Recruiting Tianshui Academy, Taking Shui Bing'er Away

With matters in Soto City properly arranged, Li Yuan did not delay.

"Di Jun, Long Yuan, come with me to Tianshui Academy."

He stood in the courtyard with his hands clasped behind his back.

Yue Yao had already taken people to handle the recruitment and renovations, while the remaining seven offerings guarded the estate. That was enough.

"Yes, my lord."

Three figures shot into the sky.

Tianshui Academy was located in the southwest of the Heaven Dou Empire, backed by mountains and facing water, occupying a rather vast area.

The academy mainly trained water- and ice-type soul masters. Among the major elemental academies, its status was neither high nor low. It had no great sect supporting it from behind, nor any imperial background, so it lived cautiously.

Li Yuan looked down from above, sweeping his gaze around, and already had a sense of things.

An academy like this was the easiest to take in.

Three streaks of light plummeted into the martial field at the very center of the academy. The stone-paved ground cracked inch by inch, and with a boom, a thirty-foot-wide crater was smashed open.

The shockwave swept broken stones and dust flying in all directions. The female students who were in class screamed and retreated again and again, some falling straight to the ground.

"Who?! Who dares act so outrageously in my Tianshui Academy?!"

An angry shout came from the direction of the main building. Immediately afterward, a middle-aged woman swept over at high speed.

She wore a water-blue robe, her features dignified and her aura sharp. As she landed, seven soul rings flashed around her, and the pressure of a rank seventy-nine Soul Sage pressed over without the slightest restraint.

Her gaze swept over Li Yuan and the other two before landing on Long Yuan.

Long Yuan was expressionless, too lazy even to lift his eyelids.

An overwhelming pressure was suddenly released.

The air across the entire martial field seemed to freeze in an instant. The female students' legs went weak, and they knelt in swathes, even breathing becoming difficult.

Shui Yan'er bore the brunt of it. Her face turned deathly pale, and her forward-rushing figure was forcibly nailed in place, her legs trembling uncontrollably.

That pressure was like a mountain pressing down on her shoulders, leaving her unable to move even a single finger.

The anger on her face vanished in an instant, replaced by unbelievable terror.

"This—this aura... a Titled Douluo?!"

She looked at Long Yuan, her eyes filled with shock and fear, while the known list of Titled Douluo in the Heaven Dou Empire flashed rapidly through her mind. Not a single one matched.

Dragon might?

Could he be someone from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Family?

But the aura was completely wrong. Those old fellows simply did not have such terrifying pressure.

Just who was he?

"I do not know which honored lord has graced my Tianshui Academy..." Shui Yan'er gritted her teeth and steadied herself, lowering her head and cupping her hands. Her voice carried an obvious tremor. "If we have offended you in any way, I hope Your Excellency will be magnanimous..."

Li Yuan stood at the edge of the crater, patted the dust from the hem of his clothes, and said calmly, "Enough."

Long Yuan gave a slight nod, and the pressure instantly withdrew.

Shui Yan'er's shoulders loosened, and she nearly failed to remain standing.

She took a deep breath and looked up at the three people before her. In the end, her gaze fell on the young man in blue robes standing at the very front, her eyes full of confusion.

Long Yuan stepped forward, standing half a step behind Li Yuan at his side, and looked down at her. "This old man has come today to state only two matters. First, my lord intends to recruit Tianshui Academy as an affiliated force. Second, we will be taking away one of your students named Shui Bing'er."

Shui Yan'er froze, and then her expression changed.

"What? Your Excellency... isn't this far too overbearing? My Tianshui Academy has always remained neutral, never involved itself in any factional disputes, and has never attached itself to any sect. With a single sentence, you want my Tianshui Academy's decades of foundation to become subordinate to another. This..."

"Hmph."

Long Yuan gave a cold snort through his nose, cutting her off.

"This old man is not discussing it with you. I am ordering you."

He took one step forward.

Nine soul rings rose from beneath his feet.

Eight black and one red, encircling his body and slowly rotating.

The pitch-black eighth soul ring carried an abyss-like silence, while the ninth soul ring was scarlet as blood. The light of a hundred-thousand-year soul ring burned so brightly it made one's eyes ache.

Dragon might rose again, three parts stronger than before. The sky seemed to hang low, as if a Nine Nether Burning Heaven Dragon were coiled above the academy, looking down upon the ants below.

"This old man is Long Yuan, the Second Offering of Nibelungen, a rank ninety-eight Peak Douluo."

The martial field fell deathly silent.

Everyone stared at those nine soul rings, their minds completely blank.

"Rank ninety-eight... Peak Douluo? And his ninth soul ring is even a hundred-thousand-year one?"

"How is that possible... Aside from that Pope of Spirit Hall, I've never heard of another rank ninety-eight Peak Douluo..."

"Nibelungen? What kind of force is that? I've never even heard of it!"

The students' murmurs buzzed through the air, each of them so shocked their mouths hung open.

Shui Yan'er froze in place, even forgetting to breathe.

A rank ninety-eight peak Douluo with a hundred-thousand-year spirit ring—someone like that could walk sideways across the entire continent.

And such an existence was only the "Second Worship"?

Then what level was the First Worship?

Countless thoughts flashed through her mind, and she suddenly realized that the "tyrannical" demand before her did not seem so hard to accept after all.

To become a subordinate force of such a power, for Tianshui Academy, could even be considered reaching above their station.

Shui Yan'er took a deep breath and bowed. "From this day onward, Tianshui Academy is willing to become a subordinate force of Nibelungen and obey the Lord's commands."

Ding! Congratulations, Master, for successfully recruiting Tianshui Academy as a subordinate force. Reward: High-Level Gift Pack x1.

The corner of Li Yuan's mouth lifted slightly.

Shui Yan'er straightened up, hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Only... as for the second matter, Lord Long Yuan wishes to take Bing'er away. May I ask why?"

Long Yuan took half a step back, yielding the front to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan walked forward two steps and stood at the center of everyone's gaze.

Long Yuan lowered his head and cupped his hands, his tone respectful. "This is my Lord, the founder of Nibelungen."

Shui Yan'er's pupils suddenly contracted.

The surrounding female students' eyes widened even more as they looked at one another, their faces clearly saying, "Did I hear that right?"

A young man who looked eighteen or nineteen was being addressed as "Lord" by a rank ninety-eight peak Douluo?

Absurd.

Utterly absurd.

But Long Yuan's respectful posture and humble tone could not be faked.

A dignified rank ninety-eight peak Douluo had no reason to act out a play with some green kid.

Shui Yan'er came back to her senses and dropped to one knee without hesitation. "Dean of Tianshui Academy, Shui Yan'er, rank seventy-nine Spirit Sage, greets the Lord."

Behind her, dozens of female students followed suit, kneeling in a rustling wave.

Li Yuan raised his hand as if to help them up from afar. "Rise."

His gaze passed over Shui Yan'er and landed on the blue-haired girl within the crowd. "The reason I want to take Shui Bing'er with me is because my martial soul has certain flaws and requires the power of ultimate ice to help suppress them. Shui Bing'er's Ice Phoenix martial soul happens to be perfectly suitable."

Shui Yan'er understood and turned to beckon toward the crowd. "Bing'er, come here."

Shui Bing'er walked out from among the crowd with calm steps, arriving before Li Yuan under the gazes of all her companions in the courtyard, then dipped slightly in greeting.

She was tall and slender, her blue-and-white school uniform wrapping a well-proportioned, curvaceous figure with fullness where it should be. Her aura was cold and sharp, yet carried a trace of mature, big-sister charm. Her features were delicate, her brows and eyes clear, and her long blue hair fell to her waist, the ends lifting gently when the wind passed.

Li Yuan looked her over.

A pretty face and a fine figure—she was his type.

Shui Yan'er was just about to say something when Shui Bing'er spoke first, her voice cool and clear, without the slightest hint of resistance. "Dean, I am willing."

Shui Yan'er opened her mouth, then swallowed back every word.

Li Yuan glanced at Shui Bing'er and nodded slightly. Then he turned to Shui Yan'er and all the students present, his tone even.

"I, Li Yuan, am not an unreasonable person. Since Tianshui Academy is willing to submit, I naturally won't mistreat you."

He looked at Shui Yan'er and said slowly, "Every month, I will allocate a fixed batch of cultivation resources to you, enough for everyone in the academy to use. If you encounter trouble you cannot solve, crush this token, and Nibelungen will send someone."

A black token with golden patterns was tossed toward Shui Yan'er. She hurriedly caught it and lowered her head to look. It felt cold and heavy in her hand, and a coiling black dragon was carved upon it.

"In addition—" Li Yuan paused. "Your academy will hold a competition once a year to select the most outstanding genius and send her to Nibelungen. I will assign Titled Douluo experts to help train her, ensuring she reaches at least the Spirit Douluo level, or even higher."

As soon as those words came out, the students' eyes changed.

Training under a Spirit Douluo-level mentor?

In the entire Heaven Dou Empire, there were almost no powers with that kind of confidence.

Shui Yan'er's breathing grew a little heavier, and she bowed again. "Thank you for your grace, my Lord."

Li Yuan waved his hand and looked at Shui Bing'er.

"Let's go."

Shui Bing'er looked back at the sisters of the academy, then at the dean, before her gaze finally fell on Li Yuan's side profile. She nodded. "Mm."

Three figures carrying a streak of blue shot into the sky and vanished into the clouds.

On Tianshui Academy's plaza, no one spoke for a long time.