(I’ve hit my daily ten-thousand-word guarantee, and there’s another Chapter coming after midnight! Xiaodao is giving it his all, what about you? For those with a guaranteed monthly pass, please cast your vote!)

Although the women all vehemently protested against Ling Xiao naming such a beautiful Flying Magical Beast "clown"—a name they found simply awful—it did nothing to change the little creature’s destiny. Even though it was fated to become a powerful Flying Magical Beast, Ling Xiao insisted on calling it clown, and clown... seemed to have gotten used to the name.

And so, what would become the continent’s most powerful and most ridiculously named Magical Beast was thus born!

Whenever Ling Xiao called it clown, the little fella would chirp with joyful excitement before landing on Ling Xiao’s shoulder and affectionately rubbing its head against his neck and ears, making the women watch with envy!

In reality, the little creature was already becoming fully fledged. Its pure white feathers were as pristine as fallen snow, without a single blemish. Its eyes flashed like lightning, and its talons were as sharp as knives. It looked majestic wherever it stood, showing no trace of the ugliness it had at birth.

After the test, Ling Xiao walked toward his dormitory alone, his mind on his plans. ’I should be able to leave the Imperial Capital and head to my fief, Penzes City, soon.’ Several months had passed since the Beastmen attacked Cameron Town. After that one offensive against a human settlement, the Beast Race had gone quiet and hadn’t been seen by humans again. As Penzes was a port city, it had quickly recovered its former prosperity. And though Penzes was now Ling Xiao’s fief, he had yet to send anyone to take it over, so all its affairs were still being managed by the Penzes City Lord.

That City Lord had only sent Ling Xiao a letter when His Majesty the King’s decree first arrived in Penzes. Back then, the city was desolate, shrouded in the shadow of the Beastmen, and he had urged Viscount Lingxiao to send people to take over as soon as possible. But once Penzes had recovered its former prosperity, that Lord City Lord—a royal kinsman named Li Houlin, who was also the uncle of the Southern King, Li Wutong—never again sent a letter requesting Ling Xiao’s prompt takeover. Anyone with a brain could figure out what was going on.

Although Ling Xiao hadn’t cared much for money in the past, he now understood the advantages of having Gold Coins. The reason clown grew so fast was directly related to Ling Xiao feeding it Top-Grade Elixirs like they were candy. But as for the ingredients for these Elixirs, Ling Xiao had only managed to get a small amount by extorting His Majesty the King. It was nowhere near enough to keep up with the little creature’s appetite. Left with no choice, Ling Xiao had to find Huangpu Yue and entrust her and Yisha with posting a bounty throughout the Lanyue Empire, hoping to find more of such medicinal ingredients.

In truth, that wasn’t even his biggest expense. With Ling Xiao about to head to his own fief, both General Ling Tianxiao and Old Marshal Qiu Chen supported his decision to establish his own power base as quickly as possible. In the Lanyue Empire, teeming with nobles, only by possessing one’s own formidable power could one stand fearless against anything. Even a change of dynasties wouldn’t affect such a person in the slightest!

Which of the great noble houses, with their foundations stretching back thousands of years, hadn’t survived multiple dynasties? A crucial reason they could remain standing was because they were backed by immense military and financial power!

Take the Wulan Clan, for instance. The Western Province was their fief even before the Empire’s kings were of the Li family!

That’s why even the birth of a new Empire couldn’t shake the foundations of these super-clans in the slightest! Moreover, every generation of these families produced politicians who participated in the imperial government. Take the Wulan Clan’s current Clan Leader, Wulan Xiong, for example. Though his capabilities are somewhat lacking, no one in the Empire dares to underestimate him. And why is that? It’s because of the formidable power at his back!

So, there was no reason to let someone else run a territory that rightfully belonged to him.

The corner of Ling Xiao’s mouth curled up into a wry smile. ’I wonder how that royal kinsman, the Lord City Lord, will welcome me when the time comes?’

Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly heard a commotion up ahead. The Imperial Academy was normally a quiet place, rarely this raucous. After all, most of the students were nobles who seldom behaved in such an unseemly fashion for no reason.

He glanced over; it looked like a conflict had broken out. ’Among noble students, rivalries born of jealousy are an eternal theme,’ Ling Xiao thought, shaking his head. He had no interest in such things and was about to walk away when a sharp voice full of curses reached his ears.

"Ye Wen Ni! You country bumpkin from some backwater village, what are you doing here pretending to be a noble?! It was your honor that our young master took an interest in you, but you, you bitch, you nearly crippled him! Thanks to you, I had to attend to him in the infirmary for two months! Two whole months!" a servant in a fine-cloth robe shouted, his face red with agitation as he pointed an accusing finger at Ye Wen Ni.

Beside the servant stood a youth in lavish clothes, the cuffs of his sleeves bearing an exquisite, hand-embroidered Blast Flame Lion. A detached smile hung on his face as he stared haughtily at the fiercely untamed Ye Wen Ni, his eyes betraying his undisguised greed and desire. He said, "Miss Ye, I hope you’ll believe in my sincerity. My servant doesn’t know any better, and his words were a bit unpleasant. However... regarding the injury you caused me, you can’t expect to just walk away and pretend nothing happened, can you?"

"You’re full of shit!"

Strange, amused smirks appeared on the faces of the surrounding onlookers. Even Ling Xiao couldn’t help but shake his head. ’Ye Zi has been acting so refined and obedient around me lately,’ he thought. ’So it was all an act. The real Ye Wen Ni, to her very core, has wild blood running through her veins!’