The building had nine floors.
The first and second floors were for leisure, including guest rooms and dining rooms. The third to fifth floors were for bedrooms and private rooms for secluded cultivation. There were enough for every participant from Skyspan Academy. Floors six and up were for sparring, meetings, and other events.
As soon as Ye Zichen went inside, he saw Xue Mo and the others chatting around a table.
However, all of them were from Anti-Upheaval. The other student societies weren’t in the room, nor were the teachers or Qiu Enhuai.
“Brother Ye’s back!” Li Hu and the others greeted him immediately.
Xue Mo even got up and walked right towards him. “You’re back.”
Ye Zichen nodded slightly, then plopped down beside Li Hu on a plush coach. He grabbed the teapot off the table, poured himself a cup, and took a sip.
“It’s this late already. Why are you all still up?”
“What do you think?” Xue Mo rolled her eyes irritably. “We were waiting for you, weren’t we? So many of us came, but that senior took you specifically, and we had no idea what for. All we could do was wait for you to come back.”
“I’m practically dying of exhaustion.” Xue Beibei snorted and drooped in her seat like a tired kitten.
“What was there to worry about? Hu Bazi led me away, and the vice-dean gave his approval. What could he possibly do to me?” Ye Zichen chuckled and shook his head.
Xue Mo arched her brows. “That was Hu Bazi? Isn’t he one of Lady Providence’s divine generals? So that means the ones who greeted us were from the Profound Pavilion, not the Divine Palace? But what did the Profound Palace want from you?”
Xue Mo was the second daughter of the Sea of Innocence. While it would be an exaggeration to say she knew all the major powers and top experts, she’d at least heard most of their names before and knew a little about them.
When Ye Zichen mentioned Hu Bazi, she immediately recognized his status as a member of the Profound Pavilion. Xuan Ji’s Profound Pavilion was responsible for administering justice within the capital, as well as for performing divinations. For them to seek out Ye Zichen, it was only natural that Xue Mo would be shocked.
Ye Zichen only smiled in response; he didn’t answer.
When she saw his expression, Xue Mo knew Ye Zichen didn’t want to say anything. She wasn’t the type to pry, so if he didn’t want to talk, she wouldn’t push him. Instead, it was Xue Beibei who scrunched up her nose. “Acting mysterious?”
Ye Zichen only smiled in response. Xue Mo frowned at her sister, placed her hand on her head, and sighed.
“I almost forgot,” said Xue Mo. “We still need to tell you something: the lot drawing ceremony is tomorrow.”
“So soon?”
This rapid pace left Ye Zichen frowning despite himself. “Is everyone from the other Divine Mountains here already? What about the yao and demons? We’re really having the ceremony tomorrow already?”
“They’re all here. It seems like our Skyspan Academy was the last to arrive.” Xue Mo nodded.
“Then why don’t I sense any demonic auras? I don’t sense any yao, either!”
This time, Luo Zi grinned and answered, “I wondered the same thing at first, but not long ago, I asked someone from the Divine Martial Academy. It turns out that yao and demons aren’t housed alongside us gods. They have their own designated district, and I heard that there are seals around it, which is why we can’t sense their presences.”
No wonder.
Ye Zichen couldn’t help but not. Just now, he’d arrived at the Divine Martial Academy for the first time, but he sensed no trace of yao or demon auras. He’d just assumed they hadn’t arrived yet.
Now it seemed that, in order to keep tabs on their guests efficiently, they’d housed them separately and placed seals around the area. They said this was to protect him, but really, it was to monitor them and restrict their movements.
What really surprised Ye Zichen was that the other two realms had agreed to these terms.
“That’s not all. Because of the Three Realms’ Battle of Geniuses, the capital will loose all its restrictions on outside races. That means that, so long as they say they’re here to watch the competition, yao and demons can come and go as they please.”
“I’d roughly guessed that part already. Furthermore, I really did see quite a few yao and demons while I was in the city proper.”
“The vice-dean said it himself: this Battle of Geniuses isn’t as simple as it appears. I didn’t really understand what he meant at the time, but looking at it now, he was right.” Xue Mo’s expression was dark. Taking everything that had just happened into account, she could naturally tell that something wasn’t quite right.
Besides, she’d experienced the yao and demons’ joint invasion of the Northern Divine Mountain. As a result, she was more cautious than before.
The others looked grim as well. Only Xue Beibei seemed uninterested. Her little head drooped, and from time to time, she covered her mouth and yawned.
It seemed like she was truly exhausted.
Ye Zichen sighed deeply, put his hands on the table, then behind his head. He laughed, “Whatever comes, we’ll just have to find a way to handle it. Besides, this is the divine capital, the most secure place in all the Nine Mountains. Even if the yao and demons are up to something, with the God Emperor’s iron grip on Heavenly God City, they’ll have to think twice before acting. We’re just here to participate in the Battle of Geniuses; the rest doesn’t have much to do with us. Let’s leave all the plotting and scheming to the higher-ups. All we have to do is face our upcoming battles head on.”
Next, he turned to the yawning Xue Beibei and chuckled, “Even Beibei’s tired! Since we have to participate in the lot-drawing ceremony tomorrow, we should all go to our rooms and get some rest. We won’t know what the yao and demons are up to until they make their move. When the time comes, it shouldn’t be too late to come up with our countermeasures.”
The others nodded and left one by one. Xue Mo actually wanted to stay and talk to Ye Zichen longer, but Beibei was muttering about wanting to sleep. She had no choice but to carry her little sister up to her room.
Before long, Ye Zichen was the only one left in the room.
His mind was racing with far too many thoughts, but after his long day, he was truly exhausted. He shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind and pulled out his transmission slip.
It was this jade slip that contained Liu Qing’s contact information. Ye Zichen took a look at the night sky, hesitated, and sent Liu Qing a message. “Hee.”
As soon as he sent it, Ye Zichen felt his heart thudding in his chest. Not even he himself fully understood why, but in any event, he was unspeakably nervous. However, a full hour passed, and his jade slip showed no signs of a response.
Ye Zichen slumped in his seat like a deflated balloon. “At this time of night, she’s most likely already asleep.”
He put the slip away, but just as he prepared to head back to his room and rest, someone pushed open the front door. Stunned, Ye Zichen looked to see just who had come back so late. When he turned around, he saw Jiang Wei, clad in black with his rusted sword in hand, walking in through the front door.
