Cultivation Pet Shop

After coming home from the meeting, Lin Fan immediately went to talk to Angela alone.

She had been waiting for him the entire time because she knew that this would be an important matter about Xin'er, so she had been quite anxious the entire time.

After they went into a private room, Lin Fan told her everything.

Her expression didn't change a bit when she heard everything about the succession, but her expression couldn't help changing when she heard Lin Fan telling her the possibility of Xin'er's mother still being alive.

There was a hint of sadness that appeared on her face when she heard this possibility.

Lin Fan felt a hint of pain in his heart since he understood what she was feeling.

But he also knew what the right thing to do was even if they didn't want to do it.

So for now, they would have to keep an eye on the Dongfang Family and see if they could find any information about them. They needed to first confirm if Xin'er's mother was still alive or not.

After holding her in his arms for a bit, she said, "How about we just destroy them all?"

Lin Fan revealed a bitter smile before patting her on the head and saying, "You know we can't do that."

Angela pouted her lips in a cute manner and said, "I know, but…"

Lin Fan patted her on the head again as he said, "All we can do is what's best for Xin'er."

After a long time, Angela gave a hesitant nod.

…

The next morning, the city was completely bustling.

There were very few people that came to Lin Fan's shop, but it wasn't just Lin Fan's shop. There were very few people that came to the business street in general even though it was a very popular street.

That was because everyone was either in their homes or were gathered in front of the royal palace in the center of the city.

There were even many people that had taken the day off just so they could watch this event. Many places even treated the day as a holiday and allowed their employees to head off.

Especially the places that were owned by the noble families.

This all went to show just how important this day was.

After all, it was what would decide the future ruler of this Stellar Kingdom, so this was something that would affect everyone.

They all wanted to see how their future ruler was decided.

The palace also went all out with the ceremony as a stage was set up right in front of the palace overnight. It really was surprising seeing this magnificent stage that had seemingly appeared in an instant.

The people who lived near the palace hadn't even heard anything as the stage had been built.

It was most likely built using the power of World Realm Experts, which showed how important the palace treated this.

Before the appearance of the king, each of the princes arrived at the event and walked out in front of everyone.

When Lin Fan saw this, he couldn't help remembering the red carpet events that were held before the large award shows back on earth…

As each of the princes made their way in, they did what they thought was best to show off their specialties.

There were princes that came with beautiful companions, there were princes that came with powerful guards, and there was even a prince that came riding on the back of a fearsome tiger.

All of this was to show off as much as possible to increase their chances of winning the succession race.

The first prince came with the daughter of one of the most powerful dukes in the Stellar Kingdom. The fourth prince came with a group of his most powerful supporters following him.

Only the second prince didn't come with anyone at all, he just walked down the red carpet alone without a care for the world.

However, the aura that he released was more than enough to attract the attention of everyone.

Even some of the reporters that had been around the first and fourth prince left their side to take pictures of the second prince.

The first and fourth prince naturally noticed this and took notice of these reporters to take revenge on them in the future. But at the same time, they also looked over at the second prince.

The second prince was their strongest competitor even if they weren't willing to admit it.

So unless they did something to take care of him, there was no chance that they would be able to win this succession race.

They couldn't help looking at each other as well, but they only looked at each other for a few seconds before turning their heads away.

Unless they had no other choice, they preferred not working together.

After all the princes arrived, the event still didn't start as the various ministers and important nobles also arrived.

This event was an event showcasing the very top strata of the Stellar Kingdom, so there were many nobles that spent quite a bit of money and effort to get an invite to this event. Some of the lower noble families even spent most of their family fortune to get an invite.

They knew that if they were able to come to this event and build connections and reputation, all of that would be regained by them eventually when they moved up in the world. So they didn't hesitate to throw all their wealth at this event.

Just this alone took up most of the morning, but the people watching were excited since it was rare for this many important people to gather together in a public setting.

Most of the time, nobles disdained interacting with the common people, so they rarely showed themselves in public settings.

So the commoners cheered happily for these nobles as this was their first time seeing most of them.

But under the surface of this lively ceremony, there was a different mood.

Even though the princes sat there with smiles on their faces, most of them were feeling worried about the announcement that was coming up.

This was an event that would decide their lives, so it couldn't be helped that they would be feeling nervous. Especially those that had very little chance of winning the succession race in the first place.

The thing that they were more worried about was who would win.

After all, once the crown prince was decided, whether they were allowed to live or not was also decided.

Any prince that was left alive could be considered a threat to their future reign, so any prince that had a more vindictive mind would want to get rid of any threats in the future. That meant that any prince that was still left alive would be made to disappear. Or at least the ones that didn't have much power.

The ones that did would be put in minor positions and slowly phased out of politics until they lost their power, allowing the crown prince to kill them.

So a vindictive prince taking the throne was the worst thing for them.

Their only hope of living was if a benevolent prince took the throne…

But the only one that fit that profile was the second prince and it was unlikely that he would take the throne with the first prince and fourth prince against him…

So they were all worrying about what they should do.

Should they curry favour with the first and fourth prince now to start creating paths of life or should they double down and do their best to win in the succession race even if they only had a slim chance?

Of course, no one thought about helping the second prince because they knew that this was a path of death.

The ones that had tried working with the second prince had already been taken care of by the first and fourth prince in the past…

With their examples in place, no one dared to approach the second prince.

This ceremony continued in this lively manner until noon when all of the guests had arrived.

Once the guests were seated, the master of ceremonies came forward and said, "All rise for his majesty!"

There was a group of trumpeters that played as he came in and everyone stood up before bowing with respect to the man that came out of the palace gates.

This was a powerful man in the prime of his life, completely covered in green royal robes and with a golden crown on his head. The most shocking thing about him were those piercing green eyes that seemed to contain all life in this world.

This was the Mu Stellar King, the ruler of this Mu Stellar Kingdom.

The king continued along without caring about anyone until he came to his throne at the center of the stage.

He was the only one that sat down, no one else dared to sit at all.

Only when he waved his hand did they finally sit down and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

The king looked at the master of ceremonies and gave him a nod before closing his eyes as if nothing about this mattered to him.

However, even though he acted this way, no one dared to say a thing.

That just went to show how much power this Mu Stellar King held.

The master of ceremonies had received his permission, so he continued, "Everyone, welcome to the decree hearing that his majesty has set up. This decree hearing is about a matter that I'm sure that everyone is very interested in."

Everyone revealed spirited looks when they heard this.

Of course, there were also hints of worry that were hidden in all of their eyes. That was except for the second prince who calmly watched everything.

The master of ceremonies didn't stall out this event and instead directly said, "We'll now have the royal decree reader read out the decree for everyone."

Everyone was surprised, but they also quickly turned their attention to the sharply dressed person who had come out with a large piece of paper in hand.

They all recognized this person because this was the special envoy of his majesty, the one that always delivered his decrees. They knew that this was real, so they made sure to pay extra close attention to his words.

The decree reader cleared his throat before saying in a clear voice, "Everyone, take note! His majesty has decreed that the rights to succession will be determined by a contest of strength!"

Everyone revealed shocked looks when they heard this. After a full moment of silence, everyone couldn't help looking at the second prince with worried looks.

They all knew that the second prince was the strongest prince of them all when it came to cultivation. So if it really did come to a contest of strength between the princes, it was very likely that he would win…