Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to a month, time went by like flowing water and everyone was eagerly expecting what Lin Xiao and Hei Gou would bring forth next.
Eventually, Xue Wei had emerged from the Soul tower together with Bai Tianyi. As they both were returning to the courtyard, they found that a horde of people had gathered outside—all of them waiting for Lin Xiao and Hei Gou to exit.
“It seems they were successful in creating a name for themselves at the academy,” Bai Tianyi said dryly as he saw the huge group of people standing in front of them.
“Excuse us, can we get through?” Xue Wei asked the crowd, ignoring Bai Tianyi. Unexpectedly, the people who were standing in front completely ignored him, causing his brows to furrow slightly.
“Excuse me!” he called a bit higher, causing the people to get annoyed turn towards, eying him with disdain.
“We were here first,” one of them said curtly, his face showing impatience.
“I live in this courtyard,” Xue Wei argued back, but the man just snorted. “What nonsense,” he retorted, clearly not believing a word Xue Wei was saying.
“This is annoying,” Bai Tianyi mumbled.Xue Wei just sighed and then infused Qi into his voice before calling out, “Xiao, Gou, get your butts out here and clear the way, I can’t get inside like this!”
The voice was commanding and filled with irritation. The crowd of people in front of Xue Wei frowned when they heard it and turned around, unsure if Xue Wei was really a friend of these two geniuses, or if they were complete lunatics.
But when Lin Xiao and Hei Gou heard the voice, both of them rushed down the stairs and out the courtyard, big smiles plastered on their faces and excitement in their eyes.
“Wei, Tianyi, you are back!” they exclaimed, forcing the people who previously refused to make space to do so.
“We’re back,” Bai Tianyi snickered at them. From their expressions of pure joy, it was clear that they were bursting to share lot of information they’d gathered, and since they had also had a full month to gather it, there was no doubt that they had gathered quite a lot of information.
During this month, Bai Tianyi had raised his rank to the fifth layer of the Earth Knight rank by being on the eighth floor for a month, and at the same time, Xue Wei had reached the second layer of the Earth Knight rank in spiritual energy.
Their advance was incredibly fast, but this was mainly because of the Soul Tower, it was truly a holy place for spiritual energy cultivators.
Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi walked into the courtyard under the curious gaze of the other students. Many had no idea about their identity, but when they sensed the spiritual energy within their bodies, they quickly realized that the one behind the pills and the formations were one of these two people. Alarmingly however, they were both only two-eyed experts, how could they possibly be so accomplished?
As to where these four two-eyed experts came from, no one knew. Many had already tried to understand the background of Lin Xiao and Hei Gou when they were providing many great items up for rumors, but they had gleaned absolutely no information as the pair had decided not to share their origins, nor had the elders who were aware gossiped uncouthly .
Xue Wei did not care about the many gazes that were sent their way, neither did he care about the thoughts of these people, all he wanted was to solve the mystery he has been tasked with and he hoped that his two friends had managed to find out something helpful.
Under the watchful eyes of all the present experts outside the courtyard, Xue Wei, Lin Xiao, Hei Gou, and Bai Tianyi all retreated into the house.
As they entered the house, Xue Wei looked around only to find that there was no sign of either Mo Yi nor Mo Er.
Although it was good that the brothers were not around when they discussed important things, it was still weird that they were not present, and Xue Wei could not help but mind it. Why would they leave when their task was to look after the house and courtyard?
“Not important for now,” Xue Wei muttered to himself and returned his focus to Lin Xiao and Hei Gou. These two had been working hard finding information while Xue Wei had been cultivating.
After arriving in the first spacious room, they all sat down together and prepared to discuss their progress.
Xue Wei was the first to open his mouth, “We managed to reach the sixth floor, almost the seventh,” he said honestly. “It was going much faster than expected.”
“That’s good,” Lin Xiao nodded his head, “we managed to catch a lot of rumors and information about the different factions, powers, and legends that go around in the capital and in the Garden of Shadows.”
“Do share,” Bai Tianyi grinned, slightly curious about this Yan Dalu where they’d been stranded on.
“First of all, let us tell you about the different powers within the academy before we move on to the powers within the capital.” Hei Gou started. “In the academy, there are different associations,” he began, “the associations are split into three categories: the heavenly, the earthly, and the mortal associations. There are currently four heavenly associations, twenty-three earthly and countless mortal ones.
“The strongest amongst the heavenly associations is known as the ‘Scarlet Blood Association,’ which requires of you to be born in, or to have pledged yourself to one of the major families within the capital.
“Second-ranked is the ‘Rising Sun Association’. This association is smaller than the Scarlet Blood Association, but the prestige is actually higher as it is the one that is controlled by the Royal family. This one has the least members amongst all the associations, not counting a few mortal ones.
“Then comes the Savage Beast Association, this one is not large either, but it still holds a lot of power and it is the only association that only accepts Primordial Beasts.
“Finally is the Snow Lotus Association. This association is rather weird. It does not try to participate in any of the different power struggles so it is also neutral towards all the people joining. The only thing they advocate is complete loyalty towards the academy.
“The earthly and mortal associations do not matter, all of them are beneath our notice. Only the heavenly associations are of interest to us, and all core students are expected to join one of the heavenly associations.
“Now onto the capital; there are three major families: the Gu family, the Baili family, and the Yuan family.
“These three major families are known as the protectors of the continent. The Prime Minister comes from the Gu family while the Baili and the Yuan families each contain one of the Heavenly Generals of the continent.
“Whenever troubles arise, these generals will deal with all the physical problems with their immense power, while the prime minister will orchestrate the logistics and organisation of it from behind. They are known as protectors because they do a great deal to protect the continent.
“Their descendants are all officials in court, and although they seem to be the best of friends on the outside they are not as friendly as they might seem. Only when a foreign enemy appears will they actually work together.
“In the palace, there are seven factions but there are three that are more important and stronger, as they are each supported by a major family.
“These seven factions each are controlled by one five-eyed expert. The King is not supported by any of the three major families, but she is the most talented of all the five-eyed experts and thus she became the King. However, the three families are putting pressure on her to abdicate.”
“It seems that the continent is not as calm as they make it seem,” Xue Wei said contemplating. “But all of this has nothing to do with us. We will not join any of the powers, all we will do is solve this mystery and then leave for the Demon Phoenix Continent.”
“You don’t think that they might go back on their words if the King gets replaced?” Hei Gou was worried about this, but Xue Wei just shook his head.
“I have realized one thing from what you’ve said. There are many factions and powers within the capital and the royal court, but there is one power which none of them can afford to offend.”
“Who?” Lin Xiao was confused, but when he saw the snicker on Xue Wei’s face he understood. “Right,” he nodded his head, “none of them can afford to offend the Garden of Shadows.”
“As long as we assist the Garden of Shadows, then we will have our ticket to the Demon Phoenix Continent.
“What if they renege on their promise?” Hei Gou could not help but ask causing Xue Wei to sigh. “Currently we have no option other than to hope for them to keep their promise.” Xue Wei continued, “if they really do not keep it, then we will just have to sneak on board the ship, and if even that is impossible, then we’ll have no choice but to leave on our own and hope to reach some other continent eventually.”
“I really hope that they keep their word,” Hei Gou sighed. It was not that he wished to be a pessimist, but he had a hard time trusting people after experiencing the constant threat they had lived under back in Chang’an.
Xue Wei sighed and nodded his head, “I hope so too; I have a feeling that it will work out. Still, to be allowed on board the ship that goes to the Demon Phoenix Continent, we need to make sure that we have solved this stupid mystery.
“What else have you found other than the factions?” Xue Wei asked with another sigh. Lin Xiao and Hei Gou told him everything they had heard, including the ten missing people a day, and the legend of the expert.
Xue Wei listened to all of it with interest, he even listened to the gossip about who was dating who with interest, about the information of the teachers, and the locations of the different buildings.
When they finished sharing everything they had learned over the past month, Xue Wei was quiet for a long time as he muddled over all the information.
He closed his eyes and tried to coalesce the turbulent thoughts that were now swirling within his mind. When he opened the eyes again, it felt like a ray of light shone within and a smile spread across his face.
“We should actually consider visiting this forbidden area,” Xue Wei said with a snicker on his lips, “There has to be some sort of clue in the forbidden area, and even if there is no clue, then I still want to visit it just because it is forbidden.”
“How are we going to go around doing so?” Lin Xiao asked with a frown which just caused Xue Wei to smile. “First we will ask the headmaster to allow us to go,” he responded. “But the likelihood of him allowing us to go is very small, so we will sneak in one night when the rest of the academy is asleep.”
“I have walked past the forbidden area and there are no guards,” Lin Xiao said casually, “I knew you were likely to be curious about it so I went past it a few times to take a look, but I never saw anything special about it.”
“I see,” Xue Wei pondered for some time for continuing, “by the way, why are so many people gathered outside? What have you done to them to make them so interested in you?”
“We baited them with treasure,” Lin Xiao said softly, as if he was sharing a secret. “First we offered pills, then we offered formations and now we’re offering some other pills. They were eager to get their hands on it so now everyone is ready to jump at us whenever we walk outside.”
“Serves you right,” Bai Tianyi laughed, clearly taking joy in their self-made misfortune.