The Frightening Prince Jiu

At Bai Ye’s words, the crowd turned to look at Bai Ye—or more specifically, at the jade badge in Bai Ye’s hand.

Even the aloof Tianxuan soldiers who were eager to spill more blood stopped in their tracks, their eyes locked onto the participation badge.

At that moment, a humming sound echoed through the hall.

When Bai Ye revealed her participation badge, the Ranking Crystal began resonating and glowing. Clouds of green smoke enveloped the crystal and the jade participation badge.

The most surprising was…

The green smoke was coalescing into the shape of a dragon which curled up into the character ‘

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nine

‘.

The public did not understand the significance of the character. Those with military backgrounds—Mu Yunzhan and the Tianxuan soldiers—knew what the display meant.

Mu Yunzhan was the first to react. He raced toward Bai Ye who was still holding up the jade badge and knelt down. “All hail Prince Jiu!”

His greeting was followed by a uniform salute from the Tianxuan army. “All hail Prince Jiu!”

At the same moment, Yun Suqian felt his legs give out. He stared at the jade badge in Bai Ye’s hand in disbelief. The sense of dread consumed him.

He was not alone. Qing Xuantian’s legs were trembling.

“All hail Prince Jiu!”

“All hail Prince Jiu…”

Everyone in the assessment hall fell to their knees.

Bai Ye was taken aback by the sudden commotion. She stared at the billowing smoke dragon above her that spelled the character ‘nine’. She was speechless.

Prince Jiu.

Was this the same prince she heard about in stories? Prince Jiu was…

“Prince Jiu has control over the vast majority of the army. He’s the empire’s demon prodigy. To think that he came to Qingyun and chose Lady Bai for the Erudition Trials!”

“Oh my! This is exciting. Lady Bai must be incredibly talented to be selected by Prince Jiu. How—”

“This is a good sign for Qingyun! We can definitely crush the other states this round!”

Excitement thrummed through the crowd. Even the honorary guests—composed of mainly the elderly—were blushing as if they were meeting their first crush.

“Apologies for my earlier rudeness, I did not realize Lady Bai was a seed participant,” Mu Yunzhan said apologetically to Bai Ye. The jade badge made him see her as an equal.

Confused, Bai Ye asked, “Seed participant?”

Mu Yunzhan explained kindly, “A seed participant is someone who can join the Erudition Trials without going through the talent and skill assessments.”

A moment later, he turned to look at Qing Xuantian who was pale as a sheet. “Which also means anyone who tries to take you away is interfering with the Erudition Trials.”

Qing Xuantian’s eyelid twitched. Mu Yunzhan was right, he was done for…

His plans were in tatters.

“Take down all these bandits and scum!” Mu Yunzhan ordered. The soldiers from Qingyun wisely surrendered.

Yun Suqian abandoned his plans to call the Tong City guards for help.

Bai Ye had a frown on her face.

1. The character, ‘九’, in Yu Jiuchong’s name (御九重) also means the number nine.