Although he was not the most powerful being Yue Shen had sensed during his long search-in fact, he was comparatively weak.
He was, however, the most unusual. Yue Shen was betting on his potential.
What surprised Yue Shen was that the moment he sent over the mark of the equal contract, the other side signed it without even sending back a flicker of emotion.
When Yue Shen came to his senses, he found himself back at the teleportation array.
The golden vortex before him began to shimmer, and a brilliant blue figure gradually grew larger within it-or rather, drew closer.
"It actually worked." The old man beside him could not help breathing a sigh of relief.
He had thought the teleportation would fail. After all, establishing contact with the plane Yue Shen had chosen had consumed far too much of his spiritual power.
"He's here." Yue Shen looked exhausted. Clearly, screening so many candidates had taken a tremendous toll on his mental strength.
Yue Shen stepped back half a pace, clearing a space for his future mount companion.
Only after a sapphire-blue figure passed through did the golden vortex finally close.
Instinctively, Yue Shen and the old man both turned toward the creature, whose entire body was sapphire blue.
Wei Ping, who had held little hope for Yue Shen's attempt to obtain a random mount through the teleportation array, also hurried over. He had not expected Yue Shen to finish so quickly.
After all, the boy named Long Haochen had searched for a quarter of an hour without finding anything and was still struggling to hold on through sheer willpower.
"What kind of creature is this?" Wei Ping cast a curious glance at the dragonlike creature curled up on the ground.
Neither Yue Shen nor the old man answered him. Puzzled, Wei Ping glanced at them, and what he saw nearly gave him a fright.
Yue Shen's pale golden eyes were shining as he stared fixedly at the mount companion who had formed an equal contract with him. He had not even noticed his instructor standing beside him.
The old man's mouth hung wide open as he stammered to himself, "There's no mistake. That aura... there's no mistake."
Coming to his senses, Yue Shen immediately stepped forward and carefully gathered his mount companion into his arms.
So light. That was Yue Shen's first impression. Although his companion was not large-he looked no more than a meter and a half long-holding him felt even lighter than holding a newborn baby.
His companion was a dragonlike creature with brilliant blue skin. A crown that looked as though it was made of adamantine rested atop his head, and each of his slender claws had five thin digits as sharp as knives.
The texture of his skin was particularly strange. When Yue Shen placed a palm against him, he could distinctly feel his hand sink slightly into it, as though he were touching a piece of jelly.
Perhaps the teleportation distance had been too great, or perhaps he had already been in poor condition. Whatever the reason, Yue Shen's companion was unconscious, and his aura was very weak.
Fortunately, his life did not seem to be in danger.
"What exactly is this creature?" Wei Ping could not help asking. The reactions of the other two were still bothering him.
"Why ask me? Who am I supposed to ask?" the old man replied offhandedly.
Even as he spoke, he was leaning close to Yue Shen with a broad smile, sketching his mount companion and making a record.
The mountain-guarding elders' duty was to document every creature that arrived through the teleportation array.
"Did you know? He's the second Starry Sky Divine Beast our teleportation array has ever summoned." After completing the record, the thin old man looked up at Yue Shen. "He's your mount companion now. Give him a name."
"Aurelion Sol," Yue Shen answered without hesitation.
"All right." The old man looked a little surprised,
but he still wrote the name Yue Shen had given in the record. "Senior, may I ask roughly what tier of magical beast my companion is right now?" Yue Shen could not help asking.
"Fifth tier," the old man explained. "Don't underestimate him just because he's only at the fifth tier. He's still in his infancy, after all.
"Once he matures, the boost he gives you will be far beyond what any magical beast on Knight Sacred Mountain can offer-even a Starshine Unicorn."
Beside them, Wei Ping finally understood. No wonder the term "Starry Sky Divine Beast" had sounded familiar.
Before he had passed the trial to obtain the Mithril Base Battle Armor, he had once argued with a drunken senior over who was currently the strongest person in the Knight Temple.
Having chosen the path of a Retribution Knight himself, Wei Ping had naturally championed Long Xingyu, a fellow Retribution Knight who had just become a Divine Seal Knight.
Yet the drunken senior had named a Guardian Knight who did not even possess a Divine Throne. He had insisted that, with the boost from his mount, even two Divine Seal Knights might be unable to defeat the man.
Because his mount was a legendary Starry Sky Divine Beast!
Wei Ping decided that he had better wait until they returned and ask the Holy Knight Commander to clear up his doubts.
Once Yue Shen's record was complete, the thin old man led him over to his old companion, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
As it happened, Long Haochen had also finished his selection.
"You old cripple, take a look at my..." The thin old man's words died in his throat when he spotted the lizard on the ground.
He had already learned that both children who had come today were talents the Knight Temple rarely saw even once in a century.
Unfortunately, the outcome on this side seemed somewhat disappointing.
"Ah, you old beanpole, how did things go on your side?" The old man responsible for opening Long Haochen's teleportation array sighed regretfully. "Our luck seems to have been a little poor..."
Before he could finish, he spotted the magical beast in Yue Shen's arms.
"This..."
Among the mountain-guarding elders, only these few veteran ninth-tier powerhouses from the Knight Temple could be responsible for opening the teleportation arrays for others.
The main reason was that activating a teleportation array consumed an enormous amount of spiritual power, far more than the others could manage.
The other reason was that they had to memorize the aura of every powerful magical beast the Knight Temple had ever summoned through the teleportation arrays. This involved quite a few of the temple's secrets.
The Knight Temple granted the privilege of drawing a random magical beast through the teleportation array to those who had become Fourth-Order Grand Knights before the age of twenty but had failed to find a suitable mount on Knight Sacred Mountain.
Its aim was to ensure that anyone who drew a powerful magical beast such as a Starry Sky Divine Beast could be discovered and nurtured by the temple immediately.
"Is that a Starry Sky Divine Beast?" Astonishment spread across the old man's face as he said in disbelief, "You old beanpole, you've rendered a great service."
Yue Shen had already calmed his excitement and simply watched Long Haochen in silence.
Although he had recognized his mount as Aurelion Sol from the plane of Runeterra, this was only one of his avatars.
After all, the true Aurelion Sol was still imprisoned on Mount Targon. Besides, how could Yue Shen possibly be qualified to establish contact with his true form?
Standing beside Long Haochen, Ye Hua glanced at the magical beast in Yue Shen's arms and sighed inwardly.
Before you continue