The academic exchange in Sui City wasn't anything special, but Xu Ke patiently sat through the entire event. He couldn't leave on his own; only after Ye Feng left Sui City could he justifiably appear in town. Otherwise, he would inevitably leave behind some suspicious loose ends.

After listening to a group of people share their insights, he quickly had Ye Feng arrange for a car, and the three of them left Sui City University together. Only when they had vanished from everyone's sight did Xu Ke and Tang Yingchang get out of the car.

"Thanks, Third Young Master Ye." Xu Ke waved with a smile as he stepped out.

"Take care of yourself," Ye Feng said, looking at Xu Ke. "And you have to come back to Tianhai. You absolutely cannot die."

His sister's remaining poison and the truth still depended on Xu Ke!

"Don't say that; it can lead to misunderstandings. I have a fiancée," Xu Ke clapped Ye Feng on the shoulder.

"...You son of a bitch," Ye Feng muttered.

VROOOM—

He stomped on the gas pedal in frustration, and the car roared away, quickly fleeing from Xu Ke's side.

"Why can't this guy take a joke?" Xu Ke shook his head. "The temperaments of the Ye Family really aren't that great."

"I think Third Young Master Ye isn't too bad," Tang Yingchang chuckled. Though he disliked the Ye Family as much as Xu Ke did, Ye Feng was an exception.

Compared to Ye Chong and Ye Yunfeng, Ye Feng, who was always being ordered around by Xu Ke, seemed quite pitiable...

"You agree with me, right?" Xu Ke revealed a meaningful smile. "I think so too."

Tang Yingchang was slightly taken aback.

"Let's go. I heard the auction is at the Deyun Hotel, and I happened to book two rooms there."

"Yes!"

「Deyun Hotel.」

Standing outside, Xu Ke carefully surveyed the hotel and expressed mild surprise. "This is really impressive."

The Deyun Hotel was so tall you couldn't see its top from the ground, and its brilliant, glittering sign hung high above. The lobby was the pinnacle of luxury, frequented by the rich and powerful. None of the luxury cars parked at the entrance were worth less than a million.

"The Deyun Hotel is a long-standing establishment in Sui City," Tang Yingchang marveled. "What's most remarkable is that it was jointly funded by the Bai and Xie Families. It's precisely because of the subtle balance of power between them that the Deyun Hotel became the most neutral force in Sui City."

"Oh? Those two families worked together?"

Xu Ke had never heard this secret before.

"They did, but that was decades ago," Tang Yingchang said with a smile.

"Originally, the Bai and Xie Families weren't the two major powers in Sui City; they were just two of many smaller families. To protect themselves, they began to cooperate.

"At the time, they started with the Deyun Hotel as their first joint project and began to interact closely. This continued until both families had eliminated all their rivals, at which point they gradually became opponents.

"Nowadays, the Deyun Hotel is the only place that symbolizes their past collaboration.

"So, whenever there's a major project in Sui City that requires the gathering of both families and other clans, it's always held at the Deyun Hotel."

After hearing the explanation, Xu Ke came to a realization. "I see. This is the first time I'm hearing the story behind the Deyun Hotel."

Just then, a familiar mocking voice came from behind. "Heh, another country bumpkin arrives..."

Xu Ke and Tang Yingchang frowned and turned their heads.

Xu Ke raised an eyebrow.

Talk about a small world!

The newcomer was none other than Xie Jinhua.

By now, Xu Ke had shed his disguise and revealed his true appearance, so Xie Jinhua didn't recognize him as Ye Feng's bodyguard from that morning. But this didn't stop him from mocking Xu Ke in the slightest. He was the eldest grandson of the Xie Family Patriarch, the undisputed First Young Master Xie. He could do as he pleased in Sui City, so what was mocking one person to him?

After speaking, he didn't even glance at Xu Ke and walked straight inside.

"It seems he's also here for the auction," Tang Yingchang said, his face flush with anger.

He wanted to kill the arrogant bastard.

"It's normal for the First Young Master Xie to attend," Xu Ke said with a smile. "Let's check in first, then find the auction organizers to verify our assets."

If he wanted to use Zhou Hongsheng's invitation, he'd have to go through the proper channels.

"Alright!"

After entering the hotel, Xu Ke went to the adjacent VIP waiting room to avoid the crowd.

Upon entering, he immediately spotted Xie Jinhua. He was pestering a very beautiful young woman, chattering on about something.

The young woman had short, neat hair and a calm gaze that flashed with a surprising sharpness from time to time. She wore a beige trench coat that hid her figure, but her exposed legs were slim, long, and looked powerful. Xu Ke could also vaguely see that she was wearing a loose set of sportswear underneath her coat.

Next to the young woman stood two young men. One had a crew cut and a long scar on his chin, and he was yawning listlessly. The other wore a hat, his skin dark and his head lowered as he mumbled something under his breath.

What surprised both Xu Ke and Tang Yingchang was that these three, despite looking to be under thirty, all possessed very impressive strength.

They were all at the Postnatal Late Stage!

"Elder Tang, what's their background?" Xu Ke asked, genuinely surprised.

In all of Tianhai, there were only three geniuses who had reached this level, and that was excluding an anomaly like himself: Chen Haiming, Ye Feng, and Qin Jinghuan's as-yet-unseen younger brother, whom Chen Xiong had mentioned at the Martial Alliance. Strictly speaking, however, the latter two couldn't be considered young geniuses on the same level as these three, as they were both over thirty. That meant in the entirety of Tianhai, there was only Chen Haiming. And now, he had just arrived in Sui City and had run into three of them? What kind of place, teeming with talent, was this city?

"I'm... also quite surprised," Tang Yingchang admitted, equally stunned.

As Xu Ke and Tang Yingchang observed the trio, they seemed to sense Xu Ke's gaze and looked straight back at him.

At that moment, the eyes of the woman in the trench coat lit up with pleasant surprise. The man with the hat and the man with the crew cut were also stunned.

Xie Jinhua, however, was in disbelief. He couldn't fathom why the woman in the trench coat would look at another man that way. He became even angrier when he realized it was Xu Ke, the very same country bumpkin he had just seen gaping at the hotel.

She's never been interested in men. Why is she acting like this toward this bumpkin?

What left everyone completely dumbfounded, however, was that the moment the woman in the trench coat saw Xu Ke, she began to walk toward him.

She approached Xu Ke, extended a fair hand, and looked at him. "Hello. Interested in getting to know me?"

Her words instantly darkened the expression of the man with the crew cut. It also made Xie Jinhua grit his teeth in a flash. Only the man in the hat quickly pulled out his phone…

"Ah?!"

Xu Ke was flabbergasted.

Seeing Xu Ke's stupefied reaction, the woman in the trench coat couldn't help but laugh, revealing a surprising charm. "My name is Bai Qian'er. What's yours?"