Chapter 22

"What credit do you people have left to talk about? I said I'd take on three people, but in the end your whole mob came at me. I may have been beaten down, but I didn't lose. Despicable humans—you only dare fight in packs, only know how to use the many to bully the few." As Peiganbo grew agitated, the blood-red spots on his body turned even brighter, as if they were about to drip blood.

Luo Lun sneered. Beside him, Heifan could not help saying, "Peiganbo, that's not right. Those Locusts filling the sky were all brought here by you. Weren't you obviously trying to use the many to bully the few and destroy Axon Town?"

"Hmph. Sophistry. Locusts are Locusts. When I was dueling you, did I ever call a single Locust over to attack you?" Peiganbo could not be bothered to say more and simply closed his eyes.

"Peiganbo," Yi Junze, whose injuries had just begun to heal, said with Lin Hanxuan supporting him, "think back carefully. The ones fighting you were Teacher Duoduo, Hal, and Aslan. Did anyone else interfere?"

Peiganbo was momentarily speechless. Right, the ones who had faced him head-on at the start really had been only those three... Wait. Then where had that frog come from?

"That frog," Peiganbo said, unwilling to accept it. "He wasn't among the three you mentioned, was he?"

Tidavi coughed and said, "Your Sand Tiger swallowed a student of our academy first, and was then killed by the student's summoned beast. He was acting in self-defense."

"Besides," Aslan continued after Teacher Tidavi, "that frog challenged you, and you agreed to it with your own mouth. Your side had one more Sand Tiger, while ours only had one more frog, and we even let you fight in your strongest form. No matter how you look at it, we were the ones at a disadvantage. You still lost like that and refuse to acknowledge it—doesn't that mean you're the one breaking faith?"

Peiganbo was left tongue-tied, but asking him to become a human's contracted summoned beast was something he truly could not do. After thinking for a while, he suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Hahaha..." The laughter tugged at the wounds on his body, and Peiganbo laughed while convulsing all over in pain.

"Fine. Which student's summoned beast is that frog?" Peiganbo knew that a student still attending magic school could not possibly have enough mental strength to make him submit. As long as he fixed the target on a student, the contract would definitely fail when the time came, and he would be able to get free.

"I'll say this up front," Peiganbo said, first blocking off every possible excuse in case the crafty humans tried to go back on their word again. "The one who defeated me was the frog, so only the student who summoned him has the right to lock onto my soul. If he fails, you have to let me go. Otherwise, I'd rather die than become any other human's mount."

Everyone fell silent for a moment. The academy teachers all understood the clever little abacus Peiganbo was clacking away at, but this did not violate the duel agreement he had stated at the beginning. There was no helping it; they could only let him try.

"Junshu," Luo Lun called. He thought Kubaka was Yi Junshu's summoned beast.

"Yes, Vice Dean, what are your instructions?" Yi Junshu, who had been lying on the ground receiving treatment, hurriedly sat up when he heard him. Quite a few patches of skin on his body had already been dissolved by the Sand Tiger's saliva, leaving him pitted and scarred in a sorry state. Tidavi was currently leading Chadman and Nora in studying how to restore Yi Junshu to his original appearance.

"Was that frog Magic Beast summoned by you?" Luo Lun and Duoduo had both assumed from the start that Kubaka was a protective Magic Beast the Yi Family had given Yi Junshu.

"No. The frog is Lin Hanxuan's summoned beast." Having gone through a life-and-death crisis, Yi Junshu was moved by Lin Hanxuan risking himself to save him. The hostility he had originally felt toward Lin Hanxuan had long since vanished without a trace, leaving only a heart full of gratitude and apology.

"Oh?" Hearing Yi Junshu's answer, several teachers began guessing whether that frog Magic Beast had been given to Lin Hanxuan by Fields or Lei Xiaoqing. Who knew how much merit his father had rendered for the Thunder Eagle Empire, to make all three of the empire's grand mages take such care of Yi Lin Hanxuan?

"Yi Lin Hanxuan, was that frog summoned by you?" Luo Lun asked, though it was an unnecessary question.

"Yes," Lin Hanxuan replied respectfully.

"Mm. Since that's the case, you try it." Luo Lun indicated for Lin Hanxuan to begin mentally subduing Peiganbo.

Duoduo gave a light cough and pressed his right hand onto Peiganbo's triangular head. He was afraid Lin Hanxuan's mental strength was far inferior to Peiganbo's. If Peiganbo launched a mental backlash and injured Lin Hanxuan, it would be troublesome if Fields came over to demand an accounting.

"Hmph. Don't worry. I won't do something that vile. I don't believe he can take me in," Peiganbo said to Duoduo.

Lin Hanxuan braced himself and walked around to stand in front of Peiganbo. He had absolutely no idea how to establish a mental contract with a Magic Beast, and even turned back to glance at Teacher Yi Junqing, his face showing a plea for help.

Seeing Lin Hanxuan's expression, Yi Junqing finally remembered that the freshman summoner course had not yet reached the part about signing mental contracts with Magic Beasts. She spoke up to remind him, "Lin Hanxuan, spread out your mental strength and try to find Peiganbo's mental center through his eyes. The mental centers of high-level Magic Beasts are usually more condensed, but they're also very hard to break through. If you truly can't break through, absolutely don't force it, or else you'll—"

injured."

Lin Hanxuan nodded. His bright, clear eyes looked into Peiganbo's triangular eyes, and he only felt killing intent surge through his entire body in an instant. Before his eyes, he seemed to see a bloody battlefield, a scene of slaughter.

In Lin Hanxuan's eyes, he saw two enormous mantises flying in the sky, surrounded on all sides by a dense mass of human mages, while on the ground, warriors surged up in wave after wave like the tide.