The Fire Dragon County King pulled Zuo Longlin down and hastened to make amends, saying, “It was only a hint of impulse that my little son offended Lord Shangshu, so I hope that Lord Shangshu will not be angry.”
Shangshu Ning snorted coldly and said, “Fire Dragon County King, in the future, you should discipline your own son more, lest you invite trouble to the Fire Dragon County Kingdom. Ning An, see off the guests.”
An old butler walked out and sent the Fire Dragon County King and Zuo Longlin out.
Minister Ning kept County King Yunwu and Zhang Ruochen and exchanged ideas together for a long time. It was only after the night banquet that he sent people to send County King Yunwu and Zhang Ruochen back to the manor.
Back at the manor, Zhang Ruochen pinched the Sword Discussion Poster in his hand, looking at the beautiful characters on it, he really couldn’t figure out why that one Thirteenth County Lord would send the Sword Discussion Poster to him.
Zhang Ruochen put the Sword Discourse Poster away, no longer thinking about it, and entered the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal Stone, preparing to refine another drop of Half-Saint True Liquid before the Sword Discourse Conference.
Two days later, Zhang Ruochen took the Sword Discussion Poster with him and headed directly to the Thousand Water County Kingdom’s Royal Palace to attend the Sword Discussion Conference.
The so-called “Sword Discussion Conference” was actually to select a prince consort for the Thirteen County Lords, and only geniuses who had been screened by the Thirteen County Lords were qualified to participate.
Other than that, even the Yunwu County King was not allowed to step into the royal palace.
It could be said that this was a meeting of the young generation of experts, where the top geniuses from various countries gathered to compete in the sword fight, and only the strongest in swordsmanship would be able to marry the Thirteen County Lord.
The place where the sword competition was held was chosen at the Golden Phoenix Wan of the Thousand Water King’s Palace, guarded by 3,000 forbidden soldiers, and could only be entered by virtue of the Sword Competition Invitation.
The Thousand Water King’s Palace appeared unusually grand and atmospheric, constructed with a vermilion coloured tall hall with overhanging flying eaves and towers. Some of these large plazas had a powerful fourth-ranked savage beast in captivity, chained with bowl-thick iron chains, exuding a powerful aura that shocked the hearts of the people.
Even if it was just the ordinary forbidden army guarding Jin Feng Wan, they were at the Xuanji Realm cultivation level, not at all comparable to the forbidden army of the Yunwu County Kingdom.
One only needed to mobilise a thousand-man forbidden army to crush the 100,000-strong army of the Yunwu County Kingdom.
A small commander of the Forbidden Army at the Xuanji Realm’s Great Extremity Position stopped Zhang Ruochen’s path and said with a very serious expression, “Please show your son the Sword Discussion Invitation.”
Zhang Ruochen took out the silver-cast post and showed it to that one Little Commander of the Forbidden Army.
The eyes of that one small commander of the forbidden army immediately became respectful, bowed slightly, and said, “Please enter, Your Excellency.”
When Zhang Ruochen walked into the Golden Phoenix Wannabe, he saw that there were many rare medicinal herbs planted in the garden beds, emitting a pleasant medicinal fragrance. Moreover, the aura in the air was very concentrated, almost four times that of the Yunwu County King’s Palace.
Cultivating in such an environment, a martial artist’s cultivation speed would definitely be much faster than elsewhere.
A formation was arranged over the pool of Golden Phoenix Wan. In the air above the formation, a nine-metre square Battle Martial Stage was suspended.
At this moment, many talented individuals had already arrived at the pool, not just princes from other counties, but also people from some of the great clans and great sects of the Thousand Water County, each and every one of them was an expert of the younger generation, none of them were ugly looking, none of them were mediocre.
Mediocre and ugly people had long been excluded by the Thirteen County Lords.
Right at this moment, Zhang Ruochen saw a familiar silhouette, it was the number one expert in the East Academy of the Martial City Palace of Learning, Xun Guihai.
He had actually come to participate in the Sword Discussion Conference as well!
Xun Guihai sat not far from the Thirteen County Lords, wearing the brocade-coloured martial arts robe of the Martial City Academy Palace, looking handsome and divine. Just by looking at where he was sitting, one could tell that the Thirteenth County Lord was quite favourable towards him.
In addition to Xun Guihai, there were also three other young men sitting beside the Thirteenth County Lord.
Those three young men’s bodies all exuded a powerful aura, and each one of them was no weaker than Xun Guihai.
Coming to Jin Feng Wan, Zhang Ruochen’s heart had a strange feeling, he had obviously come to Thousand Water County to seek help, why did he have to come to this inexplicable Sword Discussion Conference?
What was even stranger was how there were so many talented and gifted people who had gathered here from the south and north of the heavens.
It couldn’t be that everyone is here to ask for help, right?
“My name is Chen Tianshu, I don’t know your name, sir?” A young man of seventeen or eight years old, who had appeared beside Zhang Ruochen at some point, asked with a smile.
Zhang Ruochen glanced towards Chen Tianshu and realised that this man was exceptionally handsome, even better than Xun Guihai.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Zhang Ruochen.”
Chen Tianshu appeared a bit self-conscious, staring at the Thirteen County Lords in the distance and laughed, “You also want to win the first place in the Sword Discussion Conference and hold a beautiful woman?”
“Hmm?” Zhang Ruochen was slightly stunned.
What was the meaning of “holding a beautiful woman”?
Chen Tianshu said, “Look at the people below, each and every one of them wants to show their amazing talent so as to capture the Thirteen County Lord’s heart. However, they don’t know that they are all just green leaves, and the only people who are truly promising are the four sitting up there. Da Qian County’s ‘Xun Gui Hai’, Long Chuan County’s ‘Tuoba Lin Su’, Left Minister’s disciple ‘Liu Xin’, and Half-Saint’s disciple ‘Qing Chi Bai’. ‘.”
“Wait …… what did you just say? The first place in the Sword Discussion Conference will capture the Thirteen County Lord’s heart?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Chen Tianshu was surprised, “Don’t you know? The Sword Discussion Conference is to help the Thirteen County Lords select their son-in-law.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “……”
Chen Tianshu looked at Zhang Ruochen’s expression and came to a realisation, saying, “Could it be that you would be standing at the end, so you don’t even know the purpose of the Sword Discussion Conference. It’s fine, we can’t even compete with those four supreme heavenly prides anyway, so let’s just stand here and watch the show!”
“I see!”
Zhang Ruochen recalled what County King Yunwu had explained to him and finally understood what was going on.
Yunwu County King actually wanted him to marry the Thirteenth County Lord, and as long as Yunwu County Kingdom and Thousand Waters County Kingdom were united in marriage, then the Four Directions County Lords would naturally not dare to attack Yunwu County Kingdom again.
Only, Zhang Ruochen didn’t like that Thirteenth County Lord at all, and even had some antipathy towards her, so it was naturally impossible for him to marry her.
Chen Tianshu was right, he couldn’t fight anyway, so there was no harm in staying and watching. Geniuses from various countries had gathered together, such an event was not often seen.
The people who came to participate in the Sword Discussion Conference were not only talented and handsome people from the south and north of the heavens, there were also some other county lords and some noble daughters from the Thousand Waters County Kingdom.
If they had their eyes on a certain genius, they could also take the initiative to show their affection to that genius and express their love.
Any power would spare no effort in pulling in geniuses with potential, and even draw closer to that one genius by way of marriage.
This was the way of survival for the great clans and great sects to thrive!
At the same time, geniuses also needed to rely on the cultivation resources provided by these great powers in order to be truly powerful.
It could be said that they were originally in a mutually beneficial and win-win relationship with each other, and marriage was just one of the simplest and most direct ways to establish a relationship.
Not far from Jin Feng Wan, there was a Flying Heaven Pavilion.
The Flying Sky Pavilion, which appeared to be a huge pavilion suspended in mid-air, was in fact, a Ninth Order True Martial Treasure.
The surface of the Flying Sky Pavilion was engraved with formation inscriptions, so even if it was suspended in the sky above Golden Phoenix Wan, no one could discover its existence.
At this moment, the Thousand Water County King and Queen, as well as more than a dozen beautiful concubines, all stood on top of that Flying Pavilion, looking in the direction of Golden Phoenix Wannabe.
On top of that, the ten most powerful ministers of the Thousand Water County Kingdom were also at the Flying Pavilion, and among them was Minister Ning Shangshu.
The ten powerful ministers actually represented the ten forces of the Thousand Water County Kingdom that were second only to the royal family, and each of them was much more powerful than a medium county.
The Thousand Water County King looked to be in his forties, showing his beard, wearing a crown and a golden robe, exuding an imperial aura as he said, “Left Minister, who do you think will win first place and marry the Thirteenth County Lord in this Sword Discussion Conference.”
The left minister of the Thousand Water County Kingdom, the head of the ten most powerful ministers, looking like a crane-haired boy, giving off an immortal feeling, smiled and said, “The old man’s protégé, Liu Xin, only twenty-two years old, has already reached the late stage of the Earthly Extreme Realm, and has even cultivated the Sword Intent Realm to the high level of the Sword Follows the Heart Realm, so he might have a chance to win first place.”
Grand General Gongsun Lin, laughed, “Liu Xin’s natural talent is indeed very high, it’s just a pity that he’s too much older than the Thirteen County Lord. Instead, I feel that Qing Chi Bai has a much better chance, he is only twenty years old this year and has already broken through to the middle stage of the Earth Extreme Realm, moreover, he is also the personal disciple of the Blood Empty Half-Saint, and his Sword Intent realm is unfathomable.”
The Right Minister, who was sitting not far away, laughed, “Both Liu Xin and Qing Chibai are both our Thousand Water County Kingdom’s heaven-defying human geniuses, and I feel that since the Great King has sent out invitations to all of the hundred neighbouring counties, he should give the princes of those medium and inferior counties a chance.”
“For example, Xun Guihai of the Great Qian County Kingdom, although he only has a cultivation of the Xuanji Realm Great Circle, yet he has reached the 14th of the Xuan Ranking, he’s definitely a genius with infinite potential.”
……
The ten most powerful ministers, all of them were desperately recommending the juniors that were related to them, arguing with each other.
The Thousand Waters County King saw the silent Minister Ning who was sitting on the side and laughed, “Minister Ning, everyone has a junior to participate in the Sword Discussion Conference, and the Ning Family is also a top family in the Thousand Waters County Kingdom, so hasn’t it sent a talented and handsome person to participate?”
Shangshu Ning laughed and said, “The Ning Family’s younger generation does have a few Xuan Ranking geniuses with decent talent, but it’s just a pity that they are too far behind compared to Liu Xin, Qing Chi Bai, and Xun Gui Hai. Old me then didn’t let them participate, so as not to disgrace them.”
Shangshu Ning’s words changed, and he added, “However, I would also like to recommend a genius to the Great King. He is not a Half-Saint disciple, nor is he a heir to a great power, nor does he have an Earth Extreme Realm cultivation. However, it is a top-notch wizard.”
The County King of Thousand Waters developed a bit of interest and smiled, “Minister Ning, who are you referring to?”
“His name is Zhang Ruochen, the prince of the inferior county state Yunwu County State, seventeen years old this year, with a martial cultivation that has reached the middle extreme position of the Xuan Extreme Realm ……”
Before Ning Shangshu could finish speaking, Grand General Gongsun Lin, who was sitting on the side, laughed and said, “Too common, too common, geniuses of these, in our Thousand Waters County Kingdom, there are eight hundred, if not a thousand.”
Minister Ning laughed and said, “Great General, it’s not too late for you to listen to my old husband before saying this. Zhang Ruochen only started the Divine Martial Seal at the age of sixteen, and up until now, he has been cultivating for less than a year.”
Hearing this, the smiles on the faces of the other nine powerful ministers completely disappeared.
