I am an incredibly handsome man, and my fiancée refuses to call off the engagement even at the cost

Murong Ya looked at Gu Yan and suddenly smiled:

"Your Majesty's cultivation is profound; I admire you greatly! I imagine you must be weary from your journey these past few days. Perhaps you should return to the palace with me to rest for a few days? To be honest, I have been truly impolite, failing to host a proper welcome banquet for you. I hope Your Majesty will not hold a grudge?"

Murong Ya's tone of voice changed, but after what had just happened, this change was perfectly normal. This world is one where strength reigns supreme. Having witnessed the battle, everyone knows how powerful the King of Yue is; who would want to antagonize such a person?

Beams of light fell upon the arena, all emanating from the Grand Elders of the Fuyou Empire. These elders, now devoid of any arrogance, were all wearing smiles.

"King Yue has truly broadened our horizons just now! If we have offended you in any way, we hope you will forgive us." The speaker was the Huang family retainer.

Gu Yan looked at the smiling Huang Gongfeng and said calmly, "It's not a matter of offending him."

"King Yue is magnanimous; it is I, an old man, who am petty," said the Huang family retainer with a forced smile.

"Your Majesty, I have already sent a message back to have someone prepare a banquet in the palace to entertain the King of Yue," a short, stout servant said with a smile.

"Your Excellency He is truly thoughtful," Murong Ya said, then looked at Gu Yan, "Prince Yue, the banquet has been prepared. Would Your Highness do me the honor of joining us?"

Gu Yan thought for a moment and nodded.

Murong Ya immediately beamed with joy.

So Gu Yan led a group of people from Yue Kingdom, along with Murong Ya and others, onto a spaceship and arrived at the palace of the Fuyao Empire.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The Imperial Palace of the Fuyou Empire.

Inside the grand hall, wine cups clinked and people mingled. Groups of dancers, their arms bare and dressed in light gauze, performed joyous dances to lively music. Charming palace maids filed in, carrying jade platters to offer fine wines and delicacies to the distinguished guests at the banquet.

Because of the banquet, Gu Yan changed his attire. He still wore a mask, but it only covered half of his face. He was still wearing a black robe, but in a different style. The black robe with silver trim was outlined with intricate patterns in silver thread, and a silver-gray gauze overlay was worn over the black robe.

Her long, jet-black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, giving her a mysterious, noble, and unpredictable aura of danger.

The Crown Prince was also at the banquet, but because Li He and Dugu Zirong were so different in style and strength, he didn't make any connection after seeing half of Gu Yan's face. There was a strange sense of familiarity, but he just couldn't remember where he'd seen her before.

Murong Ya also changed into a red palace dress, embroidered with large peonies, and paired it with jade-colored earrings, which made her appearance even more radiant. She raised her cup and looked at Gu Yan:

"King of Yue, I toast you!"

Gu Yan picked up her wine glass, waved to Murong Ya who was sitting in the center, and then drank it all.

"This wine is the famous Amber Snow Wine of our country. Can the King of Yue drink it?" Murong Ya asked with a smile.

Gu Yan said, "It's alright."

"If the King of Yue likes it, I will give you several hundred jars," Murong Ya said with a gentle smile.

"Thank you very much," Gu Yan said.

Seeing Murong Ya gazing at Gu Yan with such affection, Prince Zhou drank a cup of wine, but only tasted its sourness.

He originally liked his cousin Xie Jingshu, but ever since she met Dugu Zirong at Wanyu Pavilion in Haishi, she has fallen for someone else and no longer pays any attention to him.

He couldn't put all his eggs in one basket, so during his visit to the Fuyao Empire, he set his sights on Murong Ya. He was the future emperor of the Great Zhou, and Murong Ya was the current emperor of Fuyao. A marriage between the two emperors would be a beautiful story. It seemed that Murong Ya also had some affection for him, but now Li He had also appeared.

When he saw the look in Murong Ya's eyes, he was reminded of his cousin Xie Jingshu.

Xie Jingshu looked at Dugu Zirong in that same way; he was all too familiar with that gaze.

hateful!

Prince Zhou was holding his breath, he was so angry he was about to die.

Unwilling to be ignored, Prince Zhou suppressed his anger and interjected with a smile:

"The King of Yue's cultivation is unfathomable; I admire him greatly. May I ask who his master was?"

This is a question that everyone wants to know the answer to.

Gu Yan picked up his wine cup and gently swirled the wine inside. He said, "My master does not like me mentioning his name in public. I am afraid I cannot answer the question about Prince Zhou."

Crown Prince Zhou looked embarrassed, but was even angrier inside. He suppressed his anger and forced a smile:

"No problem, no problem at all. It was I who was presumptuous. Speaking of fine wine, Great Zhou has plenty of it. When King Yue comes to Great Zhou, I will invite him to drink to his heart's content."

Gu Yan said calmly, "There will be opportunities."

"Speaking of which, was the King of Yue from Qi?" Murong Ya asked.

Gu Yan shook her head: "No."

"Then which continent was the King of Yue from?" Murong Ya pressed.

Gu Yan lied without batting an eye: "Hanzhou."

Upon hearing that it was Hanzhou, the people around exchanged glances. Hanzhou, Hanzhou is not adjacent to Qizhou. The most powerful country in Hanzhou is the Silver Moon Empire. He is from Hanzhou, so why would he come to Qizhou to become a king?

Surname Li, from Hanzhou?

We need to investigate this thoroughly.

At the banquet, everyone tried to subtly probe Gu Yan, hoping to extract some information from her. Gu Yan, however, was a liar, not telling the truth in a single word. In the end, no one got any real information out of her; instead, they all got caught up in wild guesses and ended up getting themselves into a mess.

Murong Ya asked Gu Yan to stay for a while and mentioned the Song Kingdom. According to the bet, he could make a request to the Song Kingdom, no matter how unreasonable it was, and the Song Kingdom would have to fulfill it. However, Gu Yan was not the type to go to extremes. He had no grudges against the Song Kingdom, the King of Song, or Duan Qi. In fact, it was reasonable for him to want to return to his own city.

He won't return the city, but he won't ask them to cede territory, pay reparations, or anything else.

Let's put this matter behind us.

Gu Yan's attitude brought a great sense of relief to the Song Kingdom.

Murong Ya was very attentive to Gu Yan, and Gu Yan sensed that she had fallen for him, so he quickly returned to Yue Kingdom with Huo Yun and the others to avoid the woman bothering him.

Even faster than Gu Yan and her group returned to Yue Kingdom was the news of Gu Yan's extraordinary prowess on the Divine Martial Platform. This news spread not only throughout Yue Kingdom but also rapidly across the entire Qi Continent. The new King of Yue, Li He, had decisively defeated Duan Qi, the Grand Master of Song, on the Divine Martial Platform, even forcing Empress Fuyao to concede defeat.

Suddenly, the entire Qi Continent was abuzz with the news, and the sensational story quickly spread to other continents. The Four Families and Five Sects also took notice of Li He. Except for the Senluo Palace, the others all believed Li He was a member of the Senluo Palace. The Senluo Palace members, however, believed Li He belonged to the other families.

This Li He is clearly an evil spirit master, even though the entire Senluo Palace is full of evil spirit masters. But among the four families and five sects, Senluo Palace is not the only one with evil spirit masters, and the spirit venerable monsters who refine souls and corpses are not limited to Senluo Palace.

Because Li He's strength was only at the Spirit Emperor Realm, he simply had more trump cards and tricks than other Spirit Emperor Realm cultivators. For the four families and five sects, he only attracted their attention; no one really bothered to investigate his true origins.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Inside the teahouse.

An old man was drinking tea with a little girl with brown hair, while a young man with high cheekbones was talking animatedly about the war between Yue and Song at Shenwu Terrace.

"...That Grand Elder thought he was invincible because he had four puppets at the early stage of the Spirit Emperor realm bestowed by the Empress. Who knew that His Majesty the King of Yue would simply wave his hand and defeat him. After his defeat, Empress Fuyao actually stood up and said she wanted to spar with His Majesty the King of Yue."

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Gao, who had accompanied him, was nearly scared to death.

"Hahahahahaha..."

The crowd burst into laughter. They all knew the young man was exaggerating, but that didn't stop them from finding it amusing.