Chapter 54: The Royal Armory
After riding in the carriage for a while, they passed the
HuoShen City gates, and eventually entered HuoShen Palace, the living quarters
of the King and his closest ministers. The palace grounds spanned 50 acres and the
palace itself was build out of a mysterious material that was so strong that
even a True Disciple wouldn’t be able to affect it.
The carriage arrived in front of the banquet hall, and Jia
Yuan stepped out along with Dou Di.
There had been a change of clothes in the carriage, which
was obviously meant for Jia Yuan. There was a small royal emblem in the chest
area of the robe, and it looked simple but impressive at the same time.
As for Dou Di, Jia Yuan had pestered the guards until they
had provided Dou Di with another robe, although of different design.
Walking toward the banquet all, it looked like Dou Di was
Jia Yuan’s personal guard or assistant.
Inside the banquet hall, was a table more than 100 feet long
with 24 ornate chairs on each side, with a considerably larger chair at the far
end. For the chairs on the sides, some ministers as well as the other
Despite the other 7 invitees having arrived already, most of
the seats were empty.
Jia Yuan boldly walked toward the far end of the table,
where the King sat, with Chen Xuan standing behind.
Jia Yuan half-knelt and cupped his hands. “Your Majesty, it
is good to see you again. I have brought my brother along, I hope you don’t
mind.”
As Jia Yuan had predicted, the King didn’t mind at all. “Haha,
that’s no problem at all. As you can see, we have more than enough food for
everyone, even with your voracious appetite taken into account.”
“Haha, thank you very much, Your Majesty.”
Jia Yuan was lead to the seat at the very right of the King,
the most honored position, while Dou Di was sat right next to him.
Just from this, it was obvious how much importance the King
placed on Jia Yuan. However, this seating arrangement caused the other invitees
to stare at Jia Yuan with gazes ranging from awe to jealousy and hatred.
The feast went on for several hours, as everybody present
swapped stories and information. Those who were aiming to join the Burning
Legion spoke about their training regimens, their families, and their goals for
the future. They spoke of these with pride. In their eyes, they were all
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geniuses of the Fire Kingdom, strong enough to be considered in the top 0.1% of
cultivators their age.
As for the ministers, they spoke about power struggles
between the four Kingdoms and like matters.
However, the atmosphere was slightly off, for two reasons.
The first, was that Jia Yuan was unwilling to talk to
anyone, only focusing on the food. Dou Di, instead, was relegated to chatting
with the others in Jia Yuan’s stead.
The second, was that the tournament participants weren’t
really all that interested in the feast. What they wanted to do instead, was to
go to the royal armory and pick out a weapon for themselves.
As the feast went on, they were clearly getting more and
more impatient, until the King finally clapped his hands, signaling for
silence. Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing to look at the King,
even Jia Yuan, who had been wolfing his way through a delicious Hot Pepper
Chicken Leg.
“I can see that you’re all getting impatient, and it seems
obvious that all of you…er, most of you have eaten your share.”
“Now, we’ll be making our way to the royal armory. The trip
will take about ten minutes, and you eight will have to be blindfolded on the
way there. This is for your own protection. If you know how to get to the royal
armory, other Kingdoms could try to kidnap you and torture you for information.”
And so, the surrounding guards blindfolded Jia Yuan and the
others, while leaving Dou DI in the banquet hall, since he wasn’t one of the
actual invitees.
While blindfolded, the eight were led into a carriage, which
quickly began to move.
Hmm, it seems like we’re
descending… are we going down a hill? But there are no hills here. Is the
armory underground? Interesting… if the armory is underground, it truly would
be pretty hard for most of the other Kingdoms to find it.
After another few minutes of traveling, the carriage finally
stopped, and everyone was let out of the carriage, and the blindfolds were
taken off.
In front of their eyes was a small square door. The King
walked up to the door and pressed his hand against it. A large wave of heat
assaulted those standing behind him, but none of them cared, for the door disappeared
in a puff of flame.
Even from outside, Jia Yuan could see rows upon rows of
weapons. It was heaven on earth!
