Since Sol was resting, Yue Shen decided not to disturb him. Besides, they were leaving for the Alliance tomorrow, so he planned to skip training today and get a proper night's sleep.
"Knock, knock, knock." A soft knocking reached Yue Shen's ears.
"Brother Yue, it's me," Long Haochen said softly from outside the door. "Haochen."
"What is it?" Yue Shen opened the door and let Long Haochen into his dorm room.
"I was just curious. Brother Yue, why are you here now?" Long Haochen asked, looking puzzled. "Shouldn't you be in the Holy City?"
"Do you want the truth or a lie?" Yue Shen spread his hands and countered.
Long Haochen paused at that, then replied after a moment, "Naturally, I'll listen to whatever you want to tell me, Brother Yue."
"The Holy Knight Commander wouldn't let me compete in the Holy City," Yue Shen answered without hesitation. "And he didn't tell me why I was being sent here, either."
Of course, Yue Shen knew the reason. But he couldn't very well say outright that Long Haochen's father had sent him here, could he? Besides, everything he had said was true, without a single lie.
Knowing the truth was one thing; the Holy Knight Commander not telling him the reason was another. Granted, the Holy Knight Commander didn't know why Long Xingyu had arranged for Yue Shen to take the preliminary assessment in Haoyue City either, but that wasn't important.
"Is that so?" Long Haochen noticed nothing strange about Yue Shen's words. Instead, his attention shifted to Sol, who was resting coiled around the clothes rack nearby.
"Is that Sol?" Long Haochen asked in surprise. "Why do I feel like he hasn't changed at all?"
"Be more confident. Drop the 'feel like,'" Yue Shen replied. "He really hasn't changed at all."
"Uh..."
Looking at Yue Shen's matter-of-fact expression, Long Haochen suddenly had no idea what to say.
"Don't worry. It's not a big problem," Yue Shen said optimistically. "There's a senior in the Knight Temple who has a Starry Sky Divine Beast mount just like me. I can ask him for advice when the time comes."
"I see." Long Haochen nodded slightly, then asked quietly, "Brother Yue, may I ask how much internal spiritual power you have now?"
"How much internal spiritual power do you have?" Yue Shen countered.
He was also rather curious whether Long Haochen had trained even harder after returning from Knight Sacred Mountain, having been dealt a blow by him.
Or perhaps his stone-faced teacher, Ye Hua-nicknamed Divine Seal Yu Xiaogang-had increased the intensity of Long Haochen's daily training after comparing him with the genius from the Holy City.
"Sorry, Brother Yue. I can't say," Long Haochen said apologetically. "I didn't want to hide it from you, but my father and teacher both told me not to casually tell other people my spiritual power level. My age, either."
"I can't say, either." Yue Shen shook his head slightly. "It's no big deal. Once we fight each other, won't we both find out anyway?"
"Right." Long Haochen nodded.
"All right, go back and rest." Yue Shen patted Long Haochen's shoulder. "If you want to fight me, you'll have to qualify for the preliminaries of the Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament first."
After seeing Long Haochen off, Yue Shen took the shield out of his Storage Ring and made the most of his time familiarizing himself with its use.
After all, back in the Holy City, he had always trained in the Retribution Knight legacy, and his instructor had been a Retribution Knight as well. Forget finding time to practice Guardian Knight skills-he had never even touched a shield.
The Holy City's Government Office was so large, and its Knight Department was so large, too. Yet never mind a high-grade shield, they hadn't even had a single standard-issue refined iron shield.
As he fiddled with the round shield in his hands, Yue Shen suddenly understood.
No wonder finding him another instructor afterward had been so difficult.
No wonder the entire Knight Department hadn't had a single refined iron shield. This was clearly Long Xingyu's doing. He wanted Yue Shen to inherit his teachings in full. And after hearing that Yue Shen also wanted to train in both punishment and protection, he had even given him an Inheritance Ring, claiming it contained skills for both paths.
But when Yue Shen examined the contents of that Inheritance Ring, he discovered that its Guardian Knight skills were incomplete. Moreover, he had to reach the corresponding spiritual power level to unlock their seals.
By contrast, the Retribution Knight skills were completely open to him, and even included all sorts of insights Long Xingyu had gained during his own training...
"Well, damn." Yue Shen smiled helplessly. "This is practically an outright objection to me learning Guardian Knight skills."
"But still..." Yue Shen chuckled, opened his skill panel, and directly maxed out every skill whose learning progress was still in the single digits.
As his proficiency increased, the shield, which had initially felt awkward to use, immediately became effortless to handle.
Early the next morning, at Haoyue City's east gate.
This was the meeting place they had agreed on at yesterday's banquet. They needed to wait here for the inspector to arrive.
Since he had already agreed to travel with Long Haochen and the others, Yue Shen naturally left the Haoyue Branch Hall together with Long Haochen.
However, since Sol was too conspicuous and still small, Yue Shen hadn't cruelly decided to ride him out on the mission.
Like Long Haochen, he went to Hall Master Nalan and borrowed a fine horse from the Haoyue Branch Hall's stables.
Watching Long Haochen and Yue Shen riding side by side, Li Xin, who had already reached the meeting place, instinctively sensed that something was off.
Since my little brother won't tell me, I'll just have to investigate in secret, Li Xin thought.
Outwardly, however, she still acted unconcerned, merely giving Yue Shen a slight nod in greeting.
"Brother Yue, this is my older sister, Li Xin," Long Haochen introduced.
"Sis." After considering for a moment, Long Haochen spoke again. "This is Yue Shen, the one I told you about before. If he hadn't helped me, Haoyue probably wouldn't be here as he is now."
"Oh, so it was you." Li Xin's eyes brightened slightly. "Then we really owe you our thanks. Otherwise, Haochen might still not have a mount companion. And Haoyue is so clever, too."
But speaking of Haoyue, Li Xin noticed that both of them were riding ordinary horses.
"Huh?" Li Xin asked in confusion. "Where are your mounts?"
"Sis, Haoyue is outside the city right now." Long Haochen smiled and replied, "He'll be here soon. I was afraid riding him through the city would scare the residents."
Yue Shen answered, "My mount is still in his juvenile stage. He can't be ridden yet."
After saying that, Yue Shen lowered his gaze to Li Xin's mount, the Rose Unicorn.
He had to admit, having a unicorn as a mount was pretty impressive.
"A Rose Unicorn?" Yue Shen said, feigning surprise. "That's quite a rare mount."
Long Haochen: Does your conscience really not hurt when you say that?
Before you continue