Fang Yu and Fan Xing

Fang Yu's trial of slaughter continued without pause. In the blink of an eye, it was nine o'clock in the evening—Blue Star time, of course, since the Primordial Star was in the midst of Polar Day, bathing the entire second half of the planetary year in continuous daylight. In a canyon cradled between two small hills among the rolling terrain, three figures clashed in fierce combat. Two of them were beastly shapes that snarled from time to time. The size of small ponies with grayish-brown fur, they moved at astonishing speed. Their forepaws were unnaturally sharp, working in coordination as they swiped relentlessly at the black-clad figure. The black-clad figure moved with remarkable agility, nimbly evading the deadly assaults of both dire beasts. Several dozen meters overhead in the sky. "He's truly ferocious." "His progress is just terrifyingly fast." Xia Yao looked down at the battle below, her eyes fixed on Fang Yu. Every dodge he made bordered on the razor's edge—seemingly fraught with danger, yet executed with the leisure of a stroll in a courtyard. This displayed absolute mastery over the battlefield. The frantic attacks of the two split-claw wolves failed to inflict the slightest injury on Fang Yu. On the contrary, with each swing of Fang Yu's war saber, another bloody wound was carved into their flesh. "He's fighting." "And he's also honing his footwork." "Without relying on Dark Force, he's been fighting non-stop for this long and killed nearly thirty dire beasts. How can he still maintain such intense focus? His stamina and energy are truly boundless," Xia Yao marveled inwardly. At the beginning of combat, Fang Yu had still been somewhat tense, constantly unleashing bursts of Dark Force. Yet as the slaughter went on, Fang Yu swiftly found his rhythm. He consciously began conserving his physical stamina, almost never erupting with Dark Force anymore. Later, he even took the initiative to control his bursts of strength, aiming to kill dire beasts at the lowest possible cost. Erupting with Dark Force caused both power and speed to surge, offering tremendous combat prowess... but the consumption of stamina and vital blood was massive, making it unsustainable over long periods. Hence, in the perilous and unpredictable Wilderness Zone, no matter how powerful a martial artist was, they would never trigger Dark Force unless strictly necessary. The first rule of surviving the martial artists' Wilderness Zone was to never place absolute trust in anyone; the second rule was to maintain one's stamina and energy at their peak for as long as possible. Under normal circumstances, novices required guidance from senior predecessors or many hours of trial by combat to gradually comprehend this truth... yet Fang Yu had needed no reminder from Xia Yao. Even now, right at the outer edge of the Safe Zone, facing two split-claw wolves bordering on Level 20, Fang Yu handled them with effortless ease, as if the preceding hours of high-intensity slaughter had never occurred. He did not look like a novice at all. *Slash!* *Slash!* Two flashes of saber light streaked past like lightning. The heavily wounded split-claw wolves had no time to dodge as their vital spots were pierced clean through. They collapsed to the ground, blood spurting, twitching for a few moments before going still. *Whoosh!* The aircraft promptly touched down. Xia Yao leaped out with practiced ease, drew a small dagger, and began severing the two split-claw wolves' forepaws. With beasts like these, only their sharp claws held any real value. Fang Yu stood off to the side, his gaze continually sweeping in all directions as he maintained vigilance. As she worked, Xia Yao could not help remarking, "Fang Yu, you're getting more and more seasoned in combat. Even staying vigilant has become second nature to you. After fighting for so long, you can still keep up this degree of focus... If it were me, I'd never dare push myself to such extreme limits." Fang Yu grinned. He understood what Xia Yao meant. Combat, especially life-and-death struggle, took an enormous toll on both body and mind. Ordinarily, after hours of relentless slaughter, most people would be exhausted. When confronted by opponents whose strength approached their own, their instinct would be to seek a swift resolution. Erupting with Dark Force was the obvious choice. Who would do what he was doing? However, Fang Yu was already used to it. The innate divine ability Devour granted him not only an extraordinary capacity to digest medicine, but also an incredible rate of recovery for stamina and mental energy. Consuming the same high-energy food, he could absorb nutrients far faster than others. This was one reason his martial technique had progressed so rapidly over the years of cultivation. It was simple: he could devote more focused time to training, which naturally led to higher efficiency. Now that he was on the Primordial Star, this advantage was amplified even further. From two in the afternoon until now, merely watching the fights and harvesting the spoils had left Xia Yao feeling somewhat fatigued. Fang Yu, by contrast, had paused only once for half an hour to eat high-energy rations, and his stamina remained robust. Suddenly, Fang Yu sensed something and glanced up toward the sky behind them. A low-flying aircraft had approached and was now slowly hovering in place. Two figures were aboard. One was a young man in a gray combat suit, carrying a war saber across his back. His gear was spattered with fresh blood, evidence of recent combat, and he was staring down at Fang Yu. "Fang Yu, what a coincidence! You killed both of these split-claw wolves?" the youth in gray called out. "Their fur is already turning slightly white—looks like they were both right on the verge of Level 20. Impressive!" "You flatter me," Fang Yu replied with a faint smile, calling back warmly, "When it comes to rankings, I'm still behind you." Among the hundreds of newly enrolled junior college students, six had secured Elite Contracts. Right now, on the freshman coefficient score leaderboard displayed on the communication star ring, Fan Xing, Fang Yu, and Yan Hezhou all possessed a coefficient score of 1.1. However, Fan Xing was ranked higher, meaning he had clearly slain more—and stronger—dire beasts. "Just good luck on my part," Fan Xing said with a sunny laugh. He had a tall, broad frame and an easygoing presence. "I'm going to keep hunting for dire beasts. Let's catch up when we get the chance." "Sounds good," Fang Yu nodded. One never hit a smiling face; since the other party was warm and friendly, Fang Yu had no reason to give him the cold shoulder. Fang Yu watched him fly off. "You know him?" Xia Yao asked, having finished harvesting the wolves. "Not well," Fang Yu smiled. "He's also a fourth-year freshman with an Elite Contract, named Fan Xing. Currently ranked number one among the freshmen." Only freshmen had a dedicated Freshman Coefficient Score Ranking on the star ring's Primordial Net. Seniors like Xia Yao could only see the Fourth-Year Overall Points Leaderboard. "Oh? That was Fan Xing?" Xia Yao asked curiously. "You've heard of him?" Fang Yu chuckled. "Yeah," Xia Yao nodded. "His Life Level is remarkably high—supposedly the highest among all the recommended freshmen in your cohort. He's at Level 24." "Level 24?" Fang Yu was slightly astonished. "Then how did he end up at a junior college?" Level 24 was higher even than Bai Chen's Life Level. "Who knows?" Xia Yao shook her head. "Just like I wonder how your technique managed to improve so fast." Fang Yu felt a sudden sense of understanding. Fan Xing might come from a wealthy background and perhaps only awakened his star phase during junior college. In any case, the world was vast, and anything was possible. By comparison, his own achievement of saber Entering the Minute was perhaps even more dazzling than a Life Level of 24. "His background seems even more formidable than yours—he joined an Earth team right off the bat," Xia Yao added. "An Earth team?" Fang Yu asked, puzzled. "As the name suggests, an Earth team is a squad formed by students of the Earth Academy. It's a colloquial term among us senior students," Xia Yao explained. "There are only thirty-some Earth Academy students in our cohort right now, and most of them possess extraordinarily high Life Levels—over half have already reached Level 30. "Martial artists above Level 30 rarely come to Secondary Base No. 12, and Earth Academy students usually stick together... So in Base No. 12, there are currently only four Earth teams in total." "You know all this so clearly?" Fang Yu couldn't help asking. "I'm in the support role. Keeping track of intelligence on other squads is part of my job," Xia Yao said with a proud grin. "Not just our year—I even look into some of the formidable fifth-year teams. "After all, you never know when you might run into them in the Wilderness Zone." Fang Yu nodded in agreement. "Earth teams are rare, and countless elite students are dying to join one. The stronger the team's overall capability, the greater the odds of hunting high-tier dire beasts above Level 30. "Slaying high-tier dire beasts in the thirties awards far more civilization points than beasts in the twenties, causing one's coefficient score to skyrocket," Xia Yao explained. "Normally, they would never invite a freshman to join. "That's why Fan Xing being accepted into an Earth team caused quite a stir in our senior group chats." Fang Yu had a sudden realization. *So that's how it is.* "In that case, trying to surpass his coefficient score will be almost impossible," Fang Yu murmured thoughtfully.