214: Birthday banquet begins

After Dragon King Ao Guang hurried away from the banquet, although Crown Prince Ao Qin tried his best to maintain the atmosphere in Zichen Hall, a subtle tension was still hard to conceal.

The subsequent banquet proceedings were completed according to schedule, but Gao De had no heart for socializing and merely maintained superficial courtesies.

After the banquet ended, Gao De returned to Bibo Garden and immediately closed his doors to visitors.

He needed to digest what he had seen today, especially the Dragon King's unusual act of leaving midway, as well as the increasingly strong sense of foreboding in his heart.

In the following days, Qianyuan City remained outwardly immersed in the festivity and busyness of the approaching birthday banquet.

Guests from all sides were arriving in increasing numbers, the city markets became livelier, and various trade fairs and private gatherings were constant.

However, Gao De keenly noticed that the guards in the core area of the Dragon Palace had been noticeably strengthened, the patrol frequency of the imperial guards was higher, and the Formation fluctuations near some important buildings had also subtly increased.

The air seemed to be permeated with an invisible sense of tension.

During this period, Gao De was not idle; through limited information channels and sporadic details occasionally revealed by some attendants, he gained a clearer understanding of the Dragon Palace's core power structure:

The core of the Dragon Clan, Dragon King Ao Guang, possessed unfathomable cultivation, recognized as being at the Peak Fourth Stage, and perhaps even touching the edge of the Fifth Stage; he was the absolute supreme Dominator of the Qian River Basin.

The position of Dragon Queen had always been vacant; the many dragon sons and daughters had different mothers, but no one had ever been able to ascend to the Queen's position.

Dragon King Ao Guang had over a hundred dragon sons and daughters, not including the more distantly related dragon grandchildren.

Among them, the three most outstanding Crown Princes—the First Prince, the Third Prince, and the Fourteenth Prince—had all reached the Late Fourth Stage in cultivation, each with their own fiefs and subordinates, making them strong contenders for the future position of Dragon King.

There were over twenty Crown Princes in the Dragon Palace. As far as Gao De understood, in the Qianjiang Dragon Palace, only dragon sons who reached the Fourth Stage could be called Crown Princes, and Crown Prince Ao Qin was one of them.

As for the remaining dragon sons and daughters, as long as they were adults, the lowest cultivation among them was Early Third-Rank, and they each held positions or fiefs. These dragon descendants constituted the core ruling class and military guarantee of the Dragon Palace.

The system of high-ranking officials on the other side of the Dragon Palace was headed by Turtle Chancellor. This old turtle, who had served the Dragon King for thousands of years and whose shell patterns seemed to record history, was also a Great Monster at the Late Fourth Stage. He oversaw the daily administration of the Dragon Palace, had protégés and former subordinates in every department, commanded immense prestige, and was an important pillar for balancing various forces.

Under him were the "Great General Zhenhai," a Middle Stage Fourth-Rank Horned Dragon in charge of military affairs; the "Palace Master of Punishment," a Middle Stage Fourth-Rank Iron-Faced Black Flood Dragon in charge of penal laws; and the "General Manager of the Treasury," a Middle Stage Fourth-Rank Treasure Gold Toad in charge of finance and resources, among others.

Although these high-ranking officials included some Flood Dragon kin, they had no blood relation to Dragon King Ao Guang.

The heads of each department and important generals generally had cultivation levels ranging from Early Fourth Stage to Middle Fourth Stage.

The entire Dragon Palace had over a hundred Fourth Stage existences revealed in the open!

This did not include those generals stationed outside or the experts hidden by the Dragon Clan.

What a terrifying force this was! Gao De felt a chill in his heart.

Compared to this, Qianjiao Cliff was simply like a firefly compared to the bright moon.

Never mind the Dragon King and those few Late Fourth Stage Crown Princes and Prime Minister Turtle; even just casually dispatching a few Middle Fourth Stage dragon sons or high-ranking officials could likely easily wipe out his foundation.

"This is the true foundation of a major power that rules a region and has a long-standing Legacy..." Gao De sighed inwardly, while also realizing more profoundly that if he wanted to gain a foothold and grow in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range and the Qian River tributaries, he would inevitably have to deal with this behemoth in the future, and he must be extremely cautious.

In the blink of an eye, the actual day of Dragon King Ao Guang's nine-thousandth birthday finally arrived. It was only after arriving here that Gao De learned that, in order to seek good fortune, the dragon descendants had obtained the Dragon King's consent to hold the "Boundless Longevity Banquet" a thousand years in advance.

On this day, Qianyuan City was decorated with lanterns and streamers, and ten thousand monsters came to pay their respects.

With the main hall of the Dragon Palace, the "Crystal Palace," as the center, the surrounding thousand-mile waters were all shrouded in festive rosy clouds and auspicious mists.

Celestial music resounded through the water, spiritual flowers scattered across the sky, and countless rare and exotic beasts pulled magnificent carriages, carrying guests from all sides and converging into a torrent that surged toward the Crystal Palace.

Gao De had also dressed neatly early on, wearing a Purple Heaven Dragon-Pattern Robe, and taking the carefully selected Iron Profound and a few other monsters as his attendants, he boarded the "Nine-Flood Dragon Agarwood Carriage" sent by the Dragon Palace along with other guests to head to the Crystal Palace for the banquet.

Although the Crystal Palace was named after crystal, it was not actually built entirely of crystal; rather, it was a magnificent, dreamlike, and peerlessly beautiful underwater palace complex crafted from countless precious jades, coral, spiritual wood, and divine iron, combined with heaven-defying Formation and Artifact Refining methods.

The area of the Crystal Palace was extremely vast; although most of it was shrouded by Formations and could not be seen clearly, what was revealed was already astonishing.

Following the flow of people off the carriage, the main hall nearby towered into the clouds, and a huge "Canghai Bright Moon Pearl" on the roof of the hall emitted a soft, clear radiance, illuminating the entire palace city.

The square in front of the hall was vast and boundless; at this moment, it was already crowded with guests, arranged according to area and status.

Gao De was guided to a seat in a relatively forward area, surrounded mostly by guests similar to him, whose strength and status were in the upper-middle range; being an Early Fourth Stage here was not particularly outstanding.

He looked up and saw that on the high platform of the main hall, Dragon King Ao Guang sat majestically on a throne coiled with nine dragons, wearing the most solemn imperial robes and crown, his divine light contained within, his dignity vast and immense.

On both sides of the high platform and in the front rows below were the core members and high-ranking officials of the Dragon Palace.

On the left, headed by the three most extraordinary Crown Princes, were those three Late Fourth Stage existences: Crown Prince Ao Qin, Crown Prince Ao Lie, and Crown Prince Ao Bing.

Behind them were the other dragon sons and daughters arranged in order, each with dragon-like bearing and phoenix-like grace, possessing powerful auras, the lowest of which was Early Fourth Stage.

Just these twenty-plus dragon sons and daughters standing there, the gathered Dragon Might and Luck were enough to make the world change color.

On the right, headed by the Turtle Chancellor.

This old turtle had also changed into his formal chancellor's attire today, holding a jade tablet, his aura as steady and heavy as a mountain; he appeared old, but no one dared to underestimate his wisdom and power.

Behind him, high-ranking officials such as the Great General Zhenhai, the Palace Master of Punishment, and the General Manager of the Treasury stood in order, all of Fourth Stage cultivation, among whom there was no shortage of experts at the Middle Fourth Stage or even approaching the Late Fourth Stage.

Further back, there were deputy officials of various departments, important generals, commanders of the Dragon Palace Imperial Guards, etc., their auras linked together like a thick, heavy underwater mountain range.

A rough count showed that just the core members and high-ranking officials of the Dragon Palace standing near the high platform who clearly emitted Fourth Stage auras exceeded fifty!

If one added the hidden experts among the imperial guard generals and ceremonial officials dispersed throughout the banquet to maintain order and handle reception, as well as those auras lurking in the dark corners of the palace and behind the Formation nodes... today, in this Crystal Palace, the Fourth Stage existences exposed by the Qianjiang Dragon Palace definitely exceeded one hundred!

And this was only what was "exposed"! Heaven knows how much more hidden foundation there was deep within the Dragon Palace!

Gao De's shock was beyond measure.

He knew the strength of the Qianjiang Dragon Palace, but only by witnessing this array of Fourth Stage experts, like a galaxy of stars, could he truly appreciate the terrifying power possessed by such a major power with a long-standing Legacy.

By comparison, the Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals patrol teams and grassroots officials he had seen before were nothing more than the most insignificant tentacles of this behemoth.

"Ten thousand years of foundation, terrifying to this extent..." Gao De took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart.

He knew that his meager cultivation was not worth mentioning in front of the Dragon Palace, and he must not be negligent or careless.

But the more this was the case, the more he needed to act cautiously; not showing fear and not being ostentatious was the best way to hide himself.

When the birthday banquet officially began, bells and drums rang in unison, ceremonial officials chanted, and various forces stepped forward one by one to present congratulatory gifts and recite auspicious blessings.

The scene was grand, and the etiquette was cumbersome. Gao De also stood up with the many guests according to the procedure, recited his blessing, and received a faint nod from the Dragon King.

Following this were grand song and dance performances, the enjoyment of celestial wine and spiritual fruits, and free interaction among the guests from all sides.

Gao De sat quietly in his seat, tasting the delicacies unique to the Dragon Palace while observing calmly.

It had to be said that the Dragon Palace's foundation was reflected in every aspect; the Mermaid woman leading the dance in the venue actually had Fourth Stage cultivation.

Of course, Gao De certainly would not focus all his attention on the dancers, and his peripheral vision swept across the entire venue.

He saw Mysterious Mechanism Master and Shopkeeper Chen from the Central Continent; they were whispering with the Turtle Chancellor and a heavily armored Dragon Palace official, their expressions focused.

He saw the three Late Fourth Stage Crown Princes; although they seemed harmonious on the surface, when their eyes met, there were hidden sparks.

Their respective supporters also sat in different areas, vaguely forming factions. These adult Fourth Stage dragon sons all had their own fiefs and subordinates, and only when encountering such major events would they possibly return.

He saw the Turtle Chancellor's seemingly murky eyes slowly sweep across the venue, lingering for a moment especially on the few Crown Princes and the guests from the Central Continent.

He also noticed that although Dragon King Ao Guang sat high in the main seat, accepting the congratulations of ten thousand monsters with a smile on his face, deep in his eyes, that trace of imperceptible gravity and fatigue seemed even more obvious than when he was in Zichen Hall.

Moreover, that minister who emitted a cold aura was currently standing not far behind the Dragon King's throne, his brows tightly locked, his lips moving slightly, as if he were transmitting something to the Dragon King.

The Dragon King listened, the smile on his face slightly retracted, and his fingers unconsciously tapped on the throne's armrest.