As time passed, the arena filled up with teams. More and more people filled the stands.
Jiang Wei, who’d gotten there early, had his eyes half closed as he used his divine power to scan the entrants.
“Hm?” He suddenly frowned, sat cross-legged, and focused. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, his expression utterly grim.
“Someone erased it.”
He’d led the Navigators to the arena early to set himself up early and give himself to find the person he’d marked last night, or at the very least, to find out which faction they belonged to.
Although the other party had instantly sealed off his mark, preventing Jiang Wei from chasing them, part of that was because Jiang Wei was more concerned about saving Ye Zichen, too. He didn’t want to focus on chasing the culprit, only to leave Ye Zichen to die.
Had he forcefully connected with the seal, he could have found the culprit. At least, he could have at first, when there wasn’t much of a distance.
Jiang Wei had given up out of consideration for Ye Zichen’s peril.
Once Ye Zichen was safe, Jiang Wei no longer had any means of connecting with his mark. The culprit had obviously fled somewhere distant, so there was nothing Jiang Wei could do.
Jiang Wei was helpless when the mark was too far away, but he was sure that, within the arena himself, he could pinpoint his mark.
To his surprise, however, the culprit had erased the mark completely before he got the change.
“Interesting.” Jiang Wei chuckled.
Although he could no longer use the sword intent imprint to find out who’d attacked Ye Zichen, at least eighty percent of the participants were already present. At the very least, Jiang Wei was certain that the culprit hadn’t arrived yet and wasn’t among them.
That meant that the culprit was quite possibly amongst those who’d yet to arrive.
Suddenly, something blocked Jiang Wei’s view. When he looked up, he saw that everyone from Anti-Upheaval, the Aspirations Society, and the Appearance Association had arrived.
Ye Zichen stood right in front of him, his expression complicated, and smiled. “Brother Jiang Wei, I haven’t thanked you for saving my life yet. I’m truly grateful.”
Xue Mo had supported Ye Zichen; the damage to his soul was too serious to heal overnight, even with a Soul-Condensing Pill’s help and Qiu Enhuai’s assistance. His wounds would take time to heal.
“No need to be so polite,” said Jiang Wei aloofly.
Ye Zichen pulled a pill bottle from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Wei. “Soul-Condensing Pills are no ordinary medicine. I can’t take advantage of you. Here’s another Soul-Condensing Pill. Please take it.”
It was just as Ye Zichen said. Soul-Condensing Pills were no ordinary medicine. A single one could sell for a million aureus at the Spyspan Trading Company.
It was a crisis, so when Jiang Wei fed Ye Zichen the pill, the Xu Brothers didn’t feel it was too expensive.
But afterwards, their hearts ached at the loss.
Now that Ye Zichen was willing to give them a new one, they had no reason to refuse.
“You’re being too polite, Brother Ye. We’re all from Skyspan Academy. When we saw you in trouble, we naturally had to help. Any of us would have done the same,” said Xu Lei after putting the pill away. He smiled gleefully, then pointed to the seats beside them. “Friends of Anti-Upheaval, the Aspirations Society, and Appearance Association, please take a seat. We have enough seats for all four teams. We’re all representing Skyspan Academy, so we ought to stick together.”
Surprisingly, Jiang Wei voiced no objections to Xu Lei’s proposal.
Although none of them knew him well, it was obvious from Jiang Wei’s usual behavior that he disdained alliances and had no desire for allies. No matter whether he was in the academy or out and about, he’d never gotten close to anyone.
But this time, Jiang Wei didn’t object to their presence. Furthermore, based on the seats…. There were exactly enough for Anti-Upheaval, the Aspirations Society, and the Appearance Association to sit down.
Xue Mo, Murong Xue, and Jiang Yong glanced at Ye Zichen.
The Navigators noticed this and arched their brows despite themselves. They never would have guessed all three student societies held Ye Zichen in such high regard.
“Well in that case… it would be impolite to refuse.” Ye Zichen laughed and nodded. With Xue Mo’s help, he sat down, and the others soon followed suit. Soon, four of Skyspan Academy’s five teams had gathered together as one.
Not far away, Pang Zheng and Di Long of the Grizzly Bears were watching them, their eyes glinting with sinister light.
They’d arrived before Anti-Upheaval, and tried to sit with the Navigators, only for Jiang Wei to refuse them. Yet now Jiang Wei had invited the other three student societies to sit with them? They were obviously deliberately excluding the Grizzly Bears.
“Brother Pang, what do you think?” Di Long narrowed his eyes at Skyspan Academy’s other four teams.
Pang Zheng snorted. “Isn’t it obvious? They’ve formed an alliance, and don’t want to let us in. But there’s nothing remarkable about that. When we chose the transfer formation over the wormhole, we ought to have considered the possibility that this would happen.”
“Compared to the other four student societies’ alliance, we’re too weak.”
“Do we absolutely have to ally with them?” Pang Zheng furrowed his brows. “All the participants are top-talents of their respective regions. Why do we have to limit ourselves to Skyspan Academy students? Can’t we form alliances with teams from other Divine Mountains?”
Getting rejected by their classmates was nothing but a minor incident.
Currently, the participating teams were swarming into the arena.
Jiang Wei was fixated on the incoming students, while Ye Zichen was quietly watching him.
He knew he wouldn’t learn anything just by staring, though. Just as Ye Zichen was about to ask Jiang Wei directly…
The atmosphere throughout the arena split up.
It wasn’t just the gods; humans, yao, and demons all burst into uproar.
Soon, they heard countless high-pitched shouts. “Her Highness, Liu Qing!”
The people shouting were mostly gods. Ye Zichen’s gaze shot towards the entryway, where he saw Liu Qing in a long red dress, her gaze utterly icy.
With every step she took, a fiery lotus blossomed beneath her feet. She left two trails of fire flowers behind her.
The woman beside her didn’t speak to her at all. She wore long black robes that covered her face.
“Greetings, Holy Maiden!” Practically every single demon present knelt and put their hands to their chest in respect.
Before this had even finished, though, a cold, aloof woman walked into their midst. Next…
“Queen of the Foxes!” The yao exclaimed. Ye Zichen froze, and saw that this new arrival was none other than Su Liu’er of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan. She was accompanied by Su Yan, and…. Chi Mei?
