Up on the summit of Mount Fu Yao, it was bustling hive of activity. After a long half month's wait, the Battle of Deities Grand Meet that everyone was highly anticipating finally drew near.
When Jun Wu Xie returned to the mountaintop, she saw that the amount of people there had increased by at least one fold from the time she left. As far as the eye could see, it was a dense sea of people surging throughout the place. It was hard to get a good gauge of the number of youths the Battle of Deities Grand Meet had managed to draw, causing all of them to rush here to this place.
Based on the age limit set as a prerequisite for candidates participating in the Battle of Deities Grand Meet, if they missed it once, they would not get a second chance. Everyone within the set age group throughout the entire Middle Realm had all come rushing from all directions and with the additional postponement of half a month, it had given all those who had not been able to make it on time the extra leeway.
Within that tightly packed crowd, the tiny figure of Jun Wu Xie weaved through easily. She picked the most expensive inn upon Mount Fu Yao's summit to stay in as she did not want to encounter the same situation of sharing a room with three other people, and hence, with a wave of her hand, she reserved an entire room all to herself.
The prices at that inn had already been extremely high and the rooms were set for two people to one room. But they were met with such a highly generous customer that the innkeeper was absolutely blooming with smiles as he led Jun Wu Xie to her room.
Jun Wu Xie had just closed her room door when she heard the voices of a few youths raised in debate outside.
"There's really a huge number of participants for this year's Battle of Deities Grand Meet. I wonder how many people will attract the attention of the Twelve Palaces and the Nine Temples in the end."
"I heard that the Nine Temples have no intentions of recruiting any disciples for this Battle of Deities Grand Meet. I think that only the Twelve Palaces will be picking their candidates."
"The Nine Palaces are not participating? Wouldn't that greatly reduce the chances?"
"I think that all of you should not think too deeply into it. The criteria the Nine Temples have when selecting their candidates are more stringent than the people from the Twelve Palaces. If we can't even meet the standards of the Twelve Palaces, even if the Nine Temples took part, it would have nothing to do with us at all."
"That's true….."
The three youths outside the door continued to discuss heatedly, when suddenly, their voices sounded like they had been abruptly cut off, even the sounds of their steps have stopped. Jun Wu Xie heard the sounds of another set of light footed steps coming closer from afar and then going past her door. Only when those steps had disappeared did the voices of the three youths sound out once more.
"Have any of you seen that kid before?"
"I have! Isn't he the one who got into a fight with someone at the end of the street before?"
"I've seen him before too. That one has looks that feel highly sinister, which just gives me the creeps when I go at him. But that Ring Spirit of his is really….. rather terrifying."
"He has that Double Headed Bone Snake! I heard someone telling me all about it! That kid is from the Bone Shifters Tribe!"
"Bone Shifters Tribe! Isn't that very….."
The three youths walked as they chatted, their voices slowly fading away as they went out of earshot of Jun Wu Xie's ears.
"Sinister looking?" Jun Wu Xie arched up an eyebrow. [And from the Bone Shifters Tribe?]
"Young Miss!" Before Jun Wu Xie had the chance to think any further, the figures of Ye Sha and Ye Gu suddenly appeared within the room.
"Has Young Miss been well the past several days?" Ye Sha asked with one knee upon the floor, as he looked up at Jun Wu Xie.
"Very good." Jun Wu Xie said expressionlessly.
Ye Gu did not say anything but merely looked at Jun Wu Xie with a rather strange gaze, looking rather confused.
Jun Wu Xie did not pay it any attention and just moved herself to a chair to sit down as she asked: "The two of you have been here on Mount Fu Yao the past few days?"
"Yes." Ye Sha answered.
"Have you seen Brother Hua and the others?" Jun Wu Xie had complete confidence in the powers of Hua Yao and her other companions, but she had still asked about them naturally.
"I've seen all of them. Young Master Hua is coincidentally staying within this same inn as Young Miss." Ye Sha reported.