7 days later, inside Prince Du's Mansion.

The spacious living room had been split into two battlefields.

And in each battlefield, there was a suffering, struggling creature undergoing the loving education of the Fire Phoenix Tree...

"Ding!"

The Patterned Round Shield barely blocked the lashing of the Fire Phoenix Branch.

Du Yu gasped for breath, his whole body soaked through, and his hand gripping the Patterned Silver Blade was so numb and sore it tingled.

Spirit-level Fire Phoenix Tree, terrifying as hell!

This tree cannot be kept… Eh?

As the leaves underneath his feet churned, Du Yu felt his ankle suddenly bound tightly.

"We agreed on only two vines, you're cheating!" Du Yu tried his hardest to lift his leg, the Flame Pattern Shield vanished, Silver Blade flashed with a cold glint, and he slashed hard at the branch!

Thump~

Just as the Silver Blade was about to touch the branch, the branch tangled on Du Yu's ankle suddenly yanked back, flinging Du Yu flying...

At the same time, a wall of leaves quickly built up—soft as cotton candy—it caught Du Yu, slowed his momentum, and left him stuck deep inside.

"Fire Phoenix is amazing~" The vaguely outlined Little Fen Yang blinked her big orange-red eyes, darting through the dense branches and leaves.

She zipped left, zipped right, and her little face was full of a delighted smile.

Du Yu rolled his eyes with a huff.

No wonder Fire Phoenix suddenly flexed, turned out Little Fen Yang was here.

Kinda like those high school basketball games where, as soon as a couple of pretty girls showed up to watch, every boy on the court would go turbo-charged, giving it their all!

"I'm done, I'm done." Du Yu, sunk deep in the leafy "big bed," casually tossed the Patterned Silver Blade back to the branch.

Looked completely like a boss shaking off responsibility—besides, Fire Phoenix would collect and put away the blade anyway.

As the leafy walls unfolded around him, Du Yu wiped sweat from his forehead and saw the other battlefield.

Over there, Little Tai Sui, wearing a Red Leaf Conical Hat and a Red Leaf Raincoat, was going at it hard with a Fire Phoenix Branch!

"Pa!"

That was the sound of a branch lashing the Red Leaf Raincoat.

"Bang!"

That was the Red Bamboo Stick cracking against the branch, setting off an explosive boom!

"Little Tai Sui is tough as nails..." Du Yu leaned back on the Fire Phoenix leaf "couch," in awe of Little Tai Sui swinging his bamboo stick mightily.

Cute yet reckless!

Hard to believe those two words could coexist in one sentence, yet perfectly described Little Tai Sui in that moment.

The gorgeous Red Leaf Cloak and Red Leaf Conical Hat on Tai Sui both came from his Earth-level Demon Skill—Bamboo Leaf Armor.

That's what gave Little Tai Sui the guts to brawl harder and harder.

Remember, every Demon Pet can cultivate its own Demon Breath Battle Robe, a natural layer of defense.

But this full suit of Bamboo Leaf Armor cranked Tai Sui's defenses up to the max!

Just like Electric Little Star and its Demon Skill· Star Magnetic Shield.

Double-layer protection!

Now that's reassuring, super safe~

The coat woven from red bamboo leaves, paired with the Red Leaf Conical Hat, and the Red Bamboo Stick in Little Tai Sui's paws—he really looked like a reclusive high monk!

A few days back, when Little Tai Sui first learned the Earth-level Demon Skill· Bamboo Leaf Armor, Du Yu had even wondered—

He'd sent Master Qing a Red Bamboo Leaf Cloak and a Bamboo Leaf Conical Hat.

If Little Tai Sui stood next to Master Qing now, dressed like this…

Wouldn't they look like a couple in matching outfits?

Hmm… nope, "parent-child outfit" is more like it.

"Ying!" Tai Sui suddenly squealed, flames roaring on the Red Bamboo Stick, sweeping it across his face, blasting the Fire Phoenix Branch to pieces!

Earth-level Demon Skill· Tai Sui Flame!

The Chi Bear Race can channel their unique innate flames into objects by using Demon Skills, making them explode.

This so-called unique flame, in Du Yu's mind, was the "Tai Sui Fire."

It's just that, the Tai Sui Fire isn't some independent entity.

Only thanks to the nurturing of the Mother of the Demon Spirit Realm—Tai Sui Fire Bamboo—and the unique bloodline of the Chi Bear Race did this special elemental fire manifest.

The Tai Sui Fire is no different from regular fire, honestly, you could ignore the distinction.

Only when a Chi Bear wields a Demon Skill does the "Tai Sui Fire" show its specialty.

Pouring Tai Sui Fire into the Red Bamboo Stick and swinging it for an explosion is just the most basic use.

The power of the Demon Skill· Tai Sui Flame goes way beyond that!

For example, Little Tai Sui can inject fire into the summoned Hollow Bamboo Shoots, even triggering massive chain explosions.

With good training, Tai Sui's strength will undergo a serious leap!

Little Tai Sui is tanky and super tough.

It can one-shot, it can blast an area!

Tai Sui's role is heading straight for "frontline bruiser"—bold and fierce, never looking back...

Don't forget, Little Tai Sui's got a core Demon Skill· Hollow Bamboo Shoot too.

The Hollow Bamboo Shoots that sprout from underground can immobilize the enemy, crowd control, and serve as shields or shelters.

Once its quality improves, it'll even be able to gather Wood Demon Breath into Life Force to heal allies!

Offense, defense, control, healing—got it all!

If that's not a self-contained battle system, I don't know what is!

The Chi Bear Race—no wonder they're a unique Divine Pet in Great Xia that everyone drools over.

Du Yu watched Little Tai Sui swinging his Red Bamboo Stick in a display of pure power, and the more he watched, the happier he got!

These past few days, under the harsh drills of the Fire Phoenix Tree, Du Yu had been training sword skills, while Little Tai Sui was grinding Demon Skills and practicing staff technique too.

This Gold Medal Teacher, the Fire Phoenix Tree, really lives up to its name. It's helped this kid-and-pet duo a ton…

At that thought, Du Yu pressed his lips together.

Later, I have gotta water Brother Tree, give it a real good reward.

Two buckets of water… no, ten buckets!

Let Brother Tree drink up, get full!

"Bzz~ bzz~"

With a soft buzzing, a gentle branch curled a phone up and delivered it to Du Yu's face.

Du Yu answered the video call immediately, casually propping up the branch higher in his hand.

The Fire Phoenix-branded cellphone holder—360-degree flexibility.

One word: Solid~

"Second bro!" Li Mengnan's fair, pretty face appeared on screen. When she saw Du Yu's flushed face, she couldn't help but ask, "You went to the Demon Spirit Realm to train again?"

"Nah, just training at home." Du Yu wiped the sweat from his face.

"Oh, at your house." Seeing all the dense leaves behind him, Li Mengnan thought of that nightmare Spirit-level Fire Phoenix Tree.

"You rested up?" Du Yu looked at the phone. Li Mengnan looked perky—nothing like the human-blob she was when she'd just come back from the last battle.

"It's been days, I'm already recovered!" Li Mengnan rolled her eyes. "I spent New Year with Mom, came to Third Sis's place the next day to learn spear skill!

I can already summon a Demon Soldier Spear!"

At the Demon Tamer stage, you can summon Elemental Demon Soldiers.

But to call a Demon Soldier, not only do you need to refine strands of Residual Soul, you also need the technique.

If Li Mengnan could summon a Demon Soldier Spear, she'd at least gotten the hang of the spear skill.

Du Yu smiled, "What, no more infantry for you?"

Li Mengnan pouted, "In this final exam, I was basically the driver, just riding Yiren with you and not doing much."

Du Yu did not agree with that at all.

He replied, "No, you did a ton, seriously a ton!"

"Hmm?"

Du Yu: "Master Qing taught me a long time ago to accept the change in the owner-pet relationship.

For the first two stages, we're still protecting our Demon Pets.

Now that we're Demon Tamers and our pets have reached the Heavenly Level, it's the pets protecting us."

Du Yu looked in Li Mengnan's eyes, face serious: "Our identity is Demon Tamer, and the Demon Pet in our care is our strength.

You and Yiren cooperate really well, totally in sync, and you made a huge difference on the battlefield."

He repeated "huge difference" twice to show how he viewed things.

If it hadn't been for Li Mengnan and Yiren, their team would never have breezed through the test like they did.

Seriously, for this final exam, Li Mengnan made the biggest sacrifice.

For the team, she had to register a freshly contracted Demon Pet.

She'd never done mounted combat before, so she needed to build up teamwork with Yiren on the go too.

Li Mengnan's main Demon Pet is actually the Wind Witch.

Not to mention, she's got an awakened Godslayer·Celestial Level Fire Orange Pig inside her too!

For Li Mengnan, this was no doubt a huge sacrifice. She gave up the points from killing enemies for the team's sake.

"Alright~" Li Mengnan beamed, her eyes sparkling bright—it looked like Du Yu's pep talk really worked. "The official scores back you up too!"

Du Yu: "Scores?"

"Yeah, figured you wouldn't care, so I called to tell you—we got our scores!"

Li Mengnan sounded pretty excited. "The Bookhouse website and all the top universities just posted grades.

Second bro, you got 94.9 points—ranked first!"

"Huh?" Du Yu was stunned. "But wait, I got 100 points for soloing the blue special and then we kicked a bunch of Blue Team students, that's 5 points per head!"

Li Mengnan: "That was your in-match score. The Bookhouse posted our overall score on a 100-point scale."

"Oh, I see." Du Yu scratched his head. "So why didn't I get a full 100? Where'd those 5 points go?"

Li Mengnan: "..."

Seeing her big bro so speechless, Du Yu gave a sheepish grin. "How'd you do?"

"72 points."

For a second, Du Yu really didn't know how to respond.

Li Mengnan saw she'd milked his concern enough, then burst out laughing: "Ranked 23rd! Out of 700, I'm 23rd—so happy!"

Du Yu: "What about Shiwei?"

"Third Sis is 7th! Scored 81.6!"

Du Yu was confused: "81 points is 7th?"

"Yup." Li Mengnan gazed at Du Yu, a hint of pride in her eyes. "Top scores are spaced out. You're the only one out of 700 with over 90.

Second place is only 85.3, a whole gap below you!

Go check the site—the first place rewards are awesome... And the province TV already teased it, the videos from this exam are being edited and will be broadcast soon."

Du Yu: "They're gonna show our match replays?"

Li Mengnan said as if it were obvious: "Aren't we Paper Crane Disciples?

The Bookhouse made such a big deal, a province-wide exam, they gotta show the public something!"

"Ah..." Du Yu scratched his head again.

Welp, that's it: if not all Great Xia, at least in Shaohai Province, I'm totally famous now!

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