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

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!