The Demonic Orb from Huanglong Arrived in His Loyal Lahai-Roi

The sea breeze was gentle, Phoebe-jooby!

Lu Guan set out on his journey once again, but this time his transportation was completely different. Rather than heading to the academy to enroll, he seemed more like a suspicious person being escorted under guard.

"Oh-ho-ho... I didn't expect to run into you here, Chiliarch Zhao." Lu Guan poured a glass of juice and held it out. "Care for some orange juice? It's effective at preventing scurvy."

"...No, thank you."

Chiliarch Zhao was the Pacification Bureau chiliarch who had taken Lu Guan's statement in the bureau's interrogation room.

Because of the earlier shipwreck, Huanglong's higher-ups, wishing to protect an outstanding young talent of the nation (possibly), had arranged a passenger ship exclusively to take all the Huanglong students enrolling alongside Lu Guan to Lahai-Roi.

As for the Pacification Bureau personnel, the Magistrate had dispatched them specifically to keep an eye on a certain someone under the pretext of escorting him, all to prevent him from inadvertently pulling another outrageous stunt in Huanglong.

"Oh, come on, don't be so tense..." Lu Guan smiled and pointed at a Pacification Bureau squad officer standing beside Chiliarch Zhao. "This young fellow is your subordinate, right? His hand's been shaking the whole time."

"Hm?!" Chiliarch Zhao whipped around and frowned. "Shen Lang? What's wrong with you, boy? Did you stay up late last night?"

"R-reporting to you, boss, I'm a little... seasick..."

The squad officer named Shen Lang forced a smile. It was clear he was doing everything he could to keep from throwing up on the spot.

"Is that so..." Lu Guan turned to Chiliarch Zhao and asked, "Chiliarch Zhao, don't you think you all look like defensive towers standing beside me like that?"

"W-what defensive towers?" Chiliarch Zhao was thoroughly confused by Lu Guan's inexplicable words, but seeing how serious he was, he chose to answer the question anyway.

"If I had to say... I suppose we do look a bit like them?"

"Okay, no problem there." Lu Guan immediately beamed. "Since you're defensive towers, there's no problem with me scarfing down a couple of oranges under a tower, right?"

With that, before Chiliarch Zhao could react, Lu Guan pulled an orange out of nowhere and stuffed it into Shen Lang's mouth.

"...Mmph... mmph..."

"Lu Guan, what are you doing?" Chiliarch Zhao sprang to his feet. "How dare you assault a public official in broad daylight? You've gone too far!"

"Don't be hasty..." Lu Guan spread his hands. "Why don't you check on your subordinate before you decide whether to arrest me?"

"My... my seasickness is gone?" After swallowing the orange, Shen Lang was surprised to find that all the symptoms of his seasickness had completely disappeared.

"Even some of the hidden injuries in my body are gone."

"Was it the orange? That's incredible!"

"Is that true?" Hearing this, Chiliarch Zhao whipped around and fixed Lu Guan with a burning gaze, as if he wanted to skin him and swallow him whole.

"Hey, hey, hey... what's with that look?" Lu Guan felt a little unnerved. "I'm telling you... I'm not from Chongzhou. I'm as straight as they come!"

Chiliarch Zhao paid no attention to the Chongzhou joke in Lu Guan's words. His eyes were fixed on the hand Lu Guan had used to produce the orange.

"Did you make that orange with your Resonance ability?"

"Oh, brother... you're absolutely right." Lu Guan pulled out another orange and handed it to him. "Would you like one too, Chiliarch Zhao?"

Chiliarch Zhao took the orange and swallowed it in one bite without hesitation.

As soon as the orange entered his mouth, it turned into a warm current that circulated throughout his body, clearing away the ailments within him like a doctor.

Before long, Chiliarch Zhao felt an indescribable comfort throughout his body. When he checked his condition again, he found that the hidden injuries he had accumulated over years of carrying out missions across Huanglong had all healed.

Chiliarch Zhao had originally planned to retire due to his injuries in a few years and leave his position to a younger man, but now he felt he could work another ten years... no, if he always had oranges like these, perhaps he would never have to retire early from the Pacification Bureau because of his injuries...

"This thing... has such miraculous effects..." Chiliarch Zhao looked at Lu Guan again, the wariness in his eyes replaced by gratitude.

Healing his injuries was a kindness equal to giving him a new lease on life!

"This move is called Remove Scurvy," Lu Guan explained. "Eating an orange I produce removes all negative status effects and restores a certain amount of vitality and stamina."

"But the 'captain' has to produce it under a defensive tower, and it has to be eaten very quickly. Otherwise, it won't have any effect."

"I see... no wonder you asked me that question." Though Chiliarch Zhao didn't understand what a "captain" was, he put on a look of sudden realization and immediately cupped his fists and bowed. "Thank you for the orange, Young Master Lu. I have no way to repay you for healing my injuries."

Lu Guan waved it off. "Oh, it was nothing but a small favor."

With that, he produced several more oranges and handed them to the other Pacification Bureau personnel present. "You're all devoted to the Magistrate and have spent years traveling across Huanglong. I imagine you've picked up some injuries and ailments that are difficult to heal on their own."

"Please accept these oranges as a small token of my regard."

Everyone looked at Chiliarch Zhao, and when he nodded, they accepted the oranges with grateful expressions. After eating them, they looked at Lu Guan quite differently. Clearly, in their minds, he had gone from "the person under guard" to "the person they must protect."

"Incredible... even a chronic ailment that the best physicians in Huanglong couldn't cure was resolved just like that." Chiliarch Zhao sighed with emotion for quite a while, seemingly reminded of a former colleague.

"In that case... Chiliarch Zhao, why don't you and your men help me with another experiment?" Lu Guan put on a harmless smile.

The danger instincts of a Pacification Bureau veteran immediately put Chiliarch Zhao on alert. "Young Master Lu, although you have done us a great kindness, I must be frank: we were all ordered by the Magistrate to escort you to Lahai-Roi..."

"If it involves breaking the law or doing anything that would have a detrimental effect on Huanglong, I'm afraid we cannot comply..."

Lu Guan shook his head regretfully. "Ah... then forget it. I can't put you in a difficult position."

So that really was what you had in mind!

Give me back all the gratitude I just felt, damn it!!!

Chiliarch Zhao roared inwardly.

Seeing the strange looks everyone around him was giving him, Lu Guan offered an awkward but polite smile.

"Ehe!"

What do you mean, 'ehe'?!

After several days at sea, the ship finally arrived at the ice-free port in the Royan Frostlands.

"Now that we've reached our destination, our mission is complete." Chiliarch Zhao and his subordinates bowed to Lu Guan. "Young Master Lu, we wish you success in your studies. This is where we part."

Then the Pacification Bureau personnel called out in unison.

"May Young Master Lu succeed in his studies and prosper in his academic pursuits!"

"All right, all right." Lu Guan felt his secondhand embarrassment acting up. Forcing a smile, he waved. "Thank you all for looking after me on the way. There's no need to say anything more. Until we meet again!"

Then, under the shocked gazes of the other Huanglong students, he was the first to walk toward the intermodal vertebra.

Suddenly, he seemed to realize something. He turned around, and a sentence slipped out of his mouth.

"This is a parting gift... holy shit, this is bad!"

A jet-black sphere of energy appeared in Lu Guan's hand. Although it didn't explode immediately, the astonishing pressure of its energy filled everyone who saw it with alarm.

"Holy shit, you little menace!" Chiliarch Zhao hurriedly ordered his subordinates to evacuate the people nearby. "What kind of stunt have you pulled this time?"

"I... I dunno!" Lu Guan panicked a little too. His ability had activated again for no apparent reason.

Chiliarch Zhao asked cautiously, "Can you get rid of it?"

"N-no, I don't think I can hold it much longer!"

"Then hurry up and throw that thing away!"

"But where am I supposed to throw it?"

"Anywhere! Just don't let it explode here!"

"All right!" Since he'd put it that way, Lu Guan gritted his teeth and hurled the "Great Spiraling Ring of Yu" in his hand toward the distant sea. "Here goes!"

Meanwhile.

The welcoming party dispatched by Stardust Academy had also arrived above.

Because one of the students from Huanglong had rather special circumstances, and following several rounds of discussions with the Huanglong representatives, the principal herself was leading the welcoming party to ensure the new students enrolled without incident.

"Phew... it's a little cold on the frostlands today." Principal Lacerta wasn't wearing her signature faculty attire today. Instead, she wore a thick purple expedition coat. "I wonder if those little ones from Huanglong can handle the cold..."

Suddenly, her gaze fell on an incongruous point of light over the distant sea. "What is that... why is it flying toward me?"