At Qian Renxue's invitation, Su Ze rode with her in a carriage to Heaven Dou City.
Although Qian Renxue's purpose in coming to Heaven Dou City was to win Su Ze over, she was very tactful.
She wrote him a letter of recommendation to Heaven Dou Royal Academy and told him to come to her if he ran into any difficulties.
Then she left, claiming she had state affairs to attend to.
Su Ze understood Qian Renxue's intentions perfectly well.
She wanted to wait until he ran into trouble, then step in and help him so she could recruit him.
That suited Su Ze just fine.
Qian Renxue wanted to recruit him, and he wanted to attach himself to a powerful patron like her.
Most importantly, he had already obtained a letter of recommendation for Heaven Dou Imperial City.
Next, he just had to enroll at Heaven Dou Royal Academy and make contact with Dugu Yan.
After that, he could carry out his plan to obtain the Immortal Herb.
"Your Highness, since you already know this Su Ze has remarkable talent, why not just recruit him outright?"
Snake Lance Douluo watched Su Ze walk away and asked with some confusion.
"Talented people are like wild horses. It takes more than my status to truly tame them."
"I could tell that the respect this youngster named Su Ze showed me came mostly from my position."
"He doesn't have much regard for me personally."
"So I have to play the long game and wait patiently for an opportunity."
"That's the only way I can truly bring this genius into my service."
Qian Renxue had already seen that Su Ze's respectful attitude toward her stemmed solely from her identity.
But she was confident that her personal charisma could win his loyalty.
"Then, Your Highness, should I have someone look after Su Ze and create an opportunity for you?"
Snake Lance Douluo asked cautiously.
"Absolutely not. If that kind of thing were discovered later, it would only backfire."
"Just investigate this Su Ze's background and report back to me."
Qian Renxue disdained such underhanded methods.
As she'd said, she had absolute confidence in her ability to manage people.
Besides, if she couldn't even handle a little Su Ze, how could she become Co-lord of the world?
Snake Lance Douluo hesitated. Su Ze was only seven years old.
At that age, he had already reached level twenty-six. In terms of talent, he had already surpassed the prince before him.
If another faction recruited him, it would be a great loss for Soul Martial Hall.
But when he saw the confident smile on his young master's face, Snake Lance Douluo said no more. His figure vanished on the spot.
With the letter of recommendation Qian Renxue had given him in hand, Su Ze found a noodle shop in Heaven Dou City and had a meal. Then he headed straight out of the city.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy wasn't in the center of Heaven Dou City. Instead, it stood in the mountains, twenty miles outside the city.
Backed by the royal family, the academy occupied an entire mountain, with beautiful scenery all around.
The lush vegetation and clear blue lakes looked especially lovely in the glow of the evening sun, like a paradise far from the world.
Rare plants worth thousands or even tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins grew right there beside the road.
Su Ze could barely resist plucking them and tossing them into his Soul Tool.
The academy certainly lived up to its royal backing. And this was only the scenery outside the mountain.
The actual academy was farther up the mountain.
According to the information he knew, Heaven Dou Royal Academy had only seven hundred students, yet it had established simulated training environments suitable for every Martial Soul.
One of them was a lightning training ground modeled after Thunder Academy.
The academy really did have money to burn.
"Heaven Dou Royal Academy lies ahead. Halt!"
As soon as Su Ze reached the back of the mountain, several iron-armored guards stepped in front of him.
The guards' Soul Power wasn't very strong; they were only Soul Grandmasters.
But the swan emblem on their armor identified them as guards of the Heaven Dou Royal Family.
"My name is Su Ze. The Crown Prince recommended me for admission. Here's the Crown Prince's letter of recommendation. Sorry to trouble you, but please let me through."
Su Ze took out the letter, stamped with Xue Qinghe's personal seal.
He also showed them that his Soul Power was at level twenty-six.
That should make his case convincing.
As guards of the Heaven Dou Royal Family, their leader was naturally familiar with the Crown Prince's seal.
After seeing the swan emblem on it and sensing Su Ze's Soul Power, he was certain that Su Ze was telling the truth.
"Please come with me, young master. I'll take you in to enroll."
The guard captain respectfully returned the letter to Su Ze.
Seeing that he'd avoided the dramatic fiasco that had happened when Tang San enrolled, Su Ze nodded.
The guard then escorted Su Ze to the office in charge of admissions.
"Young master, just go in and speak with the teacher. I'll return to my post."
"Ah, thank you!"
After thanking him, Su Ze knocked on the office door.
"Come in!"
At the knock, a woman's voice came from inside.
When Su Ze entered, he found himself facing a stern-looking middle-aged man.
"Hello, teacher. My name is Su Ze. The Crown Prince recommended me for admission. Here's my letter of recommendation."
When the man saw the letter laid out on his desk, a surprised expression crossed his face.
"The Crown Prince personally recommended you?"
Xue Qinghe had never recommended anyone for admission since taking charge of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
This young man was the first.
"A seven-year-old level-twenty-six Soul Grandmaster!"
"A Lightning Attribute Soul Master with a mutated Martial Soul!"
After reading Su Ze's information in the letter, the man understood why the Crown Prince had recommended the boy.
His talent was truly astounding!
Among all the students admitted to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, not one had reached such a level at his age.
A genius!
After seeing Su Ze's talent, the middle-aged man, who had been sitting, sprang to his feet. His tone grew much warmer, too.
After asking a few simple questions, he quickly completed Su Ze's enrollment.
Su Ze became a student of Heaven Dou Royal Academy, just as he'd hoped.
Following the admissions teacher's directions, Su Ze headed for the dormitories.
Since Heaven Dou Royal Academy was an academy for nobles, every student had a separate dormitory building.
Su Ze was pleased with that. He was even happier that Qian Renxue had taken care of his tuition and accommodation costs.
Otherwise, he really couldn't have afforded the tuition, which started at a hundred Gold Soul Coins.
On his way to the dormitory, Su Ze decided to take a look around Heaven Dou Academy.
As he walked, he observed the students.
After sensing the Soul Power of those around him, Su Ze was certain that his talent was quite impressive, even by Heaven Dou Royal Academy's standards.
He'd seen more than a dozen students, and not one was stronger than him. They were all older, too.
Su Ze was pleased. He had already caught up with the first tier of talent on the Douluo Continent.
As Su Ze looked around, he suddenly noticed more than thirty people gathered at the entrance to a huge valley in the distance.
Most of them were female students.
What were they doing?
Thanks to his vision, enhanced by the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, Su Ze could make out the words written above the distant valley entrance.
Thunder Gorge!
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