Heartbroken

"You don't even believe that yourself, do you?" Yue Shen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "I'd just finished eating that day. I was only taking a walk with a Starshine Unicorn to help digest my meal."

"So apart from taking a walk, you didn't do anything else?"

The old man beside them couldn't bear to listen anymore. "That was a Starshine Unicorn!" he said, utterly heartbroken.

"Then what about that Windrider Eagle?" Gui Wu cut in from the side. "Wasn't that your mount companion?"

"Of course we did more than walk." Yue Shen automatically filtered out Gui Wu's question. After a moment's thought, he answered, "I also spent some time bonding with the Starshine Unicorn clan."

"You spent half a month in there bonding with them, so how did you still come back empty-handed?" Wei Ping asked, caught between laughter and tears. "What exactly did you bond with?"

Wei Ping had already made up his mind. Once everyone else had left, he would discuss it with the mountain guardian elder, and the two of them would toss Yue Shen back into the Knight Sacred Mountain.

Although that would clearly be unfair to the others, he also knew that Yue Shen, who was being groomed as the next Divine Seal Knight, was worth the temple making such an exception for.

"Enough," the old man said, his head beginning to ache. "Just tell me whether you gained a Starshine Unicorn's approval."

"I did."

"You didn't? Then, just like that child, come with me..." The old man's eyes suddenly widened. "You did? Then where's your Starshine Unicorn?"

"I didn't choose one," Yue Shen answered, spreading his hands.

"Why?" everyone present asked in unison.

"You two can head back first." The old man glanced back at Gui Ying and his son. "There's nothing more for you to do here."

"The Starshine Unicorn King wasn't willing to come with me. He told me to choose another member of his clan as my mount companion," Yue Shen said, looking rather embarrassed. "But his clansmen were so much worse than him that I didn't choose any."

"Hold on. Did he say you could choose one of his descendants?" Sitting cross-legged on the ground, the mountain guardian elder suddenly interrupted.

Yue Shen thought for a moment before answering, "He suggested that I choose from among his descendants."

There was no reason to hide it. After all, they only had to go inside and ask to find out everything.

After hearing that, the mountain guardian elder couldn't speak for a long while. He merely pinched the spot between his nose and upper lip. For the first time in all his years at the Knight Sacred Mountain, he found it difficult to breathe. (If you also experience difficulty breathing, please seek medical attention at a hospital immediately.)

"So what are you planning to do now?" Wei Ping asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Me?" Yue Shen glanced at Long Haochen. "Didn't you say anyone who advanced past Grand Knight before turning twenty could go to the sacred mountain's teleportation array for a lottery draw... to get a mount companion?"

"So you do know it's a lottery?" Wei Ping didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"All right, let's go, then." The mountain guardian elder rose to his feet and glanced at Long Haochen and Yue Shen. "But don't get your hopes up too much. This teleportation array could draw... teleport over absolutely anything."

The elder looked at Yue Shen and couldn't help adding, "Especially you."

Yue Shen: "..."

A Golden Token suddenly appeared in the elder's hand. Without any visible movement from him, a curtain of golden light enveloped their entire group.

Before long, they were teleported somewhere else.

Yue Shen and the others looked around and discovered that they had arrived inside a cave.

"How amazing," Yue Shen couldn't help exclaiming.

The cave should have been pitch-black, yet the gems embedded in its walls shone with pale golden light, illuminating the entire space.

The interior was also extremely spacious, leaving Yue Shen wondering whether they were still within the Knight Sacred Mountain at all.

The mountain guardian elder's gaze shifted between Long Haochen and Yue Shen as he considered whose teleportation array he should help activate.

Soon, another flash of golden light appeared inside the cave. Another thin old man, also dressed in coarse linen and holding an identical Golden Token, arrived.

"What's going on today?" The newly arrived thin elder turned his gaze to Yue Shen and Long Haochen.

"How strange. A fifth-tier knight and a fourth-tier knight both failed to find mount companions on the Knight Sacred Mountain." The thin elder pursed his lips. "Are you youngsters too picky? Is that why you came here to try your luck?"

Long Haochen shook his head slightly. "No."

Yue Shen fell silent for a moment. "My fault."

"Enough nonsense, you thin reed." The mountain guardian elder pointed at Yue Shen. "Take this boy to the teleportation array on the other side. I'll help this one."

Elder Thin Reed wasn't offended. He merely glanced at Yue Shen. "Come with me, boy."

"Yes." Yue Shen bowed to him. "Thank you for your help, senior."

He then followed Elder Thin Reed toward another teleportation array nearby. Yue Shen was rather surprised. He hadn't expected there to be several teleportation arrays like this on the Knight Sacred Mountain.

"You've reached the fifth tier?"

Instructor Wei Ping's voice rang in Yue Shen's ears. Yue Shen turned back and nodded at him.

Wei Ping fell silent at that response. A fourteen-year-old Earth Knight!

In that case, no matter what mount Yue Shen drew... randomly obtained this time,

he wouldn't even need to discuss it with the mountain guardian elder. The elder would surely toss Yue Shen back into the Knight Sacred Mountain and refuse to let him out until he chose a Starshine Unicorn as his mount, wouldn't he?

Following behind the thin elder, Yue Shen looked curiously at the ground. It was covered in countless oddly shaped symbols. Although he couldn't understand them, he could clearly sense the powerful magical fluctuations emanating from them.

Not only that, but he found that merely looking at these magical patterns left him feeling exhausted almost immediately.

When he had advanced to the fourth tier, he had put all four of his free attribute points into his relatively weak mental power attribute.

"Don't go staring at things you shouldn't. It'll affect your condition later," the elder ahead couldn't help warning him. "This is Ancient Elven Script. Never mind you-even old fellows like us who've guarded this place for decades haven't figured any of it out. Instead, we've ended up unable to sleep properly..."

As he spoke, the elder stopped walking.

"There. Go sit over there." The elder pointed to the center of the teleportation array beneath their feet and directed Yue Shen toward it.

"Yes." Yue Shen obediently sat down cross-legged. "May I ask what I need to do next?"

The elder picked at his ear with a finger. "In a moment, this place will connect to other parallel spaces. Once the connection is established, you'll be able to sense the auras of creatures from other planes.

"Then all you have to do is find one you like and express your goodwill. If it's too powerful, it'll depend on whether it wants to oblige you and is willing to cross through space for you."