Volume One, Chapter 2: Leopard Woman, You Take Him Away; I, Bound to the Dragon Maiden, Shall Depart!

The scene of the leopard-woman’s treachery against Lin Yao left the entire hall in stunned silence. Everyone was dumbstruck.

No one, including Lin Yao himself, had imagined that such a thing could happen.

For any beastmaster, being betrayed by one’s own contracted beast was a monstrous humiliation.

At the very least, it revealed three things.

First, the beastmaster lacked the aptitude to restrain his beasts.

Second, he had used some underhanded trick when summoning, calling forth a beast beyond his control.

Third, the beast simply despised him.

Lin Yao’s gaze fell, burning with anger, upon the golden-eyed leopard woman.

Without him, this woman could never have descended into this resplendent world so suited to the growth of beasts.

She owed him the favor of her summoning, yet what gratitude did she show? Only a cold, merciless stab in the back.

Sensing his gaze, the golden-eyed leopard woman spoke again in a frigid tone.

“A fine bird chooses the tree on which to perch. Forcing me to remain bound to your side will only harm me, and harm you as well. In any case, the fact remains that you are incapable of nurturing an SSS-rank beast.”

After she finished, Lin Yao only smiled, strangely relieved.

This leopard-woman was plainly an extreme egoist.

Selfish and gold-obsessed herself, she still wrapped her words in the most righteous-sounding nonsense, even pretending it was all for his sake.

After glancing once more at the leopard woman’s evolution path, Lin Yao could only shake his head in disappointment.

She would never know what she had truly missed.

Under the Wang family’s cultivation, she might indeed gain abundant resources, but the odds of breaking through the shackles of SSS-rank aptitude would remain pitifully slim.

If she stayed by Lin Yao’s side, she would certainly evolve into the SSSR-rank Queen of Golden Flame Thunder Leopards!

Having seen clearly that this beast girl was a polished and extreme egoist, Lin Yao decided to abandon her completely.

Now that he possessed a beastmaster talent capable of seeing evolution paths, even if he summoned an F-rank husky, he could raise it into an SSSR-rank Star-Swallowing Demon Wolf!

At this moment, the happiest man of all was naturally Wang Guangyang, chairman of the Wang Military Industries Group.

He had previously worried that the golden-eyed leopard woman might still feel some attachment to Lin Yao, her summoner.

If the Wang family obtained this beast girl, they would still have to spend some effort winning her heart.

But now things were far easier.

This beast girl was clearly far more pragmatic than Lin Yao.

Wang Guangyang immediately spoke again, urging Lin Yao to close the deal.

“Student Lin Yao, be realistic. One hundred million is already a lot. On your own, you might not earn that much in ten lifetimes.”

His words were harsh and unpleasant.

Yet Lin Yao could not act on a fit of anger and simply destroy the summoning contract, causing the leopard woman to vanish into ash.

After all, to suffer severe backlash himself just to obliterate the beast girl would be far too unworthy.

With his current beastmaster talent, plus one hundred million in startup capital, he was destined to soar.

Still, Lin Yao felt it would be too cheap to let Wang Guangyang and Wang Dongzhe off so easily.

Selling the golden-eyed leopard woman was a one-time transaction, and he had to wring more benefits from Wang Guangyang.

But before Lin Yao could speak, a crisp clacking of high heels on the floor rang out from beyond the crowd.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Then the onlookers quickly parted to either side.

A peerless beauty with a nine-head-tall perfect figure, wrapped in ultra-thin black stockings, soon appeared between Lin Yao and Wang Guangyang.

Her status was by no means lower than Wang Guangyang’s, and perhaps even higher, for she was the president of the Beastmaster Association of North Wind City: Han Yiran.

Han Yiran swept Wang Guangyang with a cold glance, then let her phoenix eyes settle on Lin Yao. In her uniquely cool and pleasant voice, she said, “In North Wind City, no one may buy a beastmaster’s beast by force. So long as you refuse the transaction, I guarantee no one will take your beast away.”

If it had been the president of any other city’s Beastmaster Association, they would likely not have bothered with such meddling.

But Han Yiran was famous for her fairness; she would not allow Wang Guangyang to bully others with power and seize Lin Yao’s beast by force.

Seeing Han Yiran step forward on his behalf, Lin Yao was deeply moved.

Her appearance also made him suddenly think of something.

Two years ago, the president of the North Wind City Beastmaster Association had been Han Yiran’s father, Han Qu.

But Han Qu had encountered an exceptionally skilled scam syndicate and made a mistaken judgment.

He spent three hundred million from the association’s funds to buy an SSS-rank trash dragon maiden that could never transform into a dragon, causing enormous financial losses for the Beastmaster Association and leading to his removal from office.

That matter had originally had nothing to do with Lin Yao.

Yet at this moment, his heart began pounding uncontrollably.

His newly awakened beastmaster talent not only allowed him to see a beast’s evolution path, but also enabled him to repair various injuries in beasts.

The association’s useless dragon maiden, the one that could never transform into a dragon, possessed the bloodline of the True Dragon of the Nine Heavens.

Once that trash dragon maiden became a Nine Heavens True Dragon under his cultivation...

Then the golden-eyed leopard woman would not even be worthy of one dragon scale from her.

The SSSR-rank Empress of the Nine Heavens True Dragon was a being who stood among the strongest beasts.

Thinking of this, Lin Yao first said to Han Yiran, “President Han, thank you for coming specially to uphold justice.”

After those words, he turned to Wang Guangyang and said, “The golden-eyed leopard woman can be sold to you, but the price is not one hundred million. It is one hundred million, plus the defective dragon maiden beast owned by the Beastmaster Association!”

“This is a fixed price. You may only accept it. If you do not agree, then I refuse the transaction.

If you try any other illegal means to seize the golden-eyed leopard woman, I will destroy the summoning contract myself and let her vanish into nothingness!”

Lin Yao’s words stirred Han Yiran’s heart.

If Wang Guangyang truly paid to buy the association’s defective dragon maiden, then Lin Yao would have rendered her and the Han family an enormous service.

Wang Guangyang, on the other hand, was instantly enraged.

He laughed in fury. “The base price for an SSS-rank beast is one hundred million. This golden-eyed leopard woman would be lucky to fetch three hundred million at most, and even then, no one may be willing to bid! And now you want me to spend four hundred million to buy her? Have you gone mad, or have I?”

Lin Yao replied indifferently, “Then there is nothing more to discuss. I’ll sign a further beast contract with the golden-eyed leopard woman right now and make her my natal beast.”

“Wait!” Seeing Lin Yao move toward the golden-eyed leopard woman, preparing to sign the beast contract, Wang Guangyang hurriedly spoke.

Then, gritting his teeth, he said to Han Yiran, “The Wang Military Industries Group is willing to exchange energy weapons worth two hundred million, along with other supplies needed by the Beastmaster Association, for that defective SSS-rank Azure Mystic Dragon Maiden.”

“Deal!” Han Yiran did not haggle with Wang Guangyang and agreed at once.

She could see that this was his bottom line, and that he might renege at any moment.

Lin Yao likewise saw the joy and urgency that could not be concealed in Han Yiran’s beautiful eyes, and immediately lent a hand.

With a casual motion, he canceled the summoning contract between himself and the golden-eyed leopard woman, then smiled and said, “President Han, I’ll go with you to the Beastmaster Association to contract the dragon maiden right now.”

“Also, Chairman Wang, the golden-eyed leopard woman is yours. As for the one hundred million that belongs to me, just have someone send it to me at the Beastmaster Association later.”

Wang Guangyang snorted coldly. “No need. One hundred million will be transferred to this card later. I’m taking the golden-eyed leopard woman with me. As for the transaction with the Beastmaster Association, I’ll send someone to handle it.”

With that, Wang Guangyang casually tossed Lin Yao a gold bank card from Great Zhou Bank, then turned and left.

His son, Wang Dongzhe, eagerly embraced the leopard woman’s slender waist, already imagining what position he would use tonight.

After father and son Wang Guangyang took the golden-eyed leopard woman away, Lin Yao also got into Han Yiran’s car and headed to the Beastmaster Association to contract the dragon maiden.