The next day, the exchange tournament officially began.
Lu Ling... took absolutely no responsibility!
After arranging the team that would compete, he headed to the place beside the Imperial Capital Academy...
The Imperial Palace!
This was the strongest Magic Association within China's borders, with a Forbidden Curse Mage stationed there.
Before long, Jiang Yu came out from inside the Imperial Palace, waving to them.
"Brother Lu, over here!"
"Long time no see, Jiang Yu." Lu Ling gave him a friendly smile and introduced Netherworld while he was at it. "She's my friend, Netherworld. She's with me. She's a little shy around strangers."
Jiang Yu was an honest, good-natured bookworm, and a pretty nice guy.
"Hello, my name is Jiang Yu," Jiang Yu said to Netherworld.
"Oh, hello?" Netherworld tilted her head.
Jiang Yu did not dwell on Netherworld and began chatting with Lu Ling. "It's been two years. You feel more and more unfathomable," he said sincerely.
"Same goes for you. Your Night Rakshasa is almost at Commander Level, isn't she?" Lu Ling said.
"Haha, it's not that impressive." Jiang Yu felt a little sheepish, then asked, "Lu Ling, why does my teacher want to see you?"
"I heard he's interested in my Summoned Beast and wants to broaden his horizons," Lu Ling said.
"You cultivate the Summoning System too?!" Jiang Yu stared, finding it a little hard to believe. His startled voice echoed through the long red corridor.
The Imperial Palace's furnishings were very simple. Everywhere they looked, there was nothing but red and high walls. As they ventured deeper, they saw some guards in formal attire.
Presumably, they were members of the renowned Forbidden Military Mage Corps.
"I do. I've just never shown you." Lu Ling smiled meaningfully.
During the exchange students' field training two years ago, Jiang Yu had been one of the Imperial Capital Academy's participants.
The venue had been too small back then, and bringing out the Heavenly Star White Dragon would have been far too unfair, so Lu Ling had not used his Summoning System.
"Don't you cultivate the Space Element and Ice Element? Could it be that you've already..."
Hope filled Jiang Yu's eyes as he eagerly waited to hear those words from Lu Ling's mouth.
"I have indeed reached the Advanced Level."
"...Sigh, I shouldn't have asked!" Jiang Yu instantly hung his head in dejection.
Comparing yourself to others really could anger you to death. Lu Ling was progressing so quickly that Jiang Yu did not even have the ability to catch up.
"It's fine. The Summoning System you major in is different from ordinary magic. You just need to nurture it properly," Lu Ling consoled him.
After only a few more steps, Jiang Yu and the others arrived at a side room in the Imperial Palace.
A simple tea table stood in the room, with an old man seated beside it, leisurely savoring his tea. He wore extremely plain clothes, and although his hair was gray, his eyes shone brightly.
His gaze settled on Lu Ling and his distinctive white hair as he said:
"You must be Lu Ling!"
"Lu Ling pays his respects, Elder Pang." Lu Ling nodded.
"Netherworld pays her respects, Elder Pang." Netherworld copied Lu Ling's manner as she spoke.
"She's my friend," Lu Ling explained.
Pang Lai's gaze flickered, and he took a careful look at Netherworld. Yet his spiritual perception sank like a stone into the sea, unable to detect any cultivation whatsoever.
But her utterly inconceivable way of getting around prevented him from thinking she was an ordinary person.
Could it be... she's not human?
"Everyone, take a seat." Pang Lai did not dwell on Netherworld's origins.
"This is our first meeting, but even before this, I've heard a great deal about your renown and accomplishments."
"It's all empty fame," Lu Ling said very modestly.
"Hehe, naturally, more people will bear witness." Pang Lai personally poured tea for everyone and got straight to the point:
"I won't waste words. I heard you have a dragon Contract Beast. I wonder how you got it to form a contract with you?"
Even as a Saint Mage of the Summoning System, he was deeply interested in methods of taming dragons.
Because in this world, no one had ever truly tamed a dragon, not even a lesser dragon.
Dragons were proud. There was simply no way they would form a contract with a human.
"Contract Beast? No, she's actually just my Dimensional Summoning," Lu Ling answered.
"Dimensional Summoning?!"
Both Jiang Yu and Pang Lai were astonished, as though all the knowledge about the Summoning System they had learned throughout their lives had collapsed at that moment.
"Are there dragons in the Summoning Plane? Or did you communicate directly with the Ten Thousand Dragon Valley?!" Pang Lai asked eagerly.
Regardless of the answer, there was no denying that Lu Ling truly was a genius of the Summoning System!
There weren't just dragons there, but a dragon Emperor too!
"It should just be the ordinary Summoning Plane," Lu Ling said truthfully. If it were the Ten Thousand Dragon Valley, there might only be dragons there.
"To think I'd truly have my horizons broadened today." Pang Lai chuckled despite himself and asked, "How did you get it to form a contract with you?"
"Maybe she liked the look of me," Lu Ling said.
Pang Lai could not help feeling abashed. To think forming a contract with a dragon could be so simple.
"Sometimes, fate really is an inexplicable mystery."
"When I first asked you here, I thought you had some method of forming contracts with dragons. Now it seems I was overthinking things. How could contracting a dragon be so easy?" Pang Lai shook his head with a sigh.
"Why don't you make a start, Elder Pang?"
"It's not that easy. Dragons are wild and untamable. Even Psychic Element mages might not be able to communicate with them. Besides, I'm not a Psychic Element mage, and I have no inclination to research that field."
Lu Ling nodded thoughtfully.
"Feifei?"
Jiang Yu suddenly felt a disturbance in his Contract Space and immediately let Night Rakshasa out.
"Meow~"
The black-cat-shaped Night Rakshasa gave Jiang Yu a couple of perfunctory rubs, then jumped straight onto Netherworld.
"This..." Jiang Yu was a little surprised.
After so many years with Night Rakshasa, this was the first time he had seen her get close to anyone other than him.
Night Rakshasa's obsession with cleanliness could only be described as outrageous. Apart from Jiang Yu himself, practically no one could touch her.
"A kitty."
Netherworld smiled happily, seemingly unsurprised by Night Rakshasa's arrival.
Her fair, jade-like hand, entwined with a pattern of red spider lilies, gently stroked Night Rakshasa, who thoroughly enjoyed it.
"..."
"Lu Ling, she..."
Lu Ling had long since read the looks in Pang Lai's and Jiang Yu's eyes.
Night Rakshasa, a species extinct in the Dark Baleful Forest.
Netherworld, the one who sealed the Dark Baleful Forest...
Of course he could not say that!
"Maybe Night Rakshasa likes her type." Lu Ling began spouting nonsense.
"Speaking of which, may I ask where this friend of yours comes from? I actually can't see through her cultivation," Pang Lai asked.
"She has no cultivation."
"None?"
Pang Lai repeated the word without asking any further. He felt that the questions that followed might touch on her privacy.
As long as he could be sure she was neither an ordinary person nor a bad person, that was enough.
With that thought, he turned his gaze to Lu Ling.
Hm?
Why couldn't he see through Lu Ling's cultivation either?!