"They've joined forces."
Tang Yuehua's sources were even better informed and more reliable than Xue Qinghe's. She stared into Long Yue's eyes, hoping to find a trace of fear:
"Feng Xiaotian has brought the Four Elements Academy together and joined forces with Yu Tianheng to renegotiate the rules with the three members of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's education committee. You'll be facing three opponents at once in the sparring matches, perhaps even seven."
Tang Yuehua considered her words, then added, "If it were just a few students joining forces, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's three Soul Douluos wouldn't have changed the rules. The main reason is that Elephant Armor Academy has gotten involved too."
"Elephant Armor Academy... Huyan Zhen?" Xue Qinghe's reach had yet to extend into the Heaven Dou Royal Academy or the Elephant Armor Sect, so he knew nothing about this. "How could they do such a thing? This is unfair to Brother Long."
"Unfair... I think it sounds great."
There wasn't a trace of fear in Long Yue's eyes. Instead, a spark of savage excitement flared within them.
He grinned, revealing his sharp teeth:
"In other words, I don't have to hold back."
Seven Treasure City stood in the forest west of Heaven Dou City, neighboring the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Despite being called a "city," it wasn't a city at all, but rather a castle estate.
By the time Long Yue arrived, night had fallen.
Several slender towers reached gracefully into the night sky like swans' necks.
Their roofs were covered in specially fired glazed tiles that shimmered with silver light in the darkness. From a distance, they looked like a dazzling jeweled crown set upon the entire castle.
"As expected of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the richest sect of all. Their castle is even more magnificent than Neuschwanstein."
Long Yue had never seen a castle in the Divine Realm Empire, so Neuschwanstein was his only point of comparison.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had built a broad road connecting Heaven Dou City to Seven Treasure City, and Long Yue walked openly along it.
He was an invited guest, not a Spirit Hall assassin sneaking in for an attack. There was no need to skulk around.
Soon after entering the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's territory, Long Yue encountered a patrolling disciple.
"Do you have an invitation?" Xiao Yi, the disciple on patrol, approached from ahead.
Xiao Yi's martial soul was an owl, and his hearing grew even sharper at night. Without even looking, he had pinpointed Long Yue's footsteps.
"I do." Long Yue asked, "I'm from the Divine Realm Empire. Could you tell me where the Divine Realm Empire's diplomatic mission is?"
"You're Long Yue? The man who claims he's going to beat everyone in the Heaven Dou Empire's entire soul master world?!" Xiao Yi recognized him.
A physique that imposing was hard to fake. Besides, as Long Yue was one of tonight's guests, Xiao Yi had already memorized his appearance.
Xiao Yi led the way. "The Divine Realm Empire's diplomatic mission has already gone inside. Please follow me."
Still turning that rumor over in his mind, Long Yue couldn't help asking, "...Who told you that rumor?"
He could let it slide when the Moonlight Pavilion spread word that he intended to defeat every soul master his own age. After all, he really could beat all his peers.
But the Heaven Dou Empire's entire soul master world?
Long Yue wasn't stupid enough to fight for his life against a bunch of seventy- and eighty-year-old Soul Douluos.
"Rumor?" Xiao Yi looked puzzled by Long Yue's question. "Didn't you say it yourself?"
Long Yue felt he needed to clear things up. "Do you think there's something wrong with my intelligence? Even if I wanted to offend people, I wouldn't say something like that."
Xiao Yi shrugged. "Who cares? Everyone's planning to sit back and enjoy the show anyway."
"..." Long Yue was speechless.
Fine. So everyone on the Douluo Continent is here for the entertainment, huh?
A crystal-clear stream flowed out of the forest's depths, diverted into a moat encircling the castle.
An elegant white arch bridge led to the main gate of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's castle. Countless tiny tower motifs were carved into its railings, silently proclaiming who owned this place.
"Here we are." Xiao Yi's escort ended there, but when he saw Long Yue about to enter, he couldn't resist saying, "Um..."
"What?" Long Yue stopped.
"Are you confident you can win?" Xiao Yi asked. "I heard that because of what you said... that 'rumor,' even the Elephant Armor Sect's experts have taken notice. Elephant Armor Academy is coming to participate too."
"You're asking all this... because you bet money with someone, right? Tell me, did you bet on me winning or losing?" Like a master detective, Long Yue saw through to the truth at a glance.
"Heh heh." Still rather shy and inexperienced, Xiao Yi scratched his head sheepishly. "I bet on you winning. I don't think you were lying. A Four-Ring Soul Ancestor couldn't possibly lose to someone his own age."
Only then did Long Yue realize that this patrolling disciple was just fifteen or sixteen, his face still childish... Long Yue even looked older than him.
"You've got a good eye." Long Yue slapped Xiao Yi on the back and gave him a vigorous shake. "I'm off."
Once Long Yue entered Seven Treasure Castle, a servant naturally took over and guided him to the entrance hall.
The entrance hall had a lofty ceiling and marble floors, with a staircase directly ahead. At that moment, it buzzed with voices.
Everyone was impeccably dressed, every one of them a member of high society.
Wineglass in hand, Sima Lanxiao chatted with all manner of prominent figures from the Heaven Dou Empire amid cheerful conversation and laughter.
It seemed bureaucrats were the same whether they came from the Douluo Continent or the Spirit Ice Continent.
Long Yue had no desire to mingle with those bureaucrats. But Qilin Douluo Tong Yu hadn't come, leaving him without even a slightly familiar face to chat with. He couldn't help feeling a little lonely.
If only Xue Qinghe were here.
That was what Long Yue thought.
Teasing Qian Renxue and making her call me Brother Long is so much fun.
But it seemed no one from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family would be coming this time... except Xue Beng, who was attending as a student of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
I'll get something to eat first. Those few pastries at the Moonlight Pavilion weren't nearly enough to fill me up. Rubbing his stomach, Long Yue headed to the dining room.
The moment he entered, a warm aroma greeted him, mingled with the scents of meat and truffles.
Candles burned brightly on large silver candelabras. The long dining tables were arranged with one at the head and two side by side below it. The red claws of cooked lobsters extended beyond their platters, seasonal fruit and vegetable salads shone with vivid colors, and there were more than a dozen different sauces alone.
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect really is rich." Long Yue went straight up, grabbed a lobster claw, cracked it open, and dug in with gusto.
Long Yue didn't like vegetables, and steaks weren't anything particularly special. But being able to eat fresh seafood and lobster in an inland city like Heaven Dou City was enough to prove the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's considerable wealth.
The Douluo Continent had no railway cold-chain transport, nor did it have relatively affordable refrigeration soul tools for civilian use. Eating lobster in Heaven Dou City and eating it in the Divine Realm Imperial Capital were two entirely different things.
Scarcity made things precious, after all.
Even when he had first transmigrated, residents of the Divine Realm Imperial Capital had struggled to obtain seafood as a food source-not because refrigeration and freezing soul tools were expensive, but mainly because the soul-guided railway had yet to be restored, making transportation costly.
The guests at the Seven Treasure Ball were all impeccably dressed "Celestial Dragons," each putting on airs and guarding their status. At most, they held a glass of fine wine while socializing with others of their class. None of them had come specifically to eat like Long Yue.
As a result, Long Yue ate every lobster the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had prepared all by himself.
Still unsatisfied, Long Yue wiped his mouth, headed over to the steak section, and got straight to work with a knife and fork.
"I've been looking for you everywhere. So you were here eating."
Joander appeared behind Long Yue, looking every inch the polished elite in a beige double-breasted suit and pale blue shirt. His coffee-colored knitted tie matched his brown leather shoes, giving him a relaxed yet commanding air.
Holding a wineglass, Joander stepped forward to strike up a conversation. "Have you heard about Elephant Armor Academy?"
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