Chapter 208 – Ninth Prince Yue Lin
“I did not see, reportedly he did not come together with Qi Feifan, but since you mentioned him, I tell you, there’s a true story about this guy.”
“What is it? Let us hear as well.”
“This pro-disciple is actually the same guy who was challenged to a duel by our eighth prince. This guy is much undisciplined and out of control, he is only twenty years old but actually beheaded the commander of Imperial guards. It really shocked the entire nation!”
(NT: wú fǎ wú tiān: regardless of the law and of natural morality (idiom); maverick; undisciplined and out of control)
“What, Feng Kong was killed by him? Then he must really be a fierce guy. When the eighth prince would come back from the ruins, I’m afraid he would burn with rage. The eighth prince would certainly not let him off, after all, Feng Kong used to be his most capable assistant.”
“No way, Yi Yuan School’s head has personally come forward to grant full protection to this guy, so how would the eighth prince lay his hands on him. It is said that this guy is very young and if this duel was to be scheduled 10 years from now, then maybe, he would be able to compete with the eighth prince.”
“This Yi Yuan School really has an abundance of talented individuals. Earlier, it was Qi Feifan and now they have Ye Xiwen as well. The heaven really prefers that sect!”
“This is nothing; tell me which forces don’t have one or two geniuses like that. Even if Ye Xiwen can contend with the eighth prince, but he can only contend, he cannot win at any cost.”
“Indeed, after all, legendary characters like Qi Feifan appear only once in decades.”
The pedestrians were whooping among themselves on the street, but Ye Xiwen didn’t actually care. Their talks couldn’t have the slightest effect on his state of mind, since his state of mind had already been practiced to the rock-solid state. Hence he was usually always calm, composed and focused on his objectives.
However, Ye Xiwen wasn’t actually in a hurry to meet up with Qi Feifan and the others. It’s been a long time since he arrived in this world, and after so long, he once again got the chance to aimlessly wander about in a fairly developed city. The streets, markets and crowd soon reminded him of his past life, giving him a feeling that he was back on the Earth.
But, this was not the previous world. The customs here were very different and so were the people walking on the road. Basically, each and every one of them possessed power in their bodies, although not all of them were formidable. There were also some who were at the fifth or sixth stage of Houtian realm. (NT: So, dear readers, remember the sequence? Houtian<Xiantian<Truth<Legendary)
Now, Ye Xiwen finally understood how royal clan was able to produce so many fearful legions which comprised solely of Xiantian level experts. The city and its residents themselves were the source behind the legions, and with such a strong foundation, no wonder these legions were so formidable.
Along the way, he saw a variety of shops that looked magnificent. These shops had this abnormal atmosphere around them which made them seem even more grandiose, in fact they were even more magnificent than some of the mansions for aristocrats.
And everywhere, the houses were very tall, stretching all the way up to ten floors or even more. These houses had the general structure of wooden houses but weren’t made up of wood. A special kind of willow tree wood was used to construct them and its strength was almost comparable to that of steel.
Ye Xiwen knew that these stores didn’t deal with ordinary individuals. They only welcomed powerful warriors or rich people who held valuable things to exchange. Not just that, these stores only accepted Ling Dans as currency.
And right now, the number of Ling Dans in his possession could neither be considered more nor less. In fact, even an amount of 500 Ling Dans could not be considered much in Imperial markets.
Ye Xiwen did not delay any more. He asked a local resident about the location of Yi Yuan School’s courtyard and quickly arrived there. It was a magnificent courtyard and seemed to be made up of gold and jade. It was currently the residence of the team which arrived from Yi Yuan School and also the permanent place of stay for Yi Yuan School’s delegates.
“Brother Ye is here!”
“Brother Ye!”
“Brother Ye!”
As Ye Xiwen arrived, the sharp-eyed disciples recognized him immediately and greeted him respectfully.
Ye Xiwen did not stay long with them and soon found Qi Feifan.
“Brother Qi, sorry for being late.” Ye Xiwen cupped his hands and said.
“No big deal, you are not late for the task.” Qi Feifan smiled and said, “I presume this is the first time Young Ye has visited the Imperial capital, how about you go out on a stroll?”
“No, I would prefer getting down to business matters.” Ye Xiwen shook his head. He had seen far too many metropolitans in his past life, and even in this world, it was almost nothing more than a little bit difference in customs and thought process.
“Good, a while ago, the royal clan briefed us about the task. Basically, the truth level experts are supposed to destroy the Bai Mojiao strongholds, which are scattered throughout the Great Yue State.” Qi Feifan frowned and said, “But this time, the situation is quite stern, that’s why the royal clan has invited strong experts to go into action.”
“The day after tomorrow we will split off, I hope you are prepared. As far as the eighth prince’s matter is concerned, I’m afraid there are some experts from royal clan who are very dissatisfied with you.” Qi Feifan said.
“If they dare to cause trouble for me, I won’t hold back either and behead them all if required. But, in this crucial time, shouldn’t royal clan try to restrict the needless actions of its members?” Ye Xiwen indifferently said.
After talking for a while, both Ye Xiwen and Qi Feifan got busy in preparing for the task, which was scheduled to start the day after tomorrow. Ye Xiwen went down to prepare in his private small courtyard. Just when he was about to start practicing, the voice of a disciple caught his attention: “Brother Ye, Great Yue’s ninth prince has come to visit you.”
Ye Xiwen frowned, confused about what the ninth prince wanted from him. Anyway because of the eighth prince’s matter, several members of royal clan didn’t hold goodwill for him, and now, the ninth prince suddenly appeared out of nowhere to visit him, but for what?
“Send him inside!” Ye Xiwen said and thought, since the ninth prince had come in person, shutting him out wouldn’t be fair.
In a few moments, two figures appeared outside the courtyard. One of which was a handsome youth with dignified appearance who appeared to be twenty years old and clad in a royal-looking bright-yellow dragon robe.
Behind him was an old man in black clothes who was slavishly following the young man.
Seeing Ye Xiwen, the man clad in dragon robe stepped forward, cupped his hands and said: “You must be Brother Ye. I am the Ninth Imperial Prince of Great Yue State, named Yue Lin.”
Yue Lin cupped his hands to show respect to Ye Xiwen even though he came from royal background, after all, in this world, strength was the supreme law. Being a truth level expert, Ye Xiwen commanded enough respect and ninth prince showed proper etiquette by greeting him this way, especially because both of them belonged to the same generation of experts.
“Nice to meet you, ninth prince.” Ye Xiwen also greeted him respectfully. Considering Ye Xiwen’s values, if the other party was being polite, then there was no need to give them a cold shoulder.
“I am not aware of ninth prince’s reason for this sudden visit.” Ye Xiwen straightforwardly jumped to the main issue.
“It seems like Brother Ye is also a straightforward person like me. I see, I will not beat around the bush.” Yue Lin smiled and said, “Frankly speaking, I have come here hoping to form an alliance with Brother Ye.”
“To form an alliance ......” Ye Xiwen was surprised all of a sudden then looked curiously at the ninth prince, smiled and said, “Your Highness seems mistaken about something. Why would he think about forming an alliance with me?”
“Of course, there is one reason behind this, for example, what if I say it’s the eighth imperial brother.” The ninth prince faintly smiled and said.
As he mentioned the eighth prince, Ye Xiwen’s pupils immediately contracted. He then smiled and said: “The eighth prince, how exactly?”
Ye Xiwen actually began to think crazily, extracting points and facts from the news he had been obtaining lately. There were about a dozen princes in Great Yue State and at least four-fifths of them were already all grown up, all of them were ambitious, outstanding, talented and considered one of the bests in their generation, capable enough to mount the throne as the emperor of Great Yue State. But it was not at all surprising since they had obtained the most elite education, but the biggest problem was that there was only one throne and only one person could mount it. And among these princes, few were exceptionally powerful and influential.
The eldest prince, the second prince, the fourth prince and the eighth prince, these four were by far considered the most powerful candidates for the throne. They were not just powerful, they also had people’s support and they had also accumulated support from several peerless experts. But, the most recent eye-catching prince among them was the eighth prince, because looking at the rate his strength was enhancing lately, he would most likely step into the legendary realm and might become the legendary emperor, and that too after the gap of several generations.
Although during the imperial power struggle, personal strength was not the most important thing, but it was still a considerably important factor in deciding the victor.
And, Ye Xiwen was most concerned about this because with respect to these four strongest princes, the ninth prince was definitely not one of the most dazzling princes left in the competition. In fact, a lot of people didn’t even know that he existed.
It could be said that he was relatively low-key, but there was a possibility that this was because Ye Xiwen was not too concerned about the royal clan and its affairs. But, the news about several other princes usually reached Yi Yuan School as rumors, after all, Great Yue State was under the rule of royal clan. Although they lived in peace for thousands of years, but who could possibly predict the next emperor’s character. What if a madman was to ascend the throne and decided to go to war with them? Not to forget, it was possible for any of the princes to ascend the throne, so Yi Yuan School used to obtain specific information about royal clan’s affairs. In fact, they had stationed a special person in charge of studying these princes and whenever they pointed out a prince who was relatively on unfriendly terms with Yi Yuan School, they would either get rid of him or at least make them lose the throne.
Also, this was not just the case for Yi Yuan School. Even other major sects also followed the same line of politics. But, even on the research files of Yi Yuan School, the name of the ninth prince was nowhere to be seen, which proved how low-key he really was. However, today, it seemed like something was different about him!
“Brother Ye, do you really want to me state it?” The ninth prince said with a smile, “The news about your duel with the eighth imperial brother had already spread throughout the Great Yue State.”