Chapter 8: The Unruly Blade and the Divine Phoenix

The training grounds instantly erupted into a frenzy, with students craning their necks, their gazes collectively following the longsword that sliced a silver arc through the air.

“The Compendium of Familiars doesn’t mention weapons!”

“Did it just smack the Blazeflame Winged Lion on its backside?!”

“Look! It drew a heart above the dean’s head!”

Mu Wanqing tugged wildly at Su Liyue’s sleeve.

“Yueyue, look! That sword can actually write on its own?!” She pointed at the gradually dissipating sword qi traces in the sky.

“Ah…” Su Liyue’s face was a mask of awkwardness.

How was she supposed to explain this? She couldn’t very well tell a group of magic students that a cultivator had infiltrated their ranks, especially since they probably didn’t even know what cultivation was.

“W-well, perhaps it’s because…” Su Liyue forced a calm smile, tugging at the corner of her lips.

“A special resonance between alchemists and those without an elemental affinity?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Qizai carving [Master is an idiot] into the clouds with its sword qi, her fingertips trembling with the urge to simply crush her magic staff.

That naughty Qizai, had it perhaps taken some kind of stimulant? Why was it so excited upon arriving in this new world?

Mu Wanqing nodded in sudden realization, then let out a surprised “Eh?”

“Then why does the sword hilt have…”

She squinted, looking at the floating Qizai.

“…a bow?”

“Uh…could it be an anti-rust treatment from alchemy?”

Su Liyue blurted out the excuse almost at random, her heart silently pleading with Qizai to stop its antics.

She was running out of plausible explanations, sensing that even she didn’t believe her own reasoning.

At the same time, Ye Xingchen, in his male form, frantically transmitted a message to Qizai, telling it not to run around, but Qizai seemed to be deaf to his pleas.

It was already cheerfully drawing a chibi version of Ye Xingchen’s face in the air with its sword qi, even adding an ahoge to his head.

Yu Qinglan, the dean, took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

“Everyone, this might just be…the master-recognition phenomenon of some ancient alchemical product.”

His gaze unconsciously drifted to the alchemy instructor, Tang Wanrou, who was furiously taking notes, her excited eyes shining as if she had discovered a priceless treasure.

Though the dean and instructors present were astonished, the familiar summoning ceremony couldn’t be halted due to this minor mishap caused by Ye Xingchen.

Thus, the ceremony had to continue. Any further questions would simply have to wait until after it concluded.

“Next up, student Su Liyue!” The dean’s voice noticeably rose, perhaps to alleviate the awkward atmosphere.

“Here.”

Just as Su Liyue rose, Qizai suddenly flew before her, its sword tassel rubbing against her cheek in an ingratiating manner, then swiftly unfurled a light screen in the air:

[New mistress? ^_^]

This action caused both Su Liyue’s and Ye Xingchen’s faces to darken in unison.

Allowing Qizai to continue its mischief like this simply wouldn’t do.

Though unwilling, there was no choice but to act now.

Immediately, Ye Xingchen’s fingertips moved subtly within his sleeve, and a spatial ripple, imperceptible to others, silently spread out.

Qizai, busy carving [Ye Xingchen ♡ Su Liyue] into the clouds, suddenly froze mid-air, as if an invisible hand had grabbed its sword tassel. It wobbled and floated off towards the academy’s back mountain.

The sword spirit trembled with indignation, slowly vanishing into the sky.

“Finally, it’s quieted down…”

Just as Ye Xingchen breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly sensed movement in the alternate dimension.

Qizai was chasing a hamster on a running wheel with its sword tip, poking out a ‘正’ (TL Note: The Chinese character ‘正’ (zhèng) is used for tallying, similar to a five-bar gate in English, where each stroke represents a count.) tally mark with each revolution, while the poor little creature was already running so fast it was a blur.

Dean Yu Qinglan stared at the sky, his white beard twitching.

“Today’s wind…is rather boisterous.”

All the teachers and students instinctively looked up. Under a clear, cloudless sky, where was any wind?

With the sword spirit’s disruption gone, Su Liyue quickly stepped onto the summoning array to begin her familiar summoning.

At this moment, all the instructors and students watched the academy’s sole all-elemental genius with bated breath.

Everyone was speculating, wondering what kind of powerful familiar this genius campus belle would summon.

When Su Liyue’s summoning array glowed with a rainbow light.

Ye Xingchen’s primordial spirit abruptly left his body, transforming into an unseen stream of light that entered a spatial tunnel.

Within the tunnel, the legendary beasts that had already gathered felt an inexplicable energy fluctuation. They all raised their heads, gazing at the suddenly appearing figure.

Some instinctively flared their scales and manes, radiating energy fluctuations in the distorted spacetime, seemingly showcasing their power, especially the few leading beasts.

The Nine-Headed Serpent Emperor’s eighteen eyes lit up almost simultaneously.

“This energy fluctuation, it’s an all-elemental resonance?! Damn it, how many years has it been since someone with this physique appeared on the continent!”

The Abyssal Demonic Scorpion’s tail barb was even dripping magma in excitement.

“Damn it, no one’s snatching this one from me this time!”

The Shadow Bat Dragon directly tore up the ‘Familiar Queuing Pact’ parchment it had just signed.

Ye Xingchen’s primordial spirit hovered in the center of the tunnel, observing the legendary beasts before him, all champing at the bit.

He suddenly felt a bad premonition; these strangely shaped creatures looked at Su Liyue as if hungry wolves had spotted a plump lamb.

And did these beasts not look in a mirror? Their bizarre appearances were more outlandish than the last; compared to a hamster, they were like something out of a fantastical animal kingdom, while the hamster was an adorable fluffy pet.

“Listen,”

Ye Xingchen snapped his fingers, and spatial power instantly condensed into a barrier. “I’ve got this covered—”

The surging spatial power, like a tidal wave, instantly erected a dazzling, star-strewn barrier within the tunnel.

He looked down from above at the snarling, claw-waving beasts.

However, below, it had already descended into utter pandemonium, and no one paid him any mind.

To vie for favor, the Nine-Headed Serpent Emperor’s nine heads were tearing at each other, the Abyssal Demonic Scorpion’s tail barb hung a magma-written sign saying [Choose Me], and the Shadow Bat Dragon was even more extreme, hanging upside down with its wings spread, forming a heart with its shadow.

These uniquely shaped beasts, coupled with such comical postures, made Ye Xingchen’s lips twitch uncontrollably.

“All of you, settle down!”

He flicked his finger, and the barrier suddenly constricted, compressing the Blazeflame Winged Lion, which had been forced to the front and was trying to look cute like a cat, into a fluffy, red, pancake-like creature.

“This girl’s familiar has already been pre-ordained!”

A spatial rift opened at just the right moment, revealing the scene inside the alternate dimension.

Qizai was weaving a tiny wool sweater with its sword qi, while the hamster furiously pedaled on its running wheel, a mini flag emblazoned with [The Official One] tied to its back.

This sight caused the beasts to collectively freeze.

That… wasn’t that a power level under 5 weakling? It was probably countless times weaker than even a slime.

Three of the Nine-Headed Serpent Emperor’s heads began to sob, the Shadow Bat Dragon silently covered its face with its wings, and the Abyssal Demonic Scorpion… was secretly using its tail barb to modify its campaign slogan.

“Now,”

Ye Xingchen snapped his fingers, and the barrier suddenly became a one-way mirror. “Do you still want to continue your performance?”

Outside the tunnel, the unsuspecting instructors wondered why the magic array glowed so blindingly.

Inside, Ye Xingchen rubbed his forehead, watching the beasts silently weeping over their disqualification from the selection, when Qizai’s sword qi suddenly pierced through from the alternate dimension, carving several large characters in the center of the chaos:

[Be elegant, not crude]

Ye Xingchen nodded, satisfied, as he watched the beasts gradually become more docile. Just as he was about to summon the hamster, however.

A wisp of molten gold-like fire streaked past the edge of the barrier, its passage creating an inexplicable sense of oppression even in the spatial power.

In a corner of the tunnel, a Xuanxiao Divine Phoenix with a wingspan of nearly five meters was quietly preening its feathers. Each feather seemed forged from the sunset glow, and its tail feathers shimmered with stardust-like light.

“A Xuanxiao Divine Phoenix?!” Ye Xingchen’s pupils constricted.

Wasn’t this a hundred times rarer than the Ice Crystal Phoenix that Mu Wanqing yearned for, a legendary divine beast said to only inhabit higher-dimensional spaces? How could it appear in this familiar summoning tunnel?

Could this place have some connection to a higher-dimensional space?

However, this was clearly not the time to ponder such things, as his time was limited.

Ye Xingchen wasted no more words. His primordial spirit stepped forward in the void, and spatial power condensed beneath his feet into a dazzling trajectory of stars.

He looked directly into those molten gold-like phoenix eyes.

“You—are you willing to follow me to witness the boundless myriad worlds ?”

The Xuanxiao Divine Phoenix’s tail feathers suddenly ignited with Chaos Flame, the scorching heat causing the surrounding space to subtly distort.

[You are strong]

It raised its head and let out a long cry, its sound waves shattering a few floating beast scales.

[But we were born of chaos; we kneel neither to heaven nor earth, nor worship gods or demons]