Dean Xiao's mouth twitched slightly. Although it was a fact, he suddenly felt reluctant to admit it. There was no other way; Tang Miao's expression made him feel like he was dealing with a shrewd businessman!
"Uh…"
After a moment of hesitation, Dean Xiao still nodded, admitting, "That's right, I was indeed afraid you'd be snatched away by another academy."
Tang Miao instantly chuckled, then said, "What's the big deal? Give me some treasured items and let me cultivate in the Three-Step Pagoda for a month. I won't go anywhere else, I'll just stick with you."
"Cough, cough…"
Dean Xiao heard this and immediately choked, coughing dryly.
Dean Xiao: Listen… is that something a person would say?
Looking at Dean Xiao's expression, Tang Miao said with a look of disdain, "I say, Dean Xiao, is it really that bad? I'm not asking you for a huge sum of money~"
Dean Xiao looked at Tang Miao with a dark expression, saying somewhat helplessly, "Everyone only gets a maximum of seven days each time they enter the Three-Step Pagoda… I can promise you seven days a month, for a year… However, once your cultivation reaches the Advanced level, the Three-Step Pagoda won't be of much use."
Then Dean Xiao took out some magical equipment and said, "As for the treasured items you mentioned, I do have some magical equipment here."
Looking at the magical equipment in front of him and what he had just agreed to, Tang Miao was stunned.
He wasn't the kind of person to take advantage of someone's misfortune, so how could he do this?
Moreover, this magical equipment wouldn't be of much use to him. He already had materials accumulated from the Black Snake's shed skin; at that time, a perfect armor magical equipment could be made in a matter of minutes!
"Dean Xiao, look at you, you're making me feel so embarrassed. I don't need the magical equipment. However, I'd like to ask if you have anything related to totems here?"
Tang Miao knew there was a feather here. Although he wasn't sure if that feather could be of any use to his jade, since it was left by a totem beast, it certainly wasn't useless.
Dean Xiao took back the magical equipment, paused, then said, "Oh? You know about totems too!?"
Tang Miao smiled and said, "A village of us named Tang are all totem guardians, so of course, we know about totems."
"There really is an item here that seems to be related to totems." Dean Xiao nodded, then said, "Come with me."
...Then Tang Miao followed Dean Xiao out of the office and all the way to the Three-Step Pagoda. Tang Miao pretended to be puzzled and asked, "Dean Xiao, what is this place?"
"This is the Three-Step Pagoda."
Dean Xiao responded, then led Tang Miao inside, going straight through to another space.
Pushing open a heavy forbidden door, Tang Miao suddenly found himself in a place filled with numerous bookshelves and ancient artifacts, like a museum, yet even more solemn, even carrying a certain oppressive feeling that made one's breathing involuntarily slow and lighten. The displayed items possessed a certain aura!
Tang Miao licked his lips and said, "Dean Xiao, you're not being fair! You have such good things stored here, and you just give me the stuff you have on hand?"
Dean Xiao's mouth twitched slightly, and after a pause, he said, "These are all Advanced-level magical equipment; you can't use them yet…"
What he said seemed to make sense... Tang Miao shrugged and looked around. However, there was no one here today. It seemed that the people guarding this place had gone elsewhere for some meeting.
Dean Xiao led Tang Miao to the place where the totem-related items were stored, and then a vibrant feather, displayed in a glass showcase, appeared before their eyes. Although there was only one feather, it was as large as a fan, and when its down was spread open, clear patterns could be seen on it.
At the same time, Tang Miao only felt the jade in his body tremble, as if it wanted something?
Tang Miao thought to himself, "It seems it really is useful…"
Dean Xiao took out the feather,
and handed it to Tang Miao, saying, "This is the totem-related item, but after all these years, no one has been able to figure anything out about it."
Tang Miao also seemed a bit helpless and said, "Just one feather…"
"Mm."
Dean Xiao nodded again and said, "This item was left by someone, but it's not very useful. If you are seeking totems, then I'll give it to you."
...After the two came out, Dean Xiao said, "You can go up and cultivate now. This is the Three-Step Pagoda. The Three-Step Pagoda…"
After Dean Xiao briefly explained, Tang Miao nodded. He then walked upstairs, and Dean Xiao also smiled with relief.
In his opinion, Tang Miao gained, but he definitely didn't lose!
And similarly, so did Tang Miao… As Tang Miao stepped onto the Three-Step Pagoda, he took out the feather. Then a piece of jade appeared in his hand. It was the jade that surrounded his several magic elements.
The moment he took out the jade, the feather instantly transformed into energy and poured into it… After a moment, a ray of light poured into Tang Miao's mind… Then a creature that resembled a dragon from his previous life, yet possessed four limbs, suddenly appeared in his mind.
Although he had never seen this creature, a voice appeared in his mind: "Kirin…"
This was not emitted by anyone, nor by this "Kirin." It was simply because it was almost identical to the Kirin drawings he had seen in his previous life… and the descriptions of its image he had heard!
And just as Tang Miao was in a daze, around the Kirin, streaks of welcoming light appeared. A Azure Dragon emerged in the East, a White Tiger emerged in the West, a Vermilion Bird emerged in the South, and a Black Tortoise in the North!
The four divine beasts seemed to be guarding it. After circling a few times, around the four divine beasts, illusory figures also emerged.
The number of totem beasts was simply unimaginable to him… And, for some reason, their names even surfaced in his mind… "Ya Zi, Chao Feng… Xi Qu, Ma Fu, Fei, Yong He… Kunpeng, Fei Lian… and so on."
These were the primeval mythical beasts of his previous life, now totem beasts!
And just after digesting all this, another scene suddenly appeared before Tang Miao. It was the totem beasts guarding humans, and humans awakening magic to destroy them… Then the Kirin led the totem beast clan to retreat to a distant place, intending to live in seclusion in the deep mountains and old forests. However, upon reaching Kunlun Mountain, the totem beasts' natural enemies, the Four Fierce Beasts—Taotie, Hundun, Qiongqi, and Taowu—united with some totem beasts who were dissatisfied with humans, launched a surprise attack… and the Kirin fell as a result.
After this battle, the totem beasts went their separate ways. Some became demon beasts and reproduced, while others continued to choose to protect humans… And after the Four Divine Beasts nurtured another batch of totem beasts, they also successively perished… Of course, their demise was not without value; they exchanged it for corresponding protection. For example, the role of the Azure Dragon was immense… When the images in his mind ended, that familiar Kunlun Mountain, which is now the demon kingdom, held the other half of the Kirin Jade.
Then the influence instantly dissipated, and that light directly poured into Tang Miao's body.
The light also seemed to be mixed with a profound energy. The moment he opened his eyes, he realized that the energy of the light seemed to have directly allowed his Summoning System to reach the Intermediate level!