Behind the teaching building was the dormitory area.
The sixth grade of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy had two dormitory buildings: one for male students and one for female students.
Though called dormitory buildings, they were more like simple hotels. It was common for students to visit each other's dorms between the two buildings.
Especially on the first floor of both buildings, the cafeteria basically served as a public restaurant.
Xu Zihuang, Ju Zi, and Ke Ke directly climbed the stairs to the second floor of the cafeteria restaurant. The cafeteria's decoration was mainly light gold, and under the illumination of soul guidance lights, it appeared particularly bright.
The three of them found a table near the edge of the second-floor railing, where the view was very open. With just a slight turn of the head, they could take in the entire situation of the first floor.
There weren't many sixth-year students at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy to begin with, and since they had missed the peak dining time, aside from Xu Zihuang's group, only two other people were sitting opposite each other not far away.
Judging from their appearance, these two were definitely over twenty-five years old. In other words, they were not sixth-year students.
Yet they were still able to remain at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, which left only two possibilities: either they were teachers at the academy, or they were students of the Illustrious Virtue Hall.
The female student among them had a very average figure and appearance. She looked to be in her thirties and was the type that would be hard to pick out in a crowd.
In contrast, the male student was far more striking. His long black hair was simply tied back with a band, and his complexion appeared somewhat unhealthy and pale, yet he was even more handsome than Zimu. However, from his stiff facial expression, not the slightest fluctuation of emotion could be felt.
Most strangely, even while eating, one of his hands tightly gripped a sword about four feet long, completely black in color. The sword's style was simple and ancient, with nothing particularly special visible about it.
Yet Xu Zihuang recognized at a glance that this long sword was forged from extraterrestrial meteoric iron. He had personally crafted a top-tier level 6 close-combat soul tool, and the sword Shark Tooth had used a small piece of extraterrestrial meteoric iron, so he was very familiar with this material.
The sword never left his hand.
Seeing this, Xu Zihuang had already roughly guessed the identity of this male student.
When his gaze turned toward the male student, the latter seemed to sense it and their eyes met for a moment.
Xu Zihuang calmly withdrew his gaze, while the male student unconsciously tightened his grip on the meteoric iron sword in his hand.
The plainly-featured female student covered her forehead with a speechless expression.
"You sword maniac, can't you settle down even when eating?"
"He is very strong."
The male student merely murmured to himself in a low voice, and a trace of burning fervor appeared in his calm, waveless black eyes.
Facts proved that Xu Zihuang's guess was correct. The male student holding the black long sword was none other than the sword maniac Ji Juechen, and the plainly-featured female student sitting opposite him was Ji Juechen's only friend at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, Jing Ziyan.
Hearing this, Jing Ziyan looked toward Xu Zihuang and the others in surprise.
However, from her and Ji Juechen's positions, they could only see Xu Zihuang's back as well as Ju Zi and Ke Ke sitting opposite him.
On the other side, the chef on the second floor of the cafeteria restaurant soon brought over the charcoal-grilled silver wolf leg that Xu Zihuang had ordered, along with the grilling rack.
That silver wolf, with a cultivation exceeding five thousand years, had a body length of at least three meters. Even though wolf-type soul beasts were not as robust as bear-type soul beasts, a single foreleg still weighed dozens of jin of good meat.
The grilled wolf leg was golden-brown, sizzling with oil, and bore numerous cuts—clearly scored beforehand to better absorb flavor.
Beside the grilling rack were a sticky, semi-transparent dark brown dipping sauce and several plates of refreshing, appetite-whetting side dishes.
"Senior Sister Ke Ke, Senior Sister Ju Zi." Xu Zihuang handed two exquisite small knives for cutting meat to Ke Ke and Ju Zi.
The two of them were little foodies to begin with and didn't stand on ceremony, immediately using the small knives to slice off a small piece of silver wolf meat.
The meat was finely textured and extremely tender. Wrapped with a few pieces of fresh vegetables that could be eaten raw and then dipped in the sauce, the flavor was simply exquisite.
"Wow, this thousand-year silver wolf meat really tastes amazing." As Ke Ke chewed, her whole body fell into a state of intense excitement.
Silver wolves were extremely powerful soul beasts and were rarely hunted by human soul masters. This was actually the first time she had ever eaten thousand-year silver wolf meat.
Ju Zi, beside her, wasn't much better than Ke Ke; her beautiful starry eyes comfortably narrowed.
Of course, compared to Ke Ke, her eating manners were much more refined.
Xu Zihuang also elegantly tasted the charcoal-grilled silver wolf leg.
However, this harmonious scene was quickly broken.
A series of footsteps echoed on the first floor of the cafeteria restaurant. A total of eight middle-aged men, around thirty years old, walked in. They wore the military's standard armor and released their martial souls the moment they entered the cafeteria.
Surprisingly, there were two Soul Emperors and six Soul Kings.
The leading middle-aged man had the strongest aura; his soul power cultivation seemed not far from level seventy.
Wang Shaojie stood beside this middle-aged man, pointing viciously at Xu Zihuang, who was eating on the second floor.
"Cousin, it's him."
"As expected, Wang Shaojie called people from the royal family's inspection team."
Ke Ke anxiously reminded Xu Zihuang, "You might be in trouble this time. The people from the royal inspection team are not easy to deal with. It's best not to clash with them."
As the saying goes, one's mouth softens after eating someone's food, and one's hand softens after taking someone's gifts. Moreover, Ke Ke had a very good impression of Xu Zihuang and naturally didn't want anything to happen to him.
Unlike Ke Ke, Ju Zi remained relatively calm, a wise light flickering in her eyes—completely different from the confused image she had initially shown.
Even if the worst-case scenario occurred, she could still protect Yu Tianhuang.
"Senior Sister Ke Ke, they can't do anything to me." Xu Zihuang smiled calmly, tapped the floor lightly with his toe, and gracefully landed in front of Wang Shaojie and the others.
The leading middle-aged man sized up Xu Zihuang with slightly furrowed brows, then waved the token in his hand and said coldly, "Royal Inspection Team. You are Yu Tianhuang? You are suspected of assaulting and injuring a member of the royal family. Come with us to assist in the investigation."
Xu Mochen.
Xu Zihuang recognized this middle-aged man's identity at a glance. Xu Mochen's father was a prince of the Sun Moon Empire's royal family who managed ancestral affairs, and in terms of bloodline, he was quite closely related to him.
However, in terms of status, Xu Mochen's father was far inferior to his own overwhelmingly powerful father. In his childhood memories, Xu Mochen had always been extremely fawning and even obsequious toward him.
Because if that palace coup had not occurred, he would inevitably have inherited his father's title in the future, becoming a powerful prince with real military authority who controlled the four most prosperous southern provinces of the Sun Moon Empire.
Xu Zihuang silently gazed at Xu Mochen, seemingly unaffected by the pressure from Xu Mochen and the others.
Wang Shaojie finally revealed a smug expression and sneered, "Kid, weren't you pretty good at fighting? Today I'll give you a proper lesson. Take him away! Let this kid taste the Sun Moon Empire's top ten tortures."
If it weren't for the fact that there were other people present, he probably would have already been unable to hold back from taking revenge personally.
However, Wang Shaojie completely failed to notice Xu Mochen's increasingly solemn expression.
What Xu Mochen felt was a special kind of pressure emanating solely toward him from Xu Zihuang.
Ji Juechen, who was also on the second floor of the cafeteria restaurant, suddenly stood up, his eyes filled with fighting spirit.
"His intent surpasses mine."
Jing Ziyan's eyes were filled with shock. She knew Ji Juechen's strength better than anyone. It was precisely because he comprehended sword intent that he firmly held the position of chief of the Illustrious Virtue Hall's actual soul tool department. Yet now this sword maniac Ji Juechen actually said that this youth, who appeared to be at most seventeen or eighteen years old, had a comprehension of intent that surpassed his own. How could Jing Ziyan not be shocked?
In this tense confrontation, Ke Ke became even more anxious.
But in the next instant, Xu Zihuang suddenly took out a brilliant golden token from his storage soul tool. The pressure he had been emitting instantly vanished without a trace.
Xu Mochen instinctively caught the token. When he saw the two characters "Hong Chen" engraved on the back of the token, his pupils abruptly contracted.
Immediately afterward, he tossed the token back to Xu Zihuang and barked in a low voice to the people behind him, "We're leaving."
"Cousin?" Wang Shaojie, whose full attention had been on Xu Zihuang, was extremely puzzled. He had not seen the two characters "Hong Chen" on the token.
But what answered him was Xu Mochen's ice-cold gaze.
His heart trembled, sinking to the bottom. He could only lower his head and follow behind Xu Mochen and the others.
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