Chapter 134: The Annual Meet
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"The Secluded Mountain Prefecture here is so lively!"
A new year had arrived and the Secluded Mountain Prefecture had sent out invitation cards to invite Fang Yuan, other Wu Zongs, spiritual knights and the rich to the Secluded Mountain Prefecture for a banquet.
As they returned back to the Secluded Mountain Prefecture City, the feeling was different this time.
"Haha…..Brother Xiang!"
Niu Dingtian and the others entered the Prefecture Master's mansion. When he saw Xiang Zilong, his eyes glittered. "I have missed you a lot!"
As he spoke, Niu Dingtian went forward and gave the other a hug.
"Thank you, Brother Niu, for your concern!"
Xiang Zilong's face looked a bit dull and he forced out a smile. "You don't have to raise your voice in the Prefecture Master's Prefecture. The city master has punished quite a number of people recently..."
If both of them were not close, Xiang Zilong would not be reminding Niu Dingtian about this.
Niu DIngtian's expression changed and asked, "Why?"
"The city master is displaying his might….."
Xiang Zilong shook his head and obviously didn't want to speak further as he saw Fang Yuan was present as well.
"Greetings, Leader Xiang!"
Fang Yuan was not really greeting him seriously and continued to ask, "Is the city master here?"
"The city master is seeing another important guest in the study room. All guests please head to the main hall for the banquet first!"
One of the three capital leaders of the Secluded Mountain who walked out the last greeted Fang Yuan.
"An important guest?"
Fang Yuan wavered but his expression was still the same. As he entered the main hall, he was complimented by many other guests.
After all, he was a young Wu Zong and had a bright future. So many people had wanted to establish a good rapport with him.
...…..
Coincidentally, Liu Yan who was seeing the guest in the study room had mentioned Fang Yuan as well.
"Hehe…..Princess, I heard that you came to Qinghe County to poach one of my men?"
Liu Yan was giving a cold smile as he looked at Xie Lingyun.
At that moment, Xie Lingyun was standing upright with her drooping eyelids. It seemed that she didn't even dare to take in a deep breath.
The feeling she had gotten from the Secluded Mountain Prefecture City Master was different from the young Wu Zong.
The city master was not only serious and displaying his might, he was greedy and aggressive. She didn't know what to say in such a scary atmosphere.
However, she bit her teeth and continued with a tone of dissatisfaction, "The Secluded Mountain Prefecture is under Xia Country. Since there is a Wu Zong, I am here on behalf of the royal family to find out more. Is that wrong?"
Liu Yan didn't know what to say.
Even though the royal family of Xia Country had not much power now, after all, the royal family was still of legitimism and it was better for him not to go against them.
He then gave a cold smile and continued, "It seems useless to talk about this. What is the purpose of your visit, Princess?"
"I'm here for the conflict…. I heard that you are using military forces against the Summer Sun Prefecture? Have you gotten that order from the royal family?"
Xie Lingyun continued with a stern look. "If not, it is wrong for you to do that and there is no reason for you to do that. Don't force the royal family to form an alliance with the other two prefectures to go against you!"
No matter what was the current situation like in Secluded Mountain Prefecture, when the two prefectures formed an alliance with the royal family, they would be very powerful. Hence, Liu Yan had to reconsider his actions.
"Humph…...The Summer Sun Prefecture Master is the one causing this conflict. He was the one behind causing the rebel which was led by Lu Renjia. Am I in the wrong to have my revenge?"
Liu Yan was pissed off.
"You have no evidence to prove that. How can you say so?"
Xie Lingyun shook her head and continued, "If you are willing to stop whatever you are doing, the royal family can help to mediate the situation by making the Summer Sun Prefecture compensate you….."
In fact, she was here to discuss the bottom line of the situation and the conditions for the mediation. She was using both the soft and the hard approaches at the same time.
However, Xie Lingyun was feeling a little sad in her heart.
Why had it become the case where the royal family had to be the middleman when handling relationships between the prefectures?
Even though she was feeling sad, she didn't want to see an internal conflict in Xia Country. Xie Lingyun then said with her gentle voice, "What more do you want from us in order for you to stop?"
"You are asking me to set the conditions?"
Liu Yan laughed and continued, "I shall gladly set the conditions then…...3 pieces of Flame Jade Rock, 1 Deep-ocean Fire Coral and the length of it should not be less than 38 inches. I will also want 10 Lieyang Calming Pills and the Thousand Years Fire Grass….."
"Si….."
Even though she knew that Liu Yan would take this chance to ask for a lot of things, but when she heard what Liu Yan had wanted, she had to take in a deep breath.
"I see that you have quite a lot of things that you want…..However, the Flame Jade Rock can only be found deep in the volcanoes and a Wu Zong will be needed to obtain these rocks. The Fire Coral which is more than 38 inches is considered as the royal treasure of the Xia Country. Also, the Fire Grass and the Lieyang Calming Pills are high-quality spiritual objects and spiritual pills respectively. They are also the treasure of the Summer Sun Prefecture Master..."
Xie Lingyun gave a wry grin and continued, "If you want one of those, there is room for discussion. However, are you not making things hard for me when you ask for so many things at one go?"
"Humph, if he doesn't give these to me, I shall take it from him on my own then!"
Liu Yan let out a humph and there seemed to be a flame appearing above his eyebrows.
'This Liu Yan….is indeed at the peak of the Elemental Gathering Realm. He is just a step away from achieving the Elemental Opening Realm...'
No one knew that Xie Lingyun had much knowledge about that.
Just by hearing what Liu Yan had asked for, the spiritual objects were of high quality and were fire related. She then knew that he was preparing for that final breakthrough and needed lots of spiritual objects to help him to achieve that.
She would definitely not agree to the conditions.
Or else, if she gave what he wanted and he had achieved the Elemental Opening Realm successfully, she would be in danger in future.
However, if she didn't give what he wanted, there would be chaos and war. Also, Liu Yan could then obtain those things he needed by force.
There was not much difference as both outcomes were the same. This was a difficult decision for her to make.
At this point, Xie Lingyun knew that Liu Yan was crazy. He would want to obtain those supplies needed for the breakthrough at any cost.
...….
"The city master and the ambassador of the royal family have arrived!"
In the main hall, as the guests heard the arrival of those two, they immediately stopped whatever they were doing and looked at the two who had just arrived.
"Hehe…..A new year, a new beginning. Today is the start of the new year and with the well wishes from the royal family, all of us shall have a good drink!"
Liu Yan sat in his seat and said while drinking his wine.
"To the city master! To Xia Country!"
The guests then toasted and drank at one go.
As everyone was drinking, Fang Yuan took this chance to take a glance at Liu Yan and Xie Lingyun. Both of their faces were normal and both didn't look happy or angry. No one knew how their conversation had gone. Both of them maintained the look of a host.
'She thinks she can hide from everyone but she cannot hide from me…..This lady seems to be troubled by certain matters…..Looks like there are a lot of things happening in Xia Country...'
Fang Yuan sighed in his heart and took a quick glance at Liu Yan.
He could feel that the flame in Liu Yan was getting stronger. His magical energy was flaming and he seemed to be merciless.
'Liu Yan's cultivation had improved again. Looks like this was Lu Renjia had left behind after his death…..'
Even since that alchemy master was dead, even though Fang Yuan had taken a copy of the alchemy related books from the dead master, Liu Yan had kept the spiritual plants and spiritual pills that were made long ago for himself and didn't share any of them with Fang Yuan.
It seemed that with the help of the spiritual pills, Liu Yan's cultivation was able to improve and it looked like he could make a breakthrough for the Elemental Opening Realm anytime. No wonder he was so aggressive.
After all, if he managed to achieve the Elemental Opening Realm, he would be ranked number 1 among all other spiritual knights in this country and also the nearby countries!
Not to mention defeating Summer Sun Prefecture, not many would be able to stop Liu Yan if he chose to exterminate the whole of Xia Country and rule it.
After the banquet, a servant came to Fang Yuan and whispered to him that the city master would like to meet him.
Fang Yuan was sighing silently and thought that it didn't seem like a good thing. However, he still followed her to the study room.
"I'm here!"
Under the bright light, Liu Yan was seen standing with his hands behind his back and his back was facing Fang Yuan. He seemed to be enjoying an art piece that was hanging on the wall.
"I have seen you before, city master!"
As Fang Yuan got nearer to Liu Yan, he could feel a stronger pressure from Liu Yan and it felt as if Liu Yan's magical energy was about to blow up.
"I see that your essence, magic and spirit have changed a lot. Looks like you have improved a lot and I'm ashamed of myself.
Since Fang Yuan was becoming the dream building master, he had quite a big improvement in the Elemental Gathering Realm and therefore, his breath was different.
If the current Liu Yan who was in the room now was the Liu Yan that had not have any improvement in his cultivation, that Liu Yan would probably not be able to detect that Fang Yuan had improved. Fang Yuan was feeling serious and replied, "I only manage to cultivate another spiritual spell…..City master, you have sharp eyes indeed!"
"I see!"
Liu Yan nodded his head.
He didn't expect that Fang Yuan could achieve the high Elemental Gathering stage in just a short period time and Fang Yuan was now not far from his.
Fang Yuan had also cultivated a few strange spiritual spells, and hence there was a change to his breath. Hence, he agreed with what Fang Yuan had told him.
"What do you have for me, city master?"
Fang Yuan bent his body slightly and asked.
"Don't you think that after Lu Renjia is killed, both of us are not as close as before?"
Liu Yan then continued with a wry grin. "Not only you, even for my men. I'm now only closer to Taoist Mu Li..."
As he spoke, Fang Yuan became alert but was surprised.
'I didn't expect Liu Yan to trust Taoist Mu Li the most…..Hang on, he is actually an evil person on the inside but has pretended to be a good person. How many spiritual knights can I actually get along with?'
Fang Yuan was a little jealous of Taoist Mu Li and started to make guesses about him.
"I have the intention to attack Summer Sun, and hence I will need your help once again!"
Liu Yan didn't even wait for Fang Yuan's opinion and instead, he listed his request out straight away.
"I'm not capable enough, I'm afraid….."
Fang Yuan shook his head and didn't accept Liu Yan's request.
He was not that crazy enough to follow Liu Yan and go against the whole of Xia Country.
If Liu Yan had already broken through the Elemental Opening Realm, he could still consider.
"Hmm?"
Liu Yan frowned and turned around. Fang Yuan could instantly feel a great amount of pressure going towards him.
"I'm living alone and prefer to be separated from the rest of the world. If you do not have anything else for me, I will take my leave first!"
Fang Yuan did not show any fear.
He was a spiritual knight that had reached the high Elemental Gathering stage. Even if he couldn't manage to defeat Liu Yan, he could still be able to escape away from him!
His Iron-tailed Black Eagle was circling above and standing by!
Since he had an escape route, he had nothing to be afraid of.
"If you are willing to help me, after the war, I will let you take on the role of the Prefecture Master!"
Liu Yan also knew that using his power as a city master to force Fang Yuan was the worst method, hence he brought up the conditions.
"Hmm?"
Fang Yuan was startled and said, "Since city master, you don't have the intention to rule the Summer Sun, why do you want to invade it still?"
"There is a saying that even if there are thousands of people stopping me from doing it, I will still bravely do it!"
Liu Yan's reply was decisive.