Animal-eared Girl Era: Start by Forming a Contract with an SSS-Class School Belle

In that moment, Mu Qingxue wished she could slice Xiao Ye into a thousand pieces.

She was older than him, yet he called her "little girl."

What made it worse was the second half, "well maintained"?

*Yeah, Mu Qingxue had to admit it herself, she was damn well maintained, but did he have to point that out?*

After shouting at him, she sprinted toward the residential quarters in the City Lord's Mansion.

Mu Cheng looked complexly at his daughter as she ran off. It was the first time he'd seen her so riled up, so he opened his mouth and said,

"This time in the Holy Spirit Secret Realm, Xue'er ate loss after loss. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

The City Lord's Wife, Song Xi'Er, said, "I think it's a good thing. Xue'er's gotten too arrogant, beating all the prodigies among her peers and becoming unbeatable. She's gotten complacent in her cultivation and has been stuck at a plateau for a while. Now that she's lost to someone even younger than herself, it should light a real fire under her."

The City Lord's Mansion, residential quarters.

Jie Gangtai, whose nose had been shattered, was a lot better after some treatment, but his whole face was still bruised, with dark circles around his eyes and his nose wrapped in bandages.

He couldn't bear staying in the medical room anymore, so he wandered aimlessly down the main avenue of the City Lord's Mansion.

Two squads of large guards came his way, and the squad leaders were guys Jie Gangtai knew well. This chapter is from the collection at M-VL-EM-PYR.

"Hey, Little Tai, what happened to your face?"

"Tsk, don't tell us you got your ass kicked!"

They joked with him.

Jie Gangtai was the son of the First Guardian. He knew these guys well, so their banter was more laid-back than usual.

Jie Gangtai's face briefly flickered with embarrassment, but it vanished in a second. He put on his most arrogant look over his bruised face and said,

"How's that possible? Who do you think I am? I'm Jie Gangtai. I'm the one who kicks asses, never the one getting my ass kicked."

The squad leader hesitated, "Then what's with the black eyes and all the bruises on your face?"

"Ahem!" Jie Gangtai clasped his hands behind his back and said, with a deep, mysterious air, "This, my friends, is what I got fending off two Demon Beasts of the Grandmaster Realm all by myself, just to cover for Xue'er."

"If not for my help, how the hell could Xue'er have finished the mission?"

The two squad leaders gave him a big thumbs up.

He fought off two Demon Beasts of the Ascendant Realm with only his Grandmaster Realm? That was one hell of a prodigy.

Even if he did get beat up a little, making it out in one piece was plenty to brag about.

Just then, Mu Qingxue came stomping over from the main avenue, catching their conversation. She immediately let out a cold snort, "Jie Gangtai, you'd die if you stopped bullshitting, huh? Ascendant Realm Demon Beasts, really? You got your ass handed to you by two people!"

"And as for covering, my ass! They still broke through to the Heart of the Secret Realm and snatched my opportunity right from under my nose!"

She snorted again, her eyes full of contempt, and stalked off past them.

The two squad leaders stared at Jie Gangtai in surprise. "Tsk tsk, so you really did get your ass kicked."

"Dude, we're all friends here. Tell us—who the hell managed to climb on top of Little Tai and take a dump?"

Jie Gangtai's face went even darker.

*Social death, complete and utter social death, that's what this felt like.*

*He'd been trying to show off, only to have the source herself totally expose him—right in front of his two closest buddies.*

The two squad leaders shared a glance, both catching the teasing look in the other's eyes. They each threw an arm over Jie Gangtai's shoulders and pressed,

"If you're a true bro, tell us—who was it?"

"Yeah, if I get the chance later, I want to have a 'word' with him, too."

Jie Gangtai's face managed to look even blacker. He could tell these two bastards were holding back their laughter.

"Ahem! I'm dizzy, going back to the medical room. We'll chat some other day!" Jie Gangtai shook off their arms and bolted like a startled rabbit.

As he scampered off, he could still hear the two squad leaders hollering from far behind,

"Little Tai, don't run! Tell us who did it!"

"Dizzy, my ass. Why you running?"

After that, they burst out laughing.

Usually, Jie Gangtai acted all high and mighty, always trying to look cool. Now seeing him get owned—they were loving every minute of it.

Mu Qingxue ran back to her villa, entered her training room, stripped off her pajamas, and put on a tight black combat suit that really showed off her figure.

Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!

By the humanoid sandbag, she pounded away with knees and fists, venting her anger with each savage strike.

Not feeling satisfied, she stopped and grabbed a sheet of white paper, wrote "Xiao Ye" on it, and stuck it to the sandbag's face.

A cruel little grin flashed across Mu Qingxue's delicate face.

Bang! She smashed a fist into the sandbag's face, crunching the spot inward.

Bang bang bang!

Every punch and every kick, she put her full strength into it.

And with each strike, she yelled out a line,

"Damn you, Xiao Ye, you stole my opportunity!" Bang!

"Damn you, Xiao Ye, you polluted my body with your filthy gaze!" Bang!

"Damn you, Xiao Ye, whether I'm well maintained or not is none of your damn business, hmph!" Bang!

"Next time, I swear, I'll beat the crap out of you!" Bang!

Half an hour later, the sandbag was a total wreck, its stuffing scattered everywhere.

Mu Qingxue clapped her hands in satisfaction, her pale forehead beaded with sweat.

*With most of her anger burned off, she began considering her next steps.*

Her next goal was breaking into the Ascendant Realm!

To do that, she needed to condense her Power of Realm until it became solid, undergo a true transformation in quality, and then form an Aura—a Domain, even.

If she wanted, she could break through to the Ascendant Realm at any time.

But if she rushed it now, she'd only form a low-level Domain, not good enough. So she thought of another big chance: the Conception Crystal Cave.

At the Conception Crystal Cave, she'd comprehend and condense—she was determined to forge the strongest Domain she could!

By then, beating Xiao Ye would be a piece of cake!

The Hong family controlled the biggest share of the Conception Crystal Cave, and they possessed the best Conception Crystal Stones, too. So Mu Qingxue whipped out her communicator and dialed the Young Master Hong. Once the call went through, she explained what she needed and promised to pay for it.

When he agreed, Mu Qingxue smiled.

The Hong family.

Hong Tao was the one who just finished talking to Mu Qingxue.

After hanging up, Hong Tao's brows creased into a deep frown.

Nearly a whole day had passed since entering the Holy Spirit Secret Realm, but the two Death Soldiers he sent out hadn't sent back a single word. It was like they'd vanished.

They hadn't returned to the main hall of the City Lord's Mansion. That left only two possibilities.

One, they ditched their transmission gear and stayed behind in the Holy Spirit Secret Realm—pretty unlikely.

The other, they were already dead inside that Secret Realm.

Hong Tao figured they were dead. When he told his three-hundred-pound Contractor fatty, her hopeful face immediately clouded over, heavy and somber.