Ever since the paper was published, media outlets had kept trying to enter Chang University to interview Huang Tian. Security stopped most of them at the gates; only two or three of the most influential were allowed in.
After making time for two interviews, Huang Tian shut his door to visitors and devoted himself to reading research papers.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye. The online buzz gradually died down, and the media dispersed after Chang University repeatedly turned them away. Only then did Huang Tian take his laptop and leave campus.
He did not return to his apartment. Instead, he traveled around Xia Kingdom. He wanted to visit its famous mountains and great rivers to see whether they hid any cultivation sects, reclusive dragon clans, masters descending from the mountains, peerless dragon kings, alien ruins...
If any of that nonsense really existed, he would have to keep his head down. If not, he could act with greater confidence and boldness.
"Whooo—"
A long train cut across the land, racing over the boundless plains.
From inside the train, he could see snow stretching endlessly outside. The tracks, fields, and mountains were all covered in white, lending the landscape a rugged vastness.
Birch forests sped backward through his field of vision, their upright trunks looking darker than ever against the endless snow. Now and then, a solitary village appeared, its low roofs capped with snow, seeming especially distant.
"Haa—"
A rosy-cheeked little girl breathed onto the train window. A film of white mist appeared, and she used her index finger to draw on it: flowers, a house, trees...
She looked utterly absorbed, immersed in her own world.
A middle-aged couple sat beside her—her parents, both smiling.
"Young man, you look like a student. Are you?"
The middle-aged man