The heads of the Four Great Families greeted the university principals, exchanged a few pleasantries, and took their seats.
"Holy shit! The heads of all Four Great Families are here!"
"Not just their heads. The most outstanding members of their younger generations came too."
"The geniuses of the Four Great Families are the best in the entire Imperial Capital, while the contestants here are the best in all of Xia Country outside the capital. Even though the Four Great Families aren't participating in this National Competition, I think they're here to see how these contestants stack up against their own geniuses."
"Honestly, it's a shame. If the Four Great Families had entered the National Competition too, it would've been spectacular."
"Dream on. They obviously can't be bothered to compete with these people. With their strength, this sort of competition is beneath them."
"Really? But I heard Zhou Fan from Xinghai University has quite a few connections to the Four Great Families."
"How so? Got any gossip?"
"First, there's the Xia Family. Xia Qingran used to attend Xinghai University too, and she was Zhou Fan's senior. Apparently, they're pretty close."
"Juicy. I'm hooked. What's next?"
"Then there's the Eastern Family. A lot of people probably know about this one. The brothers Dongfang Yue and Dongfang Xuan went to Xinghai University and fought Zhou Fan, but they lost. There were plenty of videos at the time. Some invisible hand deleted them all, but people still saved copies."
"Juicy. I'm hooked. What's next?"
"Then there's the Bai Family. This one's really just something I heard. Apparently, Bai Yue also went up against Zhou Fan once in a contest of Genjutsu, but he lost."
"The Bai Family specializes in Genjutsu, and even Bai Yue couldn't beat Zhou Fan?"
"Exactly!"
"What about the Ye Family?"