No matter how the guards tried to argue, Hu Bazi’s imposing demeanor didn’t back down in the slightest.
But, perhaps out of consideration for the fact that the guards were just following their orders to a tee, he didn’t push too hard. He gradually restrained his aura, pointed at the guards’ leader, and said, “I don’t want to force you into submission. Go find a higher-up from the academy and bring him to me. I’d like to see just how dares touch a single hair on Young Master Ye’s head.”
When they saw Hu Bazi’s unyielding stance, the guards were helpless.
This wasn’t a situation they could handle, so they could only nod and go find their superiors.
Before long, the captain of the guards came back, leading an elegant, scholarly man.
“Master Hu, I heard that our academy has made you angry.” The man smiled as he approached, then bowed at the waist.
“No, not really,” Hu Bazi snorted.
“What on earth were you thinking? Don’t you recognize Master Hu? You dared offend him?! Just what was going through your heads?”
When they heard the scholarly man’s rebuke, the captain of the guards recounted what had happened.
The man still scolded them, then a smile blossomed across his face. “Master Hu, please calm your fury. You can’t blame them for this. You, too, know that people from all three Upper Realms are participating in the Battle of Geniuses, but the relationships between the three races…. Well, you don’t need me to explain, do you? We have to consider the bigger picture. That’s why we’re on such high alert.
Little did the scholarly man know, in Hu Bazi’s eyes, this excuse was nothing short of ridiculous. Hu Bazi recognized this elegant man: Dai Chengren.
Thirty years ago, he’d successfully reached the threshold of the half-step ruler level, given that his Grand Dao of Life and Death was extraordinary, he’d become one of the three vice-deans of the Divine Martial Academy.
Just now, the mustached man had caused a disturbance. It wasn’t quite large, but it wasn’t really small, either. At the very least, it was enough that the deans, including vice deans like Dai Chengren, had been able to sense it.
And yet, they hadn’t rushed out to revolve the issue right away, and had instead sent the guards out. Now they were pretending they had no idea what was going on.
“Hah….” The mustached man smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Everyone was, nominally, working for the God Emperor. They had to give each other face, and in any event, he was in no mood to get even with Dai Chengren. He decided to just get up and leave. “I heard all that from your subordinates. I just have one question. Can Young Master Ye go inside or not?”
“Of course he can. Master Hu, you are, of course, trustworthy, so anyone you escorted here is naturally exempt from the usual procedures.” Dai Chengren smiled elegantly, then frowned at the guards. “Do you still dare block his path? Let the young master inside!”
The guards dared not delay. They all stepped side. Hu Bazi arched his brows. “I want to escort Young Master Ye to his residence personally. That won’t be a problem, will it?”
“Of course not, but you might not know the way. How about I lead you there?”
“Lead the way.”
Dai Chengren smiled, nodded, and walked up to him. The mustached man and Ye Zichen followed him into the Divine Martial Academy.
Perhaps because they were on alert due to the presence of demons and yao, but there were at least a dozen teams of guards within the surrounding ten thousand meters. Each team was led by a diviner, and was comprised of five smaller groups of sky supremes. They patrolled both the land and skies on high alert.
“Master Hu, you must know that we weren’t deliberately making trouble for you.” Dai Chengren smiled bitterly. The mustached man nodded, his gaze serious.
No wonder a few days ago, the Divine Palace gathered all of its diviners together. So they’d been sent to patrol Divine Martial Academy! It seemed that the visiting yao and demons represented a major threat to the capital, far bigger than Hu Bazi had imagined.
They walked for a full hour before coming to a stop.
“This is the residence we’ve prepared for our guests from Skyspan Academy.”
They’d stopped at a nine-story building. A sign hung from its sixth floor, emblazoned with the name “Skyspan.”
Ye Zichen and Hu Bazi’s eyes met.
“I’ll go in, then.”
“Goodbye for now, Young Master Ye. Here is my contact information. If you run into any problems, please feel free to contact me whenever. I’ll rush over right away.”
“Alright.” After exchanging contact information, Ye Zichen walked right inside.
It was only after he’d left that Dai Chengren laughed elegantly and asked, seemingly as an afterthought, “This Young Master looks somewhat unfamiliar. Do you perhaps know which family’s young master he is? For you to personally…”
“If it’s not your business, don’t ask.” Hu Bazi coldly cut him off, put away his transmission slip, and took to the skies without so much as looking back.
Dai Chengren smiled appeasingly and shook his head. Before long, two men appeared beside one.
One was younger, while the other was older, his fair flecked with white.
“Little Dai, how did it go?” asked the older one.
“I learned nothing at all. Hu Bazi was extremely protective of that youth. I tried to ask about the boy’s identity, but Hu Bazi put a stop to that right away. But he called the youth ‘Young Master Ye’ the whole time. For Hu Bazi to treat him with such respect, it’s obvious that the boy’s status is exceptional, and he probably has some connection with Xuan Ji,” said Dai Chengren.
“Who of the children participating in the Battle of Geniuses has an ordinary background? All we care about is, does he really have the Xuan-Yuan Sword and Yao-Sealing Pagoda or not?” the younger man frowned.
“I had no way of knowing. The guards tried to search him, but Hu Bazi stopped them too,” said Dai Chengren.
“That Hu Bazi!” the younger man’s eyes flashed with sinister light.
“Forget it,” the older man sighed. “If that’s how it went, we can’t force the matter. He went into Skyspan Academy’s residence, and I heard that the boy is extremely close to the daughters of the Sea of Innocence’s Xue Family. Investigating him will be incredibly difficult. As for whether he really has the artifacts or not, well, time will tell.”
“Besides, we’re not really trying to steal his treasures. We just want to confirm their existence and arrange for someone to protect them. In the near future, pay close attention to the yao and demons. Compared to the Yao-Sealing Pagoda and the Xuan-Yuan Sword, I’m more worried about the other two races.”
It was clear that among the three of them, that old man had the loftiest position. After he said that, Dai Chengren and the youth simply nodded.
The elderly man continued, “They might know that youth probably has those two divine artifacts too. We can’t know for sure, so we’ll just have to act as if the youth does in fact have them. We must ensure his absolute safety. No matter what, we cannot allow those divine artifacts to fall into yao or demon hands.”
“Understood!” Dai Chengren and the younger man nodded simultaneously.
