EFB Chapter 49: Eternal Azure Sky and a Lotus
Chapter 49: Eternal Azure Sky and a Lotus
Office of the Fifth Branch of Beast Tamers, Tiannan Beast Taming University.
When Vice President Wang Hongtao heard that the president had refused Su Guoan's "gift," he was immediately puzzled and agitated.
"President, why are you refusing?"
In Wang Hongtao's view, it was rare for Su Guoan to take care of the Fifth Branch, and the person who gave it was one of the top two in this special training. This was something he would never have dared to dream of before, but Li Zhenbei actually refused it outright.
Wang Hongtao: "President, now is not the time to act impulsively."
He mistakenly thought that Li Zhenbei was still arguing with Su Guoan about the job assignment. If that were the case, then the eldest son would be confused.
Little did he know, Li Zhenbei had never been so clear-headed. A confident smile immediately appeared on his lips: "Old Wang, I'm not acting impulsively. On the contrary, I'm perfectly clear-headed right now. Don't you know Old Su's temperament?"
As Li Zhenbei spoke, a sneer appeared on his lips: "This guy is the kind of person who can't stand to be taken advantage of. Do you think he would be so kind as to give us first and second place? You're thinking too much. If it weren't for the school's rules, this old guy would want to take all the top ten spots."
After being reminded, Wang Hongtao realized, "That's right, this doesn't fit Chairman Su's personality. So why did he give us an outstanding spot?"
"Old Wang, you're mistaken. He's not giving you one; he's exchanging one for another," Li Zhenbei said incisively.
Wang Hongtao wasn't stupid; he immediately realized what was going on: "He wants to swap Lin Yi?"
The moment this thought crossed his mind, even Lao Wang felt a sudden tightness in his chest.
Li Zhenbei continued, "These past few days I've been thinking about why this kid named Lin Yi suddenly rushed into the 'selection list.' The more I think about it, the more something seems off. We're all locked in by our preconceived notions and ways of thinking, instinctively believing that plant-type beast tamers aren't suited for the combat path."
As he spoke, he looked at Lao Wang and said, "But we've all overlooked one issue: how did a newbie in the spirit plant category manage to rise to this level? I've watched the surveillance video of him at the special training base these past two days. You might not believe it, and even I don't believe it."
"A plant-type being, having formed a contract with a ground-dwelling mushroom, is able to stand out from the crowd...is that even scientifically possible?"
Yes, is it scientific?
Wang Hongtao also realized this, which was inherently illogical. In addition, Su Guoan was in a hurry to replace the players, and even used the first and second place players to replace them, which further solidified Li Zhenbei's suspicions.
After pondering for a moment, he called Su Guoan back.
"Old Su, we've worked together for decades, we're definitely not replacing you. Now that things have come to this, shouldn't you tell me something?"
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, as if they knew Li Zhenbei wouldn't release the person, so they told the other party everything.
Upon hearing certain information, Li Zhenbei was immediately taken aback: "Attract...attract lightning?"
Su Guoan: "Old Li, you might have struck gold in the five-minute club."
After hanging up the phone, Li Zhenbei stood in his office, unable to come to his senses for a long time. A ground mushroom that could attract lightning, a ground mushroom with the "lightning element evolution direction"—he knew what that meant without Su Guoan having to tell him.
When Wang Hongtao learned of this news, he was so shocked that he could hardly speak. First of all, the Beastmasters of the "Lightning Element Evolution Direction" are terrifying to the extreme. Not to mention the ten strongest evolution elements, the skills that "Lightning Element Evolution Beast Pets" can teach are mostly secret techniques with wide-range destructive power, which are far more valuable than other elemental systems.
The reason why the ten most powerful "elemental systems" are so terrifying is that one of them is worth a million masters. Among them, the five elements of "lightning, fire, ice, light, and darkness" are the most terrifying, followed by "water", then "metal, earth, wood" and "wind".
But none of that is the most important thing. What is important is that the "evolutionary direction of lightning element" appeared on a ground mushroom and on a spirit plant-type beast tamer.
This is no longer a successful cross-species scientific research project, but a cross-departmental one. Back in the early days of Tiannan Beast Taming University, the alma mater had a research prodigy. Unlike Lin Yi, that prodigy was not a "selected student", but a mentor.
However, this mentor, relying solely on his genius mind, conquered a path of "inter-system evolution" in the Department of Spirit Plants. The height he ultimately reached was something that even many past figures of Tiannan Beast Taming University could only look up to.
However, since this is a special case, there have been no more than five people in the whole country to date, and they were in different eras. Therefore, few people use it as a case study. But now, is Tiannan Beast Taming University about to welcome a second one?
This greatly shocked Li Zhenbei. What shocked him was not the 'cross-evolution' of the Ground Mushroom, but the person who could make the Ground Mushroom 'cross-evolution'. Such a genius might not appear for hundreds of years, but once he did, even if his achievements did not reach the level of that genius mentor back then, he might still be an extremely terrifying existence. This was because this group had a common characteristic—genius!
"No wonder Old Su wanted to change; who wouldn't want to change?"
There are always top students in the grade, but such a prodigy is rare and hard to find. At this moment, Li Zhenbei was glad that he hadn't agreed to Su Guoan's offer, otherwise he would have regretted it to the core.
Realizing what was happening, he immediately stood up and said impatiently, "Old Wang, let's go see this eccentric genius, let's go."
Upon hearing Li Zhenbei's words, Old Wang paused, "Chairman, are we going over there already?"
"Yes, yes, you're right, we can't just let it go like this." Li Zhenbei said as if he had just realized something. "We need to prepare something, we can't go empty-handed, otherwise the child will be disappointed. Yes, yes, we can't just let it go like this."
As Li Zhenbei spoke, he looked at Lao Wang and said, "What do you think we should bring? After all, he's a selected candidate from my Fifth Branch. We can't just talk the talk without walking the walk when it comes to training candidates."
"I can't appear too shabby. If he thinks I'm not strong enough, I might get fooled by that old Su guy."
As Li Zhenbei spoke, he began to rack his brains. This could not be considered using public office for private gain. After all, "selected students" were originally intended to be the focus of training. It was reasonable to allocate resources slightly more, and it would be fine to allocate more resources as well.
Looking at Li Zhenbei, who was starting to think about the "meeting gift," Lao Wang hesitated, then said, "President, you misunderstood. What I meant was, with such a heavy thunderstorm and it being so late at night, are you sure you want to go find that Lin Yi right now?"
Li Zhenbei pondered this until noon the next day.
The next day, the weather was clear and the air was fresh on the back mountain of Tiannan Beast Taming University.
It was still that familiar grove of trees, but today, a stunningly beautiful figure appeared there.
"Senior, you can't spoil it like this. If you feed it too much, I won't be able to afford to take care of it in the future."
Looking at the large amount of extraordinary evolution ingredients that Chen Shiqi had brought over, as well as rations containing lightning elements and thunder power, Lin Yi couldn't help but joke.
Chen Shiqi, holding the little mushroom cub, kissed it on its mushroom cap and said, "If you can't afford to raise it, I will. We can't let our little mushroom cub go hungry, right, mushroom cub?"
Mushroom: (◍•ᴗ•◍) Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The little guy nodded frantically.
Lin Yi laughed when he saw this.
The two were keeping Gu Zai company when Lin Yi suddenly received a call from an unknown number.
On the phone… the person claimed to be the president of the fifth branch of the Beast Tamer Association, I think his name was Li Zhenbei, and asked Lin Yi where he was at the moment, because he wanted to process the articles of association for joining the Beast Tamer Association.
Lin Yi originally asked where the other party was so he could rush over immediately, but unexpectedly Li Zhenbei directly asked for the address, saying that he didn't have any avian-type pets and it would be too slow for him to come over, so the other party should come find him directly.
Having no other choice, Lin Yi glanced at Chen Shiqi and could only tell her that she was in the back mountain.
Not long after, when Li Zhenbei and Lao Wang landed their flying beasts, they saw Chen Shiqi and Lin Yi standing side by side, watching the little mushroom play with thunder.
Both of them were startled.
"Shi...Shiqi?"
"Oh no...it's...the president?"
Li Zhenbei almost lost his mind when he saw the genius girl. He jumped off his pet and quickly walked over, his mind filled with the question, "How did she get here?"
Chen Shiqi, however, was not at all reserved. She smiled at the two of them and said, "Elder Li, Elder Wang, please just call me Shiqi. The president is just a position. There is a proper order of seniority and hierarchy."
It was obvious that the three of them were quite familiar with each other.
Knowing that Li Zhenbei was coming, Chen Shiqi still did not leave.
She had already learned about the "selection students" from Lin Yi, and even knew which branch Lin Yi had been assigned to.
Even though she knew Li Zhenbei and his companion were coming, she still didn't leave. Anyone with eyes could see that she was intentionally or unintentionally supporting Lin Yi. After all, the second-in-command of the Beast Tamer Association (Branch 1) was standing there, and she didn't even need to say anything; she was conveying a certain message.
When they learned that the two were childhood friends and even childhood sweethearts, Li Zhenbei and Wang Hongtao were dumbfounded... that kid actually had this kind of relationship?
It's worth noting that the entire Beast Tamer Association is currently buzzing with rumors that once Su Guoan steps down from his position, the most likely person to take over the top spot is this genius girl. In fact, even though that day hasn't come yet, this second-in-command's influence in the Beast Tamer Association is already almost on par with Su Guoan's, especially in terms of resource allocation.
While both were astonished, they couldn't help but feel secretly invigorated.
Lin Yi's relationship, isn't that the same as my Fifth Branch's relationship?
Having connections in the imperial court makes it easier to become an official.
Thinking of this, Old Li's mood immediately soured, and he thought to himself, "Oh no... I brought too few gifts."
At this moment, Lin Yi was also observing the two instructors, but soon his gaze fell on the potted spirit plant-type pet that Lao Wang was holding.
It was a plant-type pet planted in a transparent pot, but the material it was being cultivated with was not extraordinary soil, but a kind of almost chaotic, semi-transparent mist.
Even Lin Yi felt a pang of anxiety upon seeing the plant-type pet.
A high-level, extraordinary spiritual plant-type pet—the Chaos Azure Lotus?
……
P.S.: A long chapter of 3000 words is coming, please read it on Tuesday. There will be another chapter at 11 PM, brothers, please remember to read that one too. To avoid affecting everyone's reading experience, I won't be asking for readers to read it again at the end of subsequent chapters. Thank you!