(MC POV)
The dinner at Brendan's house passed without much incident. I got to talk to his father who turned out to be quite a charismatic fellow with a keen mind for doing business. No wonder he managed to turn his predicament around so quickly.
The mother was also very sociable, talking to my girls like they had known each other for a long time by the time dinner was over.
His siblings were also rather cute, obviously not as cute as Cai Hong but they were adorable in their own right on how they looked up to Brendan as their big brother.
Dill had initially wanted us to stay the night with his family but I declined in the end, stating that it would not be a good idea to impose on him any further.
I gave Brendan the option to stay with his family that night and he thanked me profusely for that. It seems like they have a lot to talk about after being away for so long.
Of course, my girls took advantage of that opportunity and convinced me to have a sleepover with them. Not that we did much sleeping that night anyway.
When morning came, it was finally time for the ceremony to start.
The plan the Royal Family had was to have the princess board an open carriage from the gates of the palace before parading through the streets of the city.
Apparently, this would be the first time the public would be able to see her so the entire route that the carriage will pass through is absolutely packed with people.
The Grand Sects and Royal bout participants will be granted access to the palace after the parade.
Since the princess would return to the palace at the end, most of the Grand Sects would have occupied the areas in front of the palace early on in the day.
We would have done the same if we were alone, but we had our Sect to do it for us so we could wake up late.
I had thought Brendan would meet us there since his home was just a stone's throw away from the palace, but it seems like he had came all the way to our inn just to join us.
"Would we be alright, Master?" Brendan asked "The streets are really crowded already. Not to mention the parade is already halfway done too."
"Oh Brendan," Lian Li giggled. "Don't you know we are only here for formalities? None of us is interested in that little princess."
Ok, I'm at least a little bit interested, but not that much. Since we were going to be seeing her during the bout anyway, I don't see a reason why we shouldn't enjoy a bit more time sleeping instead.
Once everyone was prepared, we made our way through the streets towards the palace, making sure to avoid the roads that the princess's procession will be moving through.
On the way, we overheard a few people chatting about what they saw.
"Man, the princess really is a beauty huh?"
"Now I know why the Royal Family had her cooped up in the palace for so long!"
"Yeah, I heard she's even revealed to be a talented Practitioner too!"
"No kidding? No wonder so many Grand Sects showed up!"
"Yeah! I even heard they would be competing for the right to train her as a disciple of their Sect!"
"That's fake news! No member of the Royal Family can join a Sect! They are going to hire a teacher for her and the teacher will be employed by the Family themselves!"
"In the palace?! Whoever gets that role would be set for life! I'm going to participate too! Then when I win, I can get the princess to… Heh heh heh."
"Ha! If you can win the bout, I'll call you daddy and bark three times!"
Their voices were drowned out by the cheering of the crowd a distance away from us, no doubt because the princess had shown up in their area.
Ignoring everything else, my disciples and I continued our way towards the palace.
The palace itself was built with white stone blocks and located just behind the Noble's district separated by a wall and portcullis gate.
The gate would lead to another set of walls that surround the palace grounds, handy in case of a siege and the citizens needing to flee deeper into the city.
Right now, the entire area outside these gates were filled with people awaiting the princess's return.
I recognised quite a number of them whom I had met back during the Sect Showcase Festival too.
"Master Lin! Over here!" A voice shouted out.
I failed to hide my wince as several hundred pairs of eyes immediately turned towards my direction.
Great, the plan to quietly sneak amongst my Sect failed splendidly. Thanks a lot Sect Master Qing.
Almost immediately, the Practitioners around me started to whisper amongst themselves while I made my way towards the waving Sect Master.
"Master Lin… So he came too."
"You don't think he will participate too right?"
"Did you read the rules at all? You didn't, didn't you? You should really read more, you know? Makes you look less stupid."
"You think he has his sights on the princess too?"
"Maybe, just look at his disciples, beauties all of them. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually wants to add the princess to his harem."
Hey, hey, just how much of a bad rep do I have? I'm not that bad right?
Ugh, maybe I should have teleported here instead… Oh well, at least I learnt a couple of interesting things I guess.
"Master Lin! I'm glad you made it! I hope you have a good night's rest?" Sect Master grinned.
"Good morning Sect Master, yes I did. And you?"
He chuckled, "Oh not that well I'm afraid. We had to deal with no less than ten people who tried to find out which room you were staying in to converse with you."
"Charming… When they say it's tough being popular, they actually meant it huh?"
"Well enough about that, I'm not sure whether you are looking to make the princess your disciple as well but I still wish you the best of luck!"
Wait a goddamn minute. Why is everyone acting like I had confirmed my participation?
Before I could ask him to clarify, a shout followed by cheer started to spread towards us from the main street.
It was the princess, dressed entirely in white and waving at the crowd while standing up on the carriage.
It took me but a moment to recognise her for who she was in my past life.
She was the girl that Lian Li would have ended up partnering with to punish the scumbags that they came across! The infamous man hater duo!
What kind of event happened that made her turn from a princess to a man hating vigilante?!
She looks so pure and naive now, the Practitioner I remembered was one who would beat someone half to death with her bare fists without mercy!
What in the world happened to her?
Yep, that's it. I am most definitely not taking her in as my disciple.