The banquet officially began and the dancers swirled gracefully while the melodious music filled the air. Accompanied by the twirling skirts and the sweet scent of fine wine permeating the surrounding air, the atmosphere was highly intoxicating for the banquet goers.
After the third round of drinks, the banquet grew a little more rowdy. The four princes occasionally initiated a chat with the guests, the disciples from the War Banner Academy and the Dragon Slayers Academy continued to offer toasts to the Emperor successively. The Emperor’s face was smiling, but his eyes showed that his mind was seemingly somewhere else as he merely perfunctorily just offered a few words in reply to them.
Lei Fan took the opportunity when everyone else were engaged in conversations and stood up, to walk straight in the direction towards Jun Xie.
Volume 9
Chapter 885 : “Banquet in the Palace (4)”
Lei Chen had just thought of getting up to follow when Lei Yuan tugged at his sleeve.
“Second Brother, what are you doing?” Lei Chen ask the pudgy Lei Yuan with a frown on his face.
Lei Yuan said in a low voice: “My Royal Brother is so intelligent, surely you realise what Father was saying. Since Father intends for Fourth Brother to interact more with that Jun Xie, it will be better that my Royal Brother does not go against Father’s wishes. I know you are close to the Zephyr Academy. But even if you sacrifice one Jun Xie to Fourth Brother, wouldn’t you still have all the others?”
Lei Yuan had witnessed Jun Xie’s prowess before. But the Emperor had spoken out today that he wished to see Jun Xie and Lei Fan to interact a little more with each other. Wasn’t their Father being obvious enough?
Lei Chen’s eyes narrowed and he turned to look up at the throne to see the Emperor seemingly highly distracted. The Emperor’s gaze was coincidentally looking at Jun Xie at that moment and Lei Chen thought about it a moment before deciding to give up on his original intention, finally sitting down to drown his sorrows in drink sulkily.
Lei Fan had by that time come to stand beside Jun Xie and he looked at Jun Xie smilingly to say: “Does Jun Xie think that the banquet today to be enjoyable?’
Jun Wu Xie remained silent and did not say a word.
Lei Fan seemed to have gotten used to Jun Xie’s cold and distant personality and did not really mind it.
However, just as Lei Fan was intending to ask Jun Xie something more when a guard from outside the palace came in to make a report.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, the Grand Adviser is here.”
The Emperor snapped back to attention quickly and was just about to say something when his gaze subconsciously fell on Jun Xie before he quickly said: “I am suddenly thinking that Jun Xie with his young age, would not really enjoy the dull banquet here. Little Fan, as a Prince, you must play a good host to Jun Xie. Such dances and performances might not be to his taste, so why don’t you bring Jun Xie to the Imperial Garden to take a stroll. This year, we just planted the newly cultivated green chrysanthemums in there.”
The Emperor’s sudden suggestion caused all the people attending the banquet to be dumbfounded a moment. It was just reported that the Grand Adviser had arrived, so why wasn’t the Emperor asking the guards to lead the guest in but was asking Lei Fan to escort Jun Xie for a leisurely stroll in the Imperial Garden?
Various people in the banquet kept their thoughts on the Emperor’s actions to themselves and only the young and naive youths of the War Banner and Dragon Slayers who had not yet seen enough of the world were secretly envious of the biased favours the Emperor was showing to Jun Xie.
The Emperor having already organized such a grand state banquet, would even worry whether the young Jun Xie would be bored, and asked a Prince like Lei Fan to accompany Jun Xie to have a walk around the Imperial Palace. What a great honour that was!
Jun Wu Xie nodded her head immediately, not objecting to the Emperor’s suggestion in the slightest.
Lei Fan threw Lei Chen a triumphant glance and lead Jun Xie away from the banquet with a brilliant smile on his face. When the two of them walked out, Jun Wu Xie saw a highly elegant and graceful figure outside.
It was a attractive looking man seemingly in his early twenties, dressed in a silvery grey long robe, standing outside with his hands by his side. His beautiful features on his attractive face was like the bright moon in the sky and what really caught Jun Wu Xie’s attention, was the man’s hair.
A head of silvery strands fell loosely over his back, held lightly together only by a silvery grey band. On his face, was a very faint gentle smile. When he saw the figures of Jun Wu Xie and Lei Fan, he merely looked at them with smiling eyes but did not say anything.
After Jun Wu Xie and Lei Chen have left, the silver haired man standing in front of the door asked the junior eunuch standing respectfully beside him: “The young youth that just left together with the Fourth Prince, who is he?”
The junior eunuch said truthfully: “He is a disciple of the Zephyr Academy named Jun Xie, and is one of the guest His Majesty invited here tonight.”
“Oh? So that is Jun Xie.” The silver haired man said, his lips curling up in a smile, and his feet suddenly shifted, changing their direction as he strode off.
Volume 9
Chapter 886 : “Banquet in the Palace (5)”
The junior eunuch was suddenly in a fluster and he called out after the back of the silver haired man: “Lord Grand Adviser! Where are you going?”
“How can I disappoint the moon when it has put up such a lovely view? You just report to His Majesty that I will go to the banquet a little later.” With those words, the silver haired man turned and left without looking back once.
A short while later, a retainer came out from within the banquet to relay the Emperor’s decree, inviting the Grand Adviser to join him at the banquet. But in the end….. The Grand Adviser had already left.
Lei Fan led Jun Xie all the way to come to the Imperial Garden. The banquet was still on at that time and the Imperial Garden was empty without a single person inside. Lanterns were hung high up everywhere accompanying the moonlight which lit up the scenery in the area. It was not yet spring and was still winter where it had even snowed heavily a few days ago in the Yan Country’s Imperial Capital. The white snow had covered over many areas of the Imperial Capital and within the Imperial Garden, the accumulated snow on the ground had been swept clear but the branches and treetops were still covered with snow. The moonlight reflected off the white snow, made the Imperial Garden to appear cold and bright in the night.
“The Spirit Battle Tournament has ended and what plans does Jun Xie have?” Lei Fan asked while smiling. On their way here, he had on a few occasions tried to find the chance to make conversation with Jun Xie and he had not received much of a response, his patience was already running thin.
Jun Wu Xie’s gaze swept over the variety of plants in the Imperial Garden. Due to the Snow Lotus within her, she was more sensitive and able to sense out plant life. Although the Imperial Garden in the Yan Country’s Imperial Capital looked to be normal and ordinary, she was however able to sense that covered under the white mantle, quite a number of extraordinary ones were hidden within the garden. Those plants were able to give quite a significant amount of spirit power and although they paled in comparison to the Snow Lotus, they were still a lot better than what many other plants could give.
“Why is the Fourth Prince asking that?” Jun Wu Xie replied.
Lei Fan said with a smile: “In past years, after the Spirit Battle Tournament ends, those who achieved a ranking would either choose to return to their academies to continue with their learning, or find a better place for themselves to go. Jun Xie is already so powerful at such a young age and I believe that people who want to win your favour number greatly. Although you have repeatedly rejected my sincere offer, I will still like to extend my invitation to you once more, to ask whether you will accept being my study partner. I really do not want to see someone I can be so comfortable
with the first time we meet to be separated on different ends of the lands.”
After he spoke, Lei Fan gave a heavy sigh, like he was highly depressed.
Jun Wu Xie fell silent once again but her eyes were secretly scrutinising Lei Fan’s face. What Fei Yan had said earlier had ignited her interest and she was sure that this face was not Lei Fan’s original countenance.
That was something within Jun Wu Xie’s area of expertise and it would not be too difficult for her to see through Lei Fan’s disguise.
Face Changing could be separated into three types. One way was just like what she was doing. Covering over her own countenance externally to change her looks to what she wanted to look like. The second method would require one to harm the tendons and the correction of the bones for them to change their looks by altering the bone structure. The third type would be by a way similar to Hua Yao and his Bone Shifting Technique, but they do not control the change of their bones on their own, but through the use of certain drugs and medicine, to temporarily remould and reshape their looks.
Among the three methods, the first way was the simplest, but was also the easiest to be discovered. As long as one knew a little about Face Changing, they would be able to find the flaw that would give one away.
As for the second method….. Jun Wu Xie believed, as Lei Fan was the Empress’ biological son, the Empress would not want him to undergo the pain and torment of that method. Moreover, Lei Fan was still rather young and his bone structure had not fully grown out and putting him under the knife at this stage would not guarantee that his looks would mature they wanted as he grows up.
Volume 9
Chapter 887 : “Banquet in the Palace (6)”
It was the third method that lasted a longer period than the first and it wasn’t easy to detect a flaw. And compared to the second method, it was a lot less tormenting.
Jun Wu Xie secretly observed Lei Fan’s face and did not find anything applied on it externally and did not spot any marks that showed that he went under the knife. She quickly concluded that Lei Fan must have used the third method to change his looks.
The Bone Shifting Technique was an ability exclusive only to the Bone Shifters Tribe in the Middle Realm and Lei Fan’s disguise was most probably achieved with the effects of certain drugs and medicine.
A glint of understanding came into Jun Wu Xie’s eyes and Lei Fan’s chatter continued to reach her ears, trying to gain Jun Xie’s interest.
Trying his hardest to strike up a conversation with Jun Xie, Lei Fan failed to notice that a puff of black mist had formed beside Jun Xie and silently coalesced into the form of a tiny black cat. Jun Wu Xie soundlessly dropped a bottle of medicine out from her sleeve and the little black cat immediately pounced over and curled its tail around it before the bottle hit the ground.
“Why is the Fourth Prince so fixated on me?” Jun Wu Xie gave Lei Fan a rare response and Lei Fan immediately said: “It is of course I feel so comfortable around you! After so many years of hosting the Spirit Battle Tournament, only you are closest to me in age. Moreover, you are so highly skilled and that makes me admire you all the more.”
Jun Wu Xie lifted an eyebrow and replied: “If I remember it correctly, Your Highness just had his sixteenth birthday last year. If it is similarity in age, the others would be closer to Your Highness’ age I think.”
The smile on Lei Fan’s face congealed, and he was suddenly flabbergasted with Jun Xie’s rebuttal.
Just as Lei Fan was going to react, a black shadow suddenly leapt before his eyes. Before he could even see what that thing was, an unknown liquid splattered over his face!
On a winter night and suddenly having that cold chill on his face, Lei Fan could not help himself and his body shivered.
“Damn it! What was that! ?” Lei Fan reached out his hand and wiped off the unknown liquid from his face, looking around angrily for signs of that fleeting shadow.
Jun Wu Xie suddenly stopped in her tracks at that moment and her gaze was locked on Lei Fan’s face.
“Why is Jun Xie looking at me like that? Is there anything on my face?” Lei Fan asked Jun Xie as he felt all over his face. He lowered his head to look at the liquid on his hands and saw that it was something very similar to clear water. He assumed it was just water in his heart and he was not really bothered about it.
“That thing just now must have been a cat or dog hiding in the Imperial Garden. The ladies in the Back Chambers love to keep them as pets to kill time and with the winter snow still not melted, that animal must have gotten some snow on its body and splashed some of it from their bodies onto my face.” Lei Fan said with a smile on his face, seemingly not minding it at all.
Jun Wu Xie was however suddenly saying: “Your Highness, your face…..”
“My face? What’s wrong with my face?” Lei Fan was not aware of what was happening and he was still grinning as he asked. But very soon, he could not smile anymore. As he checked his face with his hands, he suddenly felt the flesh on his face shift, and he felt as if there was a force tugging at his facial bones, driving a sudden excruciating pain to run through his body!
“Argh! !” It was just an an instant and Lei Fan had suddenly fallen to the ground, his hands covering his face as he howled out in agony. And under that agonising and tormenting pain, a terrifying fear grew within his heart.
That pain was only all too familiar to him by now. He would experience it once almost every month and no one knew it better than him, what was the result at the end of this tormenting pain!
Volume 9
Chapter 888 : “Banquet in the Palace (7)”
The pain permeated to every part of his body and fear overtook him.
The effects of the medicine should still be in effect and why was this happening now! ?
Jun Wu Xie stared coldly at Lei Fan who was writhing and howling on the ground incessantly, her eyes reflecting the cold light from the moon.
Although Lei Fan was trying his hardest to hide his face, Jun Wu Xie could however see it all clearly. The bones on Lei Fan’s face was already beginning to shift and his looks was changing bit by bit!
Suddenly, a tall slender figure stepping on the moonlight walked into the Imperial Garden. “What is happening to the Fourth Prince? Guards! Carry the Fourth Prince back to the palace for treatment immediately!”
When Jun Wu Xie heard the voice, she lifted her head slowly, suddenly seeing the silver haired man she had spotted earlier outside the doors to the banquet. He was now standing just steps away and what puzzled her was that she had not noticed him approach.
The silver haired man smiled and nodded at Jun Wu Xie, and the guards outside the Imperial Garden rushed in when they heard the man’s shout. They stared blankly at Lei Fan who was still howling continuously on the ground covering his face and they were unable to decide what to do at that moment.
“Lord Grand Adviser! What is happening to His Highness?” One of the guards asked nervously.
The Grand Adviser said calmly: “It might be the winter chill, and he has fallen ill. Hurry and carry him back to the Empress’ Palace and have her get the Imperial Physicians to treat him.”
The guards did not dare hesitate another moment longer. They lifted Lei Fan up and left immediately. As Lei Fan was being helped up, the excruciating pain was wrecking at his body so badly he was almost falling apart. But he still kept his hands covered tightly over his own face, not letting anyone see his current countenance in the slightest.
As he was being carried away, the eyes that Lei Fan hid behind his hands stared viciously at Jun Xie.
[He has seen it!]
[He must have seen it!]
After Lei Fan was carried off, the Grand Adviser gave a sigh and turned to say to the calm and composed Jun Wu Xie standing on one side: “The frost is chilly so late at night. It is not advisable for Young Master Jun to go out.”
Jun Wu Xie was measuring the silver haired man standing before her. From the way the guard had addressed him, she ha
d known his identity. The Grand Adviser of the Yan Country, Wen Yu.
Also a highly attractive looking man who was known as the most beautiful man in the Yan Country.
Jun Wu Xie was used to seeing Jun Wu Yao’s unparalleled flawless looks, but it must still be said that Wen Yu’s countenance was not one that normal people can compare to, being just a notch slightly less good looking than Jun Wu Yao.
“Towards an invitation from the Emperor, how can a lowly one like me reject it?” Jun Wu Xie replied softly. At this moment, Wen Yu should already be at the banquet. So why had he suddenly appeared here? An at such an opportune time!
“That’s true.” Wen Yu said, laughing lightly. His gaze swept over at Jun Xie gently, but when he saw the ring on Jun Xie’s finger, a sliver of shock showed on his face.
“The Grand Adviser seems to be highly interested in this ring of mine?” Jun Wu Xie did not miss the strange look that passed fleetingly over Wen Yu’s face, and she was rather intrigued by the reaction. The Emperor had been highly concerned with the same ring and now that Wen Yu had seen the ring, he had reacted in a similar fashion.
Wen Yu suppressed the shock that was showing in his eyes and lifted his head to look at Jun Xie to say: “Since Young Master Jun is not interested in the banquet in the palace, you should go back early. The Spirit Battle Tournament has ended and it is time for the people from all the various academies to be leaving the Imperial Capital. I would think that Young Master Jun has been apart from your family for quite a long period and returning back earlier will allow you to reunite with your family as well.”
Wen Yu’s words were not entirely clear, but beneath those words, he was asking Jun Xie to hurry up and leave!
This was the first time that Jun Wu Xie had met Wen Yu and they had not interacted with each other before this. Why would Wen Yu suddenly say those words to her?
Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss Volume 9 Page 23
