Ch. 148 - Sixth Rank Early-Stage Steel Giant

Several kilometers apart, in a dense forest.

Xu Yunqing and Su Yan led the group to rest atop a giant tree.

Su Yan scratched his head in frustration, his face filled with anguish.

"Damn it, it's only been less than half a month, and there are still more than forty days left. How are we going to hold on? Even I am almost at my breaking point. Xu Yunqing, is your plan really going to work?"

"It has to work, no matter what. There is no way out now; we have no choice but to succeed!!"

Xu Yunqing gritted his teeth, the darkness in his eyes even more intense than the others.

As the sixth place in the martial arts exam, being hunted down like a dog every day was truly frustrating.

But a real fight with the insect beasts would definitely result in heavy casualties!

However, a slight smile appeared on Xu Yunqing's lips, a hint of amusement surfacing in his gloomy expression.

"However, Ling Qingxue's team has gone through a major battle. They might be completely eliminated, or we might only last a month and still be victorious. Now... it's a battle of wills. As long as our willpower is strong enough, we can drag it out until we win!"

This was called... the art of survival!

Although the victory wasn't honorable, winning meant more resources.

For resources, for becoming strong, a little shame was nothing!

They were also geniuses; how could they be content to remain mere background figures for Ling Qingxue and Beiming Yan?

On the giant tree, Wang Liang pondered for a long time before finally deciding to sneak away.

Seeing this, his teammates quickly grabbed him.

"Wang Liang, if you leave now, the chances of you dying are extremely high. And Brother Qing and Brother Yan will never accept you again. Think it through!"

"Not only that, even Boss Ling might not accept you. You didn't trust her at first, and now you're shamelessly running over there—who's going to pay you any attention? Besides, Boss Ling's entire group might already be wiped out."

Wang Liang shoved the two away, his face filled with resentment, his eyes burning with rage.

"I regret it! Choosing to follow those two idiots, Xu Yunqing and Su Yan, for half a month is the thing I regret most!

This is military training, for fuck sake, not hide-and-seek! Changing places seven or eight times a day? Are you kidding? If I keep following those two idiots, I'm going to die sooner or later anyway. I might as well go and join Boss Ling.

At worst, I'll die on the way. Anyway, I'll die with them. If you believe me, come with me. We'll join Boss Ling together, fight the insects, and even if we die, we'll still be heroes even eighteen years from now!"

...

Heart Lake Island.

The battle raged until the next morning, with brief breaks in between, as even magical beasts got tired.

After fighting all night, everyone's faces were etched with exhaustion.

Despite the abundance of potions, vital energy could not be completely restored with them.

"Brothers, if you get sleepy, just take a shot! We're all going all out. If you're short on shots, come get some from me. I still have over a hundred Poisonous Soul Bees!"

"Damn it, Brother Yan, didn't you say you just picked up a few dozen Poisonous Soul Bees? How come you have over a hundred more? Did you hide some?!"

"Stop arguing, let me get a shot already. I can't keep going without a little boost."

Everyone took Poisonous Soul Bees from Qin Hongyan, drank a Spiritual Resistance Potion, and immediately took a shot.

In no time, their low mood vanished, and they felt like they could fight for another day!

The power of the drug suddenly surged.

"Holy crap, Transformers!!"

Ma Rendong's eyes widened, his finger trembling as he pointed towards the lakeside.

The swarm of insects, just repelled, had been replaced by a new type of insect-like beasts. They weren't large, somewhat resembling ants, but they formed a nearly ten-meter-tall Transformer.

The lake here wasn't even ten meters deep!

Furthermore, this "Transformer" was entirely metallic, possessing extremely strong defense and astonishing strength; ice and fire attacks were completely ineffective.

Ling Qingxue's eyes changed slightly, her expression darkening.

"These are Steel Ants Army. They can use their bloodline abilities to fuse a massive swarm into a single Steel Giant, and this Steel Giant's strength is probably at the... Sixth Rank early-stage!"

Hearing this, everyone's hearts sank.

Sixth Rank early-stage—even Wu Liang alone couldn't handle that.

At his current strength, Wu Liang was at most capable of dealing with Fifth Rank peak beasts.

He might be able to hold off Sixth Rank beasts, but winning was virtually impossible.

Beiming Yan frowned, deep in thought.

"Qingxue, why don't we abandon this place for now? I'll use the Northern Sea Kunpeng to lead everyone away, and we can retake it after a while. These insects can't hold out here forever!"

"Sister Yan is right. We've held out long enough, and our strength isn't at its peak anymore. Continuing to hold out seems pointless."

"Yes, we have the advantage of the Kunpeng's speed. We can just fight our way back another time!"

Everyone agreed with this view, but Ling Qingxue shook her head.

Her gaze drifted into the distance, as if locking eyes with someone.

"If this were a normal insect swarm, what you said would indeed be correct. But unfortunately, this insect swarm is not normal; it's man-made!"

Everyone gasped, and then a name almost simultaneously flashed through their minds.

Beiming Feng!!!

No one but him could do such a despicable thing!

Beiming Yan stomped her foot angrily, gritting her teeth.

"That bastard is leaving us no way out! I suspected it was his doing yesterday!"

Ling Qingxue sighed, her expression helpless.

"Instructor Feng orchestrated this insect swarm so our military training wouldn't be too easy. If we flee now, he'll only keep sending swarms to hunt us down. We can't escape this battle; we'll have to fight sooner or later!

If my estimation is correct, that Seventh Rank Insect King that hasn't appeared at all is probably already under Instructor Feng's control, waiting for us to adapt before releasing it!"

The Insect King Secret Place was dangerous, which is why it required an adjustment process.

Once they adapted, the Insect King would take the stage.

Everyone looked at Ling Qingxue and Wu Liang.

Ling Qingxue pondered for a moment, then made her decision.

"I'll have Taotie unleash its bloodline divine skill to battle the Steel Giant, while I'll inscribe a special spirit formation to temporarily attach your power to me, thus temporarily boosting my level by one major rank. All you need to do is keep taking pills to maintain your power supply. Leave the fighting to us!"

Beiming Yan was slightly surprised. "Is there such a spirit formation? Will there be any side effects?"

"Yes, after using this spirit formation, we will all enter a period of low energy."

This side effect was barely tolerable for everyone. At least as long as they could defeat the Steel Giant, Beiming Feng definitely wouldn't send the insect beasts over again.

Then, the island in the middle of the lake would be an absolutely safe place; resting for a few days to recover their strength wouldn't be a problem.

Beiming Yan thought for a moment. "Qingxue, why don't we find an opportunity to have Little Kun activate her bloodline divine skill? Once she does, her control over spatial power will be greatly enhanced, and she should be able to trap the Steel Giant for a short time!"

"No need. Kunpeng's bloodline divine skill is our last resort!

Wu Liang and I combined might not be a match for the Sixth Rank early-stage Steel Giant. If we are ultimately defeated, you should have the Kunpeng activate her bloodline divine skill and lead us into the void to escape. We'll retake this place after we've fully recovered!"

Beiming Yan gave her a thumbs-up.

"You're really something. You even thought of an escape route in advance!"

After discussing the tactics, they began to prepare.

Everyone had their medicine ready, prepared to take it at any time.

Ling Qingxue drank several recovery potions to bring herself to peak condition.

Only then did she begin to inscribe the special spirit formation.

That special formation was called—Gathering Essence Spirit Formation!

The effect was exactly as Ling Qingxue described: it allowed one to temporarily advance a major rank by borrowing the power of others.

Ling Qingxue was currently at the Third Rank mid-stage; after using the Gathering Essence Spirit Formation, she would reach the Fourth Rank mid-stage.

With the support of two powerful wills and spiritual energies, her strength, while not as great as Wu Liang's, was not low.

The two of them combined definitely had the ability to threaten the Sixth Rank early-stage Steel Giant!

However, there was one problem: Wu Liang's 'Gluttonous Feast' skill could only last for about five minutes.

In other words, the two of them needed to kill the Sixth Rank early-stage Steel Giant within five minutes—that was incredibly difficult!

"Tsk tsk, killing it within five minutes... I wonder if our mixed doubles team can manage that? Running away in disgrace isn't my style," Wu Liang muttered.

Ling Qingxue smiled faintly. "Running away isn't shameful, but whether we can win or not will only be known after the fight!"

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Notes

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Ch. 148 - Sixth Rank Early-Stage Steel Giant

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