Chapter 17: The Fourth Imperial Son

  Behind the triangular platform is a large wooden shed that has just been built for less than two days.

  This was originally a series of interconnected courtyards, all of which had been demolished for this "Thousand Spirit Medicine Meet". Now, the exceptionally spacious tent was packed with young spirit medicine masters, who were arranged in twenty rows according to the numbers they received when signing up.

  Nie Kong was startled as he walked in through the side door by the surrounding wall. He had originally thought that there would be no more than five hundred people, but inside the wooden shed, it was packed with a sea of black heads, roughly estimated to be at least nearly a thousand people, all young men and women in their teens or early twenties.

  Won't all the alchemists under 25 from the Great Empire come to participate in this trial? Nie Kong muttered to himself. He had initially come to participate in the Medicine King Conference at the request of Nie Xingyun and Lian Tianxin, but later heard that the final reward included extremely precious medicinal herbs, which made his heart skip a beat.

  Everyone either closed their eyes to meditate, or looked around restlessly, or whispered secretly, or put on a calm face, but the tension in their hearts was already revealed by the corners of their mouths that were constantly twitching. Nie Kong just took a quick glance and then went to find his own position with the token plate.

  "Nie Kong, Nie Kong..."

  A suppressed, tender cry pierced the air, and Nie Kong hastily turned his gaze in its direction. He saw a green-clad young girl waving at him from the front row of the Spiritual Medicine Squad - it was Mu Xiao Ling.

  "What's wrong?" Nie Kong walked towards her.

  "Your position is right behind me." Mu Xiaoling rolled her eyes.

  "How did you know?"

  "Of course I knew. Yesterday afternoon, Fengyan Jiejie from Nie's medicine refining hall came to sign you up, and it was me who gave her the token." Mu Xiaoling giggled and took out her own token, flashing it in front of Nie Kong, "Right? Come on, come over and line up behind me."

  "Are you following me?"

  Nie Kong couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sound of her words, which sounded so obscene and flirtatious, especially coming from a beautiful young girl like her. "Hmph," he coughed twice to stifle his laughter, then said with a grin, "Well, Little Spirit, I guess that means I'll really be behind you now."

  "Go ahead, go ahead." Mu Xiaoling was laughed at by Nie Kong and became somewhat perplexed, waving her small white hands in doubt.

  "I've inserted it."

  Then, Nie Kong solemnly inserted himself behind Xiao Ling. At this time, the young man behind him couldn't hold back anymore, one hand trembling as he pointed at Nie Kong and Mu Xiao Ling, while the other hand held his belly and let out a loud, strange laugh. Before long, he laughed until his face turned bright red and tears welled up in his eyes.

  Muxiaoling's face was covered in mist, and her mind was replaying the scene from earlier. She gradually realized the ambiguity in their conversation, and her pale face suddenly turned bright red. She glared at the young man behind Nie Kong, pouting: "Xiao Jiang, if you laugh again, I'll hit you!"

  "Little Ling, I'm not laughing anymore, you guys continue to... Hehe, no, I still can't help it..." The young man said with a straight face, and when he finished speaking, he let out another snort and squatted down, pounding the ground with both hands. The surrounding spiritual medicine practitioners who vaguely understood what was going on all had strange smiles on their faces.

  Nie Kong's mouth twitched with anger, while Mu Xiao Ling's face turned bright red with rage. "I won't bother with you two scoundrels anymore!"

  No one spoke, Nie Kong stood a bit bored, and proactively reached out to touch Mu Xiao's slender shoulders, smiling: "Little Ling sister, in such a lively scene, why didn't Hong Xiang come over to take a look?" Not many days after the Illusory Realm training ended, Mu Hongxiang returned to Luocheng, the capital of Kyoto.

  Mu Xiaoling still looked a bit embarrassed, and without turning her head, she hummed: "She sneaked into Jicheng City to play for a while, which made her father very angry. As soon as she got back, she was locked up at home to cultivate, saying that if she didn't break through to the sixth rank of fusion spirit, she wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere. A few days ago, she sneaked out again, but was caught by her father before leaving Luocheng."

  "It turns out to be like this." Nie Kong couldn't help but smile, admiring the lively and active personality of Mu Hongyan, forcing her to cultivate, probably more painful than killing her.

  "Little Ling, look quickly, the fourth prince of the imperial family has arrived!" The young man who was squatting on the ground and wiping away tears suddenly jumped up and exclaimed in surprise.

  Nie Kong and Mu Xiao Ling turned their eyes to look, and indeed saw a white figure appearing at the side door of the surrounding wall. The person was about twenty years old, with a slender body, handsome face, and a hint of a smile on his lips. His snow-white clothes made him stand out even more, like a jade tree in the wind, outstanding and unmatched.

  "How could he possibly come to participate in this competition?" Mu Xiaoling slightly furrowed her brow.

  "Is this Fourth Prince very powerful?" Nie Kong asked with a smile, his eyes scanning around to find that many calm and composed spiritual medicine practitioners had begun to frown and look disheartened. There were even more spiritual medicine practitioners gathered together, whispering among themselves, seemingly discussing the same Fourth Prince.

  "It goes without saying. Among the relatively well-known spiritual medicine practitioners under the age of 25 in the Great Sheng Empire, there are only a handful. Xiao Ling is one, Qu Xinyi from the Qu family is another, and then there's Yu Qingguan from the Luoxia Sect. They all managed to successfully refine third-grade spiritual medicines, already infinitely close to becoming third-grade spiritual medicine practitioners. But the most formidable of them all has to be the Fourth Prince, who is said to have long become a third-grade spiritual medicine practitioner with an astonishingly high success rate."

  Xiao Jiang gave a brief introduction to Nie Kong after finishing his explanation, and then smiled and introduced himself, "Nie Kong big brother, I am Mu Xiao Ling's cousin Mu Xin Jiang. I've heard Xiao Ling sister mention you before, you're the disciple of Nie Xing Yun master and Lian Tian Xin master, your skills must be top-notch. This time, your opponents are the Fourth Prince and Qu Xinyi, Yu Qingguan and a few others, as for me, don't mind me, I'm just here to make up the numbers."

  It turned out to be just a waste of time!

  Nie Kong slightly nodded and smiled, among the nearly thousand spiritual medicine practitioners here, there were quite a few who came over to join in like Mu Xinjiang.

  "Nie Kong big brother, Xiao Ling sister, don't worry about it either. What's the big deal about being a third-grade spiritual medicine master? The competition is not necessarily about the grade of the spiritual medicine you refine. I think you two still have a great chance to laugh in the end." Mu Xinjiang comforted them with a mature tone.

  "Shut your mouth! You're so annoying, it's infuriating!" Mu Xiaoling glared at him with a scowl, clearly still resentful about his earlier joke at her expense.

  "Then thank you for your kind words." Nie Kong smiled and said.

  As they spoke, the Fourth Prince had already walked to the side of the Spiritual Medicine Master team and smiled at Xiao Ling: "Xiao Ling, I'm glad you're here too. It seems that this time's medicine competition will be a big one, and I've finally met an opponent who can make me use half my strength. I hope Curves' Qu Xinyi and Luoxia Sect's Yu Qingguan will also appear, with more opponents, I won't be too bored. Otherwise, even if I win, it would be very dull."

  "Your Highness won't be disappointed, as far as I know, Qu Xinyi and Yu Qingguan have also signed up." Mu Xiaoling furrowed her delicate eyebrows, feeling somewhat discontent in her heart.

  "Great! I heard that the prizes prepared by the Mu family this time far exceed those of the 'Thousand Spirit Medicine Meet' in the past. I really want to know what the prize is, and as for the first place in the competition, it's a must-win for me. Xiao Ling, if we meet in the final round, don't expect any mercy from me." After finishing speaking, the Fourth Prince smiled and continued on his way.

  "Arrogant!"

  Looking at his back, Mu Xiaoling let out a low curse, "I said why Grandfather left the number one plate behind, it turns out it was prepared for him."

  "Right, when we have so many divine medicine masters who are all made of mud?"

  Mu Xinjiang also clenched his fists in anger, humming, "This is just Hongyin sister's lack of talent for alchemy. Otherwise, with Hongyin sister's cultivation at the fifth rank of fusion, it wouldn't be impossible to refine even a fourth-rank spiritual medicine, let alone a third-rank one. In that case, what would he have to be arrogant about?"

  Seeing the two of them looking indignant, Nie Kong couldn't help but smile slightly.

  These four princes have been smiling from start to finish, with a soft tone of voice, but the words are full of unbridled arrogance. When speaking, he looks extremely elegant and polite. Speaking in this way is equivalent to not putting Mu Xiaoling in his eyes at all, which is also annoying...

  ……