Chapter 168: European Emperor or African Chief (Second update, requesting everything as usual)

Proportionally speaking, one can often find a High Quality Fairy among hundreds of wild Spirit Beasts; of course, if one is an "African Chief" (unlucky person), one might not even find one after searching through thousands, as represented by senior Miao Yinfeng, the three-time consecutive champion of the Capture Competition.

However, senior Miao Yinfeng possesses a Green-Eyed Emperor Snake and has reached the Fourth Rank level himself; besides the Green-Eyed Emperor Snake, he certainly possesses many other High Quality Demon Pets. As for the origins of these Demon Pets, that is not something Li Zhangsheng could know.

"Delays lead to changes; we had best go to the swamp now!" Li Zhangsheng is very clear about the freshmen's desire for the Scroll, as it is the key to whether they can become Elite Class Members. Without finding other Scrolls, there is no guarantee they won't choose to take risks, such as using flying Spirit Beasts to steal the Scroll or seizing it regardless of casualties.

The sun is currently high in the sky, and there is still some time before nightfall.

"Good, agreed!" The other three naturally expressed no opposition; furthermore, Li Zhangsheng has already collected the Light and Dark Scroll, and his main reason for not leaving the Green Wild Forest now is to help them.

They must accept Li Zhangsheng's favor!

The four of them mounted their respective steeds one after another. Li Tianyu's mount is his Life-Bound Demon Pet—a Dire Wolf, which is also the strongest Demon Pet in his possession. Li Runfeng has a Cold Wind Leopard, which is a dual-attribute Spirit Beast of Ice + Wind Element, most proficient in speed.

Even while on the road, Li Zhangsheng does not forget to project his Mental Power to avoid being ambushed while simultaneously searching for High Quality Fairies as much as possible; everything is possible, and heaven knows if an extremely High Quality wild Spirit Beast might suddenly appear.

In a flash, the four of them soon arrived at the edge of the swamp. This is a low-lying, waterlogged, and weed-choked marsh area. Unlike the dense jungle surroundings, this place is significantly more desolate, though the surface still grows a large number of hygrophytes and swamp plants.

At this moment, Li Zhangsheng's ears twitched slightly, and he faintly heard beast roars, collisions, and the hissing sound unique to snakes; it seems a fierce battle is taking place inside.

Judging from the frequency of the sounds, the number of combatants on both sides is not small.

"What should we do?" With such a commotion, the other three clearly heard it too and could not help but turn their gazes toward Li Zhangsheng.

With their Mental Power, they still cannot "see" the scene inside for the time being.

However, Li Zhangsheng is different; he is the only Second-Rank Beast Master among the four, and his range of projected Mental Power is clearly wider.

Li Zhangsheng did not speak; his Mental Power began to project, completely enveloping a radius of one hundred meters.

In an instant, everything within that range flooded into his mind.

Li Zhangsheng "saw" three freshmen, saw a dense mass of snake-type Spirit Beasts, and even saw the Scroll hanging on a piece of dead wood.

The Scroll is black, so it is naturally the Dark Scroll!

The swamp is not small; even with Li Zhangsheng's range of projected Mental Power, he can only encompass a portion of it.

"Eh, Zhao Shuyi!" Li Zhangsheng was quite surprised; he did not expect Zhao Shuyi to appear here. It is clear she is also eyeing the Scroll.

Besides Zhao Shuyi, there are two other girls. They usually have a good relationship with Zhao Shuyi, and although they have not yet reached the Second Rank, they are among the top 50 freshmen and have hope of becoming Elite Class Members.

In the swamp, Zhao Shuyi, who was originally focusing on encircling the snake-type Spirit Beasts, frowned slightly. She caught a trace of obscure Mental Power that felt vaguely familiar.

Unlike Zhao Shuyi, the other two girls did not notice. Firstly, their rank is not as high as Li Zhangsheng's, and secondly, their strength is not as great as Zhao Shuyi's, so they must be fully focused.

In an instant, Zhao Shuyi also projected her Mental Power and immediately detected Li Zhangsheng and the other three.

"Li Zhangsheng, I know you are hiding there, come out!"

Zhao Shuyi shouted sharply, though she was contemplating countermeasures in her heart.

The strength of both sides seems not to differ much, but they are currently entangled by a large number of snake-type Spirit Beasts. If Li Zhangsheng and the others were to attack them from behind or sit by and watch them exhaust their strength, the situation would look very unfavorable for them no matter how one views it.

"Let's go in!" Li Zhangsheng shrugged. Since they had been discovered, there was no point in continuing to hide, especially since the situation was very favorable for them.

While walking into the swamp, Li Zhangsheng had already thought of three plans.

One: Immovable as a Mountain, sit and wait for Zhao Shuyi and the others to suffer heavy losses in strength.

Two: Pincer attack Zhao Shuyi and the others together with the snake-type Spirit Beasts; although he wouldn't take their lives or their Life-Bound Demon Pets, defeating them would still be...

Three: Take advantage of Zhao Shuyi and the others being too busy to cope, lure away a large number of snake-type Spirit Beasts, and seize the Scroll while the opportunity arises.

Any one of these three plans could achieve his goal.

However, Li Zhangsheng preferred the third plan. He was too lazy to wait because accidents could happen; likewise, he had no need to offend Zhao Shuyi and the others to the death, so he would just directly pluck the fruits of victory.

"Zhao Shuyi, I didn't expect to meet you here!"

Li Zhangsheng rode Aixi, keeping a distance of several dozen meters from Zhao Shuyi and the others.

Zhao Shuyi did not speak, but instead stared with a solemn gaze at Aixi beneath Li Zhangsheng. The aura Aixi exuded seemed to be telling her that it had already reached the Upper Realm.

Zhao Shuyi felt a massive headache; Aixi reaching the Upper Realm also caused her mood to sink to the bottom.

One-on-one would be fine, but she now has to face a large number of wild snake-type Spirit Beasts, which almost signaled the failure of her operation this time.

Zhao Shuyi was silent for a long while, and finally, she hardened her heart and said, "Li Zhangsheng, the Scroll is yours!"

Since she could no longer stop Li Zhangsheng from taking the Scroll, it was better to pretend to be generous to avoid Li Zhangsheng targeting them. After all, they also had Scrolls on them, and the Academy had not issued a regulation forbidding the seizing of others' Scrolls.

However, Li Zhangsheng never had the thought of seizing the Scrolls on them.

Firstly, there was still time, and with their strength, it was very likely they would obtain a sufficient number of Scrolls before the assessment ended; secondly, there was no need to thoroughly offend Zhao Shuyi and the others. Unless he kept Zhao Shuyi and the others here forever, it was best not to do such things that cut off others' futures. Being "remembered" by people every day is not a good thing; after all, there is no logic in guarding against thieves every night.

"Then I shall accept it without modesty!" Li Zhangsheng cupped his hands toward them and led the three toward the dead tree where the Scroll was hanging.

As soon as they entered the swamp, Aixi's four limbs had a tendency to sink, but its strength was ultimately not bad; a faint flash of green light on its body stabilized the sinking trend.

The other three followed suit, but their mounts were ultimately far inferior to Aixi, and they were soon left behind.

Suddenly, Aixi jumped to the side, and immediately after, a black shadow lunged out fiercely from the position where Aixi had originally stood, but it ended up biting at empty air.

"Eh!"

It was also at this moment that Li Zhangsheng let out a cry of surprise, then stared at the black shadow in front of him with bright, piercing eyes; instead of being flustered, his heart was filled with joy.

(End of chapter)