Is it still too late for me to leave?

Time gradually slipped away.

Before he knew it, the sky had begun to turn slightly yellow, with the setting sun starting to dye the world with its evening glow.

Su Ming had left the academy in the morning, but while he was running around, evening had already arrived.

"Seriously..."

Su Ming panted in a suburban area, looking at the bees still hovering in the air, feeling a sense of helplessness in his heart.

He had been chasing these bees all day.

Originally, Su Ming thought he had finally found some clues to track down those people, but who would have thought that the result would not be as smooth as he had imagined?

Led by the swarm of bees, Su Ming ran to one place after another, but he couldn't find anyone from that suspicious group.

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

"Is this the eleventh one?"

Su Ming took a breath and looked around.

The surrounding environment was clearly off.

Some places had obvious burn marks.

Some places seemed to have been damaged, broken very badly.

Other places were covered in blood, forming pools of bloodstains.

Undoubtedly, this was once a battlefield.

Su Ming already understood what was happening.

"After the fierce battle that night, the suspicious group and the mysterious entity didn't determine a victor."

Just like the previous forty days, the suspicious group clearly hadn't taken down that mysterious entity yet, and they were still tracking it, still hunting it down.

Su Ming's scouting bee swarm detected the spiritual power of the Sorcerers in the suspicious group at the site of the fierce battle, so they searched one place after another, leading Su Ming to run around all day. He didn't see a single person, but he found many battle areas that hadn't been sealed off yet.

As for the whereabouts of the two sides in the battle, there were still no clues.

"Finding them is not so easy after all."

Su Ming was also a little helpless.

However, he wasn't discouraged by this result.

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

Su Ming didn't just have this one way to find people.

Opening packages continuously over the past year had given Su Ming dozens of items, even if it wasn't a hundred, and among them were some very peculiar items that could be used in the current situation.

With such cards in hand, Su Ming wasn't worried that he couldn't find people, it just depended on how much effort and collection he needed to put in.

If he really didn't care about the cost, Su Ming wasn't without a way to find the other party immediately.

He wasn't using it now simply because he didn't think it was worth it.

"Anyway, I'm not in a hurry, let's take it slow."

Su Ming might not be good at other things, but his patience was definitely the best.

After all, he was a man determined to survive until he was invincible. If he couldn't stand boredom and couldn't bear provocation, he would have revealed his flaws long ago.

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

"Hmm?"

Just as Su Ming was about to leave, suddenly, the corner of his eye seemed to catch a glimpse of light.

"Something?"

Su Ming was slightly puzzled, but his steps didn't hesitate at all, and he walked directly towards the direction of the light.

Before long, Su Ming saw the true form of the light.

"Scales?"

Su Ming was surprised.

The true form of the light was a broken scale.

Although the scale was damaged, its surface was as smooth as a mirror, causing the light of the setting sun to reflect an dazzling brightness on it, giving people a beautiful feeling.

Su Ming picked up the scale and looked at it for a while, then his brows furrowed.

"This is a scale that fell off the Phantasmal Demon, right?"

The scales that fall off ordinary animals couldn't be so beautiful, nor could they appear in such a place. In addition, Su Ming felt a trace of the Phantasmal Demon's aura on it, so the owner of this scale couldn't be anything other than a Phantasmal Demon.

Su Ming thought for a while, and a flash of inspiration appeared in his mind.

"Could it be that the mysterious entity that the suspicious group is chasing is a Phantasmal Demon?"

This possibility wasn't impossible.

Although Su Ming couldn't imagine what kind of Phantasmal Demon would need to be hunted down so secretly, causing one disturbance after another and then disappearing every time, and also aroused the desire of an ambitious person in the Base City's high-level, the appearance of this scale still pointed the true form of that mysterious entity towards the Phantasmal Demon.

"If that mysterious entity was the Phantasmal Demon, then what is this Phantasmal Demon?"

Su Ming scrutinized it for a long time, ultimately concluding that the scale didn't belong to any of the lower-level Phantasmal Demons he knew.

This caused Su Ming's brow to furrow even more, and his heart gradually became filled with surprise and uncertainty.

"Could it be that the suspicious group isn't hunting lower-level Phantasmal Demons, but higher-level ones?"

Su Ming was somewhat astonished.

Higher-level Phantasmal Demons.

Those were extremely formidable existences.

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

Phantasmal Demons such as Screaming Demons and Blackheart Demons numbered in the tens of millions, and even those two types were just insignificant among the many Phantasmal Demon species in the Spirit Fiend Abyss.

Yet, these swarms of Phantasmal Demons were all lower-level.

Lower-level Phantasmal Demons posed a threat to ordinary humans, but in the Spirit Fiend Abyss, they were the weakest of the weak.

However, when a Phantasmal Demon absorbed enough blood and accumulated enough power, it would break away from its clan and evolve into a completely new individual.

Such a Phantasmal Demon would no longer be a mere minion like its brethren. Its power would become unprecedentedly strong, a world apart from its pre-evolution state, completely incomparable.

These evolved individuals were the so-called higher-level Phantasmal Demons.

Upon their birth, they often became kings among their kind, ruling over entire clans and becoming feudal lords in the Spirit Fiend Abyss.

These higher-level Phantasmal Demons were a much greater threat to humans than lower-level ones, to the point of being on a completely different scale.

A team of three students like Su Ming, Lei Hao, and Ye Bai could easily take down a lower-level Phantasmal Demon, as long as it wasn't anything too special.

If Su Ming used his full power, hunting multiple lower-level Phantasmal Demons alone wouldn't be a problem.

The same went for professional Hunters and Sorcerers. Even newly graduated Hunters and Sorcerers, as long as they obtained their professional licenses, could hunt several lower-level Phantasmal Demons on their own. Some could even hunt a dozen or twenty.

But, when faced with a higher-level Phantasmal Demon, these newly debuted Hunters and Sorcerers would be reduced to being slaughtered.

Let's put it this way.

In this world, Hunters and Sorcerers, upon obtaining their licenses and becoming professional Hunters and Sorcerers, would start earning star ratings.

Newly debuted professional Hunters and Sorcerers were one-star Hunters and one-star Sorcerers.

Afterward, as professional Hunters and Sorcerers grew, improved, and honed their skills, they could increase their star ratings and be granted corresponding stars.

The highest star rating was seven stars.

And even the weakest higher-level Phantasmal Demon required at least a four-star Hunter or Sorcerer to deal with.

This showed just how vast the difference between higher-level and lower-level Phantasmal Demons truly was.

Not to mention, there were also ranks among higher-level Phantasmal Demons. The strongest among them, while perhaps not capable of destroying the world with a mere gesture, could still fill seas and move mountains, making them difficult to deal with even for the highest-level seven-star Hunters and seven-star Sorcerers.

If the target that suspicious group was hunting was a higher-level Phantasmal Demon...

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

Su Ming gripped the scale in his hand, a hint of emotion stirring within him.

"Looks like I need to talk to Miss Xu again."

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

Afterward, Su Ming searched the surrounding area again, but after finding nothing else, he headed back.

As for the search swarm, Su Ming didn't recall them, instead letting them continue their search.

Perhaps they might find something else later.

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

He knew that if he went back, those rough guys in the dormitory would never let him hear the end of it.

So, Su Ming simply booked a room in a hotel outside and sent Xu Qianqian a message.

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

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

However, Xu Qianqian's reply came later than Su Ming expected, and the content almost made him spit blood.

"You're the first person who's dared to directly ask me to go to a hotel."

When he saw this sentence, Su Ming didn't react at first, but when he did, he almost spat blood.

Thinking about it carefully, the content he sent did seem a bit... improper?

The corners of Su Ming's mouth twitched.

Immediately, Su Ming quickly explained.

"I have something to discuss with you."

Su Ming sent that.

This time, Xu Qianqian's reply was even later.

Just as Su Ming was feeling puzzled by this, Xu Qianqian's reply finally arrived late.

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

This reply made Su Ming want to bang his head against the pillow and kill himself.

In the end, Su Ming simply replied with a sentence.

"Suit yourself."

After sending this sentence, Su Ming threw his phone aside and ignored everyone.

He wanted to lie down and sleep, but found that after running around all day, he had a dusty smell on his body, and the smell of sweat was also very strong.

"I should shower before sleeping."

As a refined young man, Su Ming couldn't stand lying down to sleep like this, so he immediately ran to the bathroom and took a comfortable shower.

When Su Ming came out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed, a knock sounded on the door.

"I'm here."

Xu Qianqian stood at the door, looked at Su Ming, who was only wearing a bathrobe, and pondered for a long time.

Immediately, Xu Qianqian said a sentence.

"Is it too late for me to leave now?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Qianqian was dragged into the room by Su Ming.

Sorry, there were some problems with the network.

I hope my friends will forgive me.