Imperial Palace - Royal Feast Chamber

"I have news to make" His father announced. "Recently there has been the discovery of a hidden realm dating back to the founding of the Empire, undoubtedly it has many opportunities present in it, which is why I am giving the chance of all the Imperial Princes from participating, alongside any disciples of not only the Imperial Academy but any other Sect as well. With the journey to the Hidden Realm commencing in three days from now on and each participating party can bring a total of nine people with them of which are only allowed, disciples to the Nascent Soul Ealm and below."

Whispering was almost immediate after the news that the Emperor brought forth to his immediate family. Feng Cai himself was thinking about the fact as well, but on another level than his half brothers were. He was thinking about which type of Protagonist could appear in what he was quickly categorizing as The Hidden Realm Arc that was commonly seen in novels.

'There are simply too many potentials that could happen' Feng Cai thought as he sipped a spiritual drink that was good. 'Evey single type of Xianxia novel has the Hidden Realm Arc, which serves as a method for the Protagonist to not gain further Cultivation levels but also either important items that will be useful later, information about the past of the world, or even some type of companion to help them in their journey, there are also those that get all of that in a single go, lucky bastards'

Feng Cai sighed mentally, he would have to go to the Hidden Realm anyway so there was no use in descending in this bout of paranoia he would have to deal with the type of Protagonist that would appear to confront him for some dumb reason. The fact that he never even met them would not help in stopping any fight from happening.

But, even with all of that Feng Cai still liked the chances he had prepared for that specific scenario his entire life after all, all because he didn't want to die to some stuck-up brat that thought the world revolved around them.

"But it isn't just that, that I want to announce today. After the expedition to the Hidden Realm is over and all of the Princes return to the capital, I shall select the one who shall be the Crown Prince of The Empire" Father said, instantly causing all to look to him. When Feng Cai meant all, he truly meant all, even the servants had stopped to stare at their ruler after what he spoke.

After all, he had just announced that he will select the future ruler of the nation. This was a piece of news that the entire country had waited for with bated breath. And undoubtedly it would spread to the entire empire relatively fast, especially in the capital world.

Feng Cai himself was already feeling a massive headache. 'I wonder which one of my brothers I will have to fight in the Hidden Realm'

Imperial Palace - Ninth Prince Royal Quarters

After the feast had ended, Feng Cai went to his quarters in the Palace, to think about the new situation that had dropped into his lap. Sitting in his comfy bed, he started to think about the ramifications of the coming days.

'The expedition into the hidden realm is a test, the prince that handles himself better in the Hidden Realm will be assigned the position of the crown prince of the empire and be granted all the benefits that the position has' Feng Cai thought. 'Which are many, but even with that in mind... do I want to become the crown prince?'

As he thought about it, the answer was no. Sure the position certainly would bring him many new resources that would make his objective of not dying by some random psycho with a god complex way easier. But it will also saddle him with all the responsibilities, including the one of being the future sovereign of the empire and being the one that in the end makes the decisions that impact billions upon billions of lives.

It was the sort of pressure that Feng Cai didn't know he could handle.

He had the education given to him like any other prince, and it did cover many of the things necessary for a ruler to have at least some knowledge of. But even then, the doubt remained in his heart. Feng Cai knew that he could not reject the title of Crown Prince if it was granted to him. The keyword here is of course if.

But, at the very least, he promised that if he was the one chosen for that burden then he would try his very best, especially when his parents went into isolation to go to the God Realm and so would leave the rulership of the empire to him. Though when he thought of that, a new concern entered his mind.

A prince getting an arranged marriage was not exactly a surprise, even if both he nor his brothers had ever actually received any news of such, but the crown prince himself was expected to marry the one who would be the next empress when the new monarch ascended to the throne. This means that if he became the crown prince, the chances of him getting into an arranged marriage are fairly high.

Feng Cai sighed as he whispered. "Well the odds of that happening were already high, and if it happens... well at least I will try to make it work if it happens, but until then I live my life"

He then closed his eyes and dropped into his bed, and promptly went to sleep. He also needed to speak with Elder Zhang about a certain matter.

The Imperial Academy - The Ninth Prince's Residence

'This is getting more complicated than I thought' Feng Cai thought as he listened to the ramble of the gathered disciples.

When he announced that he would take a group of ten disciples with him to a Hidden Realm, he received many letters, presentations, and even declarations, from various disciples of how best they could do in the expedition to the Hidden Realm. As if, just that would be enough to convince me to select them for this journey.

He already had the list of which one's he wanted to bring thanks to an intense survey of my faction. What Feng Cai wanted was the most talented, the ones that were held in high esteem not because of their connections or personal wealth but for their power, as connections would not matter much in the Hidden Realm, money even less so.

When he had received the list from one of my subordinates, alongside their respective background and personality checks, just in case, and triple checking them, he was certain that this was the group that he wanted. Mainly since their skills covered the essentials that he wanted.

Six of them were already on the Core Formation Realm, with their success rate and recovery on their Minor Tribulations being somewhat noteworthy, with the last three belonging to the Nascent Soul Realm, and were mostly coming along as insurance in case things went badly. Can never be too paranoid in this world after all.

After all the proper analyzing that he did, he decided to gather the members of his faction into the place of his mansion that had been built exactly for this purpose, not all of course just the most important ones. It had even all the furniture ready, and to make them in a better mood and not start smashing things, I had paid no expense in serving the most delicious foods and drinks available to my current budget, of which were many. And he had not even burned most of it, besides he was sure that his finances would recover quickly from his expenses.

Feng Cai makes a signal to the Silver Tiger, privately feeling sadness that he would not be able to take one of them with him, but he guessed that they would be simply too much for the rest of the participants.

Nodding toward him, the legionnaire raised his halberd and then hit the ground, with enough force to cause a loud sound and not cracking the floor (which Feng Cai was sure was ridiculously expensive), causing all present to look at them, or rather him. Speaking of that it was something that accumulated experience in social events in the past years has made him more comfortable and in better control against crowds both externally and internally, he no longer feels the same anxiety that he did in the past when in the presence of large crowds whose attention was largely focused on him.

Rising from my, and there was no other to say it, throne Feng Cai began speaking. "I have gathered all of you to announce my decision on who shall the ones that I will take with me"

If Feng Cai did not have their attention he did now, after all, all knew of the many different benefits that could be found in a Hidden Realm, and so all present wanted to go to the Hidden Realm and gain any type of benefit that could help their cultivation. Suffice it to say, many of the people present here today would be disappointed and a small number of them would be joyous.

"When I say your name come closer to me: Mo Yingjie"

A young man rose and started making his way toward my position, he then proceeded to bow before turning back to his fellow disciples. He has black hair and yellow eyes the latter being a result of him cultivating a Fire Mantra, he was among the best combatants of his faction proven by his extensive duel record in the Heaven Arena, and as far he can tell he only had a few duels in the Infernal Arena, Feng Cai informants had said that those duels had been against disciples that would have suffered cases of death sooner or later thanks to their own actions and after reading the things that led them to the Infernal Arena, Feng Cai was inclined to agree. He was in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

"Li Fu"

The second one that he called, rose in a more flamboyant way as he made his way and even bowed in the same way before turning back. Li Fu had blonde hair and green eyes and looked the part of someone that didn't care what was happening and in fact, found it hilarious. But despite the way that he conducts himself, Feng Cai knew that his threat level was absurd, for one simple fact, Li Fu is a Soul Cultivator.

Soul Cultivation is relatively new compared to both Martial and Spiritual Cultivation (the first one being the original form of cultivation and the latter an offshoot of it), having existed for roughly forty thousand years compared to both Martial and Spiritual Cultivation's far more ancient origins. But this makes it no less deadly. In terms of protection of the body of the user, it is without a doubt the weakest, but in terms of attacks, it is among the most insidious since the Soul Cultivator directly attacks the soul and can easily bypass any defenses set in place depending on their target's strength.

Li Fu is in the Nascent Soul realm, in the early stage in fact, and so he is at his most dangerous. And that is exactly why Feng Cai was bringing him along.

"Kang Zhu"

The next to rise was without a doubt a beautiful woman, with long luscious raven hair, sapphire eyes that were like two ponds of water that one could easily be lost with, and both face and figure, that would attract gazes wherever she went, truly she was the epitome of a Jade Beauty. If only her onlookers knew of her true personality than Feng Cai was sure that they would try their very best to stay away from her, in fact, Feng Cai was half sure that when she bowed to him she was ready to attack. Not for treason or anything like that, but because of one single fact, Kang Zhu is a battle maniac.

She would attack him because she knew that if she did so, the Silver Tigers would move, and she would have the fight of her life against an immortal. Something that undoubtedly excited her. But it seems that she wasn't that suicidal or at least she was bidding her time, to this day Feng Cau still did not know why she had entered his faction, but he did not care, as because of that he now has one of the best fighters in the entire Imperial Academy in his faction.

Truly, if Li Fu was among the best fighters of his faction, then Kang Zhu is the best for the virtue of constant fights against a wide array of enemies from monsters to humans. She was also in the peak stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, which naturally amplified her already impressive combat abilities.

Now that he was done with the Nascent Soul disciples it was time to move to the disciples that were in the Core Realm and had shown above-average aptitude in their record (in both cultivation and other activities).

"Hu Ying, Duàn Xiaofan,..."

These were the ones who had made substantial advances in their cultivation quicker than normal, passing through the minor tribulations with more ease than others would have. In a way, Feng Cai was part of this group as he had advanced through his own cultivation relatively quickly, and had no worries, but he had to admit that was because of various circumstances, among these being his status as a royal prince meant he had access to resources they would not find commonly and the linchpin of those circumstances was the God Qi that he had absorbed that had repaired any crack or wound ─ even if they were minor ─ and made his foundation stronger and more resistant than it would likewise be.

After all, no matter how careful a cultivator is, there always going to be these tiny cracks that appear in their foundation, and these cracks are not even going to be noticed, as they are practically invisible. This is where the various legendary treasures and effects enter the stage. Such as God Qi, which Feng Cai can attest can repair any seemingly invisible crack in a cultivator's foundation.

Which shouldn't be all that surprising, he lives in a cultivation world that follows all the tropes of the stories that he read. Heck, he was pretty sure, that there is some bullshit physique out there that only a protagonist can access and practice, maybe it even dates back to the previous era or something like that, protagonists are bullshit like that. And then they create a physique even more outrageous can't forget that part. 

"..., Tian Duyi, Fu Xiaoli, Cai Chen, and Liu Guai"

That last one had a higher chance of causing some problems for him, but Feng Cai couldn't deny that the girl had talent, rare talent even, with the resources given to her she was rising quickly not only in her cultivation but also in the ranks of his Shadows. Feng Cai had to admit that he did not know if she would be able to support the methods employed by his Shadows, and their overall training. But according to reports that came to him, she was doing brilliantly in all of her actions, including the missions that she went on.

Which was only information gathering which came from various spies and rooting out said spies that managed to enter his faction, a fact that was going to happen like it or not, it was simply impossible to have a fully secure location or organization, there are always going to be cracks after all.

This was among the reasons he had taken her in, into its expedition to the hidden realm, having someone capable of intelligence gathering would be vital, especially as he would not take his more capable members that he had decided to stay in the academy to keep everything in order. He needed them to maintain the Shadows and the other parts of his faction clean after all, and their set of skills and experience helped in that fact.

"All of you will come to me, for the expedition to the Hidden Realm, I expect you to act as intended, especially since, as you are aware not only my brothers but many other disciples of other Sects will be coming as well to the expedition. Am I clear?"

"Yes, your majesty!" All nine of them spoke at the same time.

"Good, now return to your seats and enjoy the food and drink, I shall summon all of you after the feast ends"

AlucardV

Sorry for the long delay!

I will admit that I lost expiration to write this, but my motivation has returned again, which means that the chances of putting another chapter next Sunday are high if I can the motivation going.