"National Duel Tournament" is one of the most important events at the Hundred Nations Banquet.
Along the way, Elara had learned a lot about the Hundred Nations Banquet.
The banquet is a gathering of third-tier nations. Besides promoting, exchanging, trading, and auctioning rare treasures from various countries, since so many powers of the same level gather in one place, naturally, competitions are inevitable.
So, the contests among nations have become one of the key elements of the banquet, in addition to high-level meetings and treasure exchanges.
The competitions are divided into three formats: individual, faction-based, and national.
However, the Martial Alliance is the recognized authority for assessing, recording, and publishing rankings of martial experts, such as combat power rankings and kill rankings. The nations mainly recognize only the Martial Alliance's rankings.
As for faction rankings... since most involved factions are martial groups like those under the Martial Alliance, Blood Robes Hall, Yellow Springs Hall, and others, their battles are not limited to the banquet. Most powerful factions don't even attend.
So, among the three competitions at the banquet, the truly exciting one is the national-level contest. It is the only exclusive event for competing for the championship of the banquet.
To become the champion and win the prize, participating in the individual or faction contests isn't enough. One must compete in the "National Duel."
Although the banquet is only for third-tier nations, each country can only bring up to 10,000 elite troops for the competition.
This world has the most third-tier nations. They are also the ones who lack and desire divine vein blessings the most.
Any third-tier nation that wants rewards related to divine vein blessings must first win the championship.
This is also why, when Elara and the others first arrived at the gates of the Geranium Kingdom, they saw so many third-tier envoys with long entourages and even troops.
Besides security, those well-equipped and trained soldiers were meant to represent their countries in the National Duel.
Even if they didn't win first place, the joint rewards for second and third were still generous enough to boost their nation's strength upon return.
A good chance to quickly assess the strength of various countries.
Elara quickly recalled all the information she had gathered about the Hundred Nations Banquet in her mind while thinking about the upcoming National Duel she would soon witness.
Inside the hall, the discussion turned to which powerful third-tier nations would participate and heated debates broke out about who was most likely to win.
At the height of it, some were so worked up they were ready to bet everything they owned against others who had different views.
Elara sat at the table eating slowly while quickly gathering information revealed by the discussions in the hall.
After picking up another piece of braised pork, she glanced at Mr. Yu, who was also eating while listening.
"Mr. Yu."
Mr. Yu paused, seemed to come back to himself from the title, withdrew his gaze from the crowd, and leaned toward Elara with a smile.
"What is it, Miss Bai?"
Elara also looked at Gareth. "I'm just curious. Why won't you participate in the National Duel?"
With the Dahlia Kingdom's current strength, nearly reaching second-tier status, there were very few third-tier nations on the entire continent that could match it.
If Mr. Yu were to compete, winning wouldn't be out of the question.
But Mr. Yu shook his head and half-joked with a sigh, "Forget it. For countries like ours without a patron state, joining the chaos would be pointless and could even bring trouble."
The intense debate in the hall continued, and the discussions were not just about the top-tier third-tier nations joining the duel, but also about the powerful second-tier countries backing them.
The National Duel at the banquet is only open to third-tier nations.
Second-tier and above can't directly join. If they want to win the prize, they must support or control a third-tier country and have it win on their behalf.
This gave third-tier nations with patron states a clear advantage over independent ones.
Elara asked no more and kept listening while instructing the System to collect and log the details of the major powers being discussed.
By the time her slow meal was nearly finished, the arguments in the hall had calmed somewhat.
She had gathered most of the information about the nations joining the duel. She looked up at Mr. Yu and Gareth.
"So, what are your plans next, Mr. Yu?"
Mr. Yu picked up a cup of tea. "Hmm... the main reason we came to the banquet was to find Leland. But he's probably not here yet."
Mr. Yu said this while glancing at Gareth.
Gareth lifted his pale, slender hand and adjusted the dark red robe on his shoulder, then nodded. "Leland is still on the road. He should arrive in three to five days. Also..."
Gareth lowered his voice a bit. His red eyes looked at Elara and Mr. Yu. "Jingshi Kingdom, and its affiliates Narcissus Kingdom and Salvia Kingdom, haven't arrived yet either. I've received word that they'll also be sending people to join this banquet. They'll likely arrive in three to five days too. By then... Leland will probably 'seek' them out, as he always does. The commotion won't be small. I've already arranged for people to keep watch. If anything happens, we'll know right away."
Elara raised an eyebrow. So Jingshi and the affiliated Narcissus, Salvia, and the rest were also sending people.
She had thought they'd be too busy plotting against Plumera, Sargassum, and the Dahlia Kingdom to show up.
Elara's eyes turned cold. Knowing Leland's pattern, he would certainly stir up trouble with those four nations.
Perfect. She could use the mess created by Leland to probe the real situation of those countries.
"All right," Mr. Yu said as he suddenly opened his folding fan. "Since Leland won't arrive for a few days, and the banquet is still in its preparation phase, how about we take a stroll through the Rare Treasures Fair? All envoys who brought rare goods from their countries set up early for the fair. Let's go see what treasures we might find this time, shall we?"
Elara had no objections. She had originally wanted to visit the Rare Treasures Banquet, not only to learn about the trade of specialties among various nations on the continent, but also because someone had just mentioned in the main hall that the famed beauty from Tiangong Pavilion might make an appearance there.
If that were true, she needed to figure out in advance how to establish a connection with Tiangong Pavilion.
Gareth naturally had no objections either. "Gareth will accompany you two."
The Rare Treasures Banquet was located just outside the royal city in the northern district of the Geranium Kingdom. It nearly occupied the entire most prosperous street of the Geranium Kingdom.
As Elara and the others walked along the street, their eyes were filled with various rare and unique specialties brought by envoys from different nations.
There were all kinds of strange flowers and fruits from this world that Elara had never seen before, as well as many local handmade products from across the continent.
Exquisite and expensive agate and jade, rare trees and oddities, peculiar little animals that could be kept as pets, luxurious and beautiful handmade silks, various marine specialties from coastal countries, and even the stunning male slaves that Elara had seen when she first entered the city, all carefully selected and trained by each nation.
The closer they got to the direction of the royal city, the more precious the rare and exotic goods from various countries became.
At the very northern end of the street, right by the entrance closest to the royal city, there stood a massive five-story building. The entire structure was extravagant and grand.
This building was even more luxurious than Geranium Kingdom's Lianyi Pavilion on the same street.
Inside, it housed the most precious treasures brought by every nation to the Rare Treasures Banquet.
As soon as Elara stepped inside, her eyes were dazzled by all the stunning and eye-catching rare treasures.
There were massive and exquisite top-grade coral reefs, fist-sized translucent luminous pearls, a legendary heirloom of a long-fallen great nation, a gigantic Heshibi jade the size of half a human body, a huge intricately carved agate goblet nearly as tall as a person and adorned with a golden beast head, an elaborate golden silk robe embroidered with golden threads and jade cicadas, and even Elara actually saw a white tiger cub with wings and a golden fox cub with nine tails.
She couldn't help but pause, her eyes fixed on the two especially unique cubs.
Although this world was clearly different from Earth, especially with its many unfamiliar plants, she hadn't seen many unusual animals yet.
Especially not legendary animals like a nine-tailed fox or a winged tiger, which only existed in texts like Shan Hai Jing or fantasy dramas. In her two lifetimes, this was her first time seeing them alive.
This world actually had a nine-tailed fox and a flying white tiger.
Elara couldn't help but walk over.
The envoy who brought the two cubs was from a third-tier nation located in a remote corner on the northern edge of the continent.
He had clear features of a foreign ethnicity. When he saw that Elara seemed interested in the two cubs, he immediately began to introduce them:
"Hello, these are the holy offspring just recently born from our nation's twin sacred beasts. The nine-tailed fox and the winged tiger can only be found in our nation across the entire continent. Beautiful lady, may I ask which country you come from? If you can offer a rare treasure of equivalent value that interests us, I'm willing to make an exchange."
The man spoke with a noticeable accent, like someone who had just learned to speak Chinese.
His facial features also resembled a foreigner, but the entire continent in this world used Chinese as the common language. No one knew why, but it made things much easier for Elara, who had never encountered a language barrier since arriving here.
"What kind of rare treasure are you looking for?"
Elara was indeed very interested in these two legendary cubs. A winged white tiger and a nine-tailed fox were creatures she had only ever seen in Shan Hai Jing, dramas, or AI effects. Now they were right in front of her.
The two cubs were clearly newly born. Their fur was soft and dense, like fluffy little balls. Their tiny bodies were only the size of two palms, and they were unbelievably cute.
Elara squatted down and couldn't help but reach out to touch the nine-tailed fox cub and the white tiger cub.
The foreign envoy was about to stop her, but to his astonishment, the two cubs took the initiative to snuggle up to Elara.
Their soft little pink paws wrapped around Elara's hand, and then their pink tongues started to gently lick her.
The envoy's warning, meant to tell Elara not to touch them recklessly in case she got scratched, got stuck in his throat as he stared in disbelief.
The nine-tailed fox and the winged tiger were sacred beasts of their Holy Beast Nation. According to divine lineage, these two types of sacred beasts, exclusive to their nation, were deeply tied to their country's fate. That made them the national beasts, a symbol of their identity. Only the highest-ranking royals and nobles were allowed to care for and raise them.
These two beasts had always had extremely proud tempers. Even as newborns, they never let strangers get close, except for those who had served them from birth. Anyone who dared approach them or intrude into their space would be scratched badly.
If anyone angered an adult nine-tailed fox or winged tiger, they could even die from an attack.