Li Qian had left Zhonghai City, but in the less than two months he was there, he had made a significant impact on everyone he met.
Take Xia Cunzhou, for instance. At this very moment, he was bustling about Zhonghai Beast Taming University, preparing for the new student enrollment.
He had just returned from a Dimension Plane and immediately had to start overseeing the new student enrollment. He was run off his feet.
But what was more vexing than the work itself were the complaints from a few of his old colleagues.
The first person to show up was Sun Hongyi.
He was both exasperated and worried about Li Qian’s lack of respect for his elders, not to mention his designs on his niece.
But personal feelings aside, he couldn’t deny Li Qian’s genius. It would be a huge shame if Zhonghai Beast Taming University missed out on someone like that.
So here he was, standing before Chancellor Xia Cunzhou.
"A high school graduate? Eighteen years old, and he’s already figured out the evolution methods for three Dominator Level Potential Pet Beasts and two Emperor Level Potential Pet Beasts?!"
Sun Hongyi was talking on and on, and Xia Cunzhou listened patiently. But the more he heard, the more something felt off.
He couldn’t help but widen his eyes slightly, shooting a skeptical look at the professor from the Cultivation College.
’An eighteen-year-old high school graduate, figuring out the evolution methods for three Dominator Level and two Emperor Level Potential Pet Beasts.’
’No matter how you looked at it, the whole thing sounded absurd.’
"So, which three Dominator Level Potential Pet Beasts and which two Emperor Level ones are we talking about?" Xia Cunzhou asked, his curiosity piqued.
Hearing this, Sun Hongyi knew the chancellor didn’t quite believe him. He froze for a second, a flicker of embarrassment flashing across his face.
’How was he supposed to answer that? Wouldn’t he just be making a fool of himself?’
After a moment’s thought, a wry smile touched his lips. "Well," he said with a hint of resignation, "my Tidal Sea Spirit is one of them."
"Your Tidal Sea Spirit? How?" Xia Cunzhou frowned, confused for a moment before it clicked. "He fixed the flaw in its evolution?"
"Yes. The kid traded the evolution methods for two Dominator Level Potential Pet Beasts for my methods for the Molten Rock Worm and the Tidal Sea Spirit. Since the Tidal Sea Spirit’s evolution was flawed and incomplete, their value was roughly equivalent, so..."
Sun Hongyi trailed off, but his meaning was obvious. Xia Cunzhou, understanding completely, finished the thought for him. "So you agreed to the trade. The high school kid got the evolution data, and he managed to fix the flaw."
As much as he hated to admit it, that was exactly what had happened. Old Sun nodded with a sense of defeat.
"Well, then I suppose congratulations are in order. You’ve finally mastered the complete evolution method from Golden Pearl Bud to Tidal Sea Spirit," Xia Cunzhou said with a smile after processing the information.
"Er..." At these words, Sun Hongyi’s expression soured even more. Li Qian had indeed fixed the flaw, but he hadn’t shared the secret with him.
’And here I am, still racking my brain, completely stumped. It’s so frustrating.’
Embarrassed, he quickly changed the subject. "Chancellor, that’s not what’s important. The point is that this high school graduate, Li Qian, is a true genius. It would be a colossal loss if our university misses out on him."
"Which university did he choose?" Xia Cunzhou asked. The fact that Sun Hongyi was even bringing this up proved the boy had already chosen another Beast Taming University.
Even though the semester was about to start, for a university on the level of one of the Eight Great, the only real obstacle was getting the student’s consent. Everything else could be arranged.
"Shazhou Beast Taming University." Sun Hongyi said the four words without hesitation.
Just as Old Sun had expected, a look of stunned surprise appeared on Xia Cunzhou’s face when he heard the name.
He remarked reflexively, "He actually chose Shazhou Beast Taming University? Looks like Old Pu paid a hefty price this time."
At that, he casually asked, "This Li Qian you mentioned, where is he from?"
Sun Hongyi answered, "Lingshui City, a small city in Jiangnan Province."
"Poaching a student from Jiangnan Province all the way to the Western Province... and snatching him right from under our noses and Jiangnan Beast Taming University’s. Shazhou Beast Taming University’s tactics are getting more and more sophisticated."
Xia Cunzhou sighed in admiration, but Old Sun cut him off before he could finish. "The student is very level-headed. Cheap tricks wouldn’t have worked. Shazhou Beast Taming University simply buried him in cold, hard cash."
"And one more thing I need to correct," he added. "They snatched him from Jiangnan Beast Taming University. It had absolutely nothing to do with us at Zhonghai Beast Taming University."
The self-deprecation in Old Sun’s tone was obvious. Xia Cunzhou could hear it clearly and shot him a questioning look.
"Perhaps our admissions officers felt he wasn’t qualified enough to be worthy of our university, so they didn’t even bother visiting Lingshui City," Sun Hongyi said, his lips twisting into a sneer, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You old rascal," Xia Cunzhou chuckled, shaking his head. "So you finally get to the point. All this beating around the bush... you just came here to complain to me."
"I had to get it off my chest." Now that his true purpose was out in the open, Sun Hongyi dropped all pretense. "Frankly, I’m just not happy with our university’s recruitment efforts in recent years."
"It’s not just Li Qian this year. We’ve missed out on plenty of students in the last couple of years. Our recruitment has gotten more and more perfunctory recently."
Sun Hongyi said bluntly. Having said his piece, he seemed to feel a great deal better. He then added a suggestion, "Chancellor, I think we should see if there’s a chance to poach him before the semester starts."
"The kid might be a handful, but you can’t deny his talent is astonishing. If we get him, he could very well become a pillar of our Cultivation College in the future."
"A pillar of our Cultivation College? Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?" Xia Cunzhou found Sun Hongyi’s suggestion a little over the top.
"He’s only eighteen, and he’s already completed the evolutionary research for two Emperor Level Potential Pet Beasts!" Sun Hongyi stressed.
"But wasn’t that your research? The kid just filled in the final flaw." Xia Cunzhou wasn’t a Breeder. He knew something about cultivation research, but his understanding wasn’t very deep.
Sun Hongyi fell silent for a moment at that, then let out a resigned sigh. "That final piece of the puzzle is the truest sign of talent. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t have been stuck on it for so many years."