Su Yu casually asked, "I wonder what Princess Jiujiu wishes to discuss?"
Xu Jiujiu's eyes flickered slightly, and she laughed charmingly, "Naturally, it's official business. Even if I wanted to say something personal, wouldn't Young Master Su Yu refuse to give me the chance?"
There was a trace of grievance in Xu Jiujiu's gaze. After all, back then, she was willing to become a concubine and be honest with him, but Su Yu remained unmoved.
Xu Jiujiu had always held a grudge over this.
To say she had no complaints at all—that was impossible.
After all, she was a princess of a nation, and to be rejected in such circumstances, how could she have no feelings about it?
Su Yu ignored her subtle grievance and said calmly, "Then let's set a time."
"How about this afternoon?" Xu Jiujiu asked.
"That's fine," Su Yu replied blandly.
Hearing this, Xu Jiujiu revealed a sweet smile.
After a few more polite exchanges, Xu Jiujiu led her group away.
The Snow Empress glanced at Su Yu, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. "What does that woman want this time?"
The Snow Empress saw Xu Jiujiu's feelings for Su Yu.
She didn't have much fondness for this scheming royal princess.
"What else could it be? She's definitely up to something, and someone just agreed to it," Wang Dong'er muttered, pouting.
"Nonsense," Su Yu glared at her. Wang Dong'er stuck out her tongue and made a face at Su Yu.
Su Yu found it amusing. He shook his head, then grew serious. "She's probably here to talk about cooperation."
"Recently, the Holy Slayer Palace has a lot of business in the three countries of the original continent."
"The fixed-mount soul-guided cannons we produce are superior to those of the Sun Moon Empire in some ways."
"These are strategic weapons that can influence a nation's fate."
Wang Dong'er frowned. "So this woman wants priority supply, bulk purchase, that sort of thing?"
"More or less," Su Yu shrugged.
Wang Dong'er said worriedly, "But isn't it bad to sell soul tools to the three countries on the original continent?"
"After all..."
She hesitated, but Su Yu naturally understood her meaning.
"Dong'er, you have to understand, that our Holy Slayer Palace is ours. We don't belong to any country."
"As long as someone can pay, we can sell to anyone."
"I think Meng and the Hall Master understand this."
The Sun Moon Empire banned the mass sale of fixed-mount soul tools to the original continent's three nations.
But what did that have to do with Holy Slayer Palace?
When did he ever say Holy Slayer Palace belonged to the Sun Moon Empire?
He just set up headquarters here because rare metals are more abundant.
In essence, Holy Slayer Palace is an independent force.
The Sun Moon Empire may ban exports, but what does that have to do with Holy Slayer Palace?
I run a business—the doors are open. I'll sell to whoever I want.
If you don't like it, try to sanction me.
But do you even have the guts?
Wang Dong'er clicked her tongue and said, "But won't this cause trouble for the Hall Master and the others?"
"After all, our key personnel were all poached from Illustrious Virtue Hall."
"That's why I'm making a bet with the Hall Master. Otherwise, why would I hand over the technology? Wouldn't it be easier just to ask for support?"
"With this as an excuse, the Hall Master can easily deal with the Sun Moon royal family."
Jing Hongchen had a high status and deep roots, plus he had family ties with the Ice God Palace.
The Sun Moon Empire wouldn't be foolish enough to act against Jing Hongchen.
No matter what he did, Jing Hongchen was loyal to the Sun Moon Empire.
And Jing Hongchen could always shift the blame onto him.
All in all, it wouldn't affect Jing Hongchen much.
He had already thought all these things through before acting.
Besides, he wasn't refusing to sell to the Sun Moon Empire—if they paid, he'd sell to them too.
It's just arms trading, nothing major.
Of course, you needed a strong background to play like Su Yu did.
With backing, many problems simply weren't problems.
"Oh, oh~" Wang Dong'er nodded repeatedly. Since Su Yu had it all figured out, there was nothing to worry about.
They continued to wait. After about half an hour, a staff member guided them to the registration desk.
After registering all the team members, they also took photos and measured bone ages.
Once all that was done, Su Yu and his group were taken to the top floor of the Bright Moon Hotel.
The Bright Moon Hotel had eight floors.
The top floor had only eight rooms, but they were the most luxurious—called sky villas.
Those who could stay here were not ordinary guests.
The organizing committee for the Sun Moon Tournament ranked the teams.
The higher the status of the sect or academy, the better the treatment.
Strictly speaking, Holy Slayer Palace wasn't that famous.
The registration staff might not even know how strong Holy Slayer Palace was.
But Su Yu was still assigned to the top floor, which was a special arrangement.
Those people knew who was behind Holy Slayer Palace, which was why they got such treatment.
Given that the tournament was backed by the Sun Moon royal family, this wasn't surprising.
There were eight sky villas, and Su Yu's group stayed in Room 1—the most luxurious.
It had a massive arched entrance, a reception room, a living room, a large conference room, twenty bedrooms of various sizes, a gym, and a tea room.
There was also a sky garden over 200 square meters, and even a 20-meter-square sky swimming pool in the center.
Above the blue pool was a glass dome. At night, gentle blue lights would glow around the pool.
Looking up, you'd see endless starry skies—a beauty enough to intoxicate anyone.
There was even a small training arena for actual combat.
It was fully equipped with every facility imaginable.
Even Wang Dong'er and the others, who were used to luxury suites, were stunned by the sky villa.
"Wow, this is extravagant," Wang Dong'er looked around, clearly surprised at the luxury.
Su Yu smiled faintly. "There are plenty of rooms. Everyone pick one you like."
As soon as he finished, the team members went off to choose their favorite rooms.
Su Yu looked around at the luxurious space as he walked to the semicircular balcony.
From here, he could see almost half of Radiant City.
He stood on the balcony, idly gazing at the city.
"Want a drink?"
A cool voice sounded beside him, accompanied by a fresh, delicate fragrance. Su Yu turned to see the Snow Empress, dressed in black, with snow-white hair down her shoulders, looking at him.
She held two slender wine glasses, filled with a purple-red wine that shimmered gently, wafting a faint aroma.
Su Yu accepted a glass, swirled it, took a sip, and raised an eyebrow.
"Average."
"You really can't appreciate good things—this is the finest wine from the Heavenly Soul Empire," the Snow Empress complained.
Su Yu smiled, "I just can't enjoy it."
The Snow Empress rolled her eyes at him.
Su Yu downed the wine in one gulp, looked at the glass, and joked, "You've started to enjoy drinking lately?"
"If you like, we could just buy a few wineries—we're not short of money."
"Always talking about money—so vulgar."
"So what should we talk about?" Su Yu teased, twirling a lock of her snowy hair.
"Whatever you want," the Snow Empress rolled her eyes.
Su Yu chuckled, casually wrapping an arm around her waist.
With her warmth in his arms, Su Yu breathed in her fragrance.
"Xue'er, it's been a long time since we were close, hasn't it?"
The Snow Empress took a sip of wine. "You've got a new flame now, so naturally you don't think of getting close to me."
Su Yu laughed, "Are you jealous?"
She replied irritably, "If I got jealous over everything, who knows how much jealousy I'd have to deal with?"
Su Yu laughed, "Can't help it—too popular with women."
"More like you're too greedy—you want everything," she retorted.
Su Yu just smiled.
The two shared a moment of intimacy, then separated.
By then, the girls had all picked their rooms, chatting and laughing in small groups.
Even the least sociable, Di Mingli, got along well with Lanlan and Lan Fozi.
Lanlan was innocent and sweet, Lan Fozi was easygoing, and both were soul beasts, so they got along with Di Mingli.
Wang Dong'er was the most lively, and aside from Di Mingli, got along well with everyone.
The girls were already planning to go swimming.
Su Yu had no objections.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was afternoon.
Xu Jiujiu came to visit.
As Su Yu expected, she came to discuss the fixed-mount soul-guided cannons.
This new design could fire eighteen shells at once and hold four rounds in reserve.
In other words, one cannon equaled eighteen.
With the sealed bottle technology, you could pre-inject soul power, so even ordinary people could operate them.
On the battlefield, this was a devastating weapon, enough to decide the outcome of a war.
For the Star Luo Empire, it was an irresistible temptation.
Moreover, even seventh- and eighth-level fixed-mount shells were on Holy Slayer Palace's sales list.
For the three nations of the original continent, this was unimaginable.
Their research on such soul tools was extremely limited.
No one in the three nations could make anything above a seventh-level fixed-mount soul tool.
Not because they lacked powerful soul engineers, but because they lacked the technology.
The Sun Moon Empire's blockade was too strict.
Their fixed-mount soul tool tech was still in its infancy.
For Holy Slayer Palace to sell such high-level soul tools, the Star Luo Empire couldn't resist.
But such items didn't come cheap, and Su Yu wouldn't sell them recklessly.
Besides production capacity, he also had to consider the impact; at least for now, he wouldn't provide them in large quantities.
The two talked for a long time, made some deals, and then Xu Jiujiu left.
Su Yu saw her at the door and suddenly spotted a familiar figure.
At the entrance of the neighboring sky villa, a graceful figure was standing, surrounded by a group.
Sensing his gaze, she turned around. When she saw Su Yu, delight sparkled in her beautiful eyes.
"Xiao Yu!"
"Sister Lexuan!"
Su Yu's eyes light up.
Hearing his voice, the others also looked over. "Su Yu?"
Several voices sounded with various tones. Seeing Su Yu, their moods differed.
Su Yu stepped forward toward Zhang Lexuan.
She was surrounded by several people, most of whom Su Yu recognized: Han Ruoruo, Wu Ming, Wang Yan, Ning Tian, Xiao Xiao, Zhu Lu, etc.
Almost all acquaintances.
There were a few unfamiliar faces, but Su Yu just glanced at them.
Anyone he didn't know probably wasn't important.
In Shrek Academy, if someone was impressive, he would have met them.
What surprised Su Yu was that Xu Sanshi was among them.
The guy Su Yu hadn't finished off last time was here to compete again.
Xu Sanshi's soul power was around level sixty-one or sixty-two—not weak.
But in Su Yu's eyes, Xu Sanshi was no longer worth mentioning.
Su Yu quickly walked up to Zhang Lexuan, his starry eyes scanning her.
She looked even more elegant now.
Zhang Lexuan was also looking at Su Yu, thinking he seemed more mature and steady.
They sized each other up, then smiled.
"When did you arrive?" Zhang Lexuan asked with a smile.
"This morning," Su Yu replied cheerfully. "Are you leading the team this time?"
Zhang Lexuan nodded, "Bringing them to broaden their horizons."
Su Yu looked around, chuckling, "Sister Ruoruo and Sister Wu Ming are here too."
Han Ruoruo teased, "So Young Master Su still remembers us—how rare."
Wu Ming stared at Su Yu, her eyes full of undisguised grievance.
Su Yu's eyebrow twitched, the corner of his mouth pulling.
Anyone else would think he'd dumped Wu Ming after leading her on!
"Want to come in and sit for a while?" Zhang Lexuan invited.
"No, I'll wait until you're all settled in," Su Yu waved.
He preferred to meet Zhang Lexuan in private.
Too inconvenient with all these people around.
"We don't have much to settle—come on in, I have something to talk to you about," Zhang Lexuan said.
Su Yu hesitated for a moment, "Then I'll intrude."
"You're being polite? When you stole a kiss from her, you weren't so polite," Wu Ming said.
At this, the group stirred.
Especially those who didn't know, all turned to look at Zhang Lexuan.
After all, she was now the Sea God Pavilion Master.
Who wouldn't be curious about her gossip?