1654 A Royal Con Artist And A Crown Princess

With the reward picked, Lin Mu now needed to know the specific conditions that Crown Prince Feng Shun had with the competition.

"Is there anything specific you need me to do in the tournament? Since I don't know if I'll get to battle the Third Prince sooner or later." Lin Mu questioned.

"Just last till the end. You'll encounter him then." The Crown Prince said in a nonchalant manner.

It was enough to send Lu Xu and the others in a tizzy.

'Just last? Just last till the end? Crown Prince Feng Shun really thinks everyone is like him and this is simple…' this was their common thoughts.

"Hmm… might be difficult but I'll try." But much to their surprise, Lin Mu wasn't one to back down.

"As for the third prince, you merely need to defeat him according to the standard rules of the tournament." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.

"I see… that'll keep it simple." Lin Mu nodded his head.

"Though… There is something extra you can do too." The Crown Prince said after a few seconds.

His eyes looked at the others who had accompanied too and he spoke, "actually this is something you all can try too."

"What?" Lu Xu said in surprised.

"We can too?" Luo Liqin asked in doubt.

"But what can we do?" Ming Aolian questioned.

To them, an offer from the Crown Prince was bound to be something great. But at the same time, the condition for that offer was bound to be high.

"Princess, why don't you explain it this time? After all, it is an offer from you." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said.

"It's not from him?" Ming Dandan muttered in surprise.

Lin Mu found it unexpected too, but wondered what it is that the princess wanted. With the way she conducted herself and associated with the Crown Prince, Lin Mu thought her status shouldn't be lower than him.

In fact, crown prince seemed to be showing equal respect to all of his companions even if they weren't a 'royal'.

"Than I shall speak," The Princess smiled. "What I want from you is… to cripple someone." She said with the same smile.

The faces of others became serious though, as they realized the request was not simple.

"Cripple who?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.

"Yao Changying, Daughter of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect Heir and the Niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor." The Princess answered.

Hearing this, there were various reactions.

Luo Liqin, Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan had the most reaction, as visible anger appeared on their face. Qian Wen and Lu Xu had more neutral expressions, though there was certainly a bit of confusion mixed in.

Lin Mu had heard what Yao Changying had done before, thus he didn't have a good opinion of her. But he wasn't one to go out of his way to crippled someone else. After all, crippling someone of a high status like her would be really offensive to the powers backing her.

Not just that, but it would also be frowned upon by the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts too. The overseers would not like the rules of the tournament being broken, which clearly stated that one could not intentionally cripple their opponent.

"May I ask why is it that you want this?" Lin Mu asked needing more information.

"Do you know about the actions of Yao Changying… the supposed 'rumors'?" The Princess asked instead.

"We know." Ming Aolian was the one to respond. "Our Blue mountain pavilion has enmity with her." She stated.

"So do I." Luo Liqin replied.

"Ah! That makes it simple." The princess smiled. "My reason is the same. Yao Changying offended someone she should not have and has burned several bridges." She explained.

"Enough that you would be willing to offend the people backing her and cripple her?" Lin Mu said in doubt.

"Oh, the people backing her do not matter." The princess replied, her expression turning a bit cold. "In fact, if she were to ever appear in the Three Aster world or its territories she would be hunted down and killed. She has quite a big bounty on her head too."

Hearing this Lin Mu couldn't help but raise his brows. It wasn't just him though, the three who had enmity with Yao Changying were surprised too.

"How… how did she accomplish this?" Luo Liqin asked. "In our case, it was because she sacrificed our people by fooling them."

"Let's just say the 'fortune' she obtained wasn't for her. It was located on a world that was under the territory of the Three Aster world!" The princess replied.

"What!?" Luo Liqin and the Ming girls were stunned. "It was stated that it was an unexplored world."

"Hah! That was merely her act. She even fooled the authorities and forged false documentation. If not for the fact she is being backed by an emperor and a major sect, she would have already been called up by our world." The Princess replied. "She's just a con artist in the end, even if she has a backing." She scoffed.

While others came to terms with this information, Lin Mu caught onto something else.

"Your world? You are from the Three Aster world?" Lin Mu connected the dots.

"Indeed." The princess gave a slight nod.

"You are standing in the presence of the First Princess of the Shang Dao Empire of the Three Aster world." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.

"No wonder…" Lin Mu muttered to himself. 'It makes sense now.'

"F-first… First princess?" Lu Xu almost stumbled upon hearing this. "You're… The Scarlet Thorn Princess, Shang Yingtai!" he exclaimed.

~chuckle~

"And here I thought, no one knew about me in your world." Shang Yingtai chuckled while speaking to the crown prince.

"There are always well-informed people. They might not know your face, but reputation can often exceed it." Crown Prince Feng Shun commented.

Lin Mu tried to scour his memories for more information about the Three Aster world and the Shang Dao empire, but couldn't really think of much.