1649 The Top 5

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While Lin Mu wouldn't go out of his way to fight other people's enemies, if he were to come across them in a battle, he wouldn't mind fighting them a little harder.

There was silence for a minute on the table, before Lu Xu spoke again.

"Anyways, that's the third ranker Yao Changying. She's the only female immortal in the top five, as well as the top contestant from the Holy Topaz continent this time." Lu Xu concluded.

"Where are the others from?" Lin Mu asked.

"Well… Feng Baxing is from Dao Wind empire. And as you might be able to guess, he is a prince too. More specifically the third prince." Lu Xu replied. "Then Dugu Shanhe is unaffiliated, but he is originally from the Huiqing empire. Childe Wildfire is from the Dao wind empire too."

"And what about the fifth ranker… this Su Zian?" Lin Mu inquired.

"Su Zian is probably the most orthodox out of them all." Ming Dandan said with a smile. "He is the son of General Su and has been raised to be righteous. He has led armies several times on expedition to other worlds and is a commander in the Huiqing imperial army."

Lin Mu was surprised to see such a positive expression from everyone. It wasn't just Ming Dandan either, others at the table had a similar expression.

"This General Su, he's the second General in the Huiqing empire right?" Lin Mu had heard about him before. "He's supposed to be on the same level as the Steel Horned General Niu Juo."

"Brother Mu Lin is correct." Lu Xu confirmed. "General Su is the current standing general of the Huiqing empire and comes from a long line of military members. Their clan has served the Huiqing Empire since the very start and thus enjoy a great support. Su Zian is expected to take over his fathers position as a general too in the future." He revealed.

"I see. Guess four out of five top contestants are from privileged backgrounds." Lin Mu concluded.

"Yes. Though this number is rather low this time." Lu Xu said with a little chuckle. "Usually the top twenty are filled with people of the imperial families and the aristocratic clans."

"Hmm… guess we are a bit luck this time?" Lin Mu said feeling a bit unsure.

"That is hard to tell." Qian Wen replied. "Usually it is the years that there are fewer imperial contestants that the most shocking tournaments happen."

"Haha! That is why they are the best too. And it also gives the black horses a chance to win better prizes." Lu Xu laughed.

"Of course. If you can win it, there's a great chance you will be invited by the three imperial families." Ming Aolian stated.

"Isn't that how one of the generals from the Huiqing empire was selected in the past?" Ming Dandan asked.

"Yes… the one that Daoist Mu Lin talked about." Luo Liqin replied much to Lin Mu's surprised.

"Steel Horned General Niu Juo was one of the winners of the tournament in the past?" Lin Mu was surprised.

Though the more he thought about it, the more obvious it seemed. The man was a half-ogre and was definitely not from any established clans or the aristocrats. He was recruited from the outside by the Huiqing Emperor.

"Yes! He wasn't just any winner either. He came first!" Lu Xu exclaimed. "His battle was said to be legendary and set a new standard for body cultivators. The Huiqing Emperor was said to be so impressed that he directly recruited the man." He revealed.

"That is… nice." Lin Mu muttered.

Having met the man a couple of times, Lin Mu had never thought that he was a past winner.

"Of course, all that was a long time ago." Lu Xu added. "There haven't been any other battles as great as that. And neither have there been any contestants as strong as the Steel Horned General."

"Isn't there the Crown Prince of the Dao Wind empire?" Ming Dandan asked in doubt.

Lin Mu raised his ears upon hearing this. He had met the man personally too and knew that he might just be comparable to the Steel Horned General in strength.

"If he chose to participate in the Tournament yes." Lu Xu replied.

"But he wont." Qian Wen said with surety. "He's already said that he won't be doing so and will give others a chance to win instead."

"He's that confident?" Luo Liqin found it a bit debatable.

"He was directly given a position in the Immortal Court and is already at the sixth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal realm close to reaching the Seventh. If he were to participate, no one will have a chance of striving for the first position." Qian Wen answered. "He's simply on a different level." He shook his head.

"I guess we are in luck then." Ming Dandan said in a relieved voice. "Even if he wasn't that strong, battling a crown prince would be too intimidating."

"Yeah, even if you won against him whose to say he wouldn't take revenge in the future when he became the emperor?" Ming Aolian stated.

While it was unknown if the crown prince had a character like that, this assumption was something that most people would have. Even if the chances of this happening were tiny, there was always a chance someone else might attack them in order to curry favor with the future emperor.

For those that were children of the emperor though, the issue was milder. People would still be willing to fight them.

Having heard all this, Lin Mu was enlightened and wanted to know more. He continued to talk about the other interesting contestants and spent the rest of the night like this.

Eventually it was time for the Banquet to end, and the hosts appeared once more.

~DING~

A bell was rung, as the various hosts held a stack of letters in their hands. Lin Mu and the rest turned their heads, watching what was happening.