Chapter 51: The Champion

Shen Qingdai put away her pipa and looked up with some apprehension at the examiners seated above.

Pei Jingzhu watched her quietly for a long time, finally convincing himself that his heart palpitations were simply due to resonating with the tune.

Deliberating, he picked up his brush, hesitated slightly, but still wrote down the number ten.

Shen Qingdai watched nervously as a maid walked gracefully forward and slowly carved the respective scores onto the wooden scoreboards.

To her surprise, Jingming did not make things difficult for her this time.

He gave her an eight.

The female official by the Empress's side gave her a nine.

Yet on the far left, that single number was dazzlingly, excessively high.

Having activated his rocket wings, Lancelot had already flown clear of the explosion zone. Though he was somewhat affected by the lingering shockwave, the impact was not severe, and with the help of the rocket wings, Lancelot successfully broke through the encirclement.

The sun had already climbed high into the sky over the pool castle, casting its light into every corner. It was now lunchtime, but after catching the scent of blood from the corpses of the cavalry squadron's predecessors, Avi had no appetite for anything.

Korta, who had been lost in a trance just moments before, finally realized the gravity of the situation. He was intensely annoyed with himself for letting fear cloud his mind a moment ago. Fortunately, Hong Hao had snapped him out of it, so he sprang up fiercely, grabbed the heavy saber close at hand, and prepared for battle.

Putting aside the fact that he had previously been framed and thrown into prison due to being robbed, Yang Chong had to admit that Jonathan was a pretty good partner, especially given his ability to infiltrate the archaeologists' team and gather intelligence from within.

Lying on the spacious sofa in the luxurious presidential suite of the Sail Hotel, casually playing with a gold-gilded tablet while picking through the endless stream of delicacies sent up by the Filipino domestic helpers, Tang Shi asked.

Liu Hucheng's expression was unsightly to the extreme as he sat at the head of the table, while Zhou Long, Song Qingfeng, and the others all sat below him with mournful faces.

Apophis answered all of Hong Hao's questions in one go, then cast an inquiring gaze toward the Lord of the Seven Stars, but none of the others had any questions. At that moment, a new question was raised.

Fid and his party of eight bore no flags or insignia, so when they arrived at that town, no one paid them any attention at all. Yet it was normal for eight passing travelers to go unnoticed, especially since mercenaries from the Mercenary Guild had all gathered here, naturally making them the center of attention.

Zejin naturally trusted Tianzi Peak, trusted every single member of the Flying Immortals Beyond the Heavens team—trusted their abilities, trusted their character, and above all, trusted their capability to create miracles.

Hearing that the white ape had once left the capital, Ji Haotian remained silent, waiting for Gui Sanniang to continue.

Xiao Jingzhu twirled the teacup in her hand, taking in the shifting expressions of the few people present. The most interesting among them was Yu Lannian; if it could be said that she was deeply in love with Pei Hanfei and was therefore desperately trying to facilitate the marriage between her and the Yu family, that would somewhat make sense, yet Xiao Jingzhu always felt something was amiss.

If she were to waste this hard-won life merely because of such hatred, she truly would be the pitiful one.

Dabao thought for a moment, then slowly crawled off the monk's back and back to his mother's side, allowing the monk to shift his posture and resume lying flat.

Michael was the former CEO of Damocles Corporation, so he naturally knew everything about the contracts the company had accepted.

Returning from the elevator lobby, Gong Xue saw that President Di's office door was wide open, with Gao Yafei sitting inside talking to President Di. The details of their conversation remained unknown to Gong Xue.

Yet Tong Le had already noticed that Mo Yan'an's expression was off. She pulled out a tissue for him, turned him gently, and wiped away his tears.

Seeing this, Wang Zhan opened the office door and ushered President Cao inside. Though President Cao said nothing out loud upon seeing the cluttered office, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Dinner was sumptuous, featuring fish, shrimp, crab, and meat. At Moling's request, Su Yunsi had cooked the meal herself, and naturally, it was delicious.

Mo Ling sighed helplessly, casting a resentful glance at Mu Fei, truly wondering whether this guy was genuinely clueless or simply pretending.