Mid-term Exam, Part 8

Su Qing was eager to fight one against two, but one against four meant she could only turn and run.

The gleaming “One Against Three” above her head was a forced equip, impossible to remove. She could only gnash her teeth and curse whoever came up with such a hateful idea, while soaring through the air towards the center of the safe zone.

Her running, far from being a retreat, exposed her. The two Beast School students, seeing the enormous “One Against Three” title above her head, narrowed their eyes and pursued with great interest.

Although she was a first-year, the fact that she could defeat a third-year indicated exceptional talent, and since she had eliminated a third-year, she must have inherited their resources. If they could capture her, it would be a tremendous gain.

These two third-year Beast School students were Golden Core cultivators themselves, and their two spirit beasts were also Golden Core-stage spirit beasts.

One was a large fox named Lihuo, with snow-white fur, save for ear tips and tail tip that were fiery red. The other was a Heaven-Shaking Bull named Ah Niu.

Fox spirits were mostly of the illusion attribute. The most common branches were Red Foxes and Snow Foxes, with fire and ice spiritual roots being the most prevalent. Fox spirits understood human nature, excelled at weaving dreams and creating illusions to bewilder hearts, making them common contracted spirit beast companions.

The little red fox named Yaoyao, whom Su Qing had met in the Beast School literacy class, was also of the illusion attribute and possessed fire spiritual roots. However, due to its young age and lack of cultivation, the dreams it wove mostly involved stealing chickens, being chased by dogs, or rolling playfully in piles of fallen leaves. Therefore, it generally relied on its inherent powerful physical prowess in combat.

Su Qing estimated that this Golden Core-stage spirit fox was undoubtedly a master of illusion techniques.

Shi Zeyu, a third-year Beast School student, shouted, “Go, Lihuo!”

The large fox, Lihuo, hissed in dissatisfaction, “I’m not in Foundation Establishment anymore, why are you still commanding me like this? Are you going to shout out ultimate move names next?”

Shi Zeyu said, slightly embarrassed, “I’ve been calling you that since you were little, I’m just used to it.”

Spirit beasts in their breaking-in period often needed verbal guidance from their masters to lead them in battle. Therefore, it was common to see students in the lower years of the Beast School’s beast arena screaming out ultimate move names to their spirit beasts. @Exclusive good literature, all at Jinjiang Literature City

Su Qing had witnessed it before; the scene was not much different from “Go, Pikachu!”

However, as spirit beasts matured and their tacit understanding with their masters grew, such impetuous forms of communication became rare.

Of course, for some slower-witted spirit beasts, verbal communication was still more convenient, but the great fox Lihuo was clearly not among them.

Su Qing, clutching Man Qing Sword, had just retreated a considerable distance when she felt a rush of wind over her head, followed by a sudden weight on her shoulder.

The spirit fox had actually leaped onto her, arching its body, and elegantly settled on her shoulder. A fox face, with a smirk, came around to her front, its silvery fur brushing against Su Qing’s cheek, delivering a smooth, pleasant touch like silk.

Furry creatures were cute, but a tail over a meter long tightening around her neck was not so pleasant.

The spirit fox’s tail, like a whip, locked around Su Qing’s neck and jaw, forcing her to look up. Su Qing’s hand pressed against its tail, and she “swished” her eyes shut instantly. She reacted too quickly, and the spirit fox “tsk”-ed in annoyance, baring its fangs and threatening sinisterly, “If you don’t open your eyes, I’ll gnaw off your eyelids.”

This threat didn’t truly frighten Su Qing, but there was a peculiar cadence in the fox’s voice that seemed to pluck at her nerves, making her involuntarily open her eyes.

Then, she met a pair of silently swirling purple eyes. The beast’s eyes were deep and profound, with vertical pupils that seemed to hook onto her soul, drawing it out.

Illusory Fire Eyes, a companion skill unique to the Spring Original Snow Fox branch. Upon seeing it, it could burn the opponent’s divine sense and soul, trapping the enemy in a fiery illusion array.

Below the Nascent Soul stage, none could contend against it.

Su Qing’s fingers stiffly clamped onto Lihuo’s tail, eliciting a disgruntled hiss from the spirit fox. However, minor resistance was a common phenomenon when dragged into an illusion array, so Lihuo paid it no mind.

Instead, it stared intently into Su Qing’s eyes, giving her no chance to escape.

As for the tail, bald humans always coveted fox fur. The fox knew it, the fox was good, the fox didn’t fuss.

Speaking of which, this human’s eyes were surprisingly clean, like glass beads, very clear, unlike the dead fish eyes of others it had enchanted.

‘I kind of want them.’

Clear they certainly were, because Su Qing’s constitution was special. The so-called Illusory Fire Eyes had no effect on her at all.

She was merely feigning idiocy at the moment…

Shi Zeyu saw that Su Qing’s mind was ensnared by Lihuo and felt half-confident. “Xiuwen, this junior sister has been fixated by the Illusory Fire Eyes. Within thirty breaths, she won’t recover. I observe her to be a Body Cultivator; ordinary sword moves probably won’t be a one-hit kill. Please have your Heaven-Shaking Bull engage!”

The other third-year student, Yang Xiuwen, had already developed a very skilled collaboration with her. He commanded his Heaven-Shaking Bull to charge forward, “Ah Niu, go get her!”

The Heaven-Shaking Bull belonged to the slower-witted spirit beasts, requiring its master to coordinate with gestures, language, actions, and divine sense.

The Heaven-Shaking Bull, true to its name, although it looked like an ordinary ox, was an undeniable Body Cultivator powerhouse among spirit beasts.

Its hooves thundered like lightning; wherever it walked, grass and trees fell, mountains and rocks shattered, as if even the heavens could be trampled by it, thus earning it the prestigious name of “Heaven-Shaking.” Among its features, its horns and skull were particularly indestructible; even Nascent Soul stage demon beasts would have to give way to it by a mile.

Fortunately, it was inherently lazy, preferring to lie down rather than stand. Unless restrained by its master, it rarely attacked proactively, making it a friendly spirit beast.

A thunderous hoof beat suddenly sounded behind Su Qing, followed by a gale.

Her body remained still, but she could already feel a terrifying pressure pressing down from behind.

If she were outside, she might be willing to compete with this bull to see whose body tempering was more thorough.[1][2][3][4][5]

But this was an examination, and she didn’t want to lose HP.

Just as the bull’s horn was about to strike her lower back, Su Qing flipped herself up, arching her back.

She grabbed the fox crouching on her shoulder, seizing its tail with one hand and pressing its face with the other, aiming it at the Heaven-Shaking Bull’s eyes.

Lihuo was shocked and cried out angrily, “How dare you?!”

For a beast with low intelligence like the Heaven-Shaking Bull, the Illusory Fire Eyes were its natural nemesis.

In fact, it was precisely because the Spring Original Snow Fox excelled at mental control but had weak offensive power, and the Heaven-Shaking Bull possessed immense brute strength but was mentally weak, that these two third-year students, Shi Zeyu and Yang Xiuwen, chose to team up, complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Visibly, the bull’s eyes suddenly became dull, and its massive body slowly stiffened from head to hoof as if petrified. Its back tautened, muscles rigid. It even maintained its attacking posture, its enormous front hooves still raised high, as if they would stomp down fiercely in the next second.

The two third-year students were still standing a few steps away and, for a moment, didn’t react at all.

@Exclusive good literature, all at Jinjiang Literature City

This wasn’t their fault; Beast Cultivators emphasized beast taming and establishing a connection with their beasts, sharing cultivation.

The master’s own strength was not exceptionally strong, and standing a little further away was for safety, to avoid hindering their spirit beast.

These two, out of habit, were caught off guard.

They never expected that the Illusory Fire Eyes, which were invincible below the Nascent Soul stage, could not restrain a first-year student.

Immediately after, Su Qing, still gripping the large fox, nimbly scrambled up from the ground.

Her movements were swift, and with ill intent, she aimed at the Heaven-Shaking Bull’s forehead, flicking her finger.

Yang Xiuwen, the Heaven-Shaking Bull’s master, had already realized what Su Qing was about to do. In a panic, he shouted, “Ah Niu! Don’t!”

His long sword flicked, and a pure sword intent shot towards Su Qing.

Su Qing did nothing but turn, clutching the large fox and exposing it to the sword intent. Shi Zeyu, however, flashed a few steps, drew her sword, and blocked the sword intent. She exclaimed, “Are you crazy? Lihuo is still in her hands!”

Su Qing curved her eyes, a brief smile flashing across her face. Then, under Yang Xiuwen’s furious gaze, she flicked the Heaven-Shaking Bull’s forehead with force.

“Bang!”

In an instant, the Heaven-Shaking Bull, which was already balanced on only two hooves, trembled.

Its precarious balance was forcibly broken, and with a resounding “thud,” a cloud of dust billowed up as the Heaven-Shaking Bull crashed to the ground like a collapsing mountain, unable to rise again for a moment.

With spirit beasts of such immense size and astonishing weight, once they fell in an unconventional posture, injury was inevitable.

To put it simply, while forging oneself into a weapon, that weapon could also harm oneself.

Judging by the commotion, it was a certainty that the Heaven-Shaking Bull’s four legs were broken. She just didn’t know how its recovery capabilities were.

In truth, the Golden Core cultivators sent to this examination had their strengths significantly weakened.

For example, Jiang Chixue, in reality, would surely have numerous formation disks and arrays she could deploy, but here, she only had the Celestial Net Array.

Furthermore, like these two Beast Cultivator Golden Cores, outside, they would undoubtedly have contracted with more than just one spirit beast, and certainly would have many spirit beasts and artifacts cooperating for group attacks.

But here, they could likely only use one spirit beast companion.

Therefore, once Su Qing developed, she found that these Golden Core cultivators were actually far less formidable than she had imagined.

Her competitive spirit surged once more. Grabbing the fox and tightening her grip on Man Qing Sword, she attacked the two Beast Cultivators.

The large fox Lihuo was already furiously biting and clawing at Su Qing. Then, it noticed that while her health was dropping, the speed was incredibly slow, just -1, -1, -1…

And this person’s health was almost breaking sixty thousand. How long would it take to deplete it?

Thinking this, a surge of sorrow rose in its heart. It bared its sharp teeth and bit down fiercely on Su Qing’s shoulder, only to find it was jarringly hard. Its last baby tooth even loosened.

Su Qing didn’t want it to damage her magical robe, so she perfunctorily shoved her finger into its mouth. “Bite all you want.”

But in her heart, she was thinking, ‘Although the bone isn’t broken, the skin is pierced and bleeding. Do I need a rabies shot for this…?’

Lihuo never imagined that it, a dignified Golden Core-stage great fox demon, would suffer such humiliation! @Exclusive good literature, all at Jinjiang Literature City

It had already used all of its fox clan’s most exquisite mental control techniques, the Illusory Dream Arts, when Su Qing countered it, but Su Qing, with her special constitution, two immortal bones, and powerful divine sense, remained completely unaffected.

This famously great fox was like a sharp-toothed plush toy in her hands.

Lihuo had already exhausted all its tricks. Left with no choice, its eyes rolled, and like a cub, it opened its wet eyes and said in a tiny voice, “Human, fox’s tail is so sore. Can you let go?”

This tactic had always worked for it, even the examiners would give it two extra points for cuteness during exams!

Su Qing looked at those blinking fox eyes, paused, and honestly replied, “But I’m a cat person, and you’re a canine.”

“And you even bit me.”

Lihuo shrieked. It understood the word “canine” and bit down even harder on Su Qing’s flesh, grinding its teeth. It whimpered furiously, “You insult me! You’re the one like a dog!”

Su Qing dodged around Yang Xiuwen. Masters and spirit beasts shared cultivation. The Heaven-Shaking Bull had thick skin and tough flesh, so its master would likely not be easy to deal with. Therefore, Su Qing chose Shi Zeyu.

With a tap on her storage bag, ten thousand useless broken stones piled up into a tall wall, separating Yang Xiuwen from Shi Zeyu.

Su Qing tightened her grip on the large fox’s tail, pulled its teeth from her arm, then forcefully swung it like a towel, revolving it around her shoulder. After completing a full, powerful arc, Su Qing released her hand, flinging Lihuo towards its master.

In a panic, Shi Zeyu rushed forward to catch the large fox.

The Tier 3 top-grade Man Qing Sword flashed, and Su Qing swept past, slicing through the person and the fox as if they were paper.

Third-year Shi Zeyu was eliminated.

Behind Su Qing’s [One Against Three] title, two small characters appeared again: [*2].

She had no time to ponder this. Desperately, she pressed the one-click loot button, only to see the stone wall being breached again by the bull’s horns. Yang Xiuwen, riding the bull, charged towards her in a rage.

The person and the bull both gleamed with golden light, their imposing pressure unfathomable.

Su Qing’s eyelid twitched. It was a combination move after all.

She knew it; this person had definitely used the recent lull to heal the Heaven-Shaking Bull.

Indeed, fighting one against two was still a bit too much.

But deflecting trouble onto others was Su Qing’s specialty. She turned and ran towards the center of the safe zone.

The Heaven-Shaking Bull, frantic, followed closely, stirring up the entire safe zone without a moment’s hesitation.