South Capital!
Ye Qiu also stood up, looking over in that direction, his gaze gradually growing complicated.
Having left at the age of seven, he had not returned in ten years.
Memories sealed deep in his heart, memories he was unwilling to bring up, seemed to be peeled away layer by layer...
He clearly remembered that back then, Ye Jiangshan personally sent him away from this city.
He was still young, crying as he chased after him to call out to his father, and even ran right out of one of his shoes, yet he never once received a single glance back...
"We have arrived." The speed of the Black Wind Eagle was very fast, and within a few breaths, it landed outside the huge city gate.
Ye Qiu collected his thoughts, jumped down from the Black Wind Eagle, turned back, and said, "Great Elder, you all go back first. Once I deal with matters here, I will head home."
The Great Elder and the others flickered their gazes, then smiled and said, "Alright."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the Black Wind Eagle soared into the air once more, heading back along the same path toward South Mountain.
Ye Qiu looked ahead.
The tall black city walls were majestic and heavy, resembling an eternally firm and undying Great Wall. Standing beneath the city walls, a person appeared incomparably tiny.
He stepped forward, walking through the spacious city gate and into the interior, his vision instantly opening up.
It was like entering an entirely new Heaven and Earth.
There were spacious streets, a bustling stream of people, and row upon row of imposing, magnificently grand buildings on both sides.
It seemed that even the lowliest of these buildings looked far more magnificent than that place called South Mountain.
Even though he had lived here for seven years, upon returning once again, Ye Qiu was still struck by the prosperity of this place.
He merged into the crowd, walking along the road and observing his surroundings—a scenery both familiar and strange.
The memories within his mind flipped through page by page like a book caught in the Feng...
"The Star Pavilion!" Ye Qiu looked toward a towering, magnificent building shimmering with purple light.
This was the number one pavilion in the Southern State.
Actually, it shouldn't just be called the Southern State; it was said that the backers of the Star Pavilion even had connections with Central Province and the Divine Province.
Its foundations were immensely strong!
In the past, he had also accompanied his mother here on many occasions.
His memories flashed past in an instant, and Ye Qiu continued on his way, walking and observing all the way until he reached a huge Square.
Many people gathered in the Square, and right in front of it stood a towering flight of stairs.
Atop the stairs was an incomparably grand mountain gate, appearing like an arched bridge built by hollowing out a Mountain Peak.
Inscribed upon the bridge were four large characters: Nanzhou Academy!
Gleaming with golden light, they possessed an awe-inspiring overbearing aura!
It was known as the sacred ground of the Southern State!
These past few days happened to be the period when Nanzhou Academy held its grand recruitment.
And whenever this time arrived, practically the entire younger generation of the Southern State possessing any bit of talent would gather here.
However, Nanzhou Academy was known as the first academy, and its recruitment criteria were naturally quite rigorous.
It was said that every year Nanzhou Academy recruited at most one hundred people!
Only the very top talents!
At this moment, the voice of an old man resounded across the entire plaza, explaining the rules of the grand examination, which were very simple.
Climb to the summit along those stairs, and one would be considered a disciple of the academy!
However, everyone knew full well that those stairs were extremely difficult; after all, that place was known as the Heavenly Ladder!
Yet after a brief moment of silence, the participating youths still rushed toward the stairs in a chaotic scramble.
Ye Qiu also stepped forward and walked onto the stairs.
The moment he stepped onto the first tier of the stairs, he felt a powerful pressure, and the higher he went, the greater the pressure became.
However, to him, this pressure was somewhat pediatric; after all, his Qi and Blood had already broken through one hundred thousand!
He maintained his pace unhurriedly as he moved upward. Around him, people continuously collapsed, letting out wails of agony.
Some even vomited blood and tumbled down from the stairs.
There were also those who rushed past him at high speed, gritting their teeth and constantly accelerating their pace.
After all, this grand examination also factored in performance; the earlier one reached the summit, the more attention one would receive.
And obtaining the attention of the higher-ups meant receiving treatment entirely different from ordinary disciples.
Such individuals might even be taken in directly as disciples by some powerful elder, opening up a smooth path all the way.
Yet Ye Qiu did not care for it, nor did he want it. He maintained a moderate pace, reaching the peak at the appropriate time.
Then he was led inside the mountain gates by an old man.
In the past, he had also visited this academy; had it not been for his mother's sudden accident, he might have already apprenticed under one of the elders.
He swept his gaze forward.
The academy was vast, filled everywhere with magnificent halls and pavilions. In the distance stood majestic Mountain Peaks and towering High Towers... and further back, several Mountain Peaks even floated suspended in the firmament.
The Floating Mountain!
"Follow me." Ye Qiu swept his gaze across the surroundings and followed the old man into a grand Great Hall.
The old man asked, "Name?"
Ye Qiu replied, "Ye Qiu."
The old man glanced at him and asked, "From the Ye Clan?"
Ye Qiu answered, "South Mountain."
The trace of amiability in the old man's eyes vanished rapidly, faintly replaced by a hint of disdain.
"For a small place like South Mountain to produce someone like you, you can be considered fortunate." He casually registered him in the ledger.
Then, he retrieved a waist token and a set of academy robes, saying, "Take these things and hold onto them."
Turning around, he picked up a book and said, "You must keep the contents of this book of academy laws firmly in mind. Within the academy, certain rules cannot be broken; otherwise, the light punishment is expulsion from the academy, the heavier punishment is the abolishment of your cultivation, and for the most severe cases, direct execution! Do you understand?"
Ye Qiu nodded and asked, "I saw that they all received a reward of one thousand Spirit Crystals. Do I not get any?"
The old man glanced at him. "No."
Ye Qiu frowned. "Why?"
The old man declared, "I am an elder! I am the one who brought you in! I am the one who registered you. Don't you understand?"
Ye Qiu looked at him. "Isn't that your basic job?"
The old man's expression turned somewhat ugly. "Kid, you just came from South Mountain... In this academy, it would be best for you to have a bit of tact."
Ye Qiu understood. "So you see that I come from a small place, and you plan to misappropriate my one thousand Spirit Crystals?"
The old man's expression grew even uglier.
This kid was truly thick-headed!
Did he not know that in this academy, one should not casually offend people?
Did he not know that in this place, some things are better left unsaid?
Did he not know that here, a nobody without power or influence needed to pay a bit of protection money?
Ye Qiu stated, "I don't plan to give it to you."
The black-robed elder's expression sank completely, and just as he was about to fly into a rage, a deep voice rang out: "Ye Qiu!"
Hearing the voice, Ye Qiu looked over to see an old man accompanied by several youths.
Ye Qiu had forgotten that old man.
However, the two people behind him, Ye Qiu recognized.
Ye Hong and Ye Qian!
They had been beaten quite miserably by Ye Qiu back at the Wen Family!
"Oh my, Elder Ye Zhen, why have you come?" Upon seeing that old man, the black-robed elder immediately squeezed out a smile, acting like a pug as he fawned and sidled up to him.
The Ye Clan, one of the three most powerful aristocratic clans in the Southern State, was simply not someone an ordinary elder like him could afford to offend.
Pausing for a moment, he looked at Ye Qiu and asked, "Do you know this person?"
The Ye Clan elder, Ye Zhen, stared at Ye Qiu with a half-smile. "Of course. This is none other than the legitimate son of the main branch of my Ye Clan!"
Hearing this, the black-robed elder trembled violently, breaking out in a cold sweat in an instant.
He did not know Ye Qiu, but he knew the main branch, and he knew what a legitimate son meant—this identity...
Damn it, wasn't he from South Mountain?
He was playing the pig to eat the tiger!
And next, an even more terrifying thing happened to him as a black-skirted woman walked over.
This woman wore a black skirt and had a wine gourd hanging at her waist. She was very beautiful, but also very cold!
Nan Qingyue!
One of the three super mentors of the academy!
Yet compared to her status as a super mentor, her title as the number one slaughter god was even more thunderous!
And she was also staring at Ye Qiu—even smiling!
BOOM—
The black-robed elder was completely dumbfounded!
It was as if he had been struck by lightning!
Not only was he from the Ye Clan, but he was also this person's man?
Oh, Heaven!
I've fucking kicked a super iron plate...
The next moment, the old man acted like a dog, rushing directly in front of Ye Qiu and squeezing an incomparably ingratiating smile onto his sweat-drenched face.
"Well, Young Master Ye, previously, I was just joking... Here is your reward."
He handed a storage ring to Ye Qiu.
Ye Qiu swept his gaze across it: ten thousand Spirit Crystals!
Ten times the amount!
Ye Qiu looked at the bowing black-robed elder before him and said, "You gave this of your own accord, I certainly didn't force you."
Kneeling on the ground, the old man hurriedly replied, "Of course, of course!"
Before you continue