Not far away, the terrifying Winged Demon Tiger, poised to pounce, had turned into a piece of charred black coal, its corpse incomplete.
Chen Xiaojia still held the torn Spell Scroll in her hands, now split in two and rendered useless.
She turned it over and over in disbelief. Could such a seemingly inconsequential scroll actually... have blown the desperate Demon Tiger to death?
At that moment, a vast amount of soul power began to emit from the body of the Winged Demon Tiger.
Like a river, it flowed into her body.
For a moment, Chen Xiaojia's eyes widened. She could distinctly feel the immense soul power accumulating inside her, nearly bursting her seams, and as she refined it slightly, that power spread throughout her body, nourishing it.
Her soul was leaping for joy.
Simply refining this immense soul power would be more than sufficient for her to advance to Second-tier Awakener.
The other trainees who had survived the ordeal now looked at Chen Xiaojia differently.
Especially the odd assortment of items in her backpack, many couldn't help but show a fervent desire for them.
However, they soon saw Chen Xiaojia tear open another scroll, and air currents encircled her. She quickly put on an unknown white bracelet, and handed some of the items to the chubby girl.
In an instant, the two girls were fully equipped, upgraded from ordinary to epic grade, plus a full set of advanced buffs.
No doubt, even if another Winged Demon Tiger were to attack, these two girls would dispatch it without a second thought.
Better not to provoke them... better not to provoke...
Then, someone remembered what Chen Xiaojia had said earlier.
It seemed, all these pieces of equipment, had come from her cousin.
And her cousin was actually planning to open a Martial Arts Hall?
Some of the more astute trainees' eyes began to sparkle with intrigue.
The Zhentian Martial Arts Hall team that went out for training had been attacked by Demonized Beasts, scattering in a panic, with many students either dead or injured.
This news spread almost throughout Luoxia even before Chen Xiaojia had returned to the Sanctuary.
Zhentian, as one of the Five Great Martial Arts Halls in Luoxia, is well-known and indeed powerful. No one would have thought that a routine training exercise would end in such danger.
It was said that among the training team was a Master from the Zhentian Martial Arts Hall, yet faced with sudden danger, he had not been able to play much of a role.
When Tang Yu heard this news, he was also shocked; he remembered that his cousin Chen Xiaojia had joined Zhentian Martial Arts Hall's outdoor training exercise today.
Although he had stuffed her with so many life-saving items, he had not expected any trouble; the training location was not far from the outskirts of Luoxia, and the threat from Demonized Beasts was minor. With the strength of the Zhentian Martial Arts Hall, no Awakener would dare to cause trouble.
To him, it seemed less like an exercise and more like a field trip.
Not very meaningful and similarly not dangerous.
"Damn, Luoxia is really dangerous, but luckily Xiaojia is fine and almost back at the Sanctuary..."
He had made contact through a special item.
However, for many other trainees from the Martial Arts Hall, there was no news—perhaps they had been swallowed by Demonized Beasts, or, like headless flies, they scattered aimlessly, their whereabouts unknown.
Given the inexperienced combat performance of most trainees, these people had little chance of surviving on their own in the wilderness.
Even though Zhentian Martial Arts Hall had sent out rescue teams, they faced severe questioning from many trainees' family members, and the reputation of the Martial Arts Hall plummeted to rock bottom.
Tang Yu got the information from Shay, who had been lurking around the Mercenary Union, and in just half an hour, the Mercenary Union had received more than a hundred search and rescue missions—these were all posted by the trainees' families.
He was not in need of money now and had no interest in such assignments.
But just in case, he had Xing Ling and Xing Yue bring back Chen Xiaojia, still out in the wild, and inadvertently rescued a group of trainees clinging onto her for survival.
Thus, his as-of-yet unnamed Mercenary Corps, within less than twenty-four hours of registration, completed an astonishing number of more than twenty missions, setting a new record at the Luoxia Mercenary Guild and leaving second place far behind.
Martial arts students were being successfully rescued one after the other, yet the fate of many more remained uncertain.
A young man was sprinting through the jungle, occasionally glancing back.
Finally, he stopped, panting heavily, "Huff... Thank goodness, it seems... I've finally lost it."
An odd noise came from not far away.
The young man raised his head, with tension and caution, and looked in the direction of the sound.
There, a Skeleton pushed aside the underbrush, appearing in his line of sight.
This Skeleton was about as tall as a human, its bones a silvery gray, seemingly wandering aimlessly, its speed not fast...
The young man steeled his nerves and shuffled his feet, attempting to avoid the Skeleton without alerting it.
But in the next moment,
The Skeleton's neck turned ninety degrees with a sharp sound, and the empty eye sockets revealed burning flames as it charged straight towards the young student.
The young man was considered quite outstanding among these practicing students; despite his nervousness, he didn't panic.
He glanced at the Combat Saber he was gripping tightly in his hand, which he hadn't dropped even in a crisis, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
—This Skeleton didn't have a strong presence; with a weapon in hand, it posed no threat.
He steadied his spirit, and when the Skeleton drew near, he raised the Combat Saber high and chopped down towards the cervical vertebrae of the Skeleton.
The Combat Saber was blocked in mid-air.
The hand composed of several bone segments, lifted by the Skeleton, held it firmly, immobilizing it.
The young student's eyes revealed shock; he let go of the Combat Saber he was holding with both hands, seeking to escape, but his expression froze on his face.
The Skeleton's other hand rose.
A finger pointed at the young student's forehead, where an empty hole was formed, oozing fresh blood.
The flames burning in the empty eye sockets of the Skeleton grew more intense as its upper and lower jaws moved, making a ghastly sound.
"Luoxia... human... food..."
The young student's body visibly withered away in front of him, while the Skeleton, on its silvery gray bones, had some substance slowly growing.
The vicinity of Lin City.
Everything remained the same. The convoy from Heng City hadn't returned yet. During this time, more Awakeners were travelling back and forth between Lindong and Green Shadow.
Extremely sharp weapons and equipment such as the Demon Slayer series Longswords and Cloud-breaking Series Battle Blades, which even exceeded people's imagination, were gradually coming into view of the Lindong Awakeners. Even though many had only heard of them and not yet seen them with their own eyes.
The reputation of the Green Shadow Sanctuary was gradually spreading, no longer confined to the knowledge of the upper-class.
Those Awakeners, and even some of the more well-informed survivors, mentioned it in casual conversations. Naturally, the most talked about were the pieces of equipment emanating from Green Shadow.
The name of Green Shadow began to ferment around the Lindong area.
Everything was developing in a favorable direction.
Time flew swiftly; in the blink of an eye, two-thirds of a day had passed.
(Another update coming soon)