Chapter 131: Making a Spectacle of Oneself

Ao Jinyu nodded. "I see... This guest was specifically invited by the Dragon King himself. Here is the invitation; please arrange accommodations for him at once."

She tossed the invitation over, which the leader of the water troops caught, glanced at briefly, and then accepted. He cleared a path and bowed, saying, "You two have arrived quite early. Please rest for a while in the side hall."

"Very well, lead the way," Ao Jinyu replied.

Liu Ping and Ao Jinyu were led to a side hall, where the leader instructed the maids to attend to them before withdrawing with his troops.

The side hall contained various rooms for resting, decorated with opulence, intricate coffered ceilings, and floors paved with polished jade. It was no less grand than an emperor’s palace, which truly opened the eyes of a small-time nouveau riche like Liu Ping.

"Young Master, please get some rest," Ao Jinyu said. "The Dragon King's banquet is not until tomorrow."

"Understood." Liu Ping nodded. Having traveled constantly, he was indeed a bit weary. However, his nod was intended less for his own sake and more to encourage Ao Jinyu to rest, given that he had spent the entire journey riding on her back.

Yet, hearing such a crisp and decisive agreement left Ao Jinyu feeling a slight sense of loss.

Lately, Liu Ping had never taken the initiative to contact her via the conch shell, and his current demeanor felt rather distant, leaving her feeling somewhat melancholic. While she had told him to rest, her true desire had been to spend more time talking. She felt a sudden jolt in her heart: could she really be falling for this man?

"You must be tired from the journey as well. Go and get some rest," Liu Ping added with a smile.

Ao Jinyu was slightly startled. Was he actually concerned for her?

Seeing her dazed expression, Liu Ping couldn't help but tease, "Could it be that you want to sleep with me? Although I am still a bit shy, if you truly desire to share a bed with me, I could reluctantly sacrifice myself to fulfill your wish."

"Pah!" Ao Jinyu spat. "Who wants to sleep with you? You have no sense of propriety..."

"Are you sure you don't?" Liu Ping asked again.

Hearing the repetitive question, Ao Jinyu felt a flutter in her heart. She hurriedly shook her head, a faint blush staining her cheeks as she turned to leave. "Rest well, Young Master Liu."

Watching her retreating figure, Liu Ping stroked his chin. "Did I make her angry?"

"Actually, My Lady was quite moved just now," one of the two beautiful maids nearby—who looked remarkably similar, likely twins—remarked as she placed spirit fruits on the table. The sharper of the two couldn't help but speak up.

Liu Ping turned back in surprise. "Really?"

The other maid was startled, thinking her younger sister was truly lawless. "Xuan'er, don't talk nonsense."

"Sister Xuan, I'm only telling the truth," the girl named Xuan'er insisted.

"Truth or not, you are not allowed to say it," Xuan'er scolded with a slight frown. She turned to Liu Ping, saying, "My sister is still young, please do not take offense, Young Master Liu. These are some spirit fruits; please enjoy them."

With that, she pulled Xuan'er away.

Watching the two stunning maids leave, Liu Ping shook his head slightly, picked up a spirit peach from the table, and took a bite, unable to help but praise its flavor.

He muttered to himself, "Those two little things actually possess a trace of dragon bloodline... They must be granddaughters of some dragon. What a pity the bloodline is impure; without a divine position, advancing their cultivation will be incredibly difficult."

"But that has nothing to do with me."

***

After polishing off the peach in a few bites, he looked at the remaining fruit on the table, thought for a moment, and—like a total bumpkin—stuffed them all into his storage pouch.

It would be a fool’s errand not to take advantage of free goods.

Liu Ping then lay down in the side hall and fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he had no idea how much time had passed, but since no one had come to summon him, the so-called Dragon King's banquet must not have started yet.

He lay on the soft couch for a while longer, feeling bored, so he stood up and walked outside.

Because he had been marked with a trace of aura, the water troops and maids recognized his status, and he wandered through the palace grounds without being stopped.

The halls were magnificent and gilded. Instead of going deeper, Liu Ping wandered outside, walking along the smooth ground. From time to time, he saw massive night-luminescent pearls embedded in the floor, emitting a faint, beautiful radiance.

Liu Ping bent down, intending to pick one up to play with, only to discover it was embedded so firmly that he couldn't move it at all.

Though he could have forced it out with enough strength, doing so would likely shatter the pearl.

"These night-luminescent pearls cannot be picked up," a voice sounded from the side.

The speaker was a man in his thirties, though his face looked very young, as if he were in his early twenties. He looked at Liu Ping with disdain. To think this man would attempt to pick up the pearls from the floor! What a bumpkin; how embarrassing. Did he not know where he was? This was the Dragon Palace! Every move one made was under the watchful eyes of the Dragon King; to be so boorish was truly ignorant.

Two water troops stood beside the man—evidently the envoys who had brought him—remaining completely silent.

Liu Ping was slightly surprised. He looked up, sensing the contempt in the other's gaze, but felt no anger. This man was likely another guest of the Dragon King's banquet—one of those talented scholars with an affinity for immortality.

"I am Liu Ping, courtesy name Fengchang. May I ask your esteemed name?" Liu Ping asked with a bow.

Since they were both guests, even though the man felt disdain, he couldn't afford to be impolite. He returned the bow respectfully and said, "I am Lu You, courtesy name Ziyu. Greetings, Brother Fengchang. Is this your first time attending the Dragon King's banquet?"

Liu Ping nodded. "The first time."

Lu You gave a faint smile. "No wonder you tried to pick up the night-luminescent pearls. It would be best not to do such laughable things in the future. Oh? Someone else is coming."

Before long, two more scholars arrived. Lu You clearly knew them, and they exchanged pleasantries.

The two newcomers looked at Liu Ping with slight surprise; he was a stranger to them.

"This is a newcomer attending his first Dragon King's banquet. In the future, we will all be 'colleagues' of the same examination year, so let us get to know one another," Lu You said coolly.

Zhao Kun and Zhao Qian quickly introduced themselves to Liu Ping.

*Colleagues?* Liu Ping frowned, feeling a jolt of shock.

As they spoke, that surprise only grew.

They were all scholars who had been enlightened by masters of the Daoist sects, possessed an affinity for immortality, and had achieved success in the secular world.

This fact alone indicated that the Daoist sects had already extended their reach into the secular imperial court.

Following this line of reasoning, the high-ranking officials and powerful nobles in the court might well be formidable experts at the Earth Immortal or Heaven Immortal levels.

The imperial court clearly turned a blind eye to this, which was convenient for Liu Ping; if the study of the Dao were banned alongside the civil service examinations, he would be implicated as well.

Meanwhile, the Dragon King of the Divine Path invited these scholars with immortal affinities to the banquet every year. Such an attitude and such behavior were extremely intriguing.

In their conversation with Liu Ping, all three noticed his surprise and were secretly amused. *A newcomer is indeed a newcomer,* they thought; he knew far too little. But they couldn't blame him; hadn't they worn the same expression when they first arrived?

Lu You and the others were already cultivators around the first stage of the Human Immortal realm, and they were all scholars who held the rank of *Juren*. Among the many scholars attending the banquet, every one of them was a *Juren*, with varying levels of cultivation; there were even two or three who had already broken through to the Earth Immortal realm.

The four chatted casually, walking toward the main hall. Though their cultivation levels were low, their talents as *Juren* were genuine, and their conversation was quite sophisticated. Liu Ping listened with a humble attitude for a while.

Seeing Liu Ping's humility, the three men, despite their initial disdain, began to feel a desire to show off and talked incessantly. Liu Ping actually benefited quite a bit from their insights.

When the talk shifted from literature to cultivation, Liu Ping found it dull. In terms of cultivation, these three hadn't even reached the second stage of the Human Immortal realm, and their understanding was quite crude. Just as Liu Ping was about to offer some pointers, he heard a cry of surprise.

"What a—what a beautiful dragon maiden! I never imagined such beauty existed within the Dragon Palace. Compared to her, those beautiful maids are instantly rendered drab," Lu You said, staring blankly at the young woman who had just flashed past.

The others looked over. Zhao Kun added with an exclamation, "Indeed! Truly mesmerizing! Look at her divine attire..." He gasped, exclaiming, "Hiss, she is actually a Water Controller of a Commandery! If one could climb that social ladder..."

Zhao Qian said with suspicion, "Wait, look! She seems to be walking toward us!"

Lu You raised an eyebrow, becoming excited. "It really is her. She is coming toward us... Is she looking at me?"

"No, how could she be looking at you? She is clearly looking at me," Zhao Kun scoffed, his heart fluttering. He scrambled to compose his words, silently reciting, *I am Zhao Kun, I am Zhao Kun, I am Zhao Kun... No, that's not right. I am Zhao Kun, courtesy name Mengwan, twenty-nine years old this year...*

Soon, Ao Jinyu reached the four men. Just as Lu You and the others were preparing to strike up a conversation, they heard the young woman complain, "Young Master, please don't wander off when you wake up. You've made me search everywhere for you. Honestly..."

Complaining in a low voice, Ao Jinyu ignored the other scholars, grabbed Liu Ping by the hand, and began to lead him away. "The Dragon King is waiting, hurry up. You've caused me so much trouble."

"I was just bored, that's all. Alright, alright, don't be angry," Liu Ping said with an apologetic smile. He turned to the three stunned scholars and waved. "I have learned much from our discussion. Let us meet again at the banquet."

Ao Jinyu moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye, she and Liu Ping vanished.

The three men stood there like wooden chickens, staring blankly at Liu Ping's departure, unable to react for a long time.

After a while, Zhao Kun said in disbelief, "How, how could this be? That Water Controller of a Commandery... she just grabbed Liu Ping and left like that... Who, who, who exactly is he?"

"He doesn't look like a member of the Dragon Clan; he is clearly a human, just like us! How is this possible? Is he some great personage? Why is he so close to that dragon maiden? He clearly looks like he's attending the Dragon King's banquet for the first time..." Lu You said, baffled by the treatment they had just witnessed.

Zhao Qian said with a bitter expression, "We were just there holding court and boasting so grandly... don't you feel it? Because I, for one, feel incredibly embarrassed right now..."