The Maple Continent.
A place where crouching tigers and hidden dragons lived.
This might be proven true by the high number of prestigious cultivation Academies it had, however, this saying was mainly used to describe the situation of the Imperial Palace of the Li Royal Family.
The number of high experts at their disposal made them the undisputed number one force on the Maple Continent. As they rule over the Maple Continent with an iron fist, their subjects would look at them with fear and respect.
On an ordinary day, everyone would stare from afar at the enormous golden gates at the entrance of the Imperial Palace, not daring to approach and taint such holy ground.
But on this particular day, a crowd consisting of people from all walks of life, from the old to the young, from the rich to the poor, have all gathered in front of the palace gates with bated expressions on their faces.
Today was a special occasion, the first concubine of the Emperor was bearing a child. Everyone was waiting here hoping to hear the news of a successful birth firsthand.
Suddenly, a clamor could be heard coming from the imperial palace that echoed in the ears of the anticipating crowd.
The crowd of people began to whisper upon hearing the loud commotion.
"What happened? Has something gone wrong with the child delivery?" Someone in the crowd said in a nervous tone.
"It would be horrible if something actually happen to the Emperor's second child." Another person in the crowd responded.
"You two don't jinx it!! What could possibly happen that the Royal Family didn't account for?"
As the crowd got noisier and noisier with people speculating the worst a palace guard suddenly appeared at the gate and spoke in a booming voice.
"The second prince of the Li Royal Family has been born!! Long live the Emperor!! Glory to the Royal Family!!"
The shout from the guard thundered over the crowd causing everyone to pause, but before long, loud cheering erupted from them, which echoed across the continent's capital city.
"Long live the Emperor!! Glory to the Royal Family. Long live the Emperor!! Glory to the Royal Family!!"
The news of the Emperor's second son being born started to spread like wildfire across the continent.
Meanwhile, the huge commotion in the Imperial Palace had calmed down.
In the throne room, the Emperor of the Maple Continent was sitting on a majestic jade throne. He wore golden robes that cascaded down to the marble floor tiles.
His features were that of a man in his early thirties, but with his cultivation being one of the highest, if not the highest on the Maple Continent, his actual age was hard to fathom.
His eyes were piercing as he glance over the people kneeling in front of him.
These people were his ministers and court officials. Any one of them in the outside world could call the rain and summon the winds. Their cultivations alone would cause them to garner respect from anyone on the Maple Continent, let alone their current position.
But even with so much prestige, all of them currently had their heads lowered with nervous looks on their faces. Some of them were even sweating so profusely that patches of sweat marks were visible on their backs and armpits.
The silence in the throne room was suddenly broken by the Emperor's biting cold voice, "The nature of my son's birth is never to be mentioned, understood?"
As the Emperor finished his words, the people kneeling in front of him all resembled chickens pecking the ground as they nodded their heads repeatedly.
"That's good, such a thing should be kept a secret from the public, least people with ill intentions found out."
One minister that had a goatee and was kneeling off to the side said, "Don't worry your majesty, as your loyal subject I will do everything in my power to make sure that the event of the Heavens' blessing the second prince is kept a secret."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone turned to look at him as if he was an idiot.
'This fool, did he just mention what the Emperor specifically said not to mention?'
The minister with the goatee felt all the stares on him and frowned, then, it suddenly dawn on him what he had just said and his face drained of blood.
He raised his head and looked at the Emperor, only to see that he was staring directly at him with a cold gaze.
The minister with the goatee shivered and squealed, "Fo..forgive me, your majesty!! That was a slip of the tongue!!"
Bang!!
He slammed his head full force on the marble floor tile cracking it.
The marble floor, not his head.
Thud after thud, the minister began apologizing after each head slam.
The rest of the kneeling crowd just stared on slightly speechless.
As blood started to pool on the marble-tiled floor from the minister's repeated headbanging, the Emperor finally had enough and said, "Enough, you are forgiven just don't let it happen again."
When the minister heard those words, he felt like a man who had just heard he was sentenced to death by a judge, only for that judge to say jk a moment later and set him free.
"Thank you, your Majesty!! Your loyal subject is grateful for your benevolence!!"
The Emperor just ignored the groveling minister and turn to the youth that had just entered the throne room.
One could see the coldness in the Emperor's eyes lessening as he turn to the youth.
"Wei'er why have you come?" the Emperor asked.
The youth that looked no more than ten, adorned in imperial attire, hurried up the steps of the throne to the Emperor's side and said, "Father, mother won't let me see little Shen, can't I go?"
Before the Emperor could respond to his son's request, a melodious and soothing voice of a woman echoed in the throne room.
"So this is where you run off to after my refusal?"
Hearing the voice of the woman, the child's expression changed. He turned around to see his mother, the Empress, walking towards the throne.
"Mo..mother…" The boy stuttered nervously as if he had just been caught with one of his hands in a cookie jar.
The elegant and refined Empress only glared at him.
Under that gaze, the boy shriveled up hoping he could somehow turn invisible.
The Emperor smiled upon seeing this.
"Wei'er if want to see your new brother, you can go ahead."
The boy's posture suddenly straighten, before he bolted to the exit. His voice echoed as he went, "Thank you, father!"
The Empress frown at her husband and said, "You always spoil him, aren't you afraid he'll grow up to become as crude as you?"
The Emperor only gave his wife an amused smile.
However, the still kneeling ministers and court officials upon hearing that, couldn't help but break out in cold sweat. The only person who could speak to the Emperor in such a tone and get away with it was the Empress herself. If anyone else ever dare to, he or she would probably be killed with a single slap.
Somewhere in the corridors of the Imperial Palace, the first prince named Fu Wei was running at full speeds to a particular room. Several maidservants yelped in surprise as he rushed by. Coming to a skating stop in front of a golden door, Fu Wei open it and entered. Immediately after he entered, all sorts of sounds came rushing into his ears, evident that the room was soundproof. Aside from hearing people talking and the footsteps of people walking around the room, the most prominent one Fu Wei heard was the sound of a baby screaming his head off. After entering the room, Fu Wei looked in the direction of the baby's cries and saw the old midwife standing over his little brother with a blob of water conjured from a spell hovering over her index finger. "What's with the second prince? Is he already hungry? It's not even been long since he was born."
"Server, one more over here!!" A loud shout of a young boy echoed in the small bar. What followed after was a large burp. One of the three lady servers in the small bar strutted over to the table the youth was sitting at. She placed a knew full wine jug in front of him and took away the two empty ones on the table. The youth who looked no more than thirteen, shakily poured the contents of the wine jug into a small cup, before he raised it to his lips and swallowed everything with one gulp. His already flush face became even redder as he smacked his lips and said, "Good, good, good." Licking his lips, the youth poured himself another cup and gulped it down. The occupants in the small bar just ignored the youth as if this was a regular occurrence. However, a quite burly fellow who was on a stool in front
Several meters away from the bar, between two buildings, the young man in the dazzling and luxurious clothes was standing in front of the youth, who was now caught in a multicolored palm. The expression on the youth's face was one of annoyance as he looked at the young man. After he had made his escape out the window, the youth thought he had gotten off scot-free. But who would have thought that the version of his brother, who had tried to capture him in the bar, was only a clone? And what the youth find more frustrating, was the fact that several more of his older brother's clones were outside, waiting in ambush for him to spring into their net. He had managed to evade his four clones, but his real body, which was in front of him, had cornered him when he was catching his breath and finally captured him. With the same annoyed expression on his face, the youth said, "It's not fair!! When were you able to conjure four clones? Your limit had only been two five months ago!" The youn
That's why, despite having lesser disciples than normal sects, the Celestial Academy was still the number one cultivation institute on the Maple Continent, as all of their disciples were heavenly phoenixes and dragons. .... ... .. “Bai Chen, Human-Grade innate talent!...” “Ye Mei, Human-Grade innate talent!...” “Bai Wen, Earth-Grade innate talent!...” “Sheng Xuefan, Hu…” The voice of the Celestial Academy’s elder, echoed out as multiple children ranging from ages of 12 to 13, march up towards the large podium and placed their hands on three stone pillars. In front of the large podium stood several hundred boys and girls around the same age, who all had mild looks of nervousness on their faces as they heard the announcements. The Celestial Academy’s Disciple Selection Ceremony had started over an hour ago, and during that time, not one person was found to have a Sky-Grade innate talent. All of whom that went up with the hopes of entering the Celestial Academy, had their dream
A small commotion was happening within the crowd, as the children participating in the ceremony chatted amongst each other. "That was the crown prince, right? I can't believe I managed to get a glimpse of such a legendary figure. Even if I don't get into the Celestial Academy, just this alone is enough for me to brag about when I return to my village." A youth who was wearing shabby clothes only fit for someone living on the streets said with excitement and contentment. Another youth who was clad in a luxurious fur coat, turn to look at him with a face that resembled someone who had just smelled dog crap. With a disgusted tone, the youth in fur coat said, "A country bumpkin like you should be grateful that you even get a chance to see someone as amazing as the crown prince before you die. Trash like you shouldn't even be here in the first place, the Celestial Academy should just start restric
As Xi Shen was walking absentmindedly for a while, he suddenly looked up and saw the large podium right in front of him. Slightly confused as to why he didn't see anyone, Xi Shen looked up at the Celestial Academy's elder, who was looking at him strangely, before he turn to look behind him. Xi Shen saw that the group of youths had cleared open a path for him leading up to the podium, and was standing there, waiting for him to get up onto the podium. Xi Shen was taken aback by this for a moment before a thought suddenly hit him. 'Oh right, I'm a prince in this life.' In his past life, Xi Shen wasn't in the best of situations, the principle that had been embedded into him in those times were first come first serve. As an orphan, he had never had people who went out of their way to do things for him or waited on him before. At first, he had found it
Without stopping, the stream of energy rushed towards Xi Shen's soul and began the testing process. Normally this amount of energy released by the stone pillar should be enough to engulf the soul of a person who hadn’t started cultivation, but with Xi Shen, the energy was having problems even covering a single finger from his soul. The size of a person’s Sea of Consciousness was determined by how powerful their soul was, so the fact that Xi Shen’s soul was this massive shouldn’t come as a surprise when looking at his Sea of Consciousness. This was great and all, but this was a problem for Xi Shen. ‘Hmm, I didn’t really think this through. Ever since I started comprehending the heavenly laws when I was born into this world, my soul has been growing nonstop. Is this what happens when those cultivators in my previous life began their cultivation? I don’t really know what to make of this. After barring me from comprehe
Ghuangyu was looking on with a sour expression that he was trying hard to conceal.‘Dammit!! This little brat could possibly ruin my plans, he can’t be left alive!!’As Ghuangyu said that, his eyes flashed with a dangerous light.On top of the plain pavilion, the crown prince was beaming with joy. From the big smile spreading across his face, one could tell that he was extremely happy to see that his little brother had a Supreme-grade attribute.However, that was all emotions displayed by him on the surface. What he truly felt within the depths of his heart, was absolute fury.‘Don’t test my patience little brother.’As Fu Wei thought that, he stared at Xi Shen with fake happiness on his face. His acting was so superb that it could fool anyone to think that he was extremely happy for his brother.Turnin