"Sure."
Lu Wu agreed.
"Are you crazy? You can't even cast magic yet. Wouldn't going to that demon-hunting show be throwing your life away? No, you can't go." Mu Nujiao was somewhat bewildered.
His past fights with fists and feet had, after all, only been brawls between ordinary people.
Injuries of that degree healed quickly once the infirmary teacher at school treated them.
Even the most recent incident at Fresh Food City had only happened because those people had gone too far.
"Don't worry. There'll be plenty of people there, and they're all injured demon beasts captured by the Demon Beast Garden," Nangong Pei said loudly. "We can't let Lu Wu lose face, can we? If he dares to agree but doesn't dare to go, people might laugh at him."
When he noticed Lu Wu's girlfriend speaking up to stop him, Nangong Pei's heart had lurched.
If Lu Wu didn't go, he wouldn't know how to make him suffer.
"You don't have to be so loud. Since I agreed, I'll go." Lu Wu naturally knew what Nangong Pei was thinking.
He wanted to speak louder so everyone nearby could hear, using that to force him to go.
But if something truly endangered his life, or was far too uncertain, he couldn't possibly take that risk.
"Hmph, good. It starts in an hour. I hope you won't flee before the battle," Nangong Pei said coldly.
With the Magic Convention in place, he really couldn't easily make a move to teach Lu Wu a lesson.
But now he finally had a chance to vent the anger bottled up inside him. He needed to prepare properly.
"Whoa, this kid actually wants to go to the demon-hunting show? Does he have a death wish?" exclaimed a middle-aged man who often visited the Demon Beast Garden.
"A newborn calf doesn't fear the tiger. This kid's both bullish and reckless."
"I'll go watch the fun later. I bet he'll wet himself as soon as he gets in."
"Looking at him, I think he can last two or three seconds. There'll be other mages there, after all..."
Everyone around them buzzed with discussion, but Lu Wu ignored them outright.
In a private fight, he could indeed use Little Fire to stall, then wait for people from the Hunter Union and Magic Association to arrive.
But no matter what, aside from a sneak attack, he had no way to make Nangong Pei suffer.
Since Nangong Pei wanted to make him suffer, this was a perfect chance to test how powerful his Fire Element Beginner Magic was after his Stars Enhancement had been performed so many times.
The demon-hunting show was a performance where the Demon Beast Garden publicly killed troublesome demon beasts that kept causing trouble and attacking other demon beasts after being transported there.
It could also hone the combat abilities of the mages in the Demon Beast Garden and put visitors more at ease, achieving several things in one stroke.
It was just that these shows were highly unpredictable, and the Demon Beast Garden used them to attract visitors.
They cost extra, yet every show was packed.
Every time, the Demon Beast Garden raked in a fortune!!
Before the hunt, visitors could sign a life-and-death contract and approach the living demon beasts at close range under the mages' protection.
What Nangong Pei wanted was simply to have him go along at that point without using magic.
Whether he wanted to play some dirty trick or watch Lu Wu get so scared he pissed and shat himself, humiliating himself in public, Lu Wu wasn't afraid.
He wanted to test the power of his magic anyway.
"Have you lost your mind?" Mu Nujiao tugged at Lu Wu, wanting to leave this place quickly.
"I came here to cultivate hard. I have a lot of resources you don't, so my cultivation might be a little faster than yours." Lu Wu knew that if he kept Mu Nujiao in the dark, she wouldn't agree to let him go.
Five months had passed since his Magic Awakening.
That speed seemed fast, but people backed by resources could already start casting magic after five months if they had a Stardust Magic Tool to aid their cultivation from the beginning.
Although he had also taken five months, there was actually a tremendous difference.
His Stars Enhancement had already grown several times thicker than before, and the magic energy they stored was likewise several times greater.
Those benefits came with a multiplied difficulty in controlling the Stars. Even so, he had now successfully brought them under control!!!
The Thought Stone deserved some credit, but his own talent and effort had been just as indispensable!
The Sacrifice System strengthened his Stars through Stars Enhancement and turned his shadow into Little Fire, but it had no way to directly increase his cultivation speed.
Going forward, he could instead use Little Fire to obtain cultivation resources and increase his cultivation speed!
No matter what, Lu Wu very much wanted to test his strength now!
Mu Nujiao looked at Lu Wu's serious expression, utterly shocked. "You-you haven't already..."
"I can already cast magic," Lu Wu said quietly.
Mu Nujiao fell silent at his words. She quietly looked at Lu Wu, her feelings somewhat complicated for a moment.
Her family had given her practically no resources, but she had received access to a Stardust Magic Tool at school, though only for a little over a month.
Even so, she worked hard at cultivating every day. She had now controlled her fourth Star and was close to successfully controlling her fifth.
Yet there was still such a huge gap between her and Lu Wu.
"There's no need to be disappointed. I'm different from you. Grandpa Shen left me a Stardust Magic Tool. You know that to Grandpa Shen, a Stardust Magic Tool wasn't anything particularly valuable," Lu Wu consoled her.
A Stardust Magic Tool could extend the time a person spent meditating and cultivating.
If he had used a Stardust Magic Tool throughout all four months, it would actually have been equivalent to six to eight months of cultivation for someone with the same talent.
Exactly how much cultivation time it amounted to depended on the Stardust Magic Tool's grade.
"I thought I'd be faster than you. I never imagined I already couldn't catch up with your footsteps..."
Lu Wu knew it wasn't appropriate for him to say much about this, so he reached out and hugged Mu Nujiao.
Being too competitive wasn't necessarily a good thing sometimes.
Mu Nujiao struggled briefly, then stopped trying to push him away. They were both wearing such thick down jackets anyway. In weather this cold, she could just treat it as keeping warm.
The demon-hunting show took place at the enormous stand in the middle of the lake. For some reason, word that Lu Wu would be entering the arena had spread far and wide.
The stands, which held five thousand people, were already packed. Every one of them had bought an additional ticket to the demon-hunting show.
At a thousand yuan per person, that meant the Demon Beast Garden had earned another five million yuan or more.
Tier upon tier of stands surrounded an area the size of a football field, and a bound demon beast stood in the center of the arena.
Its burly body stood over three meters tall, covered in powerful muscles. Its lower limbs were particularly exaggerated, their muscles seeming to bulge.
Its enormous demonic wolf head had only a single eye!
A One-Eyed Demon Wolf!!!
This savage demon beast, most commonly found in the southwestern region, had an innate bloodlust toward humans and enjoyed devouring and slaughtering them.
Nangong Pei looked at the One-Eyed Demon Wolf. It was clearly an adult, with combat strength in the upper-middle range of the Servant Level.
Even now, he would have to be extremely careful facing it alone. A single careless mistake could leave him attacked by the swift and agile One-Eyed Demon Wolf!
"Kill it! Kill that demon wolf!!"
"Demon wolf, tear them apart! Tear apart those two fools who don't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is! Tear that kid apart!!"
"Kill them!"
The spectators in the stands were already boiling with excitement. In the arena, aside from Lu Wu and Nangong Pei, there were six Beginner Mages and three Intermediate Mages.
The six Beginner Mages were braced for battle. Clearly, they would be the main force taking action this time.
"Although letting you two in could bring more people into the stands, we've already achieved our goal of attracting visitors, so we're not going to bother with you now," the captain among the six Beginner Mages said bluntly.
At those words, Nangong Pei immediately objected. "You can't go back on your word."
"If this isn't handled properly, things will get even worse. If someone dies, neither the union nor the Magic Association will let us off." The captain had already received instructions from the higher-ups, and he said irritably, "You two can sort it out yourselves here."