The Next Morning.

Yue Bing guided Tian Lang out of the Tong Tian Tower and returned to the island outside of Tong Tian Tower. After going through the teleportation gate to return to the Shang Wu Military Camp, a checkpoint for humans to enter Tong Tian Tower, they teleported to Da Xia Empire’s capital. There was still some distance, so they took a carriage to the academy.

In the carriage, Tian Lang looked at the child licking at a candy fervently.

Tian Lang remembered that Flower Fairy once tempted him with candies, but he was prideful and rejected such blasphemy. Now that he had a chance to snatch, would he miss it?

Tian Lang snatched the candy and licked it. As expected, this taste was good. A bit weird since they lacked the extra flavor of elements he was used to.

The kid sniffed and bawled loudly. The human sitting with the kid frowned and eyed Tian Lang as if asking what he was doing.

Tian Lang shrugged. So what? Not like you can do anything with your little fleshy mounds that just look slightly above Yue Bing.

Suddenly he got reminded of his theory of mound ranks and gave the candy back.

The kid instantly stopped. It sniffed and went back to licking the candy.

Tian Lang was surprised. What’s this trickery? Was such a thing really possible?

Tian Lang got reminded of the little Yue Shuang, the devil of a human. Was it possible to control human kids so easily?

He snatched the candy again and licked.

“Uwaah~”

Give back.

“...”

Snatch again.

“Ahhh!”

Give back.

“...”

The human became angry and almost shouted at Tian Lang when Yue Bing suddenly grabbed his arm, “Brother Tian, what are you doing?”

“Eh? I am checking–”

Before Tian Lang explained his reason, Yue Bing apologized to the human. Tian Lang shrugged, whatever. He already proved his hypothesis. If only he knew this trick back then... he would’ve bullied Yue Shuang to no end.

When Yue Bing and Tian Lang left the carriage, they faintly heard an innocent but grudging voice, “Bad uncle, bad!”

Yue Bing: “...”

Tian Lang: “...”

Yue Bing laughed while Tian Lang shrugged, pretending to not hear about it. Just then, he happened to look at the prestigious gate. The gate alone earned Tian Lang’s respect for the academy.

As expected of the place that hid the secret of fleshy mounds. My turning point is here. Everything depends on how I perform here! Tian Lang couldn’t help but think. He even straightened his already straight back and pushed his chest out.

“Brother Tian, this is the Shang Jing Academy I attend. The Ivy Academy is on the opposite side.” Tian Lang almost fell when he heard that.

On the other side? Compared to the tall, heroic looking front gate of the Shang Jing Academy, the Ivy Academy, that was only separated from the Shang Jing Academy by a big road in between them, was simply trash that couldn’t even be trashier. Other than the nice greenery, it simply had nothing. No, even if it wasn’t compared with the Shang Jing Academy’s front gate, Ivy Academy would still look trashy.

No, there must be some reason for it. It looks really low-key that one wouldn’t even pay attention to it. Yes! Low-key! I almost forgot humans like being low-key. The greater the secret, the more low-key they remain. That’s right, last time, even that human also said something similar. Tian Lang consoled. In the end, he even unintentionally convinced himself, remembering that big fleshy mounded human’s words.

‘It’s been a while since someone forced me to reveal myself outside the tower but you Little Tian did that~ But I’m more worried about you.’–Tian Lang remembered the exact words it said. He was more and more confident of his hypothesis.

“Brother Tian, um, will we meet again?” Seeing Tian Lang lost in thought, Yue Bing meekly asked. If they didn’t stay in touch, the chance of their next encounter was close to none. After all, they lived in two different worlds.

What, you want to blackmail me? Tian Lang thought in a bad mood, but he didn’t snap at Yue Bing. He took out the payment and handed it over, saying, “Sure, whatever you say. This is a Lustrous Branch. I heard you can only contract plant-type beasts. Here, take it.” He also added something more inwardly, And don’t trouble me again.

“Brother Tian, I-I can’t take it.” Yue Bing hesitated, but Tian Lang vigorously handed it over.

Receiving the embroidered box, Yue Bing smiled sheepishly. Although Lustrous Branch was rare and expensive, Tian Lang’s action made it more happy. His action basically meant they weren’t distant and shouldn’t reject each other’s gift.

“I-I will go back!” Not being able to stand the embarrassment, Yue Bing ran back, but suddenly it stopped. Turning around, it shouted, “B-Brother Tian!... I will get stronger and follow you!”

Yue Bing said it purely in the heat of the moment. When it realized what it said, it wanted to faint in embarrassment. Thankfully, most of the students either went for refining or to train elsewhere. Else, it wouldn’t know where to hide its face.

Follow me? Heh, if you think you can blackmail again then dream on. Tian Lang remarked and approached Ivy Academy. Suddenly, he noticed a candy shop among several shops. Using one gold coin, he bought all of the candies.

He tasted one, and this had a slightly spicy texture. It was better than the candy he tasted just a few minutes ago, but he liked the sweeter one more. Looks like his collection of candies needed to be arranged too. But that was for a later time. The secret of fleshy mounds was waiting for him.

Approaching the dilapidated gate, Tian Lang suddenly felt nervous. He had an inkling that if the previous him sat on the gate, it would break apart instantly. Wiping the sweat drops, Tian Lang called out in a soft voice, “Anyone there?”

“It’s okay. This door has been this way for hundreds of years already. It won’t collapse. Don’t worry too much and come in.” There was an elderly human with a goatee beard poking its head out from inside, waving at Tian Lang.

This... Tian Lang suddenly started to have second thoughts. Was academies really some prestigious place like he had heard? Shouldn’t there be a big mounded human guarding the gate?

He suddenly started sweating profusely but consoled himself by saying, they are just low-key, low-key.

Looking at this Goatee Elder, who looked like a greedy mercenary, Tian Lang asked without reservation, “I was asked to come here. Where can I find secrets!”

“Oh, secrets, eh. Sure!” The Goatee Elder gave a knowing smile, “But how can I reveal the secret to an outsider? Pay up and enroll in our academy first and I’ll immediately open our beauty catalog for you.”

“Beauty Catalogue? How much?” Tian Lang found the name fitting. That softness and appealing formation was definitely true beauty!

“Not much, only 50 gold coins.”

Tian Lang whipped out his pouch and asked in confusion, “Eh, fifty? How many nine is fifty?”

“Haha, that’s exactly fifty gold coins in there. Come hand it over, right, this student, what is your name? Sky Wolf? This name... Why does it feel familiar? Forget it, names are completely unimportant-? Wait! Sky Wolf?!”

The Goatee Elder’s hand froze mid-air and dared not lay its hand on the gold pouch. A sagely smile formed on its lips, making it look too wretched as it said amiably, “Haha, you should’ve said before that you’re the Sky Wolf. Come, come. I’ll take you to the Principal. I’m afraid I can’t arrange a class for a brilliant student such as yourself.”

“Oh, you know me?” Tian Lang asked in surprise. It wasn’t even his real name, how did this ugly human know?

“Surely you jest. I am such a fool. I should’ve understood when you asked how many nine is fifty. Come just give me five coins, and that would do. Hahaha...”

For some reason, Tian Lang felt offended but wasn’t quite sure why. He handed over five gold coins and put out his hand forward, “My Beauty Catalogue.” His face straight as if nothing would change his focus.

“Sure, sure. An extra 5 gold coins.”

Tian Lang was already fuming. Was this old fox trying to scam him? Five gold coins were nothing to him but how could he let someone else take advantage of him? “What? Did you not say that I only had to pay the enrollment fee? Why the extra 5 gold coins?”

“Take it or forget it.”

Tian Lang calmed himself down. This is the Ivy Academy and he also needed the Beauty Catalogue. Curbing his urge to violently beat up this cunning goatee, Tian Lang handed over another five coins.

“Good, good. Here, take it. Right, don’t open it here. Only open it when you are alone. Hide it for now.” The cunning fox warned.

Tian Lang wanted to look immediately, but as this old fox said. A secret should be opened secretly. He hid it under his clothes and followed the while asking aggressively, “You’re a teacher here?”

“The Vice Principal,” said the elder in a haughty tone.

“So you’re a wicked and corrupt principal?” For Tian Lang vice simply meant immoral, wicked, corrupt. So this explanation seemed too fitting.

The elder tripped and looked at Tian Lang as if wanting to cut his head open and see how it worked. In the end, it explained patiently, “This student, although I heard you lack common knowledge, this is really too hard. Don’t you even know what a vice principal means? It means I’m in the second from the top of all teachers. You should show some respect.”

“Even though you have no fleshy mounds?” Tian Lang whispered to himself. The old fox didn’t catch his words and guided Tian Lang silently.

It pushed open the door of a simple and unadorned building. Walked up the stairs and arrived at a room on the third floor. All the way, Tian Lang just chanted ‘low-key, low-key’ in his mind.

Instructing Tian Lang to stand there, the elder knocked on the door and entered the room. “My darling daughter, dad is here.”

“During working hours, please call me Principal.” a graceful, sweet-sounding voice carrying a tinge of coldness resounded from within.

“Isn’t it the same? You are the Principal, and you are also my daughter…” The old cunning fox seemed to be used to its darling daughter’s cold, thousand-miles-distant tone and entered the room giggling all the while.

“What’s wrong? Why are you here now?” The beautiful white-robed human who was working hard inside was just like a white orchid, clean and prideful. Its long, black hair hung down like a waterfall and covered its shoulders, setting a strong contrast with its snow-white, pale hands. The wretched and cunning elder turned into a whole new person. At that moment, it was the most loving parent in the whole world.

“Nothing’s wrong. I think the guy we thought might take years to arrive has already arrived,” the elder chuckled slowly, “This new student might really be troublesome. Do you know what he said when I asked for fifty gold coins? He said how many nine is fifty. Can you believe that? We are not primary education academies, ah. He even got the meaning of vice wrong. How can vice principal’s vice mean wicked and corrupted?”

“Fifty gold coins? I think that meaning is extremely suitable for you. Anyway, he was handed over to us with trust. Not to mention that even Grandma Wu Teng is only an intermediary here, the one who wants him to learn from here is probably that person. Aside from cramming knowledge, we are also asked to make a man out of him.”

The Goatee Elder was a bit shaken. That slip of tongue really revealed it, but it continued skeptically, “We don’t need to teach him how to fight? Does that mean she is confident in his fighting skills?”

“I don’t know. If required we can only teach some basics but it was strongly mentioned to not change his styles or alter them. Don’t keep him standing outside. I will talk with him, and you can arrange his room.”

“What about his class? Will I take care of it?” The cunning elder asked unwillingly.

“How about you take care of him? Though according to the letter, he can be strong-headed sometimes and only beats up men when irritated. It’s probably nothing to sweat after.” Even as they spoke, the principal didn’t stop working.

“I think it would be better to let someone else take this great merit.” The cunning elder said in embarrassment. Getting out of the room, it indicated Tian Lang to enter.

(Alt. Titles: Yue Bing, The Follower; The Cunning Goat Vice & The Beauty Catalog)