33: Admission

In front of the gates of Azure Dragon Beast Taming University, a large crowd had gathered, carrying bags and luggage of all sizes.

In addition to the students, their parents were there as well, their faces beaming with irrepressible smiles.

The entrance to Qingbei University, however, was a different story; parents there were unwilling to show their faces at all, unable to bear the embarrassment.

Su Ze and Xu Yao were alone. Su Ze's parents' whereabouts were unknown, and Xu Yao's father was busy with scientific research, so the two of them could only come together as companions.

Su Ze stood in the crowd, a slight smile appearing on his face as he looked at the message on his phone.

Beside him, Xu Yao nudged him with her elbow and said, "What are you smiling at? It's almost our turn to register."

"I'm looking at a message Wang Zi left me. This guy ran off to White Tiger Beast Taming University overnight. He'll be taking the Beast Taming College Entrance Examination over there in two days."

Hearing this, Xu Yao turned around curiously. "His problem has been solved?"

Su Ze replied noncommittally, "Maybe..."

Xu Yao was about to ask more when the teacher in charge of registration called out her name.

"Xu Yao!"

She immediately turned around, raised her hand high above her head, and said, "Teacher, I'm here!"

The teacher looked her over with a smile and said, "Very good. Old Xu's daughter, right? I even held you when you were little. I didn't expect you to grow up so much in the blink of an eye."

"You're quite sought after; many teachers want to take you as a student, but who could possibly compete with your father? Go report to Teacher Xu Yiming."

Xu Yao immediately replied sweetly, "Okay, Teacher!"

Beast Taming Universities are different from ordinary universities; the teaching method is more like a traditional master-disciple system.

After enrollment, students aren't divided into classes. Instead, they follow a mentor and become their student.

Since mentors aren't omnipotent, the school also offers many public courses for students to choose from independently.

Furthermore, the school has credit requirements; every student must complete a specified number of credits each academic year.

After Xu Yao, it was soon Su Ze's turn, but when it came to him, the teacher frowned. "Next... Su Ze."

"Your situation is quite complicated. No mentor has been assigned yet, but the Principal instructed me to have you go to his office when you report."

"The Principal?" Su Ze was stunned for a moment. Could it be that the Principal wanted to take him as a student?

The other students waiting to register broke into an uproar the moment they heard Su Ze's name.

"He's Su Ze? That ruthless guy who wiped out a whole squad of Fusang Dark Guards by himself?"

"He's so handsome, I love him..."

"What?! You're kidding me, right?! Those were Fusang Dark Guards. How could someone who just became a Beast Tamer possibly deal with them!"

"You don't know? They say the Tianyun Volcano upheaval was actually because a Diamond-rank Demonic Beast hatched. Because it had just hatched, it bonded with the first person it saw—and that was Su Ze!"

"Oh my god, a Diamond-rank Demonic Beast! His luck is just too good!"

"Tell me about it. I'm so jealous..."

However, there were also some discordant voices in the mix.

"It's just dumb luck. If I had been standing there at that time, I definitely could have formed a contract too!"

"The level gap between him and his spirit beast is so large; shouldn't there be a high risk of it losing control? Why doesn't the Association forcibly terminate his contract?"

"He's probably a 'nepotism hire.' I saw the way Captain Guo looked at him; something was definitely off..."

...Logically speaking, a genius who had contracted a Diamond-rank Demonic Beast should be kept under strict secrecy to prevent assassination attempts.

However, although not many people witnessed Su Ze's contract—only Guo Linshan, Yu Shenghuo, and Xiao Xu—

He had used the power of his spirit beast in full view of everyone out of anger to kill a squad of Fusang Dark Guards, including their Squad Leader, Yano Takashi. Afterward, the Golden Feather Phoenix Bird even transformed into a human form.

Now, anyone who had studied high school Beast Taming knowledge could guess that Su Ze had contracted a powerful Diamond-rank Spirit Beast. Only a demonic beast of that rank could possess such formidable strength while still in its infancy.

It was impossible to hide it even if they wanted to; they could only send people to protect him in secret.

Over the past few days, workers had come to Su Ze's house one after another to check the water, electricity, and gas meters, but they all felt rather unprofessional.

Su Ze also knew that they were actually Great Xia Spirit Guards arranged by Guo Linshan to protect him.

"What are you dazing out for? Don't you know where the Principal's office is? I'll take you there." Xu Yao smiled and took Su Ze's hand, leading him into the campus as if she knew the way by heart.

From the outside, the Beast Taming University didn't look much different from a regular university, with facilities like a library, activity rooms, teaching buildings, and a sports field all present.

But in addition to those, there was a massive open-air arena and several smaller arenas.

After all, unlike ordinary universities that only had academic courses, a Beast Taming University primarily taught practical combat.

The campus covered a vast area. Both of them were panting by the time they reached the Azure Dragon Statue located in the center of the campus.

The statue was a full dozen stories high. A single scale was the size of a basketball, and the two dragon whiskers were as thick as arms.

Below the statue, many people were gathered, feeling around its surface. It seemed they had all heard more or less about the fact that the statue in front of the Beast Tamer Association contained a clone of the Dragon Tamer Xiao Sheng.

So they wanted to see if this larger and more majestic statue in the school hid any mechanisms. A few days ago, there were even more people under the statue.

But they had gained nothing so far, and now only a few people still maintained any interest.

Behind the statue was Su Ze's destination: the administration building of Azure Dragon Beast Taming University.

It had eighteen floors in total, the same height as the statue.

The Principal's office was on the highest floor, the eighteenth, while Xu Yao was going to the tenth floor to find her father.

After Xu Yao stepped off the elevator on the tenth floor, Su Ze was left alone to follow the signs to the Principal's office.

The door wasn't locked. He knocked gently, and after hearing a response from inside, he pushed the door open and walked in.

The room was very spacious, furnished with a large mahogany desk, a coffee table, a set of sofas, and a bookshelf.

Calligraphy scrolls hung on the wall, featuring famous aphorisms written in a wild, cursive style that Su Ze couldn't recognize.

There were two people in the room. One was a middle-aged man sitting behind the desk, dressed in a formal suit and looking meticulously groomed.

The other was a scruffy old man wearing janitor's clothes. He held a small stainless steel hip flask, smelled of alcohol, and was leaning back in a chair in front of the desk with his legs crossed.

The middle-aged man behind the desk looked at Su Ze and said with a smile, "Su Ze, you're here. Find a place to sit down first."

Su Ze replied, "Ah, okay..." and then sat down on the sofa somewhat stiffly.

He immediately recognized that this middle-aged man was the person who had been standing next to Guo Linshan on the volcano that day.

Because of Feng Qingyi's disruption, he hadn't had a chance to greet the man during their first meeting.

Su Ze felt a bit nervous, hoping he hadn't left a bad first impression.

Xiao Xu then walked out from behind the desk with a face full of smiles. "Let me introduce myself. I am your Principal, Xiao Xu."

"I won't beat around the bush. The reason I called you here is to personally introduce a teacher to you, given your special circumstances."

Then, under Su Ze's surprised gaze, Xiao Xu pointed to the scruffy old man who was currently holding his flask and tilting the last few drops of alcohol into his mouth.