Chapter 54: Neighbors
Glancing at the time, it was already nine in the morning. Su Xiao looked over at Beini, who had been sleeping too much the past couple of days. Last night, she couldn't fall asleep, staring with her bright cat eyes as she gamed all night. Now, from her drifting gaze, it was clear she planned to sleep during the day.
"Meow."
Beini called out, meaning that this morning, she saw Nirin leave in a hurry before dawn.
This was actually understandable. Normally, Nirin should have come to say hello, express her gratitude, and then leave. The problem was that during yesterday's treatment, Nirin had been trapped in a nightmare, which meant that now, whenever she saw Su Xiao, she experienced phantom pain all over her body, and it was getting worse.
Time was almost up. Not counting today, there were only three days until the Arcane Festival began.
Each Arcane Festival lasted 5 to 7 days. The first morning featured the opening ceremony, which had a solemn atmosphere and was quite boring. Only middle-aged and elderly spellcasters would willingly attend such an opening ceremony; other spellcasters had to come whether they wanted to or not.
By noon on the first day, it was time for the grand banquet in the main hall, a segment most people enjoyed. At this luncheon, Arcane Eternal Star displayed extreme generosity. Rare ingredients that were normally impossible to buy could be tasted today, free and unlimited.
The afternoon of the first day was for young people from various races to interact and learn from each other. This environment was essentially a mutual admiration society for the youth, or greetings between rivals, but it had to be appropriate—fighting was absolutely forbidden.
When night fell, around seven or eight, there was another evening banquet. This was a must-attend for young males of all races, the reason being: to look at legs. Who could resist a lineup of female spellcasters in evening gowns, along with beautiful girls from other races?
On the second day, the "Starry Square" was almost completely open. In the afternoon, Arcane Eternal Star's "Void Grand Library" was also partially opened.
By evening, a joint auction hosted by several major races was held at "Dawnlight Manor." This auction could be considered the grandest in the Void every few years, with the highest level of prestige.
It was worth noting that this auction only accepted Soul Coins as payment. Such a threshold undoubtedly elevated the auction's grade.
On the third day, the highlight event arrived. From the third to the fifth day, young talents from various races showcased themselves in the "Arena" within "Starry Square."
Naturally, this competition had prizes. The prizes for the top six were provided by Arcane Eternal Star, the Demon Race, the Feather Race, the Star Clan, the Devil Race, and the Soul Clan, respectively.
Each major power provided one prize. The best reward, for first place, was naturally provided by Arcane Eternal Star.
However, most of the time, the victor was a young spellcaster from Arcane Eternal Star, occasionally a young member of the Soul Clan.
Among the major powers, the Soul Clan was even more low-key than the Star Clan. They were too ancient and silent, making it rare to see their clansmen outside.
To be precise, there was another major Void power: the underground forces led by White Bull. However, due to various reasons, this major power in the dark world couldn't participate in the Arcane Festival as a major power like the others.
This wasn't without benefits. The young members of White Bull's forces could also participate in the Arcane Festival's competition, but the slots were limited.
This was Arcane Eternal Star's unspoken gesture—both giving face to White Bull and warning him.
White Bull himself didn't care at all. If the young subordinates he selected made it to the top six, it meant freeloading the prizes offered by other major powers. Who would have a problem with such a satisfying freebie?
Don't think this competition among the young of various races was just a routine performance. This competition undoubtedly reflected whether each race had worthy successors.
Needless to say, Su Xiao would definitely be a spectator in the VIP seats. Just watching rookies bumble around would inevitably be boring, so over the years, during this segment, people always set up underground betting pools.
When the young generation's competition ended, the Arcane Festival drew to a close. Representatives from various races would attend a secret meeting hosted by Arcane Eternal Star to redraw territorial boundaries, etc. After these secret meetings, held every few years, the power distribution within the Void underwent significant changes.
...
The scenery outside the train window flew by. Su Xiao wasn't traveling to Arcane Eternal Star with White Bull because, just as they left the mansion in the flower field, someone else came to settle a grudge with White Bull.
In the past, on White Bull's turf, these people wouldn't dare to show themselves. Now that Lighthouse Star was under Arcane Eternal Star's jurisdiction, they took the opportunity to come after White Bull.
Or rather, White Bull was doing this intentionally. He appeared to come alone, but in reality, he had brought a group of capable and ruthless underlings.
Every time he came to the Arcane Festival, White Bull collected various valuable weapons or combat treasures 'offered' by his enemies, and he never had to lift a finger himself—he just watched his underlings swarm the attackers. This not only earned him some extra income but also allowed him to thin out his list of enemies.
In the past, Arcane Eternal Star held the Arcane Festival annually. Now it was every few years, which White Bull found quite dissatisfying. Previously, he could harvest a crop every year; in recent years, he could only harvest once every few years.
White Bull wasn't underestimating his enemies, but as the underworld emperor of the dark world, his enemies were too numerous to count.
Among the members of the Starry Sky Seat, White Bull had the most experience with revenge. If he went out without his underlings and didn't encounter any avengers for over ten days, he would become alert—that meant the next wave of enemies coming for him would be tough to deal with.
There were quite a few passengers on the train, most coming to participate in this Arcane Festival. For example, across from him were two acquaintances, the sisters Lilim Mia and Lilith Aya.
These two sisters were completely different in appearance, temperament, and even clothing. Saying they were half-sisters was already questionable.
Lilim was a succubus. To be precise, she was a disgrace to succubi. As a succubus, her form-fitting leather jacket was more conservative than the neighboring Incantation Tribe girl's outfit—more conservative than even her sister Lilith's.
Beside her, Lilith was a battle demon. Previously, when Su Xiao went to the Black Abyss, the Demon Race had sent her as well. The result was that Lilith, who knew nothing except fighting, learned about the dangers of the world.
Across from Lilim and Lilith was a demon with a white crew cut and one broken horn. Just from the ruggedness on his face and the stubbornness unique to a brute in his brows, one could guess he was a simpleton. This simpleton was named Mond. He was here both to participate in the Arcane Festival and to take a vacation.
Or rather, he was forcibly pulled off the battlefield by the Demon Race's higher-ups. Ever since the Demon Race started warring with the Feather Race, Mond had been like a honey badger possessed—either fighting to the death or on his way to a fight. He even ate and slept on the road, staying in combat mode 24/7.
Because of this, this fool's aura was exceptionally strong now, surpassing Lilim and Lilith by a notch, at least Ninth Rank combat power.
Demons like Mond either died young or became very strong. The Demon Race didn't lack resources and certainly wouldn't let someone like Mond go without.
Beside Mond, Lilim, and Lilith was an old goat-headed demon. This old demon was withered and thin, but don't underestimate him—he was one of the Demon Race's immortals, Wolpole.
Besides these four demons in the carriage, there were a few other acquaintances. Su Xiao looked toward the seats up ahead. Zuiyasi and his wife Aona were sitting across from each other, having lunch together. Although the lunch wasn't very lavish, the bottle of table wine was undoubtedly expensive. This couple was probably on a business trip.
Besides Zuiyasi and Aona, across from them was Wood, along with a pale, thin, sickly-beautiful girl beside him. This was Wood's sister, whom Su Xiao and Zuiyasi had heard Wood mention before.
Whether it was Zuiyasi and his wife or Wood and his sister, their presence here was normal. For this Arcane Festival, one party represented Doom Star, while the other had participated in the Arcane Festival several times before.
Zuiyasi and his wife, along with Wood and his sister, had clearly agreed to travel to Arcane Eternal Star together.
As for Su Xiao's chance encounter with them, it wasn't a coincidence. After learning Wood's approximate whereabouts through White Bull's intelligence channels, Su Xiao chose this train. Meeting Lilim and the others was indeed a coincidence.
With nothing to do, Su Xiao took out an ancient tome. A few seconds later, a few meters away, Zuiyasi raised his glass and clinked it with his wife Aona's, downing the wine in one gulp.
"So expensive, drink slowly."
Aona set down her glass, speaking in a voice only Zuiyasi could hear. Zuiyasi smiled and poured another glass, filling it to the brim until it was almost overflowing. Seeing this, Aona smiled 'warmly and considerately.'
"Feeling good, so I have to drink a few more."
Zuiyasi downed the wine in his glass again. Hearing this, Aona looked suspicious. Earlier, her husband had seemed worried about coming to Arcane Eternal Star for the Arcane Festival, but now he had a completely different attitude.
Zuiyasi said in a low voice, "Honey, I've recently learned a truth: knowledge is power."
"Pfft~, cough, cough, cough..."
Aona choked on her wine. She looked at her husband with a serious expression and asked, "Honey, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"
Seeing this, Wood in the next seat adjusted his sunglasses.
At first glance, nothing seemed to have changed in the carriage, but everything was unspoken. Wood adjusting his sunglasses meant: play it safe. This was the Void; some things he couldn't do openly. Even if they were going to cause trouble together, he would be the one lurking in the shadows. This was understandable—the Devil Race was a power within the Void.
In other words, the Void was Wood's home turf. If he was going to cause trouble here, he would definitely choose a low-key approach. Moreover, the Devil Race had never been known for being flashy, but rather for being cunning and insidious.
Zuiyasi was the opposite. He represented Doom Star, or rather the Ancient God faction, which was chaotic, extremely evil, and treacherous.
Zuiyasi filled his glass to the brim, almost overflowing, clearly indicating that if they were going to cause trouble, he wouldn't just participate—he would go all out. If they were going to do it, they would do it big and ruthless.
The reason Zuiyasi and Wood made these gestures wasn't that they had the ability to see through Su Xiao's disguise.
Previously, in the "Grand Cathedral" of Dead Silence City, Su Xiao had deciphered this ancient tome. Those who knew he had this tome, excluding Bubu Wang, Amu, etc., numbered only five: the Demon Blacksmith, Gulu, Kaisa, Zuiyasi, and Wood.
Given the keenness of those two scoundrels not far away, Su Xiao was sure they could figure this out.
After flipping through the ancient tome for a while, Su Xiao closed his eyes to rest, pondering his strategy for this event.
First, although the internal structure of the spellcaster faction was extremely complex, after excluding some non-combat factions or schools, Arcane Eternal Star's currently thriving factions numbered only four.