On this matter, Li Cheng paid special attention, focusing on Xiaoyao's identity. He felt Xiaoyao's previous words shouldn't be suitable for dealing with the current situation. In this circumstance, no matter how spoiled he was, he should reveal his identity now.
However, he was disappointed. Xiaoyao gave the same response—
"Just call me Young Prince. You don't need to know anything else. If you find it troublesome to distinguish, just call me Great Tang Young Prince. At this time, other Great Tang Empire Young Princes won't appear, and even if they do, they'll have to step aside for me," Xiaoyao said very arrogantly while playing with Chi Chi.
This was too arrogant! His spoiled behavior had reached an incredible degree. Why would the Great Tang Empire send such a person? Were they dissatisfied with Baiyue Kingdom and wanted to give them a warning?
Immediately, the Baiyue Kingdom people thought secretly, they felt this situation needed to be reported to His Majesty.
"Great Tang Empire, Great Tang Young Prince, hmph..." Seeing this situation, Li Cheng snorted coldly. This was disdain, disdain for the Great Tang Empire's arrangement this time, disdain for this spoiled Young Prince Xiaoyao.
Soon, officials from the Great Tang Empire took over the diplomatic responsibilities, preventing the Baiyue Kingdom people from further contact with Xiaoyao. At the same time, they didn't reveal Xiaoyao's identity. When others asked, they only said this was arranged from above and couldn't be disclosed, or they would face serious trouble.
In fact, even if they wanted to say something, they didn't know what to say. Regarding Xiaoyao's identity, no one in this delegation knew. They only knew this Young Prince Xiaoyao was personally sent by Ning Zhiyuan, who also instructed that no one should ask questions, just do what they were supposed to do.
...
Although Xiaoyao had gained some fame now, his reputation was limited to a small group of people knowing about it. Even fewer people knew what he looked like. So if Xiaoyao didn't say who he was, probably not many people would know his identity. The Great Tang delegation only knew Xiaoyao was a Young Prince, they knew nothing else.
Next, Xiaoyao was taken to a place where he would temporarily stay. Baiyue Kingdom's state guesthouse for receiving visitors. This had the highest standard accommodation conditions in Baiyue Kingdom, incomparable to ordinary inns.
Because of this, while Xiaoyao stayed here, Li Cheng also resided in the same place. However, both lived in very independent areas. Unless they happened to meet while going out, they wouldn't encounter each other again.
For Li Cheng, this was good news, he didn't want to see this spoiled Young Prince Xiaoyao again. For Xiaoyao, this didn't matter, whether he saw him or not, he could ignore the other party. Moreover, he had no intention of staying in this state guesthouse anyway.
"Alright, from today you can move freely, and I can also move freely. If there's any urgent matter, fire this signal flare. As long as I'm in this city, I'll immediately contact you," Xiaoyao said while handing the delegation a signal flare.
"Young Prince, you mean you don't plan to stay here or be with us?" the official asked somewhat weakly. He didn't want Xiaoyao to feel he was trying to obstruct him, but he had to clarify this matter.
"Mm, you handle your diplomacy. I have nothing to do here, so I'll go sightseeing. I might not return for the next few days. I'll register for the competition myself, you don't need to handle that. Since they say there are no identity restrictions, I'll just be an ordinary commoner," Xiaoyao smiled and answered indifferently.
"But how will we know where to find Young Prince's name when the time comes?" the official asked. You haven't revealed your identity, and even we don't know. If you appear in the competition and we need to cheer for you, most importantly, if others ask us and we don't know, that would be embarrassing.
"Don't worry, you'll know," Xiaoyao smiled mysteriously, then left carrying Chi Chi.
Xiaoyao left this place openly, he wasn't afraid of being seen. He believed others wouldn't pay too much attention to his whereabouts, just finding it strange that the Great Tang Empire let this Young Prince wander around alone without even one person following him.
However, even if they found it strange, they wouldn't care too much. On this continent, even an emperor walking alone wouldn't be strange, because people believed the emperor's martial prowess was sufficient for self-protection. If this Young Prince Xiaoyao had self-protection abilities, what was strange about him walking outside alone?
After leaving, Xiaoyao crossed several intersections and confirmed no one was following him before asking for directions about local scenic spots, delicious food, and customs. Since he'd come to a new place, the first thing to do was naturally tourism!!
The day was still early, so he could visit several places. The reason Xiaoyao came out immediately was also for this, he wanted to explore and have fun here first. Being with the Great Tang delegation was a burden.
Xiaoyao quickly learned about some places and immediately went sightseeing. Some places even had night scenery, so he could continue in the evening.
Xiaoyao spent more than two days roughly touring Yue City. Although not very detailed, it wasn't far off. His favorite place in Yue City was the Sword Tomb, where thousands of years of accumulated sword-forging failures and defective products were buried.
Although they were all failures and defects, Xiaoyao could see the formation of various techniques. Failure is the mother of success, the failures of these defective products were actually the accumulation toward success.
Xiaoyao didn't know if others had discovered this, but he had. So after touring all of Yue City, the first place he revisited was this Sword Tomb.
Although called a tomb, this Sword Tomb didn't look like one at all. It was more like a massive sword-forging museum. Failed works and defective products from famous craftsmen were displayed above with special introductions, while works from unknowns or unqualified sword-forgers were thrown on the ground in the middle, in that sunken area.
Also, there were only swords here, no other weapons. Although Baiyue Kingdom's sword-forgers could craft any weapon, swords were still the most recognized and favored weapons. Only swords were qualified to be in this Sword Tomb.
At the same time, a sword-forger's skill was often judged by the swords they forged!
Not only did sword-forgers favor them, but many martial artists also preferred using swords. Because swords were the king of all weapons, carrying them into certain places wouldn't make people think you were just a crude warrior, it wouldn't be offensive, something other weapons couldn't achieve.
Many people who considered themselves gentlemen naturally used swords, while many who thought this looked more impressive also used swords. Finally, even more people started using swords because so many others were using them!
Returning to the Sword Tomb topic, since its establishment, there had been an interesting rule: you could purchase items inside, any of the failed or defective swords.
However, the price wasn't that of buying a defective product, not only did you pay the price of a perfect sword, it might even be higher.
Higher prices generally referred to works by famous craftsmen. As for unknowns, they didn't have this qualification. But why would others buy defective products from unknowns at the price of a perfect sword? No one would do this.
Today, Xiaoyao seemed to want to break this rule. He had his eye on several swords, several swords by unknowns. At least they were classified in the area for unknowns, thrown on the ground, mixed among these numerous defective products.
Xiaoyao wanted these swords not to study their techniques, if he wanted to study them, he could do so on the spot without buying them. The techniques used in these swords, like other swords, were already in his mind.
The reason Xiaoyao wanted these swords was because they used very special materials, he wanted to take them back for reforging!
Originally, customers like Xiaoyao were once-in-a-millennium rarities, actually buying such worthless swords. But what was miraculous was that another once-in-a-millennium person appeared at this time, also wanting to buy one of these swords. Combined, this situation became once-in-ten-thousand-years.
"Young sir, I saw this sword first," A young lady saw Xiaoyao pick up one of the swords, looked at him with surprise, then spoke very politely.
"Sorry, I didn't see you. I also took a fancy to this sword and picked it up first," Xiaoyao glanced at the young lady, then replied casually.
"..." The young lady fell silent. She was very surprised, not only by Xiaoyao's straightforward handling of the matter, but also that upon seeing her, Xiaoyao remained so calm without the slightest ripple, and it didn't affect his handling of this matter at all.
If others had seen this incident, they would definitely feel very surprised, surprised by Xiaoyao's calm performance, surprised by his refusal.
Because this young lady was very beautiful, beautiful enough to make one's heart drunk. Yes, that kind of heart-intoxicating feeling. Perhaps in terms of pure beauty, she might not be stronger than the Young Miss and Guxing, but she had this heart-intoxicating feeling. This should be considered a personal temperament, just like how the Young Miss and Guxing had different temperaments.
Such a young lady was accustomed to others feeling intoxicated by her, especially strangers. She had never seen a stranger who could resist her charm, but this young man before her had only glanced at her once, then ignored her allure.
(End of Chapter)