Part 7: Test

There were many eyes watching Xie Lan, but Xie Lan didn't care much. All he did was smile gently. Meng Shuo looked at him with curiosity; he used to think that Xie Lan was just a spoiled fool, but now he felt he was an entirely innocent child who knew nothing about this world.

Everyone was looking at him with anger because they were jealous of his talent in taming beasts so easily. Most people can't control beasts that easily; they have to study for a long time to become stronger than the beasts they want to control, and even that is very hard and requires a teacher to be with them.

Finally, the Water-Frozen Master arrived after punishing Hoshi Diren. Hoshi Diren looked at Xie Lan with slight nervousness. His lower eyes were a little red, but not in a beautiful way. In contrast, Xie Lan's redness leaned toward pink, making him look extremely beautiful. But for Hoshi Diren, it looked as if he had been crying.

Hoshi Diren stepped forward until he reached Xie Lan and bowed to offer an apology: "Sorry for disturbing your beast-control training."

Xie Lan looked at him, maybe feeling a bit sad because of Hoshi Diren's eyes. He smiled, "It's okay. I also apologize for being the reason you got punished by the Water-Frozen Master."

Meng Shuo, who didn't like the words, couldn't help but mock Xie Lan, "Why are you apologizing? He got punished because he's an idiot. And this isn't the first time he's been punished."

When Xie Lan heard that, his face became even sadder. "Has he been punished often?"

Even a student intervened, saying, "Yes, he's always being punished because he likes trouble. That's not something we should feel sorry for."

Xie Lan: "So we shouldn't feel sorry?"

Meng Shuo: "No. We shouldn't feel sorry."

Xie Lan: "Then what should we feel?"

Meng Shuo: "..."

Meng Shuo couldn't speak. He looked at the Water-Frozen Master, but the master looked away. Even the student who intervened became like a statue.

Xie Lan, who was asking, saw that Meng Shuo didn't have the answer. So he looked at the Water-Frozen Master because he was the oldest one present and also a teacher, so of course, he would know.

The Water-Frozen Master looked into Xie Lan's gentle eyes waiting for an answer. He sighed and finally replied, "Ignore it. Don't care."

Even though it wasn't the answer Xie Lan expected, he smiled. Even though it was a smile, it was full of sadness. The Water-Frozen Master felt guilty and looked away. He really didn't know how to tell him. So he decided to say anything.

It's very hard to explain your feelings. You can feel them, but you can't speak about them, because they differ from one person to another.

But he tried to change the awkward mood. He laughed lightly and said, "Okay, today is your first day, and luckily today there's a nice test. I'll teach them how to deal with different beasts. And since you already know how to deal with beasts, it'll be good to see which ones you can't deal with."

Xie Lan nodded and looked at all the students. There were four students besides Meng Shuo and Hoshi Diren. Among the three, there was a girl—just an ordinary girl—who didn't care to look at Xie Lan.

The student who spoke earlier had tied hair, wide eyes, and freckles on his face. The last one was wearing a black mask covering half of his face. There weren't many people, but they all looked decent.

Finally, they went to the training area. There were many beasts of different shapes—like a fox in white mixed with pink, and birds in elegant forms—all in blended colors. And the best part was that they weren't small in size.

Besides them, all were seventh-grade mythical creatures. Of course, someone like Xie Lan, who always read about cute animals—and of course, there wasn't a single book about beasts he hadn't read—his shiny violet eyes opened in astonishment.

"Is that... Is that the Cloud Bird? And that one too—isn't that the Red Blood Bird?!"

When the Water-Frozen Master heard the names of these mythical beasts from books no one reads, he was even more shocked than Xie Lan.

There weren't students who liked beast taming—not because they were good people, but because taming beasts is hard and requires strong spiritual energy and very long cultivation. That's why no one likes to learn about these beasts.

But Xie Lan didn't read because he wanted to tame them. He just wanted to know about the cute animals—because he loved them.