The night passed without incident.
Due to the previous day's turmoil, most of the students were listless and went to bed early. Su Yu cultivated briefly before turning in early as well.
The next day.
Early in the morning, Su Yu woke up and finished washing up.
When he reached the reception station's breakfast dining hall, he immediately sensed something off in the atmosphere.
Xia Bing, Zhao Li, and several others were present, along with a few unfamiliar faces—likely people from Tianshui City—whispering in a corner, their expressions somber.
Seeing Su Yu enter, Zhao Li waved to him from across the room.
Su Yu walked over.
***
"Su Yu, you won't be sharing a vehicle with the others today," Xia Bing said bluntly. "A few students from Tianshui City will be traveling separately with you straight to the Great Xia Prefecture, escorted by several lords!"
Seated at the table alongside Xia Bing and Zhao Li were three strangers: an elderly man roughly Zhao Li's age, a middle-aged woman, and a man in his thirties.
Xia Bing continued, "You already know Lord Zhao. This is Lord Hu..."
He made the introductions, familiarizing Su Yu with the others.
The elderly man beside Zhao Li was Hu Youhui, a Lingyun Realm expert and an intermediate researcher at the Great Xia Civilization Academy—the very Civilization Master who had earlier left Nanyuan for Tianshui.
The middle-aged woman was Sun Xia, a junior researcher at the Jiutian Civilization Academy and a Lingyun Realm expert.
The man in his thirties was Li Yunfeng, deputy commander of the Tianshui City Guards, a powerhouse at the seventh stage of the Tengkong Realm.
This time, the four of them—Zhao Li, Hu Youhui, Sun Xia, and Li Yunfeng—would escort Su Yu's group together to the Great Xia Prefecture.
Four powerhouses!
Three in the Lingyun Realm, and one deputy commander at the seventh stage of the Tengkong Realm.
Tianshui City's garrison was massive. Where Nanyuan had a thousand-man regiment, Tianshui commanded a ten-thousand-man legion!
Its deputy commanders were all at Tengkong stage seven, while the legion commander was either at Tengkong stage nine or in the Lingyun Realm.
Tianshui City was far larger than Nanyuan, and it boasted far more experts.
Su Yu was somewhat surprised. They were merely escorting a handful of students; even with yesterday's ambush, did they really require so many powerhouses?
What was more, this wasn't even for the entire group, but only a fraction of them.
Seeing his confusion, Zhao Li sighed. "Su Yu, don't spread this around, but I'll tell you the truth: something massive happened yesterday. You know Beifeng City, right?"
"Elder Zhao!" Beside him, Li Yunfeng frowned slightly, moving to cut him off.
Zhao Li ignored him entirely, motioning for Su Yu to sit, and let out a soft sigh. "At the same time Nanyuan's convoy was ambushed yesterday, something went wrong on Beifeng City's end as well. Their student convoy came under attack. One of their Lingyun escorts was killed, three Tengkong cultivators fell, and dozens of students died..."
"Of course, the All-Races Sect didn't have it easy either!"
Zhao Li snorted coldly. "Xue E of the Blood Fire Sect led a surprise assault with a large force, but they never expected the Great Xia Prefecture had secret escorts assigned to every single convoy. Aside from Xue E, who fled heavily wounded, every last one of them was left behind in the dirt!"
Although Beifeng City had been ambushed, the All-Races Sect suffered even heavier losses.
It turned out secret escorts hadn't just been assigned to a handful of cities; powerhouses had been shadowing every city's convoy.
The strike force the All-Races Sect deployed was formidable: two Lingyun and eight Tengkong.
In the end, other than Xue E escaping severely injured, everyone else was wiped out.
Following this blow, the middle tier of the All-Races Sect in the Great Xia Prefecture had been devastated, and they likely wouldn't dare poke their heads out again anytime soon.
In yesterday's battle at Beifeng City, two Lingyun Realm experts died, and more than ten Tengkong cultivators fell—a major incident unseen in years. Xia Longwu slaying gods remained hidden from outsiders, but what transpired yesterday would definitely spread.
Zhao Li added, "You don't need to worry too much. The Longwu Guards have mobilized in full force to sweep through the All-Races Sect once more! With the cultists' repeated provocations, the Longwu Guards won't rest until rivers of their blood flow!"
Zhao Li spoke through gritted teeth. The All-Races Sect was truly brazen.
After suffering defeat after defeat in the Great Xia Prefecture, they still dared to dispatch so many operatives to attack students. It bordered on insanity.
Fortunately, the Great Xia Prefecture had been on high alert all along.
They had originally been guarding against retaliation from the Tianyi God Race, only for Xue E to lead an ambush out of nowhere, stumbling straight into a trap and suffering catastrophic casualties.
Beifeng City's convoy had simply been unfortunate. One of their Lingyun experts hadn't paid enough attention, assuming no one would dare cause trouble for Beifeng City. That Lingyun had died in the opening moments of the surprise assault; otherwise, a Lingyun Realm expert would not have fallen so easily.
Seeing that Zhao Li had already laid it out, Li Yunfeng held his tongue.
Beside him, Sun Xia spoke up. "As a precaution, the four of us will be escorting you top-tier students separately to the Great Xia Prefecture. Other students from cities along the way will also join us."
The escorts were not solely for Su Yu; they were for all the top-tier students.
Excluding outsiders, Su Yu was the only top-tier student from Nanyuan.
Su Yu didn't know how many Tianshui City had, but judging by its size, there were likely six or seven.
As for Beifeng City, the strongest city aside from the prefectural capital, its top-tier students probably numbered near or above ten. He wondered whether any of them had been killed in the ambush.
Su Yu had no objections; in truth, it was not his place to voice one anyway.
After a brief thought, Su Yu asked, "My lords, what about the other students...?"
Xia Bing cut him off. "Don't worry. We will coordinate with the Longwu Guards and City Guards from each city to escort them. Without you around, they will actually be safer! In truth, the All-Races Sect suffered crushing losses and likely lacks the strength to organize another assault like that."
Having lost so many Tengkong cultivators, with one Lingyun dead and another grievously wounded, gathering so many experts again in the Great Xia Prefecture was practically impossible for the cult.
Coupled with the full deployment of the Longwu Guards, unless the remaining cultist experts were utterly mad, they would keep their heads down to avoid being ferreted out and exterminated.
Xia Bing finished and added, "Go pack your things. We assemble in half an hour. Once the top-tier students from Tianshui City arrive, you can set off."
"Understood!"
Without lingering, Su Yu excused himself, grabbed a quick bite, and went upstairs to pack his belongings.
Once he left, Hu Youhui raised an eyebrow at Zhao Li. "Old Zhao, judging by your attitude, are you looking to take a disciple?"
Zhao Li chuckled calmly. "Restlessness after years of quiet. I haven't taken a student in ages; taking on one for my twilight years sounds nice."
"A top-high candidate..." Hu Youhui paused, then added, "A student from Hong Tan's faction—you dare take him?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Zhao Li replied nonchalantly. "Hong Tan is alive and well, living comfortably as can be. What's wrong with me taking a student? Not to mention the boy hasn't even formally joined their faction yet; even if he had, if I poached him, who could say a word?"
Looking completely unbothered, Zhao Li scoffed, "Even the Academy Head hasn't said a thing. What are you getting all worked up about?"
Hu Youhui smiled faintly. "I wasn't referring to the Academy Head. I meant the other factions..."
"The pure Divine Character faction?" Zhao Li raised an eyebrow, then dismissed it casually. "They can fight amongst themselves all they want. Would they dare come look for trouble with me?"
Though Zhao Li wasn't among the absolute top echelon nor in the Shanhai Realm, he remained as swaggering as ever. "Do they think Old Zhao is a pushover? My Forging faction might not have many people or top-tier power, but just let them try picking a fight with me!"
Old Zhao declared boldly, "If they piss me off, I'll rally the entire Forging faction of the Great Xia Prefecture to cut off their supply of civilization weapons! I couldn't care less about the infighting among their Divine Character factions, but if they dare target me over taking a single student... do they really think my Forging faction is easy prey?"
Hu Youhui fell silent. From the side, Sun Xia smiled and said, "Elder Zhao, although this Su Yu is top-high, his willpower is too weak. I also reviewed the earlier examination records; he mainly received high bonus points from the warrior path, otherwise he probably wouldn't have made top-high. Elder Zhao, surely you know this."
Zhao Li waved it off dismissively. "Willpower? Once he studies a few more willpower texts later on, it'll naturally shoot up!"
Sun Xia gave a slight smile and pressed no further.
She belonged to the Jiutian Academy and had no stakes in the internal politics of the Great Xia Civilization Academy. She was merely curious why Zhao Li, a pillar of the Forging faction, had suddenly developed an interest in taking a student.
While Su Yu was quite remarkable and held a top-high rating, if one subtracted the bonus from his warrior cultivation realm and the bonus from merit points, he was not particularly dazzling among the geniuses of Great Xia.
Naturally, his score in the civilization chronicle trial had been substantial.
However, rumors had it that something had gone wrong with the civilization chronicle that day; Teaching Assistant Huang had not supplied much willpower, and upon his return, he had been docked a considerable amount of merit points. As a result, many felt the test scores were unreliable.
Huang's punishment was viewed as the best proof.
One could hardly blame them for being skeptical; Su Yu's willpower was indeed too weak, still shy of reaching 30% saturation, which paled in comparison to those in the Character Cultivation realm.
Even though Zhao Li was only an intermediate researcher, he was a master forgemaster.
While he had not yet succeeded in crafting an Earth-rank civilization weapon, he had once forged a semi-finished Earth-rank piece and was currently the second master in the entire Great Xia Prefecture with the potential to forge one.
The moment Zhao Li truly forged an Earth-rank civilization weapon, even without reaching the Shanhai Realm, he would be promoted to senior researcher.
Among those present, Zhao Li naturally held the highest status and prestige.
Though Hu Youhui and the others were skeptical, if Zhao Li was willing, they had no ground to object.
***
Half an hour later.
Downstairs at the reception station.
A bus was parked at the curb.
Su Yu had already bid Chen Hao farewell, telling the fellow to cultivate hard once he reached the Great Xia Prefecture and that he would look him up when free. There was no need to say goodbye to anyone else.
Guided by a City Guard, Su Yu boarded the bus carrying his saber and small luggage case.
There were already passengers inside.
Besides the four powerhouse escorts, there was a driver and six young people—presumably the genius students of Tianshui City.
If not for Su Yu, Nanyuan would not have had a single top-tier student.
Yet Tianshui City had six, illustrating the vast gap between the two cities.
As Su Yu boarded, the students merely glanced his way before lapsing back into silence. No one greeted him, nor did anyone pay him any heed.
They were all geniuses, each possessing their own pride.
They cared little for a genius emerging from Nanyuan. Even if Su Yu had achieved a top-high rating, none of them cared; none believed themselves inferior to him.
"Everyone is here. We can move!"
Li Yunfeng spoke, and the vehicle started up.
As the bus rolled forward, the interior remained deathly quiet.
On one hand, they were unfamiliar with one another; on the other, with several powerhouses present, the students felt intimidated and did not dare speak out of turn.
These were three Lingyun Realm experts and a seventh-stage Tengkong powerhouse.
Leaving a bad impression on any of them could prove catastrophic for a student's future.
Since they stayed quiet, Su Yu naturally saw no reason to initiate conversation either.
After some silence, one of the Tianshui students—a handsome youth with a somewhat delicate, effeminate look—suddenly turned his head toward Su Yu in the back, chuckling softly. "Su Yu from Nanyuan?"
Su Yu nodded.
The handsome youth said in a low voice, "Let's get acquainted. Hu Zongqi from Tianshui City. I just entered Character Cultivation and outlined one divine character. Evaluated as mid-high."
"Su Yu. Haven't reached Character Cultivation yet," Su Yu replied simply, omitting everything else.
There was no need.
Going out of his way to mention top-high would only provoke unnecessary talk.
Even though he didn't mention it, Hu Zongqi chuckled. "I heard you scored top-high in the examination?"
"Yes."
At those words, the other students turned their eyes toward him.
Su Yu's expression remained unchanged, offering no elaboration.
Hu Zongqi smiled again. "I heard that during that examination, something went wrong with the civilization chronicle, and several proctors presiding over Nanyuan were penalized. Is that true?"
"Probably. I didn't ask."
Su Yu shook his head.
Hu Zongqi chuckled. "What a pity. Had I known, I would've gone to Nanyuan for the exam too. Who knows, maybe I could've scored top-high as well."
Su Yu offered a perfunctory smile. "Probably. It was pretty easy that time. Wu Lan from the Great Xia Prefecture scored top-high too."
At the mention of Wu Lan, Hu Zongqi's expression shifted slightly before he smiled again. "Wu Lan is a genius from the Wu clan of the prefectural capital. Scoring top-high is only expected of her."
Su Yu acted as though he didn't catch the underlying implication, replying casually, "Indeed."
Hu Zongqi raised an eyebrow, smiling once more. "I heard a teaching assistant from the Great Xia Civilization Academy recruited you in advance?"
"Yeah, though I'm not really clear on the details myself. I only heard about it later from others."
Su Yu genuinely didn't know. Before leaving, Bai Feng hadn't confirmed his early recruitment—he had mentioned it offhandedly without finalizing it, yet somehow the rumor had spread.
Seeing how noncommittal Su Yu's answers were, Hu Zongqi felt a prickle of irritation. It quickly dissipated, however, and he smiled. "Su Yu, once we enter the academy, we'll all be classmates. We need to help each other out to gain a firm footing. I've heard the locals from the prefectural capital tend to look down on those of us from outer cities.
"Su Yu, interested in joining our Tianshui Association?"
"Tianshui Association?"
Looking surprised, Su Yu asked, "I'm from Nanyuan, a small town, so I don't understand these things. Could you tell me more, Student Hu?"
"It's basically a hometown fellowship..." Hu Zongqi smiled. "Every year, students from our city enter the Great Xia Civilization Academy. Since the locals in the prefectural capital are xenophobic, we have to band together for mutual support. As for Nanyuan... cough, there's no Nanyuan fellowship.
"Nanyuan is close to Tianshui, and you're Nanyuan's only top-tier student in years, so you can consider joining our Tianshui Association. Don't worry, you're a top-tier student. Even if there were some anomalies during your exam, being at the ninth stage of the Kaiyuan Realm isn't bad either. With my recommendation, joining Tianshui's circle shouldn't be an issue."
As Hu Zongqi spoke, another student chimed in. An attractive female student smiled and said, "Hu Zongqi, have you checked with the Tianshui Association before recommending Su Yu? Be careful you don't get rejected and end up displeasing both sides."
Hu Zongqi laughed. "How could that happen? My brother is currently the vice president. It's just a matter of a word from him."
"True enough."
The attractive girl nodded, then turned to Su Yu with a smile. "Hello, I'm also a prospective student of the Great Xia Civilization Academy, Tong Wei. You might want to consider what Hu Zongqi said. Joining the Tianshui Association will do you good."
Su Yu smiled. "Thank you. But I don't know the first thing about any of this. Thank you both for the guidance, but perhaps I should wait until I reach the academy to take a look, lest I bring trouble to Student Hu."
Hu Zongqi waved it off. "What's there to consider? It's for your own good!"
Su Yu maintained his smile. "I understand, thank you, Student Hu. But I'd rather wait a bit. Once I'm there, I'll consult Teacher Bai Feng so as not to stir up trouble. If Student Hu ends up getting into trouble on my account... I would feel terrible!"
Su Yu was exceedingly polite, yet unyielding.
Without understanding the lay of the land, he had no intention of blindly joining any association or society.
Hu Zongqi seemed somewhat displeased, but forced a smile. "Suit yourself. Just don't regret it later; without my recommendation, you wouldn't be able to join even if you wanted to."
Su Yu merely smiled and didn't take the bait.
So what if he couldn't join? He hadn't planned on joining in the first place.
Whether Hu Zongqi had good or ill intentions was unclear, but there was no reason to argue over it.
Up front, the experts paid them no mind, each resting with closed eyes.
Li Yunfeng remained vigilant, scanning the surroundings out the window.
Hearing the conversation behind him, he couldn't be bothered to intervene. A bunch of brats scheming right under his nose—he wouldn't waste his breath, treating it merely as cheap entertainment.
Joining the Tianshui Association was neither particularly bad nor particularly good for Su Yu.
As an outsider, joining meant paying membership dues.
Of course, once inside, the association would offer a measure of support and protection; the whole thing was voluntary.
As the recommender, Hu Zongqi would receive a reward for introducing a top-tier student.
Furthermore, should Su Yu earn merits and receive rewards within the association later, Hu Zongqi, as his sponsor, would also reap benefits.
Hu Zongqi hadn't mentioned these details, but they were standard practice, hardly considered cheating.
Li Yunfeng didn't care about their petty calculations, nor did he have any interest in explaining them to Su Yu. Whether the boy joined was entirely his own business. Besides, Hu Zongqi was Hu Youhui's grandnephew; it was precisely for this boy that Hu Youhui had rushed to Tianshui in the first place.
***
With Su Yu's refusal, silence descended on the bus once more.
The other four students hadn't uttered a peep throughout.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Li Yunfeng suddenly announced, "A little over an hour from now, we'll reach Yue City. We'll have lunch there and pick up a few students from Yue City. After that, we'll pick up students from two more cities, and our escort duties for other cities will be finished."
Their group was responsible for escorting the top-tier students from five cities.
Other routes would be handled by other powerhouses.
If all went smoothly, they would arrive at the Great Xia Prefecture tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow would be July 30.
"Yue City..."
Hu Zongqi grew lively again, speaking up, "Brother Li, how many top-tier students does Yue City have?"
"Three," Li Yunfeng replied with a faint smile. "Two for the Great Xia War Academy, one for the Great Xia Civilization Academy."
Top-tier students were divided into martial and cultural paths as well.
Hearing this, Hu Zongqi remarked with a hint of disdain, "Yue City only has one for the Great Xia Civilization Academy? How'd they end up just like Nanyuan..."
Yue City was quite formidable, usually producing several each year.
Take Tianshui City: out of six students, three were bound for civilization academies and three for war academies.
Li Yunfeng added, "Having even one is pretty good. The difficulty of this year's exam was actually bumped up. The Great Xia Prefecture slashed admission quotas, as you well know."
"Did they bump up the difficulty?" Hu Zongqi shook his head. "Didn't feel like it. Even Nanyuan managed to produce a top-tier..."
Su Yu glanced at him from the corner of his eye, keeping his mouth shut.
Constantly harping on Nanyuan producing a top-tier candidate in that tone of sheer incredulity was grating, to say the least.
Yet... Su Yu chose silence.
No point stooping to his level!
The fellow addressed Li Yunfeng as Brother Li and kept glancing over at Researcher Hu, who would occasionally open his eyes to look back at him. They shared the same surname and were likely relatives.
In that case, there was no need to invite trouble upon himself.
Still... Su Yu took note.
*Nanyuan...* Su Yu mused inwardly.
*Hu, you look down on Nanyuan. Just you wait. Once I figure out the rules of the Great Xia Civilization Academy, apprentice under a teacher, and secure a backing so I have nothing to fear from you, we'll see who has the last laugh.*
*One minute it's 'how could Nanyuan,' the next it's 'even Nanyuan'—did people from Nanyuan eat your family's rice or something?*
Su Yu was hardly broad-minded.
When Zhou Chong badmouthed him, he had been too lazy to get his own hands dirty, but Chen Hao beat Zhou Chong up several times... was that really just Chen Hao wanting to throw punches?
Su Yu remained silent, feigning ignorance.
Whether intentionally or not, Hu Zongqi dropped the remark and swiftly shifted the subject. "Brother Li, did any of Beifeng's top-tier students die this time?"
"None. The cultists were killed right after breaching the perimeter. The top-tier students had been kept in the inner rear all along, so only some students on the outer edge suffered casualties."
"Oh, that's not bad then. Those killed on the outer rim were probably only low-medium tier..."
The moment he said that, Hu Youhui opened his eyes and glared at him, his gaze stern!
Hu Zongqi froze. Zhao Li suddenly opened his eyes as well, glaring at him. "If you don't know how to speak, shut your mouth! Disturb the peace again, and I'll toss you off the bus so you can walk to the Great Xia Prefecture yourself!"
With that, Zhao Li closed his eyes once more. This time, Hu Zongqi shut his mouth completely.
Su Yu gloated silently. *Serves you right!*
This guy babbled endlessly; it seemed he hadn't necessarily been targeting Su Yu earlier on purpose—he might simply lack brains.
If Beifeng's students heard what he had just said, they would undoubtedly give him hell.
*It seems even civilization academy students... have brainless fools among them.*
Su Yu muttered to himself. Still, it made sense. Born into an influential clan and shielded from the harsh beatings of society, taking a few lumps would probably teach him a lesson.
The Hu family was likely prominent in Tianshui City; one could tell just from the presence of an intermediate researcher and Lingyun Realm expert, and that might not even be all of it. Hu Zongqi had the capital to act arrogant.
All in all, as long as he wasn't reckless enough to pick a fight directly, it wasn't too bad.
Su Yu consoled himself: no need to lower oneself to an idiot's level... and if he ever did, it would be after sizing up the entire board.
For instance... discreetly leaking word to those Beifeng students that someone on the road had said the dead had it coming... tsk tsk...
*Let's wait and see!*
Su Yu silently observed everything. Stepping out of Nanyuan for the first time, isolated from broader news and ignorant of many things, his priority was to master the rules of survival first, lest he lose his life in blissful ignorance.
Chapter 70