Divine Eagle Hero

"Back again."

Jinling's high-speed rail station bustled with people.

Wearing a black hoodie, white shorts, and a sun hat, Lu Ran squeezed out of the crowd.

"Good thing nothing went wrong!"

Lu Ran poked Sudden Death King in his pocket. He had brought him along on this trip to Jinling.

After his supernatural evolution, Sudden Death King's adaptability had improved considerably.

Even in environments that did not suit him, he no longer felt physically unwell.

Now, gazing at the familiar Jinling City, the Capital of Six Dynasties, Lu Ran felt wistful.

He had lived here for a while as a child and had many memories of the place. After so many years, he had finally returned.

Following his navigation app, Lu Ran left the high-speed rail station and got into the taxi he had booked in advance, heading straight for the Rainbow Sky Dojo.

The Rainbow Sky Dojo was in a secluded location far from the city center. Lu Ran spent a long time in the taxi before arriving outside the familiar dojo.

Looking at the old-fashioned dojo before him, with barely a trace of modernization, Lu Ran smiled.

He reached out, and a gift box with a carrying handle appeared in his hand out of thin air. Naturally, he had not come empty-handed.

Inside... were all sorts of good things.

Unable to think of a better visiting gift, Lu Ran had packaged up some of the resources he had bought in the Secret Realm and brought them along as presents.

It was not dog food.

He was not disrespectful enough to offer dog food to an elder. Eating it himself was one thing.

These were all high-grade nutritional products Lu Ran had intended to consume himself, including Mind-Clearing Tea leaves. His sincerity was beyond question!

After all, even he was desperately short of Crystal Coins.

Besides the gift box, Lu Ran also took out the Wind-Slaying Sword and slung it stylishly across his back.

Once everything was ready, he pushed open the dojo's main doors and went inside.

The dojo's main hall was very quiet. Only a young girl in a swordsmanship uniform sat there, playing on her phone.

Lu Ran sighed at the sight. Sure enough, phones were more appealing than swordsmanship.

"Who are you?" Seeing Lu Ran enter with a sword on his back, the girl looked up. Lu Ran had not told his old master about this visit beforehand, intending to surprise him instead.

"I'm here to challenge your dojo," Lu Ran said.

The girl in the swordsmanship uniform sprang to her feet. ???

What? Challenge the dojo?

Her expression turned fierce...

"Just kidd-" Lu Ran was about to explain that he was only joking and tell her not to get worked up, but the girl decisively slapped a nearby button. An alarm familiar to Lu Ran instantly rang through the dojo.

Lu Ran's vision went dark. You sure move fast, lady.

Lu Ran had heard this alarm before. When he studied at the dojo as a child, whoever was on guard duty would press that button if a challenger arrived, notifying the apprentices training inside.

Sure enough, the moment the girl pressed it, a commotion erupted inside the dojo, complete with excited shouts.

"What idiot's here to challenge us?"

"I've been an apprentice for six months, and we finally have a challenger!"

In moments, more than a dozen children and teenagers of various ages came clattering out from inside the dojo, all wearing swordsmanship uniforms.

Each held a wooden sword as they stared at Lu Ran in the center of the main hall, brimming with fighting spirit.

"What school are you from? State your name!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Dog-style sword... no, wait, this is a misunderstanding... I'm actually here to visit Master Jiang Dou. Look, a gift box! A gift box! Is he here?" Lu Ran smiled and gestured at the gift box in his hand.

Uh...

Everyone froze. But looking at this group of lively young swordsmanship apprentices, Lu Ran found himself itching for a bout. His gaze shifted as he said, "Still, exchanging a few pointers wouldn't hurt. Let me see how strong the Rainbow Sky Dojo is these days."

The Rainbow Sky Dojo had a vigorous martial culture and was very different from modern swordsmanship schools. Students frequently got injured, and the dojo had been reported to the authorities many times as a result... anyone brave enough to study here was tough.

As he spoke, Lu Ran walked to a corner of the main hall and drew a wooden sword from a sword barrel. He gave it a practiced swing, then fixed an utterly serious gaze on the dojo's apprentices!

Boom!

As Lu Ran looked at them, a ferocious aura erupted from him. He seemed to have become a beast sizing up its prey. That terrifying presence was almost tangible, crashing into every swordsmanship apprentice who met his eyes. Their faces abruptly turned deathly pale, and their bodies went weak without them knowing why.

A few of them nearly collapsed merely from meeting Lu Ran's gaze, their legs giving way as though they had relived being chased and bitten by stray dogs back when they were still toddlers.

"Any takers?"

Faced with Lu Ran's challenge, not a single person could get a complete sentence out. Fear showed on every face.

"Sword intent... who are you?" Just then, a middle-aged man happened to emerge from inside. His expression changed at the scene in the main hall, and he was especially shocked when he sensed Lu Ran's beastlike aura.

But...

"Senior Brother He?" Holding the wooden sword, Lu Ran suddenly brightened as he looked at the middle-aged man who had emerged. Finally, a familiar face!

He did not recognize a single one of these apprentices, but he knew this newly arrived middle-aged man very well.

He was one of the dojo's longstanding star employees.

"Lu Ran?" Seeing Lu Ran's somewhat more mature face, the man addressed as Senior Brother He ventured a guess, barely able to believe it.

"Are you Lu Ran?"

"It's me."

"Holy shit, it really is you." Senior Brother He was astonished, while the swordsmanship apprentices beside him looked utterly bewildered. What was going on? And... sweating as they stared at Lu Ran, they all wondered what was up with this guy. Why did meeting his eyes feel like looking at a monster? He was terrifying.

"I'm here to see Master Jiang Dou. Is he around?" Lu Ran asked.

"He is. What brings you here? I'll take you to him!" Senior Brother He was far from calm. He took a deep breath and looked at the apprentices around him. "This is Lu Ran. He studied at the Rainbow Sky Dojo as a child, so you could consider him your senior brother. This must have been a misunderstanding. All right, go back to training."

With that, he led Lu Ran deeper into the dojo.

"Little Ran, it really is you. What's going on with you? Just now, was that sword intent...? But how is that possible?"

As Senior Brother He led Lu Ran inside, he questioned him in astonishment. As far as he knew, Master Jiang Dou was the only person in the entire Rainbow Sky Dojo who had comprehended sword intent.

Lu Ran was only in his teens. How could he have reached such an advanced realm, one that was difficult to attain even after decades immersed in swordsmanship?

"Just luck, just luck. We'll talk about it in a bit." Lu Ran chuckled.

At that moment, in a room deep within the Rainbow Sky Dojo, a bald old man with white eyebrows sat cross-legged on the floor, meditating. Even the earlier alarm had not disturbed him. He certainly had the air of a master.

Only when a knock sounded at the door did the old man jolt awake from his dream. "Fell asleep again..."

"Who is it? Come in..."

After speaking, he looked toward the door and saw Senior Brother He lead Lu Ran into the room.

"Master Jiang Dou, look who's here! Haha, it's Lu Ran," Senior Brother He said with a smile. He knew Master Jiang Dou was very fond of Lu Ran and would certainly be delighted by his visit.

Especially since... Lu Ran had brought along some frightening progress in swordsmanship.

"Lu Ran?!" The old man froze, then stood and looked at Lu Ran's familiar face.

"Master Jiang Dou," Lu Ran said sheepishly. "Your sixtieth birthday was a few days ago. I meant to come then, but something held me up. I'm terribly sorry."

"But! I brought you an incredibly rare gift. You'll never guess what it is!"

[Waka...] Sudden Death King rolled over in the pocket. Don't tell me it's dog food. He had seen these gifts being taken out of the same card as General Ha's dog food...

"Hehe, it's all right," Jiang Dou said with a smile. "I'm happy enough that you thought of me. What..."

He looked at the Wind-Slaying Sword on Lu Ran's back, picking up on its unusual aura.

"You've taken up the sword again?"

"Master Jiang Dou, brace yourself. Just now... Lu Ran displayed sword intent! His aura was so overwhelming that not one of the apprentices outside could move!" Senior Brother He said.

"What?" Disbelief filled Jiang Dou's face, and he hurriedly turned to Lu Ran. "Show me!"

"All right." Lu Ran nodded. Understanding the old man's feelings and expectations, he drew the Wind-Slaying Sword, focused his mind, and looked earnestly at his old master.

Boom!

His beastlike sword intent emerged again, becoming an invisible gale that pressed toward the man opposite him. Jiang Dou's gaze sharpened as he felt the astonishing change in Lu Ran's presence. The youthful boy seemed to turn into a ferocious beast the instant he took up his sword, his aura extraordinarily savage.

Jiang Dou felt as though he saw the phantom of a wolf king roaring at him, radiating intimidation.

Strangely, however, he showed none of the other reactions the apprentices had displayed, nor did he look particularly gratified. Instead, he seemed rather forlorn as he said, "Boy, don't tell me... you've become a Beast Tamer too?"

"Huh?" Lu Ran froze with the sword in his hand. "You figured it out? But what do you mean by 'too'? Were you selected as well, Master? Wait, don't tell me you're a first-generation big shot, a master living in seclusion?"

Lu Ran's eyes suddenly lit up. No way. If that's true, that'd be great. I'd have someone powerful to rely on.

He did not trust other people, but his old master was still worthy of his trust.

"Unfortunately, I'm too old. I wasn't selected," the old master Jiang Dou said. "But your Senior Brother Jiang Man was among the very first to be selected as a Beast Tamer. The reason I guessed is that he, too, used a Beast Tamer's supernatural power to comprehend sword intent at a young age."

"Senior Brother Jiang..." Lu Ran remembered someone by that name. He seemed to be Jiang Dou's adopted son. The accumulated injuries Jiang Dou had suffered in fights during his younger years had left him without any children of his own. He only had one adopted son...

"Where is Senior Brother Jiang?" Lu Ran asked, feeling that this trip had been worthwhile. It seemed he might have found someone powerful to rely on. Old Master Jiang Dou was not a first-generation big shot, but his son was... that sounded pretty good too.

At the mention of his adopted son, the old master Jiang Dou sighed. Senior Brother He, standing beside him, also lowered his head.

"Your Senior Brother Jiang passed away a long time ago. He died in a Secret Realm. I never expected you to become a Beast Tamer too. Though, thinking about it, it makes sense, given the family you came from..." Jiang Dou looked at Lu Ran.

"It's an extremely dangerous profession. I haven't experienced it myself, but I learned a few things from Jiang Man."

"Seeing you now, I feel as though you're about to follow in his footsteps. That's why I couldn't feel happy even after seeing that you'd comprehended sword intent."

Lu Ran was briefly dazed. He had never imagined this would be the situation, and his feelings grew complicated. The old master Jiang Dou's only adopted son... had died in a Secret Realm?

"Ah, I must be getting old. Why bring up something like that? He was himself, and you are you." Jiang Dou shook his head. "Wait here."

With that, he turned away, apparently intending to fetch something.

A little while later, the old master Jiang Dou brought out a diary.

He handed it to Lu Ran and said, "This is the diary your Senior Brother Jiang Man used to record his growth after becoming a Beast Tamer. Have a look. I don't know much about the profession, but this might be of some help to you-and serve as a warning."

Lu Ran silently accepted the diary.

He opened it to the first page.

[What incredible luck! I was actually selected to become a Beast Tamer. I formed a contract with my beloved Silly Eagle and named myself Divine Eagle Hero.]