Five

That's right — Zhou Mu had come to the Great Hall to assemble, only to find that almost everyone attending Orientation Training with him was a primary-school student, with a smattering of middle-schoolers. Standing here, he was conspicuous to the point of absurdity, and these primary-schoolers had to point and whisper about him.

"I'm twenty. Cross-region admission." Zhou Mu explained to the primary-schooler, drained of energy.

The primary-schooler who had struck up the conversation rolled his eyes around, looked him over several times. "So do you want to team up with me?"

The question came out of nowhere. Zhou Mu didn't quite get it. "Team up with you for what? Aren't we all training together?"

"Students, attention!"

At that moment, the ghost-cultivation senior in charge of the training floated up onto the stage and, microphone in hand, let out a shout.

The little demons below couldn't settle down right away — they all looked up at him with delight, and some went to tug at his Microphone Cable. Zhou Mu stood in the middle, calm to the point of feeling awkward about himself.

"No more messing around. Anyone who behaves badly will have to stand in the corner." The ghost-cultivator running the training called out. "Little friends, now form teams of five. Let's line up and head out — we'll talk as we walk!"

"Quickly, form your own teams. Find your teammates, hold hands with them, don't get lost."

The primary-schooler rose on tiptoe and swiftly grabbed Zhou Mu's hand. "Hurry, you're on my team!"

Zhou Mu: "..."

So that was what he meant...

The kid was clearly far more practiced than him — must have done his homework in advance.

This primary-schooler had already picked his targets. He swiftly scooped up three more students, and using "we have an upperclassman on our side" as his pitch — sure enough, no one could refuse.

Having formed his team at top speed, he announced loudly: "I'm team leader. Any objections?"

The other kids had no objections.

Zhou Mu: "...Fine."

He had no objections himself. The kid's organizational skills were pretty sharp — though had anyone actually said a team leader needed to be chosen?

Once the teams were formed, the ghost-cultivator walked a circuit to check and adjust.

Zhou Mu stood behind the team leader. The team leader was young but knew how to get things done — every so often he'd tidy up the line, and he told Zhou Mu: "I'm making you deputy leader. You assist me. Let's add each other on WeChat."

"Okay." Zhou Mu no longer had the will to question where the deputy leader position had come from. What else could he do — he was already in this little group. He looked over and saw the team leader was using a smartwatch, wrist raised, adding him.

The deputy leader's WeChat name was: Tianqi.

At this point, the ghost-cultivator in charge of training walked up to them. Seeing Zhou Mu, he grinned at him and tried to wink with his left eye — but the wink went wrong, his eyeball nearly falling out. He fumbled it back in, then, as if nothing had happened, said: "Do you still remember me, junior?"

Zhou Mu didn't know many people at Hualing. One look and he remembered — this was the ghost-cultivation senior from the book pickup, probably on the student council, with plenty of duties.

Zhou Mu recalled the senior had introduced himself. "Ah... Senior Xu. I remember."

Xu Tianyi looked him up and down, chuckling. "You're actually fine."

He'd been living with You Qi for days now, and he was rosy and glowing, not a trace of spiritual damage. Lucky bastard.

"Of course I'm fine, Senior. You're biased against You Qi." Zhou Mu said. You Qi didn't look like someone tormented by the six desires at all — his appetite was terrible; he could smell Zhou Mu's braised ribs and remain completely unmoved!

"Hahahaha! Funny!" Xu Tianyi took Zhou Mu's words as a joke. He would have liked to chat more with this pretty junior, but duty called — he was responsible for the training, so he held off for now.

Xu Tianyi floated forward. "Little friends, follow me."

He led the new students on a walk-through map of Hualing, weaving in bits of the School's founding history along the way. "Don't be fooled by our founding patriarch being a disciple of Erlang Shen, venerable and respected — he actually rose from nothing. The patriarch was originally a half-human, half-demon hybrid, despised in his time. His mother was an ordinary Human Race woman. The patriarch lived with his mother in a Human Race village, and from childhood endured the cold shoulder from relatives and villagers alike. He sought masters everywhere but found no door open to him..."

A primary-schooler raised his hand. "Teacher, how did the patriarch get in good with Erlang Shen?"

Xu Tianyi: "Oh, that starts with the person who bullied the patriarch the worst — his own maternal uncle..."

Zhou Mu: "..."

Educational. He genuinely hadn't known this anecdote.

"Alright, watch out for a pit up ahead, everyone. Walk around it." Xu Tianyi drifted past, long since accustomed to the pits scattered throughout Hualing — they couldn't trap him anyway.

Xu Tianyi reminded them casually:

"These pits get filled in by the maintenance crew by month's end, but you still need to be careful, because next month they'll dig new ones. Sometimes the crew gets lazy — you can file a complaint on the official website to get them to fill the pits faster. Also, on Jinjiang Road, everyone needs to be extra careful — there are especially many pits there."

Zhou Mu: What did my shixiong go through on Jinjiang Road?

"...Ahead is the School's Clock Tower. Except at noon, it does not ring without urgent cause."

"...This is the library. Its collection is vast, and the librarian is rigid — a being who attained the Dao through cultivation from ancient texts. So you must respect the books, or you may end up on the librarian's blacklist."

Finally, Xu Tianyi brought everyone before a roughly twenty-story building. The architectural style was high-tech, and the exterior wall colors seemed deliberately designed in patches of light and dark, like shadows cast by sunlight filtering through tree leaves.

Xu Tianyi introduced: "This is one of the experimental buildings of our Yao Clan Science Academy — it's called Chuanfang Building. Among all the teaching and experimental buildings, you must be especially careful here. Why? Because living inside the building is a Howling Celestial Dog..."

The crowd gasped.

Xu Tianyi paused for effect: "...'s descendant."

He squinted and looked around, but couldn't locate the Howling Celestial Dog's descendant anywhere. Disappointed, he said: "I don't have the authority to summon Xiao Xiao out either. This is a divine hound kept by the Academy — he enrolled before we did. On campus, everyone calls him Senior."

"Senior Xiao Xiao's sense of smell is the finest under heaven and on earth, and he's still a minor, with a rather lively temperament. You absolutely must not carry any contraband items, or don't say I didn't warn you. The school rules are clear: injuries or deaths caused by the divine hound due to one's own reasons are not the School's responsibility."

This thoroughly intimidated the primary-schoolers. Who hadn't heard the tales of the Howling Celestial Dog? They all nodded carefully.

Xu Tianyi thought to himself that new students were still easy to scare — unlike those old hands, who only knew how to deliberately throw frisbees in front of Senior Xiao Xiao...

"Senior, what's going on in there?" A student pointed at a spot on Chuanfang Building and asked.

"This is where our excellent seniors and senior sisters do their experiments. What you're seeing is them diligently conducting research..." Xu Tianyi said, looking up as he spoke. His gaze landed on the indicated spot and stalled.

Behind that window were clearly two people locked in fierce combat — one carrying something in his hands while running, the other swinging a weapon forward in a slash—

"Boom!"

The entire window shattered.

The figures inside became even clearer.

Xu Tianyi: "...I-I suppose they may have had a disagreement over research content."

Zhou Mu also realized in an instant — the light and dark patches on the wall probably weren't deliberately designed, but rather color variations from different batches of repair materials used over the years!

But the next second, he also made out the figures inside, and immediately waved in pleasant surprise: "Roommate~"

One of the people fighting up there was clearly You Qi.

And the other...

That person also turned his head. It was Chun Shijiu.

Zhou Mu's hand dropped.

Chun Shijiu wiped the corner of his mouth, let out a heh-heh laugh, and said to You Qi: "No way — it's fine for you to take my Dingfu and refine... pfft, cook rice crust for the little demon, but I can't borrow your Dingfu?"

"Borrow?" You Qi countered. "You stole it while I wasn't there."

"Obviously I had to steal it while you weren't there — otherwise you'd hit me." Chun Shijiu argued brazenly. "Like right now."

You Qi couldn't be bothered to argue further. He stretched out a hand, and the wind outside the window spiraled in, sweeping the Dingfu out from Chun Shijiu's embrace.

"Woof woof woof!!"

A bark rang out, and a figure appeared at the laboratory door.

At the same time, the students downstairs whispered among themselves.

That was Senior Xiao Xiao's bark, wasn't it?

Zhou Mu, like everyone else, stared at where the sound had come from.

A descendant of the Howling Celestial Dog — a real divine hound, never... seen one before.

Worthy of Hualing Academy — so many good things!

Then the sound drew closer. A white, long-legged sighthound appeared on the third floor, drawing cheers from below, who called out from a distance: "Hello, Senior!"

You Qi and Chun Shijiu, seeing Xiao Xiao, both assumed he had heard the laboratory being damaged and come to enforce the law — after all, the entire window along with part of the wall had shattered. The commotion was considerable.

But to their surprise, Xiao Xiao's nose twitched, he let out a volley of barks, and suddenly leaped from the third floor straight down to the ground — then, without pause, charged toward the new students!

A true divine hound. Though still a minor, his muscles were wrapped in satin-like short fur that rippled with each stride. Long-legged, narrow-waisted, light as flight — in an instant he was before the crowd.

Xu Tianyi was a little panicked. "Why is Senior out?"

He raised his hand, telling everyone to retreat.

But how could the little demons' speed match a divine hound's? Xiao Xiao's target was crystal clear — he leaped straight at Zhou Mu and tackled him to the ground!

The primary-schoolers burst out crying in fright...

Xu Tianyi grew urgent, opening his mouth to call it off.

"Deputy leader!!!"

Tianqi let out a wail that swallowed even Xu Tianyi's words.

Tianqi saw his deputy get tackled and screamed tragically, bravely rising on tiptoe to reach out, urging Zhou Mu to grab his hand and get up.

"...Uh, Senior, go easy on him!" Xu Tianyi also urgently asked Zhou Mu, "Do you have any contraband on you?"

Zhou Mu shook his head innocently. Of course he couldn't bring himself to grab the team leader's hand — he rolled over, trying to get up and run.

Xiao Xiao sniffed a few times, then opened his mouth and tore the Stealth Charm on Zhou Mu's body — along with the pocket — to shreds—

And so, that enchanting scent spread out in an instant.

It wasn't contraband. It was Zhou Mu himself.

...Too fragrant!

Xu Tianyi had originally been thinking of contacting the Disciplinary Affairs Office to come check this out, but now his head buzzed and half his reason was gone.

So fragrant, so tempting — saliva suddenly secreted in abundance, and he couldn't help staring intently at Zhou Mu.

Not just Xu Tianyi — other little demons, and even students inside the experimental building, poked their heads out, eager to try. The commotion upstairs had already drawn many onlookers; they noticed this spot at once. They were farther away and could only faintly catch the scent, but now they wanted to get closer.

And Zhou Mu was in even worse shape. After Xiao Xiao bit through the Stealth Charm, his emotions clearly grew more agitated — first he bared his teeth and growled low, threatening anyone who tried to take his prey — then he opened his mouth and bit down on Zhou Mu's ankle as he tried to flee!

Blood surged out at once, soaking through the trouser leg, dripping from the corners of Xiao Xiao's mouth.

Xu Tianyi was greatly alarmed. He shut his eyes and flung Xiao Xiao aside.

To his surprise, Xiao Xiao seemed completely unguarded and was actually tossed three meters away, letting out a whimper.

Huh? My strength has grown?

Xu Tianyi was extremely puzzled, but in this emergency he couldn't worry about that. He reached out to Zhou Mu: "Are you okay?"

Xu Tianyi had seen Zhou Mu's file, but his clearance wasn't high enough — he could only see that Zhou Mu was a cross-region admit, with no race listed...

Damn — this Zhou Mu is definitely not Human Race. What is he? He smells so delicious!

His words still carried reason, but as he approached Zhou Mu, black ghost qi faintly appeared on his face, and the hand reaching out to grasp Zhou Mu's trembled slightly.

All of this happened in a flash.

With a "bang," another student leaped down from the experimental building, charging straight in this direction.

From him to Xu Tianyi, far or near, moving or still — countless pairs of eyes stared at Zhou Mu—

"Hey, that's mine!" Upstairs, Chun Shijiu braced his hand on the window and vaulted down, landing directly on that person's back, grabbing his neck and slamming him hard into the ground!

That person immediately lost the ability to act.

Chun Shijiu flung the guy aside, then sensed a figure sweep past him — his face darkened.

It was You Qi.

His speed was extreme. Even more overwhelming was that another scent — one that provoked a reaction in everyone present — began to spread.

Xiao Xiao, crouched on the ground, let out a whimper and crawled farther away. Xu Tianyi also snapped awake from his stupor.

It was the Fierce Beast aura suddenly leaking from You Qi!

This was a bloodline left over from the primordial wilds, having weathered the Great Tribulation and not perished — a top predator stirring up bone-deep fear. In an instant, the surrounding cicadas and insects fell silent.

Tianqi was so scared he hiccupped.

Hic—

His body jolted.

You Qi was already within three zhang of him.

His eyes were dark and heavy. He raised his hand—

Zhou Mu felt a powerful force sweep him up from beside Xu Tianyi. Looking down, he saw nothing visible — it was wind, a nameless wind that wrapped around him. His hem fluttered, and in the blink of an eye he was delivered into You Qi's hands, his waist gripped with unerring precision.

You Qi stared fixedly at Zhou Mu. His gaze was utterly different from what Zhou Mu had seen in recent days — colder, as if veiled with something bestial.

He wanted — wanted, greedily, to swallow down every last trace of that scent, and even...

You Qi's bony hand rested on the Mouth Cage, intending to tear it off so he could smell that scent more clearly.

The Cinnabar Runic Script on the leather strap lit up. You Qi let out a muffled grunt — but his face didn't show pain; instead, it grew more frenzied. He bore down through the Runic Script's suppression, closing in on Zhou Mu inch by inch!

Zhou Mu, smelling You Qi's aura for the first time as well, stared at him with wide eyes. His injured leg and fear seemed to make his whole body tremble. He called out softly: "You Qi..."

You Qi heard him and looked down! His breathing came low and ragged. The Runic Script flickered bright and dim.

Zhou Mu struggled to suppress his trembling: "School rules don't allow eating classmates."

Xu Tianyi's legs went weak: Oh god, what's the use of saying that now?

But no one could blame Zhou Mu... Under You Qi's aura, no one could escape. Speaking or fleeing were equally useless.

Sure enough, You Qi suddenly lowered his head—

Zhou Mu could feel that You Qi was a beast at arm's length — only centimeters from him. Between them, the warped Mouth Cage was nearly giving way. Danger breathed in and out with each breath, inches apart, intertwined.

Then a hand grabbed his wrist and pressed something into his palm.

This was...

Before Zhou Mu could react, the cold metal pressed fully against him. The last bit of distance was gone. You Qi's tall frame, head bowed, pressed against him forcefully, feeling the pulse and faint tremor of the body in his arms.

Against Zhou Mu's cheek and slightly parted lips was the cold metal, and behind it was You Qi's — though not touching, it seemed to have warmth. So close, he seemed to be lapping up the last trace of that tempting scent — almost greedy, before it disappeared.