Imperial Treasure

The contract was quite long, a thick stack. Yaohua spread it out on the table, naturally for her to look at, and the fact that Sui Yi had come today meant she didn’t object to signing, so she picked up the contract and opened it....

Page by page.

She very quickly set it down.

"Do you have a pen?"

Yaohua froze for a moment; he hadn’t expected Sui Yi to read it that fast, let alone decide that fast.

Even he felt it was a bit rash.

Of course, this contract was already extremely favorable; no one would turn it down.

So the feeling was oddly unreal.

Yaohua stretched out his hand, and the pen on the table flew into his palm; he passed it to Sui Yi.

Sui Yi signed a single "Sui," closed the contract, and handed it back to Yaohua along with the pen.

"I’ll be in your hands from here on."

"Mm, as it should be. This contract guarantees you a one-fifth share of copyright royalties—the first-edition price will be five thousand Spirit Currency, so as long as one copy sells, you’ll get one thousand Spirit Currency. The manuscript you gave me before has fifty Chapters in total, which is just enough for one edition. The follow-up prep work is basically done. I just don’t know what the title is...."

Sui Yi was taken aback; she realized she really had forgotten to name the book.

"The title’s not decided yet, you guys can just pick one at random."

Yaohua’s heart collapsed in one second.

Fine, signing that casually is one thing, but she can’t even be bothered to name the book?!

"Uh, that’s not so good. A title is the condensed essence of a book, the elevation of its Realm; it’s better if the author chooses it."

If it gets popular later and people roast the title, won’t they be mailing me knives?

It wasn’t like Yaohua had never run into this sort of thing before; it was purely thankless work, so he politely declined.

Although this book was definitely going to blow up. (Indulge me, fellow authors, haha—a one-fifth split~~ this is a dream, realistically even famous writers only get one-tenth.)

"Then let’s go with Nation."

"Nation?" Yaohua savored it for a moment, then slapped his thigh. "That’s a great title, very grand! Your book is the Emperor’s Mind Technique, all about statecraft and strategy, five Nations and ten wars; calling it Nation—nothing could be simpler or more profound... I’ll have them lock down the cover and promo right away.... Oh, right, Teacher, I’ll need your address and contact info..."

"I don’t have an address yet. As for contact info..."

The Dragon Ape World’s communication methods had a certain uncanny resemblance to Earth’s. They used trained carrier birds to send letters, and there were also machine-intelligence devices—on Earth they’d be phones, while here it was a little turtle or big turtle curled up—where you press the squares on its shell as numbers?

No, in reality it only stored soul energy and blood aura. To contact someone you call up a wisp of their aura; to store a "number" is just to store one wisp of the other person’s aura....

The relationship ended only when the person died, or the turtle died; you could also swap out the connection.

Which meant—one little turtle per person, for life.

Of course, when Sui Yi and the others bought these communication turtles earlier, they’d heard the shopkeeper say the inspiration for the design came from one of the four great totem symbols of the Dragon Ape Country, namely the Spirit Communication Turtle.

Anyway, enough digression; Sui Yi exchanged aura for contact, then left.

After seeing Sui Yi off, Yaohua picked up the contract and rode the levitating ladder to the top floor.

Knock knock knock.

The door opened.

He stood in the vast, empty room and put the contract, as a matter of routine, on top of the stack of contracts on the desk, then left.

There wasn’t a single person in the room.

It seemed no one had come here for a long time.

————————

Sui Yi walked out and found the snow was falling much heavier than before.

Yet when they’d left the station earlier, the snow had stopped not long after, so clearly it wasn’t snowing nonstop.

She stood on the steps and watched the drifting snow in the sky for a while, then looked at the fixed, unmoving pointer in her hand.

Not moving?

Following its direction, Sui Yi looked over and saw only that Levitating Ice Palace.

Up there?

The little turtle hanging at her waist suddenly wiggled; she picked it up and took a look.

It was from Ye Zixu.

The message said a place had already been rented.

Sui Yi put the little turtle away, then finally walked into the falling snow.

An hour later, she arrived at a high-end residential area called Ice Pure Courtyard.

The place really was upscale: the houses were all standalone units with their own doors. Most importantly..... was this a school district apartment?

Just across a crystal-clear river, right in front was Ice Gleam Academy... though it faced the remote northern campus, it was indeed right next to it.

As the saying goes, real estate value always depends on the value positioning of the neighboring buildings and Gates.

Government District, education district and so on were always in demand, while quiet, scenic, tranquil high-end environments were also hot.

As it happened, if you looked up from this spot you could see the Levitating Ice Palace ahead; those huge ice chains seemed almost within arm’s reach—in fact, they were rooted right in the riverbed up ahead.

—It marked the Government District’s jurisdiction; security index MAX!

Then look across and there was Ice Gleam Academy; kids didn’t have to get up early for school, kiss kiss!

Plus the surroundings were all high-end building complexes, so the quality of the residents guaranteed a high-end circle....

So, they actually managed to rent this place?

Sui Yi looked at the expanse of clear-as-ice-and-clean-as-jade sprawling buildings in front; through the drifting snow she could see a huge spiral ice crystal sculpture, vivid and radiant, breathtakingly beautiful.

Her brows lifted slightly.

These three really went all in.

There were already people pacing back and forth at the gate.

Most of it was bedding and other daily necessities.

But by now it was more or less all sorted out.

When they saw Sui Yi, they all bent at the waist to salute her, then left.

Inside The Gate, Pu Qinghan and the other three were all there.

"With that little time... you picked really well." Sui Yi said with a smile.

Yi was idly playing with a dagger and said blandly, "If we’re going to live here, we live in the best one."

Sui Yi: "Mm, fair point... how much money do you still have?"

Yi didn’t say a word.

"What about you?"

Pu Qinghan smiled and took out a single piece of Spirit Currency.

"Zixu?"

Ye Zixu took out two pieces...

Ah...

"And little Green Bean~" The moment Green Bean heard that cool, soft voice of Sui Yi’s, her heart melted. She immediately fished out five pieces of Spirit Currency.

"I have five!"

That tone was downright proud!

Well then.

Sui Yi swept her gaze over the other three, propped one hand against half her cheek, and tapped at them one by one with her fingers, saying, "So from now on I basically have to support all of you, huh... in that case, cleaning the house, washing the dishes, mopping the floor, unclogging the toilet... all of that is under your contract, okay~"

The three froze.

For one second.

Yi turned around and walked off without so much as looking at Sui Yi.

Pu Qinghan blinked, pretended not to have heard, and walked away hugging the little fox.

As for Ye Zixu...

He looked at Sui Yi and said, "I’ll go cook."

Ah, they all left.

"It’s fine, Sister Sui, I can do it..."

Sui Yi couldn’t help laughing, and rubbed the head of the little loyal-dog Green Bean. "I was joking.

Stuff like this can all be handled with a single Technique, no need for them to do it themselves.

Only this little girl takes it seriously.

Out on the balcony, Nine Tails was scrambling up and down the railing, sometimes curling its tail around to play hide-and-seek. Pu Qinghan was smiling; when she saw Sui Yi come out carrying two glasses of juice, she took one and said, "The monthly rent is a hundred thousand Spirit Currency. The three of us scraped together everything we had to pay it off, but obviously, you like this place."

Sui Yi nodded and pointed to the Levitating Ice Palace overhead.

"Being close to it is very good."

Pu Qinghan nodded, her voice gentle: "Yi already registered yesterday afternoon, the exam is in three days... but tomorrow I’m going to the Ice Gleam Beast Heart District. It’s good for my cultivation there... I at least need to get my strength up to the Fifth Level of Breaking the Void... stay in touch at all times—what I mean is, if it’s something two people can do together, don’t ever do it alone."

Sui Yi agreed. "I don’t have much on my hands for now anyway... I haven’t figured anything out yet, so acting rashly is a huge taboo. The Ice Gleam Beast Heart District really does suit you for cultivation, but make sure you don’t casually reveal your true form... this place should be pretty sensitive to your kind of bloodline."

Pu Qinghan caught the implication in Sui Yi’s words, drank some juice, then suddenly said, "Tell me, does this Ice Gleam District fall under the Dragon camp, or under the Ape camp?"

"That depends which side the Dominator up above leans toward. But judging from the attitude this region has toward beasts, it should belong to the Dragon side."

That encounter in the Hunting Space had left Sui Yi and the others with an innate bad impression of the apes, so naturally they were more inclined toward the dragons.

The next day Pu Qinghan left. Green Bean and Yi were busy preparing for the entrance exams. Sui Yi got up early and found several pots of plants on the balcony with just-sprouted buds, and couldn’t help but smile.

Pu Qinghan had bought them.

There was also a small note on the railing.

—A gift of flowers and grass for you; I hope that when you return you’ll see them in bloom.

Sui Yi loosened the soil around the tender shoots a little, and suddenly thought that Pu Qinghan could use her Yuezhuo Force to stimulate the plants’ growth—she wondered if her magnetic energy could do the same...

Although the High Priest’s power was an inheritance from Heaven and Earth, and her own Technique inheritance was top-tier, ever since Twin Dragon, she’d sensed the pace at which Heaven and Earth were evolving on their own—changing with each passing day. Nine thousand years was enough time for the living beings of this world to evolve into existences that even Primordial Spirits had to take note of.

Just like how the Divine Race had once feared the Human Race...

Sui Yi suddenly recalled the murderous intent Shen Zhiyue had borne toward humans in her later years.

They were clearly something she’d personally nurtured from the ground up... and yet she’d wanted to personally strangle them.

Given her standpoint and her identity as the founder of both the Divine Race and Human Race, her decision had been vicious and decisive.

But it had also indeed been correct.

"She’s the one who counts as a truly successful ruler, whereas I... have always been a failure."

Sui Yi sighed, her fingertip gently touching down on the edge of a tender leaf, channeling Magnetic Sensation into it, slowly nourishing that tiny, fragile sprout...

Around seven or eight o’clock, she set off with Yi and Green Bean for Ice Gleam Academy.

It was very close, but there was a river in between, and since there was no bridge, naturally they had to circle around the campus to the main east gate. Even so, this really was a "school district home": quite a lot of people were leaving their houses early in the morning, some alone, some in groups, and some with family accompanying them.

For Green Bean and Yi, Sui Yi was that accompanying person.

Ice Gleam Academy obviously shared the same refined style as the Ice Gleam District—distinctly cold and noble. Even on the registration days for the various departments, everything was perfectly orderly. Of course, the reason for that kind of order was that there were a thousand Frost Armor Guards standing in strict formation at the main gate.

"Ice Combat Department over here!"

"Ice Gleam Art Series is over there!"

"What are you going to the Ice Gleam Art Series for! Its exam is way harder than the Ice Combat Department’s!"

"Hey, I’m Battle Support Series, where do I sign up?"

"Potions, Potions are over here!"