Chapter 876: They Are Master Teachers!

"Beast Hall?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback.

"Yes, the Beast Hall stores the blood of many sacred beasts. As long as one is a sufficiently high-level beast tamer and willing to pay a certain price, they can exchange for it!" said the Queen Ant Bee.

"Alright, I'll go take the Six-Star Beast Tamer exam now and exchange some for you on the way!"

Hearing that the blood of the Saint Domain Queen Ant Bee had such an effect, Zhang Xuan hesitated no longer. He left the hive, glanced at Wei Ruyan, and seeing that she was recovering quickly and the Bodhi tree was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Leaving the imperial palace, he headed toward the Master Teacher Academy.

For taking the beast tamer exam and exchanging blood, it was naturally more convenient to find Elder Mi. As for the Beast Hall of the Hongyuan Empire, he didn't even know where it was, let alone how to find it.

Arriving at the Beast Tamer Academy, he found Elder Mi sitting in his room with a furrowed brow, as if troubled by something urgent.

"Dean!"

Seeing him approach, Elder Mi dared not act presumptuously and quickly came forward to greet him.

"Elder Mi, no need to be so polite. I came here to take the Six-Star Beast Tamer exam..." Zhang Xuan stated his purpose directly.

"Six-Star Beast Tamer?"

Elder Mi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile: "Dean, you jest. You've already tamed Senior Ziyang, which qualifies you for Seven Stars. I've already applied to the headquarters and received a reply, but the badge hasn't arrived yet!"

The Ziyang Beast had reached the Saint Domain Second Layer, Consciousness Realm, and only a Seven-Star Beast Tamer could tame it. Zhang Xuan's success meant he already possessed that ability; there was no need to waste effort on an exam.

"Seven-Star Beast Tamer?" Zhang Xuan was dumbfounded.

He had come thinking to take the Six-Star exam, but Elder Mi had already applied for Seven Stars on his behalf.

That was fine; it saved a lot of trouble.

"Then thank you very much. Since the headquarters has agreed, I have a favor to ask... I want to exchange for some blood of the Saint Domain Queen Ant Bee!" Zhang Xuan continued.

"Blood of the Saint Domain Queen Ant Bee?" Elder Mi frowned.

"Yes," Zhang Xuan nodded.

"Blood of other sacred beasts is easy to negotiate and not too expensive, but... the Queen Ant Bee might not be so easy to exchange for!" Elder Mi paused, then said.

"Not easy to exchange?" Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

They were all sacred beasts; shouldn't they be roughly the same? Why was the Queen Ant Bee so difficult?

"Queen Ant Bees are already rare, and those that break through to the Saint Domain are naturally even rarer!"

Seeing his confusion, Elder Mi explained: "Most importantly, this kind of queen bee has the ability to create space, making it extremely precious... Even if the headquarters has some, it would require a great price!"

"A great price?"

"Yes, even if you, Teacher Zhang, are a Seven-Star Beast Tamer, purchasing it would likely cost several thousand high-grade spirit stones, or even more..." Elder Mi shook his head with a bitter smile.

The cost of purchasing the Saint Domain Queen Ant Bee's essence blood was simply too high, to the point where people like them couldn't bear it.

"Several thousand high-grade spirit stones?"

Zhang Xuan's lips twitched.

He had just managed to get a few hundred high-grade spirit stones from Wu Xu and the others, thinking he was wealthy, but hearing this, he realized he was still a pauper.

And that was with him being a Seven-Star Beast Tamer; if an outsider came to buy, the price would at least double.

Special profession guilds like the Beast Hall offered discounts to their members; the higher the level, the cheaper the purchase. That was the rule.

"Actually... if you can't afford the spirit stones, there is another way to get it, but... it's even harder!"

Elder Mi stopped mid-sentence.

"Oh?" Hearing there was another way, Zhang Xuan looked at him.

"It's simple: make enough contributions to the Beast Hall. If your contributions are great enough, they might grant it to you..." Elder Mi said.

"Contributions?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

"Yes, providing rare spirit beast or sacred beast blood to the Beast Hall, or completing tasks assigned by the Beast Hall... all count as contributions!" Elder Mi continued.

"Providing rare spirit beast blood?" Zhang Xuan shook his head.

The Beast Hall had been established for who knows how many years; most sacred beasts and spirit beasts on the continent had already been collected. Even if there were rare ones, he didn't have the time to search for them.

"The first method is indeed difficult, unless you're extremely lucky. As for the second, the Beast Hall rarely issues tasks, and even if it does, they rarely fall to us..."

Elder Mi also wore a bitter smile.

Contributions for any inherited profession were not easy to earn; otherwise, people would have been fighting over them long ago.

"Dean Mi, we can't hold on much longer, think of something..."

Just as he was about to continue, hurried footsteps were heard outside, and an old man rushed in.

Entering the room, he saw Zhang Xuan and quickly bowed: "Dean!"

It was Zhao Bingxu, the dean of the Artifact Refining Academy.

"Elder Zhao, what can't hold on?"

Zhang Xuan asked curiously.

When he first entered, he saw Elder Mi frowning, thinking it was his own trivial matter, but from Zhao Bingxu's words, it seemed not so simple.

"Oh, nothing. Dean, just rest assured and wait for tomorrow's succession ceremony. We'll handle the trivial matters..."

Zhao Bingxu forced a laugh.

"Yes, Dean, we'll handle it ourselves..." Elder Mi quickly nodded as well.

"What exactly is going on?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

The two were deans of their academies and peak Saint Domain First Layer experts, formidable figures. For such people to be so worried, something major must have happened.

Although he didn't care about many things, as the current dean of the Master Teacher Academy, he had responsibilities and needed to be informed about certain matters.

"This..."

Seeing him ask, the two elders exchanged glances, their faces full of hesitation.

"Alright!" After a moment, Elder Mi sighed: "It's the spirit beasts of Cloud Mist Mountain; there's a beast tide!"

"Cloud Mist Mountain? Beast tide?" Zhang Xuan was startled.

"Yes, the spirit beasts and sacred beasts of Cloud Mist Mountain have always coexisted peacefully with our Hongyuan City, like well water and river water. Some time ago, for some unknown reason, they suddenly went mad, surrounding and attacking hunters and cultivators who entered the mountains."

Elder Mi said: "The Master Teacher Academy received a request and sent people to warn them. But instead of repenting, they came out in full force, triggering a beast tide! They ambushed and attacked the academy's master teachers. With no other choice, we sent all the students of the Beast Tamer Academy to resist. Now, both sides are clashing in the Hongyuan Mountains... The battle has been going on for a whole day, and we're struggling to hold on!"

"Struggling to hold on..." Zhang Xuan's face darkened.

He could guess why the sacred beasts and spirit beasts of Cloud Mist Mountain were rioting.

It must be related to his theft of the earthly vein spiritual liquid.

He had thought those creatures would stay quietly in the mountains, but they had charged out and clashed head-on with the Master Teacher Academy.

"Take me to see!"

Clenching his fist, Zhang Xuan said.

Since he had caused this, he naturally couldn't back down.

"Dean... you can't go. You haven't undergone the ceremony yet, and your strength is insufficient. If you go and they learn your identity, you might be surrounded and attacked..."

Zhao Bingxu shook his head first.

The fact that all the academy's students had gone out to fight, such a major event, had not been told to Zhang Xuan precisely because his current strength was insufficient. If they revealed he was the dean, he could easily be ambushed, and if things went wrong, there might be another situation where the dean disappeared and the academy fell into chaos.

So they wanted to solve it themselves, letting him take the throne peacefully without any interference.

Moreover, they wanted to resolve it beforehand to give the new dean a good start.

"Where is it? Otherwise, I'll go myself!"

Zhang Xuan raised an eyebrow.

The disaster was his doing; he couldn't let the academy's students lose their lives because of it.

"This..."

Seeing his firm attitude, the two elders exchanged glances again and couldn't help but sigh: "Alright, we'll take the dean there. But we hope the dean won't be impatient and won't reveal his identity when we arrive... This isn't the first beast tide at Cloud Mist Ridge; there must be a way to suppress it!"

"Mm," Zhang Xuan said no more.

Elder Mi summoned his Fire Dragon Sacred Beast, and the three of them stepped onto it, flying straight toward the Hongyuan Mountains.

"What's the situation now?"

Standing on the beast's back, Zhang Xuan looked at Zhao Bingxu.

"Not optimistic... This beast tide is more severe than any before. All the spirit beasts are attacking like disciplined soldiers, putting our students at a great disadvantage!"

Zhao Bingxu hesitated for a moment, then said.

"Disciplined?"

"Yes, if I'm not mistaken, the sacred beasts of Cloud Mist Ridge have also come out! Only with their command can they maintain such combat effectiveness..."

Zhao Bingxu nodded.

"What about casualties?" After a long silence, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but ask.

"Very serious. The Beast Tamer Academy is the fourth major department of the Master Teacher Academy, with over twenty thousand students. Except for those on trials, almost all have joined the battle. Now, nearly half are injured, but deaths are not many, only a few dozen!"

Zhao Bingxu said.

"Already a few dozen dead?" Zhang Xuan's body stiffened.

"Yes," this time it wasn't Zhao Bingxu but Elder Mi who spoke.

As they spoke, the sacred beast arrived above the battlefield in the Hongyuan Mountains. Looking down through the window, Zhang Xuan saw countless spirit beasts charging down from the mountain, met by countless master teacher students. The battle was fierce.

Many students were severely injured but did not retreat; instead, they fought even more bravely, unafraid of life or death.

Zhang Xuan's body trembled slightly.

He saw two acquaintances—Feng Wu and Yu Cheng, who had clashed with him earlier at Lei Yuan Peak. Now, both were covered in blood; the latter had even lost an arm, yet he still didn't retreat, gritting his teeth and charging forward with reddened eyes.

It was completely different from the selfish behavior they had shown when fighting him before.

He also saw several people who had fought each other in the academy earlier, now fighting side by side, their backs leaning against each other, each entrusting their most vulnerable side to their companions.

"They can have conflicts, they can fight, they can even do things that go against morality, but... when faced with a crisis for humanity, they immediately unite without hesitation, charging forward without flinching, even at the cost of their lives!"

Seeming to sense his shock, Elder Mi said solemnly: "Because this is their mission and responsibility! Because they share a common name..."

"...Master Teacher!"