Chapter 128: A Frenzied Dance of Bees and Butterflies

Lin Qi, his pockets as empty as the autumn wind, led Enzo to a small tavern beside the Fifth University. Their lunch consisted of a bowl of salt-fish and onion soup and a loaf of bran-enriched black bread. Though meager, the meal was hot; after finishing, the two men, who had been suffering from numbness in their feet caused by melted snow, finally regained their vitality.

Letting out a hearty, satisfied belch, Lin Qi tossed twenty copper coins onto the tavern's greasy table. He hummed with contentment, "Enzo, this place offers great value for money—you know what I mean by value. I don't really have high expectations for the luxuries of life; as long as I’m full, that’s enough. I just want to see more 'clucking chickens' fly into my pockets, and then I’ll be satisfied!"

Enzo finished the last drop of soup in his bowl, then pulled out a piece of betel nut mixed with tobacco and stuffed it into his mouth. He chewed the pungent mixture vigorously and mumbled, "Fine, Boss. I know you always pick the cheapest taverns to eat at; I’ve gotten used to it over these past three years. Where to now?"

Lin Qi stood up, wrapped his bear-skin coat tightly around himself, and walked out of the tavern with Enzo.

Several sallow-faced idlers lounging in the tavern squinted at the priceless bear-skin coat on Lin Qi’s back, then glanced at the twenty copper coins he had left on the table, and finally took a quick look at the sword hanging from Enzo’s waist. Ultimately, they dismissed the idea of stealthily tailing Lin Qi to pull off a job.

Facing the biting wind, the two well-fed men strolled slowly eastward along Wisdom Avenue in the university district. After walking for over an hour, they arrived at the north-south running Holy Glory Avenue.

Holy Glory Avenue was the premier residential district in the Imperial Capital of Boli, rivaling even the estates of the noble houses near the Palace of Victory. It housed the empire’s grandest structure, the Holy Glory Cathedral, a magnificent complex built across the entirety of Holy Glory Mountain. Holy Glory Avenue sat right at the foot of that mountain. Stretching twenty miles from north to south, it was home exclusively to wealthy tycoons and the most noble figures of the capital’s upper society.

Number One Holy Glory Avenue was located at the northernmost end of the street, adjacent to the capital’s International Botanical Garden.

The Gaul Empire’s International Botanical Garden was, as the name implied, a massive park spanning dozens of miles that contained rare plants from every continent and nation. Number One Holy Glory Avenue, a grand estate commonly known as the "Green Field Fairyland," sat right next to the garden and was one of the ten most famous and luxurious residences on the entire avenue.

The Green Field Fairyland used the entire botanical garden as its backyard. Its main entrance, however, did not face Holy Glory Avenue but rather a cross-street called Fragrant Orchid Road. This branch road was lined with all sorts of precious flowering trees and was wide enough for eight carriages to travel abreast. The pedestrian walkways on either side were as spacious as small plazas, and there were even twenty-four small fountain ponds arranged in a line down the center of the road.

Lin Qi and Enzo strolled along Fragrant Orchid Road until they reached Number One Holy Glory Avenue. Along the way, however, they had undergone a transformation. Enzo had donned a massive grey cloak, and by simply lying down on the snow-covered ground, he became nearly impossible to spot. As for Lin Qi, he had smeared his face with a strange, gelatinous substance and some pigments, and had placed two small, tinted crystal lenses into his eyes, instantly transforming into a red-haired, blue-eyed Westerner.

The two arrived at the main gate of Number One Holy Glory Avenue one after the other, only to freeze in their tracks.

As a top-tier residential area, Holy Glory Avenue was naturally clear of snow, but given the heart of winter, there were few pedestrians to be seen. Yet, in front of the Green Field Fairyland, the scene was bustling with activity. Over a hundred luxuriously decorated four-wheeled carriages were circling slowly in front of the main gate, and a number of young men in lavish formal wear, riding purebred horses, were brandishing riding crops and strutting about with an air of arrogance.

Meanwhile, a group of what were clearly servants and guards stood rigidly on the curbside of Fragrant Orchid Road, lined up in two orderly rows. At a glance, there were at least two thousand of them—a scale that rivaled the honor guard of the Imperial Emperor welcoming a visiting foreign monarch.

The imperial honor guard was not even as flashy as these servants and guards; at the very least, the imperial guards didn't wear pure gold cufflinks. These flamboyant servants and guards not only had exquisite pure gold cufflinks on their sleeves but also luxury items made from sea treasures like pearls and tortoiseshell.

Lin Qi stood blankly under a camphor tree, stunned by this bizarre scene.

Dozens of meters behind Lin Qi, Enzo was equally dumbfounded.

What were these people doing here? Looking at the complex, ancient heraldry on the carriage doors, these vehicles belonged to the oldest and most powerful noble houses in the capital. Any one of these individuals held a position of significant weight in the empire. What did they hope to achieve by gathering here? Were they trying to overthrow the Emperor?

This gathering encompassed nearly a hundred of the most powerful noble houses in the empire. If they were meeting together, the Emperor would surely lose sleep. If these noble houses joined forces, they would control absolute power in every sphere of the empire: military, political, economic, and educational.

"What is this game?" Lin Qi looked curiously at the gate of the Green Field Fairyland. The light green gate, wrapped in a delicate layer of vines, remained tightly shut, without even a whisper of sound coming from within.

Just as Lin Qi was racking his brain to figure out the mystery, a low tiger roar echoed through the air. A handsome young man in golden battle armor, riding a giant, snow-white tiger, swaggered from Holy Glory Avenue onto Fragrant Orchid Road. The tiger, clearly a high-level magical beast, let out a heaven-shaking roar, causing the purebred horses to collapse in a heap, their legs buckling in terror.

Dozens of gorgeously dressed young men fell to the ground in a pathetic display, cursing loudly as they scrambled up.

The handsome young man burst into loud laughter. "A disgrace to the nobility of the empire! You lot think you can compete with me for the hearts of the esteemed ladies Ailing and Aiya? Why don't we have a duel? Whoever wins earns the right to stay here!"

Hearing the young man speak, Lin Qi suddenly understood. So, all these people were here for those two women, Aiya and Ailing?

What a pack of wild bees and butterflies. Things were exactly as the Cripple had said, perhaps even more extreme. The Cripple had mentioned someone offering a million gold coins for the women's first night, but it seemed the situation had escalated even further.

After watching the bickering noble scions for a while, Lin Qi’s eyes suddenly brightened. He had spotted a familiar face.