Chapter 75: Revelation

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Revelation

Bao Yaoyao stared at Li Heng beside her. The howls of the Secret Realm Creatures were constant, and some of the sounds were growing closer.

In the nearby forest, some trees looked as if they had been smashed into, already snapped and toppled over.

Bao Yaoyao felt her confidence waver, and she gripped her long blade tighter and tighter.

But from her perspective, Li Heng’s expression was unchanged. He simply held his weapon and stared straight ahead, looking completely self-assured.

For some reason, while Bao Yaoyao had initially felt nothing but anxiety, seeing Li Heng’s composure didn’t lessen her tension. Instead, a flicker of anticipation sparked within her. She wanted to see what he was capable of.

——

’No matter what shows up, if I’m sure I can take it, I’ll hit it with my strongest combo. If not, I’m outta here!’

’As for Bao Yaoyao, he wasn’t factoring her into his plans. She wasn’t an official teammate, after all, and guaranteeing his own safety was the top priority.’

Little did Yaoyao know, the very same Li Heng whose skills she was so eager to witness was already thinking about cutting her loose.

The two of them stood with weapons in hand. Li Heng stared intently ahead while Bao Yaoyao vigilantly scanned their surroundings.

ROAR!

BOOM...

About thirty seconds passed. The trees directly in front of them suddenly crashed to the ground, and one after another, Secret Realm Creatures emerged, their cavernous maws letting out savage roars.

Bao Yaoyao’s tension reached a new peak. About ten Secret Realm Creatures had appeared. She recognized some of them—their point values had been published in the materials for the secret realm college entrance exam. But there were one or two soul beasts among them that were completely unfamiliar to her.

Even though there were no ordinary beasts, just these ten were enough to place immense pressure on her.

Ten in total, and they were all Soul Beasts!

’I can probably take care of three... No, that still leaves seven. Li Heng might be stronger than me, but how could he possibly handle seven on his own?’

’Forget it!’

’If I make it through this, I’m rewarding myself with a box of Flower Honey Cake!’

Yaoyao gritted her teeth. She decided she would take on four of the Soul Beasts herself, even if it meant getting injured. The current situation left no more time for deliberation.

’After all, Li Heng would have to face six on his own!’

’Those were six Soul Beasts, not six ordinary wild animals. He wouldn’t just have to fend off their physical attacks; he’d also have to be wary of their Soul Skills!’

’That was no simple task!’

’What’s more, these Soul Beasts were all different types, meaning their Soul Energy Skills would be completely distinct. There was no way to know their attack patterns.’

’You could only fight based on instinct and raw power.’

Yaoyao considered herself quite strong. Her teachers at school had even praised her blade work, saying it was reaching a masterful level.

Even so, she only dared to face four Soul Beasts alone, and that was by giving it her all.

’But even if Li Heng was stronger than her, she at least had some experience fighting multiple opponents at once. What if Li Heng was just strong on his own but lacked experience in a group fight? Leaving him to face five might lead to disaster.’

’I’ll just have to risk it!’

"Li Heng, I’ll take on five! You be careful with the other five!"

Steeling herself, Yaoyao drew her long blade, ready to charge head-on into the approaching pack of Soul Beasts!

Yaoyao drew her blade quickly, but Li Heng’s draw was even faster!

His Body Technique was like the wind, his blade a flash of light.

"Wh-what... is... that?"

Bao Yaoyao was completely stunned. She could only watch as Li Heng charged into the pack of Soul Beasts, Longsword in hand.

She had assumed that Li Heng would struggle immensely against five or six Soul Beasts, that something might even go wrong.

But the sight that met her eyes was of a single man with a single sword, weaving between the Soul Beasts with effortless grace.

Then, as time passed, Yaoyao saw them: bright, silver butterflies, appearing one after another out of thin air.

Ten Soul Beasts.

Li Heng.

And the Longsword in his hand.

Butterflies now fluttered around all of them...

"What... in the world... is this?"

This scene before her, a picture composed of beautiful butterflies, would have made Yaoyao stop and admire it for a long, long time under any other circumstances. It would have been a story worth telling—how she had once seen the most beautiful butterflies.

But when the picture included not just butterflies, but also furiously roaring Soul Beasts, "appreciation" was hardly the right word.

Her first instinct was to call the scene beautiful, but then she remembered Li Heng was a guy, and "beautiful" didn’t seem like the right word.

Yet, she couldn’t think of any other word that could truly describe Li Heng at that moment.

His swordplay was like a dance!

And what surprised Yaoyao most of all was that, aside from the butterflies, she couldn’t see Li Heng’s strikes at all!

She had been a Soul Apprentice for over a year and was even planning to make a push for Soul Warrior next year. While she wouldn’t say her own abilities were incredible, she was definitely among the top of her peers.

’And yet... she couldn’t even clearly see how another Soul Apprentice was swinging his sword?’

"This Li Heng... Just what is he..." Yaoyao started to question her reality. The long blade she had readied for an attack was slowly, unconsciously lowered.

Her eyes were blank as she watched Li Heng dance with his sword among the ten Soul Beasts.

Three minutes later...

The battle was over...

Yaoyao was in a daze. A single thought echoed relentlessly in her mind: ’I was actually... worried about a guy like that?’

Yaoyao mused that if she had been the one fighting, the battle also wouldn’t have lasted more than three minutes. The outcome, however, would have been the complete opposite.

If it had been her, she would have either torn up her Teleportation Talisman and fled within three minutes, or she would have been completely overwhelmed by the Soul Beasts.

But now, what lay before her were ten fallen Soul Beasts, and they had fallen in neat, orderly rows!

A single, bright silver butterfly still lingered on each of them!

Only when Li Heng sheathed his Longsword did the bright silver butterflies finally begin to fade away.

——

PHEW~

’Good thing I moved fast!’

After finishing off the last Soul Beast, Li Heng slowly let out a sigh of relief. He had a vague recollection of these ten Soul Beasts; at least six of them were worth points.

’If that Bao Yaoyao had jumped in, it would’ve been a real pain to split the points.’

’And judging by what Yaoyao just said...’

’She was going to handle five by herself! She only planned on leaving five for me.’

Li Heng had quickly sized them up and knew he could handle all ten Soul Beasts by himself with no problem. So, after a moment’s thought, operating on the principle of never letting points get away, he had charged in.

Fortunately, the end result was pretty good. Still, considering he had snagged all the "kills" for himself, Li Heng walked over to Bao Yaoyao and asked a tentative question.

"Bao Yaoyao, you don’t mind that I took care of all the Soul Beasts myself, do you?"

Bao Yaoyao: ???