Chapter 144: Withering Life, Purple Jade Evolves

As time passed, many people gradually returned to the temporary square where Su Bai and Chen Ruoxue were. Upon seeing them sitting inside and eating leisurely, they inexplicably felt immensely frustrated.

These two were actually intact and unharmed. Where had they been hiding?

Su Bai grinned at them. Yes, he liked the way that they could not stand him and wanted to get rid of him. Wang Tao and the water-fire duo were so furious that they simply wanted to rush over and kill this nasty bastard.

“F*ck! Where have you been hiding all these days?”

Yang Zhou and Jiang Yang entered together and were surprised to see them. Although he had not seen their battle feat, he was no stranger to everyone’s mighty pursuit of them.

They had even joined in the fun.

“It’s a secret.”

Su Bai chuckled and shook his head.

“You’re too fierce to defeat them two-on-eight. We all thought it’s fake news at first,” Jiang Yang said in shock.

He really did not know that the gap between himself and the two was so big.

“Wow, Tingting is here, too. How was it? You spent a whole month having an adventure in the monster wildness?”

Chen Ruoxue took Chen Tingting’s hand and asked the three of them.

“Oh, my harvest was pretty big.” Chen Tingting smiled and opened her silver contract book. The white page opened to reveal a two-meter-tall Golden Mantis.

This was a warlord Golden Mantis, which had cracks and gaps on its blade upon closer inspection, seemingly about to break at any moment. However, it exuded an extremely sharp power which made people feel as if they were being cut by a knife just by looking it in the eye.

This was a manifestation of the mantis about to evolve independently. It was very different from ordinary monsters, and its autonomous evolution was very unique to evolution through potions. Although it was an exaggeration to call it a world of difference, it more or less summed it up.

The mantis was a monster with only offense skills and without defense skills. To evolve independently, it must go through combat and tempering with its Pet Tamer whenever a chance presented itself, and its owner must also have the will to move forward without fear for life and death.

They could condense a special kind of fighting bond in the battle, the Immortal Soul of War.

This bond skill was very interesting. After entering the battle, as long as the battle will of the Pet Tamer and the mantis remained undying, they would not die no matter how terrifying the attack.

However, the injuries they suffered in battle would not disappear and would be completely returned to them once the battle was over; Also, once one party’s will to fight disappeared, the basic skill could not take effect.

“How is it; isn’t it good? I’m also an official ordinary Pet Tamer now. The mantis has finally advanced to the warlord grade, and it’s not far from evolving, either.” Chen Tingting grinned.

Su Bai and the other stared in shock.

Especially Yang Zhou and Jiang Yang, the two’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They had also entered the monster wilderness, but why was their harvest so different?

“Tingting, how did you do it?” Chen Ruoxue was also quite surprised.

“It’s nothing much. I didn’t take this assessment. I kept finding powerful opponents for the mantis to battle with and to train myself. It also broke through due to luck.” Chen Tingting giggled.

“Don’t be humble. You must have experienced a lot of tough battles. Your shoes are torn,” Jiang Yang lowered his head and said.

Chen Tingting suddenly stopped and glanced at him before slowly shaking her head. “It’s nothing; this is normal.”

However, they all knew that it was not so simple. As fellow Pet Tamers, they understood the difficulty.

“Are you planning to cultivate just this mantis from now on?” Su Bai asked.

In this world, most Pet Tamers cultivated hundreds of pets in their lifetime, but there were also Pet Tamers who only had one pet.

It was not that they lacked contract pages; they just did not want to contract another pet.

There were few of such Pet Tamers, but they were extremely unique and incomparable in certain areas.

The Immortal Soul of War bond skill of this mantis had first appeared a hundred years ago. When its aura was restored, it had become famous, but because its requirements toward Pet Tamer were too demanding, gradually fewer people chose to cultivate it. Most people only harbored intentions to give it a try but were destined not to push through with it.

“I don’t know, either, but I probably won’t contract a second pet for now. I can’t do that,” Chen Tingting said.

“Oh, I see. Then work hard; I think you’ll do great.” Su Bai smiled. Although he was very envious of her for having the mantis as a pet, he knew that his personality was not suitable for cultivating one. This was why he had not considered owning this kind of pet when he first chose his beginner pet.

The mantis was strong, but its weaknesses were also very obvious. It was not his style.

“Yes, yes. Sister Tingting, we’re all going to ride on your coattails.” Jiang Yang laughed.

Time passed quickly and it was the afternoon soon. All the students gathered in this temporary square, and the results of this assessment were quickly released.

The leaders of the five schools gave a simple debriefing and then announced the placings for this competition. The first and second places irrefutably went to Su Bai and Chen Ruoxue. Everyone already anticipated this; it could not possibly be anyone else.

Even when the school leader was announcing their names, many people still felt the urge to speak and curse the two. However, they were helpless. Who could imagine that the two actually had high-level warlords?

“Now, I’ll announce the third place of the five schools’ assessment. Congratulations to Chen Tingting of Fourth Middle School’s Class 3.1. She has obtained 202 number tags.”

“???”

?

Everyone looked at the school leader in a daze. Who was Chen Tingting?

It came as a shock!

Su Bai’s entire class whipped their heads around to stare at the girl. She turned out to be so strong?

Chen Tingting was also stunned. “I don’t know what happened, either. I snatched 202 at the beginning of the assessment and then went to kill monsters. They must’ve gotten it wrong.”

The crowd: “…”

“This is insane; how is this possible?” Jiang Yang and Yang Zhou were about to go crazy.

Everyone else also exchanged helpless glances. No matter what, Chen Tingting had obtained third place thanks to Su Bai and Chen Ruoxue.

There were only about seven thousand students out of the five schools. Su Bai had snatched more than six thousand tags and then lured others into forming groups of a few dozen people to chase them for revenge. This caused them to be unable to gather the remaining tags and secured the spot of Chen Tingting, who had not participated in the later snatching of tags.

After understanding this, Chen Tingting bowed to the two. “Thank you big bosses for letting me ride on your coattails.”

“Hahaha! You deserve it, Sister Tingting. After all, you always work so hard, so God will take care of you.” Chen Ruoxue laughed.

“Yes, with this placing, you’ll have a spot to enter the monster wilderness. Sister Tingting, your mantis now has a stable evolution.” Su Bai nodded.

However, what shocked everyone further was that, besides the third place, even the fourth place was from Su Bai’s class. It was the freeloader, Guo Dong, who had a wretched development.

Guo Dong had mixed feelings upon receiving this ranking. He originally had Su Bai as his target and wanted to work hard after contracting a pet so that he could surpass the latter and confess to Chen Ruoxue one day.

However, it ended up being contrary to what he imagined. Not only did the gap between him and Su Bai widen incessantly, Chen Ruoxue also confirmed her relationship with him. Now, he had even unintentionally ridden the coattails of his biggest rival. This feeling was indescribable, and he only felt pain and despair.

In fact, because of Su Bai and Chen Ruoxue, the second place onward had all been won breezily.

Fourth Middle School had finally won the championship after many years. The group of teachers stood on the stage, full of pride. After ten years, this was the first time the school won first place in the five schools’ joint assessment. The best result they had achieved thus far was third place.

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They exited the monster battlefield and returned to school afterward. Su Bai and the others were dismissed without needing to attend afternoon classes. Having spent a whole month in the wilderness, they were all exhausted and needed a good rest.

“Goodbye, boyfie. I’ll be heading home now.”

Chen Ruoxue waved to him.

Although it was the holidays, they had not been home in a month and wanted to report their safety back home first. Thus, they had not arranged any other gathering.

“Howl! (๑oั╰╯oั๑)”

Is it time to eat? Is it dinnertime?

The cub lay on the floor and sniffed around searching for medicinal cakes and potions.

The Mewling Fox imitated its actions and searched for food everywhere. It sniffed around with its small head, looking incredibly cute.

“No, there’s no food. The assessment has ended; we’re heading home. I only brought you out to play.”

Su Bai glanced helplessly at them.

“Howl! ( ̄へ ̄)”

What, why did you disrupt my sleep? Give me something to eat now or I’ll die of hunger!

The cub yelled unhappily.

“What does sleep have to do with eating?” Su Bai cocked his head and asked.

“Howl!”

Of course, they’re linked! I am hungry because I can’t sleep anymore.

The cub thought for a while and said with forced logic.

“Alright, you’ll have food when we go back.”

Su Bai was simply speechless. Just look at the baby fox and how obedient it was; it did not even ask for food.

Erm, Ah Bai. I only remained silent because I felt that Sister Jade would definitely ask for food.

The fox said telepathically.

Su Bai: “…”

He directly returned home with the two pets.

“Son, your assessment has ended? How was it?”

His parents were cutting spiritual plants in the manor’s garden when they saw him.

They also knew of the five schools’ joint examination.

“I got lucky and won first place.” Su Bai shrugged.

“…”

Both were momentarily speechless. How did he win first place based on luck?

“It’s good as long as you’re alright. We prepared a big feast to celebrate tonight. Stay at home; I’ll call you over when it’s time to eat,” Mother Su said.

“Okay, I’ll definitely rush over for a big feast.”

Su Bai nodded. He did not need an invitation for a big feast.

The development of the manor’s garden was considerably on the right track. It had a spiritual field with spiritual plants, flower-scented cows, and aquatic creatures in the reservoir. His parents were happily busying themselves every day, no longer having to work for others.

“Howl?”

The cub was stunned upon returning to the Azure Dragon Mound. It stared in disbelief at the scene that greeted it, unable to accept this fact.

Where were its flowers? Where was the bunch of flowers it had worked so hard to grow? Why were there only withered leaves left?

In the surrounding areas of the Azure Dragon Mound, the fresh flowers, which the cub had planted a month ago, had all withered. Only withered flowers and leaves were left without the slightest sign of vitality.

The cub sat there for a long time in silence, staring melancholically at the flower field.

Su Bai was about to comfort it when he suddenly noticed a unique aura exuding from the cub’s body.

His eyes widened at the sight of its evolution.

As green light flashed, it turned into a seedling, took root, germinated, bloomed, fruited, and withered. The life of a flower quickly passed by in front of the cub.

Also, on the cub’s body, a strong green light appeared as vast Thorns Domain automatically unravelled around it. All kinds of plants grew on the ground around them, gently swaying and fluctuating with the cub’s spiritual power.

As the green light surged, the cub’s body also underwent astonishing changes. It grew from the size of a tabby cat to a 1.5-meter-tall and four- or five-meter-long figure.

The whole body of light green hair disappeared and changed into white fluffy hair. A faint green and white fluorescence also lingered around it, making it look sacred and holy.

The cub’s current appearance was like a pure white puppet cat. Coupled with its huge purple eyes, it looked like a cutie that had just walked out of a painting.

Moreover, the horns on top of its head unexpectedly fell, and its two horns merged into a small green cane-like pendant. The small pendant hung beside it, exuding a green light with a strong breath of life.

This was the cub’s third evolutionary type, the Sanctuary Wood Spirit.

Although it looked holy, it was still too adorable. Was it not too kawaii?

Su Bai almost could not stand it. The cub was now cuter than ever, and although it was somewhat bigger, that still did not affect its cuteness.

He could now ride on its bigger body, too. It was really killing two birds with one stone.

“Congratulations! You finally evolved as you wished. You’ve already understood the profound meaning of wood, such that you can control wood, right?”

Su Bai caressed its soft fur and laughed.

Sometimes, the withering of life could make the pet understand its true meaning better than birth, and this was exactly what the cub lacked initially.

The profound meaning of wood at the level of controlling wood was almost complete, and it was not far from comprehending the full meaning of wood. As long as it continued fighting, it could use the wood aura between heaven and earth to increase its strength.

However, its aura seemed to have fallen a bit as if it had just advanced to a high-level warlord.

It was a good thing, though. Its evolution meant that its spiritual energy capacity had increased and it could now hold more. It was normal for it to drop a level.

“Howl! (๑oั╰╯oั๑)”

I’m so big now; I’ve never been so big before. It feels amazing!

The cub looked curiously at itself then its paws and tails. Finally, it unleashed a wave of spiritual energy and placed Su Bai down on its back to carry him up the Azure Dragon Mound.

“Howl~”

The cub embraced the wind blowing against its fur. Riding on its soft back, Su Bai also felt extremely happy. The cub’s body was smooth and soft, making it impossible for him to stop caressing its delicate fur.