Gu Ming snuck a glance at the man from the Ruan Family but didn’t reply to him. Instead, he smiled and greeted Elder Huo, assuring him he would keep his offer in mind.

Elder Huo’s expression brightened slightly upon hearing this.

He wasn’t one for ceremony, so he immediately pulled out a glistening business card.

The card was made of a thin sheet of metal, its surface shimmering with an iridescent light.

As Gu Ming took the card, he saw that the words on it were formed from the patterns of the Great Dao, looking as if they were naturally made. All sorts of strange and wondrous Array patterns manifested within them. With just a glance, he deciphered the rich information contained within—

Faculty Advisor to the Wenquxing University Array Society.

Chief of the Zhou Capital Ancient Array Association.

Vice President of the Royal Martial Arts Association, and a series of other titles, all quite impressive.

Gu Ming only knew that Wenquxing University was a prestigious private university not sponsored by the Royal Family.

But he hadn’t expected the old professor before him to hold so many titles.

He couldn’t help but feel a surge of respect. He nodded and said, "I will consider it seriously."

Seeing that Gu Ming didn’t accept on the spot, Elder Huo said happily, "Good, good. Then I’ll be waiting for you at Wenquxing University."

The other teachers nearby didn’t want to be left behind. As soon as Elder Huo stepped aside, they quickly squeezed in, plastering exaggerated smiles on their faces as they handed over their own business cards, all saying to Gu Ming:

"Whatever Wenquxing University can offer, we can offer too, and more! Name your price."

All sorts of business cards and invitations were thrust at him, and Gu Ming accepted them all.

His whole reason for entering the competition was to secure a spot at a Beast Taming University. Now that so many prestigious universities were extending olive branches to him, there was no reason to refuse them all.

If they dared to offer, he dared to accept. He would slowly call them later to see which one was the most sincere.

But on second thought, Gu Ming realized that actively calling them would put him in a passive position. He should wait for them to come to him, which would give him the leverage to negotiate.

With this in mind, he collected dozens of university business cards in a short time.

People from the Royal Family were also mixed in the crowd. Several of them came, some arrogant, others humble, inviting Gu Ming to enroll in the Great Zhou Royal Academy.

They represented various young Princes and Princesses. As for how sincere they were, Gu Ming couldn’t tell.

These people who worked for the Royal Family had excellent control over their facial expressions, making it impossible to read their thoughts.

Gu Ming also spotted Teacher Zhou, the representative of the Thirteenth Prince, in the crowd.

He was in the thick of the crowd reading Gu Ming’s paper and didn’t come forward to talk. Perhaps because his previous invitation had been so high-profile, he couldn’t bring himself to do it now that so many others were also inviting Gu Ming?

「A short while later.」

The teachers at the scene returned to their duties. The man from the Ruan Family was the last to leave. He wasn’t a local examiner, just an unofficial person who had used his influence to enter the examination hall.

He walked away very slowly, almost at a stroll, maintaining his Divine Sense connection to continue his conversation with Gu Ming.

The Ruan Family proposed more business collaborations to Gu Ming, drafting detailed rules and terms for a deeply binding partnership.

The Ruan Family’s investment in Gu Ming hadn’t even fully taken root, yet his potential was already being realized.

Seeing Gu Ming begin to soar, sought after by every major power, Ruan Huaiyi also felt a little anxious.

He knew it was probably a little too late to bring up a deeply binding contract now.

Gu Ming would almost certainly never agree to it.

However, he had to give it a try.

After all, over the past few days, he had helped Gu Ming fend off quite a few dirty tricks secretly launched by other companies.

This included, but was not limited to, a certain company reaching out to the security firm where Gu Ming’s parents worked, arranging a "chat" with Mr. and Mrs. Gu under the pretext of work matters, attempting to indirectly influence Gu Ming’s choice of university.

It wasn’t just his parents; even his relatives were affected.

And as for Lu You, it was even worse. Coming from an ordinary family with neither financial resources nor Willpower, he was broken in an instant and forced to his knees.

There were all sorts of insidious tricks that were impossible to guard against. If you dared to refuse, you would definitely suffer the consequences.

As long as people live in this world, they can’t sever ties with their family and friends. As long as you’re human, you have weaknesses.

Ever since the Power of Beastmasters in this society began to grow uncontrollably...

All kinds of dirty tricks evolved year after year.

Pet Beast Curses and Ultimate Skills became more and more sophisticated and elusive, to the point that even Pet Beasts of Six or Seven-stars couldn’t detect them or trace their source.

This also led to the country’s underground black market becoming increasingly rampant.

The Ruan Family had also invested heavily in both the legitimate world and the underworld. These were real, substantial investments; this wasn’t something that could be completely handled by simply ordering subordinates around.

And all of this was unknown to Gu Ming.

Gu Ming only knew that the Ruan Family had taken action, quelling all the surging undercurrents.

What Ruan Huaiyi had to do now was to clearly explain, in the shortest time possible, all the efforts and sacrifices the Ruan Family had made for the Gu Family, to make Gu Ming understand that this was no small promise.

Using his Divine Sense, he packaged the high-density information and sent it to Gu Ming, allowing him to understand the full picture.

Upon hearing all this, Gu Ming naturally couldn’t refute it.

He also knew what Ruan Huaiyi wanted, so he said:

"I won’t sign a ’genius contract’ with you."

"But I can guarantee that the commercial rights for all the Cultivation Techniques, Arrays, Visualization Images, and so on from this competition will be given exclusively to the Ruan Family."

"Regardless of the color-grade of the Cultivation Technique paper," Gu Ming said.

Ruan Huaiyi smiled.

"That’s not nearly enough."

If it was just this, it would still be lacking.

Besides, the Ruan Family wasn’t one to cash in on a one-time deal.

They wanted a long and steady stream of benefits from Gu Ming. That was what they truly desired; otherwise, they wouldn’t have stepped in to smooth things over.

"Please, believe me. If you feel this isn’t sincere enough, we can talk again after the international competition."

"As for any Visualization Images I create in the future, we can collaborate then. The Ruan Family can have the right of first negotiation." Gu Ming only gave half a step, planning to get through the competition first.

’So confident?’

The smile on Ruan Huaiyi’s face didn’t fade, but inwardly he was feeling a bit displeased.

Seeing Gu Ming’s confident demeanor, it was indeed difficult to say anything more.

’When communicating with a genius, you can’t be too rigid.’

’If the negotiations break down and ruin the relationship, that would be bad too.’

Then, Ruan Huaiyi said:

"I won’t disturb your exam any longer. Focus on the test."

"Before the competition is over, do not, under any circumstances, accept an invitation from any university. Understand?"

Gu Ming nodded. "No problem."

He had already planned to wait until after the international competition to make his choice anyway.

He hadn’t fully squeezed out his own potential yet.

To most Beastmasters, tangible achievements were the only real achievements.

The so-called combat power of a High-star Level Potential Pet Beast was all just talk.

Before their Pet Beasts evolved to the three- or four-star level, Gu Ming had countless ways to surpass them. This was the confidence his system gave him.

Once his surroundings quieted down, Gu Ming finished rereading the Cultivation Technique paper in his hands, pondering how to use a non-Grass Element Power to sprout the seed.

Speaking of which, the system had updated with a large block of text.

Gu Ming glanced at it and realized that when the crowd of professors and teachers had gathered around him to look at his paper, the system had mistakenly thought he had taken a wrong turn and coincidentally stumbled upon a lunch gathering of the exam’s patrolling teachers.