Am I Still in Time to Leave?

Time gradually passed.

Before he knew it, the sky had begun to turn faintly yellow, and even the setting sun had started dyeing the world with evening hues.

When Su Ming left the academy, it had still been morning, but after he had hurried from place to place, evening had already fallen.

"Seriously..."

Su Ming panted in the wilderness, looking at the bees still hovering in the air, feeling helpless.

He had been following these bees around for an entire day.

At first, Su Ming had thought he had finally found some clues and would be able to track down those people. Who would have thought things wouldn't go as smoothly as he had imagined?

Following the swarm's guidance, Su Ming had run to one place after another, yet he hadn't found a single person from that suspicious group.

Of course, Su Ming hadn't come away empty-handed.

"This is the eleventh one, right?"

Su Ming caught his breath and looked around.

The state of the surroundings was clearly unusual.

Some places bore obvious scorch marks.

Some places seemed to have been severely damaged.

Other places were stained with blood, forming pools of crimson.

Without a doubt, this place had once been a battlefield.

Su Ming already understood what had happened.

"After that fierce battle that night, the suspicious group and the mysterious entity still haven't determined a victor."

Just like during the previous forty days, the suspicious group clearly hadn't taken down that mysterious entity. They had continued tracking it and continued hunting it down.

Su Ming's scouting swarm had detected the Spiritual Power of the Warlocks within the suspicious group at the battle sites. That was why he had searched one place after another, spending the entire day rushing around without seeing a single person, though he had found quite a few battlefields that had yet to be sealed off.

As for the two sides of the battle, Su Ming still had no clues about their whereabouts.

"Finding them really isn't easy."

Su Ming felt somewhat helpless as well.

However, he wasn't discouraged by the result.

"If this doesn't work, I'll try another method."

Su Ming had more than one way to find people.

After constantly opening packages over the past year, Su Ming had obtained dozens of items, if not a hundred. Among them were quite a few with extraordinarily strange uses that could be applied to his current situation.

With such cards in hand, Su Ming wasn't worried that he couldn't find them. It was only a matter of how much effort and how many items he would have to expend.

If he truly disregarded the cost, Su Ming did have ways to find them immediately.

He wasn't using them now simply because he didn't think they were worth it.

"I'm not in a hurry anyway. I'll take my time."

Su Ming's greatest virtue was his patience.

After all, he was a man determined to survive until he became invincible beneath the heavens. If he couldn't endure boredom or withstand provocation, he would have exposed his weakness long ago.

Therefore, Su Ming planned to return home first and come back to search again later.

"Hmm?"

Just as Su Ming was preparing to leave, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimmer of light.

"Something there?"

Su Ming was slightly puzzled, but his footsteps didn't hesitate in the slightest. He immediately walked toward the light.

Before long, Su Ming saw what had produced the light.

"A scale?"

Su Ming was startled.

The source of the light was indeed a damaged scale.

Although the scale was broken, its surface was as smooth as a mirror. The light of the setting sun reflected off it with a dazzling brilliance, giving it an almost beautiful appearance.

Su Ming picked up the scale and examined it for a while before frowning.

"This scale fell from a Phantom Demon, right?"

Scales shed by ordinary animals couldn't possibly be this beautiful, nor could they appear in a place like this. Moreover, Su Ming had sensed a trace of Phantom Demon aura on it, so its owner could not have been anything other than a Phantom Demon.

Su Ming thought for a moment, and inspiration flashed through his mind.

"Could the mysterious entity that suspicious group is hunting be a Phantom Demon?"

It wasn't impossible.

Although Su Ming couldn't imagine what kind of Phantom Demon would need to be hunted in secret, causing one disturbance after another before vanishing without a trace each time, and even provoking the desire of an ambitious figure among the Base City's higher-ups, the appearance of this scale had nevertheless directed the identity of that mysterious entity toward the Phantom Demons.

"If that mysterious entity is a Phantom Demon, what kind of Phantom Demon is it?"

After identifying it for a long time, Su Ming became certain that the scale did not belong to any Lesser Phantasmal Demon he knew.

This made his frown deepen, while uncertainty gradually filled his heart.

"Could it be that the suspicious group isn't hunting a Lesser Phantasmal Demon, but a Greater Phantasmal Demon?"

Su Ming was astonished.

A Greater Phantasmal Demon.

That was an incredibly formidable existence.

In the Spirit Fiend Abyss, Phantom Demons were numerous, and their species were equally diverse.

Phantom Demons such as Screaming Devils and Blackheart Demons numbered in the tens of millions. Yet among the countless Phantom Demon species in the Spirit Fiend Abyss, Screaming Devils and Blackheart Demons were merely two extremely insignificant varieties.

However, all these Phantom Demons, numerous as locusts, were Lesser Phantasmal Demons.

Lesser Phantasmal Demons were highly threatening to ordinary humans, but in the Spirit Fiend Abyss, they were the weakest of cannon fodder.

However, once a Phantom Demon absorbed enough blood and accumulated sufficient power, it would break away from its own group and evolve into an entirely new individual.

Such a Phantom Demon would no longer be cannon fodder like the others of its kind. Its strength would become incomparably powerful, and the difference between it and its unevolved state would be like heaven and earth. They could not be compared at all.

This evolved individual was what was known as a Greater Phantasmal Demon.

Once born, they would often become kings among their kind, ruling over an entire group and becoming regional feudal lords within the Spirit Fiend Abyss.

These Greater Phantasmal Demons posed a far greater threat to humanity than Lesser Phantasmal Demons. It could even be said that they existed on entirely different levels.

As long as a Lesser Phantasmal Demon wasn't particularly special, three students like Su Ming, Lei Hao, and Ye Bai could easily defeat one by working together.

If Su Ming brought out his true strength, hunting several Lesser Phantasmal Demons alone would not be a problem.

The same applied to professional Hunters and Warlocks. Even newly graduated Hunters and Warlocks who had just entered the field could hunt several Lesser Phantasmal Demons alone as long as they obtained their professional licenses. Some could even hunt ten or twenty by themselves.

However, once they encountered a Greater Phantasmal Demon, those newly emerged Hunters and Warlocks could only become prey to be slaughtered.

To put it this way:

In this world, whether one was a Hunter or a Warlock, once they obtained a license and became a professional Hunter or professional Warlock, they would begin to receive a star rating.

Newly established professional Hunters and professional Warlocks were One-Star Hunters and One-Star Warlocks.

Afterward, as professional Hunters and Warlocks continued to grow, improve, and refine their strength, they could raise their star ratings and be granted the corresponding rank.

The highest star rating was Seven-Star.

Yet even the weakest Greater Phantasmal Demon required at least a Four-Star Hunter or Warlock to deal with.

The difference between Greater Phantasmal Demons and Lesser Phantasmal Demons could be seen from this alone.

Not to mention that Greater Phantasmal Demons also had levels among themselves. The strongest of them might not be able to destroy heaven and earth with a casual gesture, but they could still fill seas and move mountains, making even the highest-ranked Seven-Star Hunters and Seven-Star Warlocks struggle to deal with them.

If the target that suspicious group was hunting really was a Greater Phantasmal Demon...

"Then this won't be something that can be resolved easily."

Su Ming gripped the scale in his hand, and his emotions stirred somewhat.

"Looks like I'll have to talk with Miss Xu again."

Su Ming took a deep breath and put the scale into his backpack.

Afterward, Su Ming searched the surrounding area once more. Only after finding nothing else did he return home.

As for the swarm he had used for searching, Su Ming didn't recall it. Instead, he let it continue searching.

Perhaps it might find something else later. It was hard to say.

That night, Su Ming didn't return to the dormitory.

He knew that if he went back, the rough men in the dormitory would certainly pester him endlessly again.

Thus, Su Ming simply booked a room at a hotel outside and sent Xu Qianqian a message.

"I got a room at a nearby hotel. Come over."

Su Ming attached the address and sent it to Xu Qianqian as well.

However, Xu Qianqian's reply came later than Su Ming expected, and its contents nearly made him spit blood.

"You're the first person who's ever dared to invite me to a hotel so directly."

When Su Ming saw that sentence, he didn't react at first. Once he understood it, he nearly spat blood on the spot.

Thinking about it carefully, the message he had sent really did seem a little... improper.

The corner of Su Ming's mouth twitched.

He hurriedly explained.

"I have something to discuss with you."

Su Ming sent that message.

This time, Xu Qianqian's reply took even longer.

Just as Su Ming was beginning to wonder about it, Xu Qianqian's reply finally arrived late.

"After I told my butler that, he not only got angry but also cursed you out, saying that your excuse for tricking a girl into getting a room was really terrible."

That reply made Su Ming bury his head in the pillow, wishing he could smash himself to death.

In the end, Su Ming simply replied:

"Come if you want."

After sending those words, Su Ming tossed his phone aside and stopped paying attention to anyone.

He wanted to lie down and sleep, but after rushing around all day, he realized that he smelled of travel and dust, and his sweat was especially strong.

"I'll wash up first."

As a refined little pig of a man, Su Ming couldn't stand lying down just like that. He immediately went to the bathroom and took a wonderfully relaxing shower.

When Su Ming emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed, a knock sounded outside the door.

"I'm here."

Xu Qianqian stood at the door and stared at Su Ming, who was wearing nothing but a bathrobe. She fell into deep thought for a long while.

Then Xu Qianqian said:

"Am I still in time to leave?"

The moment she finished speaking, Su Ming dragged Xu Qianqian into the room.

Sorry, something went wrong with the internet.

I hope everyone can forgive me.