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Volume 4 Chapter 1: Slight Trouble
The monstrous Monolithic Dragon flew up into the sky. Its draconic roar shook the world. It seemed like a green cloud had formed above Shenfeng Institute. An incredible pressure was felt pressing down on every single person’s heart.
All the flying magi descended to the ground while the Flying Dragon Riders led their mounts fleeing into the distance. The chaos stopped. It was still. The practitioners that were the closest to the vice-president retreated back.
A middle-aged man with blond hair stood on the Monolithic Dragon’s back. He was proudly wielding a Dragon Slaughtering Lance. He seemed like a god of war. He coldly looked at the scene below him and loudly asked, “Why are you all disturbing the peace of Shenfeng Institute?”
The thousands of practitioners on the ground were all stunned for a moment, but the momentary peace was broken as the crowd once again begun to stir. There were genuine experts among this gigantic group of practitioners—they weren’t intimidated by some fourth-ranked Monolithic Dragon Rider.
“Hand over the god’s bone!”
“What kind of treasure is being held in the god’s hand?!”
“Give me the treasure!”
…
After that moment of silence, the chaos erupted.
Suddenly, a roar thundered from within Shenfeng Institute. A sinister-looking, black Monolithic Dragon soared into the sky. It lingered above everyone like a black cloud. The dragon came with another blond middle-aged man. Not only that, but he actually looked identical to the man on the green dragon’s back. The two of them appeared perfectly identical—cold and stern.
The rioting crowd calmed again. The vice-president took the opportunity to speak. He quickly cleared his throat and clearly broadcasted, “Everyone, don’t be rash. Let me explain.” Although his voice wasn’t very loud, the resounding tones were clear, as if he were speaking right into everyone’s ears. It was obvious he was an eastern martial artist; he was using a high level voice transmittance technique. This bit of prowess was enough to surprise everyone.
The vice-president quickly leapt up on top of the school’s tall gate and said, “I don’t think everyone came here just for this god’s bone.” With that said, he waved the skeletal hand in the air and continued, “Although the ancient gods were strong, they’re dead; although their bones are peculiar, there’s not much use for them. I think everyone has come for the treasure that is being held in this god’s hand.”
No one said anything. They all agreed.
“Everyone, please look. This isn’t the god’s left hand. It’s his right hand. The ancient sheepskin scroll stated: ‘The ancient god’s left hand was holding a shining object and fell somewhere in the mountains’, but this is a different hand!”
The vice-president’s words seemed like a boulder plunging into a still lake causing huge ripples. The crowd was in another uproar, but it didn’t last very long before simmering down. Everyone stared at him, wanting to hear what he had to say next.
The vice-president said, “Everyone saw that it was a little girl that found this bone. If you want to know the secret, you’ll have to ask her…”
The Little Princess gazed at the two Monolithic Dragons in the sky. She was comparing them to the Xiao Yu in her arms. “Aren’t they just a bit bigger? My Xiao Yu is still more beautiful.”
Chen Nan saw how unconcerned she looked even though she had caused such a disturbance—she was even in the mood to compare dragons and tigers! He really wanted to give her a good pinching, but he held himself back. He nudged her and said, “Little demon, little troublemaker, you have a problem. That old guy is talking about you right now.”
The princess listened attentively and angrily said, “Damn old man! He sure is a cunning old fox. He managed to put the target back onto me. Chen Nan, didn’t you say there’d be a huge battle? Why hasn’t it started yet?”
Chen Nan couldn’t hold it in anymore—he pinched her cheek tightly. “You’ve caused so much trouble, just shy of causing a huge massacre! You’re still not satisfied?!”
The mob of practitioners began to clamour again:
“We must find that little miss!”
“We must find out where she found that god’s bone!”
…
The Little Princess facepalmed and sighed, “Oh God. Look at what I’ve caused. If I can’t explain myself, won’t everyone go after me?” With that said, she looked over at Chen Nan. “Can you come with me?”
“No way.” Chen Nan instantly declined her offer.
“I’m too scared to go alone. If you don’t come with me, I might be too nervous and say something wrong. What if I’m not careful and say you were the one that gave the god’s hand to me, then…”
Upon hearing her threat, Chen Nan really wanted to pinch her good.
The screech of a bird resounded through the air. Dongfang Fenghuang and her giant golden bird dove down from the sky.
The princess happily greeted, “Old woman!”
“Little beggar, you still haven’t learned your lesson?”
Dongfang Fenghuang began to conjure a small fireball, causing the princess to quickly change her tone: “Fenghuang-jiejie, it was an accident. I blurted it out without thinking.”
Dongfang Fenghuang dissipated her fireball and said, “Little beggar, I really underestimated you. First, you ran around the City of Crime looting everyone. After that, you tried to frame your friend. Now, you’ve implicated Shenfeng Institute. I’m sure there isn’t a crime you won’t commit. Let’s see how you handle that crowd of heroes this time.”
The princess innocently replied, “Fenghuang-jiejie, those were all just careless mistakes. I didn’t do it on purpose. You have to help me this time, or else what if I say something wrong, like for instance telling those people that I found the hand at Shenfeng Institute?”
“What? You… you dare threaten me? How incredibly vile!”
Feeling wronged, the princess said, “I’m not threatening you. I just want you and Chen Bei to come protect me. I’m too scared to go by myself. When I’m scared, I blurt out the wrong things accidentally.”
Chen Nan and Dongfang Fenghuang angrily grinded their teeth. In the end, they were forced to accompany her to the school’s gate. When the crowd of practitioners saw the Little Princess leap on top of the gate, they all began to riot. Some even began to charge towards her.
The vice-president loudly shouted, “Everyone, don’t be rash! Let this girl tell us her secret.”
At the moment, everyone’s eyes were on the princess, who looked very uneasy. Of course, Chen Nan and Dongfang Fenghuang who were forced to go with her also looked uneasy. If the princess handled this matter poorly, the two of them would also probably be implicated and be hunted down by the mob of practitioners. Just the thought of it was terrifying.
The princess steadied her mind. She quickly calmed down.
“I don’t know any secret. It was only by chance that I found that piece of god’s bone in the ruins. If there really was a secret, would I have flaunted it in front of everyone to see and inconvenience myself? I went to go look for the god’s severed hand all because of that smelly old man.” With that said, the princess pointed at the vice-president beside her.
The practitioners in front of the school’s gate all began to heartily laugh. The grand Shenfeng Institute’s vice-president was just called a smelly old man by some little lady in front of everyone. It was quite amusing.
The vice-president’s mustache rose as he breathed out angrily. He awkwardly scratched his nose.
“I want to attend Shenfeng Institute, but that mean old man won’t let me. He insisted that I find the ancient god’s severed hand or else I wouldn’t be allowed to attend, so I had to find it no matter what. In the end, I really did find it. Since that smelly old man was so mean, of course I wanted to teach him a lesson, so I lured everyone here. I’m really disappointed. Why didn’t you guys beat up this mean old man?”
The princess’s seemingly innocent words caused everyone to laugh out loud. Nearly everyone assumed she was merely an undisciplined, troublesome little lady. Everyone gradually believed in her words.
“I even have a witness—her.” The princess turned around to let Dongfang Fenghuang be at the front. At the same time, she quietly whispered to the vice-president, “Smelly old man, if you don’t cooperate, I’ll tell everyone that Shenfeng Institute has already found the god’s left hand and the mysterious treasure.”
It upset the vice-president to be constantly called a ‘smelly old man’ and a ‘bad old man’ in front of thousands of practitioners. Hearing the princess threaten him now, he really wanted to go on a rampage. The grand Shenfeng Institute’s vice-president was actually being made a fool of by some little girl.
The princess loudly shouted to everyone, “She was following this smelly old man’s orders and secretly followed me and protected me the entire time. She can confirm I only found the god’s right hand bone.”
The vice-president was truly upset. He was threatened into abetting the Little Princess with her lies. He forced himself to say, “Ai, this young miss is the daughter of one of my old friends. I was just joking around with her. I didn’t think she’d take it seriously and cause such a big problem.” He pointed at Dongfang Fenghuang and continued, “This is a student from my school. She indeed secretly followed and protected her. Please let her tell us what she saw.”
Dongfang Fenghuang forced herself to say, “I had my Godly Bird follow her the entire time. We saw that she truly did discover just the god’s right hand.”
Everyone in front of Shenfeng Institute’s gate began to clamour. Everyone was convinced that the Little Princess was nothing more than a mischievous girl, that everything was nothing but a farce that the little girl had created. Naturally, after she actually found a god’s bone, everyone reaffirmed themselves that the ancient god’s treasure truly was someplace among the ruins.
Now that the ‘facts’ were presented, there was no one among the crowd of practitioners that were willing to continue offending Shenfeng Institute. There were myriad experts within Shenfeng Institute after all. In just this brief period of time, two Monolithic Dragon Riders had already appeared. Who knew if there were a few more of them? Moreover, none of those terrifying magi or mysterious Daoists had appeared. If a dozen of these incredibly powerful experts were to have come out, in addition to the thousands of students within the school, the crowd of practitioners would’ve suffered greatly.
Finally, the vice-president declared, “If anyone is interested in this piece of god’s bone, you can stay behind and examine it. Otherwise, please leave.”
The majority of the practitioners had come for the sake of the unknown treasure, so many of them gradually left. Only a small part of the group lined up at the gate to take a look at the ancient god’s left hand bone.
The noisy scene lasted for four hours until everyone dispersed. The two Monolithic Dragon Riders coldly watched over the entire course of events, not leaving until all the practitioners that had gathered outside of the campus entrance had gone. The campus entrance was once again deserted. The vice-president wiped the smile off of his face, replacing it with a look of savagery. In a flash, he arrived in front of the Little Princess. He lifted her up and scowled at her.
“Little troublemaker, you’re utterly beyond help. You’ve caused such a scene. Do you know you almost caused a disaster? The consequences would be unthinkable if a battle had actually taken place. I really—ouch! How dare you pull my beard?! Let go—ow!”
The Little Princess didn’t look guilty or ashamed at all. On the contrary, she seemed to be somewhat upset. She pulled on the vice-president’s beard as hard as she could.
“Damn old man, smelly old man, who told you to make things difficult for me? Serves you right! You’re still complaining to me? I’ll pull all your hair out!” The princess used both of her lily-white hands to pull on the vice-president’s beard as hard as she could.
Chen Nan, Dongfang Fenghuang, and the dozens of students looked on, dumbstruck. They all couldn’t help but burst out laughing. They never would have thought in their wildest of dreams that the vice-president, the sly old fox with unfathomable cultivation, would be treated like this. Nearly all of them were crying from laughter.
The vice-president shrieked, “Let go! Little troublemaker, let go…!”
“You first! Let me down!”
The vice-president hastily let her back on the ground. As the princess let go, she didn’t forget to give his beard one last painful tug. The pained vice-president grimaced.
“Ugh, pri—young miss, don’t be a bully. Just take it as me teaching you a little lesson.”
The vice-president really wanted to give her a good smack, but because of her special status and his recent meeting with that terrifying old man, he felt it was best not to stoop to her level. He awkwardly looked around, relieved that none of the old fossils from the school had come. If they had, he would have become a laughingstock. He scowled at the students surrounding him, “What did you guys see?”
The students were well aware of what the vice-president was trying to do. They all uniformly said, “We didn’t see anything at all. If the president has nothing else, then we shall take our leave.” With that said, the students ran back inside campus. Once past the gate, they all burst out laughing.
The vice-president angrily said, “As for you guys, I’ll deal with you later.”
Chen Nan ran over and pulled the Little Princess off to the side, pinching her cheek. “Little demon, you’re terrible. I’ll completely bind you this time. Heaven will go after me if I keep letting you go.”
The vice-president was baffled. He was already privy to the Little Princess’s status. Seeing Chen Nan treat her so rudely, he couldn’t help but ponder what Chen Nan’s identity was.
The princess smacked Chen Nan’s hand off. “I’m not going back with you. I’m a student of Shenfeng Institute now. I won’t be following you anymore.”
The vice-president’s head began to throb. He could already imagine the frustrating days to come if the princess attended Shenfeng Institute. Dongfang Fenghuang curiously sized up the princess and said, “Little beggar, you have to pay a tuition of three thousand gold coins per semester if you want to attend Shenfeng Institute. Since all the money you stole was seized, are you going to go back to steal some more? If it’s like that, Shenfeng Institute still won’t take you in.”
The vice-president seemed to find a glimmer of hope. “Right! If you can’t afford the tuition fee, you can’t attend Shenfeng Institute.”
Chen Nan no longer wanted to snatch the princess away. Instead, he wanted to witness how she handled the old fox. The princess angrily cried out, “You’re discriminating against the poor! Are you trying to say that people without money can’t go to school and learn?”
The vice-president said, “Wrong. We’re not discriminating against anyone. The nearby mountains have many magical beasts. Many young, capable experts can rely on killing those magical beasts in order to get their magicite cores to earn their tuition funds. Others work at the mercenary union in the city, taking on missions in return for high monetary rewards. Actual capable people aren’t worried over their tuition.”
The princess put on a bitter look and sighed, “That takes so much time,” but she smiled afterward and said, “How about this. I’ll sell the god’s bone to you for a million gold coins, how about it?”
The vice-president almost fell over upon hearing her offer. He waved his hands. “Take it away. That’s straight up robbery.”
“Don’t try to haggle it down. I’ll go sell it to aristocratic merchant families instead. I’m sure many people will fight over it.”
The vice-president coughed. ‘This… Actually, if it was slightly cheaper, we can probably make a deal. If my school didn’t need it for research that required this piece of god’s hand bone, then I wouldn’t even be considering this.”
Chen Nan heard this very clearly. His heart skipped a beat. What kind of research needed the hand bone of a god?
The princess said, “I don’t care if you guys need it or not. I’ll sell it to you for a hundred thousand gold coins.”
“Thirty thousand gold coins.”
“No. Eighty thousand.”
“Thirty five thousand.”
“Smelly old man, you’re too cheap! I’ll say it one more time: fifty thousand gold coins. If not, then give the god’s bone back to me.”
The vice-president looked at the princess’s resolute expression and grit his teeth. “Fine, fifty thousand gold coins.” He fished out of his bosom five gold banknotes. “Here are five ten thousand bills. Take it. From now on, this piece of god’s bone is formally the property of Shenfeng Institute.”
With that said, he carefully received the god’s bone. It was obvious from his cautious movements that this piece of hand bone was very important to Shenfeng Institute.
The princess delightedly took the money. She was beaming. “Smelly old man, actually, if you had offered only twenty thousand gold coins, I would’ve accepted!”
“Heavens! Why would you tell me this, little girl? Wu… Couldn’t you have waited for me to leave before saying that?!” It was too late for the vice-president for regrets.
“If I didn’t say it to your face, how could I make you regret it?” The princess stopped paying any attention to the vice-president. She said to herself, “Before, I didn’t really care when I had money, but for the past few days, I’ve been fretting over money. Now that I’ve suddenly obtained so much cash, I feel great!”
The vice-president said, “In two days, come to school for registration.” After that, he went back inside Shenfeng Institute. Dongfang Fenghuang followed him.
As the princess was basking in her happiness, a hand shot out from the side and took the five ten thousand gold banknotes from her grasp.
“Ah! Degenerate, damn thief, are you stealing from me?! Give it back!”
Chen Nan pocketed the bills. “Little girl, what do you need so much money for? I’ll hold onto it for you. When you need money, I’ll give you some.”
“No! Give it back! This time I earned it honourably! I didn’t put in so much energy just for you to take it without doing any work.” The princess’s eyes were red. The Tiger King scuttled out from the corner and leapt into the princess’s chest, glaring at Chen Nan.
Chen Nan said, “I just want to hold onto it for you for temporary safekeeping. I’ll gradually return it all back to you. But before that, you have to be obedient and stop making trouble everywhere you go. Alright, come back to the inn with me.”
“Damn degenerate, don’t think that just because you stole my money, you can control me! Just wait, I’ll have my revenge!”
Despite the Little Princess’s protests, Chen Nan dragged her back to the inn.
Thank you very much!
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