Is Your Grass a Demon or Something?

If Liang Quan had only struck too hard, Meng Daoxuan could still find excuses to whitewash it. But when he gave an order to his own Mud Monster, even Meng Daoxuan frowned.

This had clearly gone beyond the scope of an exam.

Battle exam proctors were present so they could issue orders more quickly to stop things when candidates encountered danger, while also serving as one of the criteria for passing the exam.

Although they had now become a way to adjust the difficulty of the exam, they generally would not issue skill commands.

If it were a battle between opponents of the same rank, then fine, the proctor could issue skill commands. But this was the initial battle exam.

You were facing three students who had only just contracted spirit pets, yet you were directing your spirit pet to use skills during the exam. This was practically murder!

If that had merely been the opinion of a small number of people, then the instant a second Mud Monster rose behind Liang Quan and grabbed the Sticky Baby Huohuo had thrown over, everyone thought the same.

A second-rank twin Mud Monster, one body, two forms.

"Not a bad scheme, but it seems you forgot that I still have one more!" A trace of hysterical madness flashed through Liang Quan's eyes.

Xu Yilong's contemptuous, disdainful gaze flashed through his mind...

A future? The moment the Pioneer Army expelled me, I no longer had one!

Suddenly, he felt something poke his foot.

Looking down, he saw that the Dream Rain Flower patch had somehow spread to his feet.

A little blade of grass was looking up at him.

Why did he have the absurd thought that a blade of grass was looking at him?

Just as Liang Quan was confused, the little grass before him actually wove an expression out of vines...

Not good! This grass was a spirit pet! When had it gotten here?!

The next second, countless vines burst from Huohuo's body.

Liang Quan truly deserved to be called an elite Beast Tamer. The instant Huohuo used Entangling Vines on him, a card appeared before him.

Beast Tamer Skill Card, Recall.

Recall: Beast Tamer Skill. Causes the spirit pet you designate to return to your side.

Compared to retracting and then resummoning a Beast Taming Card, Recall was extremely fast.

Yet something that shocked Liang Quan happened at that very moment: neither his fragmented Mud Monster nor the intact Mud Monster behind him moved.

They had indeed answered Liang Quan's summons, but beneath them, within their shadows, something seemed to be gripping them tightly.

This was... the principal's Shadow Eater Insects!

At that moment, a continuous Vine Step sprang from beneath the ground behind Huohuo, stretching all the way to Zhou Lu's feet.

By the time Zhou Lu set Huohuo down, the one at his feet had already been secretly swapped for Huohuo's offshoot.

The real Huohuo had carefully traveled underground through clusters of Dream Rain Flowers that had erupted into Mad Growth as the battle developed, ultimately arriving before Liang Quan.

The instant Huohuo withdrew the Wild Growth attached to the Vine Step, Liang Quan felt himself take off.

His body flew uncontrollably toward Zhou Lu under Huohuo's pull.

At that speed, Liang Quan figured he would share the same fate as Huohuo's many flowerpots—slamming into a wall and suffering serious injuries.

However, under Huohuo's deliberate control, his flying speed visibly slowed.

Then... what was the price?

Huohuo slammed Liang Quan into the mud, then dragged him straight to Zhou Lu with the Vine Step retracting beneath him.

Hmph! You said my master was just a farmer, so I'll use you to plow the field!

Looking at Liang Quan, now covered from head to toe in mud, Huohuo happily swayed her leaves as she sought credit from Zhou Lu.

Zhou Lu looked at the bedraggled Liang Quan on the ground. Huohuo's binding technique had clearly been carefully designed, forcing Liang Quan's entire body into a backward-bending bow shape.

Except... this kind of binding was normally used to highlight the captive's voluptuous figure! This was plainly an illustration from that book, The Art of Bondage!

Huohuo, what exactly had you been learning...

Zhou Lu thought speechlessly.

Glancing at the motionless Mud Monsters in the distance, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had originally been worried that if Liang Quan were bound, the Mud Monsters might go berserk. Judging by the current situation, things seemed more optimistic than he had imagined.

He had already been prepared for Xu Wuhu's older brother to step in and save the situation.

With Liang Quan falling into Huohuo's hands, no matter what judgment came afterward, Zhou Lu had passed this exam.

This ancient method of winning a match by sneak-attacking the opposing Beast Tamer now existed only in academy battle exams.

The earliest Beast Tamers had truly all been fierce men. Their matches were often spirit pets fighting spirit pets, Beast Tamers fighting Beast Tamers, with the emphasis on fighting shoulder to shoulder.

Modern Beast Tamer competitions, for the sake of personal safety, had already prohibited Beast Tamers from entering the field themselves. They were only allowed to use skills for support.

"He's gone mad! This guy's gone mad!" Upon seeing everything happening in the exam arena, Meng Daoxuan shouted first.

Wu Sicheng ignored Meng Daoxuan's yelling and merely said coldly, "You can explain yourself once the inspection team arrives."

With that, he tapped the Beast Taming Card before him again.

Countless pitch-black insects formed a gigantic piranha that burst from Wu Sicheng's shadow and swallowed him whole.

As the piranha sank into the shadow, Wu Sicheng's figure vanished from where he stood.

The next instant, ripples spread through the shadow beneath the Mud Monster in the center of the arena.

Accompanied by a sound like splashing water, a pitch-black piranha leaped from the Mud Monster's shadow.

The piranha split apart into countless black insects, and Wu Sicheng appeared as the insects dispersed.

"You've passed." Wu Sicheng glanced at Zhou Lu and the others, nodded with a smile, then turned to the referee beside him. "The previous two groups will retake the exam. I'll serve as their proctor."

As he spoke, he raised a hand and clenched it in the air.

Sounds of insects crawling came from the Mud Monster's shadow, after which its shadow began to writhe.

Meanwhile, the Mud Monster itself seemed to become a puppet on strings, beginning to move along with the shadow's twisting.

"I'll be administering the next round of the first exam," Wu Sicheng told the remaining candidates. "Your opponent will still be the Mud Monster."

The Mud Monster beside Wu Sicheng seemed to have truly become his spirit pet, obediently letting out a roar.

After soothing the candidates, Wu Sicheng finally looked at Liang Quan, sprawled miserably on the ground.

He was still tied up by Huohuo's vines in an exceptionally strange and alluring pose.

Apparently to stop him from shouting and talking, Huohuo had even stuffed his mouth full of vines.

Wait... what was that translucent liquid?

Wu Sicheng looked at the Sticky Baby nearby and was instantly left speechless.

This Little Grass, in retaliation for Liang Quan's contempt and insults toward Zhou Lu, actually intended to fill Liang Quan's mouth with the Sticky Baby's sticky slime.

Is your grass a demon or something...

"Alright, go prepare for the next round of the exam," Wu Sicheng said. "Liang Quan violated school rules and the Beast Tamer Code. The inspection team will investigate."

Naturally, Zhou Lu could say nothing more about it.

Huohuo swayed her leaves in confusion. Was it over?

"It's over." Zhou Lu said to Huohuo, "Let's head to the next exam arena."

Huohuo obediently burrowed into Zhou Lu's arms, then casually dismissed every offshoot at the scene.

In an instant, the place became a muddy swamp again.

Liang Quan, who was still wriggling, was directly swallowed by the sudden mud. With his mouth blocked, he could not even say a single word.

Zhou Lu glared at Huohuo irritably. You did that on purpose, didn't you?

Huohuo: (*￣︶￣*)

One more chapter, coming right up.