"How can it be this lively?
"And isn't the joint exam tomorrow? I'm not mistaken, am I?"
Su Hao stood there, dazed.
Liu Ren was equally stunned, finally managing to stammer out after a long pause, "Maybe the medical center in the preparation village is top-notch, not afraid of not recovering in time?"
Su Hao couldn't help but step closer, grabbing a classmate to ask, "What's going on here?"
"What else could it be? Someone started by throwing down a challenge on the arena, and then a fight broke out. This is already the eighteenth match.
"Yunhua Affiliated High School won eight, Yunhua No.1 High School won seven, Xingyuan High School won three... our Ancheng No.1 High School..."
As he spoke, he suddenly caught sight of Su Hao's face.
In a second, his expression shifted from dejection to surprise, then to excitement.
"Su-Su-Su... Su the Great, you're finally here!"
He exclaimed, then immediately lowered his voice, "Su the Great, can you handle that guy up there?"
Su Hao looked over.
On the arena, the spirit was a stuffed toy bear, tossing a football-sized rock in its paw. It hurled the rock with force, smashing a little coyote that had just been on the field for less than ten seconds, sending it crashing down.
The little coyote whimpered "woof" and collapsed completely.
Its spirit master, pale-faced, rushed over and carried it away.
Su Hao noticed his school uniform—it was from Pingcheng No.1 High School.
The spirit master of the stuffed bear on the arena was a student from Yunhua Affiliated High School.
He held his head high, looking contemptuous, his gaze sweeping meticulously across the entire crowd and their spirits. After a pause, he directly taunted:
"Isn't there anyone who can fight?"
"Bullshit!"
"#￥@%#!"
"*****!!"
Many in the crowd, unwilling to back down, fired back directly.
They had their reasons too.
Their own spirits had won a few rounds, but they were just exhausted, letting latecomers take advantage.
By the time the stuffed bear's spirit master stepped up, there weren't many capable fighters left.
The two spirits that came up casually were both easily dealt with.
On the arena, the spirit master from the affiliated school seemed to lose the verbal spar, snorted, and decisively shifted his target of mockery:
"What about Pingcheng No.1 and Ancheng No.1? Isn't there anyone who can fight?!"
The students from both schools looked somewhat grim.
But they also had the smallest numbers, appearing weaker in the crowd.
Even if they could win through attrition, it wouldn't save face.
After a low-voiced discussion among Pingcheng No.1 students, one quickly left, apparently to call for reinforcements.
On the arena, the stuffed bear's spirit master didn't seem in a hurry, waiting patiently with arms crossed.
Ancheng No.1 students also wanted to call for help, but when they turned around, they saw Liu Ren's pancake-like face.
And beside Liu Ren...
That man!
They instantly felt at ease.
Su Hao noticed that the spirit master from the affiliated school on the arena had also looked over.
His gaze lingered for a long time on the Little Fire Crow and the Charcoal Tortoise.
Su Hao felt there was an ulterior motive.
He stopped Liu Ren, who was boiling with anger, and said, "Let me handle it."
He then took the Little Fire Crow onto the battle field.
The battle field here was more formal than the school's. Su Hao climbed the steps to the spirit master's command platform, which was about half a story high.
The Little Fire Crow flew up to hover above the arena, which was about three steps high.
"Let's begin."
Su Hao saw that the spirit master from the affiliated school, who had been wearing a contemptuous expression, suddenly turned serious.
"Use Rock Throw!"
The stuffed bear, about a meter tall, reached out, and earth-type spiritual energy formed a basketball-sized brown rock. It threw the rock with force.
It whistled through the air.
The Little Fire Crow flapped its wings, ready to dodge, when it saw the opposing spirit master reveal a sly smile of success.
"Shatter!"
The stuffed bear brought its hands together.
Midair, the basketball-sized brown rock exploded violently, scattering like a rain of stones, cascading down toward the Little Fire Crow.
There was no escape!
The Little Fire Crow instinctively thought of using Feather Substitute, but then heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Use Flame Claw, catch it!"
Flames quickly ignited on its claws, forming a massive fiery claw that swept out fiercely.
The flying fragments of stone were instantly shattered, with only a few scattering around.
Wielding the giant flame claw, the Little Fire Crow closed in rapidly.
"What?!"
Wasn't the stuffed bear supposed to be the close-combat spirit?
The affiliated school boy felt caught off guard and could only hastily order, "Use Continuous Punch!"
A yellowish glow enveloped the stuffed bear's fists as it threw punch after punch, each one powerful and swift.
But the Little Fire Crow spread its wings, flew up, landed behind, and slashed down with its claw.
Boom!
First strike: the flame claw clashed with the stuffed bear's hastily turned fist.
The stuffed bear staggered backward.
Second strike: the Little Fire Crow pressed its advantage, slashing again with the flame claw. The stuffed bear was already injured, the yellowish glow on its fists dimming.
Third strike...
Boom!
The flame claw slammed into its face. Scratched and burned, the stuffed bear tumbled several times before finally rolling out of the arena.
The affiliated school student looked as if he'd been choked, while the Ancheng No.1 students cheered excitedly.
But Su Hao had no intention of staying. He just waved at Liu Ren, jumped down from the command platform, and left without looking back, the Little Fire Crow following.
As he walked out of the battle hall, Su Hao saw the affiliated school boy pick up the stuffed bear, walk over to another boy, and bow his head.
...
"Boss, that guy's name is Su Hao. He should be the strongest from Ancheng No.1."
The tall boy called "boss" crouched down to pet his spirit, a Fire Pattern Dog, and shook his head slightly:
"If that's all he's got, Ancheng No.1 is nothing to worry about.
"Let's go. Looks like the real experts are cautious. No matter how much conflict we stir up, we can't lure them out.
"But figuring out the strengths of Ancheng No.1 and some others wasn't a waste of time."
With the Fire Pattern Dog, the tall boy left the battle hall.
Several students from the affiliated school also slipped away silently.
...
On the village path, Liu Ren caught up quickly, leaving behind a slow-moving Charcoal Tortoise.
"Old Su, why didn't you let me show off? I think I had a good chance too."
Su Hao glanced at him. "He was testing, testing for someone else."
"Huh?"
Liu Ren's mouth fell open. "Then you just exposed... well, exposed the Little Fire Crow."
Had the Little Fire Crow been exposed?
Not really.
Its most important move, Feather Substitute, remained hidden, unknown even to classmates.
The same went for the Silkworm Baby.
Even Liu Ren didn't know how many trump cards the Silkworm Baby had.
Given how little other students seemed to know about Ancheng No.1, Su Hao figured they probably didn't even know he had two spirits.
Thinking that Su Hao had two spirits, with the Silkworm Baby as his main, Liu Ren relaxed.
He was also curious. "That guy wasn't weak either. Who was he testing for?"
"A spirit master with a Fire Pattern Dog, a tall guy."
Su Hao said.
He had first noticed the Fire Pattern Dog's unusual qualities and then paid more attention to its master.
As soon as he said it, Liu Ren immediately caught on:
"It's Huang Ji, one of the strongest students from the affiliated school. So it was him!
"What level is his Fire Pattern Dog?"
Liu Ren eagerly pulled out his notebook.
Then he heard,
"Spiritual power limit, value 144. Tail specially trained, good at Flame Splash, Flame Fang..."
He quickly jotted it down.
The information was even more detailed than anyone before!