A Stir at the Banquet

Xiao Chenyu opened his mouth, then turned to look at Dales, who was smiling and chatting with a female noblewoman. Seeing that Darles hadn't noticed them, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Dales did act like a loyal servant in front of the Star Luo Royal Academy Team, after the Star Luo Royal Academy Team left, he was the true lord of Falling Star City!

[This Xiao Wu is way too outspoken!]

Xiao Chenyu dared not say these words aloud, and could only say, "I don't know why Lord Dales didn't see off the Star Luo Royal Academy Team, but it seems that he came here because he has something to announce to my father."

"What is it?" Zhou Qing also became interested.

"I was a bit far from Dales at the time and didn't hear clearly. I only heard things like 'socializing' and 'making friends'," Xiao Chenyu said, scratching his head somewhat awkwardly.

"A social event? Wasn't the Friendly Tournament over? Are we going to have another one?" Xiao Wu curiously.

"Sister Xiao Wu, maybe that Dales wants to befriend genius Soul Master like you, Qing Ge, Third Brother through City Lord Xiao."

While gnawing on a chicken leg, Wang Sheng shared his guess, but didn't mention himself.

"That's right, Sister Xiao Wu, that must be it!"

"Definitely!"

Absolutely!

Xiao Chenyu, Liu Long, and Ling Feng hurriedly offered their compliments.

"Hmph, that Dales does have some discernment after all," Xiao Wu with a hint of smugness.

"Don't forget, the reason so many Soul Master have gathered in Nuoding City is because of Dales," Tang San reminded him. "If he hadn't secretly spread the word about the Soul Bone, would we have all this trouble?"

Of course, without this series of events, he would not have been able to obtain the Storage Soul Tool, the Moon Shines Brightly in the Twelve Towers.

However, Tang San would not thank Dales —this guy was on his "Path to Death" list. Besides, the Moon Shines Brightly in the Twelve Towers was a prize that he and his companions won with their own abilities, so what did it have to do with Dales?

"Well... she's not good-looking at all. She looks like a combination of a pig and a bear. It's disgusting to look at." Xiao Wu added without hesitation.

Xiao Chenyu, Liu Long, and Ling Feng exchanged glances, all of them able to see the embarrassment on each other's faces. They couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly, "Well, Sister Xiao Wu, if there's nothing else, I won't bother you. I suddenly remembered that I still have to go and greet the other guests who are coming."

"We're the same!"

Liu Long and Ling Feng quickly echoed.

Xiao Wu glanced at Xiao Chenyu, Liu Long, and Ling Feng, decided not to bother with these three, and waved her hand—the three of them immediately walked away quickly.

Zhou Qing couldn't help but look at Romantina sitting beside him, covering her face, panting heavily, and muttering to herself:

"How could I sit with such an impolite person..."

"The other nobles in the city must be laughing at me!"

"They must be saying, 'It's shameful that Romanyac's daughter hangs out with a bunch of vulgar, crude, and uncouth boys and girls!'"

"But wow~ what's with this feeling? My whole body is trembling!"

Zhou Qing: (╬￣ Pan￣)!!!

vulgar?

vulgar?

Rough?

Do you consider yourself humorous?

And are you getting hyped again? Just how low are your erogenous zones? Or is your entire body covered in erogenous zones? Your Brain Martial Soul has made your Nervous System far too developed, hasn't it?

"What's that woman muttering about?" Xiao Wu noticed and sneered, "Could she be falling into some kind of 'perverted' fantasy again?"

"I'm not a pervert!"

Romantina immediately lowered her arm from her face, trying her best to prove her innocence, but out of the corner of her eye, she glanced around, wanting to see how others would react.

But apart from Zhou Qing and the others, the other nobles were all talking about their own topics, and hardly anyone paid any attention.

"Huh?"

Romantina was dumbfounded.

Zhou Qing comforted Romantina, whose expression was visibly dejected, saying, "Were you startled by reality? Nobody cares about your delusions because you spend most of your time in the Nuoding Guild, not with these noble children... having 'afternoon tea'?"

"Maybe, I'm just saying it's a possibility, but most of them probably don't know you."

Romantina was completely petrified: ━━∑(￣□￣*|||━━

Despite being a nobleman, he lacked his own social circle within the aristocratic hierarchy.

Is there anything more tragic than this in the world?

However, in Zhou Qing's eyes, Romantina's situation was perhaps a kind of alternative example of remaining untainted by the mud.

[Damn! I've gone crazy too. How could I think this pervert is untainted by the mud? But this girl actually seems to be a physically pure young girl, right?]

Just as Romantina was feeling dejected, in the center of the banquet, City Lord Xiao and Dales came together and announced something to everyone present.

"Gentlemen, after this ' Friendly Tournament,' I discussed it with the city of Dales in Falling Star City, and we decided to hold a formal Friendly Tournament every three years from now on," said City Lord Xiao. "Each Friendly Tournament will have generous prizes. Moreover, if any member of the winning team is of the appropriate age, Dales and I will respectively sponsor their tuition fees for further studies at the intermediate and Advanced Academy."

Dales added, "This is also an experiment to strengthen the exchange between my Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire. Moreover, if the Friendly Tournament expands in the future, other small cities near my Falling Star City and City Lord Xiao's Nuoding City can also participate, establish a larger Soul Fight Competition, build formal competition venues, and thus obtain more revenue."

For a time, the nobles from Notting who had come to the Xiao Manor were abuzz with discussion.

If a formal competition venue were established for the Friendly Tournament, the most direct source of revenue would be ticket sales. It is highly likely that City Lord Xiao's statement was intended to attract investment.

This turmoil caused by the Soul Bone was, on the surface, temporarily suppressed into the background due to the entry of the Star Luo Royal Academy Team.

Therefore, City Lord Xiao felt that he had quelled the storm and completed the necessary accumulation of political experience, and then he thought about creating new glories.

Establishing a triennial inter-city competition would not only attract investment from other nobles in the city, but also deepen exchanges between Nuoding City and Star Luo City, and allow him to showcase his talents in governance, management, and cooperation to the high-ranking officials of the Heaven Dou Empire —a win-win-win situation.

However, Zhou Qing noticed another point: in the Douluo Era, when communication and transportation were underdeveloped, the city lords of various cities, large and small, within the Two Great Empires had too much freedom.

City Lord Xiao's collaboration with Dales to host the so-called triennial Friendly Tournament was nothing short of a predatory arrangement, but this move did, to some extent, increase exchanges between the two cities...