The guards merely had to take a single glance at the invitation and knew that it was real.
"Ah! You can go on ahead sir," The guard quickly responded.
Lin Mu was surprised by the sudden change of attitude, but then realized that it might be partially due to his clothes too.
'Should I dress like this more often?' Lin Mu couldn't help but wonder.
It might help him have better service in several places and perhaps even save him time.
'I'd been wearing plain clothes to avoid, too much attention. But then that ends up causing extra scrutiny for me.' Lin Mu pondered on it.
He thought about this while walking in, and soon made up his mind.
"I guess I'll just use the new clothes I got. Most of them are the same quality as this anyways." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He also had the self repairing robes which he had bought a while back, and they were quite luxurious looking too. Lin Mu had bought a few sets of them but he had left them to be used while traveling or when he would actively be fighting.
Lin Mu continued walking and passed by several buildings on the way. All of them were luxurious and the further he went, the better they got. There were also ponds, and rock gardens along the way, with a long winding stream that weaved between the paths.
Over the stream, there were redwood bridges that gave it an elegant feeling.
He could even see several guests that were standing on the bridges and taking in the scenery.
"Guess this is a rare sight for most people. Not everyone would get to enter this far into the palace grounds." Lin Mu muttered.
He had to admit though, that this was perhaps the best palace he had seen so far. Just the vastness of it was comparable to a few cities of normal size. And this was just the palace grounds alone, with the rest of the capital region being even bigger.
"That should be the Little Glory Palace." Lin Mu soon spotted the location of the banquet.
Little Glory Palace was built in the center of a lake. One of the many lakes that were within the palace grounds.
It was built entirely with wood and had long eaves that extended over the water. There were red and pink lanterns hanging from the eaves, while thousands of fireflies roamed around it.
These fireflies were not normal either and were actually Spirit Light Fireflies. They too, were spirit beasts, despite being weak.
The glow of the fireflies reflected on the lake, making it seem like there were stars on the bottom of the lake too. In the Rust Sky World where stars couldn't really be seen, it was rather mesmerizing to see them on the lake.
Then there were the colorful fishes that swam in the lake. They would huddle around the small music boats that were circling the palace. Each of these boats held a couple of musicians that were playing various instruments.
Some played the guqin, some played flutes and drums, along with several more.
The music was harmonious and melded well with the atmosphere of the Little Glory Palace.
"This is a rather open palace." Lin Mu said, seeing its design that had walls that fully opened up.
The walls were basically extended doors that could collapse and give one a wide open view of the lake.
Then there were the people. Hundreds of servants could be seen doing various tasks, bringing drinks, food and snacks to the people. Courtesans that danced on open stages that had been set up along with more musicians.
The number of guests seemed to be roughly around two hundred, making Lin Mu wonder if this was normal if today there were more.
'Despite them being selective, they seem to have invited quite a lot of people.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
"Well with the number of people that are attending the tournament, even having a thousand or so highly talented cultivators would be normal." Xukong said.
"Hmm… that does make sense. And considering the status of this banquet, it wouldn't be out of the normal for them to have ditched other banquets and chosen to come to this one." Lin Mu assumed.
After having taken a good look, Lin Mu proceeded towards the entrance of the Little Glory Place that was beyond a bridge that connected to the actual palace.
He passed through a stone arch that hung over the bridge, a few couplets carved into it. And when Lin Mu stepped onto the bridge, he could already smell the fragrance that was dispersed into the air.
"They certainly use some good incense… Jasmine and Agar wood." Lin Mu identified.
There seemed to be no guards present here at the moment, which made Lin Mu feel a bit strange.
'No guards? They wouldn't be that careless, would they?' Lin Mu was doubtful.
After all, this was a gathering of strong cultivators. Most of them were talented, and of high status, which inevitably also made them stubborn and prideful. In such a setting, arguments were common and a fight breaking out would be expected.
Thus, for there to be no guards, was not good.
"Oh wait… that's not it." Lin Mu finally sensed the arrays that were hidden cleverly.
And these weren't just the typical arrays that one might find, like defensive and offensive arrays.
"They actually set up small teleportation arrays." Lin Mu couldn't help but be surprised.
The entire Little Glory Palace was covered in a set of teleportation arrays. Lin Mu activated his Spatial perception and tried to see if he could find their linking points.
'These are short range teleportation arrays, so their entry point should be close by too…' Lin Mu reckoned.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
And just as he had thought, he could faintly see a trail of spatial fluctuations that went over a kilometer away. More accurately, they went to a building that looked like a guard barracks.
"So that's how they are maintaining security… The guards can just teleport into the palace instantly if there is a conflict. They're even keeping the arrays constantly active even though it'll take quite a lot of immortal stones to do this." Lin Mu understood.
Usually, one would only activate a spatial teleportation array when one intended to use it. But in the current case, since it was a short distance teleportation array, the energy needed to keep it active was less.
Of course, for most people, it would be considered a waste to keep it active constantly like this.
"A clever way, for sure." Lin Mu said as he finally stepped onto the threshold of the Little Glory Palace.
Two incense braziers were placed on the sides of the gates, as swaying smoke rose from it. Even the smoke was colorful and would change into different colors from time to time, giving a festive vibe to the banquet.
"WELCOME!" A man loudly greeted Lin Mu, startling him internally.
Lin Mu gazed at the man, finding him to be decent looking. He was also wearing the robes of the nobility and even his cultivation base was good.
'Fourth Tribulation Stage of the immortal realm.' Lin Mu quickly identified.
"May I have your invitation and name, please?" The man asked.
"Sure…" Lin Mu then understood that this must be the greeter for the banquet.
He had seen them in other banquets too before, but none as strong and of a high status as this.
"I'm Mu Lin." He gave his alias as usual.
The man took a look at the invitation as well, which lit up with a name too.
"It actually had my name on it?" Lin Mu hadn't noticed it before.
"It is an authentication for precaution." The man spoke. "There are always a few that try to sneak into our banquets by stealing invitations."
"Ah, I see." Lin Mu replied. "May I know who you are?" he asked next.
"I am Dai He. A second rank official of the Imperial Palace, and one of the hosts for tonight's evening." The man introduced himself.
"So it is Official Dai He," Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine." Dai he said with a smile before looking at the kitten in Lin Mu's hands. "And you too,"
~meow~
Little Shrubby too responded, feeling pleased with the greeting.
"Would you like me to introduce you to some of the guests?" Dai He asked.
Since many of the contestants wouldn't know each other, this was one of the jobs of the hosts. They would introduce them to others as a form of an icebreaker.
"Uh, sure." Lin Mu didn't think it would be bad. 'Might even come as rude if I reject him.' He thought.
"Very well." Dai He said before turning around.
Lin Mu followed him on cue and soon walked to the deeper parts of the palace. Even with the hundreds of people that were here at the moment, it didn't feel crowded at all. The palace was after all, quite spacious.