_Imperial City_
At a certain place, many peoples was gathered and making a lot of noise. There was a long line of people waiting for their turn to teleport. It was a big plaza where one could see two teleportation circle. From one teleportation circle, people were coming to the Imperial City and from another teleportation circle, people were being teleported to another city.
A light flashed on the teleportation circle from which people were coming to the Imperial City. Ten people, young and old, suddenly appeared there.
It was Ye Xiao and the group. With a flash of light they were teleported and within a second they reached here, to the Imperial City.
Seeing the crowd of people as well as the long line of people waiting for their turn to get teleported, Ye Xiao and two other men were stunned for a moment. It was clear that those two other men were also here for the first time.
"Don't stand there. Hurry up and get down. There will be another batch of people coming here soon from the teleportation circle." One of the guard who was responsible for guarding the teleportation circle shouted.
Only then Ye Xiao and the other two men came back to their senses. They looked around and found that there was only the three of them standing at the teleportation circle and everyone other than them were already nowhere to be seen. It was clear that everybody was already gone. They including Ye Xiao hurriedly got down and squeezed in the crowd of people to hide their embarrassment.
When Ye Xiao came out from the crowd of people after a bit of struggle, he was stunned again seeing what was in front of him.
Currently, he was standing in the middle of a road and everywhere around him was a bustling sight of people.
The Imperial City encompassed a vast expanse of land. Many peoples were walking here and there. Somebody entered some shop and somebody exits. Everywhere was the commotion of all the peoples there.
A few moments later, Ye Xiao walked toward a random small shop to find out about the place and process of registration. After getting the information he wants, he came to an inn and entered it.
Seeing him enter, a young lady in her mid twenty walked toward him with a smile on her face and said, "Welcome dear guest, do you want to rent a room or do you just want to eat something"
"I want to stay here for a few days" Ye Xiao answered her with a smile.
"The cost to rent a room for a single night is 100 silver. At first, you have to pay the price according to the number of days you are planning to stay here. And for some reason if you are going to stay here even after your due date, then you have to pay accordingly." That young lady who seems to work for this inn told him about the process of the inn.
Listening to her, Ye Xiao was surprised as for only a single night one have to pay a 100 silver coins. Before his fortuitous encounter with the Heavenly Pearl, even 10 silver coins was too much for him. And here, in the Imperial City, a random inn that he choose to stay, has a price of a 100 silver coins for only a single night.
But now, he does not have to worry about silver coins or even gold coins as he had a mine of low grade spirit stone of his own. He payed her 10 gold coins as the price to stay here for 10 days.
After getting the money, that young lady took him to the second floor of the inn and walked toward a certain room. She opened the gate of the room and let him enter. When Ye Xiao entered in the room, the young lady said, "If you need anything you can call me."
"Ok, thank you." Ye Xiao nodded his head. That young lady turned back and returned to the first floor. When she left, Ye Xiao closed the door of the room and planned to take a long nap. He was already very tired from his last adventure so just after a short period of time, he fell asleep.
When he woke up again, it was already the afternoon of second day. He got up from the bed and took a bath. When all is done, he came down to the first floor of the inn which was already tightly packed as everyone was here for their lunch.
He waited there by standing at the side for some time and when one of the table become empty, he walked toward it and sat down.
Before long, a female attendant greeted Ye Xiao and gave him a menu and said, "Guest, what do you want to eat?"
Ye Xiao didn't take the menu but said "Bring me a serving of all the specialty dishes in your inn and a jug of fine wine."
"Yes." The female attendant respectfully nodded before turning around and leaving.
In the next to no time, a good wine and delicious food were placed onto the table. He began to eat when the food were served.
A small portion of the surrounding people were discussing some private matters whereas the large portion of people here were discussing about the competition organised by the five great sects and the Imperial Family.
"Do you know, I heard that Xu Qing also taking part in this competition."
"What? Really?"
"Yes, what do you know?"
"That Xu Qing is a rare genius martial artist, and in our entire Azure Dragon Country, only one person can rival him or even surpass him."
"Who?"
"Naturally it is Lin Hao."
"Who is Lin Hao?"
"You actually don't even know Lin Hao? He is a peerless genius of our Azure Dragon Country. In the starting year of his age, he was just like an ordinary kid, cultivating in a slow pace. But when he turned Fourteen, he suddenly started to cultivate much faster than any other."