The Royal Feast... It was a grand celebration in which all nobles were invited.
And no noble dared to decline the invitation since it was from the Emperor himself. Not attending the feast without an absolutely great reason was no less than disrespecting the Emperor.
There were hundreds of high profile people in the Royal Palace, waiting for the Emperor's arrival.
Hundreds of tables were placed in a hall that could easily accommodate thousands of people, so the space didn't seem lacking.
Most of the nobles came with their entire families, including their young kids and wives. Only a few were here alone.
More than half the tables were already filled. As for the ones that were empty, it wasn't because guests hadn't arrived. Instead, it was because these tables were placed there just to fill up some more space to not make the hall seem too empty.
Long Chen was brought to a room which he was surprised to see. It wasn't the hall where the feast was supposed to take place; instead, it was the bedroom of the Emperor.
He wondered why they were brought here as the door opened, revealing the sight that wasn't as shocking. The Emperor was sitting on the bed, talking to his wife.
"Oh, you're here," the Emperor said as he stood up.
"Father-in-law, why are you here instead of the feast?" Long Chen asked, wondering what the scheme was about.
"Oh, it's just so we could go there together. As we are a family, we don't need to go separately. And after all the drama that happened, it would work to show that things are actually resolved between all of us, giving something to think about for our enemies that might have been thinking about using this conflict," Emperor Lu said, smiling.
He didn't have any schemes to harm Long Chen. All he wanted was to delay him for a month, and that was going to be enough. Just for that month, he needed to take care of Long Chen like he was his son and not make him upset enough to leave.
"Let's leave."
The Emperor took the lead as he left the room while the queen and the others walked behind him, accompanying him.
'Just what exactly is he trying to do? Something is certainly suspicious about him, but I don't feel a killing intent from him. Something is missing that I can't understand,' Long Chen thought as he gazed at the back of Emperor Lu, who was walking before him.
'Xun, what do you think?' he asked.
Xun appeared beside Long Chen as she nodded in agreement.
'I think the same. The chances of him trying to kill you seem unlikely since even I can't feel any intent from him to harm you. Maybe his plan is long-term? Or maybe he just wants to delay you for some reason?' Xun suggested.
'That's right. The only thing we know is that his will to stop me here is a bit too suspicious. If his entire scheme is long term which will take months or years, it's not surprising that we don't feel killing intent. We would start feeling it more and more the closer we get to his scheme,' Long Chen acknowledged.
"Do you really want to take that risk? Staying here for a long time can be pretty bad. If it were an easy scheme, it would be easier to see. But if it's an elaborate scheme, spread out for months, I'm sure he'll make all contingencies to make sure you can't survive no matter how many precautions you take," Xun told Long Chen, still trying to remind him.
'Sigh, I guess you're right. Staying here is looking too risky. Tomorrow, I'll leave with Mingyu. Let's see how he reacts,' Long Chen said, agreeing to Xun.
He had decided. Tonight was going to be his last night here. In any case, he had better places to be. He still needed to see what was in the tomb of the Saint King. He finally had both the keys for it.
'Xun, I'm pretty excited about the Saint King Tomb. Do you have any idea what might be there?' Long Chen asked Xun.
"How would I know what that guy kept there? Maybe it'll be a treasure, but that would be pretty boring. You already have all the treasures you may need. So I hope that there will be something special," Xun replied.
'Probably a cultivation resource? Or something even better? We'll have to see what it is. But I am really hopeful that he would have something special here. He was the person who changed the whole world when all odds were against him. Whatever he had, must be worth something,' Long Chen answered as he smiled.
In his conversion, Long Chen didn't realize when he entered the hall where the celebration was supposed to take place. His attention was only attracted by loud greetings and the sound of chairs sliding as people stood up to greet the Emperor.
Bringing his attention back to his surroundings, Long Chen noticed a hall that had hundreds of people. All of them were dressed in elegant clothes, making it seem like they came from rich families.
He could also see many youngsters, most of which were around his age, especially the many pretty ladies that had accompanied their parents.
Most of the nobles brought their younger generation, hoping they will get to know Long Chen and the Princess since young people get accommodated fast.
The Emperor walked over to the table that was placed ahead of all tables. The table and the chairs around it were on a slightly higher platform to signify that the Emperor and the Royal Family had a higher position.
There was another table around the same table which was slightly lower than the Emperor's table but still higher than the table of the nobles, which seemed to be for the young princess and Long Chen.
Since Mingyu was more accommodated to such things, she informed Long Chen about where he needed to sit.
The Emperor reached his chair, and he was the first to sit down, followed by the Queen, after which Long Chen and the others sat down.
"Greetings to you all. As you all know, there had been a misunderstanding between my son in law and me, because of which, he was accused falsely. But now that the truth is out, as a form of apology, I threw this feast. Enjoy the feast and give your blessings to my son in law," the Emperor declared as he raised the glass of wine.