Yao Realm Exchange Student - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On my first day as an exchange student at Four Seas Academy, I caused a sensation across the entire school.
Because I was the only human in the whole academy; all the other students were yao.

Along the way, my yao classmates stole glances at me; some came up to introduce themselves, some asked for my autograph, some secretly touched me, and some mysteriously asked-
“I heard that you humans will stew and eat a Kunpeng when you have nothing to do, and one pot isn’t big enough-is that true?”
Me: “…Ah… well… not really?”

He asked excitedly, “Then how many meals can you get out of one?”
I tried to recall, about to say I’d never eaten one either, when this classmate was grabbed by the late-arriving Kunpeng and given a fierce beating.

Me: “…”
What a lively academy.

The homeroom teacher was a pretty young woman, her true form a Qingniao. Before entering the classroom, she said shyly to me, “This is my first time seeing a living human. May I take a photo with you?”
Me: “…Sure.”

After the photo, the homeroom teacher led me into the classroom to introduce myself to everyone.
“Hello everyone, my name is Xia Ling.” I wrote my name, then didn’t know what else to say, so I just tried my best to smile.

Below the stage, thunderous applause erupted. The teacher told everyone to get along well with me, and I bowed my head and quietly stepped down from the podium.

The students at Four Seas Academy were the most formidable in the entire Yao Realm. Their oppressive aura was intense, and a dark mass of them were all staring at me.

But weren’t they usually prone to skipping class? Why were they all here today?
I thought, Could it be they all came to see me?

How should I put it… a bit overwhelming.

I searched around the classroom and finally found a suitable spot-a corner seat where only one “person” sat. With him as the center, a five-meter radius was completely empty, as if he were being ostracized.

Importantly, this ostracized classmate never once looked up at me; he kept his head down reading, and appeared to be a good student.

He was dressed in black, a headband tied around his forehead, sitting bolt upright. His profile was extremely handsome. Though his expression was blank, his brows and eyes carried a fierce, murderous aura, but his skin was like white jade, his features handsome, his contours sharp. His pitch-black eyes were like frosted glass, devoid of any emotion.

Me: “Classmate, can I sit here?”

He finally looked up at me, a hint of confusion flickering in those indifferent eyes.
Then he succinctly replied, “As you wish.”

His voice was remarkably clear and pleasant to the ear.

I didn’t notice the terrified looks from the surrounding classmates or the teacher’s hesitant expression. I smiled at him and happily sat down.

All along, I’d been subjected to gazes as if I were a rare animal. It was great to finally meet a classmate who showed little reaction.

My family has an ancestral teaching: don’t judge others by their appearance.
Though his exterior looked cold, this classmate was probably a good yao.

I had come to Four Seas Academy with a mission, but I didn’t know if my new deskmate would meet the requirements…

The Yao Realm and Human Realm had been isolated for so long; now both sides were in a period of rapid development, a time when exchange was urgently needed.

This time, Four Seas Academy had finally managed to get an exchange student spot from the Human Realm. I carried the full hopes of the Human-Yao Friendship Exchange Association. I absolutely had to-sign contracts with several reliable graduates from the Yao Realm!

Before coming, my family had given me many instructions.

For example, there are factional conflicts in the academy; herbivorous yao are gentle by nature, so try to win them over. For example, auspicious beasts have vast divine powers, so it would be best to find a classmate and sign a Lifelong Contract. For example, I heard some avian classmates have long wanted to debut in the Human Realm, so keep an eye out for peacocks, parrots, and the like…

Furthermore, at Four Seas Academy, there exist a few infamous figures.

Others aside, there’s one yao you absolutely, absolutely must not provoke!

His name is Pei Gu. He’s a natural-born fierce beast, cold and ruthless, brutal and bloodthirsty, a mass murderer of yao. No one at Four Seas Academy can control him; he’s a demonic existence who once ate three entire classes of students alive. Wherever he appears, blood flows like a river…

In short, you can interact with any other classmate, but this Pei Gu-you must never get to know him!

To avoid Pei Gu, my mother even contacted the headmaster of Four Seas Academy and had me placed in the class farthest from him.

Although I took their words to heart, I still felt the description was a bit exaggerated. After all, eating three whole classes of students alive sounded way too far-fetched…

Thus, I was aimlessly daydreaming, but still a little curious. I planned to chat with my new deskmate after class and ask if he knew that yao named Pei Gu.

Teacher Qingniao taught languages of the various realms. She had beautiful handwriting, but I’m a little nearsighted, and sitting at the back, I couldn’t see very clearly.

So I leaned in a bit and whispered to my new deskmate, “Are you taking notes?”

He didn’t say anything.

“Can I see it?” I whispered even softer. “I can’t read it clearly.”

The new deskmate, who looked fierce enough to tear someone apart the next second, hesitated a moment, then slid his book a little closer to me.

“Thanks!” I said.

I cheerfully finished copying his notes, and finally class ended.

Just as I was about to ask my new deskmate his name, I saw Teacher Qingniao at the podium hesitating, then slowly walking over.

Her pretty face was pale, and she wore an expression like she wanted to cry but was forcing herself to hold back. “Um… Pei classmate, the assignment you gave me last time-I’ve finished grading it…”

The new deskmate said nothing.

“And… you’ve made tremendous progress,” Teacher Qingniao’s hand trembled, and her voice shook. “Do you want me to look at it again next time…?”

The new deskmate lowered his eyes. “No need.”

Teacher Qingniao looked relieved. “Alright, alright!” After that, she kept shooting me meaningful looks, but I didn’t understand what she meant, so I could only give her a questioning gaze back.

Was that… a signal for me to get to know my new deskmate?

I guessed, looking confused-come to think of it, why did the teacher seem so scared? Wasn’t it just grading an assignment? But since my new deskmate also had the surname Pei, maybe he really did know Pei Gu…

I decided to ease the tense atmosphere and smiled at my new deskmate. “Hi, what’s your name? Can we still be deskmates going forward?”

He looked at me calmly. “Pei Gu.”

The air seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

“…?”

Puzzled, I asked, “Does our academy have another student with the same name?”

Teacher Qingniao was already trembling, her voice like a cuckoo weeping blood. “No, our academy only has one…”

She couldn’t finish, but the last two syllables didn’t need to be said-it was clearly “Pei Gu.”

I finally caught on-

So, my new deskmate was that infamous Pei Gu, the vicious beast who left corpses strewn wherever he went?

I blinked slowly.

Whoa.

I’ve always been slow, my reactions lagging half a beat behind everyone else. My family once sighed that if someone sold me, I probably wouldn’t start being afraid until after I’d been rescued.

But I’d never really been the fearful type, my emotions dragging along sluggishly, and often when I didn’t know what to say, I’d think about random nonsense.

Like right now.

Pei Gu didn’t look like what I’d imagined. My family said he was green-faced with tusks, three heads and six arms, fierce and menacing, with the face of a demon… but he was actually quite good-looking.

I looked down at the book in Pei Gu’s hands, where the notes were written neatly and tidily-

And his handwriting was really nice too, nothing like the crude, savage yaoguai they described.

It took me a while to realize something off. “Are you even a student in this class?”

Didn’t my mom transfer me to the class furthest from him?

He looked even more confused, his brows slightly furrowed, eyes lowered, a hint of fluctuation passing through his usual cold, fierce expression.

After a few seconds of silence, Pei Gu said, “No.”

Then he added, “I’m auditing.”

“??”

What was going on? Wasn’t he the top-tier vicious beast who enjoyed eating yao and killing people for fun? Why was he not only auditing courses and taking notes, but also doing assignments for the teacher to grade?

I’d heard the Yao Realm had adopted the Human Realm’s education system-were fierce beasts now competing for jobs through the rat race?

While my thoughts wandered, Pei Gu stood up and silently turned to leave.

Beside me, the pale-faced Teacher Qingniao looked like she’d been granted amnesty-she could barely stand, her whole body going weak as she gasped for breath.

I quickly supported her. “Teacher, are you alright?”

“It’s nothing, nothing,” Teacher Qingniao shook her head. “He’s gone, so it’s fine now.”

I was perplexed. “Was that really Pei Gu?”

“Absolutely!” Teacher Qingniao said.

Remembering the looks she’d given me, I was even more confused. “What were you trying to tell me earlier? Was it something you couldn’t say in front of him?”

“Xiao Xia, I was about to ask you the same thing,” Teacher Qingniao looked emotional, her speech speeding up. “How did you end up choosing this seat? I was terrified when I saw it!”

I was about to answer, but Teacher Qingniao just sighed. “Forget it, he’s not coming to the next class anyway.”

“Why did he come to audit?” I asked.

“Well, it’s because…” Teacher Qingniao paused, not finishing, and just looked at me. “Xiao Xia, before you came here, your family must have told you about Pei Gu, right?”

I nodded and said honestly, “They said he’s… the most terrifying fierce beast in the entire academy.”

“Exactly,” Teacher Qingniao immediately echoed. “So whatever a fierce beast wants to do, we don’t need to investigate. We just need to know not to provoke him.”

I gathered that Teacher Qingniao didn’t know why Pei Gu was auditing the class either.

I blinked. “Does he lose his temper often?”

“Not really…” Teacher Qingniao hesitated. “But the aura he gives off is terrifying. The teachers and students in our college never dare to mess with him.”

Aura?

I wanted to ask more, but the classmates who had been sitting quietly surrounded us.

“Pei Gu’s aura is so frightening, it only just dissipated now.”

“Ah, I didn’t dare move a muscle just now.”

“Speaking of which, our new classmate is a human, right? They say humans even eat Kunpeng, so they definitely aren’t afraid of Pei Gu.”

“Wow! Really?”

“But Kunpeng isn’t as scary as Pei Gu.”

After some debate, a student asked me with great curiosity: “Classmate Xia, does seeing Pei Gu make you feel… hungry?”

I: “Well, humans don’t eat just anything…”

A girl with a slender figure, black hair streaked with red, patted her chest: “I was just thinking about where the new classmate would sit, but when I turned around and saw Pei Gu there too, I nearly choked!”

I: “…Huh?”

That, that exaggerated?

“That’s just how Red-crowned Cranes are,” said another white-haired boy with blue eyes, grinning broadly, introducing himself warmly. “Their necks are too long; if they don’t take a breath in time, they suffocate.”

He involuntarily leaned closer to me: “New classmate, I heard you’re here for recruitment and employment. Do you think someone like me could sign a contract with you?”

Yao are subject to many restrictions in the Human Realm. Only by signing a work contract are they permitted to enter, and a Lifelong Contract grants rights and freedoms essentially equal to those of humans.

Compared to a yao’s lifespan, a human’s is very short. A Lifelong Contract’s restraints last only a few decades, but the benefits can last for centuries or even millennia. So almost all yao yearn for such a contract.

But this matter should be confidential at home. How did they know?

“You’re wondering how I knew, right?” the white-haired boy said with a grin. “Diting told me.”

“Cut the crap!” a girl with a horn smacked the white-haired boy’s head aside. “You clearly eavesdropped on Diting’s dream talk! And you have no sincerity about a Lifelong Contract. Last time you even threatened to make a human your steed!”

After saying that, the Unicorn Girl also leaned in and flashed me a toothy grin, her voice soft as water: “Xiao Xia classmate, I am the eldest princess of the Tianma clan. Sign a contract with me, and I can be your steed.”

The white-haired boy bristled: “I said that in a daze during the full moon! Tianma, isn’t there a first-come-first-served rule?”

“It’s not your turn, you sly White Wolf!” Another boy with colorful hair pushed his way in. “Um, Xiao Xia classmate, I am a yao of the Golden Carp clan. We Golden Carps are gentle-natured, so would you consider…”

The classmates were arguing noisily. I felt overwhelmed and looked to Teacher Qingniao for help.

Teacher Qingniao: “Everyone, please stop arguing.”

No effect.

Teacher Qingniao: “Everyone-don’t scare the new classmate.”

Nothing happened.

Teacher Qingniao: “Cough, everyone, quiet!”

No one paid attention.

I exchanged glances with Teacher Qingniao.

Teacher Qingniao had to pull me aside and explain in a low voice: “Xiao Xia, actually this class is a reassembly. I don’t know many of the students, and they don’t listen to me.”

I didn’t quite understand: “Reassembled?”

“Well,” Teacher Qingniao smiled awkwardly. “The news that you were coming to the college to sign contracts was accidentally blurted out by Diting in his sleep. Everyone wanted a chance, so the spots in this class you’re transferring to were all snatched up by the students.”

I became inexplicably nervous: “Did they fight over them?”

“No,” Teacher Qingniao hemmed and hawed. “The major families auctioned them off… You know, we’re a public school, and the Yao Realm’s education budget is really slow, often delayed for decades. So we normally need, well, need some income too…”

I: “…”

Teacher Qingniao: “…”

Teacher Qingniao met my gaze, flinched, and then started assuring me earnestly: “But don’t worry! Even though they were auctioned, all the students were personally screened by the headmaster. There are absolutely no difficult classmates. And the fierce beasts were also disqualified from the auction!”

I: “Actually…”

“Xia Ling.”

Before I could finish, a somewhat familiar voice came from outside.

And from that one sound, the entire lively classroom fell into dead silence, frozen solid.

Standing at the classroom door was a tall, slender young man, dressed in black, with a band around his forehead, cold and solitary, his features like piled frost and snow, exuding a bone-deep ferocious aura.

Pei Gu, who had just left, came back again.

His pitch-black eyes fixed on me as if considering his words. The next moment, a clear, crisp voice rang out: “Someone is looking for you.”

Teacher Qingniao beside me began trembling again. The ever-laughing White Wolf’s smile stiffened. Red-crowned Crane carefully retracted its neck. Unicorn Girl’s horn drooped. Everyone fell silent with fear, but I only thought of one thing.

…So he actually remembered my name.

I said “Oh,” and naturally walked toward him.

But after just one step, the frightened Teacher Qingniao put a hand on my shoulder. Her voice was shaky, looking like she was about to cry from fear. “Xiao Xia, don’t be scared. Both the academy and your body have restrictions in place. He-he probably can’t hurt you.”

I was about to say I wasn’t scared when I saw Pei Gu turn and walk out of the classroom.

I could only give Teacher Qingniao a smile, then hurriedly follow after him.

Pei Gu hadn’t left ahead of time as I’d expected. He was waiting for me outside the classroom, standing straight with his eyes lowered.

When he saw me come out, he paused, then continued walking out, not forgetting to glance back at me: “Follow.”

I quickly caught up to him, then fell into step beside him and turned my head to greet him: “Pei Gu, classmate.”

Pei Gu also turned his head to look at me: “Hmm?”

He was really handsome, with a sharp jawline, cold yet dashing.

I stumbled for a moment, then remembered. “Who is it that’s looking for me?”

Pei Gu looked away again: “The principal.”

Four Seas Academy was very large. After all, different monsters preferred different living environments. Apart from the indoor classroom building that was modeled after the Human Realm but many times larger, there were mountains and lakes, grasslands and deserts, and even a small patch of sea that had been “borrowed” with magic.

I didn’t know what the principal’s true form was, so I asked again: “Where is the principal?”

Pei Gu: “Summit of Tianshan.”

Summit of Tianshan?

The name left me a bit confused. Just as I was about to ask more, Pei Gu pointed off into the distance, where a mountain was hidden among the swirling clouds and mist, so high it was almost invisible: “There.”

Me: “…”

From the looks of it, walking there would take at least a day and a night, not to mention climbing the mountain.

On my first day of school, was I going to get the experience of climbing the Himalayas?

Pei Gu likely thought of the same problem. He stopped, turned around, and looked at me.

From his eyes, I vaguely read a hint of hesitation.

Then, he pursed his lips and suddenly said, as if to himself: “You’re human.”

I nodded: “Yeah.”

He gazed at the Summit of Tianshan, then looked at me, and we stood there at an impasse.

Seeing he remained expressionless, I took the initiative to ask: “If I want to go up, it’s not going to be easy, is it?”

Obviously, it would be very difficult.

After a few seconds of silence, Pei Gu said: “I’ll go get Teacher Qingniao.”

With that, he turned to leave.

Thinking of how Teacher Qingniao’s face had drained of color when she saw Pei Gu, I didn’t even think and reached out to grab his wrist. “Hey…”

Strange.

The moment I touched his skin, I felt a mysterious power, warm and comforting, very pleasant.

But I didn’t have time to dwell on that feeling. I just looked at him earnestly. “Can’t you take me up?”

Pei Gu: “…”

He seemed to want to say something but stopped. His jet-black eyes were glued to my hand holding his, and he even looked a little dazed.

“Take me up yourself,” I said, seeing this and feeling a bit embarrassed, I let go of his hand and changed the subject. “Can you fly? I’ve never flown before.”

He nodded stiffly.

I was extremely curious. “Do you ride clouds and mist? Or grow wings? Or just use magic directly?”

Like them, this was also my first time seeing monsters. I didn’t know much about their habits.

Pei Gu hesitated again, his voice crisp: “All of them.”

My eyes widened, and I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration: “All of them! You’re amazing!”

He averted his gaze. His expression didn’t seem to change much, but I noticed that his ears, hidden among his black hair, were faintly red. His voice turned muffled: “No.”

I suspected I was seeing things and wanted to lean in for a closer look, but Pei Gu seemed unwilling to listen to any more. He grabbed me and flew straight toward the Summit of Tianshan.

He didn’t reveal any wings, but he summoned a cloud for me. I bent down and plucked at the spotless white cloud. It had a cool, soft texture.

My eyes brightened, and I couldn’t resist cupping that small, cotton-candy-like cloud in my hands to show him. “I’ve never touched a cloud before! Thank you, Pei Gu.”

Pei Gu looked down at me, and that familiar confusion surfaced in his eyes again.

But in the end, he didn’t ask anything.