Chapter 97 - Concentrated Is the Essence (1)

“Disappointed?” Leng Ruoxue asked Liu Yan as he came down from the stage.

“I’m not disappointed. I was prepared for it.” Liu Yan smiled calmly. Before he came to the competition, his master had reminded him, so he was prepared for it.

“This is too much. How can they do this?” Elder Qiu said angrily.

“Elder Qiu, why are you so angry when even Liu Yan isn’t angry?” Leng Ruoxue said with some amusement while looking at the fuming Elder Qiu.

“Aren’t you angry?” Elder Qiu asked.

“No, I’m not angry. That Liu Qing is the beloved disciple of a vice president of the Alchemist Association. Those judges definitely wouldn’t dare to offend him. Moreover, the eyes of the crowd are bright. Everyone knows who the true number one is. Why compete for that false reputation?” Leng Ruoxue explained.

“Well… that’s true!” Elder Qiu said after some thought.

“Liu Yan, since you’ve decided to follow me, then you must remember that people with true strength don’t need to rely on false reputations to make a name for themselves,” Leng Ruoxue said very seriously. Everyone had their own ethics and principles, and this had always been one of her standards in dealing with others.

“Okay, I will remember,” Liu Yan said. This was also what he really admired about Leng Ruoxue. He knew that she had always liked to keep a low profile.

“Let’s go back! Go out through the back,” Leng Ruoxue reminded. If Feng Da and the others hadn’t blocked the way, who knows how many people would have pestered Liu Yan now.

“Okay.”

…

After the alchemist competition ended, the beast trainer competition began the next day. Beast trainers consumed a lot of mental strength to tame spirit beasts, and there were only a few competitors, so there was only one competition for beast trainers. The rule of the beast trainer competition was that whoever teamed the most spirit beasts within the allotted time would be the champion.

On the day of the beast trainer competition, Leng Ruoxue and the others accompanied Hu Bin to the competition venue early as usual. Hu Bin was the representative of the Heavenly Phoenix Academy’s beast trainer division, and he had been getting along very well with them all along the way.

“Hu Bin, you can do it!”

“Good luck!”

Feng Da and the others came to the side of the stage to cheer for Hu Bin, who was about to compete.

“I will do my best!” Hu Bin said confidently. His beast trainer skills had improved a lot recently!

There were only 12 people participating in the beast trainer competition. Most of the students were at the Beast Trainer level, and two of them were Master Beast Trainers. Hu Bin was the seventh to go on stage. For the first six people, the most number of advanced spirit beasts anyone tamed was five.

After Hu Bin went on stage, he tamed ten advanced spirit beasts easily, three of which were level seven, three were level eight, and four were level nine. This result was already very amazing for Beast Trainers.

After taming ten advanced spirit beasts, he walked to the cages with the holy beasts. Beast trainers had to be at least a Master Beast Trainer to tame the most elementary holy beasts, so the holy beasts in the cages were only at level one or two.

“What is he doing? Don’t tell me he wants to tame a holy beast?” someone below the stage couldn’t help whispering.

“How is that possible? He’s only a Beast Trainer. How can he tame a holy beast? Is he tired of living?” another person chimed in.

“Ruoxue, could Hu Bin be thinking of taming a holy beast?” Elder Qiu couldn’t help asking, his heart in his throat.

“That’s possible!” Leng Ruoxue said lightly.

“This… Nonsense! A Beast Trainer wanting to tame a holy beast, does he want to die?” Elder Qiu said angrily. Why are all of them making me worry? The mental strength of a Beast Trainer was not enough to tame a holy beast, and the consequences of failure would be a backlash. He would either become a fool or lose his life. That old man from the beast trainer division would find trouble with him regardless of whether Hu Bin became a fool or lost his life. Boohoo… these damn children!

While Elder Qiu was stomping his feet, Hu Bin had already begun to tame a holy beast. He successfully tamed the holy beast about half an hour later.

Elder Qiu looked at the situation on the stage and was so surprised that his jaw almost fell off. He did it! He actually did it!

Hu Bin successfully tamed another holy beast before the time limit. Currently, Hu Bin was in first place with ten advanced spirit beasts and two elementary holy beasts. There were another five people after him.

After finishing his match, Hu Bin walked down from the stage very calmly.

“Hu Bin, you’re not bad!” Elder Qiu said happily. Beast trainers had always been the weakest division for their academy. He didn’t expect Hu Bin to bring glory to their academy today. Let’s see who dares to say that our academy can’t produce a beast trainer in the future.

“It’s all thanks to Miss,” Hu Bin said shyly. He had also begun addressing Leng Ruoxue as ‘Miss’ like Feng Da and the others ever since he started following Leng Ruoxue like Liu Yan.

“Lass! Why don’t I be your subordinate too!” Elder Qiu said flatteringly, and he actually addressed her as Lass instead of Ruoxue.

Along the way, Leng Ruoxue had won over his heart, and he had often subconsciously regarded her as their core. He didn’t even feel that anything was amiss with it.

“Let’s talk about it when you’re free!” Leng Ruoxue teased before turning to leave. Tomorrow was the artificer competition, so she had to go back early to prepare.

“What does this girl mean?” Elder Qiu asked in puzzlement as he watched Leng Ruoxue walk away.

“Don’t you understand? You’re not free now!” Feng Da said with a smile, leaving the struggling Elder Qiu behind. The Heavenly Phoenix Academy student was done with this competition anyway, so there was no point in staying.

After the beast trainer competition ended, Hu Bin might have only come in third, but it was already the best result the Heavenly Phoenix Academy had ever achieved.

…

In the Elegance Lagoon Pavilion.

“Xue’er, what are you thinking about?” Ye Chen couldn’t help asking curiously when he saw her staring blankly into space in the guest room.

“I’m thinking about tomorrow’s artificer competition,” Leng Ruoxue said softly.

“Are you worried that you won’t be able to refine a treasured artifact?” Ye Chen said with a chuckle.