Chu Liuyue’s eyes darkened as she unsheathed her sword and thrust it towards the front.
Poof!
That bright and sharp longsword accurately pierced into the livid horse’s neck. The livid horse let out a painful moan, and its eyes became crazier. With a move of its body, it recklessly went straight for Chu Liuyue.
Chu Liuyue’s gaze was cold as she turned her wrists. Her longsword sliced forward and split the livid horse’s neck in two.
Bam!
The gigantic head that had turned green landed on the floor and made a loud thud.
The wound Chu Liuyue had dealt to the livid horse was still spurting blood out, but the livid horse’s eyes were already wide open. It had also lost its breath after struggling for a short while.
Chu Liuyue kept her sword and glanced at the corpse on the floor. She thought to herself, I don’t know this livid horse, and I didn’t do anything unreasonable to it, so why was it so against me?
Mu Hongyu and the rest were stunned for quite some time before they recovered their senses.
“L-Liuyue… how did you act so quickly?” asked Mu Hongyu dazedly.
The few of them attacked the livid horse together but still could not stop the crazy animal. However, Chu Liuyue only used one sword attack to kill it. What kind of strong ability did that need?
“My God! You still hid some of your abilities when you battled against Chu Xianmin that day?” Cen Hu got up with much difficulty but did not care about the bloodstains on his face as he widened his eyes to look at Chu Liuyue in disbelief.
He knew about the horse’s capability after he battled with it earlier. Even with his strong abilities, he had suffered under the livid horse’s hooves. If it weren’t for Mu Hongyu and the rest—who came to help him—he might not have been its match. However, Chu Liuyue actually killed it so easily.
Chu Liuyue recollected her thoughts, looked up at the others, and shrugged her shoulders. “Since it wanted to kill me, I obviously won’t show any mercy to it. As for the mid-semester assessment… Didn’t the teacher say that we have to stop adequately?”
Cen Hu widened his eyes and could not help but curse upon seeing how relaxed Chu Liuyue was.
Chu Liuyue lifted her chin. “You can take the pearl of essence.”
Cen Hu’s eyes widened even more. “What do you mean? Are you looking down on me? You killed this horse, so its pearl of essence should be yours. I’m not someone that will take advantage of people.”
This Cen Hu is so rash… Chu Liuyue rubbed her glabella. “You were hurt by it. If you don’t recuperate properly, you’ll take at least half a month to get better. You will recover faster if you take its pearl of essence to nurse your injury.”
This sentence stumped everyone.
Cen Hu was slightly touched, but he still suspiciously asked, “Really? How did you know that?”
Chu Liuyue was too lazy to reply to him, so she turned around and walked away. “A mere third-grade pearl of essence isn’t anything good, and you can dismiss it. However, Hongyu will be the first not to let you off if it affects our team, let alone me.”
Mu Hongyu felt very blessed and suddenly slapped Cen Hu’s shoulders. “Didn’t you hear what Liuyue said? Go and take it!”
Cen Hu staggered backward from the slap but was not angry at all. He happily smiled instead. “T-Then I’ll take this pearl of essence first! When we meet other fiends, I’ll be the first to rush forward and help you!”
As he talked, he walked to the corpse and slashed open the horse’s head with a knife to take out the green, longan-sized pearl. Three distinct lines could be clearly seen on the pearl.
Cen Hu wiped away the bloodstains and opened his mouth to swallow it.
A wave of warmth emerged from his stomach, and the previous excruciating pain was reduced.
Cen Hu’s eyes brightened. “It really works!”
Chu Liuyue did not turn back and lightly said, “A fiend’s pearl of essence will be poisonous to some extent, and livid horses are no exception. You need to cut your thumb and let blood out every hour. This must be done thrice to remove the toxins in the pearl naturally. Originally, it would’ve been better if you used Three Pure Leaves, but I don’t think there’s any here. Therefore, we’ll just use this stupid method first.”
She said it nonchalantly as if it was just a minor thing. However, Mu Hongyu and the rest all widened their eyes and felt dazed.
Chu Liuyue walked a few steps and finally turned around when she noticed that there was no commotion behind. She saw that all of them were looking at her weirdly. “… What’s wrong?”
“Liuyue, how do you know so much?” asked Mu Hongyu hesitantly.
Gu Mingfeng, who kept quiet all along, suddenly said, “Did you forget that she passed all three examinations to enter the academy?”
The three assessments naturally included the heavenly doctor assessment.
One could not blame Mu Hongyu and the rest for not remembering about it as Chu Liuyue directly participated in the warrior assessment and Xuan Master assessment the day she entered the academy, coming in first and second, respectively. Those two achievements were too outstanding and outshone her ability as a heavenly doctor.
The few of them only recovered their senses when Gu Mingfeng mentioned it.
“Oh my! I really forgot about that!” Cen Hu slapped his head and gave Chu Liuyue a thumbs up. “Admiration! Chu Liuyue, I really admire you!”
Chu Liuyue raised her eyebrows slightly. “I know a little, but it’s nothing much. Let’s continue walking.”
“Okay!” answered Mu Hongyu and the others in unison.
Their team leader was originally Mu Hongyu, but they had subconsciously taken Chu Liuyue as the core already. It seemed like her mere presence would make people admire her unknowingly.
Gu Mingfeng was at the back, and he squinted his eyes. Does Chu Liuyue… really know that little? Livid horses aren’t common. Even if an average person has seen one before, they won’t have much understanding of it. However, how did Chu Liuyue know how to remove the toxin within the livid horse’s pearl of essence? Is it really a coincidence?
…
The day in the woods ended very quickly.
The sun set, the night sky was up, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.
“Let’s rest here for the day, shall we?” suggested Mu Hongyu after walking to a rather spacious area.
However, Chu Liuyue suddenly held her back. “Hold on.”
Mu Hongyu weirdly looked at her and saw Chu Liuyue’s alert expression. Chu Liuyue had tightly knitted brows as if she was very nervous.
She could not help but become nervous as well. “What’s the matter?”
After what happened during the day, Mu Hongyu completely believed in Chu Liuyue. If Chu Liuyue felt that something was amiss, something was definitely wrong!
Chu Liuyue tightly pressed her lips against each other and did not say anything, but sweat started to break out on her forehead.
“What exactly is—” Mu Hongyu was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly stopped speaking.
A pair of cold green eyes, like two ghoul fires, appeared in the dark.
“There’s… a wolf?”
Chu Liuyue held her breath. “Not ‘a’ wolf.”
The few of them looked over and saw a second pair and a third pair of eyes beside the emerald one.
Very quickly, they were surrounded by the same cold ghoul fire.
Greed, cold, and cruel.
The forest was deadly silent, and only endless murderous intent was spreading like wildfire.
Chu Liuyue closed her eyes. “… It’s a pack of wolves!”