make connections.
Princes would walk up to princesses and try their luck at snagging a beautiful bride. Ministers would try to for diplomatic relations with other ministers. The entire hall was full of important people trying to get closer to other important people.
However, this all changed when a group of guards walked into the hall and formed two lines starting at the door. From the other side of the door a man dressed in full black armor walked in and beside him were three out of this world beauties. One of the beauties was recognized by some as minister Wu’s daughter Wu Ling. There was no doubt about this because minister Wu himself was walking behind the four young people.
The three girls looked extremely beautiful to the point that many princes began fantasizing about going up to them and asking them out. Many princesses were ashamed at thinking they were pretty after seeing these three young women enter the room.
“Ah minister Wu, how are you.” A voice rang out as a chubby looking man in minister clothing walked toward the new arrivals.
“Minister Jia Su! It has been a long time since we last met. Last time you visit was around a year ago.” Ling’s father Wu Tong said.
“Might I ask who these people are.” Jia Su asked.
“Ah this is my future son in law the next Zhang lord of Aurora and his two wives.” Wu Tong replied.
“Future son in law? I heard that the young lord of Aurora had just arrived in the city yesterday.” Jia Su said with a hint of confusion on his face.
“Ah yes you know how kids are they fall in love after just talking for a bit. As a father as long as my daughter is happy how could I object when this young man came and asked for her hand.” Wu Tong said with a grin on his face.
As the other ministers saw it he had traded his daughter to form a connection with this young man. They thought it was also somewhat dumb of Wu Tong because there were many princes from powerful kingdoms to pick from rather than a future lord of a province. But all they could do was smile and congratulate Wu Tong because of course Ling was Wu Tong’s daughter and he could betroth her to whoever he wants.
“Nice to meet you, my name is Jia Su and I’m a minister from the kingdom of Yan.” He said to Zhang while trying to shake Zhang’s hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you also minister Jia.” Zhang replied as he extended his hand to shake Jia Su’s hand.
“What a lucky man you are to have such beautiful wives.” Jia Su added.
“Thank you.” Zhang said as he pulled Yuying, Ai, and Ling toward him by the waist.
Although Zhang was somewhat afraid that Ling’s father would not be happy that his daughter is being embraced in public like this Zhang wanted to show everyone present she was his.
“Also don’t forgot about her, I have a beautiful fiancée also.” Zhang said with a grin.
Being embraced and hearing those words made Ling’s face somewhat blush.
While embracing the three beauties Zhang noticed many envious gazed placed on him. He figured most of the people here represented kingdoms while he represented a province thus they believed that he would be of lower social standing. And since he was of lower social standing he was not fit to have wives as pretty as Yuying and Ai nor a fiancée as pretty as Ling.
In this world there were only a few things that mattered to people. These things being women, wealth, power, and fame. And those who have these things often want more of it.
That’s when Zhang noticed a small group of young men wearing golden robes walk toward him. These were all most likely princes of various kingdoms.
“How about you ladies leave this peasant and come with me. I’m the prince of the Ming Kingdom Ming Jiang.” People of his status aren't meant to be at such gatherings. The young man in golden said as he walked up right in front of the group.
Ming Jiang had heard about how Zhang had entered the city with twenty thousand soldiers as escorts which made him somewhat envious of Zhang. Even as the crown prince of his kingdom he did not have that many soldiers at his command. One could say that the more soldiers and power given to a prince meant the more capable the prince was.
Then when he saw Zhang walk in with the three beauties he turned green from envy. As said before most people strives for power, wealth, women and fame. And from the looks of it Zhang already had two of these things being women and power.
The fact that the lord of Aurora let Zhang command so many soldiers personally meant that he had lots of trust in him and his position as the next lord was secure. Whereas in Ming Jiang's case even if he was the crown prince his father could easily replace him with one of his brothers.
So as to mock Zhang he had to make fun of Aurora's status as a province. Being a province meant that the rulers of it were socially beneath the other dignitaries at the gathering. Even a minister of a kingdom has more power than a province was what he thought.
“Peasant?” Zhang murmured while still embracing the three beauties. Then with a kick Zhang smashed Ming Jiang’s knee making him fall to the ground and painfully scream. The majority of people only had the essence of a 5th rank so Zhang was easily able to overpower most since he
was at the 6th rank of cultivation with his body being trained to the equivalent of the 4th level.
Rarely did anyone train physically like Zhang did but with the combination of the two he would be able to hold his own against a level 7 cultivator. This would put him amongst the ranks of geniuses.
"If I'm the peasant then why are you the one kneeling." Zhang said with a grin.
Although it could be seen as Zhang overacting over the words of prince Ming Jiang it was not. Zhang intentionally made it seem that he had an overbearing personality.
He could tell that unlike Huang Zu who was sort of a hard headed simpleton these people here were schemers. They were the sort to give you smiles and gifts but stab you in the back when they had the chance.