Xu Jintang pretended she knew nothing and quietly divided the points equally among the others.
After the points were distributed, Wei Zixuan could not help pulling her aside and lowering his voice. "We're just going to let them walk all over us?"
Xu Jintang glanced discreetly at Yang Tuo and the others behind her. "Here's another lesson for you today: chasing small gains can cost you dearly. Play along with me in a bit."
Chapter 29
After dealing with the Poison-Scaled Fox, Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan followed the team to hunt two more second-tier demonic beasts.
With Yang Tuo, a second-tier ability user, there, the hunts went very smoothly.
Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan also picked up two more easy batches of points along the way.
It was still early. Yang Tuo checked the time and decided, "Everyone, pick up the pace. We need to kill as many as we can."
Just then, Xu Jintang suddenly spoke up. "Brother Yang, hunting second-tier demonic beasts earns points too slowly. An ordinary second-tier beast is only worth a hundred points, and only a peak second-tier one is worth two hundred. But there are eight of us, so each person's share isn't much."
One of the lackeys following Yang Tuo immediately sneered. "If we didn't have you two deadweights, the six of us would get a bigger share."
Clearly, these people were all quite opposed to Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan freeloading on their team.
While they were hunting those two beasts earlier, Xu Jintang had stayed off to the side, deliberately putting in little effort. Wei Zixuan had done the same, and they had all seen it.
Yang Tuo raised a hand, cutting off the lackey behind him. "Enough. I'm the one who recruited little sister Lanxing and her brother. If you have a problem, take it up with me."
At those words, none of the lackeys dared say anything more. They all shut their mouths in frustration.
Yang Tuo walked over to Xu Jintang with a smile. "Little sister Lanxing, if, as you say, it's too inefficient for the eight of us to hunt beasts together, do you have a solution?"
Xu Jintang gave him a feigned smile. "Why don't we hunt third-tier demonic beasts? With you here, Brother Yang, and the rest of us working together, we'd have more than enough strength to handle one."
The smile gradually vanished from Yang Tuo's face, replaced by caution. "Third-tier demonic beasts aren't as simple as you think. Having more people doesn't mean we can beat them."
"Brother Yang, what are you afraid of? My sister and I together can match at least half your strength, and you have five other teammates too. The eight of us can definitely kill a third-tier demonic beast." Wei Zixuan, who had barely spoken for quite a while, suddenly joined in persuading him.
Yang Tuo looked hesitant.
Xu Jintang seized the opportunity. "I'd guess a third-tier demonic beast might be worth over a thousand points. If it really is worth that much, the rest of us only need a hundred points each. The remaining three hundred can all go to you, Brother Yang. You might even climb a few more places on the Joint Examination Red Ranking."
That hit the mark. Yang Tuo pressed his lips together and sank into thought.
He had originally been seventh on the Joint Examination Red Ranking, but then that Xu Jintang had suddenly surged into sixth, pushing his ranking down along with the others.
He had earned plenty of points after a busy day, but his ranking had not changed at all.
Presumably, the others on the Joint Examination Red Ranking were also rapidly hunting demonic beasts for points.
So if he wanted to climb any higher, he had to take some shortcuts.
"Little sister Lanxing is right. We still have more than half a day left anyway. We might as well try a third-tier demonic beast," Yang Tuo decided.
The lackeys behind him all tried to stop him:
"Brother Yang, aren't third-tier demonic beasts too dangerous? What if we all get eliminated early?"
"Exactly. You mustn't listen to these two siblings. They're doing this on purpose, deliberately getting us to fight a third-tier beast so we'll end up with a team wipe."
Xu Jintang stood to the side with an innocent expression. "That's not what I was thinking at all. I genuinely want to make our team a little more efficient. Besides, my brother and I will be going too. If there's really a team wipe, we'll die along with you. How could we gamble with our own lives?"
Hearing that, Yang Tuo nodded. "I said we can try first. If we really can't beat it, we can still run. It won't come to a team wipe."
He was a second-tier ability user, after all. He certainly had trump cards for escaping.
Seeing that Yang Tuo had made up his mind, the others knew further persuasion was useless and could only remain silent.
A few minutes later, Xu Jintang's group continued deeper into the forest, searching for signs of third-tier demonic beasts.
"Congratulations to examinee Sha Wenshu for successfully entering the ranking in eighth place. The Joint Examination Red Ranking will be updated shortly."
"Congratulations to examinee Sha Wenshu..."
Once again, the broadcast repeated three times before stopping.
Yang Tuo's brows instantly furrowed, and his voice grew urgent. "Hurry! We have to find a third-tier demonic beast right now!"
He had already been pushed down to ninth place. If he was any slower, he might soon be forced off the Joint Examination Red Ranking entirely, and anxiety immediately rose within him.
Xu Jintang quietly curled her lips into a smile and continued following at the rear of the team as they headed deeper into the forest.
About fifteen minutes later, near a stream, they finally found a third-tier demonic beast: a Mantis Electric Feather Beast.
Its scythe-shaped forelimbs were raised before its head. Detecting intruders in its territory, it immediately went on high alert.
Faint electric arcs coiled around its body, crackling from time to time.
"Everyone, prepare for battle." Fighting spirit rose in Yang Tuo's eyes as he swiftly summoned his ability's giant axe.
Sensing danger, the Mantis Electric Feather Beast swiftly spread its forelimbs and charged toward them.
The battle erupted in an instant.
Yang Tuo led his lackeys at the front.
While no one was looking, Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan quietly withdrew beyond the battle, ready to enjoy the show.
"Little sister Lanxing, what are you two doing? Get over here and help!" After several exchanges left him struggling, Yang Tuo finally noticed Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan standing motionless behind them.
The others began cursing furiously. "Brother Yang, I told you something was wrong with these two! They deliberately lured us into fighting a third-tier demonic beast!"
Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan exchanged a glance, standing calmly outside the battle as they continued watching the show.
Yang Tuo's face instantly darkened with rage. "Fuck, you dare play me!"
He immediately turned to charge at Xu Jintang, but the Mantis Electric Feather Beast clearly had no intention of letting him leave and instantly attacked his back.
Forced to defend himself, Yang Tuo turned back and continued battling the Mantis Electric Feather Beast.
The combat power unleashed by a third-tier demonic beast was far beyond what they could withstand.
Before long, Yang Tuo and his five companions began losing the strength to resist, and the mantis's scythes cut wounds across their bodies.
By then, Yang Tuo no longer had the energy to be angry and could only beg. "Little sister Lanxing, little brother Tieniu, we were wrong before. Please hurry and help us. As long as we work together to kill this Mantis Beast, you two can take the lion's share of the points."
The other five gritted their teeth and struggled desperately against the Mantis Beast's scythe attacks, looking thoroughly bedraggled.
"Brother Yang, my sister and I are just two deadweights. How could we possibly have the ability to help you?" Wei Zixuan deliberately made snide remarks from the sidelines.
Xu Jintang merely smiled, her arms folded in front of her, without saying a word.
Yang Tuo forcibly took another attack from the Mantis Beast, and a gash immediately opened on his arm. Clenching his teeth, furious and anxious, he said, "The two of you managed to kill a peak second-tier demonic beast together before. Of course you're capable! How could you be deadweights? Little sister Lanxing, we really can't hold on any longer. If you keep watching, don't blame us for dragging you down with us before we die!"
By the end, he had outright begun threatening them.
They still had the strength to resist now, so they were willing to talk, but once they were truly at the end of their rope, these people would certainly expend every last trump card to drag Xu Jintang and Wei Zixuan down with them.
Wei Zixuan turned toward Xu Jintang. "Sis, then should we..."
Xu Jintang gave him a look. "Once I take them down, summon a demonic beast right away."
With that, her gaze darkened, and she instantly activated her domain power, enveloping the entire battlefield within its range.
Yang Tuo's lackeys were all first-tier ability users. Before they could even guard against it, Xu Jintang's Domain Slow struck them.
Immediately afterward, Xu Jintang swiftly ran into the battle and went after Yang Tuo's lackeys one by one.
"What are you doing?" Panic flashed across the face of Yang Tuo's chief lackey.
Xu Jintang smiled at him and flexed her wrists. "Take a guess."
Without giving him a chance to react, the smile swiftly vanished from Xu Jintang's face. She lowered herself into a charging stance and rushed straight at him.
A few seconds later, Xu Jintang brought down the chief lackey, who had been completely unable to resist.
She stopped, silently raised her head to look ahead, and lunged again.
"Xu Lanxing! You-" Yang Tuo's face turned green with rage, but the Mantis Beast's attacks grew fiercer with every round. He had no attention to spare for Xu Jintang.
Just like that, Xu Jintang took down all five lackeys, one after another.
Wei Zixuan was still watching from the side like a tiger eyeing its prey.
"You're courting death!" Yang Tuo finally stopped concealing his strength and fiercely raised his giant axe to cleave at the Mantis Beast.
He put all his strength into that blow.
The Mantis Beast was temporarily driven back.
With a grim face, Yang Tuo looked at Xu Jintang. "Since you're courting death, we'll all be eliminated together!"
With that, he hefted his giant axe and ran toward them.
"Tieniu, summon a demonic beast," Xu Jintang said calmly.
Wei Zixuan made an OK sign. "Got it."
As his words fell, Wei Zixuan pressed his hands together. His expression instantly turned serious as he began activating his ability.
An enormous stone gate slowly materialized before them, then opened.
The familiar swirling black hole appeared within the gate.
Just as Yang Tuo was about to reach them, an Earth-Breaking Stone Ancient Bird shot skyward with its wings spread.
Every beat of its dark gray wings stirred up enormous vortices of powerful air, sending the fallen leaves on the ground flying continuously.
"It's a peak third-tier demonic beast, an Earth-Breaking Stone Ancient Bird!" Surprise and delight colored Wei Zixuan's voice.
Every use of his ability was really a lottery draw. He had never expected to actually hit the jackpot at this crucial moment!