CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER 32: GRADUATION EXAM (PART 1)

The oppressive heat was like fire; time seemed to race by like a cartwheel. The years had swiftly flowed through busy days of Body Refinement, Alchemy, and hunting, and ten years had passed in a blink. Today was Li Xing’s final assessment at Datang Academy—the graduation exam.

The graduation exam for the basic school was uniformly set by the Education Bureau, given its foundational education for Elemental Spirits, rendering the exam relatively easy.

The three major departments held separate exams. For the Martial Arts Department students, as long as they captured a Star Beast within the allotted time, they passed.

While most students from the Martial Arts Department could graduate, the exam scores varied, with the level of the captured Star Beast and its wholeness determining the grades.

For those students planning to enter reserve military schools for further study, the end-term exam scores were crucial, affecting which military school they would be admitted to in the future.

Considering student safety and comprehensive standards, the night before the exam, Yang Zhou personally led the team to screen the assessment area. They drove away middle and high-level Star Beasts, leaving only low-level Star Beasts ranging from levels one to four according to exam requirements.

As the starting gun fired, all Martial Arts Department students surged into the forest like a tidal wave, scattering swiftly. The exam rules mandated independent hunting; everyone wanted to complete the task as soon as possible, and following the main group would only scare the Star Beasts away, lowering efficiency.

Li Xing quickly entered the forest. Over the years, the forest outside Datang City had become her personal hunting ground; hunting Star Beasts was effortless for her. She was certain of her success in this exam. The hardest part for her was finding the highest level Star Beast within the limited time.

The forest seemed tranquil, filled with the chirping of birds and the buzzing of cicadas, vibrant with red flowers and green vines, and the air exuded a fresh woody scent.

But Li Xing knew beneath this serene and beautiful facade lurked great peril—Star Beasts, skillfully camouflaged, might be lurking in the thorns, drooling and ready to pounce when vigilance slips, their jaws agape to devour;

Delicate vines crawled along towering trees, adorned with harmless tiny yellow flowers, yet they might suddenly coil like a python as you pass, dragging you to the roots to become nourishment;

Under the soft, decaying soil lay swarms of carnivorous insects, leaving a trail of white bones as they emerge.

Armed with her understanding of the forest’s dangers, Li Xing evaded all threats that would obstruct her hunting, deftly maneuvering through to the deepest part of the assessment area, where the most formidable Star Beasts were likely to appear.

Compared to Li Xing, some of her peers were less fortunate. Not long after the exam began, screams echoed intermittently, and distress flares frequently burst overhead. It was truly regrettable, as using a flare meant abandoning the exam, forfeiting the chance to enter the reserve military schools.

Passing through dense woods, Li Xing arrived at a clearing in the forest, where the ground was covered with lollipop-like globular grasses swaying gently in the breeze, looking quite charming.

Globular grass was a high-level Spirit Plant, able to substitute Yellow Grass as the main ingredient for the Primordial Spirit Pill.

Just as Li Xing was about to collect some for alchemy, her nose twitched, catching a faintly bloody scent in the wind. She turned her head toward the scent and her eyes suddenly brightened.

Wherever the dragon travels, rain follows; wherever the tiger strides, winds accompany.

A cat-like Star Beast, as tall as a person, approached gracefully with raised shoulders, stopping twenty meters away from her, and stretched its body with a long, languid yawn.

It was a Snake-tailed Tiger Beast, a level four Star Beast, the pinnacle of low-level Star Beasts.

Li Xing was overjoyed, thinking, this one’s for you today!

She raised both hands in front of her chest, assuming the starting stance, ready to both attack and defend; no matter what angle the Snake-tailed Tiger Beast attacked from, she would be able to respond immediately.

In the past ten years of hunting Star Beasts, Li Xing had rarely used weapons—to strengthen her body and to maintain the Star Beast’s wholeness. This particular Snake-tailed Tiger Beast was far from reaching a level requiring her to wield her weapons. Besides, the Heavenly Wolf Saber’s Evil Qi might frighten it away!

While Li Xing studied it, it was also gauging her.

The Snake-tailed Tiger Beast paid no heed to Li Xing’s combat stance, lazily licking its nose with its tongue as it strolled around her.

Its snake-like tail slowly stretched over, flicking its forked tongue, intimately rubbing against its tiger head as if in communication, appraising Li Xing together.

Seeing scorn in the tiger beast’s eyes, Li Xing smirked bitterly—had she grown so thin that even a Star Beast worried about it?

The tiger beast had no interest in Li Xing, but the snake tail thought, though the human seemed thin, her skin appeared smooth; it might be worth a tasty trial.

After some unspoken exchange, the tiger beast finally roared and leapt at Li Xing.

Just as the tiger beast anticipated tasting fresh blood the next moment, Li Xing sunk into a horse stance, delivering an uppercut to its chin.

The massive tiger beast was sent flying like a stringless kite, crashing into the globular grass thicket. Ripe globular grasses soared up like hydrogen balloons, looking stunning.

Relying on the innate agility of a feline Star Beast, the tiger beast agilely rolled after hitting the ground, sprang from the globular grass, and stood, issuing an angry growl at Li Xing.

The globular grass’s fuzz was slightly toxic, irritating the tiger beast’s nose; the pain from its chin and the nasal discomfort fueled its anger to the breaking point, turning its gaze towards Li Xing with a bloodthirsty fervor.

After that punch, things had changed in nature—it must ensure this human dies a painful death!

Adjusting itself, the tiger beast charged at Li Xing a second time; she punched again, but the tiger beast dodged.

Li Xing’s center of gravity dropped, she kicked towards the tiger beast’s belly while using the force to spring aside. The tiger beast wasn’t an easy target; dodging sideways, it swiped its paw at Li Xing’s neck. Li Xing ducked beneath, punching towards its jaw again.

In a split second, a massive snake with a triangular head lunged from behind the tiger beast, biting at Li Xing’s fist. Its four sharp fangs clamped onto her knuckles. The snake tail felt victorious, thinking it could pierce the human’s skin and its venom would do the rest.

Unfortunately, Li Xing disappointed it; at mid-stage Body Refinement, her flesh couldn’t be harmed even by a Magic Treasure, let alone a few snake fangs.

Yet the snake tail’s strength wasn’t negligible; while Li Xing wasn’t afraid of the bite, she couldn’t immediately break free from its clutch. She wasn’t panicking at all, instead thrusting her fist deeper into the snake’s throat, forcing its jaws wider. The snake tail gagged on the fist, its eyes bulging.

While Li Xing was held by the snake tail, the tiger beast pivoted to join the fray, only to be headbutted aside by Li Xing. She delivered a firm squeeze below the snake’s head, and with the crunch of bones, the head of the snake, which desperately tried to expel her fist, suddenly went limp.

Li Xing withdrew her fist, grabbing the snake tail with a reverse grip, twisting herself atop the tiger beast. With the snake tail incapacitated, the tiger beast was overwhelmed by pain and lost the will to fight, carrying Li Xing as it dashed off into the forest.

Using claw-like gestures, Li Xing clutched the tiger beast’s vertebrae, lifted upwards, and twisted it ninety degrees sideways. The once sprinting tiger beast suddenly lost all motor abilities, collapsing flaccidly to the ground, sliding several dozen meters forward due to inertia before coming to a halt.

Li Xing leapt off the Snake-tailed Tiger Beast, brushing the leaves and dirt from her clothes. She waved a hand, storing the corpse of the Snake-tailed Tiger Beast in her dimensional space button, and leisurely headed towards the gathering point with hands clasped behind her back.