Most of the competitors who made it to the final round were invited to the party. The guests were mostly young people who came from good backgrounds: some were children of the nobility, some were noted for their skills and some were just there simply because they were known for some accomplishments here and there. There was even one among them who had instantly become famous for his ability to draw a portrait of strangers who he might meet in the future. But, it goes without saying that, cultivators were shown the highest respect in that gathering.

Bai Hua, the absconding Rain God, went about in this lower mortal realm pretending to be a mortal musician not having once displayed his powers in front of the mortals. He had not even shown a tiny bit of spiritual powers in front of his mortal friends. Though they know in their hearts that he was more than just a mere magician, their hunches never came even a tiny bit close to his real identity. Xia Feng with his childlike imagination thought that his brother Hua might be royalty of some bigger kingdom and his guess was the closest to the truth that they could get.

Bai Hua was the son of the Jade Emperor. This qualified him like royalty, and the heaven sure was qualified to be included in “some bigger kingdom”. Though the scale was off by an astronomical mark, it was the closest guess.

Bai Hua had seen the thirst for power and greed in the eyes of the Crown Prince, and he didn’t understand how Dong Lok could be regarded as a threat to his position. She was a competent princess, that he was aware of, but much too innocent in the ways of the world. She had been poisoned for so long by her own brother but she was happily living in her ignorance. She could have died at any moment if he had not intervened that day. Her current poison was what worried him presently. Because he was aware that the Crown Prince was not powerful enough to produce such kind of poisonous blood and the little amount of poisonous blood in her system was not his, though he detected some traces of the poison on his body. This meant that there was another player in this game of hide-and-seek.

In front of him, Dong Lok was closely attended to by the Crown Prince agreeing to her whims and nodding to her conversation. Anyone looking at this pair of siblings would think that they were the only children of the king and that nobody could break this bond. Dong Chen joined in their conversation now and then, always deferentially keeping his status in check never intruding and also never crossing the limits. While Bai Hua screened the crowd for signs of the Xia brothers.

Dong Chen noticed this and commented, “They are late today, I thought they would be here earlier than us but it seems they haven’t even shown up yet. They would have let me known if they were not coming to the party.”

“Oh, I am sure they must have their reasons. Something tells me that it must be something regarding Xiao Feng.”

“I hope nothing bad happens to them.”

“Brother Chen, if you are concerned about all the matters of the world at your age, you will have grey hair before your next birthday. Don’t worry too much, enjoy the night. I am expecting a very entertaining time tonight.”

“Hahaha…. Brother Hua, I wish you won’t make light of my hair. I won’t be able to marry a decent girl if my hair turns grey so soon.”

Hearing them laugh, Dong Lok turned to both of them and asked, “ Why are you laughing? Are you boys making fun of me behind my back? Brother Chen, I clearly heard that you won’t let me marry off even if your hair turns grey. Did Xia Feng say something about me to you again? ”

“Xiao Lok,” interjected the Crown Prince while patting her head, “you heard your brother Chen wrong. He wasn’t talking about your marriage. It was his marriage that he was concerned about. Don’t get angry over such issues. I will not let anyone force you into anything. Even if it is Father Emperor, I will take your side. This brother promises you this.”

“How this little mortal lies so naturally, Your Highness. He didn’t even blink while saying such promises while feeding poison to one’s own kin. Despicable!” said Xiao Shè through direct inner audio.

“I won’t even eat him if he were to bring himself on a golden platter. Your Highness, are you sure you don’t want to strike him down right now? Why delay judgment, when you already know of his sins?” continued Xian Shè with his glowing eyes from Bai Hua’s wrist.

“You keep your nose off the affairs of these mortals, Xiao Shè.”

“I can’t but you can… Even heaven is not fair,” it murmured.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing, Your Highness, please enjoy your adventure,” and it went quiet.

Bai Hua spiritually flicked Xiao Shè's ears and grinned. He could hear it whining but it said nothing again. An infant dragon dares to be so impertinent, thought Bai Hua.

The mortals present there were not aware of this brief exchange. If they knew that an ancient divine dragon was present among them, they would have all kowtowed and worshipped it. But more than this, if they find out that one of the sons of the Jade Emperor, His Divine Highness Rain God was walking among them, they would have died from shock. Some of them have not even seen a real immortal in their lifetime, forget a god.

The party continued with dancing, eating, music, but Bai Hua didn’t feel the presence of the unknown immortal nor the fake immortal who was the guest of the kingdom.

On the other side, Dong Ran was all smiling but his frustrations were starting to show. Dong Lok was supposed to start feeling weak and ill. The blood poison was untraceable but effective. Before the night was over she was supposed to die. But she was still hale and hearty. He didn’t want her alive before the next court session which was the day after the following day. His master had insisted that she needs to be gone before the next court session. He knew she was a thorn to his plans, and his master had predicted that she would be his great stumbling block if she was made to live longer. So, he decided to get rid of her that night. He couldn’t wait for the poison to take effect.

He excused himself and went off to prepare assassins to assassinate her.

When the party was coming to an end, Dong Lok found out that her coachmen and guards were all drunk. So, the Crown Prince offered to send his guards to take her home, but she refused to trouble him. And so he requested Dong Chen to take the princess home saying he trusted him the most. And thus, Dong Chen, Bai Hua, and Dong Lok all got into one carriage and made their way to their homes.

Unknown to them, there were assassins waiting for them on their way.

The Crown Prince was quite happy and slept peacefully thinking that he could report the death of the princess to his master without raising any suspicions on himself. If the poison was not going to work then a knife can do the same job.

Bai Hua was suspicious of the whole arrangement and sat waiting for his entertainment to finally begin that night.

It was not a rainy season, but suddenly it started drizzling and fog started climbing up on the road.

“Wow, rain at this time of the year. This is a surprise.”

“Brother Chen, take this sign as a blessing. You will meet your future wife soon. I am sure this is a sign. Your hair won’t be grey before your wedding. At last, you are saved,” Dong Lok giggled.

Bai Hua smiled too. He was smiling at the joke and also because he had effectively paralyzed the spiritual powers of the assassins who lay in hiding. They were cultivators who seemed to have higher spiritual powers than Dong Chen and his guards. Without Bai Hua, they would have surely accomplished their mission. But not tonight.

Then their carriage was attacked. The assassins thought that the fog was aiding them by covering their movements. And they thank the gods for this blessing; little did they know that it was actually a curse.

Sounds of metal clashing in the air was heard.

"Ah, another entertainment seems to have been planned for us."

Dong Chen turned to his sister and Bai Hua, and said, " Stay inside the carriage, I'll go out and see what's going on. Do not come out unless I tell you otherwise." Then he jumped off the carriage and rushed towards the assailants.

But Bai Hua disobeyed his friend's words and turned to the Princess before going out and said, " You can watch if you like," (it's an entertainment planned for you after all, he said inwardly).

Shouts of shock and desperation were heard one after another. The assassins had finally realised some anomalies with their powers.