Zhongli's Look of Disdain.jpg

No one noticed anything unusual about the Soul Douluo who had just arrived at the Clear Sky Sect.

The elders simply assumed Tang Chen's reputation had attracted another unaffiliated cultivator.

After all, with Patriarch Tang Chen's name behind them, everyone considered a top-five spot on this round of the Heavenly Rankings as good as the Clear Sky Sect's.

The Seventh Elder warmly clapped the shoulder of the young man who called himself "Asura" and laughed.

"Asura... brother, was it? Why pick a name like that? If you become a Titled Douluo someday, you can't call yourself 'Asura Douluo,' can you? And if you become a god, would you be 'Asura God'?"

The Asura God obligingly lowered his head, his lips pulling into a shy, awkward smile. A hint of amusement lurked in his eyes.

The Seventh Elder noticed nothing. So many people had come to join them lately that he was used to exchanging pleasantries.

"Don't worry. Once you join the Clear Sky Sect, you're one of us. I'd say our top-five spot is secure. All we have to do is wait for the prize. I wonder if the sect master has found Tang Hao and the others yet..."

Still chattering, the Seventh Elder headed toward the sect hall, leaving the Asura God alone.

The Asura God watched him go, then looked up at the Heavenly Rankings shimmering with golden light overhead and gave a soft laugh.

"If I can't beat you, I can join you, can't I? Tang Chen, Tang Chen. If you're trying to stop me from retiring, you've made the wrong calculation."

He narrowed his eyes, already looking forward to the expression on the Clear Sky patriarch's face when he discovered someone had "stolen" his own lair.

Then he remembered a "famous saying" he had picked up while patrolling another world, and his smile deepened.

"How did it go again...? Oh, 'Sect Master, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your sect, would you?'"

Things had suddenly become interesting.

Meanwhile, Su Yun sat on the second floor of Wanmin Restaurant, staring helplessly at the little blonde girl beside Zhongli.

"Senior Zhongli, I've already paid for this meal. From now on, feel free to put everything on my account."

Xue Ke smiled brightly, her eyes curving into crescents.

Su Yun could not help feeling a little jealous. He lowered his voice and asked, "Princess Xue Ke, what exactly do you see in Zhongli?"

Xue Ke's cheeks reddened. She stole a glance at Zhongli, who was leisurely sipping his tea, and answered in a voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "I... I don't mean anything by it. I just feel safe around Senior Zhongli."

Her father, the emperor, was gravely ill. Qian Renxue, whom she had once called her eldest brother, had fled after her identity was exposed. And her brother Xue Beng always looked at her with distance and suspicion.

She was like a fledgling cast into a storm. The whole world seemed full of gaps that let the wind howl through, yet she could find no branch on which to land.

Zhongli's arrival had given her a glimmer of light to grasp amid her confusion.

From that day on, she had taken it upon herself to cover all Zhongli's expenses. At first he had politely refused; later, he had tacitly accepted.

Zhongli had only meant to carry on old Liyue's tradition of "hesitate and it's gone." Who knew he would unexpectedly pick up such an obedient wallet?

Fortunately, the girl was not bothersome, so he let her do as she pleased.

Su Yun looked Xue Ke up and down. Her beauty was first-rate, worthy of a princess, but her short golden hair surprised him a little.

As he recalled, Zhongli was clearly partial to white-haired girls.

"Zhongli, should we invite Xue Ke to Teyvat Academy?"

Su Yun asked for his opinion. After all, she was Zhongli's wallet.

Zhongli was about to speak when Xue Ke excitedly cut in. "Mr. Zhongli, I want to go to Teyvat Academy!"

She had already heard plenty of rumors about the academy from Columbina. Besides, there was no longer a place for her in the royal family. In another year or two, Xue Beng would surely use her "coming of age" as an excuse to marry her off to some distant house.

The nobles of Heaven Dou City, especially the pack of wastrels around Xue Beng, were rotten to the bone. She refused to become a bargaining chip in their hands.

Zhongli considered this for a moment.

Xue Ke's Martial Soul was a Swan. Her ancestor was said to have been an Emerald Swan, but her bloodline had since declined.

In theory, she was better suited to the Dendro department. Obtaining a Dendro Vision might even let her awaken her ancestral bloodline.

But Teyvat Academy's Dendro department had yet to open, and even its Cryo department consisted entirely of people from Mondstadt.

Of the seven deans, only he and Venti, the two "old fellows," had arrived. Zhongli himself had come only because Hu Tao had gone missing and he had followed the trail here.

"Dean." Zhongli lifted his teacup and spoke without haste. "Will the contract you made be worn away by time while we wait?"

Su Yun nearly choked on his tea.

Was Zhongli saying he had spent too long slacking off?

"You know what the academy's situation is like. Once this round of the Heavenly Rankings is revealed, everything will get better."

Su Yun explained.

Zhongli nodded and turned to Xue Ke. "Your Highness, why not register first? Once the teachers and students have assembled and classes officially begin, you can choose whichever department you prefer. How does that sound?"

Xue Ke had wanted to follow Zhongli without another thought, but seeing that he seemed to have other plans, she obediently nodded.

Both rounds of the Heavenly Rankings for the day had finished. Su Yun stretched, rose, and walked to the window.

The three noblemen's attendants were still screeching from the lamppost like cicadas in midsummer, making enough racket to grate on anyone's nerves.

"Clop, clop, clop—"

The crisp beat of hooves drew closer. Through the rising dust, a troop of royal cavalry escorted Crown Prince Xue Beng to a slow stop beneath the lamppost.

Su Yun even caught sight of Dugu Bo among them.

"Young friend, they mean us no good." Zhongli had returned to his old form of address. Unhurriedly, he poured himself a second cup of tea.

At the prospect of a fight, Sandrone rushed excitedly to Su Yun's side and stood on tiptoe to peer outside.

She made a rough assessment. Without using her Fatui puppet, the green-haired old man would probably be hard to handle. (The Doctor had stabbed through poor Pru, and she still had not had a chance to repair him.)

"Su Yun, how about letting me try?"

She was itching for a fight. Since coming to this world, she had yet to truly cut loose. Columbina refused every request for a spar, leaving her to practice with that maid from Mondstadt now and then.

Su Yun shook his head. "Unless we give them a shock they can feel in their bones, they'll keep getting in our faces. I want to settle this once and for all: beat them until they're afraid, so they'll take a detour whenever they see us. Then even if I set up a table outside Heaven Dou Royal Academy to recruit students, they'll have to welcome me with a smile."

Xue Beng swung down from his horse, his golden cloak cutting a sharp arc through the dust.

He looked up at the three attendants hanging from the lamppost like strips of dried meat. His face darkened until it seemed ink might drip from it.

"I've only been crown prince a few days, and someone already dares touch my men?"

He gave a cold laugh. His gaze swept the empty street before pinning itself to the wide-open window on the second floor of Wanmin Restaurant.

"You skulking rats! Brave enough to do it but not to admit it?"

Su Yun leaned on the windowsill, chin propped in one hand and a faint smile on his lips, as though watching a circus show that had yet to begin.

"What an imposing display, Your Highness." He spoke without haste. His voice was not loud, but it carried clearly across the street. "Shouldn't you first ask why your three beloved men ended up hanging there? Or did your eyes move to the top of your head the moment you put on the crown prince's cap?"