Bell Demon Grass was a scouting demon plant Mu Nujiao had cultivated from Bell Demon Seeds under Mu Ningwei's guidance. It reacted to sources of high heat by swaying and chiming.
It was essentially a heat-sensing alarm.
Thanks to Mu Nujiao's painstaking efforts in planting a ring of Bell Demon Grass, the team reacted in time and used the advantage of the camp to clash with the Lord Mages.
Mu Ningwei had originally thought they would collapse quickly.
After all, there were only sixteen students on the field trip. Mu Ningwei was sitting back and watching, and he had even hung three students in midair, leaving only twelve combatants.
The other side, however, had a full sixty people.
Yet unexpectedly, Mu Ningxue and the others held firm and traded blows evenly with their opponents.
Mu Ningxue charged deep behind enemy lines. Her Ice Domain held off half the enemy force, greatly weakening the power of their magic within its range. With Zhao Manyan providing defense, she actually restrained twenty or thirty people by herself.
Mu Nujiao used her Level Three Intermediate Plant Magic to establish a defensive line.
Along with the Pseudo-Terror Demon servant she had raised using a special secret technique—which had reached the strength of a minor General Level after devouring the old Pseudo-Terror Demon's corpse—they barely managed to protect the camp with the others' help.
Mo Fan was equally formidable. During this period, he had slaughtered demons and, through the Little Loach Pendant, strengthened his Level Four Primary Magic Lightning Seal and Primary Magic Fire Seed.
Mo Fan became a magical machine gun, bombarding the enemy relentlessly and throwing their formation into disarray.
More importantly, the sixty Lord Mages were of poor quality. Only thirty were Intermediate Mages, and most of them were merely at the first level of the Intermediate rank without Spirit Seeds.
Resting his chin on his hand as he watched, Mu Ningwei felt embarrassed for them.
Lu Nian, on the other hand, was quite interested. He casually released several Intermediate Spells, smashing through Mu Nujiao's defensive line, wounding several people, and injuring Mu Ningxue as well, displaying terrifying strength.
The team retreated to Mu Ningwei's side and was truly surrounded.
"Not bad. Very good."
Lu Nian applauded. "I admire you all. You truly are outstanding students, the future of society."
Jiang Yi's expression darkened. Seeing that Lu Nian did not blame her, she secretly relaxed, then shouted with a grim face:
"Hand over Mo Fan!"
"Our target is Mo Fan. The rest of you have nothing to do with this."
Lu Nian crossed his arms leisurely, wanting to see how this batch of talented students would choose.
Though they would all die anyway.
Lu Nian was brimming with confidence.
"Me?"
Meeting everyone's gaze, Mo Fan looked bewildered. "I don't have any grudge against the Lord Mages, do I? Not only do I have no grudge against them, I'm even brothers with one of their commanders."
"Enough. There's no need to care about why the enemy came. Just know that they're enemies."
Mu Ningwei clapped his hands. "Now, let's talk about your performance."
Mu Ningxue, whose body bore bloody marks from being struck by flying rocks and who was receiving treatment from Bai Tingting, pursed her lips and lowered her head dejectedly.
"I'm sorry. It was my fault."
The others lowered their heads as well.
They had lost. Next, they would all be judged "dead," and the mission would end in failure.
Mu Ningxue rarely looked so dejected. With both hands clutching the corners of her clothes, she looked like a next-door little sister who had been wronged and needed comforting, without her usual sense of distance.
Mu Ningwei said with an amused smile, "Raise your head. You did nothing wrong."
"Not only that, your performance this time was extremely outstanding. Even when you were caught off guard, you still made a calm judgment, left the camp alone, deployed your Domain, and bore most of the pressure."
"The team did not collapse, and our ability to hold our ground afterward was entirely due to your excellent decision."
Mu Ningxue lifted her head in surprise. Her eyes widened as she gazed at the gentle praise on Mu Ningwei's handsome face, and a faintly happy smile appeared. Like a high mountain flower in bloom, her beauty was dazzling and brilliant.
Mo Fan stared blankly.
Mu Ningwei patted Mu Nujiao's head and smiled. "And Nu Jiao. It was all thanks to the Bell Demon Grass you worked so hard to plant that you discovered the enemy in advance. You deserve the greatest credit this time."
Mu Nujiao beamed at once, straightening her back as she smugly glanced sideways at Mu Ningxue.
Her adorably naive appearance made Mu Ningwei think she was very cute.
"Then there's Mo Fan."
Mo Fan was surprised. "Me too?"
"Of course. Your performance was also excellent. You restrained many enemies and, aside from Mu Ningxue, were the only artillery platform capable of inflicting real damage on them."
"If their High-level Mage had not intervened, then with Mu Ningxue being held down by twenty or thirty people, the team could only have relied on you to break the deadlock. Whether we could turn defeat into victory rested entirely on you."
Mo Fan burst out laughing. "That's the strength of me, the great Mo Fan! Xuexue, praise me too, will you?"
Mu Ningxue glanced at Mu Ningwei. "Mo Fan, you're very strong now."
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Mo Fan's tail shot straight into the sky!
Mu Ningwei went on to praise several people for their outstanding performances and criticize several others for their mistakes. Some were delighted, while others were troubled.
"What... are you doing?"
At some point, Lu Nian had lowered his arms. He narrowed his eyes, his expression filled with chilling menace.
Mu Ningxue and the others glanced at him.
Mm, ignored.
Where had this old man come from?
Don't get in the way of us listening to Teacher Mu Ningwei.
Do you know how hard it normally is to get even one word of praise from Teacher Mu Ningwei?
Go cool off somewhere else.
Lu Nian realized he was being ignored. He was even being looked down on by two little girls, Bai Tingting and Mu Nujiao. Veins bulged on his forehead as he finally flew into a rage.
Ever since becoming a High-level Mage, he had never suffered such humiliation!
"You ignorant brats! Since that's the case, then all of you can die!"
An earth-brown constellation formed. Star patterns built into three-dimensional constellations, blooming with magnificent, dazzling light that illuminated the night sky.
A terrifying aura spread outward. Lu Nian's pupils turned brown, flashing with the heavy gray radiance of death as he stared fixedly at Mu Ningxue.
This beautiful genius who had greatly shocked him was about to perish here and now!
Mu Ningxue sensed the threat of death and abruptly turned around, her pupils suddenly widening.
High-level Magic?!
She was going to die!
Mu Ningxue panicked.
What had she been thinking, to let down her guard completely and turn her back on a High-level Mage?
"Rock Demon Eye: Petrification! Die!"
Lu Nian shouted with a savage grin.
Mu Ningxue's face went pale with alarm. She did not even have time to draw her Ice Bow. Was she really going to die here—
A fair, clean hand suddenly appeared before her, blooming with a pure white, sacred halo.
Mu Ningxue's eyes widened.
The petrifying force of Rock Demon Eye was blocked by that fair hand.
The terrifying might of the High-level Spell created a patch of petrification in the center of the palm, yet it was swiftly cleansed away by holy light, over and over again.
Lu Nian's eyes bulged wider and wider, bloodshot veins spreading through them.
The petrifying force could still only leave a tiny stone spot on the palm.
In the end, the magic power was exhausted, and Lu Nian's pupils returned to their normal color.
The tiny gray spot on the palm disappeared as well, leaving it as fair and clean as before.
Lu Nian could not believe it.
What the hell was this!?
The petrifying force of a High-level Spell was a terrifying magic capable of severely injuring Commander-level demons and turning them into statues.
Yet Mu Ningwei's Light Element treated it as an ordinary negative status effect and cleansed it with ease.
Athena's Kiss's blessing was just that overbearing!
"You want to kill someone under my protection? Who gave you the nerve?"
Mu Ningwei stood before Mu Ningxue, pure white and sacred radiance blooming around him.
He turned back. A confident, spirited smile rose on his angelically pure face.
"With me here, he won't be able to hurt you in the slightest."
For an instant, Mu Ningxue's eyes turned unfocused. An intense sense of security enveloped her entire body, and even the coldness deep within her soul seemed to fade somewhat.
That was right. It was this reassuring feeling that made Mu Ningxue trust Mu Ningwei so deeply, causing her to overlook Lu Nian's danger.
The facts proved that Mu Ningxue's trust was right.
"Mu Ningwei..."
Mu Ningxue silently murmured that name.
Simply thinking of the person represented by that name made Mu Ningxue feel a sense of ease she had never experienced before.
Even her father, Mu Zhuoyun, could not give her even a tenth of the security Mu Ningwei brought her.
Mu Ningwei sensed a powerful surge of Faith Power and looked at Mu Ningxue with a light smile.
"Were you calling me?"
"..."
Mu Ningxue's gaze wandered away as she avoided his eyes.
Tian Bing: The results will come out this afternoon, based on the ranking for ongoing readers.
I won't say anything else. Let's see whether my writing is good enough and how much support you brothers give me.
If I advance, I'll give you brothers a mua.
Promise: If I advance successfully, I'll maintain at least daily bonus chapters for the rest of this month! That means I promise at least another dozen or so bonus chapters!
If the response is good, then next month, the month after that, and onward, I'll keep adding chapters!
Seven thousand words delivered today!
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