The day of the Ice Palace trial was drawing steadily nearer, and so the inn was unusually crowded that day. When Wei Zhao and Yu Bing stepped out of the inn, they saw several more cars driving up in the distance, clearly bound for the inn as well.

"I wonder which hidden family these people are from?" Wei Zhao asked, standing in the inn's doorway and watching the cars from afar.

"Hard to say for now - we'll have to wait and see. But they aren't necessarily all from hidden families; some could be from the sects." Yu Bing shook his head. "I hear that this time, people from the ancient sects are taking part in the Ice Palace trial as well... whether it's true or not, I couldn't say..."

The Yu family always had a keen ear for news, and since the Yu family's old ancestor had not yet entered seclusion, Yu Bing knew far more than most.

At the head of the convoy was a red Porsche Cayenne, plainly not of the same party as the cars behind it. It was also the fastest; in the blink of an eye it had drawn up not far from Wei Zhao, and with a neat drifting fishtail it slid into a parking space.

"I wonder whose offspring that is. Either he's inexperienced, or that's simply his flamboyant nature - and that sort of nature makes enemies easily," Yu Bing said to Wei Zhao, watching the car's antics.

They had come here for the trial, not to show off and look cool. Putting on airs here was liable to offend others; after all, everyone started from roughly the same point, with roughly the same strength. No one was much better than anyone else.

"If he has the strength - peak late Profound Rank - then he could certainly afford to throw his weight around a little. The question is, what level is he really at?" Wei Zhao nodded as he spoke.

Even as the two of them talked, the door of the red Cayenne opened, and out stepped a cool-looking girl in a tight black leather outfit.

"A woman?" Yu Bing was slightly taken aback.

Those who came to take part in the trial were generally men; women were rare. Most families favored sons over daughters, holding that only a man could inherit the family legacy. A family like the Yu, which valued a girl like Yu Ning, was a rare exception. It was only that this sort of trial was unsuited to Yu Ning, which was why he and Yu Shan had been sent instead.

What, her? When Wei Zhao saw the cool girl, his eyes went wide. No way - she was here too? Could assassins take part in this trial as well?

Besides, wasn't it required that one be a Profound Rank expert to take part? At that thought, Wei Zhao cast the cool girl a puzzled glance. He was certain there was no fluctuation of true qi within her. Could it be... that she was an external-school expert?

After Yang Qiqi got out of the car, she said nothing, did not even glance Wei Zhao's way, and quickly went into the inn.

Wei Zhao hesitated for a moment, but in the end did not call out to her. In his view, the girl's skills were utterly amateurish; recruiting her into his team would only mean having to look after her, never mind any help she might give him and Yu Bing.

So with people like that, Wei Zhao was better off not provoking them in the first place.

"She looks like a pretty girl - just a bit cold," Yu Bing said, watching Yang Qiqi's back as she entered the inn.

"A pretty little thing, true enough - but she's trouble," Wei Zhao said with a shrug, noncommittally.

"You know her?" Wei Zhao's answer rather surprised Yu Bing.

"I wouldn't call it knowing her. We ran into each other before - she was injured both times, and after I saved her, she said I'd seen her body and tried to kill me," Wei Zhao said, somewhat helplessly.

"Ha!" Yu Bing burst out laughing. "You don't say? Then you'll just have to take her in as well?"

"Taking her in would be a heap of trouble," Wei Zhao said, shaking his head.

Even as they spoke, the other cars arrived as well - though it was obvious they were escorting one car among them.

Wei Zhao counted four cars in all, their license plates from four different places. The Hummer in the middle, however, bore a plate from a city near Songshan City.

After the cars parked one by one, several people got out of the other three and hurried over to the Hummer, all but fawning as they vied with one another to open its door.

A good while passed before two legs emerged from the Hummer.

"This one... puts on even more airs than the last..." Yu Bing said, speechless. "But this one clearly has some strength. Of the youths beside the Hummer, I know two - experts of the hidden Zhuang family. For them to bow and scrape like that, this person must be neither from a hidden family nor an ordinary sect. If my guess is right, he's from one of the ancient sects!"

"People from the ancient sects have come too..." Wei Zhao was rather startled. "But isn't the Ice Palace an ancient sect as well? Why would people from other ancient sects come to take part in its trial?"

"As far as I know, the ancient sects may take part in one another's trials; they simply don't have to pay the steep deposit we do. Their participation is a matter of friendly courtesy - a way of tempering their disciples. But the last Ice Palace trial had no such rule. It was a provisional arrangement made at another ancient sect's trial, and it seems the Ice Palace has followed their example this time," Yu Bing explained.

"I see." Wei Zhao nodded. "With these ancient sect disciples joining in, the fairness of this trial will be plainly skewed. The way these people fawn on the ancient sect disciples says it all."

"Exactly!" Yu Bing smiled bitterly. "These ancient sect disciples aren't necessarily all that formidable, but their name carries weight, and some scions of hidden families just love to cling to their coattails."

Zhang Naipao was tasting what it was to be a leader for the first time. He had never imagined that the name of an ancient sect would be so sought after - and as an inner sect disciple of the Tomorrow and Tomorrow Sect, he was all the more an object of flattery for these scions of hidden families!

Though the Tomorrow and Tomorrow Sect had a poor reputation among the ancient sects and was called a demonic sect, its strength was formidable. Its old ancestor in particular was a peak late Heaven Rank existence; ordinary Heaven Rank experts were beneath his notice.

This was why Zhang Naipao, an expert of only peak mid Profound Rank, was fawned over and flattered by so many hidden family scions!

Zhang Naipao's advancement had, in fact, been swift. He was a diligent man, and he kept one thing constantly in mind: to win fame and success as soon as possible, then descend the mountain and avenge Brother Liang! Though his life now was glamorous, he understood that all of it had been given to him by Brother Liang, and he would not fail the hopes Brother Liang had placed in him!

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