Chapter 403 - 201: Explosive! So It Was You?
Chapter 403: Chapter 201: Explosive! So It Was You?
Fifty Asking Dust!
Lin Ye’s breath hitched for a moment.
’I thought twenty would have been more than enough.’
’I can’t believe the Ninghai Navy Department is this generous!’
...
「Meanwhile, outside the auditorium.」
A sleek, pitch-black luxury limousine with an understated design pulled to a silent stop outside the restricted area.
Long Bohan scrambled out of the front passenger seat, hurrying around to the rear of the car to pull open the door.
Wang Jingcheng and another man followed suit, bowing slightly as they stood respectfully by the open door, ready to welcome the last passenger.
"Imperial Envoy, we’ve arrived."
"It looks like the award ceremony is still in progress. We’ll have to wait here for a little while."
The man they called Imperial Envoy Lv was a middle-aged man in a suit.
He appeared to be in his fifties, with a square jaw and a natural air of authority that radiated from him when he was silent.
His name was Lv Yongze.
An Imperial Envoy from the Firewood Martial Hall headquarters.
Whether it was Xinhuo or Kunlun, both organizations had an internal ranking system established by the Great Xia.
The lowest-ranking members of the Martial Halls were called Inspectors.
The next level up was Deacon, the rank held by men like Long Bohan.
After that came Hall Masters, like Wang Jingcheng, the director of the Recruitment Department at the Yanjing Sub-Palace.
Even higher was the rank of Imperial Envoy.
For instance, the Firewood Martial Hall branches in several regions, including Yanjing, were all under Lv Yongze’s jurisdiction.
Furthermore, he was a true powerhouse who had reached the Celestial Human Realm.
Long Bohan bowed even lower.
He knew full well that his own father had only just managed to attain the rank of Imperial Envoy.
’Yesterday, my original plan was to contact Lin Ye through my connections, verbally express our intent to sign him, and then arrange a time for him to come to the Yanjing headquarters for talks. That was the standard procedure. But I never imagined that Wang Jingcheng would say that to show our utmost sincerity, we should charge right over to Ninghai and extend the invitation in person!’
’What I could never have dreamed of was that an Imperial Envoy from headquarters would actually be accompanying us today!’
’This level of fanfare wasn’t for signing a rookie; it was more extravagant than signing a long-established powerhouse!’
The three men exited the car and walked straight toward the edge of the restricted area in front of the auditorium.
As soon as they got close, they saw a dense crowd of people already standing there.
These people were clearly divided into two distinct groups.
One group, dressed in a variety of styles, all possessed an extraordinary bearing. They were clearly the elders of various great clans, here to pick up the young prodigies who were inside being honored.
The other group consisted of people in crisp suits, wearing professional smiles and the emblems of various universities on their lapels.
They were admissions officers from the major Martial Universities in Ninghai and the surrounding provinces.
Accompanying Long Bohan’s group this time were several dozen elite members from the Ninghai branch of the Firewood Martial Hall.
As soon as they arrived, they parted the crowd with practiced efficiency, clearing a path straight to the front.
The clan elders and admissions officers who had been waiting on the periphery were all stunned by the spectacle.
"The Firewood Martial Hall?"
"What are they doing here?!"
"What the hell! I’ve been in charge of special recruitment here for nearly ten years, and I’ve never seen Xinhuo show up to sign someone in person!"
"What’s going on? Is there some kind of monster in this year’s training camp? Someone so good that the Firewood Martial Hall has to come recruit them personally?"
This news spread like wildfire.
All the heads of admissions from the Martial Universities were now like sharks that had smelled blood in the water.
The fact that the Firewood Martial Hall valued someone this much meant one thing: there was an unprecedentedly big fish among this year’s graduates!
For a moment, a delicate tension filled the air as the group from the Firewood Martial Hall and the representatives from the various Martial Universities stood distinctly apart.
However, this state of peaceful coexistence didn’t even last a minute.
"Make way."
A calm voice, yet one that brooked no argument, sounded from behind the crowd.
Long Bohan and the others instinctively turned to look.
They saw another group of people making their way through the crowd toward their position.
The Firewood Martial Hall’s uniforms were primarily red and yellow, and their insignia depicted people gathering kindling beneath a blazing fire.
But the uniforms of the group that had just arrived were primarily dark blue and black. The emblem embroidered on their chests was a majestic, sacred mountain piercing the clouds, with a divine Eastern dragon coiled around it.
The Kunlun Martial Hall!
This contingent from the Kunlun Martial Hall was much smaller than Xinhuo’s, with only six or seven people in total.
But from the moment they appeared, they projected a forbidding, oppressive aura.
The man in the lead was tall and slender, and looked to be in his early thirties.
He wore an expression of perpetual arrogance.
He just stood there casually, chin slightly raised, his gaze sweeping over the scene as if he were surveying his own territory.
This time, the heads of admissions from the various Martial Universities, who had been relatively calm until now, could no longer remain composed.
They exchanged glances, and on each other’s faces, they could see a shock that bordered on the absurd.
’What is going on this year?’
’Did the sun rise from the west?’
’It was bizarre enough that Xinhuo was personally stepping in to poach a talent.’
’And now, even Kunlun—the one that always disdained public recruitment and only ever selected members from the scions of top-tier clans—was here to get in on the action?’
Clearly, the arrivals from the Kunlun Martial Hall had also spotted the group from Xinhuo immediately.
The two groups stood a dozen meters apart, their gazes locking in midair as the atmosphere instantly became charged with tension.