Breaking the Deadlock, Slaying the Demon Plant

Ancient Martial Spear Technique (Proficient)

Traits: Force like thunder, Azure Dragon Probes the Moon

Proficiency Points: 0/10

With a single thrust, it was as though black lightning pierced forth. A storm trailed through the sky along its path, and the force spilling from it cracked the back armor of the Iron-Armored Lizards in its way, sending sheets of it flying. From above, it looked like a long black missile blasting through an anthill.

The spear skewered the Red-Armored Great Lizard that had been about to bite Liu Zili, catching its skull and dragging it more than thirty feet away.

With a boom, wind and dust billowed up as Jiang Qiu arrived a moment later. He stomped on the Red-Armored Great Lizard's head, yanked out the spearhead with a crack, and let out a breath.

Without stopping, he charged back into the fray. His black figure darted like lightning among Liu Zili, Wang Guanjia, Zhang Shan, and the other familiar students from Field No. 8.

As he burst forward, a sweep of his spear created a three-meter crescent of rushing wind. Iron-Armored Lizards that touched the spear shadow fell in waves. Even Red-Armored Great Lizards that tucked their heads away were sliced in half, armor and flesh alike, with a rip.

In only seven or eight breaths, a huge gap had been torn through the encircling tide of black beasts. Liu Zili and the others dropped to their knees from exhaustion, gasping for air.

"Huff... hah..."

Jiang Qiu slowed his pace. Beads of sweat rolled down his nose and cheeks. The blood-black clothes across his chest were soaked through, steam rising from them.

Killing these low- and mid-tier beasts could no longer improve his Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique. The blood and vitality he had just replenished had already been consumed by nearly half. If he kept fighting like this, he would not survive.

He had to seize the heart of the problem to break the deadlock.

General knowledge class had taught that Red-Armored Great Lizards fed on low-tier beasts like Black-Armored Lizards. But the current situation was completely different. They were not eating the Black-Armored Lizards at all; they were only focused on biting people.

If this was happening, there had to be some special existence controlling these low-intelligence beasts.

And the only thing on the field capable of controlling beasts was likely that Demon Plant, comparable to a high-tier beast!

With that thought, Jiang Qiu's cold eyes slashed toward the distance like blades. The ten-meter-tall Demon Plant had already drawn more than a dozen roots from beneath the earth, smashing countless beasts and students to death with sharp cracks as blood sprayed everywhere.

A figure in silver armor was already leaping between the whipping roots as though walking a tightrope atop a cliff. At some point, most of the silver armor over his chest had shattered, and his helmet had cracked somewhere as well. What remained was a head of black hair flying wildly in disarray.

His speed as he fled with his spear was getting slower and slower, while the vines whipped faster and faster.

Bang!

In a moment when he leaped into the air, a vine as thick as a bowl seized the chance and lashed his abdomen. His body instantly bent like a shrimp, blood froth spilling from his mouth. Then, like a ping-pong ball smashed down by a powerful strike, he slammed into the ground, sending yellow-black soil three feet into the air.

The brittle crack of his silver armor breaking was clear even from hundreds of meters away.

"Ah! Li Juefeng isn't dead, is he?! The teachers didn't enter the secret realm. No one can defeat the Demon Plant, and those thousand beasts will eat us sooner or later!"

"Even Li Juefeng has no power to fight back. That Demon Plant really is comparable to a high-tier beast—maybe it's even nearing the top tier!"

"What do we do? What do we do?! I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

The moment Li Juefeng fell, the surviving students gradually became unable to withstand the beasts' encirclement. Their eyes dimmed.

Even after hundreds of beasts had died, more than a thousand remained. Yet after only twenty-some students died, they had lost a quarter of their number.

Who could have imagined that on the second day of the Practical Training Hunt, they would encounter a beast riot and be chased all the way to Central Plaza? Who could have imagined that the secret realm would open so suddenly that even the teachers were shut outside, leaving them without protection?

Had they known, they would not have prepared only one or two portions of Blood Boil Liquid, only to use them all up during the beast riot.

Had they known, they would have brought another spear shaft and would not have needed to fight with their fists.

Had they known, they would have taken out a loan to buy a full suit of light armor. Maybe they could have lasted longer.

"Screech."

The strange cry of the Demon Plant's stalk rubbing against itself washed beneath the gray sky. Li Juefeng lay embedded in earth and stone, his eyes half-open and his ears ringing with harsh noise.

The towering Demon Plant raised more than a dozen green roots, like more than a dozen giant green pythons lifting their heads and looking down at him.

At the top of the main stalk they clustered around hung three White Jade Fruits joined on the same branch.

His father had said that they were the hidden criterion for judging the "best performance" of this class, as well as the kind of performance the most outstanding student ought to display. He should have claimed them as a matter of course.

But now, even if he recovered completely, he could not possibly defeat this so-called Demon Plant.

The spear edge containing that thirty percent Transformative Force could barely pierce one of its roots. Its first lash had shattered his chest armor and helmet, leaving his blood and vitality in turmoil without end. Its second had put him on the ground, his bones broken and lungs torn.

His thoughts melted like cotton in a flame. Scarlet blood seeped into Li Juefeng's eyelids, blurring one corner of the world.

The dozen emerald vines rose high, like Death's whips. The cold wind carried the scent of blood, drowning out the shouts of his classmates.

"If I had fully comprehended Transformative Force—the most domineering Transformative Force, the Transformative Force that belonged to me—how could I be waiting for death?"

"Unfortunately, it's been too long since I lost. The bottleneck runs too deep. I've never tried the Spear Spirit Incense rumored to enlighten one's spear path. I can't comprehend it."

With that final murmur, his upper eyelids slowly lowered. Just as his vision was about to be buried beneath black-red blood—

Boom!

Bzz—

After an explosion in the distance, a clear spear cry suddenly sliced open his eyelids. A black figure took the spearhead as its edge, its body turning into a dragon as it rose against the tide with the force of thunder, striking directly at the Demon Plant's crown near the fruits—the location of its core!

Shock struck Li Juefeng's pupils like a drumstick. The blood in his heart, chilled by the wind, began to thump again.

It was the top choice of this Practical Training Hunt who had replaced him, the student who had reached the top of the kill count!

"He's not dead?!"

At that moment, every student who heard the sound of the leap happened to look toward the black figure flashing through the air. Torrential force surged from the spear edge, pressing the Demon Plant's branches and leaves flat like a gale.

Some recognized the figure. It was the beast-slaying genius whose explosive power had been displayed in Qingmu Town.

Some recognized the outline. It was the leader of Field No. 8, who had become the top choice despite wearing no armor at all.

Some had heard the rumors. It was the rising star who had gone from an ordinary student to someone known by every teacher in less than a month.

His name seemed to be—

"Jiang Qiu."

Liu Zili bit out the two words. Tears filled her Bright Sight as she watched the black figure carve a dragon's shadow through the air, piercing the Demon Plant's crown beneath the pursuit of more than a dozen vines.

The moment the cold gleam flashed, the Demon Plant's dozen roots froze. A hole as wide as a waist had been punched through it, revealing Jiang Qiu's receding figure.

Boom—

The delayed Transformative Force erupted, instantly widening the entire hole and blasting it into splintered wood and flying ash!

Thud, thud, thud.

The roots and main trunk crashed to the ground, throwing up earth like a green building collapsing. The three White Jade Fruits fell to the ground with a series of taps and rolled into the distance.

"Roar-hiss—"

"Hiss—"

Almost the instant the Demon Plant fell, the thousand Iron-Armored Lizards and Red-Armored Great Lizards on the field shrieked. Their cries sounded like ghosts being fried in oil, as though every soul had been dragged from its throat by a thread.

Thud, thud, thud.

One after another, the beasts fell. Like the tide receding from a great lake, their life force dissipated with the Demon Plant, drifting between heaven and earth.

The remaining students leaned on their spears, staring wide-eyed in horror. Yet no one noticed—

Tap.

The three joined White Jade Fruits rolled to a stop thirty feet away.

Sliiide~

A tiny purple spider, no larger than a fingernail, suddenly crawled out from the back. Reflected in its eight purple-black single eyes was the profile of the nearest student.

The scratches on that student's back had congealed into crimson blood. Torn strips of clothing fluttered in the wind, and resentment often lingered in the wolfish corners of his slanted eyes.