Immediately, everyone's heads turned towards the entrance of the hall as the doors were slowly pushed open by two servants, followed by the cluttering of calm relaxed footsteps. The footsteps were unhurried and were not showing a single sign of worry and while everything might have seemed calm, the instant the footsteps were heard, an immediate change occurred in the hall as an overbearing aura fell. The bodies of everyone stiffened up as gazes of seriousness and fear appeared on their faces.
Unlike the others, a calm expression appeared on Leo's face as he had been looking forward to seeing the Jade Emperor and the rest of the other immortals. The instant that Lex has said that they had arrived, he saw that all of the Crystal team has changed their faces immediately and their aura became neutral as if they had never been angry in the first place.
'In the face of the strong, the weak must bow,' Leo thought as he shook his head in disappointment. He immediately let his hand down and turned around to the doors as nine people made their way in. Seeing their faces, Leo immediately recognized three people. The first was the Drunken Immortal who was here with his family. The second was the Immortal woman, Lillian whom Leo has recognized only due to him seeing her portraits back in the Lotus Kingdom. Third, was the person that Leo believe to be the Jade Emperor. This was due to him being dressed differently from the other cultivators and also due to Leo getting a completely different reading from his aura.
'He is stronger than everyone else here...' thought Leo as he was further interested in the Jade Emperor.
The Jade Emperor led the group and the Emperors were walking in a specific order with the kingdoms of the east on the left of the Emperor and the west on his right side. The rest of the Immortals seemed to be men but third in line on the right of the Emperor shocked Leo slightly. Leo was only able to tell that this guy was a man after taking a look at his neck and seeing an adam's apple. The man was outstandingly beautiful and looked as much a girl as any female. He looked next to him and saw that even Lex was pretty confused as he stared at the man with a confused expression.
A slight smile appeared on his face as he nudged Lex, causing him to be brought back from his stupor.
"It's rude to stare you know," Leo spoke as he chuckled lightly.
"I know that..." Lex commented annoyedly but he could help but take another glance and ask, "Is that a guy or a girl?"
"I don't know. But judging from the fact that they are here, I think food should be served soon," Leo replied, not answering Lex.
The Jade Emperor turned out to be just the man that Leo had suspected as he walked forward to a small stage that was set up in the front of the hall, with a chair and many curtains behind it. He stopped right in front of the stage and looked around as a small smile graced his face.
"Welcome, everyone. I'm glad that you all were able to make it to my daughter's sixteenth birthday. I hope you all were all able to enjoy the food that my Jade Empire was able to provide. I'm sure many of you are waiting for the Princess, I sincerely apologize but you may have to wait for a bit longer, there were some unexpected issues. She should be appearing soon," the Jade Emperor spoke out, his voice no particularly loud but successfully reaching the ears of everyone present in the hall.
"There's absolutely no problem with that, your Imperial Majesty. The princess may take as long as she likes," Erik suddenly spoke up in a very uplifting voice.
'Disappointing...' was the only thing that Leo managed to think of as his attention was suddenly distracted by a small girl about Lex's age who was suddenly walked out and began looking around as if she was searching for someone.
Seeing her, immediately reminded him of Aurora when she was young and their times at the Decan clan and a small smile appeared on his face.
"Leila!" Lex called out as he waved to her with a bright smile and she immediately smiled as she made her way towards them.
"Nice outfit. Did you guys get here okay?" Lex asked excitedly that instant that she made it to them. It seemed like having someone his age had brought out his more childish side.
Hearing this, Leila's face immediately brightened as her smile grew bigger, "How could we possibly get in trouble? My father's an immortal. How about you guys? Big bro Leo, Lex didn't give you any trouble did he?"
Leo was immediately shocked speechless for a few seconds as he could not believe how much of Aurora's personality that he saw in her. He gave Lex a thumbs up as he mouthed 'nicely done,' before replying, "Nope. We had a lot of fun. I'm glad that he had been having a lot of fun with you guys."
"Yup. I'm really happy that he is with me, life in the palace is so boring," Leila commented with a hint of an exaggerated bored expression on her face.
"Lex, let's go roam the palace. I got permission from Big Uncle," Leila excitedly spoke as she grabbed Lex's hand and began dragging him out.
"Huh... Wai- Big bro, I'll be gone for a while. Have fun," Lex helplessly spoke as he also excitedly joined her and they ran outside but just before they got out, Leila turned around and called out to Leo and said, "Big bro Leo, my dad wanted to talk to you so you should go and see him when you're free."
This small meeting had happened in the presence of all the Crystal team members and they were all shocked to the core. Many of them were surprised when Lex met another girl who seemed to be the same age as him. but their surprise turned into shock when they heard Leila mention that her father was an immortal. They all subconsciously took in a sharp breath of air a single thought began to appear in their mind, 'Could these boys really have relations of an actually immortal?'
"Imperial Majesty, do you know if those boys really have the backing of an immortal?" the Ruby King couldn't help but ask the Crystal Emperor.
"We will have to find out. That girl told him that her father wanted to talk to him. I want you to follow him and see if he does indeed have a strong backing," Erik immediately replied as an uneasy expression appeared on his face. He definitely knew that the backing of an immortal would be one that he could not fight against as fighting about mean going against an immortal which would indirectly lead to them offending the Jade Empire.
Meanwhile, Edgar's face had a very complicated expression on his face. He had heard from Eupheme that Leo had left for the Drunken Kingdom to go and see his brother but he had not been told any further information on Lex's identity. When he saw that they had arrived at the banquet, he was extremely elated that they were able to arrive but his elation then quickly changed as Leo met the Crystal Team. When he saw Lex start talking back to the Crystal Emperor in an extremely haughty tone, his mind dropped as he immediately became angry at Lex but he kept it hidden and only planned to talk about this later as he could not afford to lose Leo at this moment. The situation only escalated after this and it was when Erik declared that the Lapis Kingdom was no longer a part of the Crystal Empire that Edgar's mind broke. But like a rollercoaster, he was then further led into confusion as Leila walked forward. Normally, the people would not bat an eye at this but to Edgar, this means something else. It meant that Leo had connections to the Drunken Kingdom, one of the strongest kingdoms in the Jade Empire itself.
While he was distracted by his own thoughts, Leo had turned towards him and the Crystal team with an apologetic smile as he spoke, "It seems that I will have to go for a moment. Please excuse me."