The palace banquet continued until the middle of the night. Only then did the nobles enjoying themselves in the palace begin to leave the imperial gardens, still feeling unsatisfied.
The next day.
The quinquennial All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament commenced as scheduled.
Heaven Dou Competition Zone.
Heaven Dou City Great Spirit Arena.
Apart from the specially designated VIP section, all other seats were filled with spectators.
Inside the arena, participating teams from the major advanced Spirit Master academies affiliated with the Heaven Dou Empire gathered, receiving the enthusiastic cheers and shouts of the audience.
Naturally, the academy with the loudest cheers from the audience was the Heaven Dou Royal Academy of Spirit Masters, which held the home advantage. Following closely were the Five Elemental Academies: Divine Wind, Blazing Fire, Heaven Water, Thunder, and Elephant Armored.
Excluding these six academies, all other academies combined couldn't even muster a tenth of the cheers from the current audience.
Before long, the opening ceremony of the preliminary rounds concluded successfully with a speech from the current Heaven Dou Emperor, Xue Ye.
Next, as per tradition, a drawing would determine which team would participate in an exhibition match against the Heaven Dou Royal Academy of Spirit Masters' second team.
As expected, the team drawn by the Spirit Hall's Golden Bishop Salas was the Blue Tyrant Academy, founded by Liu Erlong.
As soon as the match began, the battle entered a white-hot stage. The situation became deadlocked, appearing somewhat tense.
In fact, purely in terms of strength, the Heaven Dou second team was slightly superior to the Blue Tyrant Academy in overall power.
However, the problem was that the second team's members were all pampered young masters sent for the experience. To put it bluntly, all seven of them were flowers raised in a greenhouse.
They lacked combat experience, couldn't maintain a stable mindset, and certainly had no fighting spirit.
Conversely, the seven members of the Blue Tyrant Academy all came from commoner backgrounds, making them superior to the Heaven Dou second team in these aspects.
Consequently, after failing to break through for a long time, the Heaven Dou second team's mentality faltered, and they exposed quite a few weaknesses.
The seven members of the Blue Tyrant Academy immediately seized this opportunity to counterattack. The match then began to show a one-sided trend until the scales completely tipped in favor of the Blue Tyrant Academy.
After the exhibition match concluded, in the first row of the VIP section.
Emperor Xue Ye sat between Ning Fengzhi and Salas, his usually dignified face quite grim at the moment.
Xue Ye really wanted to turn around and question his younger brother, Xue Xing, and the academy's three deans.
However, he ultimately had to restrain himself from doing so, considering that the Spirit Hall's Golden Bishop Salas was sitting beside him.
It wasn't until the opening ceremony and exhibition match officially concluded, and the royal entourage returned to the imperial palace, that Xue Ye, seated on the throne, no longer suppressed his discontent. He slammed the armrest of his dragon chair with his right hand and sternly questioned:
"Xue Xing, how do you intend to explain today's events?"
"The Heaven Dou second team represents the royal family's reputation. They actually lost to an unknown Blue Tyrant Academy! Where does that leave the royal family's dignity?"
"Why aren't you speaking? Are you mute?"
Below, Prince Xue Xing found himself unable to speak.
The poor quality of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy of Spirit Masters' students was not a recent issue.
It just so happened that this year's cohort was the worst in history, so losing the match was quite normal.
However, while everyone knew this internally, acknowledging it was one thing, and making it public was another.
Therefore, Prince Xue Xing could only suffer this injustice silently, taking all the blame upon himself.
On the throne, after venting his anger, Xue Ye shifted his gaze from Xue Xing to Xue Qinghe.
"My son, your uncle's management of the academy is insufficient. Lend him a hand and help your uncle more. For the next tournament, I do not wish to see a repeat of today's scene."
Standing beside him, Xue Qinghe glanced at the ashen-faced Xue Xing, bowed to Xue Ye, and replied, "Your son accepts the command and will not fail your father's trust."
At this moment, Xue Qinghe was already contemplating how to win over the academy's three deans to his side.
Among the academy's three deans, the second-ranked Bai Baoshan and the third-ranked Zhi Lin hailed from the Heaven Dou hereditary noble Bai Clan and Zhi Clan, respectively.
Both possessed outstanding talent but were from collateral branches of their families, thus having no chance to inherit their family's hereditary titles. Coupled with personal reasons, they became deans at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy of Spirit Masters.
The chief, Meng Shenji, came from a small Spirit Master family in the northern part of the empire and was also a native of Heaven Dou.
While these three deans could not possibly join the Spirit Hall, they could still be of considerable help to Xue Qinghe in his disguise and his eventual ascension to the throne after Xue Ye's death.
Upon hearing Xue Qinghe's reply, Xue Ye said nothing more, merely nodding slightly before rising and leaving the hall.
After the two waited for Xue Ye to depart, Xue Xing let out a cold snort, flicked his sleeve forcefully, and walked ahead of Xue Qinghe out of the hall.
Prince's Mansion.
Waiting there, Xue Beng saw Xue Xing return. He looked around, confirmed they were alone, and urgently asked, "Uncle, how was it? Did Father Emperor punish you?"
"No."
Xue Xing's answer relieved Xue Beng, but he quickly heard Xue Xing continue, "However, my brother has ordered your elder brother to interfere in academy affairs. Although his authority is not as great as mine, it's not much less."
"Ah? Then what should we do?" Xue Beng's face immediately fell after hearing this.
"Why are you panicking? Have you forgotten everything I've taught you over the years?"
Seeing Xue Beng's state, Xue Xing reprimanded him somewhat angrily, then explained:
"Although your elder brother has interfered in academy affairs, this is hardly a good assignment."
"As the academy's foremost dissolute student, you must know what the academy's atmosphere is like."
"No matter how capable your elder brother is, trying to change the habits nobles in Heaven Dou have cultivated for countless years is simply a pipe dream."
"With greater power comes greater responsibility."
"Your elder brother has interfered in academy affairs, so if the academy fails to change and remains as it is, your elder brother will inevitably be blamed for his incompetence."
"At that time, if you and I, uncle and nephew, stir up trouble behind the scenes, it will surely diminish your elder brother's standing in our imperial brother's eyes."
After hearing this, Xue Beng's anxious expression faded, and he looked at Xue Xing with admiration, flattering him:
"That's brilliant, Uncle! It's I who wasn't composed enough and lost my head, failing to consider this immediately."
Xue Beng was deeply grateful to his uncle, who had saved his life and consistently taught him how to survive.
If it hadn't been for his uncle back then, he, who understood nothing, would have long since died at his elder brother's hands due to his excessive sharpness.
"Enough with the flattery," Xue Xing said, tapping Xue Beng's head and instructing him:
"How have your interactions with Tang San been going?"
"You must know that Tang San is not only the successor of the Clear Sky Sect but also created those miraculous Hidden Weapons, which can greatly influence the world's political landscape."
"Befriending him is beneficial and harmless; perhaps he can even lend you a hand in the future to ascend to that position."
"This..." Xue Beng replied hesitantly.
"In these recent days, Tang San's performance has been that of a complete Hidden Weapons fanatic and cultivation maniac. Aside from promoting those Hidden Weapons, he barely speaks to anyone."
"Moreover, Uncle, you know I'm playing the role of a dissolute young master, so Tang San completely ignores my attempts at friendliness."
"This..." Xue Xing didn't know what to say. After thinking for a moment, he finally said with resignation:
"Since that's the case, let's drop the matter of befriending Tang San, but there's one thing you must remember."
"You absolutely cannot let Tang San become your elder brother's ally."
"What we cannot obtain, we must absolutely not let your elder brother have. Do you understand?"
"Mm." Xue Beng nodded vigorously.
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