Chapter 149: Gardern Gathering

The morning after the Pure Cloud Sect visit, the sprawling corridors of the provincial palace still buzzed with a restless energy.

Servants and guards traded hushed whispers throughout the palace. The gossip was still dominated by the events of the banquet: the humiliating verbal dismantling of Young Master Han by the Guest, Lin Yuan, followed by the shockwave that swept through the palace when Lord Zhao Shenming officially announced that very same guest as his Participating General for the Peerless God Tournament.

Before the day's official events could even commence, Lord Zhao requested a private audience with Lin Yuan.

The setting was a quiet, sunlit study overlooking the palace's inner gardens.