Hearing Lin Heng's question, Hong San could not help widening his eyes again.
Could it be that the little prince wants to give me a divine artifact too?
"This old servant... this old servant has none!"
Three years ago, Hong San had only just entered the Quasi-God Realm. It was already generous of the Chishui Royal Clan to equip him with a Quasi-Divine Artifact.
After all, the entire Chishui Royal Clan possessed only two divine artifacts!
It had possessed more than two in the past, but they had either been seized or destroyed in great battles!
"I'll give you two divine artifacts. With them, you'll be invincible within the Quasi-God Realm. Even if you encounter someone in the God Realm, you won't be completely powerless to hold your own!"
Lin Heng waved his arm, and two divine artifacts appeared out of thin air.
One was a golden longsword. Its entire length gleamed with golden light, while winding arcs of golden lightning flowed over it.
It was not the Blazing Sun Dragon-Slaying Sword. Lin Heng intended to keep that sword for himself.
It was called the Golden Thunder Divine Sword, and it had been refined from ten-thousand-year-old golden lightning bamboo!
It was not actually a single sword, but nine divine swords combined into one!
Separated, the nine swords could form an immensely powerful sword formation!
The Golden Thunder Divine Sword was a reward Lin Heng had obtained by signing in at the Ancestral God Temple!
"Little prince, could this be the legendary Golden Thunder Divine Sword?"
"That's right!"
"Ah?!"
Hong San was stunned!
The Golden Thunder Divine Sword was also famous throughout the Divine Firmament Human Race!
Unfortunately, its former owner had not been powerful enough. In the end, a demon god had destroyed three of the swords while they were separated, and the remaining six had gone missing during the long years that followed.
"Little prince, is this Golden Thunder Divine Sword complete?"
"Yes!"
Lin Heng nodded, then urged him on. "Stop dawdling. Use a drop of blood to make it recognize you as its master first!"
"This old servant obeys!"
Hong San bit the tip of his tongue and spat a glob of divine blood onto the Golden Thunder Divine Sword.
The divine sword absorbed the divine blood in the blink of an eye. Hong San reached out and easily grasped its hilt!
Hong San calmed the excitement in his heart. After a low shout, he waved his arm, and the Golden Thunder Divine Sword instantly split into nine.
They hovered upright around Hong San!
"Put them away. Don't test the swords here."
"This old servant obeys!"
Hong San hurriedly combined the Golden Thunder Divine Sword back into one and stored it in his Purple Mansion's inner world.
Then he and Lin Heng turned to the other divine artifact!
It was a suit of battle armor, forged from neatly cut pieces of divine crystal.
This was the Glazed Divine Armor Lin Heng had obtained on his third sign-in at the Devil-Sealing Well in Chishui Royal City.
The Glazed Divine Armor had an equally momentous history!
If the Blazing Sun Dragon-Slaying Sword was the divine artifact the Demon Race most wanted to destroy, then the Glazed Divine Armor was the one the Human Race most wanted to destroy!
Because!
Long ago, an immensely powerful devil god had appeared among the Devil Race. In his lifetime, he had slain six God Realm experts of the Human Race!
The Glazed Divine Armor had been forged from the divine crystals of those six Human Race God Realm experts!
After that devil god died, a Heavenly Devil Tyrant Body happened to appear among the Devil Race and inherited the Glazed Divine Armor.
That Heavenly Devil Tyrant Body was ultimately sealed within the Devil-Sealing Well in Chishui Royal City, which was how Lin Heng had been able to obtain the Glazed Divine Armor by signing in!
Of course, the original Glazed Divine Armor had been sealed along with that Heavenly Devil Tyrant Body and destroyed long ago!
The original Glazed Divine Armor had also been tainted with a heavy concentration of devil Qi, making it unsuitable for Hong San to use.
Hong San knew little about the Glazed Divine Armor. He knew Lin Heng's temperament, so he said nothing and immediately used a drop of blood to make it recognize him as its master, then stored it in his Purple Mansion.
"Mm, with these two divine artifacts, you're more or less qualified to protect me!"
Lin Heng instructed him, "Don't mention any of this to anyone. Understood?"
"This old servant understands!"
"All right, go prepare breakfast!"
Lin Heng waved his hand.
Hong San withdrew respectfully.
While preparing breakfast, Hong San kept thinking about what the little prince had just said.
Even without two divine artifacts, I'm still a high-level Quasi-God who has attained a Divine Body and divine soul. Could it be that even that isn't enough to qualify me to protect the little prince?
If that's really the case, could it be that without divine artifacts, the best I could manage against the little prince would be a draw?
No, no, no, that's not very likely!
He's only three years old!
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
The Chishui Kingdom's martial arts tournament, held once every two years, was to officially begin that morning!
Early that morning, Hong San went to the Heartwarming Pavilion's gatehouse as usual to bring Lin Heng his breakfast.
Seeing the food laid out on a table in the gatehouse, Hong San frowned.
He asked a palace maid beside him, "Why has the meal allocation been reduced again this morning?"
"Reporting to you, Eunuch, the palace kitchens only gave us this much. We didn't dare take any more!"
A palace maid replied helplessly.
"Eunuch Hu from the palace kitchens said he was acting on Chief Steward Xi's orders to reduce the meals for every palace and hall!"
Another palace maid continued, "The reason given was that the royal clan has to entertain martial arts prodigies and officials from all over..."
"Have the meal allocations really been reduced for every palace and hall?"
Hong San asked.
"Well..."
The two palace maids lowered their heads, hesitant to speak.
"Tell me the truth!"
Hong San gave a low shout.
"Reporting to you, Eunuch, this servant heard that it seems only our Heartwarming Pavilion's meal allocation has been steadily reduced lately!"
One of the palace maids answered tremblingly.
"Hmph!"
Hong San was furious.
The little prince was still young and growing, yet that bastard Xi Zhaoqu had actually done such a thing. His audacity reached the heavens!
Of course, the Heartwarming Pavilion's meal allocation was certainly enough to feed the little prince, but it was not plentiful. It did not even amount to a tenth of what they had received when Lady Goddess was there.
Hong San knew the little prince had a large appetite!
This morning's meal allocation was only enough for the little prince himself, yet the Heartwarming Pavilion also had Hong San and two palace maids to feed!
Hong San still had to attend to the little prince during his meal, so he did not rush off to settle accounts with Xi Zhaoqu.
While Lin Heng was eating breakfast, Xi Zhaoqu arrived!
"Little prince, His Majesty has ordered you to attend the proceedings at the palace training grounds!"
Xi Zhaoqu urged him in a shrill voice, "Little prince, stop eating. If you arrive late, beware of His Majesty's anger!"
Lin Heng remained unmoved and continued eating as he asked, "Chief Steward Xi, the palace kitchens have been sending less and less food here lately. I heard it was on your orders. Is that true?"
He too had attained a divine soul, and his divine sense had picked up the conversation between Hong San and the two palace maids in the gatehouse that morning.
"That's right!"
Xi Zhaoqu lifted his chin, looking as though he had nothing to fear.
"Hong San, Chief Steward Xi used to be your subordinate. You're partly responsible for the way he's acting, so discipline him yourself!"
Lin Heng gave the order expressionlessly. "I slapped him outside the Hall of Longevity before, but it seems I didn't hit him hard enough to make the lesson stick. Don't hold back this time!"
"Uh... this old servant obeys!"
Hong San was quite taken aback.
No matter what, Xi Zhaoqu was the current chief steward of palace affairs and a trusted confidant of the kingdom's ruler. If he really gave Xi Zhaoqu a sound beating, the ruler would likely fly into a rage!
Back when Lady Goddess was there, everything had been easy to settle!
Let alone beating Xi Zhaoqu, even if they had beaten the kingdom's ruler, the entire Chishui Royal Clan would not have put up any resistance.
But Lady Goddess was no longer there!
Did the little prince really mean to stir up such enormous trouble?
Hong San could only keep those thoughts to himself. Whatever the little prince ordered him to do, he would not disobey, even if it meant dying!