As Julong stepped into the dressing room, he took a small look around. It was very basic and had a single door. He didn't have any clue where he was in the Region as this was technically his first time actually being in the region aside from the meeting with Elders. He was more surprised to know that the region actually had something like this. Was this a normal thing in the region?
He shrugged and walked forward a few steps, clearing the path for Zi Xiao who closely followed behind him.
"And here we are,"
"Where exactly is here?"
Julong had long turned his head to look into his Masters's eyes.
"The Zixiao Regions broadcasting station."
"The what?"
"It is basically a place where we hire people to use spatial techniques to show meetings across the Region. We will generally get Nascent Source experts to help out since they are the easiest to come across who are willing to do the job. To add to this, we usually broadcast it in the town squares of the different territories in the Region."
Julong nodded in understanding. He had seen the technique before, in fact, he was able to use it himself as it wasn't too difficult. It was essentially just a controlled tear in space that showed a certain area. It could be called projection, only it wasn't really. It was in the middle of being a projection and a tear that you could step through. It was a somewhat difficult concept to understand, but rather simple in practice, strangely enough.
"I see. So we are doing it here because it would be easier to show it to the public."
"Correct."
Zi Xiao who was nodding to herself slowly looked to her right. She seemed to have sensed something.
"They are here...
"Come on. Let's get going."
She moved toward the door and opened it, letting them both out, where she directed them down the hall to the right. Perhaps that was where the meeting was taking place?
He was proven correct as they reached a door at the end of the hall, which when opened lead into an area with a large stage. There were curtains to each side, blocking the view of the sides of the stage and some chairs in front of the stage which were filled with who Julong was assuming to be different information brokers and the ones who would be asking the questions.
Behind the chairs of people was a row of Nascent Source experts who were the people that would be broadcasting the meeting.
On top of the stage was a table with four seats stationed behind it. The inner two would be for Mushin Yuan and Xiaoyao Julong, and the outer two for their respective guardians. For Julong this would naturally be Zi Xiao, but for Mushin Yuan, he had no idea.
Zi Xiao stopped behind the curtains to the side of the stage as if waiting for a queue. Julong was a little curious as to what the said queue was since he didn't want to seem clueless to his opponent.
"Why are we just waiting here?"
"We are waiting for them to call us to the stage. This is so we are not harassed by the people below who will be asking the questions while they make their final preparations."
So he was correct, the people below would be asking all the questions. This didn't make him feel very comfortable as they looked like very sly people. He was certain they would try to stir up something between him and Mushin Yuan.
"Would the challenger and his guardian please take the stage?"
A strong voice rang throughout the hall. It was authoritative and probably belonged to the person who would conduct the press conference.
Julong peeked through the curtain, waiting for the one called Mushin Yuan to walk through the curtains on the other side. This was of course because he was the challenger; he had sent the letter after all.
The curtain swung open, revealing two silhouetted figures. Out of the darkness which held their bodies, walked Mushin Yuan and his guardian. Julong was rather quick to figure out which was which. One was an elderly looking man who was obviously hiding his ability, while the other was a young boy around the age of 14. He was dressed in rather simple robes and had rather short, yet sharp red hair with crimson eyes to match. He was rather handsome for his age.
The two sat in their respective seats in agreement with the expectations of the conference, revealing to Julong that his guess was correct once more. Not that it wasn't extremely obvious.
Some of the people in the chairs gasped at his attractive looks, this wasn't even considering those who were watching in the town squares of the different territories. Some girls couldn't help but stare.
It was only going to get worse once the authoritative voice wrung out again, which it did momentarily.
"Would the defendant and his guardian please take the stage?"
Julong gave a quick look at Zi Xiao who nodded at him. He pulled back the curtain revealing his silhouette to the world. He strut out from behind the curtain with confidence and unrivalled elegance. Zi Xiao quickly followed behind him, a small smile on her face.
The reaction from the crowd was wild. There was a very big difference in looks when it came to age in someones early years, and it was obvious that Julong was far younger than Mushin Yuan, someone who was considered a true prodigy, unlocking all his Meridians at the age of 13.
That wasn't the end of it either.
His unearthly looks struck the most attention. Both his hair and eyes shimmered in the light, and his robes swayed with majesty as they pushed against his visibly lean body. There was no question who was more dazzling from looks alone.
It was such a difference that even some of the girls from the line of Nascent Source experts had momentarily allowed their Techniques to falter, causing the event to flicker for those who were watching in other places around the region. It was not something they were proud of since both of the contestants were far younger than they were.
Zi Xiao and Julong took a seat at the table. Mushin shot a kind smile toward Julong, which was returned in kind. He wasn't expecting a smile, but if the person in front of him was nice, he would take it.
"Would the challenger and defender please stage their name and age in that order?"
Mushin Yuan was the first to speak.
"Mushin Yuan, 14 years old."
Julong who was only acting tough for the people watching decided to just copy what Mushin Yuan had said.
"Xiaoyao Julong, 11 years old."
When Julong finished speaking, uproar occurred in the audience and with the Nascent Source experts behind them. Being 11 and having reached the Qi Nourishing Realm was extremely remarkable, it showed that he had the potential to beat Mushin Yuan in the future, but many were not sure about his current self. But that caused another issue, even Mushin Yuan could be spotted giving a disbelieving look at Julong. Was he now nervous?
The conference was going to be interesting, that was for sure.