Hunting Competition Begins (3)

"Let's proceed as normal. As I said, I'm just an ordinary person participating in this event, just like everyone else!" Zhao Yarou said calmly.

"Well... it would be more meaningful for His Majesty to come in person, and I think everyone thinks so too." The high-ranking official did not continue with the normal procedures, but instead had Zhao Yarou come.

Besides getting him out of this trouble, this also served as a subtle way of flattering Zhao Yarou!

"Yes, beautiful Empress, you should do it!"

Upon hearing this, the people below began to echo their sentiments, which was exactly what they wanted to see. After all, having Empress Zhao Yarou personally preside over the hunt would make it more important and give them more reason to be proud.

How can one be proud? Simply boast to others that the Hunting Competition they participated in was personally presided over by Her Majesty the Empress, and that they participated in the activity just like them—how incredibly impressive that is!

"Then let me do it!" Zhao Yarou remained calm, walking directly to the small platform. Under everyone's gaze, she uttered four words—

"The hunt begins!!"

It's so simple and straightforward that it takes a while to catch your breath. Some of the usual routines in a speech have been omitted, even though those words are usually short and can be finished in a few minutes at most. But this is just too simple.

However, after a while, people realized what was going on!

"Roar!"

The constant roaring signaled the official start of the Hunting Competition, and Zhao Yarou's decisiveness was admired by many, including Ye Lang, her sworn enemy.

"I have to say, although this woman is a pervert, she is really decisive in doing things!" Ye Lang exclaimed.

"Yes, that's very decisive! She killed her own father without making a sound and slaughtered the entire royal family, making her throne unshakeable!" Cold-Blooded Fifth nodded in agreement.

Currently, there are only three members of the royal family in the entire Xiangkong Empire: Zhao Yarou herself, Ye Lang's Seventh Princess, and her Seventh Sister-in-law!

Alas, according to ancient Chinese tradition, the royal family line has ended!

Ye Lang had only one thought about this: the royal family was reduced to just these three girls; the lineage had been extinguished!

However, this is an ancient Chinese saying, and there is no such saying on this mainland. Women can also carry on the family line, but they still need to find a son-in-law who will marry into the woman's family.

The Empress of the Xiangkong Empire, of course, needs to find a son-in-law to live with her family; she cannot marry out of her own home. And this son-in-law seems to be Imperial Prince of the empire.

"Let's go, or we'll be discovered!"

Seeing that Ye Lang was still in a daze, Cold-Blooded Fifth reminded him, because at this time, everyone else had already left and headed towards the hunting grounds after the roar.

Of course, it's not to say that there won't be anyone after Ye Lang. Some people will still slowly stroll over, expressing their attitude—a nonchalant attitude. There's a rather unrefined word to describe this perfectly: showing off!

Ye Lang could have put on an act, but if it were too conspicuous, he wouldn't do it, because he's always been very low-key!

Why would Ye Lang stand out among that group? It's simple: these people were all on horseback, and riding a horse is essential in a hunting ground, unless there are no horses available.

Speaking of this, we have to talk about the hunting grounds. In fact, the hunting grounds were very large, unimaginably large. The hunting grounds were in a mountainous area, an irregularly shaped mountainous area, with the longest distance between 500 and 300 li.

This is equivalent to a quarter of an empire's province, and is larger than some small kingdoms!

There was no other way. This Hunting Competition was a grand occasion for the entire empire, with a large number of participants. If it were just a small place, how could they possibly hunt like this?

That's basically just fighting over prey; it's not about hunting skills, it's about brute force, which goes against the very purpose of the activity!

One rule of the activity is that you can't steal the prey. Of course, this refers to the prey that has been shot. If you happen to be interested in the same prey, then you can only compete with your individual strength or cooperate to score points!

Ye Lang was no stranger to this Hunting Competition; he had participated in it before and even won. However, he hadn't even picked up a bow and arrow that time; Ye Lanyu and the others had taken care of that.

Ye Lang was a member of a group at the time, which included himself, Ye Lanyu Ye Lang, the Seventh Princess, and several other girls. Ye Lang couldn't remember who they were, but he remembered that he was more familiar with Ye Lanyu and the Seventh Princess.

The reason they won was not because the team members were particularly strong, but because the team was incredibly lucky. They had prey almost everywhere they went; it was as if the prey came to them on its own.

Hunting takes the most time to find the prey, which is the most crucial step. Ye Lang's group skipped this step, making it difficult for them not to win!

At that time, almost everyone was marveling at it—

Wow, Thirteenth Young Master's luck is truly unbeatable!

Getting back to the point, such a large territory naturally requires a means of transportation like horses, and as pretentious nobles, of course they would have them!

As for Ye Lang, it wasn't that he couldn't afford it, but rather that he couldn't ride a horse, so he could only travel on foot. Therefore, he couldn't blend into this group of people and had to follow the other commoners.

If people were to discover that this nobleman couldn't ride a horse, it would attract attention, and with some speculation, they might conclude that he was the only nobleman in the world who couldn't ride a horse, that eccentric Prodigal Son!

Therefore, Ye Lang needs to enter the hunting grounds as soon as possible. Once he's inside, he believes no one will notice him anymore!

This hunting ground is so large that once you go deeper, you might end up alone and never encounter anyone else. Given this probability, Ye Lang felt it was unlikely that he would coincidentally run into Zhao Yarou.

Of course, because of this, Ye Lang did not go too far after entering, because he wanted to keep an eye on Li Yue. Otherwise, it would have been almost impossible for him and Li Yue to meet during the hunt.

"I hope you don't go with that perverted woman, or we'll have to start all over again!" Ye Lang sat on a small rock halfway up a mountain, where he could see Li Yue, Zhao Yarou, and the others who hadn't yet entered the hunting grounds.

Ye Lang waited, waiting for Li Yue's intentions. If she was with Zhao Yarou, he would simply give up the event and go back to the city to rest.

Fortunately, Li Yue didn't seem to intend to go with Zhao Yarou, and Zhao Yarou didn't keep Li Yue by her side either. Li Yue decided to go hunting alone in a deserted area, just like in previous years.