"Dear passengers, welcome aboard the Grey Hawk Skyship. After a long journey of three days and three nights, we have now reached the middle ring of the Endless Sand Region. We are approximately three hours away from our final destination, Shanhai Academy. Please make your preparations. This is your captain, Deng Banting…"

  Inside the luxuriously decorated cabin, twenty to thirty people were seated, creating a lively clamor. They all appeared to be boys and girls around fifteen or sixteen years old, making for a very lively atmosphere.

  "Finally! We've been waiting for this day forever!"

  "You can say that again! Twelve years of hard study and training… what was it all for? Wasn't it just to open our Soul Sea and become Monster Tamers? Just wait a little longer, and our dream will come true!"

  "Hehe, what type of pet monster are you planning to contract? I've already decided, it has to be Lightning-attribute. The ideal one would be an Electric Rat, of course!"

  …

  Their young faces, still showing a touch of childishness, were filled with excitement and joy.

  Bai Wushang watched them silently, a hint of similar anticipation showing in the smile at the corner of his lips.

  Turning his head, he saw the girl sleeping soundly while hugging his arm, and Bai Wushang sighed.

  "Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao, wake up! You've been asleep for half the day!"

  He habitually tapped the girl on her glossy black head, Bai Wushang sounding quite resigned.

  "Hmm?"

  Perhaps because she had just woken up, a faint blush lingered on the girl's face.Her features weren't stunningly beautiful, but they were delicate and petite: an oval face, a straight nose bridge, rosy small lips, and dark hair falling naturally over her shoulders—the very image of a cherished girl-next-door.

  "Have we arrived?" Mu Xiaoxiao rubbed her drowsy eyes, her small mouth mumbling, still showing some crankiness from waking up.

  "Almost." Bai Wushang flexed his stiff and numb arm while glancing at her irritably. "If you keep sleeping like that, this arm of mine will probably be useless!"

  Mu Xiaoxiao pouted, unfazed.

  "I was just dreaming about a Fishbone Bird, it was delicious…"

  Seeing Bai Wushang ignore her, Mu Xiaoxiao's eyes darted, and she sneakily placed her fingers on his shoulders.

  "Wushang-gege, how about I give you a massage? I've learned proper bone-setting and massage techniques, my skills are top-notch!"

  Bai Wushang's first reaction was: unreliable.

  After feeling it for a moment, he indeed grimaced in pain and quickly pushed Mu Xiaoxiao's arms away.

  "Forget it, forget it! If you have time for fooling around, you'd better think about how you're going to explain this to your cousin when we get to the academy."

  "Explain what? I just didn't want to go to Blue Luan Women's Academy! Tianxing-gege is at Shanhai Academy, and you're going to Shanhai Academy too, Wushang-gege. Why should I have to go to Blue Luan Women's Academy all alone! It's no fun at all!"

  Mu Xiaoxiao stopped kneading and instead gripped Bai Wushang's sleeve tightly, speaking pitifully.

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  "But you still shouldn't have snuck out without telling anyone, right? Your family must be worried sick…"

  Bai Wushang sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead.

  Don't be fooled by Mu Xiaoxiao's innocent and harmless appearance; her personality was quite mischievous and willful. She'd caused plenty of trouble since childhood, and Bai Wushang had lost count of how many times he'd taken the blame for her.

  He just hadn't expected that for this major life event, choosing a Pet Monster training academy, her family had arranged for the more suitable Blue Luan Women's Academy, pulling all sorts of strings in advance. Mu Xiaoxiao simply refused to go, and even secretly followed him onto the skyship heading for Shanhai Academy.

  Mu Xiaoxiao had an older male cousin, three years her senior, named Mu Tianxing, who was the eldest son of the current Mu family head and currently a fourth-year student at Shanhai Academy.

  As far as Bai Wushang recalled, Mu Tianxing showed limited affection for his younger cousin, Mu Xiaoxiao. Mostly, he was strict like a stern father, holding her to very high standards in daily studies, training, and conduct.

  This time, with Mu Xiaoxiao willfully changing academies, Mu Tianxing would inevitably give her a harsh scolding when he found out.

  "Heehee, we'll deal with it then! I'm already here, Tianxing-gege can't possibly chase me back home, right?" Mu Xiaoxiao made a face at Bai Wushang, brimming with inexplicable confidence.

  Just as Bai Wushang was about to lecture Mu Xiaoxiao further…

  The skyship, which had been flying steadily, suddenly trembled violently, causing countless cries of alarm from within the cabin.

  "Quick, look outside the window! What is that?!"

  Bai Wushang followed the voice and looked, only to see the azure sky, which had been bright with sunshine and cloudless for miles, rapidly darkening before his very eyes.

  In the distance, dark clouds billowed, obscuring half the sky.

  Thick bolts of bright purple lightning intertwined and clashed within the dark clouds, dancing madly like demonic serpents. The roar of the thunder, even through the thick hull plating, was still deafening and terrifying.

  "A thunderstorm?"

  Bai Wushang paused, then felt something was wrong. How could storm clouds and lightning form such a vast expanse in just tens of seconds?

  "SCREE!"

  From within the apocalyptic storm clouds, an extremely shrill bird cry suddenly pierced the air. A behemoth emerged, its scarlet eyes staring towards the skyship from afar.

  In a flash of lightning, Bai Wushang saw the monster's full appearance. His body instantly froze, as if his soul had left him, completely motionless.

  It was an enormous bird of prey, with the head of a dragon and the body of a bird, its wingspan exceeding a hundred meters. However, it lacked a single feather; its entire body was covered in purple dragon scales. The scales looked as if forged from metal, exuding a stunning beauty and a sense of overwhelming power. Its head greatly resembled that of a legendary dragon, with a pair of golden, backward-curving horns, noble and majestic; its mouth, however, was a curved beak, dark, glossy, and sharp, several meters long, stained with the blood of some fierce beast, clearly having just fought something; even more terrifying were its claws – thick as an ox's limbs, sharp as knives, glinting coldly – undoubtedly capable of easily tearing through the skyship's defensive plating!

  "Pur… Pur… Purple Lightning Dragon Condor?" Mu Xiaoxiao swallowed hard and murmured, "How could a monster of this level possibly appear here…"

  "Its mood seems off… Look at its eyes, blood-red. It's clearly in a state of rage… What happened to make it so frantic, venturing far from its nest into this barren desert…" Bai Wushang forced himself to calm down and offered a quick analysis.

  Clearly, the enraged Purple Lightning Dragon Condor had noticed the skyship, much smaller than itself, in the distance. Its scarlet pupils filled with disgust. It flapped its purple-scaled wings forcefully and dove towards them like a lightning bolt.

  "Everyone, stay seated! All defensive systems online! Activate maximum overload mode!"

  The captain's voice, striving for calm, came over the broadcast. Immediately after, the ship's bow shifted rapidly, shooting away in the opposite direction at maximum speed.

  The skyship Bai Wushang and Mu Xiaoxiao were on was the latest model commissioned by Shanhai Academy. Its power was abundant, generally capable of matching most Complete-stage flying-type transcendent creatures, making its safety factor extremely high in the outer and even middle rings of the Endless Sand Region.

  However, this Purple Lightning Dragon Condor was terrifyingly huge – likely a monster at the Ultimate stage!

  Watching the Purple Lightning Dragon Condor's massive and ferocious body draw closer and closer, everyone in the cabin grew restless, and some timid girls even burst into tears.

  "RIP!"

  The sharp wing, crackling with sinister purple lightning, struck like a peerless sword, cleaving the skyship in two.

  In that split second, Bai Wushang only had time to throw himself over Mu Xiaoxiao, hoping to offer her some small measure of extra protection.

  Then, the world spun violently, and his consciousness faded into silence.