Bab 96: Letter of Invitation.

Bao Zhang was quietly reclining on the driver's side as he watched the dirt road surrounded by trees.

According to his mother, this road was the path that leads directly to the entrance of the southern gate of the Zhang family.

While he watched lazily, Honoka approached carrying in her hand a cage with a messenger bird inside.

That messenger bird had been bought by Honoka after they left the restaurant <Mirmillo Flower Restaurant>.

"Honoka, why did you buy that messenger bird?"

According to what Bao Zhang had understood, this was the first time Honoka came to the Zhou Kingdom and, because of that, Honoka surely had no acquaintance in the kingdom to whom he could send a message.

So why buy the messenger bird? Does she know anyone?

Honoka opened the cage and pulled out the reddish messenger bird.

"When I told my father that I wanted to visit the Zhou Kingdom, he was adamantly opposed to me coming out ... but I wanted to meet outside the sect at least once, so I insisted to my mother," Honoka said while she takes out a letter from the pocket of her tunic and showed to Bao Zhang.

"My mother let me come in exchange for sending this letter of invitation when I arrive here."

"Invitation?"

"That's right, the tournament to choose the new central disciples in the sect is near. Because the 'ruined desert' has giant sandstorms, the messenger birds usually end up lost in the storms and that's why my mother entrusted me with the delivery of the letter of invitation when I arrived here."

"Is there going to be a guest at the tournament?" Bao Zhang asked with interest since he himself would be participating in the next tournament.

Honoka nodded and placed the invitation letter in the talons of the messenger bird and then she ordered;

"Take the letter to the royal family!"

*Shriek*

The messenger bird let out a loud squeak, implying that it received the order and then flapped its wings and flew towards the sky.

"So the real family will also attend the tournament..." Bao Zhang muttered, as he watched the messenger bird fly and vanish into the blue sky.

Then he looked down and saw a wall ahead with a large door guarded by guards wearing shining armor and the emblem of the Zhang family on the chest of their armor.

At the same time that Bao Zhang saw the guards, the guards also saw the carriage approaching.

After the carriage stopped, one of the guards approached.

The guard was about to speak when he was stopped by Bao Zhang who took out his 'internal disciple' badge and showed it to the guard.

"S-Sect of the golden sword? Are you from the Sect of the golden sword?"

"That's right, I am an internal disciple of the Sect and inside the carriage there is an important Elder of the Sect, with this you must know what to do, right?"

The guard began to shed cold sweat upon hearing the word 'Elder important' and immediately leaned hastily showing his utmost respect.

"Dear guest be welcome to the Zhang family!"

...

Meanwhile, the messenger bird sent by Honoka, flew across the blue sky, crossing over the restaurant where Bao Zhang and the girls had been, moving on until they reached the Great Capital of the Kingdom, place where the Royal Palace is located.

The Great Capital is located in the center of the Zhou Kingdom, where there are dozens of great noble mansions, very wide streets with hundreds of pedestrians transiting, large commercial stores and, finally, at the center of it all is the Great Royal Palace which is made up of five strong towers that form an almost perfectly circular fence around this wonderful and majestic castle that seems to shine with the reflection of the sun.

The windows of the Great Royal Palace are scattered on the white walls asymmetrically, and then there are dozens of sections of the castle that are connected by large bridges that allow servants to shorten the time spent traveling from one sector to another.

There are also four large shiny steel doors that are placed around the circular walls.

This great castle that is seen from afar, seems to be the home of the gods, is a castle that has existed since the beginning of the Zhou Kingdom and has managed to remain standing without ever collapsing.

…

In one of the towers of the Great Royal Palace, a Sector specialized in messaging is located. Inside there are hundreds of shelves are located with thousands of letters that are checked by the servants with white robes. While on the roof, there are large slots of several meters where the messenger birds that are sent by the nobles of the whole kingdom are received.

The messenger bird that Honoka sent, approached this tower and flew over the sky along with hundreds of messenger birds of different races.

A young servant of the hundreds who were there was inspecting the letters, after placing a stamp on the envelope of the letter, he placed it on one side on a shelf along with another pile of letters.

The young servant sighed wearily and then received the next messenger bird that lay on a table by his side and took the letter from its claws.

"Huh?"

He looks at the letter that seems to be different from what he commonly inspects and then he sees the stamp printed on a border.

The stamp printed was of two golden swords crisscrossed.

Immediately the young servant rose fiercely from his seat, causing the other servants who were in the place to look at him. But the young servant did not care about the looks and ran out of the place, in the direction of the Primordial Great Tower that emerged majestically from the royal palace pointing towards the sky. That is the place where the greatest power of the whole Kingdom lives: That is the king's abode.

...

At the same time.

In the Sect of the Golden Sword, the days continued as usual, with the only difference that the internal disciples began to prepare for the upcoming tournament.

In the distance, you could see a great mountain that seemed to rise through the clouds.

The mountain was known as 'the first mountain' and was guarded for dozens of expert guards who usually roamed the around of the first mountain in search of possible intruders. But they never entered the center of the mountain, as that area It was strictly forbidden and the only ones who could enter there were the current patriarch and matriarch of the Sect, anyone other people else who entered there would not go out again.

While the guards hovered around the first mountain.

Four men dressed completely in black and covering their faces with white masks with only their empty eyes in sight, were parked on a large distant tree while watching the great first mountain far.

The 4 shadows remained still and seemed to be fused with the branches and the wind of the air, because even though the wind blew from time to time, the clothes of the 4 shades did not move an inch. It seemed as if they themselves had merged with the environment, making them non-existent.

But the only thing that could stand out among the 4 shadows, were some small and almost undetectable emblems that carried on the side of their masks and showed the numbers 1, 2, 4 and 9 that identified them.