Chapter 10

Cao Wei’s face instantly darkened. “I’m genuinely doing this for your own good, why won’t you appreciate it?”

“Since that’s the case, I won’t go easy on you.”

He summoned his mystical beast. “Yellow Tear Monkey, prepare to attack!”

An orange-yellow furry monkey leapt down from thin air. Its golden eyes were murky yet deep. It clenched its fist, taking an attacking stance, and swiftly swung its fist forward.

The wind from the punch struck like drumbeats, stirring invisible airwaves across the arena!

Xia Muqing waved her hand. “Xiao Feng, dodge the attack!”

The Swiftwind Dog’s figure turned into a streak of white light, zigzagging swiftly across the field, precisely avoiding every gust of punch wind.

“Your dog is pretty fast,” Cao Wei grinned, “but just dodging won’t help. Yellow Tear Monkey, use Scorching Tears!”

The Yellow Tear Monkey howled to the sky. Pale yellow tears rolled from its eyes, transforming into countless glowing spots that accompanied the punch winds.

A heatwave surged throughout the arena. For a moment, even Xia Muqing felt her chest burn faintly, the scorching heat almost suffocating.

It was a very powerful area attack.

But for Xiao Feng, it was still not enough.

The Yellow Tear Monkey’s Scorching Attack wasn’t fully mastered yet and couldn’t cover the entire arena. Thanks to its danger sense and lightning-fast speed, the Swiftwind Dog easily found safe zones and dodged the attack.

Even the Scorching Tears missed, and Cao Wei’s expression grew serious.

He finally realized Xia Muqing’s Swiftwind Dog wasn’t just fast—it was exceptionally quick. Although the Yellow Tear Monkey excelled in offense, it simply couldn’t land a hit.

What was the point of fighting then?

Cao Wei felt a headache coming on. Things were completely different from what he expected. Xia Muqing’s Swiftwind Dog was not an easy target—it was a tough opponent.

His Yellow Tear Monkey still had a secret weapon he planned to save for later, to give the judges a “layered surprise”—but now it looked like he might lose without using it.

“Yellow Tear Monkey, rage mode!”

“Roar!”

The Yellow Tear Monkey howled loudly. Its fur stood on end as an invisible force radiated from its body, as if flames wrapped around it. A fierce wind howled from below, blowing every hair on its face into sharp spikes.

It leapt higher and its speed greatly increased. The punch winds became twice as sharp!

The punch winds swept horizontally, and the glowing tears drifted like dust particles everywhere in the arena. Under this large-scale cover, the Swiftwind Dog’s dodging was no longer easy, its movements showed slight hesitation.

Xiao Feng looked back at Xia Muqing.

“Awwoof?”

Master, shall we attack?

“Classmate Cao, is this really your strongest skill?” Xia Muqing said. “If you’ve already shown all your moves, then I’m going to start attacking.”

“Xiao Feng, Wind Vortex!”

The Swiftwind Dog: “Awwoof!”

In the arena filled with yellow glowing spots, a pale cyan vortex suddenly appeared.

At first, it was just a small swirl, but it rapidly expanded visibly, the swirling wind mercilessly pushing the yellow spots aside, leaving only a fierce blue wind vortex at the center!

The wind vortex slowly advanced toward the Yellow Tear Monkey, ruffling its facial fur. Cao Wei’s clothes at the edges were also flapping wildly, and his cheeks almost felt like they were being cut by sharp blades.

Cao Wei gritted his teeth and hurriedly ordered the Yellow Tear Monkey to dodge.

But under the Swiftwind Dog’s control, the Wind Vortex moved very flexibly. The sharp wind blades quickly blocked all the Yellow Tear Monkey’s escape routes, forcing it to gather all its strength to counter the wind vortex with punch winds.

“Bang! Bang bang!”

The loud collisions echoed through the spacious battle hall, turning into rolling reverberations.

The other students waiting outside for their turn all felt a bit nervous.

“What’s going on in there? Is it thunder?”

“Our exam arena doesn’t have any lightning-type mystical beasts, right?”

—

After a fierce clash, the Yellow Tear Monkey was the first to exhaust its strength and was defeated.

Cao Wei looked at the bright red “Defeat” next to his name on the screen and felt like crying but had no tears.

He thought he had picked an easy target, but only now did he realize it was a porcupine instead!

That really hurts. There are only three matches total, and he already lost one!

Seeing Cao Wei’s dejected look, Xia Muqing couldn’t help but say, “Don’t worry too much. Although you lost this round, the Yellow Tear Monkey used all its skills, and the examiners will notice.”

“Your Yellow Tear Monkey is well trained.”

Cao Wei shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just a pity I ran into you, huh?”

“Mind if I ask… is that Wind Vortex really the Swiftwind Dog’s strongest move?”

Defeat came suddenly, and Cao Wei urgently needed some comfort.

Xia Muqing: “Uh… I guess so?”

If we only look at attack power, Wind Vortex is indeed the Swiftwind Dog’s strongest move—for the fully developed Wind Vortex.

The little Swiftwind Dog can now control three vortices at the same time and is only one step away from learning the advanced skill of “Wind Vortex,” called “Wind Force.”

Xia Muqing defeated Cao Wei using just one vortex.

Piece of cake.

However, Xia Muqing’s reply still gave Cao Wei some encouragement.

He took a deep breath and nervously scratched the back of his head. “I’m really curious—who the hell spread the rumor that you raised a useless Swiftwind Dog?”

“Isn’t that just misleading?”

Xia Muqing smiled but didn’t say anything.

—

At this moment, in the judging room, the Swiftwind Dog’s performance had also caused a huge stir.

Actually, after the exam started, the judges received the students’ cultivation plans. After reviewing them, most judges thought Cao Wei’s Yellow Tear Monkey was the stronger one.

What kind of nonsense was on the Swiftwind Dog’s plan?!

Wind Vortex, Cloudfall, Wind Force… did this kid skip nine years of compulsory education?

Or did they just give up and come here to mess around?

Time was tight and there were many matches. If not for the judges’ responsibilities, they would have skipped this match and just given the score.

But unexpectedly, the match result was a shocking reversal.

It was a total blowout—the Yellow Tear Monkey couldn’t even land a single hit on the Swiftwind Dog. This match turned into a demonstration battle—the Swiftwind Dog guided the Yellow Tear Monkey by showing all its skills.

“Damn,” one judge swallowed nervously, “Is this confidence from superb skill, or absolute faith in their mystical beast?”

Daring to play a demonstration battle in a graded exam—aren’t they afraid of messing up?

“This Swiftwind Dog is quite interesting,” said a female judge. “Finally, something different to see—who’s their next opponent?”

The staff flipped through the records: “It’s… student number 0723, registered mystical beast is the Azure Nether Serpent.”

The other judges all sighed.

The Azure Nether Serpent is also fast and more agile than the Yellow Tear Monkey. Plus, with its unavoidable poison attribute, the Swiftwind Dog will have a hard time gaining the upper hand.

“Too bad. Looks like she won’t win the next match.”

—

At this time, in the battle room, Xia Muqing was already waiting for Liu Pan.

Liu Pan had just won a match and was in an excited, proud mood, boasting to Xia Muqing: “One move—Venom Splash—and it’s an instant kill. If he doesn’t detoxify in time, he probably won’t be able to compete in the next two battles.”

“Ha! Scared? Being scared won’t help. I’m about to send your stupid dog home.”

“This grouping really is fate. Saves me from having to fight you separately after the exam. I can just finish you off right here. How lucky is that?”

Xia Muqing sighed.

Then she suddenly said, “Liu Pan, I don’t really understand—why do you keep targeting me?”

“Is it just because I’m poor?”

Liu Pan replied carelessly, “Yeah, I just look down on you poor folks. No money but still want to be adventurers? Don’t you even think if you’re worthy?”

“And that Swiftwind Dog—you think you can have what I don’t want? Why?”

Xia Muqing nodded.

She more or less understood now—this guy was a typical control freak, selfish and paranoid. If he didn’t want something, he wouldn’t let anyone else have it either, otherwise, he’d find any way to destroy it.

“If you’re so cold to others, then making you lose the next battle should be just deserts, right?”

Liu Pan didn’t catch that clearly: “What did you say?”

“Nothing,” Xia Muqing said, “I have nothing else to say to you. Step up, Mr. Smart.”

This battle was different from the last one. As soon as the two mystical beasts stepped onto the battle platform, even before the judges gave the signal, the air was thick with tension.

The Azure Nether Serpent flicked out its blood-red tongue, its eerie vertical pupils seeming to glow with a flowing red light.

The little Swiftwind Dog recognized this as its lifelong enemy and was fully alert.

The master said to let Cao Wei win the last match, but this time there was no need to hold back. It had to gather all its strength and take the opponent down with one move—make sure it never dares to disrespect the master again!

“Battle start!”

At the moment the signal sounded, the blood-red light flickered in the Azure Nether Serpent’s eyes, and its strange patterns spun rapidly.

In an instant, the arena seemed to fill with heaps of corpses and rivers of blood, a strong stench of gore mixed with deadly intent surged fiercely toward the little Swiftwind Dog!

Skill: Bloody Intimidation!

But the Swiftwind Dog reacted just as quickly.

It suddenly raised its head and let out a deafening roar: “Awoooo!!!”

The shockwave surged like a fierce windstorm, and even the sky and earth seemed to change color!

The bloody atmosphere created by the Azure Nether Serpent was instantly shattered. Not only that, the serpent suffered a strong mental backlash and its body shook several times.

Liu Pan’s excited expression instantly froze: “…Is that Intimidation? Impossible. How could you have learned Intimidation?”

Not far away, the Swiftwind Dog proudly raised its head, its pure white paws lightly stepping on the ground.

Its small form should have been silent, but in the eyes of the Azure Nether Serpent and Liu Pan, every step seemed to carry immense pressure, cracking the ground with winding fissures, making them tremble involuntarily.

In the judging room, the examiners were also stunned.

Their experience far surpassed Liu Pan’s: “No, this isn’t simple Intimidation. Intimidation at best can only neutralize the Azure Nether Serpent’s fear tactic, it shouldn’t be able to shake it like this…”

“This is an advanced form of Intimidation—Wind Roar!”