Chapter 171 – Imperial Luo clan

Long Yu returned to the contingent soon. At this time, Long Yu was not wearing his white feathered garment. Instead, he was wearing the black robe that he had originally been wearing.

Many people were left wondering where Long Yu’s feathered garment went.

However, Long Yu wouldn’t tell anything to anyone. In fact, he didn’t even tell Baiyun Zhong and Bu Xing as he didn’t feel it to be necessary.

The Imperial City was situated around 2000 miles east of Zhentian sect.

Since most of the disciples hadn’t entered the Zhenling realm yet, they had mounted upon horses for travelling. Only the disciples that had already entered the Zhenling realm could keep up with the pace of the horses.

The disciples kept themselves busy by discussing what situation they might face while competing in the seven sect competition.

The Tang kingdom had seven major sects – the Zhentian sect, the Knife Cut sect, the Hanbing sect, the Qiansi sect, the Fire Temple sect, the Allure sect and the Raining Sword sect.

However, Long Yu didn’t have good relations with any of the six sects apart from his own.

Elder Wu Li and core disciple Liu Ye of the Knife Cut sect had died because of Long Yu, so it was impossible for the Knife cut sect to hold Long Yu in high regard.

As for the Fire Temple sect, Long Yu had not only killed the son of the head of the sect but had also killed a Zhenling 3rd layer Elder of the same sect near the Heavenly Thunder Reservoir!

Although Long Yu had never come across anyone from the Raining Sword sect, he had heard that its disciples were always supercilious and hence Long Yu had to be careful of them.

Regarding Qiansi sect, it was needless to say that the Qiansi princess, Yu Qianning, was going to be Long Yu’s top competitor in the seven sect competition.

However, Long Yu thought that perhaps the Sovereign of Qiansi sect wouldn’t be too hard on him since she liked his father.

Hanbing sect was Feng Yao’s sect, but Feng Yao was not in the Tang kingdom. The sovereign of Hanbing sect perhaps had good relations with Baiyun Zhong as they had formed an alliance for the seven sect competition.

The Allure sect was an all-women sect. Although Long Yu didn’t know much about this sect, it always reminded him of Liu Yuan, the beautiful girl whose long black hair had turned white in the Ling Clan village.

“Although all the six sects regard the Qiansi sect as their mutual enemy, for how long would these sects be able to ignore their personal grudges against the other sects?”

Long Yu clearly understood human nature.

In this critical situation, Zhentian sect couldn’t trust the likes of Fire Temple sect and Knife Cut sect because in spite of entering the alliance, these sects might secretly try to overpower Zhentian sect. They had to be wary of them.

Long Yu needed to take extra care.

Fire Temple sect and Knife Cut sect might plan something sinister to take revenge for their deceased members!

...........

Three days later, at noon.

The contingent, led by Baiyun Zhong, had finally reached the Imperial city.

Long Yu saw as he walked on that there was a great stretch of grassland in front of them. At the other end of the grassland was the city wall which was around five hundred feet tall!

If one stood at the foot of the wall, it was impossible for anyone to be able to see the wall-top.

The height of the walls of the Imperial city did not surprise Long Yu, but to the others, this wall was extremely magnificent.

Such a high wall was impossible to be climbed upon for the disciples who hadn’t entered the Zhenling realm yet.

Moreover, anyone in the Tang kingdom wasn’t allowed to climb up the Imperial city’s wall. If anyone dared to violate the kingdom’s regulations, he or she was to face severe consequences.

“You all must be very careful while entering the gates of the Imperial city. Make sure you don’t casually offend anyone here.”

Baiyun Zhong guided the contingent and continued rubbing his beard lightly: “Elder Yan has arranged for our lodging in the nearest inn. For the next one month, we all shall stay in the same inn.”

Lodging in an inn of the Imperial city itself was an expensive affair and might have cost over a thousand crystal coins, which was enough to buy a top grade spiritual level battle weapon!

Yan Huanmo had naturally used the sect’s resources to pay for the lodgings.

Zhentian sect, being one of the seven major sects of the Tang kingdom, was a rich sect so arranging for a thousand crystal coins or so wasn’t a big deal for them.

Several disciples had already started talking amongst themselves regarding how the Imperial city was.

Long Yu, who was indifferent to the grandeur of the Imperial city, arrived by Feng Longsong’s side.

“Foster father, shall we go to the Liu clan mansion right after entering the city?”

Long Yu asked Feng Longsong.

“No, we will first take some rest at the inn. We will go to the Liu clan mansion later.”

Feng Longsong replied with a smile.

Although it had been six months since he last met Liu Yu, Feng Longsong wasn’t too eager to meet her and kept his calm by deciding to rest at the inn first.

“Yes, foster father.”

Long Yu nodded in agreement.

Soon afterwards, the whole contingent, led by Baiyun Zhong, passed through the gates of the Imperial city!

“Look, here comes the contingent from Zhentian sect!”

“Ha ha! None of these is strong enough to compete with the Qiansi princess.”

“It seems that Chu Chao Sheng would certainly succeed in his scheme this time. After all, who can possibly defeat Qiansi princess? They all should obediently surrender their core laws.”

On the streets of the Imperial city, several ordinary martial experts as well as people from various influential families were talking amongst themselves as they saw Baiyun Zhong entering the city gates.

Baiyun Zhong kept his calm and acted as if he didn’t hear anything at all.

But several young disciples felt offended by such talks. How dare these people say that Zhentian sect wasn’t strong enough?

Their Brother Long Yu had easily defeated a Zhenling fifth layer Elder Yue Hangshan just a few days ago, so they were quite confident that he would be able to defeat that Qiansi princess too!

Although they felt highly offended, these disciples didn’t lose their mind and continued to ignore such offensive remarks.

They decided to answer them with their martial skills rather than using their words. The seven sect competition was about to commence, and their performance in the competition would automatically shut these people’s mouths.

The contingent took a right turn when they reached the crossroads and soon reached a quiet inn.

“Divine Valley inn.”

The name of this inn left the disciples baffled.

This inn was situated in the Imperial city, they why did they name it after the Divine Valley? Was this inn different from the other inns?

The Divine Valley inn, selected by Elder Yan Huanmo, had approximately thirty rooms which were sufficient for the whole Zhentian sect contingent to settle in.

Moreover, although the inn was situated in the busy Imperial city, it had a serene and peaceful environment which would help the disciples to concentrate on their practice.

“Here we are! This is the inn we will stay in.”

Baiyun Zhong ordered everyone to stop at the front gate of the Divine Valley inn.

All the disciples followed Baiyun Zhong to the gate and were surprised to hear the sounds of some quarrel coming from the inn.

Long Yu heard the voice and immediately recognised that it was Yan Huanmo!

As Baiyun Zhong led all the disciples inside the Divine Valley inn, they all figured out exactly what was happening inside the inn. A beautiful woman, wearing a long black dress, her hair tied up in a bun and her face bearing a stern look, was confronting a group of some nobly dressed men which probably belonged to some influential family!

Naturally, that beautiful woman was Elder Yan Huanmo.

The men whom she was confronting were definitely the inhabitants of the Imperial city. The head of this group had a vicious look on his face while the other men were standing behind him and appeared as his followers.historical

“Elder Yan, what’s the matter?”

Baiyun Zhong spoke, wrinkling his eyebrows as he stepped inside the inn.

Seeing Baiyun Zhong, Yan Huanmo was somewhat relieved. But just when she was about to speak, the head of the group of men spoke up.

“Are you the people of Zhentian sect?”

The man sneered disdainfully: “Unfortunately for you, I want to lodge in this Divine Valley inn. You all, go and find some other place for yourselves.”

“Is this Your Excellency, Luo Zixing?”

Baiyun Zhong asked lightly. He perhaps had figured out who this man was.

Luo clan was one of the most influential families of the Tang kingdom!

In the Tang kingdom, the four aristocratic families stood like a tripod, balancing the rule mutually. The status of the seven major sects of the Tang kingdom was next to that of these four aristocratic families!

Luo clan was one of them.

One could assess from the silk robe that the man was wearing that he held a high status inside the Luo clan.

“Yes, I am.”

The man in the silk robe grew even more arrogant after realizing that the Zhentian sovereign had recognised him. He puffed his chest out and with a contemptuous look, said to Baiyun Zhong: “To qualify for getting lodging in the Divine Valley inn, one has to be able to congeal a Zhenling. Have all your disciples entered the Zhenling realm?”

“Regardless of the qualifications, our Zhentian sect had made reservations in advance of the Divine Valley inn.”

Baiyun Zhong continued to speak: “Your Excellency, you must search for some other place. And if you think that Zhentian sect is being unjust, send your Luo clan’s ancestor to me.”

Baiyun Zhong’s words were clear.

According to Luo Zixing, Baiyun Zhong didn’t hold any position to argue with him.

This made the complexion of the man in the silk robe change!

“Have you forgotten who I am? I am Luo Zixing, the heir of the Luo clan. No one has ever dared to speak to me like this!”

Luo Zixing was so angered that his face turned red!

He looked rapidly from one disciple to another and his gaze finally rested upon Long Yu who was standing right behind Baiyun Zhong. Luo Zixing pointed his finger towards Long Yu and said: “Your Zhentian sect is such a waste. You have no powerful disciples! This boy is of the same cultivation level as me, Zhenling third layer. Send this boy forward to fight with me. If he wins, I, Luo Zixing, would immediately leave this place without uttering a single word. But if I win, you all will get the hell out of this inn!”

Then, Luo Zixing smiled sinisterly while looking at Yan Huanmo and said: “And this pretty woman can cheer for me.”

Yan Huanmo ignored his remarks and her lips curled in a secret smile as she looked at Long Yu.

She knew that Luo Zixing had made the greatest mistake of his life in choosing Long Yu as his opponent. He was simply courting death!

Long ago, Long Yu had defeated and killed a Zhenling fourth layer powerhouse while he was still in Zhenling 2nd layer. Would it be difficult for him to deal with Luo Zixing now while he himself had progressed to Zhenling 3rd layer?

Long Yu was surprised to have been challenged by this man.

The arrogant Luo Zixing didn’t know yet that he was not competent enough to face Long Yu.