The Solitude Emperor Palace, Nine Dragons Emperor Palace, and other Emperor Palaces, who had earlier blocked Huang Xiaolong’s path, opened a wide berth with haste.
Initially, both Gudu Wuyi and Chen Huoan wanted to question Huang Xiaolong if he had killed their sons, but neither of them dared to speak without thinking twice.
The Grandmist Emperor Palace had lost two disciples, and when Han Qing had tried to settle the account with Huang Xiaolong, she had ended up miserably.
Watching Huang Xiaolong’s back as he strode out from the plaza, Gudu Wuyi, Chen Huoan, and the others felt cold sweat on their backs. They also felt a trace of luck that the Grandmist Emperor Palace’s Ancestor Han Qing had taken action before them.
“Uncle!”
From afar, Bei Xiaomei called out to Huang Xiaolong with a bright, sparkling smile, waving her hand cheerfully at him.
A smile rose to Huang Xiaolong’s face seeing her, and he thought, ‘This girl must have been hiding and watching what happened just now.’
Huang Xiaolong, Fang Xuanxuan, and the others walked towards Bei Xiaomei’s group.
Bei Xiaomei rushed up to Huang Xiaolong, and the first sentence that came out from her lips was, “Uncle, you’re so bad!”
Huang Xiaolong nearly took a tumble.
This sentence was so ambiguous, and it could easily lead others to misunderstand.
“Uncle, if I had known you’re so amazing, I wouldn’t have worried about you. You didn’t tell me you’re so strong, making me worry for nothing.” Bei Xiaomei pouted sulkily and went on, “Another thing. You were watching me make a fool of myself when I told Guo Deyun to look after you on the battle stage.”
Before coming to the Heavenly Court, Bei Xiaomei had told Guo Deyun to look after Huang Xiaolong on the battle stage round, and reach a draw.
Huang Xiaolong smiled. “You didn’t even ask me, so I’m not to be blamed.”
Bei Xiaomei turned to Fang Xuanxuan and Peng Xiao and said, “Sister Xuanxuan, should we punish Uncle by making him grill ten thousand lambs for us to eat before forgiving him?”
Fang Xuanxuan chuckled hearing her suggestion and replied, “That’s a good idea, I agree.”
Peng Xiao smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
The three girls' seamless cooperation gave Huang Xiaolong a headache.
… Ten thousand lambs?
As the group joked and talked, they left the plaza area. Leaving together with Huang Xiaolong and Bei Xiaomei’s group was the Martial Demon Emperor Palace and Magic Shaman Emperor Palace’s group.
Along the way, Mo Xiao and Peng Yi both congratulated Huang Xiaolong many times.
They could hardly believe that Huang Xiaolong had won first place in the preliminary round. At the same time, both were astounded by Huang Xiaolong’s strength.
The Brightness Emperor Palace, Nine Dragons Emperor Palace, Solitude Emperor Palace, and the rest watched Huang Xiaolong, Bei Xiaomei, Mo Xiao, and the others leave the plaza area, with complicated expressions and emotions.
“What are the origins of those two monsters?” The Brightness Emperor’s Disciple Lan Tailong asked Chen Wenqian beside him; however his voice came out with much difficulty.
Chen Wenqian shook his head, “I can’t see through them, however, those two monsters are not simply late-Tenth Order Emperor Realm. I made an error in my judgement earlier.”
He glanced at Han Qing who was still lying inside the pit in the plaza. The shock he felt had not yet subsided.
That human-shaped pit was still there!
Even though Chen Wenqian himself was a late-Tenth Order Heavenly Monarch Realm, he could not make such a big pit into the plaza.
“I really can’t understand why these peerless experts would be willing to follow Huang Xiaolong!” Whilst astounded, Lan Tailong was angry and doubtful at the same time.
“Check it, we must find out where those two monsters came from!”
……
While Huang Xiaolong and the others returned to the manor areas via the transmission array, the crowd at the plaza was immersed in another wave of furor. At every corner of the plaza, there were discussions about Huang Xiaolong winning first place in the preliminary round.
“I hadn’t expected Huang Xiaolong to be the preliminary round’s first place!”
“Didn’t I say early on, it’s impossible that Huang Xiaolong would bet forty million low-grade chaos spirit stones on himself, for winning first place, for no good reason!”
“Did you say that? I remember you were mocking Huang Xiaolong as the king of fools.”
“Then again, even though Huang Xiaolong got first place in the preliminary round, it doesn’t mean he can win first place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Huang Xiaolong will not be the match in front of Heavenly Prince Di Jing. In the preliminary round, Heavenly Prince Di Jing must have given him a free pass; otherwise, Huang Xiaolong wouldn’t have even made it to the top three!”
Heated discussions were taking place everywhere.
The Battle of the Heavenly Court’s preliminary round soon spread out to every corner of the Divine World. It even reached Hell, Devil World, Buddha World, Demon World, and others.
Inside a hidden space somewhere of the Heavenly Court, stood a middle-aged man clad in brocade yellow dragon robe. This middle-aged man exuded a majestic air. His facial features bore seventy percent similarity with Di Jing’s.
This middle-aged man was none other than the Heavenly Emperor himself—Di Jun.
“Huang Xiaolong.” Di Jun muttered the name with a deep frown between his brows.
The result of the preliminary round was unexpected for him as well.
His son, Di Jing, was not actually in the first place?!
“Is Huang Xiaolong really unrelated to that Grandmist kid?” Di Jun suddenly asked.
A voice sounded from the originally empty space, “Most likely not. The Grandmist Emperor has been in seclusion at the Grandmist Emperor Palace in recent years. Huang Xiaolong has only ascended to the Divine World for several hundred years. Hence there cannot be any relationship between them.”
The voice echoed in the space but the owner was nowhere to be seen.
“What do you think about those two monsters following him?” Di Jun asked again.
“Very, very strong. Probably, I also can’t kill them.” That voice replied without any trace of emotions.
Di Jun’s eyes glimmered in contemplation. A few moments later, he raised his head and sighed heavily, “Pity ah, I cannot use Huang Xiaolong!”
If Huang Xiaolong was of no use to Di Jun, then Di Jun planned to kill him !
“Don’t worry, on the semi-finals stage battle, Huang Xiaolong won’t leave the stage alive. Di Jing can kill him for certain!” The voice went on.
Di Jun nodded. He did not doubt this point at all.
He knew his son’s real strength very well.
Two days later, Huang Xiaolong and the others were back at their designated manor area.
Huang Xiaolong did not return to Manor No. 6, but led the Fortune Emperor Palace’s group straight to Manor No. 61.
Several Solitude Emperor Palace’s disciples who were guarding Manor No. 61 were thrown out by Huang Xiaolong’s group None of them dared to complain a word and ran away in a fluster.
As for Manor No. 6, Huang Xiaolong had returned it to the Martial Demon Emperor Palace. Huang Xiaolong was too embarrassed to occupy Manor No. 6 for too long since the Martial Demon Emperor Palace had declined to accept the ten million low-grade chaos spirit stones.
Looking at Manor No. 61, Zhao Lei laughed heartily, “It feels so damn good.”
That night, a large banquet was held at Manor No. 61. Mo Xiao, Peng Yi, Elder Fu, and others were present and the merriment went on into late night.
As the semi-finals stage battle was going to begin after one month, Huang Xiaolong accompanied the girls for shopping, taking a breather himself.
Two days later, Huang Xiaolong entered seclusion. He completely disconnected himself from the mad whirlwind of gossip, outside, regarding him winning the preliminary round’s first place.
In the blink of an eye, more than twenty days went by. Huang Xiaolong stepped out of his room two days before the semi-finals.
“Xiaolong, you’re finally out!” Zhao Lei exclaimed anxiously as he saw Huang Xiaolong, “A few days ago, the Grandmist Emperor Palace suddenly issued a bounty stating that anyone who kills you in the semi-finals would be rewarded five million low-grade chaos spirit stones!”
Huang Xiaolong was stupefied for a second, then laughed as he said with certainty, “Han Qing issued the bounty, am I right?”
Zhao Lei fumed, seeing Huang Xiaolong’s casual reaction, as he still laughed like a jack*ss, “Han Qing, that wench, is in charge of the Grandmist Emperor Palace’s Task Hall. Since she released the bounty, her action represents the Grandmist Emperor Palace. But you’re still laughing here.”
Huang Xiaolong was still laughing as he replied, “It’s fine, she cannot represent the Grandmist Emperor Palace yet; however, both she and the Fiend God Emperor Palace are too stingy, am I only worth five million?”
Huang Xiaolong had Li Shan gather all the Fortune Emperor Palace’s disciples qualified for the semi-finals, and they set off to the stage battle venue an hour later.