Xue Long passed through the main gates of Spirit Hall's main temple.
He was here for his Titled Douluo ceremony. Well, this ceremony is nothing more than a show.
And unlike regular ceremonies this time it was done by First Worship himself instead of the Second one.
Without much fanfare…
"Crown Prince Xue Long from now on you are known as Golden Dragon King Douluo. Most impressive feat indeed! Were people your age only start attending their academies you on other hand already reached the highest plateau of Douluo Continent. Congratulations!"
Cheers and claps erupted from the hall, everyone was quite ecstatic about this. Especially the Prince's royal family…
Though…
The Crown Prince slowly nodded and then looked at Golden Crocodile Douluo…
The not-so-old man had a bad feeling about this…
"Ready for rematch old man? I been training extra hard just for this…"
"...well…"
~~~~~~Around 8 Months Later~~~~~~
All of the preparation was done and the opening ceremony for the tournament was already done. The gates were opened, and regular people can visit and see the grandeur of the Imperial Academy.
It was already packed from the very beginning, as many wanted to see the prince or the academy which from now on will accept anyone with talent. It was a huge move from the Empire in the right direction.
Though the smart ones knew that it was Crown Prince who wants to continue to improve his maid Initiative.
Getting more students with unique Martial Spirits.
While the other academies were nervous as well. They want to show off and attract students to their institutions. More specifically they are gunning for the fact that their academies are tailored for specific elements.
This is their chance to get something out of it by relying on it.
So while they know they not going to win. They will try their hardest just to show off their expertise in their elements.
Though… if the rumours are true and Prince Xue Long has two more Martial spirits… which is mind-boggling…people still can't grasp it…
How can someone through pure martial arts add two more Martial Spirits to their arsenal!? Worse of all… it's Fire and Water…
If those rumours are true then Skywater Academy and Blazing Academy are not going to get those students… to join…
Especially Blazing Academy who lost a massive amount of reputation… the amount face lose for them was enormous when their Dean lost so bad. To the point that he was traumatised. After that event quite a bit of students transferred.
Now the fire-attribute-based Academy is a shell of its former self.
Some people even believe that this event will be the last nail for Blazing Academy's existence.
Yet… Xue Long did nothing to even affect the academy to this level. No, he simply took a girl from the academy. Which caused a chain reaction which lead to the academy's possible shutdown.
That just says how much one's reputation is important in this kind of place…
Oh…and a traumatised Dean…
"My Prince. The opening fights are about to begin. Shouldn't we attend?"
The Crown Prince turned around and looked at the girl who had her hair done in a high ponytail. There were several more ornaments on her hair alongside her maid uniform being fluffy. With the skirt being not too short or too long.
There was a certain amount of fire in her looks. This was his prize for beating the Blazing Academy Dean. The Dean's Granddaughter and the girl he spend weeks training to overcome that stupid pride she had.
In the end, he was successful in rebuilding the way he wanted to rebuild her. Though…her fiery nature is something that still needs some practice.
'But… now that she knows that I have Fire Dragon King. A martial Spirit which made her be more in awe than my Golden Dragon King. She became much more controllable.' He smiled internally as he remembered that moment.
"We should, Xiao Wu. I just finished my daily training routine early just so that I could see it." The Crown Prince said that as he started to walk toward his fiery maid.
The girl didn't react at all when he called her small. No… that part was beaten out of her by other maids…
"Though… I would love to see you fight." Xue Long said that as he walked over in front of her.
"...unfortunately, my cultivation is too high for that…" Huo Wu said that with faked sadness. Internally she was happy that her cultivation was above the allowed level of cultivation!
"...Hmm, you still need to train if you want to hide your feelings about it." He said that while stroking her cheek.
She blushed hard from the embarrassment that he has seen through her fake sadness.
"...I…"
"No need to explain yourself. While I do like to see you fight. This tournament is not that important. It is simply an event which will happen every single year from now on." As he said that he stopped with his action and started to walk towards the main arena, Huo Wu quickly started to follow him.
She can't believe that Na'er stationed her to be the main maid for her Prince! It like she will be under the magnifying glass the whole time!
'Is this on purpose? Did Na'er see through my need to cultivate to be beyond allowed participation rank!?'
The black-haired girl thought with a frown as she was following her prince toward the Spirit Arena.
The guards easily let them pass as they saw their prince. Walking a few flights of stairs they arrived at the balcony where the VIP section was.
"Ah, Long'er, you finally here." Xue Long heard his father's voice. He walked over there and took his seat.
His seat was next to his father while next to him was his fiance's seat.
While opposition to the Emperor was the Supreme Pontiff…
Her arrival was something which has utterly shocked the population. They didn't expect her to arrive here. Usually, a Bishop would be representing Spirit Hall. And even then it would be for a ranking tournament. Not this 'simple' event.
This just tells how big of a pull the Crown Prince has.
Sure enough when the regular people saw that the prince was there clapping started, accompanied by girls happy squealing as they saw their idol.
"It appears you have quite a fan base." The Emperor said that with a chuckle.
"...Indeed. It appears the prince is beloved by his people." The Purple haired spider lady said with some hidden annoyance.
"One gets his fan base for working hard in his craft. I only see this as a natural thing." Xue Long said that with a smooth voice. Though he felt how his darling fiance was squeezing his hand. Even more forcefully.
She doesn't like that he gets this much attention from all those females… especially when girls scream that they love him…
Nope, that the blonde angel girl's anger rise by the minute.
The moment the Crown Prince motioned to quiet down everyone quickly calmed down.
"Let the tournament begin ladies and gentlemen!"
~~~~~~Outside the Arena~~~~~~
While the first battles are about to begin in round-robin style. This doesn't mean that nothing is happening outside. From betting money to buying food. People are still doing all that. After all the imperial Academy doesn't have their fight yet.
So, there is no true haste to flood the arena. People who are already there, are just to see the Prince. The youngest ever Titled Douluo…
"This is the Imperial Academy… looks expensive. What do you say, sis?" A blue-haired girl said with a curious tone, this girl looked around to see stalls which sell fresh prepared food. There are rows and rows of tents while at the very end of this road there is a huge arena. Her eyes mostly stayed on the arena.
She didn't expect for academy to have an arena of their own this size!
"I say that we are here to see how real deal is Prince Xue Long." The other girl with the same blue colour hair said with a small smirk.
"Yeah… we… like totally, going against our clan if we planning to join Imperial Academy instead of Skywater…"
"...Remember… we still haven't decided on this. We need to see him in person before we do that." She said to her half-sister with a smirk.
"Bing'er I never thought you can be like this. And here I thought I am the troublemaker."
"Yue'er… I am not a troublemaker. I am simply picking what is best. If it's true that Prince Xue Long is a Titled Douluo then he knows what he is doing. And joining him is the right kind of move." Shui Bing'er explained with a simple shrug.
"You still don't believe that he is one?"
"... It's very hard to believe unless I see it with my two own eyes." The blue-haired girl said with a small frown.
As someone who has a very powerful Martial Spirit of her own. This is simply hard to believe that someone can cultivate this fast…
"I guess… well, as long as he is a cutie I don't care~"
Shui Bing'er looked at her half-sister with an eye roll when she heard that.
It's not a surprise that her sister joined her in this adventure just to see how amazing is the prince… though she is more than sure that they will pass whatever entrance test there is.
She is more than interested in joining the maids class, as they are the elite among the elite who get trained by the Crown Prince himself daily.
"Pretty sure the common word among the people is that the prince looks amazing. The issue is if you can get his attention."
The other one pouted hearing that before she had a crafty look.
"Well~ dear sister of mine. You can mesmerise him with your Ice Phoenix martial spirit! Once that is done. Then we can double team him~"
"Yue'er… your mind is quite dirty… we are here to get into the academy… more specifically the maid class. Maybe once is said and done… maybe only then we can think of something like that!" Shui Bing'er said with a slightly blushing face.
She imagined jumping on the prince and doing some things but for now, the blue-haired girl shook her head and decided to focus.
Shui Yue'er smiled seeing her more serious sister blush like that.
It's safe to say that the pair's first true crush is the Prince. One of the biggest reasons why they are 'rebelling' like that is because of that. The whole extremely powerful Titled Douluo stuff only solidifies the reason why they are here. They would be here even if he was Spirit Sage or Spirit Douluo. Doesn't truly matter.
"We should get going. The battles have started."
"Okay~ though Imperial Academy ones are later, and the maid class are tomorrow. We should get some snacks first~" As she said that her eyes wandered towards the stalls.
Shui Bing'er sighed and followed after her more easy-going sibling.
As they were walking their eyes ended up on a stall which is selling toys…
"Hmm? Are those?"
"Woah… so cute." The blue-haired girl's eyes ended up on toys which were made to look like golden lions. It was quite a cute plush feline toy.
"We selling toys made based on his Majesty's pet! The Golden Lion. All the funds will be going to support our Academy growth." The seller said with quite a proud tone. He can see that everyone loves these! And they getting sold off like hotcakes!
"...Prince is quite smart…" The more serious sister said with a small frown as she realised that the Prince is making a profit while showing off his academy…
And it is working as Shui Yue'er was already in the line waiting to buy a toy for herself…
*Sigh*
'I should get some snacks while she gets that thing…'
She walked to opposite direction where the food was… Shui Bing'er knows that her sister will forget about the food by the time she gets that lion toy…
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