Li Mengnan sat behind a tree, licking her dry lips, patiently waiting for Reconnaissance Squad Xiaodu to return.
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes ahead to the right, accompanied by a pleasant "shasha" sound.
Li Mengnan's body tensed, she leaned against the tree and stood up, one hand clutching the Black Wind Sword hanging at her waist.
When she saw Du Yu's sneaky head poke out, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Well? Did you find anything?"
Du Yu's expression was serious as he walked up to the tree. "There are seven people in the ambush."
Li Mengnan's heart tightened. "That many?"
She secretly felt a lingering fear. Fortunately Du Yu noticed in time; if they'd just blundered into someone's ambush net, all the Demon Crystals would surely be lost.
Li Mengnan knew Du Yu was strong, but seven opponents?
Are you kidding me? Even a hero can't fight off a pack of wolves!
"Wei Feng is among them too."
"Hm?" Li Mengnan was stunned for a moment—now this was really a narrow road for enemies!
She guessed, "Did he reflect after we snatched from him and go find a team for backup?"
"Maybe." Du Yu paused, then gave even worse news. "I saw Lin Shihang."
As soon as the name came out, Li Mengnan's face looked even worse.
In yesterday's last class, Lin Shihang was the second-to-last to leave the field, not a weakling. Plus, they're outnumbered...
But with things as they are, if they want to protect their high marks, the two of them are bound to come to blows with Lin Shihang's team?
Li Mengnan asked, "Is Lin Shiyi in that team too? Aren't you on good terms with her? Why not talk to her?"
Du Yu shook his head. "I didn't see Lin Shiyi, besides, they're only from the same family—they're not that close.
Lin Shiyi has a lot of complaints about Lin Shihang. She didn't have to join a civilian training class like us at all; she was dragged into this by Lin Shihang's gambling match."
At these words, Li Mengnan looked at Du Yu oddly, not happy. "You know a lot about this girl, huh? Really care, don't you?"
Du Yu rolled his eyes in annoyance. Weren't you the one who told me to ask Lin Shiyi for help?
He calmed himself, then said, "Let's relocate to somewhere easier to break out from, lie in wait, and when some other students come by to hand in their papers, we'll slip out during the commotion."
Li Mengnan nodded at once. "Good idea!"
"Come on, let's move out." Du Yu helped Li Mengnan up. "Put away your Demon Pets for now—our top priority is hiding."
"Mm." Li Mengnan obediently retrieved her Wind Witch Doll.
Du Yu also put Xiaoyan away in his forehead. The two crept softly, step by step moving east.
And the so-called breakthrough spot Du Yu meant... was actually the place Wei Feng was guarding...
The seven-person ambush was arranged in a "^" shape, but since their battle line was spread out, it wasn't as airtight as expected.
After finding a good spot, Du Yu fumbled in his pocket and pulled out all the Demon Crystals, handing them to Li Mengnan like a handful of dice.
Li Mengnan looked confused. "What's this?"
Du Yu: "Just in case. When we run, I'll cover the rear, you take our answer sheets out of the test field.
As long as you safely get the Demon Crystals out, we're counted as passing. It's just a test—not a life-or-death situation. I'll make it out too and have a score."
Li Mengnan hesitated a moment. "You're the archer, let me be the rear guard."
Du Yu smiled, ruffling Li Mengnan's hair. "I'm just a little bit better than you. Be good, I'll cover the rear.
With these eyes of mine, anyone I stare at gets dizzy, right?"
Li Mengnan: "..."
She tilted her head, glared at Du Yu in frustration, but then felt a strange flutter in her heart. She lowered her head and obediently put away all the Demon Crystals.
A tough guy behaving sweetly?
At this critical moment, Du Yu dared not joke around, and so they waited... for nearly twenty minutes...
On a forest path in the distance, two men and one woman—three teammates—hurried along, faces beaming, striding toward the finish line, clearly imagining their life after passing the test.
"Heads up." Du Yu pressed a hand on Li Mengnan's shoulder, whispering.
Under his hand, Du Yu could feel Li Mengnan's body trembling slightly again.
The two quietly watched as the trio passed by, their gaze following them until they were tens of meters away...
"Zzz~ zzz!"
A strange crackling of electricity. A Lightning Arrow shot out at high speed, striking the grass in front of the trio.
"Careful!" one of the boys shouted, spreading his arms to push his two teammates back several steps.
At the same time, the other two teammates looked around nervously, spotting the side bush twitching—someone was flanking them.
"Hello, classmates." A man's voice rang out from the distant treetops.
"Zhang Qiming?" The girl among the surrounded trio was surprised.
She had a great impression of Zhang Qiming and didn't believe he'd stoop to highway robbery.
Or rather... all the girls had a good impression of Zhang Qiming.
No exaggeration—Zhang Qiming was easily the best-looking guy among the students. You'd usually only see a face like that on TV idols.
Nose was a nose, eyes were eyes.
"This road is mine!"
Zhang Qiming squatted in the tree, smiling sunnily at the stunned trio beneath him. "You know what I mean, right?"
"Ah?"
"Uh..."
Zhang Qiming continued, "Of course, we won't make you fail. Each of you can keep one Demon Crystal, but you'll need to hand over the extras, alright? Otherwise..."
One of the boys, angry, shot back: "Otherwise what?"
Before Zhang Qiming could answer, Lin Shihang stepped from the side bush, sword in hand. "Otherwise, we'll take all your Demon Crystals and you'll fail the assessment."
"I—I..." The boy obviously recognized the Lin Family's heir. When he saw Lin Shihang, he was dumbfounded and quickly said, "We each only have one Demon Crystal."
Lin Shihang: "Prove it, then. Don't make me act personally."
It was a blazing summer day—the students wore light clothes, shorts and T-shirts, with nowhere to hide anything.
And after the Lin Family's young master appeared, the trio became much more obedient, perfectly embodying "anger without protest." They all emptied their pockets for inspection.
Amusingly, they weren't lying; each really only had one Demon Crystal.
Lin Shihang's expression was unfriendly, wavering for a while before saying, "Hurry along, don't delay us..."
Before Lin Shihang finished his sentence, a burst of barking came from the other side of the woods: "Woof! Woof woof!"
Immediately after, Wei Feng's startled shout: "Who's there? Don't run!"
Wei Feng charged forward, but then a voice among the darting figures behind the tree burst into laughter: "Hihaihai!"
A devilish sound assaulting the ears!
Wei Feng froze, actually forgetting to move his legs, but his body's forward momentum kept going, so—
Wei Feng dove and did a glorious faceplant!
"Wu?" The running wolf pup skidded to a halt and looked back at its master.
Its tiny eyes full of giant confusion.
Why did my master trip over nothing? Is this some new battle tactic?
Lin Shihang's expression darkened too. He looked past the trio to the woods across, just in time to see two figures tearing through the trees—absolute desperate escape!
"It really has to be you, Squad Leader Du!" Zhang Qiming, clearly not just a pretty face, leaped up and readied his bow, standing absolutely steady. "Seizing the chance, eh?"
On his shoulder lounged a small white cat, much like a Great Xia farm cat—except for its intense electric-eyes.
"Zzz~ zzz!"
A Lightning Arrow coalesced and shot out at high speed!
Worth mentioning: electric arrows are just arrows formed from Thunder Elemental Demon Breath; they're arrows at heart.
Their speed is the same as ordinary arrows—they aren't a Thunder Demon Skill, so they can't strike targets instantaneously.
Du Yu, behind Li Mengnan as they ran, turned back and saw the lightning arrow streaking at them. His eyes widened. He shoved Li Mengnan's back forward, then slammed to a halt himself.
"Whoosh!"
The electric arrow stabbed deep into the grass, angling in right in front of Du Yu.
Close call!
"Du Yu?" Lin Shihang immediately ignored the trio, rushing after Du Yu. "Don't let him get away!"
After failing to get the Heterochromatic Little Fire Fox in a deal, Lin Shihang had looked into Du Yu's background—with surprising results.
Du Yu was truly broke, with no power or connections at all.
Given Du Yu's stellar performance during training, he was obviously aiming for a custom Demon Soldier—which meant, Du Yu must have a ton of Demon Crystals!
"I told you, this road is mine!" Zhang Qiming looked down at Du Yu, who had stopped helplessly in the woods. "Even you, Squad Leader Du, have to pay a toll!"
"Oh, really?" Du Yu suddenly drew his bow, notching a Fire Arrow blazing fiercely, aiming right at the enemy in the tree. "Mengnan, stick to the plan!"
Zhang Qiming's expression changed. Now he finally understood why, a few days ago, Wei Feng had been so hopeless facing Du Yu!
Those were eyes that seemed to lock onto the enemy's Life Gate!
But at the moment, they were far apart—Zhang Qiming hugged the tree trunk and dodged quickly.
But Du Yu suddenly changed his target, dropping the bow to aim downward.
At that very moment, two flower vines shot from behind the bushes toward Du Yu.
"Whoosh!"
The burning Fire Arrow shot straight through the gap between the two vines, stabbing behind the bush.
"Crack!" That was the sound of a Demon Breath Battle Robe shattering.
"Ugh." The Rose Spirit wailed, jolted by pain. The two extended flower vines twisted and bent, no longer reaching for Du Yu.
"Du Yu!" Lin Shihang yelled, charging over with his sword. He saw Du Yu—and also the fleeing Li Mengnan behind him!
Lin Shihang, both shocked and angry, ordered loudly, "Target the girl—go!"
Du Yu drew his bow again, spun around, and fired at the figures chasing through the woods on the right.
"Crack!"
The arrow streaked like a meteor, stabbing straight into the side temple of a pursuer!
"Ah!" The battle robe shattered with a bang—the boy screamed in pain.
The Demon Breath Battle Robes of Demon Tamer Prentice·Initial Stage were no match for a Fire Arrow shot by a Demon Tamer Prentice·Minor Success!
Du Yu once more readied his bow, the Eye of Burning Sun burning hot.
Don't ask.
If you ask, I'm shooting!
Don't dodge.
I've already locked on!
Du Yu backed away step by step, sharp eyes scanning everywhere, on alert.
The pursuers who'd been so aggressive moments ago now all hid behind trees, cowed by Du Yu's thunderous moves, no one daring to show themselves for now.
This road, you said was yours?
Now, it's mine.