Chapter 38: The Humiliated Prince

Feng Yan opened his eyes, looked around, and stared wide-eyed at what was before him.

Everything around was various unfamiliar things, the walls were also plated with a thin layer of gold; just as Feng Yan began to marvel at this place, soldiers arrived outside the door and respectfully said: "Two adventurers, please come into the main hall, the king summons you."

Feng Yan casually said something, the soldier hearing the answer also relaxed and slowly walked away; Feng Yan picked up his sword, drew it from the scabbard, looked at the black sword, his expression gradually turned solemn, then after a moment he sheathed it. Chen Hao observed Feng Yan's actions, asked nothing, they nodded, preparing to go into the main hall; Feng Yan once again quietly placed the Black Sword beside Wang You, looking at her sleeping appearance, Feng Yan smiled.

"How?" Chen Hao teased, "Not going to look a bit longer?"

"Not at all, this is for justice, yes, justice." Feng Yan replied.

"Who knows?" Chen Hao showed a mischievous smile and said to Feng Yan.

Feng Yan and Chen Hao slowly walked through the narrow alley, slowly proceeding; along the way they saw many strange flowers and exotic herbs, and both felt their horizons broadened. They couldn't help looking around: glazed tiles, lacquered gold doors, everything was precious; sunlight shone on them, Feng Yan and Chen Hao shielded their hands from the reflected light, while praising Wanggong's extravagant wealth, they muttered curses: "That bastard designer did this, really blinding!"

Inside the main hall, Feng Yan and Chen Hao saw the king; the king appeared very wealthy and fat, wearing a golden robe, a golden crown, with an exquisite openwork pattern in the center holding a green jade bead, looking extremely luxurious and expensive; Feng Yan and Chen Hao looking at the king before him, he seemed like a moving giant gold coin, they opened their mouths wide, showing great astonishment.

Seeing their expressions, the king said: "You need not be surprised; the state of Benefit is fundamentally a nation that measures status by wealth; as king, I naturally ought to have attire more splendid and extravagant than ordinary people's, for I am the king! I have this capital!"

Hearing this, Feng Yan wanted to say something, but Chen Hao grabbed him and signaled him not to speak.

"Then. My son and the other adventurers should have arrived too!" the king said.

As the sound from outside arrived, the prince slowly entered the palace; beside him followed two people, a man and a woman, one of whom carried a crossbow on his back; Feng Yan looked at those two and knew they were Yang Xin and Wang Tingwan.

"Sorry, father king, I came late!" the prince said, performing a salute toward the king seated on the throne.

"It's fine, my child." the king showed a loving expression and said, "Rise; I heard you also invited two adventurers?"

The prince rose, performed a salute to the king, and said: "Yes, father, a few days ago the two adventurers you invited took me to Ju Ren Guo to participate in the Ju Ren Guo princess's competition; on the way back we met Yang Xin and that adventurer beside him, and our country suddenly had four adventurers, truly our kingdom's fortune, father king!"

The king nodded, indicating agreement with what his child said, then said: "So, may the few of you compete a bit?"

Yang Xin smiled and said: "Sure, but I don't know what you want to compare, Your Majesty."

The king laughed and said: "Since we are in Benefit State, when in Rome do as the Romans do—let's compare wealth!"

Yang Xin was embarrassed, and said to the king: "As adventurers, wealth is external to us, so let's change the contest."

"Don't refuse, this is just fine!" Feng Yan interrupted Yang Xin's words, saying with a hint of schadenfreude.

"This……" the king was momentarily at a loss.

The prince said to the king: "Since we have entered this state, we should compare wealth!" At the same time he whispered to Yang Xin.

Yang Xin showed a smile, thinking inwardly: "Let's see how you compare wealth with me!" Then he nodded to the king.

The king showed a smile, indicating that they could begin.

The prince secretly slipped a packet of gold into Yang Xin's hand; Yang Xin opened it to find it was melon seeds, then threw them on the ground; the soldiers all showed expressions of surprise, but more were puzzled, because those melon seeds were originally the prince's.

"For adventurers, this is truly a substantial sum of money." the king said, showing an appreciative expression, then turned to ask Feng Yan and Chen Hao: "So do you two have any more wealth? If not, just admit defeat!"

All that was seen was Feng Yan throwing his marching pack to the ground; the ground emitted a deep "thud", the soldiers widened their eyes, the king also changed color, for inside the marching pack were actually gold bricks, and indeed a large pack of pure gold bricks!

"Melon seeds, what nonsense, is that even worth looking at?" Feng Yan mocked, then picked up the marching pack and threw out a gold brick; the soldiers behind all wanted to rush forward to seize that lump of gold and take it home, something that could not be spent in ten years!

The king collected himself, let out a cough, and said: "Adventurers are refined persons; they should not be measured by money; now, would you like to exchange a few moves?"

"Why not?" Feng Yan answered the king's words, continuing: "But does the winner get any reward or……?"

"Fine, you want anything; as long as it's within my realm, I will certainly comply!" the king said with a smile.

"That's also fine; we'll talk after winning!" the prince said angrily to Feng Yan.

Then the king asked: "What will you two compare?"

Feng Yan put on a modest appearance and said: "Please let the adventurer beside the prince decide; we'll go with whatever."

Yang Xin looked at Feng Yan's expression, clearly seeing it as a provocation, but then thought: "If we compare swords, his sword is indeed hard to deal with; if archery? No way—who knows if this country has any rotten bows? Then the only option……"

Thus Yang Xin said to the king: "Your Majesty, let's compare close combat!"

The king assented and nodded.

Outside the main hall, Feng Yan and Yang Xin faced each other.

"I thought we were still friends." Yang Xin said, showing a regretful expression.

Looking at Yang Xin's expression, Feng Yan displayed an extremely contemptuous attitude and said: "Don't disgust me; am I, this kind of person, worthy of being friends with you?"

"Both of you, get ready!" the referee shouted.

The two clasped fists, bowed to each other; their previous covert rivalry had now surfaced openly.

The referee struck the bronze gong, emitting a clear "ding", and the two began to move!

Yang Xin threw a straight punch at Feng Yan; Feng Yan sidestepped to dodge, then struck Yang Xin's abdomen with a palm, but without force; Yang Xin felt provoked and retaliated with a high kick; Feng Yan grabbed Yang Xin's leg and threw him out of the arena.

"Enough, Yang Xin; as an opponent I must admit that, had it not been for my great fortune that day in Blood Maple Forest, I estimate the chance of those treasures being yours would have been about sixty percent." Feng Yan said modestly.

Seeing Yang Xin turn pale, the prince directly cursed: "Are you trying to humiliate me? Trash!"

Hearing a round of applause, the prince saw Feng Yan clapping and saying: "Your Highness the Prince is indeed clever; not bad, Yang Xin lost the match, and as the victor's reward, Your Majesty the King, can you fulfill your promise?"

The king laughed and said: "Your match with the other adventurer was truly splendid! Well, speak, what do you want?"

Feng Yan smiled and said: "I neither want any reward nor need a house or anything; moreover, for Your Majesty the King, this is something that can be said to be very simple."

Upon hearing this, the king became puzzled and asked: "A very simple matter? Then what exactly do you want?"

Feng Yan waved his hand, summoned a guard, whispered to him, and said: "Very simple; let His Highness the Prince take off my and Chen Hao's shoes and wash our feet!"

Upon hearing this, the prince flew into a rage and shouted: "What are you, making this prince take off your shoes and wash your feet!"

Chen Hao clapped his hands and said: "Then, the person should have arrived."

Outside the door, a dance maiden slowly approached; sunlight shone on her, making her appear even more radiant; the soldiers turned their heads to look, her beauty, while not surpassing the legendary beauty of 'closed moon, shy flower', could still be described as capable of overturning states and cities; the maiden wore white robes, slowly walking to Feng Yan and Chen Hao's side; the prince saw the maiden, first felt surprise, then anger, for she was the one Feng Yan and Chen Hao had snatched from his hand.

"Wang You, has arrived." Feng Yan and Chen Hao asked together.

"Yes, two adventurers." Wang You said respectfully, then performed a salute to the king and continued: "Greetings, Your Majesty the King."

"Father king, I am after all the son of a state, the future heir! Do you really intend to let me go wash the feet of these barbarians?" the prince asked the king, pleading with the father king not to issue such an order.

The king also momentarily found himself at a loss, and asked Feng Yan and Chen Hao: "Why not, you two, propose some other request instead?"

"Otherwise, that's fine too! Then kneel in the main hall for two hours!" Feng Yan said somewhat casually.

Prince gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Don't be so unreasonable! All soldiers inside Wanggong, listen up, surround these two people, kill without mercy!"

After a moment, the soldiers surrounded Feng Yan and his two companions. The prince said somewhat proudly: "Last time it was your great luck, you had that strange sword on you; now I've had people lock up that strange sword, this time, aren't you going to die?"

The prince laughed proudly, Yang Xin had already aimed his crossbow at the two of them, and Feng Yan whispered to Chen Hao: "Chen Hao, remember to protect Forget-Worry; you'll pay attention to Yang Xin's arrows later; that thing the dwarves gave you is still on you, right?"

Chen Hao nodded and said: "Sure, I can do that!"

The prince looked at them and said proudly: "I don't see how you'll fight this time; your sword will be mine too!"

The king stared at the gold in the marching pack on the ground, remaining silent for a long time.

Feng Yan looked at the prince's proud smile and said: "So you think we'll die here, that this will be our burial place?"

"Unless you have another magical weapon!" the prince said, again smiling proudly, "This time, I've won!"

"Is that so?" Feng Yan smiled, then extended his right hand. The prince exclaimed in alarm, seeing a Black Sword swiftly flying toward him, about to reach Feng Yan's hand! Yang Xin, seeing it was bad, directly aimed his crossbow bolt at Feng Yan and fired, the corners of his mouth curling in a smug smile, then only a small metal piece was seen flicking out; the metal arrowhead collided with that metal, the arrowhead's flight direction changed, directly embedding into the palace's pillar; Feng Yan gripped the Black Sword in his hand, emitting a terrifying aura, the soldiers dared not step forward, nor dare to rashly attack.

Feng Yan darkened his face, speaking in a low voice: "I give you three choices: one, honestly wash my feet and withdraw the troops; two, I kill all the soldiers present and, by the way, demolish this imperial palace; three, you kneel down and perform three great kowtows, calling me grandfather, and I'll let this matter go."

The prince, frightened, collapsed to the ground; the king gestured to the soldiers, who scattered, then said to Feng Yan: "Calm down, calm down, this is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, don't get angry."

"A misunderstanding? Then how to dispel the misunderstanding—of those three choices, will Your Majesty the king choose, or will your son choose?" Feng Yan asked.

The king's expression panicked, he hurriedly urged his son, saying: "Son, speak up quickly, quickly!"

Hearing the king's urging, the prince extremely unwillingly walked over and said to Feng Yan and Chen Hao: "I will wash your feet!"

"That's right!" Chen Hao laughed and said.

Feng Yan summoned the guards to bring two chairs, then sat on them and asked: "So, will you fetch the foot-washing water yourself, or have the guards do it for you?"

Upon hearing that, the guards directly brought two basins of foot-washing water and placed them before Feng Yan and his companion.

Feng Yan stretched out his foot, then gestured for the prince to come over; the prince extremely unwillingly grabbed Feng Yan's shoe with one hand, twisting his head aside, feeling stifled inside; Yang Xin and Wang Tingwan watched, wanting to laugh out loud, but covered their mouths.

Finally the prince placed Feng Yan's foot in the basin, and Feng Yan said: "Alright, go help the other one."

The prince seethed inside, slowly finishing the task, yet had nowhere to vent his frustration.

"Well then, Your Majesty the king, we're taking our leave!" Feng Yan said, and Forget-Worry and Chen Hao returned together to the traveling palace.

After they left, the prince burst out cursing: "You're useless! What kind of crossbow is that, can't even hit a person! I see you're just a defeated subordinate of Feng Yan!"

Yang Xin paid no heed to those insults, watching Feng Yan's slowly receding back, thinking: "The gaming feel has just begun!"

Feng Yan and Chen Hao returned to the traveling palace, and Feng Yan said: "That prince is truly pitiful, haha."

Chen Hao kept laughing and said: "You know how to play, others strongmen take off their boots, but you— you made the prince wash your feet."

Their bodies slowly turned transparent, then they knew they should leave, but with a flash they were still here.

The two felt astonished, saying: "Could it be......"