Chapter 418: The Gathering of Dragons! (1/2)

Chapter 418: The Gathering of Dragons!

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

When Wang Chong was leaving the practice ground, deep within the palace, the Fifth Prince, Li Heng, was pacing around, his head lowered and his heart full of worries.

In front of him was a threshold that was not even a foot high. Yet this threshold was like a high and invisible wall, solid and thick. With a pressure that made it hard to breathe, it stood in front of Li Heng.

Everything was quiet, but Li Heng felt cold sweat on his brow and an indescribable anxiety in his mind.

More than two hours had passed since the audiences of the wei1 period had concluded, but Li Heng had still not received a summons.

Li Heng knew that his destiny rested entirely on that small threshold.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a sharp voice came from deep within the hall.

”Report, Fifth Prince Li Heng is to present himself!”

Bzzt! Like a heavy hammer had struck his heart, Li Heng began to quiver all over as he instantly broke out of his stupor. The long-awaited summons was finally here.

Li Heng took a deep breath, steadied his mind, tidied his clothes, and then raised his feet and nervously crossed the threshold.

Boom!

The sounds of his feet falling seemed as heavy as mountains in Li Heng's ears.

The hall extended so far that it seemed to have no end. Li Heng felt an icy cold under his feet. Other than solemn-faced palace guards, each of them five zhang tall, there was no one else on the path.

It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

After some time, though it seemed like both an instant and countless epochs, when Li Heng felt like he could walk no further, the world before his eyes suddenly opened and a dazzling bright light shone in front of him.

At the same moment came that boundless, esteemed, and divine energy, as unfathomable and massive as the heavens and earth.

This energy caused the pressure on Li Heng's body to increase by more than a thousand times.

”This son, your servant, pays respects to Imperial Father!”

Li Heng crossed the threshold. Not daring to raise his head, he kneeled on the ground, respectful and trembling in fear. Even though he was twenty years old, the godlike figure seated in the upper reaches of the hall still inspired just as much as respect in him as it had when he was a child, perhaps even more.

The torches flickered, but the figure seated high above did not move.

And below that figure, Li Heng felt energies both extremely weak and extremely powerful.

These were the princes of the palace. It was obvious that he was far from the only person who had been summoned here today.

The great hall was absolutely quiet. Cold and cruel gazes came in from all sides to fall on the main door, at the kneeling figure of Li Heng.

There was no such thing as familial love in the imperial clan!

Not even the wisest of sage kings or the most incompetent of tyrants could change this iron law. So it had been for dynasty after dynasty, generation after generation!

Li Heng could not feel the slightest bit of warmth in the palace, only the deepest chill.

”Rise!”

After some time, a majestic voice resounded from the upper reaches of the hall.

Still trembling in fear, Li Heng stood up, but he still did not dare to raise his head. Following the usual regulations, he walked with head lowered to the very end of the hall.

Although he was the esteemed Fifth Prince, Li Heng had the least backing amongst the princes, and he was also the weakest. Thus, when being ranked, he always stood at the very end.

The other princes had never cared about his status as the Fifth Prince, nor had the Sage Emperor.

To Li Heng's surprise, after he took his place, the Sage Emperor did not immediately begin to question. He seemed to be forgotten.

The other princes all began to look away, and the atmosphere suddenly seemed to move again, turning back to normal.

Li Heng was like a ball of air, standing at the end of the line with no one paying attention to him.

A massive energy like a towering mountain stood in the place closest to his imperial father. Although it was like the luster of a gem before the bright rays of the sun, to the rest of the princes, it was inconceivably strong.

Li Heng knew that this was the energy of the First Prince.

No matter how they were ranked, the First Prince, as the future heir, was always standing closest to his imperial father, right beneath his feet. No one could ever change this.

In every audience, his imperial father would always question the First Prince on the politics of the court, renovations for the army, cultivation on the martial path, the lives of the common folk, and many other questions in every possible aspect.

Each meeting was a test. It wasn't just the First Prince, but every other prince that was subjected to this test. As each person took on their imperial father's test, they would also be displaying their talents.

There was none of the comfort and warmth found between the fathers and sons of the common people in the imperial clan. This was the reason Li Heng avoided the Imperial Palace.

The politics of court, foreign relations, irrigation of farmland… Li Heng understood not one thing that came from the mouths of the other princes.

It wasn't that his knowledge was too shallow, but that he had never had any sort of resources. He had never even had a tutor to teach him.

Li Heng did not dare to hate or complain. As he usually did, he stood at his place, his head lowered, trembling in fear as he obediently did nothing.

The First Prince, the Second Prince, the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince… and then it was the Sixth Prince, the Seventh Prince—all the princes stepped forth to receive the Sage Emperor's test.

And when it was finally his turn—

”Very well, let's end things here for today!”

In the upper reaches of the hall, that majestic and grandiose figure suddenly waved its hands.