Lin Xiyueâs pretty eyes focused on Ye Futian. From the close distance, she could see that heâd matured a lot since their first meeting on the ship in the East Sea. Heâd become even more handsome and was no longer the youth from before.
âYes, Iâm cultivating at Donghai Academy. You arenât mad, are you?â Lin Xiyue asked with a smile.
âWhy would I be mad?â Ye Futian shook his head. He wasnât that close-minded. He would remember the people from the School of the Emperor Star but the conflict had nothing to do with Donghai Academy, let alone a regular disciple from that academy.
âYou still didnât tell me why youâre here. Is there something wrong?â Ye Futian asked.
âCanât I come to see a friend?â Lin Xiyue smiled gently.
Seeing her like that, Ye Futian smiled and nodded. âOf course.â
âThereâs nothing much,â Lin Xiyue said. âI just saw you at the Tingfeng Banquet and wanted to come see you. I was worried for you after what happened at Donghai City. I canât believe you found your place in the Cangye Kingdom so quickly and are even appreciated by the emperor. I worried for nothing.â She was natural and poised.
âThanks,â Ye Futian said, chuckling. âDid you hear about Yi Xiang, headmaster of the School of the Finance Star, in Donghai City?â
Lin Xiyue smiled. âDonât worry, Senior Yi should be fine. I asked my father about him. He was hurt after helping you delay the strong cultivators that day but retreated safely. He wasnât Minister Huaâs main target and there wasnât any news afterward so Iâm sure heâs fine.â
Ye Futian was reassured. He knew the old fox wouldnât run into trouble so easily.
âAlright, I said hi to you and now Iâm leaving.â Lin Xiyue gave a small smile.
Ye Futian nodded. âGo back safely.â
âOkay.â Lin Xiyue nodded lightly and turned to leave. Ye Futian watched her receding backside and then walked toward the pavilion.
Yu Sheng walked beside him and muttered, âHow many girls are you gonna ruin?â
âItâs not my fault Iâm attractive.â Ye Futian laughed and glanced at his friend with a smug expression as if saying, Do you see the difference between us?
Yu Sheng rolled his eyes and strode off. He didnât want to give Ye Futian the chance to be cocky.
Ye Futian blinked and stared at Yu Shengâs back. This wasnât right. Shouldnât he be the one to walk away proudly?
âYouâve turned bad,â Ye Futian muttered. When he returned to the courtyard, he practiced the guqin to raise his spiritual power rather than rest. Ever since he began cultivating, his experiences and changes in his mind made him desire more and more to advance in planes. Back in Qingzhou City, his godfatherâs expectations for him to become emperor had seemed like a fantasy. Now, he was truly working toward it.
Time passed bit by bit. Late at night, Ye Futian was still playing. Many emotions seemed to be hidden in the song. Returning to the Nandou Nation, his home country, this time, his identity had changed. He had come with Emperor Ye to attend the banquet. Everything was like a dream.
As the music streamed into the silent air, there was a violent surge of Spiritual Qi in the air. They rushed into Ye Futianâs body but he didnât seem to feel anything. He continued playing and the melody gradually rose from the low tone. There was a feeling of throwing the past behind. The Spiritual Qi grew more furious, dancing with the song. This persisted for a long while. When the last note sounded, there was sudden silence and the Spiritual Qi was sucked into his body.
His eyes flew open, sparkling. Then Ye Futian smiled. Heâd had a breakthrough and entered the Eight-star Glory Plane. After the breakthrough, he still didnât rest and continued to cultivate his martial arts. The strengthening of his Spiritual Energy could raise his tenacity and was also helpful in cultivating martial arts.
Wind came from his punches. Ye Futian activated the Imperial Tactics and the blood inside him seemed to rumble. He seemed to have the emperorâs intent; after the Spiritual Energy breakthrough, his martial arts cultivation was smoother too. His body was constantly changing.
When the first sliver of light appeared at the horizon, shining onto Ye Futian, he raised his head and roared. He punched forward and there was an explosion. The air seemed to tremble. An incomparable power burst from his body. Shadows of dragons and rocs were released from his fist. A terrifying apparition of the Ape seemed to appear on him. He was covered entirely with the will of the martial arts. His strength was to the extreme.
âMartial arts breakthrough.â Ye Futian smiled. He had broken through in both sorcery and martial arts in one night.
Ye Futian gathered his aura and stopped cultivating. Afterward, he went to wash up and the sky lightened gradually. Today would be the second day of the Tingfeng Banquet. Countless people gathered toward the South Gate of the palace in the Imperial City.
Ye Futian traveled with Emperor Yeâs group today. On the way there, Emperor Ye called Ye Futian over.
âYesterday in the palace, Emperor Luo asked me for you again,â Emperor Ye said. Hearing this, Ye Futian was very calm. If Emperor Ye wanted to hand him over, he wouldâve done so long ago. Even if Emperor Ye didnât think highly of him, the two nations were rivals. If Emperor Luo asked him for Ye Futian, he definitely wouldnât agree. How would the world see him then?
âHe knew it was impossible but he still mentioned it. In addition, I could feel his confidence in his voice. Itâs as if something will happen at the Tingfeng Banquet,â Emperor Ye continued.
Ye Futian furrowed his brows. Even without him, it was a bit odd that Emperor Luo would invite the emperors of the three nations to watch.
âAre there possibilities that Emperor Luo forged alliances with Yunchu Nation and the Yan Kingdom?â Ye Futian asked softly.
âImpossible.â Emperor Ye shook his head. âThe four nations have a profound relationship. Thereâs no reason for them to ally with him.â Though they had constant conflicts, the countries still had their bottom lines. The emperors wouldnât take action against each other for no reason unless something truly big caused a war. A war between the emperors was not a trivial matter. Once it went full-out, no one could withstand it.
âGuessing is probably useless. Letâs wait and see just how emboldened Emperor Luo is.â Emperor Ye smiled and shook his head.
The group gradually arrived at the location of the Tingfeng Banquet. At the moment, it had already been drowned by the endless crowd. However, when they saw Emperor Yeâs group, the people in the sky all opened up a path.
Many studied Emperor Ye from the close distance. They didnât know how strong the ruler of the Cangye Kingdom was. If the four emperors fought, it would definitely be spectacular but they knew this was quite impossible.
âThose girls are so pretty.â Someone saw Lin Yueyao and the others behind the emperor. They looked like fairies and many people gasped involuntarily.
âThatâs Ye Futian. Heâs from the East Prefecture of our country but he betrayed us and went to the Cangye Kingdom. I heard heâs extremely talented,â someone whispered, pointing at Ye Futian. Yesterday, the three emperors had come to watch and many people asked about the people they brought. Theyâd also heard some news.
The people from the Yunchu Nation and Yan Kingdom had already arrived. When Emperor Yeâs group came, Chu Kuangren, Yan Qi, and many others gazed at Ye Futian. Yesterday, the number one talent of Cangyeâs Fenghua Rank had stayed away from battle but was still memorable.
Emperor Luo had come too. The four emperors were all present and the Tingfeng Banquet began again.
âYesterday, Junlin invited everyone. Did the prides of all the nations interact with each other?â Emperor Luo asked with a smile. The other emperors looked a bit curious. They didnât specifically ask about what happened yesterday.
âWe battled with some from the Fenghua Rank,â Chu Kuangren said. âJust as weâd predicted, those in the Dharma Rank who can be defeated by the Glory Plane really arenât much. After all, the Cangye Kingdomâs Fenghua Banquet is once every three years. Itâs already impressive like this.â Anyone could tell the arrogance in his calm voice.
Bai Qiu and Yu Jiangâs faces darkened again. They cursed him mentally for bringing this up.
âThe Yan Kingdom seemed to have lost too,â Bai Qiu said coldly.
âAll I can say is that the top three of the Fenghua Rank have some skills,â Yan Qi said coolly. Yan Zhan had lost to Yu Sheng, who was number three of the Fenghua Rank.
âYe Wuchen is the strongest of the Cangye Kingdomâs Fenghua Rank but we donât have to rush the duel with him. Letâs watch and see what kind of talent can be born from this yearâs Tingfeng Banquet,â Chu Kuangren said.
âWhat about the first place of the Fenghua Rank?â Emperor Luo asked with a smile. He seemed to not know Ye Futian. Of course, he really didnât know Ye Futian. Their first meeting was at this Tingfeng Banquet.
âThe first place of the Fenghua Rank?â Chu Kuangren chuckled dryly. âI donât know if heâs really arrogant or is just using it as an excuse to avoid fighting and hide something.â
Chu Kuangren hinted that Ye Futian was pretending to be arrogant in order to avoid fighting. If he didnât fight, no one would know what his abilities really were like. He had proved himself at the Fenghua Banquet but only the Cangye Kingdom had witnessed that. There were top talents from every nation here. Who would think that they werenât as good as the others?
Many gazes fell upon Ye Futian, including Lin Yueyao and Bai Qiu. Chu Kuangren seemed to have been provoking him since last night. Would he still be unmoving?
Ye Futian continued to sit there, gazing at the battles on the nine battle platforms. He ignored Chu Kuangrenâs provocation.
Everyone was speechless. This guyâŠ
âDonât you have anything to say?â Chu Kuangren asked, looking at Ye Futian.
Seeing how insistent he was, Ye Futian finally spared him a glanceâjust one glance. Then he continued watching the battles, unbothered.
Everyone blanched. Were the battles really that interesting?
Many followed his gaze and saw that Zhou Mu from Donghai Academy was fighting on the Seven-star Glory Plane platform.
âHis name is Zhou Mu. He used to be really arrogant,â Ye Futian suddenly said as he watched him. Hearing this, everyone looked back. Ye Futian smiled and continued, âHe became much better-behaved after getting wiped out by a staff.â
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