Li Zeyu and Xu Ru were eliminated.
They were eliminated with only 50 minutes left until the end of the Secret Realm assessment.
Xu Ru had never participated in the Baby Cup before, so not many people knew about her.
And the few examinees who did know her situation were not bigmouths who liked to post on online forums.
It was the same now; even after being teleported out, few people around were paying attention to her.
Coupled with Xu Ru's low-key attire and demeanor, she easily blended into the crowd, handed her serial number plate and the small bag containing the score beads to the relevant staff, and after registering, left the Beastmaster Association.
Compared to Xu Ru, Li Zeyu's situation was completely different.
He was a well-known figure in Qinghe City, and he enjoyed showing off and acting cool. Wherever there was an opportunity to show off, he would be there; wherever there was gossip, he would appear, earning him the nickname 'Little Prince of Qinghe City.'
Everyone thought Li Zeyu would only be teleported out at the end of the assessment, and there was even a high possibility that he would be this year's top scorer in Qinghe City's entrance examination.
But unexpectedly, Li Zeyu came out early!
This meant he had been defeated by someone!
Who defeated Li Zeyu?
Or was Li Zeyu targeted and ganged up on by multiple people?! Hmm, that's the greater possibility!
The front plaza of the Qinghe City Beastmaster Association.
The teleportation exit of the Secret Realm assessment.
At this moment, many media reporters and streamers had gathered here, with camera arrays set up to cover every angle.
Originally, these media reporters wanted to wait until the Secret Realm assessment ended, for the examinees who persevered to the very end to emerge, and then interview them immediately, especially the universally recognized strongest one, as there was always one, and that person would very likely be this year's top scorer for Qinghe City's entrance examination!
Unexpectedly!
The reporters and streamers were shocked. Look, what did they get?!
They got a sweet and juicy piece of gossip!
The Little Prince of Qinghe City, Li Zeyu, was actually defeated and eliminated early.
Reporters and streamers immediately surrounded Li Zeyu, thrusting microphones into his face.
Questions came like a barrage, urging him to say something.
Li Zeyu was still in a dazed state from being blasted by that super golden supreme enhanced version of the Bomb Fruit, which resembled a small sun.
It wasn't until the reporters' microphones poked his face that Li Zeyu finally came to his senses.
His expression was extremely complex; he wanted to speak but hesitated, his lips moved, and finally, Li Zeyu sighed deeply.
Without hiding anything, Li Zeyu confessed:
"It was Lin Chuan; he defeated and eliminated me. I lost this time, and I lost wholeheartedly."
"However, in the future, I will definitely win it back!"
As he spoke, Li Zeyu clenched his left fist, about to raise his arm as if to swear.
The next moment, Li Zeyu winced in pain, gasping for air.
On his left arm, there was still the wound he had inflicted with a dagger to forcibly resist the Rosemary Illusion Incense of Sakura.
The reporters and streamers clearly noticed Li Zeyu's injury. A few reporters asked about his condition with concern, but more reporters and streamers were only interested in how he was eliminated and what exactly happened in his battle with Lin Chuan.
Li Zeyu shook his head slightly, not intending to explain further.
"I know what you reporters care about most."
"This year's top scorer in Qinghe City will undoubtedly be Lin Chuan. That's all I can say. If you want to know anything, just wait for the Qinghe City Beastmaster Association to hold a press conference later, and you'll find out when this year's Secret Realm trial highlight reel video comes out."
After speaking, regardless of the reporters' and streamers' discussions and continuous questions,
Li Zeyu, with the Assistance of the Beastmaster Association staff, escaped the encirclement of the reporters and streamers.
With the Assistance of the Beastmaster Association's on-site doctor, after a simple treatment of the self-inflicted knife wound on his arm, Li Zeyu left the Beastmaster Association and went home with the person sent by Blue Feather Airlines to pick him up.
He would go back and wait for the announcement of the results and fill out his university applications based on those results.
Although he was eliminated in the last 50 minutes, his survival points would be deducted, but since he was eliminated only at the very end, the deduction shouldn't be too much.
If the full score for survival was 100, Li Zeyu estimated he would get 99 points, so he wasn't worried.
Because the score beads he collected were only less than Lin Chuan's; no one else had as many as him. In this trial, he hunted an unknown number of examinees by leveraging his ability to fly.
More importantly, in the battle where the Assault Team was formed to fight the BOSS, Li Zeyu was one of the main forces.
Especially in the early stages, he led Team 1 to stubbornly hold off the BOSS for two hours, buying time for Lin Chuan and Xu Ru to dig trap pits, and for Chen Yulu to find enough Assault Team members.
Li Zeyu felt that with the extra points from the score beads, plus the hidden points for defeating the BOSS, his overall score in the Secret Realm assessment should only be second to Lin Chuan's.
In short, the top scorer would definitely be Lin Chuan.
And he, Li Zeyu, would most likely be the second-place scholar, or with a small probability, the third-place scholar.
The Eight Great Academies, within reach!
50 minutes passed quickly.
The electronic chime signaling the complete end of the Secret Realm trial rang out.
Accompanied by one dark teleportation light after another, all the examinees who persevered to the end appeared one by one.
A total of 133 examinees persevered to the end.
Lin Chuan was among them.
Just as sharp-eyed reporters spotted Lin Chuan's figure and were about to rush forward to thrust microphones into his face for an interview,
Suddenly, the reporters felt their eyes blur.
Looking at Lin Chuan's position again, Lin Chuan was already gone, leaving only the other 132 examinees.
He had expected to be interviewed.
But Lin Chuan truly didn't expect the scale of the commotion to be so immense, and that it would be directed straight at him. These reporters didn't even look at the other 132 examinees. If he were surrounded, it would probably take three or four hours of interviewing.
He had already fought for 48 hours in the trial space, and although the last period was spent relaxing and enjoying the scenery, he remained vigilant at all times.
He guarded against being targeted and surrounded by a dozen examinees, which was also why Lin Chuan chose the central tower as his final defensive hiding spot. Because besides Li Zeyu's flight, there was only one staircase to go upstairs. If a dozen people really came to attack him, he just needed to guard the stairwell. If all else failed, he could just use a Bomb Fruit to blow up the stairs and be done with it.
Well, putting that aside, Lin Chuan just wanted to go back to Sleeping now.
As for interviews and such, it would be best for the Qinghe City Beastmaster Association to arrange them.
Lin Chuan was very aware that he would definitely be this year's top scorer in the Qinghe City area's entrance examination.
As the top scorer, it was necessary to accept interviews and impart experience and insights on cultivating spirit beasts to this year's 15-year-olds, next year's graduates, and even younger children.
Of course, these would all be empty words.
Things like treating spirit beasts with care and seriousness, or sharing weal and woe with spirit beasts.
True cultivation insights would not be imparted so simply.
Using Sakura's Illusion Attribute visual deception ability, Lin Chuan escaped the encirclement of reporters and streamers, handed his serial number plate, numbered 1074, and the almost full small bag of score beads to the Beastmaster Association staff, and after completing registration, Lin Chuan returned to the villa apartment he rented.
This was a private residential area under the jurisdiction of the Beastmaster Association, so even if media reporters knew Lin Chuan's residence, they couldn't enter and disturb him.
Back in the dorm.
After taking a shower, changing clothes, and setting the phone function of his watch Pet Space Device to automatically reply with a text message 'Currently Resting, will contact later' for incoming calls, Lin Chuan collapsed into Sleeping.
Guoguo and Sakura.
Possessing Expert Grade Sleeping skills, they could sleep with their eyes open.
When there was no fighting in the Secret Realm space, they often rested by Sleeping.
At this moment, they were full of vigor and did not rest with Lin Chuan.
Guoguo jumped up and down around Sakura, chirping 'Yi Ya Yi Ya'.
In the assessment space, as Lin Chuan's personal guard, Guoguo had to be constantly vigilant of its surroundings, so it couldn't act out.
But now, it was fine.
Guoguo looked at Sakura, who had evolved into Flower Spirit, resembling a human, with a slender and graceful figure, combining cuteness, beauty, elegance, and softness—these were all fine.
The problem was!!
Height!
Originally, it was about 5 centimeters taller than Sakura.
However, now, Sakura's height of 1.2 meters was almost twice its own!
Guoguo's small black bean eyes were filled with envy and jealousy that almost overflowed.
If it were before, Sakura would definitely have shown off to Guoguo.
But now, having evolved into Flower Spirit, her intelligence had greatly increased, giving her absolute dominance over Guoguo.
Looking at Guoguo's childish appearance, Sakura found it amusing and fun, along with an indescribable intimacy.
From the very beginning at Lin's Farm, where they competed to become Lin Chuan's initial spirit beast by inciting other Flower Leaf Leaves to fight in groups, to being contracted together by Lin Chuan.
She and Guoguo had been competing all the way for these three months.
She competed with Guoguo in the automatic pinball machine, which was treated as an automatic punching bag, vying to catch balls with their bodies and vying to be covered in bruises from being hit.
She and Guoguo worked themselves to the bone in internal competition. While Guoguo cultivated Bomb Fruit, she desperately used Healing Aroma.
They had a fixed sparring session every day, although she was mostly suppressed by Guoguo. Her mental grudge book was already filled with Guoguo's name.
At this moment, Sakura, with her increased intelligence and further matured thoughts, felt that she should possess the demeanor of a truly elegant young lady.
She forgave all of Guoguo's previous competition and offenses, and even tore up the grudge book she held against Guoguo in her heart.
Suddenly, Sakura had an indescribable realization about the Assistance skill.
She thought that if it were Guoguo, it would be perfectly fine to let her use all of her power.
Just at this moment.
Sakura's ordinary grade Assistance, which she had been unable to break through for the past month, broke through to proficient grade.
Like a true elegant young lady, Sakura stroked Guoguo's head.
And Guoguo, surprisingly, didn't resist!?
Because it was also bewildered; although it didn't understand why, it could clearly feel that Sakura seemed to have changed.
Picking up Guoguo, Sakura went to the balcony of the small villa and then planted Guoguo in Guoguo's exclusive flowerpot.
As for Sakura herself, well, her previous exclusive flowerpot was already too small for her, and now that she had a human form, Sakura instinctively felt that a flowerpot wasn't suitable for her. She just sat on the edge of the balcony, enjoying the sunlight, and softly hummed a lullaby.
Hmm, Expert Grade Grass Flute!
The beautiful and gentle sound echoed, gently drifting into the room, allowing Lin Chuan, who was soundly Sleeping, to sleep even more peacefully and sweetly, achieving a baby-like sleep quality.
At the same time, a pinkish-white Illusion Attribute energy quietly spread around Sakura. This Illusion Attribute energy seemed to be harmonizing with Sakura's current singing, undergoing subtle changes, as if a new skill was brewing.
If someone were to enter at this moment, they would fall into an illusion and would see:
Lush flowers and plants, butterflies fluttering, and mysterious green glowing dots floating around.
A Flower Spirit and a Flower Leaf Leaf singing softly in a sea of flowers.
This scene, harmonious and beautiful, was like a fairyland.
...
Just as Lin Chuan returned to his dorm, collapsed into Sleeping, and slept soundly.
The outside world had already erupted.
The Beastmaster Association edited the exciting battle clips from the Secret Realm trial space that did not involve privacy, creating a highlight video featuring the collective portraits of this year's graduating Beast Masters.
And among these videos, the most exciting and eye-catching part was, without a doubt, the moment Lin Chuan's Flower Leaf Leaf, named Sakura, evolved into Flower Spirit at the critical juncture of the battle with the Secret Realm's Guardian BOSS.
The specific process of the Spring Flower Ritual was cut, only preserving the beautiful and dreamlike scene of Sakura evolving into Flower Spirit.
A small human figure emerged from the endless misty green light and the sky full of Flower Leaf Dance energy petals.
A spirit beast that combined elegance, gentleness, beauty, and immense power.
She fulfilled the extraordinary Illusion Attribute talent that was already evident during her Flower Leaf Leaf period. Immediately after evolving into Flower Spirit, she comprehended Rosemary Illusion Incense, a skill that ordinary Flower Spirits basically cannot comprehend. She turned the tide, using Rosemary Illusion Incense to shield everyone in the Assault Team from the mental pollution of the BOSS's Demon Attribute energy, laying the foundation for victory.
Finally, it was still this Flower Spirit.
Using the skill Assistance, she transferred her Wood Attribute energy to Lin Chuan's other Flower Leaf Leaf, named Guoguo.
The two spirit beasts together condensed a Bomb Fruit like a small sun, blasting that Tier 3 Demon Attribute demon into oblivion!
Flower Spirit!
How could there be such a cute, beautiful, elegant, graceful, adorable, and invincible spirit beast?!
Suddenly, a craze for Flower Leaf Leaf and Flower Spirit swept across Qinghe City.
Lin's Farm was almost trampled down.
...
Qinghe City.
A Beast Master sundry store on a street corner.
Xu Xiaoqing stared at the computer screen with shining eyes, watching the highlight compilation video of this year's entrance examination, watching Lin Chuan's Flower Leaf Leaf evolve into Flower Spirit.
As she watched Flower Spirit turn the tide, the little girl's eyes showed a look of fascination.
Beside Xu Xiaoqing, her father was stroking the previous 30-point test paper of Xu Xiaoqing, looking at the exquisite signature 'Lin Chuan' on it.
Father Xu mumbled:
"We're rich, this time, we're really rich."