A month later.
"Leading the team?"
"Why are you suddenly giving me this assignment? You didn't come looking for me last year," Lu Ling asked curiously.
He knew about the exchange students going to Imperial Capital Academy. When the time came, he would sneak along, but... leading the team? He had no experience.
"There's a Summoning System Saint Mage in the Imperial Palace. He learned that someone here has a dragon as a Summoned Beast and became very interested. He's already contacted me, hoping for a chance to broaden his horizons."
Dean Xiao explained the reasons in detail. "So you can take this opportunity to get acquainted with that Saint Mage, and lead the team while you're at it."
"And put Imperial Capital Academy in its place while I'm at it?" Lu Ling added.
Hearing this, Dean Xiao couldn't help laughing.
"Hahaha, there's no need for that. You've already bullied them once. We can't go too far. Besides, among the exchange students heading to the Imperial Capital this time, there's one who, just like you back then, at the Beast Fighting Competition..."
Wasn't that just Mo Fan?
"Stop, stop, stop. I'm not interested in hearing about that." Lu Ling hurriedly stopped him. "Leading the team, right? I'll take it."
"As long as you agree." Dean Xiao nodded.
"Who wants to see me?"
"Pang Lai, vice president of the Imperial Palace Magic Association."
Pang Lai, huh... Of course Lu Ling could guess who it was, but he still had to go through the motions.
Had word of him capturing a blue-clad Black Vatican member alive even reached Pang Lai? On the night he slaughtered the Black Vatican, the Heavenly Star White Dragon had indeed flown over Magic City for quite some time. Probably more than half the city's residents knew there was a dragon summoning mage here.
"Lu Ling... actually, there's something I wanted to ask you." While Lu Ling was thinking, Dean Xiao suddenly asked with an odd expression.
Not long ago, he had noticed a rumor spreading wildly through the school: a beauty had appeared at Lu Ling's side, inseparable from him. Yet that girl Ding Yumian was clearly already living with him...
"What?" Lu Ling asked in confusion.
Dean Xiao raised a hand and pointed toward the sickly beauty with gray hair and a red dress, who was looking down from a window nearby.
"Is she your girlfriend?"
"Even you have your gossipy moments, Dean Xiao?" Lu Ling raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly.
"Just curious." Dean Xiao seemed a little unwilling to admit it.
"Her... my Contract Beast, I suppose." After some thought, Lu Ling decided to tell the truth.
Yet upon hearing this, Dean Xiao actually broke into several violent coughs.
"Cough, cough, cough... so young, and already picking up bad habits. I might not be able to offer you much guidance in magic, but I may have quite a few things to say to you today about how to conduct yourself!"
Lu Ling's face darkened. Their Dean Xiao certainly knew a lot!
"You dirty old man, I mean a real Contract Beast. She can enter my Contract Space."
"What?!" Dean Xiao's expression kept shifting with embarrassment, while towering waves surged through his heart. He feigned a cough to hide his awkwardness, then tried hard to remain calm as he asked,
"What sort of special being is she? She can even be contracted?"
"He said she's like me. I don't know what sort of being she is either. But I can say for certain that her power isn't ordinary magic," Lu Ling explained unhurriedly, then waved a hand.
"Netherworld, come take a stroll."
"Oh..."
With the restriction lifted, Netherworld immediately floated up and walked through the air on flowers. One red spider lily after another, formed of energy, continually grew and withered.
"This... I can't tell." It was an eye-opening sight even for Dean Xiao. At least he was now certain that this humanoid Contract Beast before him wasn't an ordinary human.
"How strong is she?"
"She hasn't fought yet, but she's at least stronger than me," Lu Ling answered.
Since obtaining Netherworld, he hadn't encountered anyone whose strength matched hers, so Lu Ling rarely troubled her. However, when they reached Jinlin City, he could let her make a small move.
"You certainly have no shortage of luck with beauties." Dean Xiao shook his head with a chuckle. He didn't probe further into Netherworld's origins and waved a hand. "Go back and cultivate. I'll let you know when it's time to gather."
"..."
Lu Ling was speechless. What did he mean, luck with beauties?
A week later, on the day of assembly.
"Mo Fan, look at that one. Big enough for you?" Zhao Manyan draped an arm around Mo Fan's shoulders and whispered into his ear.
"Oh, get lost. You think I'm like you?" Mo Fan put on the air of an upright gentleman.
But when his gaze gradually settled on the two women...
"!"
His eyes instantly widened. Clearly, he had rarely seen such enormous things either.
"Holy shit..."
Seeing this, Zhao Manyan couldn't help snickering.
"Hahaha, I knew you'd crack! Mu Nujiao needs no introduction, since you two have already fought. The one with the biggest pair is called Bai Tingting... she's from the Bai Family, Healing Element. Pretty hot, right?"
"So-so." Mo Fan was somewhat unwilling to admit it, yet his gaze never left Bai Tingting's proud assets.
"..."
"Tingting, we meet again. I didn't expect you to be one of the exchange students this time too," Mu Nujiao said.
"Yes, now we'll have some company on the trip." Bai Tingting smiled too.
Before long, three people slowly approached, and the students, who had been rather noisy, immediately fell silent.
"Ahem, is everyone here?" the elderly Professor Qiu Yuhua asked in a clear voice.
Everyone turned their gaze toward Qiu Yuhua, while also being drawn to the two beauties beside him.
Those who knew Lu Ling felt somewhat surprised. Surely someone that outstanding wasn't actually an exchange student just like them!
Qiu Yuhua pointed to the white-haired young man beside him and said, "He'll be the teacher leading your team this time, Lu Ling."
Everyone turned their gaze toward the white-haired figure beside him. Apart from the few who knew him, their eyes were all filled with astonishment.
"The teacher leading the team?"
Young! Far too young. If not for his snow-white hair, they wouldn't have been able to see any difference between him and themselves.
"Your cohort is quite strong. I hope you perform well in the exchange matches," Lu Ling said as a token remark.
Mu Nujiao kept looking at Lu Ling. Only when his gaze fell on her did she quietly wave to greet him.
Seeing this, Lu Ling nodded.
Bai Tingting, standing beside her, saw all of this and immediately became interested.
"Mu Nujiao, you know each other? I heard he's a big name on the Main Campus, leagues above everyone else!"
"Yes." Mu Nujiao nodded, then seemed to remember something and said softly, "I didn't get a chance to tell you before, but back then at the gymnasium, he was the one who saved you, not me."
"What?!" Bai Tingting's eyes widened in surprise. Her gaze returned to Lu Ling, and her beautiful eyes shone with one gleam after another.
"..."
I regret it. Mu Nujiao tapped her forehead in vexation.
She had seen that look in Bai Tingting's eyes on plenty of other people: Ye Xin Xia, Ding Yumian, and even Ai Tutu...
You really know how to make trouble for yourself, Mu Nujiao.