Chapter 68: King Lu Zhe


    On the day ofpetition, it was sunny and Huang Xiaolong came out from his room and saw Fei Hou waiting for him respectfully in the yard.


    When Huang Xiaolong, Fei Hou, Wang Ning, and the three Marshal Mansion’s guards arrived at the Academy square, a sea of people already gathered on the Academy grounds.


    Because today was the Academy’s annual ss and yearpetition, the Academy’s authorities had specifically allowed each student to bring their families or servants to enter the Academy and watch thepetition.


    Of course, each student could only bring up to five people.


    Coming onto the Academy grounds, Huang Xiaolong and his group of six headed straight to the Holy Hall.


    The Academy’s Holy Hall was a few times bigger than the front square; even if tens of thousands of people were crammed inside, it wouldn’t feel crowded at all.


    “That’s Huang Xiaolong!”


    “He is this year’s new batch student, Huang Xiaolong? I heard Jiang Teng already broke through the Fifth Order but was nearly ‘wasted’ by him yesterday!”


    When the crowd saw Huang Xiaolong stepping into the Holy Hall, a buzz erupted amongst the people around. Huang Xiaolong, although a new student, was already famous throughout the Academy, to the point even the older students and teachers all recognized him.


    Ignoring the hush-voiced discussions around him, Xiaolong came to a corner of the hall and stood with Fei Hou and the four guards.


    “Xiaolong!” At this time, a pleasant and surprised voice cried out. Huang Xiaolong turned to look and saw a happy Li Lu running towards him. Huang Xiaolong smiled at Li Lu.


    “I heard this time, not only the King ising to watch thepetition, Marshal Haotian is alsoing!”


    “Marshal Haotian is alsoing? The rumor flying around is, that super-abnormal monster Huang Xiaolong is Marshal Haotian’s illegitimate son, don’t know if this is true or not?”


    Once again, the crowd roared with this piece of news.


    Listening to these people’s words in his ear, Huang Xiaolong couldn’t help but smile in bitterness.


    Suddenly, Huang Xiaolong felt a cold, piercing stare on his body; turning around towards the source, Huang Xiaolong saw Zhong Yuan standing in a group of people.


    In front of Zhong Yuan stood an imposing young man around eighteen to neen years old, encircled by a group of ttering students of both genders. From the looks of it, this young man should be the Prince of the Luo Tong Kingdom, Lu Kai. Also, he was the strongest First Year student ording to everyone.


    At this point, Lu Kai felt Huang Xiaolong’s gaze and two sets of eyes met midair.


    “He is Huang Xiaolong?” Lu Kai’s mouth opened and asked to no one in particr.


    “Yes, he is that Huang Xiaolong!” Zhong Yuan stepped up and replied immediately.


    Lu Kao nodded; his expression was the same the whole time,pletely unperturbed.


    As time flowed, the number of people gathering in the Holy Hall became more and more, and some timeter, from outside the Holy Temple sounded a loud voice announcing, “The King, the Marshal and the Principal have arrived!”


    King Lu Zhe, Marshal Haotian, and Cosmic Star Academy’s Principal, Sun Zhang, arrived together!


    Instantly, Huang Xiaolong and everyone else in the hall turned around to look at the entrance. At the entrance, a middle-aged man wearing a light yellow dragon robe walked majestically and strode into the Holy Hall under the protection of a group of bodyguards. Without a doubt, that middle-aged man was the Luo Tong Kingdom’s King, Lu Zhe, and half a step behind him was Marshal Haotian, and the Cosmic Star Academy Principal, Sun Zhang.


    With King Lu Zhe’s arrival, the crowd quickly saluted, and the crowd began to noisily chatter in the Holy Hall.


    “Haha, everyone rise, stand up!” King Lu Zhe stepped up to the specially prepared guest of honor main tform and sat on the main seat. Marshal Haotian and Principal Sun Zhang sat on each side next to the King.


    After the three ‘biggest’ people were seated, the rest of the nobles followed suit and sat down.


    Not long after everyone had taken their seats, Sun Zhang stood up and made a short speech about thepetition and the rewards. At the mention of rewards, Sun Zhang raised his voice, “Apart from the usual rewards, the King is generous enough to add one million gold coins and a set of an early Earth grade cultivation technique for all first ce winners of the Year category.”


    One million gold coins!


    An early Earth rank cultivation technique!


    The crowd broke out in an uproar, eyes hot with burning desire.


    Even Huang Xiaolong was surprised. One million gold coins wasn’t some spare change, and it was even coupled with an early Earth rank cultivation technique. In the Luo Tong Kingdom, this was not something that could be bought even with gold coins.


    Xiaolong’s eyes squinted. If he took the First Year’s first ce, in addition to the rewards, there was still the Earth rank battle skill that Sun Zhang promised him; then, would he be getting one Earth rank cultivation technique and one battle skill?


    An Earth rank cultivation technique and battle skill were useless to him. But, it could be passed to his parents and his little brother and sister; nheless, learning an extra battle skill was an advantage.


    “Then, let thepetition begin!” Sun Zhang nced at the crowd and finally dered.


    After Sun Zhang finished his announcement, the hall fell into a brief moment of silence, and then the sspetition began.


    Cosmic Star Academy had a total of three ss years, so thepetition was held in three different ces.


    However, only the winner of each ss was eligible to contest in the year categorypetition. Thus, every ss of each year needed topete.


    The First Years had the most number of sses, a total of fourteen of them and Xiaolong was in thest ss, the fourteenth ss.


    In the ss levelpetition, not all the ss students would battle it out. Instead, the ss teacher would nominate the strongest two people topete, and the winner was considered as number one. Of course, if there was someone who disagreed with this, they could also challenge the winner.


    In ss Fourteen of the First Years, undeniably, the two strongest people would be Huang Xiaolong and Jiang Teng. But, yesterday Jiang Teng was almost crippled by Huang Xiaolong; from the injuries, without ten days to half a month’s rest, it would be hard for Jiang Teng to get out from the bed. So, left with no choice, Xiong Meiqi could only nominate Huang Xiaolong and another student called Chen Tong...


    However, this student called Chen Tong just recently advanced into the Fourth Order. The moment Chen Tong walked up to the stage, he immediately threw in the towel. This result stunned everyone speechless, but no one found it surprising. Even Jiang Teng who possesses a grade eleven martial spirit and broke through to the Fifth Order was nearly wasted by Huang Xiaolong, not to mention a new Fourth Order Chen Tong?


    Chen Tong’s concession was considered a smart move on his part, knowing one’s limitations.


    With Chen Tong’s action, no one else in ss Fourteen dared to challenge Huang Xiaolong. Thus, by default, he became the ss winner without moving a finger.


    When Xiong Meiqi announced Huang Xiaolong’s victory, her face was full ofplex emotions as she looked at Huang Xiaolong standing up on the stage.


    While ss Fourteen’s winner was already announced, the other thirteen sses were still in progress; therefore, when Xiong Meiqi made the announcement, everyone eximed in surprised gasps.


    On the honored guests’ tform, King Lu Zhe also noticed the situation around ss Fourteen’s stage; watching Huang Xiaolong, King Lu Zhe said to Marshal Haotian, “He is Huang Xiaolong? A young hero in the making, ah; Haotian, during our time, when we were ten or so, we were just a Fourth Order warrior right?”


    Marshal Haotianughed and said, “It is so, King.”


    Lu Zhe nodded and looked the other way where his son, Lu Kai, was. His eyes showed a spoiled love and he smiled, “I heard some say Huang Xiaolong had a bet with Zhong Yuan, wanting to get the first ce in the yearpetition. Later, probably he wille against Kai’er.”


    Although Lu Zhe spoke in such a manner, his demeanor was rxed; apparently, he did not believe Huang Xiaolong was his son’s rival to fight for the first ce. After the sspetition, the contestants for the yearpetition would draw lots to determine their next opponent. One after another, till the end, the year category winner woulde out and in Lu Zhe’s opinion, Huang Xiaolong would be eliminated halfway, having no opportunity to y against his son.


    Noticing King Lu Zhe’s smile, Marshal Haotian already saw through his thoughts; smiling, Marshal Haotian did not say anything.


    A whileter, all fourteen sses from the First Year category had been determined with their representative winner. Then, the next event would be the fight for the First Year champion.