Chapter 356 Monster

Panya Lake’s water was jade-green and rippled beautifully. The scenery was very beautiful.

This was true nature. Humans were tiny, inconsequential, and helpless before it. They instantly became a part of the food chain, not standing at the peak. The moment they were careless, they would be injured or dead.

The students from Chongde stood at the lakeside and were at their wit’s end.

The three students who knew how to swim had dived into the lake. However, everyone knew that the possibility of catching a flower carp like this was close to non-existent. However, if they didn’t try, they would have no chance at all. “Catching a specific type of fish is too difficult. Why don’t we switch to catching a land-bound mysterious species of darkness instead?”

“Why don’t we simply go snatch the mysterious species of darkness that others captured?”

“I feel that it is useless to continue waiting.”

The students mumbled.

When the participating teachers of Chongde saw this scene, they silently sighed. When encountering a difficult problem, if one didn’t work hard to resolve it and only thought about evading or walking short-cuts, the students wouldn’t be able to grind and temper their wills.

The students continued chatting and all of a sudden, they saw a bunch of white-feathered birds flying across them in the sky.

Abruptly, these little egrets started to swoop down.

Putong! Putong! The little egrets dove about a meter deep into the water and immediately flew back up. They flapped their wings and soared into the sky. At this moment, small fish could be seen in some of their beaks. The fish struggled but to no avail. They were swallowed by the birds who captured them. “Ah? I suddenly thought of a solution. We can control these birds and get them to catch the flower carp for

us.”

The group leader Li Rongguang was suddenly struck by inspiration. There was a look of joy on his face.

The gazes of everyone immediately turned to Liu Yu. He was the only one in the new student group who knew how to control beasts. “Don’t look at me. At most, I can only enslave one. It’s useless!”

Liu Yu shrugged.

“Taming one is better than nothing!”

Li Rongguang urged, “Alright, everyone help to capture the birds and let Liu Yu enslave them.”

“Group leader, Is it possible that these little egrets were already enslaved by someone else?” Chen Chen looked at these birds. Some didn’t eat the fish despite having captured them. They spat the fish out instead and continued searching. This was too illogical. “Impossible!” Without waiting for Li Rongguang to reply, Liu Yuxian called out first. “The number of creatures enslaved by a spirit controller depends on their mental energy. The more they control, the greater the backlash would be!”

How many little egrets were here now? There were close to 1,000! How strong the spirit controller must be to enslave all of them? “Quickly look!” Wu Ran pointed to a bird. She suddenly said, “Isn’t the fish it captured the flower carp?”

Everyone immediately looked over. After that, they were wild with joy.

The fish in the bird’s mouth was gorgeously colored, looking like a rainbow was painted on its body. This was the greatest defining characteristic of a flower carp.

Flutter

The little egrets flew away. “What are you waiting for? Go and chase them!”

Li Rongguang urged.

“Haha, our luck is so good that I have no words for it!”

Chai Yong laughed uproariously.

The four teachers exchanged mutual glances, but they weren’t so optimistic. Why did the little egrets not eat the flower carp but brought it away instead?

It wasn’t the time for them to mate; they also didn’t need to bring food back to their nests. Hence, there was only one answer. These birds were enslaved by someone.

“I wonder which new student group is it?”

The four teachers felt some worry. Since the other party could think of this, they mustn’t underestimate their strength.

At the habitat of the little egrets, the three girls went to catch worms.

Sun Mo had nothing to do. Hence, he decided to grill a few fish for dinner.

Not long after that, the little egrets flew back. A large group of them landed beside the papaya girl. One of them placed a rainbow-colored carp on the ground before her.

“Excellent, thank you very much!”

Lu Zhiruo wrapped the worms with a handkerchief and passed it to the little egrets.

After feeding them, the sky dimmed.

It was too dangerous to set up a single camp in a dense forest. Hence, Sun Mo had designated a location earlier and all of them had to gather back by 8 p.m. at the latest.

“Let’s go.”

Since they had caught the flower carp, Sun Mo was no longer anxious. He didn’t let the three girls sit on Little Silver when they returned. Instead, he wanted to train their movement ability in forested terrains. The speed of the little sunny egg was very slow. Staring at the gradually fading sun and the emergence of the moon, Li Ziqi felt very anxious. She felt that she delayed too much of everyone’s time. “Eldest martial sister, there’s no rush. Just walk slower!”

Lu Zhiruo had always been accompanying Li Ziqi by her side. However, all of a sudden, she halted and her ears moved. After that, her face was filled with nervousness. “Teacher, people are coming in this direction. Many of them!”

Sun Mo frowned but he reacted quickly. Some people must have followed those little egrets and found their dwelling place. After that, they followed them via tracking

Right now, Sun Mo had two choices. First, before the enemies arrived, they could sit on Little Silver and leave. Second, he could stay at his original location and preserve his strength, preparing for combat. “Prepare for combat!” Sun Mo chose the latter option. If the flower carp was gone, they could always capture another one. However, such a clash would have to be experienced sooner or later.

Not long later, a sound rang out.

“I’ve found them, they are over here!”

Chen Chen was wild with joy.

The students of Chongde appeared. Each of them was panting, but their expressions were one of excitement. This was especially so after they saw the flower carp in Lu Zhiruo’s hands. The few male students started to high-five each other to celebrate as though they had obtained the flower carp.

“It’s you guys?”

Li Rongguang looked at Li Ziqi’s group, having an awkward look on his face. He recalled how embarrassing it was for his side when they were in the human-faced canyon. “Hmm, there are only four people?” Chen Chen cupped his ears and listened carefully. “They are students from Chongde!”

Upon seeing Li Rongguang’s group, Li Ziqi heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, they didn’t run into the student groups from Mingshao or Sky Orchid. They had a chance against the other student groups. “What do you mean by this? Are you looking down on us?”

Chai Yong raged. “Do you guys have any aspects for me to look up to? Don’t forget that the few of you were rescued by us!” Lu Zhiruo argued back, directly causing their expressions to turn even more awkward and unsightly. Li Rongguang signaled for everyone to stop arguing. He then turned his gaze to Li Ziqi. “Three against twenty. You guys can’t win. If you hand over the flower carp, we can let you guys leave.” “The three students there, don’t forget that all of us signed the life-and-death agreement. Even if we kill you guys, there’s no need for us to bear any responsibility.”

Wu Ran threatened.

“Why waste your time talking nonsense? Just snatch their flower carp!” Chen Chen was already impatient. (Although I don’t know what methods you guys used to control a large bunch of little egrets, your actions have benefitted us.)

If they returned now, they would surely be able to enter the top ten. It was even possible to enter the top five.

“Baiwu, bring the flower carp away first!” Li Ziqi took the flower carp from Lu Zhiruo and tied it on Ying Baiwu’s belt. After that, she took out a stack of spirit rune papers. Lu Zhiruo pulled out her sword and stood in front of Li Ziqi. “Right!” Ying Baiwu executed the Wind King Divine Step and directly shot out. In the blink of an eye, she moved over thirty meters away.

“So fast?”

Let alone the students, even the four teachers were stunned. This movement art was at least a superior heaven-tier one.

“Chen Chen, Wu Ran, quickly go and chase after her!”

Li Rongguang immediately selected students with the quickest speed. After that, he shouted again, “If you dare to run, we will break the limbs of these two girls. I will do what I said!”

“Go!”

Li Rongguang wanted to capture Li Ziqi and Lu Zhiruo as hostages to force Ying Baiwu to give in. Because they failed the first round, Li Rongguang had specially checked up on the Central Province Academy’s information. He knew that these girls were Sun Mo’s personal students. In that case, the one running definitely wouldn’t be merciless and ignore the safety of her martial sisters. Li Rongguang viewed his status highly, so he didn’t attack. But Chai Yong and the others were already impatient. They directly lunged over with ferocious momentum. Li Ziqi tore a flame explosion spirit rune. A few fire lines appeared and formed a fireball. Under Li Ziqi’s guidance, it blasted toward Chai Yong.

Hu~

The coconut-sized fireball was extremely quick, arriving before Chai Yong in the blink of an eye. He wanted to evade but wasn’t able to do so in time. Hence, he could only block with his weapon.

Bang!

The fireball exploded and sparks flew everywhere. The powerful impact sent Chai Yong flying through the air.

Bang! Chai Yong fell into the shrubs nearby, and his expression was one of pain as he howled miserably. His body was charred black, evidently showing hints of being burned. This scene caused the minds of the other students to tremble.

“Is it so strong?”

After seeing another fireball materializing before Li Ziqi, the speed of everyone couldn’t help but slow.

In this situation, whoever rushed the fastest would be the most unlucky one.

“This girl’s skill in the study of spirit runes is very high!” Cui Yi was shocked.

“What spirit rune is this? Why have I never seen it before?”

Zhen Junyan frowned. These two were the leading teachers of Chongde. They knew a bit about spirit runes study. However, upon seeing this, their faces were filled with puzzlement.

“Could this be a new type of spirit rune created by the girl?” Zhen Junyan guessed.

“Have you lost your mind?”

Cui Yi rolled his eyes.

At this moment, a tragic scream suddenly rang out from the dense forest. The expressions of the four teachers changed. One of them immediately rushed over.

There was no need to ask. One of their students must have been injured by the bow-wielding girl. “Trash!”

Li Rongguang no longer held back after hearing the scream. He directly lunged toward Li Ziqi, preparing to capture her first.

Hu~

The fireball blasted toward Li Rongguang.

Li Rongguang, who was prepared, ducked his head. After that, the fireball whistled past his face. The scorching temperature even caused his hair to curl slightly.

Bang!

The fireball blasted into a large tree whose trunk was wide enough for a person to hug it, directly exploding it into pieces. “Don’t think about getting near us!”

Lu Zhiruo waved a sword and walked forward, blocking Li Rongguang. “Rush them together!”

A student roared. They took the opportunity after Li Ziqi fired to catch up. “Dodge!”

Li Rongguang waved his sword and clashed with Lu Zhiruo.

Ding!

Lu Zhiruo directly stumbled from the impact and was forced back from her original location.

“It’s too late!”

Li Rongguang had a smile of contempt on his face. However, when he looked over and saw Li Ziqi tearing another spirit rune paper, his expression froze.

After the spirit rune paper was torn, no fire lines appeared. Crackling arcs of lightning were generated instead and became lightning spheres the size of a pineapple.

These lightning spheres didn’t need Li Ziqi to control them. They would directly be drawn by static electricity and fly toward the nearest enemy.

Li Rongguang was the most tragic. Because he was extremely close to Li Ziqi, he basically wasn’t able to dodge in time and was blasted head-on by two lightning spheres. Crackle

The blue-colored lightning coursed through Li Rongguang’s body, charring him black. He emitted smoke and fell onto the ground. His life and death was unknown. “Rongguang!”

Cui Yi was badly shocked and rushed over.

“Do you guys want to interfere with the battle?”

Sun Mo roared.

According to the rules of the competition, teachers couldn’t intentionally interfere in battles between students. For example, right now, Li Ziqi could capture Li Rongguang as a hostage and force the others to retreat.

“F***!”

Cui Yi cursed but he didn’t stop moving.

“What spirit rune is this again?”

Zhen Junyan was shocked. (I feel that my skill in the study of spirit runes isn’t bad and I have memorized over a thousand spirit rune diagrams. However, I have never seen anything like this before.) “Zhiruo, use the lightning protection!” Li Ziqi instructed. “Oh!”

The papaya girl immediately took out a spirit rune paper and tore it. After that, five lightning spheres floated around her.

The students of Chongde saw how tragic Li Rongguang looked, and all of them froze on the spot, not knowing what to do. “I will kill you all!”

Chai Yong bore with the intense pain and climbed to his feet. He then rushed toward Li Ziqi directly. However, when he was nearing the three-meter range, the lightning spheres around Li Ziqi shot over. Swish~ Swish- Swish

Rumble!

Chai Yong was sent flying from the impact, and he was also charred black.

“Chance!”

A male student saw that the lightning spheres around Li Ziqi had been depleted. Hence, he immediately rushed over. He didn’t show mercy and quickly slashed his blade at Li Ziqi’s arm.

(I will cripple one of your arms first.)

Li Ziqi retreated while holding up her left hand, turning her palm and aiming it at the male student.

“What the hell?”

The male student frowned.

Motes of wind elemental energy congealed and formed a semi-transparent air bullet. With a loud bang, it blasted out like a rocket being fired. Bang! The air bullet knocked the male student’s blade away and continued blasting into his shoulder.

Boom!

The impact directly pulverized his entire arm, causing blood and flesh to fly around.

“Ah!”

The male student fell onto the ground. His expression was contorted in agony.

Swish

The charging students immediately hesitated.

Li Ziqi lifted her right palm and aimed it at a female student.

That female student immediately paled, and she hurriedly hid behind a large tree.

“What is this?”

Zhen Junyan felt his scalp turning numb. He had never seen such a way of fighting before. Fireballs, lightning spheres, and even air bullets? There was basically no one that could get close to Li Ziqi!

If her opponents were a new student group who had excellent combat experience, they would still be able to launch an offensive in between her attacks. However, these students from Chongde weren’t able to do so. They had been frightened to the extent that they lost their guts. “I don’t wish to kill. Don’t force me!”

Li Ziqi panted and stared at these people. At the back of her hand, another mysterious rune sparkled with blue light. This was the Wind King Protection. The air bullets were one of its abilities.

They all fell silent. After that, the rustling sounds of leaves could be heard, breaking the silence. “Group leader, she comes back again. Quickly block her!”

It was Chen Chen’s voice.

Everyone turned and saw Ying Baiwu, who had left earlier, came back again. She stood on a tree branch and was firing madly with her longbow.

Woosh~

Arrows pierced the space. Although they didn’t hit the targets, the arrows forced the students to dive to the ground in search of cover. At this moment, the students of Chongde finally realized that the girls had never planned to run at all. Instead, they planned to use Ying Baiwu’s speed to lure a portion of people to chase her so she could destroy them one by one. “Damn, we got underestimated.” The student shook with anger. But after seeing the various injuries of their fellow students, as well as the lightning spheres around Li Ziqi, Lu Zhiruo, and Ying Baiwu, they felt despair. How should they fight this?