Chapter 283: Draggin’ Crown Prince, Not Dragon Crown Prince (2/2)

“Please, don’t call me ‘Sovereign’. Just Lu Yun is fine, Your Highness!” Lu Yun replied hurriedly.

“Hahahaha… come in, honored sovereign, please come on in! I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time now, ever since I heard you were around these parts, but I’ve been occupied by all sorts of unimportant business. Imagine my joy and surprise when I found you on my doorstep! Honored, truly honored!” The dragon prince projected every word from his dantian with thunderous force.

Lu Yun’s eardrums quavered at the stress. He exchanged a look with Qing Han; neither of them knew what to say. The prince was flattering him a great deal, but he sounded almost like he was talking to himself.

Although the palace’s exterior was little different from when Beigong Yu had owned it, its interior had been lavishly renovated and refurnished. Pearls and gemstones glittered as far as the eye could see, decorating nearly every visible surface with brilliance. The palace formations, too, had received a fresh coat of maintenance and improvement.

As a dedicated cultivator and killing machine, Beigong Yu hardly cared about how his palace looked. This particular one was only a temporary, seasonal residence, not his actual home. That didn’t make him any happier, though.

The other monster kings of the North Sea had hereditary titles and honors that passed on to their heirs and disciples. For example, the King of Southern Subjugation’s eldest son was now the new king.

After Beigong Yu’s death, however, his faction had immediately crumbled. His disciples had either betrayed him or died in battle. Even his old nest had fallen! It was in this moment that he finally understood how awful his behavior had been in the past.

……

Inside the palace’s main hall, a feast of unending delicacies had already been prepared, and beautiful immortals danced on the sides to liven the mood.

“Your Royal Highness!” Lu Yun tried to get the prince’s attention once more mid-banquet, but he was ignored with the same characteristic sonority.

“Sovereign, what do you think of my palace? Let me tell you, this place used to belong to North Sea’s number one king, the Kunpeng King! After Your Eminence killed him, I bought the palace from the North Sea court for a hundred million premium immortal crystals! I’ve given it a new name: the Xiangliu Palace. It’s a very nice place to live, eh?”

Beigong Yu’s face darkened ominously at the words. He’d thought the prince had forcibly taken over his Kunpeng Palace, not that it’d been sold off!

“I’ve got nothing but money, money, money!” The prince roared with laughter. “The East Sea would want for anything else before we wanted for that! Why, we have all the money in the world to spare. Sovereign, I hear you snatched a war treasure from the Nephrite court—that’s a money-burner, alright. Come, five billion premium crystals for my good friend! A token of our amity!”

A monster immortal nearby bowed, then retreated to fulfill his master’s request.

“Your Highness!” Lu Yun shouted again.

“Why haven’t you said anything, Your Eminence? Do you think five billion too little? Come, another five billion more!” The crown prince tilted his head with a mixture of excitement and concern.

The only response Lu Yun could muster to that was slack-jawed shock.

“Senior martial uncle, he’s not actually a ‘dragon’ prince. People call him a ‘draggin’ prince’ because he’s well, a drag to talk to.” Xing Mou finally chimed in. “He’s deaf, see? He can’t hear anything. You have to talk to him via transmission.”

“Huh? Why didn’t you mention it to me earlier?!”

A deaf prince, huh? No wonder he hadn’t responded to a single word.

“I thought you knew already,” Xing Mou muttered under her breath.

“You’re not doing a very good job as a guide, Xing Mou. Watch out, your martial uncle might dock your pay.” Qing Han couldn’t resist a tease.