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

Xiao Ye's mouth twitched, *What the hell are you thanking me for?*

But from the things Jie Gangtai had just said, Xiao Ye had learned that this guy and Mu Qingxue were childhood friends, growing up learning and training together. But Jie Gangtai had never crossed the line with Mu Qingxue—not even holding hands.

He had always quietly protected Mu Qingxue, deeply devoted, hopelessly infatuated, and incredibly obedient.

Xiao Ye sighed, feeling sorry for him, saying, "Honestly, even if I hadn't shown up, you still wouldn't end up with Mu Qingxue."

Jie Gangtai's body jolted, "Why?"

Xiao Ye spoke bluntly, "She and the Young Master of the Ye Family in the Imperial Capital have been engaged since they were kids. Tomorrow, the Ye Family is coming to propose. The reason I came to the City Lord's Mansion today is to defeat the Ye Family's Young Master tomorrow so the proposal will fail and the engagement will be canceled!"

"Uh…" Jie Gangtai suddenly realized, "So Xue'Er already has an engagement."

He believed Xiao Ye's words, and agreed!

The Young Master of the Imperial Capital's Ye Family was the number one younger generation there, and also the number one among the young people in Dragon Country.

Jie Gangtai had looked up information on the Ye Family's Young Master—if he fought him, he'd probably get obliterated in seconds!

Even if Xiao Ye hadn't appeared, he and Xue'Er would never be together.

Xiao Ye patted Jie Gangtai's shoulder, saying, "Bro, face reality! If you can't fight it, just accept it!"

A glimmer of darkness flashed through Jie Gangtai's eyes, and he nodded seriously, saying, "I get it!"

"I'll protect Xue'Er for life, but I won't bother you guys, and I won't get in the way of your relationship!"

After saying that, he suddenly turned around and left.

Xiao Ye was stunned, yelling, "Hey, bro, you misunderstood me! What I meant was: there's plenty of fish in the sea, why get hung up on one flower? I want you to give up on Mu Qingxue, not keep going down dog-simp road forever!"

*Dog-simp till you have nothing left—deep love? Bullshit.*

But Jie Gangtai, already walking away, acted like he didn't hear, stubbornly sticking to his beliefs with an epic, do-or-die air.

Xiao Ye, "..."

*Sigh, people stuck in their own worlds—you can't wake them up!*

"Huh, Xiao Ye, what are you staring at?" Mu Qingxue happened to walk over from another path, waving her pale, onion-white hand in front of Xiao Ye's dazed face, asking suspiciously.

Xiao Ye snapped back, stuffed a few boxes into his pocket, shook his head, and said, "Nothing, just bumped into someone interesting."

Mu Qingxue's Liu Mei eyebrows furrowed, *There's someone interesting in the City Lord's Mansion? Why haven't I met them?*

Next, the two headed together to a three-story villa.

Sitting on the sofa, they faced each other.

Xiao Ye kicked back, legs crossed, looking totally chill. Everything had gone smoothly so far; he just needed to beat the Ye Family's Young Master tomorrow, cancel the engagement, and he'd finally be able to claim the system reward.

Being alone with Mu Qingxue in an enclosed space—even with some ancient monster secretly lurking somewhere—Xiao Ye wasn't the least bit anxious. He wasn't worried the old monster would suddenly jump him; he had his own life-saving props.

Mu Qingxue asked, "Aren't you curious what my mom wanted from me just now?"

Xiao Ye couldn't care less, "Why would I care about that? We're just partners, it's not like we're really a couple. I have no right to poke into your business."

Mu Qingxue bit her lip and stared at him, feeling a bit wronged.

*He gets all the benefits, but doesn't have to take responsibility. Meanwhile, I do all the work and let my mom down.*

"Hmm, did you get something in your eye? Why are they red?" Xiao Ye asked curiously, leaning in for a closer look.

"Get out of here." Mu Qingxue shoved him away with a huff, "My eyes aren't red! I didn't get anything in them!"

Xiao Ye shrugged indifferently, "Fine, I just thought it was because of me. My bad, I was overthinking."

Mu Qingxue, "..."

*I really wanted to punch him to death.*

*After struggling to calm down for a while, she finally brought up the Ye Family's proposal tomorrow.*

"The Young Master of the Ye Family just stepped into One-Star in the Venerable Realm. It'll take him half a year, maybe a year, to level up again. Are you really confident you can beat him?"

Xiao Ye didn't answer; he just released the aura of Three-Star in the Venerable Realm.

At once, the air in the villa became turbulent—Mu Qingxue nearly got blown over face-first. If she had, even an airport would be flattened. Good thing Xiao Ye reacted fast, catching her in time.

"Ugh, asshole, let go of me!" Mu Qingxue burst out, mortified and furious.

Xiao Ye quickly reined in his aura and let go of the soft hand he'd accidentally grabbed.

"So, you think I can beat the Ye Family's Young Master or not?" he asked.

Mu Qingxue, cheeks flushed, glared at him, "Yeah!"

*She was sure Xiao Ye had done it on purpose!*

*He was copping a feel on purpose.*

Xiao Ye hadn't thought twice about it—it really was just an accident. Seeing her annoyed, he puffed out his chest, "If you want, you can touch me back."

Mu Qingxue, "No thanks, I'm getting a shower." Uploaded by the M|V|L(EMPYR) team.

Xiao Ye started wandering around the villa. There was an outdoor pool on the roof, the top three floors were living space, and the basement had two levels—the first for cultivation, the second for training.

When he walked into the training room, the gear inside drew his attention.

The aftermath of Mu Qingxue's last training session was still all over the place. Seven or eight human-shaped sandbags were thrown every which way on the floor, no longer sandbags but mangled remains—fingers missing, limbs everywhere. Every head had been kicked off, and each one had a piece of A4 paper on it with "Xiao Ye" written in huge letters.

"!" Xiao Ye's eyes widened in surprise.

*This had Mu Qingxue written all over it.*

Just then, Mu Qingxue, fresh from the shower and in a tight black battle suit, walked into the basement training room.

"Weird, where's that idiot gone now? Did he sneak out? Whatever, doesn't matter—I'm pissed, I need to beat someone up!"

*She wanted to vent all her bottled-up feelings in the training room again.*

As soon as she stepped in, she heard a voice.

"Beat someone up? You sure it's not me you want to beat?"

Xiao Ye's handsome, smirking face appeared in Mu Qingxue's field of vision; he pointed at the paper and the mangled sandbags on the floor, saying,

"Wow, didn't expect the young heiress herself to hate me this much."

Mu Qingxue followed his gesture and, seeing the mess, her cheeks suddenly turned bright red. Awkwardly, she stammered,

"I—uh—it wasn't me, it was Jie Gangtai! That's right, him!"

*She'd actually used him as a punching bag, and he'd just caught her red-handed—Mu Qingxue wanted to socially die on the spot!*

Xiao Ye's mouth twitched, *Jie Gangtai, you really take too much shit.*

"Since I'm here in the flesh, you don't need sandbags anymore. I'll play with you myself," he said.

Mu Qingxue took a wary step back, on guard, "No way."

"I'm just at Grandmaster Peak. You're way higher than me. If I fought you, wouldn't I be asking for a beating?"

Xiao Ye suppressed his realm down to Tier One Mortal, grinning, "Let's just use physical strength. No energy, no intent, no spiritual power. How's that?"

Mu Qingxue's beautiful eyes lit up, "Deal!"

*She happened to have [Jie], one of the Nine Secrets from ancient times, boosting her combat power at least tenfold.*

Xiao Ye had no clue why she was feeling so confident—but now that he'd become a Mythical Level Beastmaster, his body had evolved three times over. His physical combat power outclassed ordinary SSS-level folks by dozens of times.

He snuck a glance at Mu Qingxue's perky "skin drum," thinking to himself,

*You used to use me as your punching bag—today, I'm going to smack your ass till it blooms!*