1043 Sensing Danger

Hearing what Elder Hong Xuan said while waiting in front of the entrance to the throne room, Sheng Mei could not help rolling her eyes as she felt the disdainful and scornful gaze from the person in question.

Although she had indeed caused his power in the Flame Sky Kingdom to weaken significantly among the younger elders of the kingdom, the same could not be said for the older elders of the kingdom. Most of whom were completely on his side. All of them feeling tempted by the possibility of breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm if they could figure out a way to use the secret technique without the obvious flaw of dying a few days after using it.

Even if this seemed completely delusional to someone like herself, she understood the reason why these older elders of the kingdom chose to believe this, as most of them were close to reaching the end of their life. The only chance at living that they had was breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm before their lifespan ran out.

Not only that, but she had also recently leant that the person who had originally handed over the secret technique for forcefully breaking through to the Domain Lord Realm had appeared and was actively doing everything to make the Flame Sky Kingdoms ancestors continue the fight against the Star Shattering Sect.

I wonder which power that person belongs to… Is it perhaps one of the Star Shattering Sect's enemies trying to stir up trouble in an attempt to weaken them?

As she found herself waiting longer than expected in front of the entrance to the throne room, Sheng Mei could not help remembering some information that she had recently chanced upon.

Although she did not know much about the person who had given the Flame Sky Kingdom the secret technique that allowed those old ancestors to forcibly break through to the Domain Lord Realm for a short period of time, she understood that this person was likely someone belonging to a power that was enemies with the Star Shattering Sect.

At least, considering that this power did not directly attack the Star Shattering Sect and instead used underhand methods to try and weaken them, it was obvious that it was weaker than the Star Shattering Sect or at least didn't dare to face it head on. Meaning that it shouldn't be too dangerous for her to go against the person from this unknown power with the support of the Star Shattering Sect.

Not to mention, she already got a few special things from Elder Song to deal with this person-

Creak~!

"Ah?"

"Elder Sheng Mei, you can enter."

Interrupting Sheng Mei's train of thought, a muscular servant opened the door to the throne room and called for her to enter.

"Elder Hong Xuan, you can enter as well."

However, the servant didn't only call for her, but also turned towards Elder Hong Xuan standing not too far away and called for him to enter the throne room as well.

"Huh?" 

Catching both Hong Xuan and Sheng Mei by surprise, as neither of them had expected the servant to ask him to enter as well. After all, he had not come to throne room to talk to the ancestors or the king but had just shown up to scoff at Sheng Mei from a distance and laugh at her when she would inevitably fail to convince the ancestors and king once again.

"Are you sure they called for me as well? I don't remember asking for an audience…?"

"Yes, they specifically called for both of you." 

"…"

Not knowing what had caused the ancestors or king to call for him, Hong Xuan could only keep quiet as he frowned visibly while walking over before making his way inside the throne room ahead of Sheng Mei. 

No matter what reason the ancestors or the king had called for him, he had no plans of refusing them. Not only because of their superior position, but also because they were his strongest support at the moment. Refusing them for no reason would possibly result in his status plummeting even further than it had already done among the younger elders.

Hm… Something is wrong…

Watching as Elder Hong Xuan entered the throne room ahead of her, Sheng Mei could not help narrowing both of her eyes. Feeling that something was wrong with how the ancestors and the king had suddenly decided to call on Hong Xuan just when she had informed them about wanting to speak to them.

However, even if I'm suspicious of something being wrong, I still have to enter…

Feeling a tinge of regret as she stared into the throne room, Sheng Mei tightly gripped the small token that Elder Song had given her before entering the throne room. Preparing herself for the worst-case scenario.

"Hm? This is…"

Stepping inside the throne room prepared for something bad to happen at any moment, Sheng Mei was taken aback when she realized that the old ancestors that she had wanted to speak to were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the only person present was the king who was sitting on top of his throne while emotionlessly looking down at her and Hong Xuan who had walked in ahead of her.

Although she had also wanted to talk with the king, as he was the current ruler of the Flame Sky Kingdom, he was not the main person she wanted to talk to. After all, when all things were said and done, he was still below the ancestors in terms of status.

The main reason for this difference in status being the fact that the strength of all the old ancestors had at least reached the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm while the king was still in the Eighth Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, the same realm as her.

If she wanted to get the Flame Sky Kingdom to surrender to the Star Shattering Sect, she would have to convince the old ancestors. Not just the king who had no way to do something like that without the approval of the old ancestors.

"…"

Feeling even more uneasy than before entering the throne room with no one other than the king present, Sheng Mei unconsciously began slowing down as she approached the throne located at the end of the throne room with the emotionless king sitting on top of it. Even starting to scan her surroundings for anything out of place.

"Your majesty, it's great to see you again, I wonder what reason you called me for?" Not at all affected by the strange circumstances or the odd emotionless state of the king, Hong Xuan carelessly waltzed in front of the throne as he asked this.

Given his relationship with the king and the old ancestors being far better than Sheng Mei, he saw no reason to fear them even if the current situation was rather odd. At most he thought to himself that this was because the old ancestors were planning to punish Sheng Mei for her consistent urging of them to surrender to the Star Shattering Sect.

Part of him was even hoping that this was the case, as he smiled happily to himself while waiting for the king to respond and start dishing out punishments for Sheng Mei. Even going as far as to think that the reason the king had called for him was for him to witness Sheng Mei being punished.

After all, their constant back and forth was quite well known among the elders of the Flame Sky Kingdom even before the appearance of the Star Shattering Sect…

However, over half a minute quickly passed without the ting saying a single word as he just emotionlessly stared down at him and the approaching Sheng Mei.

"Is there something wrong your majesty?" Beginning to feel that something was off as well, Hong Xuan could not help asking as he turned to look up at his king with a somewhat confused expression on his face. Not understanding why his king had not responded to him. Especially considering that they were rather close and there was no reason for him to outright ignore him.

"…"

Noticing the oddity as well after covering around half of the throne room, Sheng Mei froze on the spot and stopped moving deeper inside the throne room. No matter what was wrong, her earlier feeling of danger when she had first entered the throne room had gone off the rails as she understood that something was wrong with the way that the king acted.

Not only that, but she had also noticed a few faint formation markings on the floor just a few meters in front of her.

Although she had no idea what these formation markings on the floor were for, she had never seen them before and felt that they were somehow related to the dangerous feeling she had felt when entering the throne room. 

"Hehe~ Looks like at least one of you is smart enough to sense the danger, but its already too late for both of you to leave!"

Just at this moment, a low crackling voice filled with killing intent echoed out from behind the throne of the king. Shocking both Hong Xuan and Sheng Mei, as they watched a person slowly walk out from behind the throne.