Life Is a Play, All Depends on Acting

After delivering Saine to the Azure Source Holy Tower, Tourmaline swam off by herself to play in the northern Jewel Sea.

This Dragon Turtle maintained an exceptionally high enthusiasm for anything new.

Even though she had been coming to the Azure Source Holy Tower for nearly seven years, she still did not seem tired of playing.

When she grew tired, she slept for a while. That was Tourmaline's daily routine.

The reason Tourmaline's interest had not waned might also be because the last time she dozed off, she accidentally slept for three years in the eastern waters of the Jewel Sea.

Thus, although Tourmaline had been here for seven years, her actual waking time might not even have amounted to two.

This time, she had specifically come to greet Saine because she had suddenly sensed his aura while in a light sleep.

When she left just now, she even let out a yawn.

Perhaps after she played herself tired later, she would fall asleep again.

According to Bai Xing, Tourmaline was currently at the age when she was growing.

Sleeping more would benefit her and speed up her growth.

Thinking of Tourmaline's Eldest Brother Zong Ba, with that enormous, exaggerated body, Tourmaline's shell, only a thousand meters in diameter, clearly still had plenty of room to grow in the future.

After Tourmaline ran off to play elsewhere and the other magicians dispersed, Saine followed his mentor to the top floor of the Azure Source Holy Tower.

Over the past few decades, the Azure Source Holy Tower had developed and taken off at an ever-increasing pace, but the Holy Tower building itself had not changed much.

The tower had not grown any taller, though Saine noticed many new standalone buildings and special areas had appeared on its eastern and western sides.

Luluenman had spent every coin where it counted.

There was no rush to expand the Holy Tower itself. They could wait until the registered magicians nearly filled it up.

Saine had already noticed that the number of registered magicians at the Azure Source Holy Tower had increased significantly compared with more than forty years ago.

Just the Formal Magicians walking inside and outside the academy outnumbered those from before.

There were probably even more holed up in laboratories, shut away doing research.

With no outsiders present and only master and disciple remaining, Luluenman indeed became much more casual—one could say she revealed her true colors.

Without a trace of her former graceful poise, she poked Saine's forehead with a finger as pale as a scallion stalk and said, "You've grown capable, huh!"

"You even managed to trick a Demigod-level Dragon Turtle into coming back with you?"

"I heard you participated in the Knight Continent Trial Not Long Ago, too?"

"You brat has already broken through to Level Two? Pretty fast!"

Luluenman fired off question after question at Saine like a string of cannonballs. The atmosphere between this master and disciple was utterly different from the one Saine had shared with his previous mentor, Moxidu.

Yet Saine truly preferred this kind of atmosphere.

Before Luluenman, he could even show a spoiled and shameless side of himself.

Of course, Saine would not act like a child. That simply was not his nature.

But that did not stop Saine from enjoying this special atmosphere.

Perhaps because he had lacked the care of elders in his childhood, Saine was not angered by Luluenman's tone at all. Instead, he felt deeply attached to it.

Moreover, he could tell that although Luluenman spoke in a questioning tone—

She was actually praising Saine and displaying pride in his abilities.

Look! This is my disciple!

When Luluenman took Saine out, she could also hold her head a little higher before the Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, and others of the Azure Blaze Sect.

Seeing the joy on Luluenman's face, a faint smile also appeared at the corner of Saine's lips.

Saine asked, "Mentor, you knew I had been to the Knight Continent?"

"Mm, Sylph told me."

"I thought she had mistaken someone in the Western Islands. Who would have thought that right afterward, you brought this back for me?" Luluenman said, pointing north.

Naturally, she was referring to the Dragon Turtle Tourmaline.

When the Dragon Turtle Tourmaline first arrived, Luluenman had been utterly bewildered, because she did not know this Giant Turtle at all.

Fortunately, someone from the Azure Blaze Sect lineage recognized her.

When the Dragon Turtle Tourmaline settled into the Jewel Sea, the first to come greet her was Luluenman's mentor, Cuilisi.

After Cuilisi, people from the Flame Conclave, the Bairen Empire, the Dawn Conclave, the Sea Race, and other factions came calling one after another.

Luluenman was no fool, so she naturally knew that this Dragon Turtle had an extraordinary origin.

She had even met Tourmaline's elder sister, Bai Xing, and exchanged a few words with her.

After delivering Tourmaline to the Azure Source Holy Tower, Bai Xing hurried away, apparently having other matters to attend to.

Compared with the frivolous impression Saine had left on Bai Xing later during his time in the Western Islands, Saine's mentor Luluenman had satisfied Bai Xing greatly.

Bai Xing possessed a certain degree of mind-reading ability. Leaving Tourmaline in Luluenman's care put her at ease.

(P.S.: Mainly because Saine had done that with Lina and Fei'er on Tourmaline's back back then. It really had been a bit too much.

It was only natural for Bai Xing's favorable impression of him to decrease.)

"Sylph? She participated in the Knight Continent Trial too? I didn't see her in the Trial Zone," Saine said, shaking his head. "Basically all the promising disciples of our Azure Blaze Sect went."

"You weren't at the Azure Source Holy Tower at the time. I hadn't expected that, without a recommendation qualification issued by the Holy Tower, you could still enter the trial." Luluenman sighed.

"Tourmaline and her elder sister, Senior Bai Xing, were mainly the ones who helped," Saine replied.

Luluenman said, "Just as I thought," then muttered something else.

"What?" Saine could not help asking.

"Nothing!" Luluenman's face reddened slightly.

What she had actually muttered just now was, "That saves me a sum of money."

"Did you come back this time because you need something from me?" The faint blush on her face quickly faded. Then Luluenman raised her voice and cast a sidelong glance at her disciple.

No matter how much trouble Saine had stirred up outside, once he came back, did he not still have to rely on his mentor?

Saine's contributions to the Azure Source Holy Tower had left even Luluenman, his teacher, somewhat discouraged.

The benefits brought by the appearance of the Dragon Turtle Tourmaline alone exceeded what Luluenman could gain by burying her head in developing the Holy Tower for two hundred years.

No wonder Luluenman's questioning tone earlier had carried such a sour edge.

Luluenman naturally also knew about Saine's conflict with the Darkness Sword Knights' Hall.

She looked at Saine smugly now, waiting for her disciple to ask her for help himself.

Sure enough, Saine did not disappoint Luluenman.

He lowered his body slightly and said earnestly, "During the Knight Continent Trial, this disciple had conflicts with several Level 1 Knights from the Eli Knights Alliance."

"At the time, I thought it was merely a small matter. Only after returning to the Green Source Land did I learn that someone had maliciously slandered this disciple and falsely accused me of colluding with Black Magicians."

"Please, Mentor, uphold justice for your disciple!" Saine pleaded to Luluenman with deep emotion.

At that moment, Saine truly looked like a child who had been bullied by outsiders and was now crying to his parent.

Luluenman's reaction also thoroughly matched Saine's expectations.

The Level Four Female Magician grandly swept a hand through the air and declared, "They dare slander even my disciple!"

"Don't worry. Your mentor will certainly demand an explanation for you!"

"How could my direct disciple possibly have tangled ties with Black Magicians or be in cahoots with them?" Luluenman said righteously.

Life was a play; it all depended on acting.

This master and disciple were both performing according to the other's expectations.

One was willing to act, the other was willing to play along.

In short, both of them were quite satisfied.