That said, Mu Shui-qing thoroughly examined the Qi-Jin in Ling Lan"s body. A strange flush appeared on his face, "Good! As expected of Ling Xiao"s child. Who"d have thought that you would have achieved the peak of Qi-Jin stage at this age ..." Perhaps Ling Lan had been able to survive this crisis because his opponent Domain master would never have guessed Ling Lan was already at this stage. As such, the opponent might not have used his full strength, giving Ling Lan an opportunity to escape with his life.
Mu Shui-qing"s gaze was tender as he watched Ling Lan lying inside the recovery pod. Ling Lan had undoubtedly been very lucky. Just as he was about to close the recovery pod again, he suddenly sensed Ling Lan"s initially slowly circulating Qi-Jin speed up, the Qi-Jin acc.u.mulating rapidly ... Could it be that Ling Lan was entering the late stage of Qi-Jin peak now? If that was the case, then this would truly exemplify the saying that blessings would come if one could weather a great crisis!
Mu Shui-qing gently closed the recovery pod, then turned to Lan Luofeng and said, "Remember not to open the recovery pod during this period of time. This child is truly blessed with great fortune. In the midst of this crisis, he actually obtained the catalyst for advancement ... perhaps the recovery time of these serious injuries of his will be greatly shortened due to this advancement."
Mu Shui-qing"s words caused Lan Luofeng to breathe a sigh of relief. Although Ling Nanyi had rea.s.sured her repeatedly that Ling Lan"s injuries looked worse than they were, not actually anything serious, Lan Luofeng had simply been unable to stop worrying. However, Mu Shui-qing was different. He was an instructor who had been greatly respected by Ling Xiao; what he said could not be wrong.
After some thought, Mu Shui-qing added, "After his injuries are healed, let Ling Lan stop his schooling at the academy and return to the mansion. The scout academy has taught all it can; it"s time for him to learn from me now ..."
"Ah ..." Lan Luofeng lifted her head in joy and surprise, "I understand. Thank you, Instructor Mu!"
Lan Luofeng remembered Ling Xiao telling her once that, his ascension to G.o.d-cla.s.s operator was closely related to the things Mu Shui-qing had taught him. However, Ling Xiao had never gone into detail on what it was exactly that Mu Shui-qing had taught. This time, studying with Instructor Mu Shui-qing would undoubtedly be a great help to Ling Lan"s future development.
Seeing the pleased and excited expression on Lan Luofeng"s face, Mu Shui-qing couldn"t help but recall his most outstanding disciple, Ling Xiao, and his expression dimmed. He still remembered, back when he had first met Ling Xiao, he had been overjoyed, believing that the other would be able to inherit his full legacy. With a disciple like that, he had thought that he would have no more regrets in this life.
But who could have expected that the other would die so young, falling from this world before his time. Even as his heart ached, he wondered if the heavens had refused to allow the existence of such a nature-defying prodigy ... his heart was as lifeless as ash, and so he chose to seclude himself in Ling Xiao"s old mansion, shutting himself off from the world.
This time, if not for Ling Qin begging desperately outside his door, pleading for him to intervene and rescue Ling Xiao"s only descendant, he would not have been moved to leave his seclusion. In truth, he had really wanted to take a look at the only child Ling Xiao had left behind ...
Who could have guessed that with just this one look, he was astounded once more — Ling Xiao may have pa.s.sed away, but his nature-defying apt.i.tude had not been reclaimed by the heavens. Instead, it had been inherited by his child, who was just as prodigious as his father. This discovery jolted Mu Shui-qing"s ash-dead heart to life once again ... the desire to mentor a disciple was rekindled within him.
"Hopefully this child will grow up successfully, and not repeat the tragedy of Ling Xiao ..." He would not be able to bear the tragedy of the accidental death of another beloved disciple. That would be too cruel for him.
At present, sitting within the dean"s office, the dean suddenly received news from the academy mecha squad protecting the campus.
"What?! You say that the Ling family mecha squad is already nearing the campus no-flight boundary?" The dean had already been troubled by the mysterious disappearance of the Domain masters, and now, hearing this bad news, he was instantly in a towering rage, "What the h.e.l.l? Is the Ling family trying to mutiny?!"
"Dean, the other party says that their current family head Ling Lan was attacked by mysterious Domain stage teachers inside the academy. Although he escaped with his life, he is currently unconscious with heavy injuries. To ensure their family head"s safety, they need to immediately escort their family head off the premises ..." said the captain of the mecha squad on the other end of the communicator glumly, "From their words, it"s clear that they blame the academy for not doing its duty in protecting its students. They have even demanded for you, the dean, to give their mistress a satisfactory explanation!"
"Domain stage master"s attack?" Coming to a realisation, the dean immediately said, "Who is heading the Ling family mecha squad? Tell him to calm down, don"t be reckless and exacerbate things ..."
The squad captain chuckled dryly and replied, "That won"t be a problem. The lead of the Ling family is Ling Qin! That fellow only moves after careful consideration ..."
When the dean heard that Ling Qin was heading the squad, his brows eased, but then very quickly scrunched up tightly again!
"This fellow ... looks like he"s here to force me to handle this matter personally!" The dean instantly figured out what Ling Qin intended with this show of force. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to comply with the other"s intentions. This was because their academy was indeed in the wrong on this matter — a student had been seriously harmed within their academy grounds. Moreover, the a.s.sailant was an unidentified, mysterious Domain master ... no matter what, the academy had to take responsibility!
The dean said helplessly, "Tell Ling Qin that I will visit their mistress immediately. After understanding the situation, I will give them a proper response."
Very quickly, the captain of the mecha squad returned with Ling Qin"s response. "Dean, Ling Qin has agreed, but is only giving us one hour"s time. If by then they don"t receive a final answer, then even if they all die here in battle, they are determined to try and break through our defences."
"D*mmit, this punk is blatantly threatening me. G.o.dd*mmit!" The dean almost exploded with anger, but he could not fault the other"s response. If he really wanted to give the other a satisfactory explanation, one hour was sufficient for him to find out the truth of the matter. "I understand. Within one hour, I will let their mistress contact them."
The dean hung up, a dark rage creeping over his heart ... could it be that those mysterious Domain masters were really sent by the enemy to deal with Ling Lan?
"G.o.dd*mn, after doing away with Ling Xiao, now they want to go after Ling Xiao"s child?" Just thinking of this possibility, the dean could no longer keep a lid on his anger, slamming a hand down powerfully on his office desk.
This palm contained both the dean"s rage and internal force, actually destroying the large, thousand-year old red sandalwood desk before him. With a loud rumble, the entire desk collapsed, instantly becoming a pile of debris.
"Sir Dean, where are you going?" In the great hall outside with the mainframe, Su Qing had been monitoring the campus with his full attention when he saw the dean rush out of his office, fuming. He immediately stood up to ask what was wrong.
"Su Qing, those mysterious Domain masters ... their target may very likely be Ling Lan. They want to kill him ..." Facing his trusted senior officer, the dean immediately divulged his suspicions.
Su Qing"s expression paled. Within the academy, other than the dean, he was the only one who knew about Ling Lan"s true ident.i.ty as Major General Ling Xiao"s only direct descendant.
"Dean, I"ll go with you!" Su Qing could not suppress the rage in his heart, ready to accompany the dean.
"No need. Monitor the grand armed melee closely for me. Do not let the opponent take advantage of the chaos to do anything else." Although the dean was very worried about Ling Lan, he was still the dean of the Central Scout Academy. He needed to be responsible for all the students — there must not be any more accidents in this grand armed melee.
"Understood, Sir!" Su Qing knew the weight of the matter, and so accepted this command regretfully.
After arranging all this, the dean rushed over to the dormitory district. The safety areas were restricted by the mainframe to keep out those of the two grades who were partic.i.p.ating in the grand armed melee — those with status access like the dean could still enter freely. Of course, regular teachers may still find it much more difficult to enter the safety areas during the grand armed melee; the restrictions imposed by the mainframe were still rather numerous.
Arriving at Ling Lan"s villa, the moment he entered the main door, he saw a stony-faced young lady sitting primly on the living room sofa. She was Ling Xiao"s widow, Ling Lan"s mother, Lan Luofeng. Meanwhile, behind her stood the housekeeper of this villa, as registered in the books of the academy, Ling Nanyi.
"15 minutes. Sir Dean, you came pretty quickly," said Lan Luofeng icily to the dean, closing the pocket watch in her hands. She had already received news from Ling Qin. The Ling family mecha squad were standing by at the edge of the no-flight zone of the academy, awaiting her orders.
Faced with this scene, the dean rubbed his nose, somewhat fl.u.s.tered, uncertain how he should respond. After a brief hesitation, he asked somewhat stiltingly, "Ling Lan ... is alright, right?"
"Thanks to you, he is now lying in a recovery pod, almost dead." Lan Luofeng"s tone was sharp and cutting, not giving any consideration to the dean.
"As long as he"s fine, as long as he"s fine!" A child being harmed in the academy — their academy was definitely responsible. The dean could only swallow his voice and bear the brunt of Lan Luofeng"s anger.
"The opponent is a water element Domain master, dressed in the clothes of an academy teacher ... Ye Yifan, shouldn"t you give us an explanation?" A wizened voice rang out from above the living room. The dean looked towards the voice, and saw a white-haired, lean old man slowly making his way down the stairs, his steps slow but stable.
The moment he saw the old man, as if shocked, the dean immediately leapt up and said respectfully, "Instructor Mu!"
"Hmph, still remember that I am your instructor? I thought you had forgotten ..." sniffed Mu Shui-qing, discontentedly. Ye Yifan was an excellent student of his in his early years, but later on, they had drifted apart due to ideological differences.
The dean silently wiped away a handful of cold sweat from his forehead. The colour of his face shifted uncertainly, a trace of contemplation briefly coursing through his eyes. Mu Shui-qing had been his initiate instructor when he had been a youth. 50 years ago, Mu Shui-qing had already been a Domain stage master; after so many years, he was probably already at a different stage by now ...
The dean was someone who thought a lot. Seeing Mu Shui-qing appear here, he began to suspect — the other two so-called Domain masters ... could they have been contrived by Mu Shui-qing? Legend has it that G.o.d-Realm masters were able to contrive any elemental energy as they wished ...
Frankly, the dean could not be blamed for thinking this way. In his eyes, no matter how strong Ling Lan was, he was still a boy — there was no way he could withstand a Domain master"s attack. Unless Mu Shui-qing had stepped in to help, Ling Lan definitely could not have escaped from a Domain stage master with his life.
For a Domain master to kill a scout student, it was as easy as stepping on an ant. How could Ling Lan have possibly found a chance to escape?
Mu Shui-qing does not know Ling Lan"s true gender at present. As such, I am keeping the masculine p.r.o.noun here as written in the original text, and will continue to do so as necessary.