Chapter 1443: The Imperial Clan of Qingluan City, Bursting with Talent! Can I Jump In?

"Young Lady Ningshuang, Ceng Zu has something to ask of you!"

Just as Qin Xiaoxiao was clinging to Qin Ningshuang, acting coquettishly and begging for mercy, a young man of the Qin clan came running over.

They were all members of the Qin clan, but the treatment they received varied enormously.

Those blessed with outstanding beast-tamer talent often received guidance from their elders and enjoyed a lofty status.

"Xiaoxiao is here too!" the young Qin clansman said. "Perfect — Ceng Zu wants you to come as well."

"Is something the matter?"

"I don't know!"

The young Qin clansman shook his head.

"All right!"

Though both girls were somewhat puzzled, they still hurried over.

Qin Ningshuang's grandfather and Qin Xiaoxiao's grandfather were brothers — there was a blood tie between them, but they were not particularly close relatives.

They lived in the same city, their homes not far apart, and since Qin Xiaoxiao's talent was quite good, that was how she came to know Qin Ningshuang.

Otherwise, given how vast their Ceng Zu's branch was, they could never have known every single member.

After meeting their great-grandfather — that is, the present Second Imperial Prince — he spoke with them kindly for a while about matters of cultivation, then instructed them to rise early the next day and come see him; he was going to take them to meet their Gao Zumu, who was none other than the present Empress.

Qin Xiaoxiao asked, "Sister Ningshuang, why do you think Gao Zumu wants to see us?"

From birth until now, Qin Xiaoxiao had only ever seen that Gao Zumu from afar; the very thought of her made Qin Xiaoxiao a little nervous.

"I don't know!" Qin Ningshuang said uncertainly. "Perhaps it's to check on our cultivation progress! If we don't perform well, it would reflect poorly on Gao Zumu as well."

This was the most plausible reason Qin Ningshuang could think of.

The elders of the Qin clan attached tremendous importance to their cultivation!

"Has Sister Ningshuang ever spoken with Gao Zumu?"

Qin Ningshuang nodded. "I have!"

Last year, Qin Ningshuang had performed brilliantly at the Imperial Biwu Assembly, squeezing into the top ten, and had been received by their Gao Zumu; she had exchanged a few words with her great-grandmother at close range.

"Is Gao Zumu fierce?"

"She seemed quite kind!"

"Oh!"

"All right, let's head back!" Qin Ningshuang said. "Get some rest early — we have to rise before dawn tomorrow, and we still need to tidy ourselves up a bit. Ceng Zu made a point of it: we mustn't embarrass him."

"Oh!"

Qin Xiaoxiao nodded.

Though Qin Xiaoxiao wasn't particularly fond of cultivation, she still knew what mattered.

If she displeased Ceng Zu, then to say nothing of her mother, the days of her entire family would be far from pleasant!

On the first day of the Imperial Biwu Assembly, after breakfast, Chen Huan brought Su Yang and Xia Na to the venue of the Imperial Biwu Assembly.

The venue was filled with young, vigorous members of the imperial clan.

They gathered in twos and threes across the parade ground, chatting loudly about the situation of this Imperial Biwu Assembly.

Mainly which geniuses were most likely to take the championship, and which young ladies of the Qin clan were the prettiest!

Hearing these conversations, Su Yang couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth slightly; mingling among these people, he felt quite a bit younger himself.

Of course, strictly speaking, he was only twenty-one — not much older than these contestants.

At the same time, he let his guard down a little.

No matter how cautious Qin Longyun was, surely he wouldn't make a move against him in a situation like this!

These youngsters barely knew Su Yang at all.

They hadn't attended the banquet yesterday — to be precise, they weren't qualified to attend!

Su Yang glanced at their strength, and his expression grew slightly more serious.

"I never expected your imperial clan to truly be so full of talent!"

On the parade ground, among the more than two hundred young men, not a single one was below Platinum rank!

Their strength was simply exaggerated to the extreme!

A Platinum-rank beast tamer could serve as a city lord in the Huaxia Federation!

"These are all the geniuses of the imperial clan — the foundation the imperial clan has built up over a thousand years!" Chen Huan said with a smile. "It's not all that strange. Take the Divine Wind Kingdom, for instance — the imperial Feng clan may well be even more formidable."

"Mm!"

Su Yang quickly calmed himself down.

"You haven't seen the more ordinary children. The vast majority of children don't even qualify to come to Qingluan City or enter the imperial palace!" Chen Huan continued. "The children standing before you are nearly all one-in-a-hundred, even one-in-a-thousand selections from the imperial clan—geniuses from every branch. When it comes to outstanding geniuses, His Majesty has never been stingy with rewards; even their respective branches receive substantial rewards."

Su Yang nodded; he had already discerned the might of the Qingluan Kingdom's imperial clan.

If he had never appeared, the Huaxia Federation might have had only one Imperial-rank expert, and the entire Water Blue Star might have had only one Imperial-rank beast tamer!

Thinking of the Imperial-rank beast tamers within the Qingluan Kingdom's army, and of Qin Longyun, an Imperial-rank beast tamer, everything suddenly didn't seem so hard to accept.

After all, the great world of beast tamers had developed for a hundred thousand years, and possessed far more and far stronger fierce beasts!

These imperial clan youngsters had likely been able to contract a Platinum-rank beast from the very start, had access to a systematic body of beast-tamer knowledge, received guidance from King-rank, Imperial-rank, and Emperor-rank beast tamers, and obtained vast quantities of precious resources.

But what about their Federation?

Children born to commoners could generally only obtain a beast of Bronze potential for their first companion.

Children from well-off families were doing well if their families could obtain a fierce beast of Silver or Gold potential…

At present, the overall combat strength of the Huaxia Federation was extremely unbalanced!

They could only rely on Su Yang, Liu Mengyun, Sovereign Jiazi, and Xia Na to hold up the stage!

The rest lagged far, far behind.

But Su Yang also knew this wasn't something that could be caught up with in a single session!

Even if he pushed himself to catch up, it would likely take several hundred years just to reach this world's average level.

As for catching up to the imperial clan of Qingluan Country, that was practically impossible.

Qingluan Country could barely be considered a powerful nation even on the Beast Tamer Continent!

"General Su, Lord Chen!"

At that moment, an Imperial-rank Beast Tamer stepped forward to greet Su Yang and the others.

"Mm!"

Su Yang nodded.

He didn't recognize this person, only vaguely recalled seeing him at yesterday's banquet.

Seeing the blue robe embroidered with the divine bird Qingluan, Su Yang could only be certain he was a member of the imperial clan.

One after another, people came up to greet Su Yang, and soon Su Yang drew the attention of those young men.

Those who didn't recognize Su Yang were all curious about his identity.

The bolder ones went to ask their own elders.

"Great-Grandfather, who was that person just now?"

"That General Su is Your Majesty's honored guest!"

"Is he very powerful?"

"Of course he's very powerful. When you see him in the future, bow to him properly!"

"But he doesn't look that old!"

"You little brats are nothing but a bunch of frogs at the bottom of a well. That lord is far more powerful than me!"

"..."

"It's about time, General Su may go up to the viewing platform to watch their matches!" Chen Huan said with a smile. "Your Majesty has matters today and likely won't come over for the moment, but the Empress—"

Su Yang raised his head and looked toward the high platform, which stood a hundred meters tall.