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Mist City.
This area was originally composed of numerous tall mountains with uneven terrain. Therefore, in the city built here, it was common for the first floor to also be the top floor, and the top floor could just as easily be the ground floor.
Outside the window, wispy, translucent mist swirled.
Li Xiang couldn't resist reaching out to touch it, but he felt nothing—no moisture, no damp sensation.
"This is Formless Mist, drifting over from Mist Lake. It's here year-round," Su Qian explained. "The outskirts of Mist Lake, where it connects to the city, are fine. But the interior is perpetually shrouded in mist, which blows into the city with the wind. It usually dissipates by noon, only to return the next morning."
"So, is the interior of Mist Lake inaccessible?"
Li Xiang turned and asked.
"Pretty much. Generally, no one goes inside. After all, Mist Lake has many powerful wild Pokémon, and they maintain a peaceful coexistence with humans."
Su Qian replied casually. "Plus, we're so close to the Ranger Union headquarters here."
Mist City was located at the intersection of Dianzhou, Jizhou, and Chongzhou, with Dianzhou being the Ranger Union's main base.
This resulted in Mist City's Pokémon Preservation/Conservation Base being exceptionally strong and top-tier in scale.
Under these circumstances, Mist Lake, the third-largest inland lake, became a paradise for wild Pokémon.
Actually, Mist Lake was physically connected to Mist City. The car slowly drove onto a large bridge. Li Xiang looked at the vast, seemingly endless lake in the distance; it felt like being by the sea.
Of course, lake water and seawater were different.
The car continued forward.
Soon, they left the city behind, gradually heading into the suburbs, with more low hills appearing around them.
After another ten or so minutes, Mist City University was right before them.
Like Sakura University, it had a massive main gate carved from rock. But the most eye-catching feature wasn't the gate; it was the colossal tree inside the grounds.
This was the first time Li Xiang had seen a tree over a hundred meters tall with a canopy that seemed to blot out the sky.
Inside and outside the school gate, at least most of the sunlight was blocked by it. Moss grew thick on the trunk, with numerous vines hanging down like snakes.
When the wind blew, it carried a faint, elusive fragrance.
"The Tree of Beginning..." Li Xiang murmured softly, his heart filled with awe.
"No way. It's our mascot, not the one on the school emblem,"
Su Qian laughed. "Though there are rumors that it's a descendant of the Tree of Beginning."
'A mascot.'
Li Xiang took a few more looks at the colossal tree.
He had seen it on a computer before, but seeing it in person was definitely different from seeing it on a screen. The visual impact was vastly different.
Currently, the New Year holidays weren't over yet, so there weren't many students on campus. Those who were there were locals.
Unlike Sakura University, which was divided into inner and outer areas, Mist University had a large, winding river flowing through it, separating the academic areas from the dormitories and other zones.
As agreed upon earlier, the school provided Li Xiang with a single-story villa, over two hundred square meters—absolutely enough space for him and his Pokémon.
Su Qian led Li Xiang inside. Everything was already prepared; all necessary items were there, and the refrigerator was stocked with various things.
"Here are the keys. This house is temporarily yours. As long as you don't tear it down, do whatever you want with it."
She tossed a set of keys over. "Don't worry about utilities like water and electricity. Someone will come by weekly to clean and restock the fridge."
The senior sister chattered on about various things.
Then, she took Li Xiang to the cafeteria for a meal.
Since classes hadn't started, the cafeteria was quiet and cold, with only a few service windows open.
The two had a quick meal, and then Su Qian asked Li Xiang for his ID and other documents.
"Most of the paperwork is already done. I just need your ID for a few things."
The senior sister pointed towards the academic buildings. "It'll be quick."
Hearing this, Li Xiang thought that this senior sister had probably been handling his affairs, so he repeatedly thanked her.
"No problem! Just looking after the new junior. If you really want to thank me, just treat me to a meal or bubble tea sometime."
Su Qian smiled and turned to leave. "Familiarize yourself with the surroundings for now."
Li Xiang watched her leave. Returning to the villa, he released his Pokémon one by one.
Having been told beforehand, Incineroar and the others weren't surprised to find themselves in an unfamiliar environment. They scattered, each looking for things that interested them.
"Roar!"
Incineroar, as usual, opened the refrigerator, intending to grab some MooMoo Milk to drink, but upon seeing a certain cylindrical object, its eyes lit up.
It turned its head and roared at Li Xiang.
"I don't want any! You eat it yourself!"
Li Xiang responded, then added, "And don't eat too much ice cream!"
For a Fire-type Pokémon, big and brawny, to dislike iced beer but love ice cream, eating it endlessly, licking away...
Such a ridiculous thing only happened with Incineroar.
'And this guy is supposed to be a mafia boss? More like a kindergarten kid.'
Of course, Incineroar was indeed just over four years old now. Calling it a kindergarten kid wasn't wrong—maybe a senior kindergarten student.
"Roar!"
Incineroar responded loudly, excitedly pulling out four ice cream bars—one in each hand, one in its mouth, and one wrapped in its tail.
'Heavenly~'
"I told you not to eat so much..."
Li Xiang, who had come over just to check, saw Incineroar's comical pose and felt utterly speechless.
Study.
According to Li Xiang's request, Bai Wanhua had set up two top-of-the-line computers here.
Rotom and Metagross rushed towards them the moment they were out of their PokéBalls, eager to imprint their presence on the computers.
"The internet-addicted duo."
Li Xiang shook his head helplessly. Recently, Metagross was pushing for the top rank in a game; it was about to enter its promotion series.
When this guy played games, it used its full mental capacity, making its positioning and attack-move combos as precise as scripts. Who knows how many times it had been reported.
He was quite dissatisfied. Was the supercomputer meant for this? Wouldn't solving a few more math problems be better?
'Help your trainer out more, you ungrateful thing!'
As for Rotom, Li Xiang had no idea what it was tinkering with all day. Like Ash's Rotom Pokédex, it dabbled in everything, occasionally duo-queuing with Metagross.
Upstairs, there was a small garden.
Corviknight's secret base was here. It was crouched with its butt in the air, constantly fiddling with something. Judging by the ding-ding-dang-dang sounds, it was probably organizing its little treasure hoard.
'Hmm... a treasure hoard in every sense.'
As a crow, one of its hobbies was collecting shiny things. This included the safety lock Li Xiang bought for it and various discarded modern industrial products it had picked up from the ground during outings.
It wasn't picky, which made it seem rather lowbrow.
Li Xiang didn't comment. This time, he had only brought a small part of the collection, as luggage capacity was limited.
Incidentally, Greninja was also there, holding a dark water hose, sprinkling the water onto a cluster of delicate flowers.
[In the heart of a fierce tiger, it still stops to smell the roses.]
This was a phrase the chuunibyou Greninja had recently become particularly fond of.
It originated from a beautiful picture of a super Gallade holding a flower, smiling softly in profile.
Thus, Greninja had started learning Floriculture.
Why it had progressed to this point, Li Xiang had no idea. He could only say that Greninja's thought process was different from ordinary people's.
But when it came to raising flowers, there were three experts in Li Xiang's family:
His mother, Li Zefan, and Florges, who treated flowers like its wives.
Through exposure, Greninja had picked up a thing or two, at least enough not to drown the flowers it watered. Additionally, it seemed to believe that cultivating flowers allowed it to connect with nature, similar to how Medicham used yoga to sense nature.
"Ninja?"
"Nothing, please continue."
Li Xiang turned and went downstairs. He was just checking on things.
In front of the sofa, Riolu was using its Aura Power to explore every corner of the house. Beside it, Doublade was sneakily trying to turn on the television.
Noticing Li Xiang coming downstairs, Doublade froze.
"Heh."
Li Xiang snorted coldly but didn't say anything, returning to his room instead.
'Does this mean… he agreed?'
Doublade looked puzzledly at Li Xiang's closed door, guessing that he had probably given silent consent. Otherwise, he would have rushed over already.
'Sigh. Just say what you mean. Making things so complicated…. I'm just a sword; who understands all these subtleties?'
Doublade enthusiastically turned on the TV.
'Which channel was that historical drama on again? Mango TV?'
...
After briefly acclimating to the new environment, Su Qian returned with his ID.
"Junior, everything is pretty much settled. Is there anything you're missing?"
"Nothing, nothing. Senior, you've worked hard. Here, have some tea."
Li Xiang offered Su Qian some tea. The tea leaves were ones Li Zhehan had learned to roast in his spare time—very fragrant. Even Duan Tianxing was satisfied with them.
Although the cost was the complete balding of the tea plants in the backyard.
"I don't really know much about tea... Hmm, Tian Shan Jiao?" Su Qian's eyes lit up. "Hand-roasted, right?"
'...And she calls this 'not knowing much about tea'?'
Li Xiang was speechless.
Su Qian didn't stay long. She had her own matters to attend to. After getting Li Xiang settled, she left to handle her own business.
Before leaving, she didn't forget to exchange WeChat contacts and phone numbers.
Li Xiang checked the time. The Tang Family School/Dojo was still waiting for him. It was time to set off.
"Let's go."
He picked up Doublade by its tassel and said softly.
Doublade glanced at him. Having learned from past experience, it would behave for at least a day, so it obediently followed.
This time, he only brought the two directly involved parties. The rest stayed behind to watch the house. There wasn't much point in bringing them anyway; they'd just be waiting inside their PokéBalls from start to finish.
Borrowing a campus bicycle, he arrived outside the school.
Li Xiang took a university-designated taxi waiting at the school gate and headed to the Tang Family School located in the city.
Greninja had been practicing the Niten Ichi-ryu style, but without a master's guidance, the learning process was somewhat difficult.
He hoped the Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha would be a pleasant surprise for it.
Holding such thoughts, they arrived at a building in the city, before going upstairs.
"Tang Family School. This is the place."
Li Xiang looked at the sign outside, walked up the stairs to the second floor, and took out his phone to make a call.
The person he had contacted earlier was named Tang Hu, the current school/dojo master.
Duan Tianxing had seen the Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha decades ago. The father from that father-daughter pair had long since passed away due to illness. The current head was the daughter, and the master was her son.
The old lady was only slightly younger than Duan Tianxing.
"Are you Li Xiang?"
A voice came from above as Li Xiang was searching for the number.
He looked up and saw a sturdy young man with a crew cut standing there, asking, "Tang Hu? Brother Tang?"
"That's right, it's me. Finally, you're here. Have you eaten?"
Tang Hu walked down enthusiastically and patted Li Xiang's shoulder. "You've got a good build! Doesn't look like you're fifteen! Trained before?"