The ceremony hall was huge and there were hundreds of people that had already gathered when Lu Qingyun had entered.He took a quick look and was astonished by the number of beautiful maidens that were in the hall and they were all looking at his entourage.
But at the same time Lu Qingyun had a solemn expression and he was actually deep in thoughts. It was because he had suddenly realized that Qin Keqin was attracting a little too much attention for his liking and he was feeling a little sour inside…
These beautiful maidens were quite startled by the appearance of Lu Qingyun as he was really quite handsome and a great number of them were unconsciously moving their lips in their startled state.
But of course Lu Qingyun was not the star of his entourage. His sudden appearance and the four beautiful maidens that were walking behind him had suddenly caused the buzzing hall to almost fall into dead silence as everyone had turned their eyes to look in their directions.
The beautiful and moving sight of Leng Qiuyue, Ouyang Xue and Lie Xingyuan walking together were enough to cause quite a big stir and caused the hearts of many men to stop.
But the sudden appearance of Qin Keqin who was smiling delightfully as she swept her bewitching golden eyes curiously around, causing everyone, men and women to fall into stunning silence. It was as though Qin Keqin was a heavenly fairy, untainted, lofty and forbidden.
Her peerless allure was so exceedingly that many of the beautiful maidens were looking at her with shame in their eyes; it was because many of them were actually attending this ceremony to show off their personal beauties as they were not pleased that an upstart had suddenly usurped the position of the number one beauty of New Empyrean City.
They had all wanted to show Qin Keqin that she was not the most beautiful but once they had seen her, they were quite stunned…
Qin Keqin knew that she was causing a great stir and thought delightfully, "They must really like my make-up…"
Make-up or not, Qin Keqin was an astonishing peerless beauty without a doubt.
She was smiling delightfully because it had really come from the bottom of her heart. She was really happy that she had a place among the top twenty beauties ranking and the thoughts that her two sister saintesses did not have a place in the ranking make her only all too pleased.
"Minyue, Danfeng. I am going to show off to you every now and then."
She was soon smiling again to herself, "Qingyun, are you proud of me today? That your beloved is in first place?…"
Only Lu Qingyun mattered the most to her now.
"Qingyun, this is my most beautiful moment today. I hope that you can remember this day…" she had a shy flush as she said in her heart.
She did not know that Lu Qingyun was not glad at all. Instead he was not pleased that she was gathering so much attention to herself.
As for the men, they were stunned by her and many of them were muttering. "She is a G.o.ddess…"
Everyone was thinking, "She must be Qin Keqin? It is because only she has the golden eyes that clearly marked her as a fifth realm expert…"
"I"ve heard that in the past, the Great Saintess Fan Yuqing is the acclaimed G.o.ddess and she has even toppled peerless beauties like the Great Saintess Feng Minyue and Great Saintess Xuan Danfeng…"
The master of ceremony was a grey hair old man. His jaws had almost dropped when he saw Qin Keqin…
He had not expected Qin Keqin to be such a peerless G.o.ddess…
Regarding the nomination of Qin Keqin as the top beauty of the New Empyrean City, he had actually quarreled with the ruling councilors as he had felt that Qin Keqin did not deserve the t.i.tle.
However the ruling council had insisted because she was a golden celestial and her cultivation strength was also the highest among the top twenty beauties.
He had questioned hard with the ruling council, "Just because she has the highest cultivation level so she should be ranked number one? This is too ridiculous."
But the ruling council had already made up their minds firmly. Although they had never seen Qin Keqin before but they knew that everyone would be curious about her as she had been in the gossips for quite a while. However, they were unsure if she would accept the nomination since she was a high ranking golden celestial and is also a sect leader of one of the four powerhouses in New Empyrean City.
Therefore they had decided to bait her out by offering her an offer that she could not resist.
The Ruling Council of New Empyrean City had various interest groups of councilors and they controlled vast resources. When a beauty was nominated, a reasonable amount of cultivation resources would be granted to their celestial clan as well. In this way, it made the celestial clan harder to decline the nomination. Over time, this ranking became a source of pride among the beautiful cultivators.
What did the Ruling Council have to gain from the nominations?
Plenty.
A business relationship was formed between the various influencers of the interest group to the celestial clan. How could a celestial resource be transferred? It was via the interest groups. It was actually a two way transfer.
After all, if the celestial clan had any excess cultivation resources they could sell it to the interest groups and the interest groups would resell it for a profit to those that were in need through their vast networks.
In this way, the ruling council was able to keep the peace between the celestial clans in the city and also befriended the powerful cultivators to be their protectors in times of trouble. After all, there were few cultivators in the council and none among the ruling council.
That was the reason why the ruling council had made a unanimous decision to nominate Qin Keqin into the top twenty beauties ranking and even decided to have her crowned as the number one beauty.
This old man was Old Councilor You and he was unhappy with the decisions that were made by the ruling council as he had strongly disagreed about the top beauty nomination that was to be made to Qin Keqin.
But when he had seen her now, he had totally changed his mind!
It was because she was deserving fit to be nominated as the number one beauty of New Empyrean City!
He quickly gave a welcoming smile as he proclaimed loudly, "So it seems that Sect Leader Qin has finally arrived."
Several of the junior councilors were amazed at the sudden transformation that had happened to Old Councilor You. Earlier he was grumbling unhappily that Qin Keqin was late and that the bulk of the guests had to wait for her arrival.
Since the nomination was all about her, the crowning ceremony could not kick start without her presence.
Qin Keqin returned a faint smile, "Sorry I"m a little late. I"ve taken too much time in dressing up for this occasion."
Old Councilor You was laughing jovially, "That"s perfectly normal and understandable. After all, it is our esteem honor to wait for the number one beauty. Moreover you"re not late at all, not late at all. Haha."
The junior councilors were almost rendered wordless by the sudden transformation of Old Councilor You: …
As Qin Keqin was chatting with Old Councilor You, a fine looking young man and a beautiful maiden had approached Lu Qingyun…
"Brother Lu!"
Lu Qingyun was startled that it was Young Master Ling Chong and his sister Fairy Ling Xiu.
Fairy Ling Xiu shyly looked at Lu Qingyun as she smiled faintly, "Brother Lu. How are you?"
Lu Qingyun quickly greeted, "Brother Ling Chong and Sister Ling Xiu. You are here for the crowning ceremony as well?"
Ling Chong laughed jovially, "Naturally it is an occasion not to be missed." Although he was talking to Lu Qingyun but his eyes were secretly glancing at Lie Xingyuan as he thought, "She is so beautiful today…it is a good thing that I"ve come today…"
Fairy Ling Xiu was pleased secretly that Lu Qingyun was here today. She had been a little disappointed that he was not presented when she had aided the Heavens Ridge Villa against the Solitary Manor that night…
Ling Chong, Fairy Ling Xiu, Lie Xingyuan, Ouyang Xue and Leng Qiuyue had also exchanged quick pleasantries. If it was in the past, these two celestial clans would have simply ignored each other. But ever since the Flying Armament Sect had come to the aid of the Heavens Ridge Villa, these two celestial clans had formed an unspoken alliance. After all, the Flying Armament Sect was taking a considerable risk by aiding the Heavens Ridge Villa.
Many of the maidens that were looking at Lu Qingyun were secretly unhappy that Fairy Ling Xiu was seen talking to him.
They were mostly thinking that this b.i.t.c.h had actually seized the initiative to approach Lu Qingyun ahead of them and were upset…
However there was nothing that they could do and they did not dare to gossip in front of her. It was because Fairy Ling Xiu was a fourth realm cultivator and the young mistress of the Flying Armament Sect. Her level of cultivation was ahead of them and she was actually ranked as one of the top cultivators in New Empyrean City.
Although Young Master Ling Chong was chatting with Lu Qingyun and was even secretly stealing a few glances at Lie Xingyuan, like all the people here, his attention was soon upon Qin Keqin; she was simply too beautiful today in her white golden dress.
Old Councilor You was looking l.u.s.tfully at Qin Keqin"s tight bosoms and was heard saying, "Sect Leader Qin is really stunning today…"
From afar, an elegant maiden with a half veiled mask was quietly looking at Lu Qingyun and Qin Keqin. There was envious in her eyes as she saw how beautiful Qin Keqin was. This elegant maiden was Qiuxiang Huan, a senior core protégé of the Pavilion Mistress of the Clear Sky Pavilion.
She was not only the highest ranking senior core protégé of the Pavilion Mistress Qiuxiang Mei, who was the sect master of the Clear Sky Pavilion but she was also her only daughter. Needless to say, she enjoyed a lofty standing in the Clear Sky Pavilion.
Like many others, she was curious who Qin Keqin was and like many, she was also unhappy that Qin Keqin had got the position of the top beauty of New Empyrean City. This was unacceptable to her because she was also quite a beautiful maiden and could be described as peerless. But when she saw how peerless Qin Keqin was, there was a burning envious in her eyes.
Qiuxiang Huan was a renowned beauty of New Empyrean City and she had many suitors. Recently, she had just ousted her rival, who was one of the top twenty beauties by plotting her downfall with a scandal. Until now, this rival of hers had no idea that she had masterminded her downfall.
And then the ruling council had suddenly announced that Qin Keqin would not only be ranked as one of the top twenty beauties but she would be ceremonially crowned as the top beauty of New Empyrean City. This news had caused her to be secretly infuriated.
Although by all appearances, Qiuxiang Huan was only a fourth realm cultivator but she was actually a peaked fifth realm golden celestial. The reason why she did not have any golden eyes was because she had purposely suppressed her profound strength with a secret mystical divine pill that was only produced by the Clear Sky Pavilion.
Therefore she did not fear Qin Keqin at all.
In fact she was thinking with cold-hearted calculation, "We are both peaked fifth realm cultivation experts. I wonder how do you measure against me?"
She had a sudden wry smile, "Although you are beautiful but you cannot hope to keep your number one position for too long. Everyone knows that you"ve been defiled by Old Saint Wen. Moreover, Supremacy Wen is now on his way to screw you up soon. I"m afraid that you will soon have your times of troubles."
The Clear Sky Pavilion was one of the four powerhouses of New Empyrean City and therefore it was not hard for them to get the necessary information about their rivals.
Then she turned to look at Lu Qingyun with a faint smile, "How about I seduce your core disciple and make him fall out with you first?" Her heart was suddenly pacing when she stole a look at Lu Qingyun but she was soon saying to herself, "There is no way that I will fall in love with any man. Especially not a good-for-nothing cultivator. He is just a good looking fellow with no substances inside him."
Old Councilor You was now announcing loudly with a broad grin, "Since Sect Leader Qin is here, we can now begin with the ceremony…"