บท 82: Election Tournament (1)

She stayed like this, absorbed in her thoughts until the streets started becoming sparse and less populated. Soon, the lanterns dimmed and the people were far and few between. Still, she sat on her chaise by the window in her nightclothes. The wind blowing through the open window every once in a while. Though, she wasn't high in her cultivation level, at least in her view, Meridian level cultivators still could keep themselves warm with their spiritual power for an extended period of time. She sat and thought, hugging her knees until the lanterns finally died out and the streets became deserted. She raised her eyes from the desolate streets to stare at the horizon. It was still dark at first, then it became a myriad of purple and dark blue. Then orange, then yellow, then, finally, white. It was dawn of the next day already.

...

Shen Tianyu got up with an expressionless face and changed her clothes into day clothes. Today, she had to register for the Goodwill Tournament. This year, the tournament was hosted by Jing Qie country. The tournament actually doesn't start until New Year next month. This month, it was merely a preliminary contest, where people registered and fought. The final top ten contestants would participate in the actual Goodwill Tournament. Even the cultivators from the royal family, favored to win or not, has to sign up and fight their peers. Including that Princess Wenya. Even if it was a goodwill tournament, it still has to do with the country's pride, after all. No matter how favored to win, ability is the king. One who is favored and has high cultivation but no skill would just end up throwing mud in their own country's face. The first month of the Goodwill Tournament is also known as the Election Tournament, where each country would have teens sign up and fight. Those that are chosen would be honored and paraded in the streets up until the actual Goodwill Tournament starts and the other country's representative arrived in the hosting country to compete. The Goodwill Tournament was just a more peaceful way for each country to show off their power and try to intimidate the other really. If they won, they would be awarded by their country. If they lost, well, they still had the glory they showed before, whether that was a good thing or not, though, is subjective.

When she finished changing, she looked down at herself. She was wearing a two-layer dress robe. The inner robe was white with the top lined with very light purple silk. Her outer coat was purple with silvery white embroidery of ripples. The sleeves were frilled and wide. The collar was also lined with frilled silk embroidery that covered most of her white-robed chest. Her outer coat was parted in the middle of her front, making way for a front lapel inlaid with a starlight background and a butterfly at the end. The outer robe itself was kept together by a purple sash bordered in white. There was also a thin, lavender colored cloth tied attached to the middle of her purple coat, that extended to lay on both of her arms. Her neck was adorned with a gold necklace inlaid with pearls that wound loosely around her neck. Her earrings were simple silver dangling earrings with an amethyst gemstone at the end. Here wrists also did not have too much jewelry, just three silver bands connected together by a large silver ring that moved around them freely. Whenever she moved her hands, they would make a soft tinkling sound by colliding together. Her hair was let down with a silver tiara crown made in the shape of woven branches wrapped around her forehead. There were little strings made of silver beads that draped periodically from the tiara and reconnected further back.

Though her clothes weren't as flashy and bold as others in the Red Light District, it gave off a genuine regal and dignified aura, especially with that intricate tiara, coupled with her calm, expressionless face. Completely unlike the obviously fake regal aura that she saw some of the women try to exude last night.

When she walked down the stairs, she noticed Rong Jian was also there, sitting on one of the couches. He was wearing grass green robe with simple embroidery on the sleeves, along with the same mask he always wears.

'Does he not have another mask? He obviously has plenty of clothes. Judging from that and his position as a prince of THAT kingdom, I doubt he doesn't have a dimensional object to store his luggage. Why doesn't he have even a second mask?' Was Shen Tianyu's first thought. Dimensional objects encompasses all things that could be grated a dimensional space to store objects, including dimensional sleeves and pouches. Rings were also available but not as often used by travelers because the size of a dimensional space was proportional to the host object's size. With something as small as a ring, there wouldn't be much space one could make, and it would only be useful for storing some things temporarily.

As he heard the sound of footsteps, Rong Jian turned his head and saw his fiancee coming down the stairs. A melancholic light flashed by his eyes and quickly disappeared before he smiled and stood up.

"Tian'er, today's the start of the registration day, you still have a whole week. What's the rush?" He asked her as he held a hand out to help her come down the final steps.

Shen Tianyu placed her hand gently in his and walked down the final steps. "The early bird gets the worm. I'd rather register early so I don't need to worry about it later."

Rong Jian's smile grew a bit warmer. "What about Miss Luo?"

"She's not the one in a bet with that stupid Princess Wenya. She doesn't need to register. Besides, her main profession is the healing arts, not cultivation. She wouldn't be able to get very far against people whose main job is cultivating, and that could crush her spirit."

"Speaking of that Princess, I heard she is a Junzhu(1), even though she's a 4th generation princess." Rong Jian guided her by the hand to sit down at the couch he had gotten up from.

"She does have talent in cultivation, it's not a surprise since she's said to be second only to the Crown Prince. This is also her first time participating in the Goodwill Tournament I heard. Apparently, she's never made a fool of herself concerning matters of cultivation, at least, not yet." Shen Tianyu obediently sat down beside him and released an evil smirk upon her last statement.