Chapter 346: Top-tier Six-Headed Snake (First update, requesting all)

Although the Mountain Giant was slow, its stride was very large; in just a few steps, the Mountain Giant reached the front of the Blazing Bird.

The Blazing Bird struggled to stand up. At this critical moment, it did not dodge pointlessly, nor was it afraid; it did not even make any unnecessary movements. Instead, it calmly watched the Mountain Giant's actions, feeling the inexplicable vibration of the ground, and a flash of unknown brilliance suddenly appeared in its eyes.

Shen Haofei had been keeping his attention on the Blazing Bird the entire time. Like Li Zhangsheng, his Mental Power was constantly in an outward-projecting state. When he "saw" the look in the Blazing Bird's eyes, he suddenly felt a sense of unease in his heart. But with the arrow already on the string, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and watch the Mountain Giant perform the Trample.

However, he also significantly increased his vigilance.

Just as the Mountain Giant prepared to lift its thick right leg, the ground shook violently. Suddenly, the ground surged and cracked, forming a small volcano shape, and a pillar of fire four or five meters thick erupted from underground, just happening to engulf the Mountain Giant.

It was also at this moment that the Blazing Bird displayed the spirit of beating a dog in the water; it opened its sharp Bird Beak and spat out a stream of scorching Dragon Breath, fearing that the Mountain Giant might still be able to continue fighting.

Boom—

When the flames vanished, the Mountain Giant fell heavily to the ground, back of its head first, having completely lost its ability to fight.

"When did this happen?" Shen Haofei asked in surprise, his eyes flickering.

"One minute ago!" Li Zhangsheng provided the answer.

Shen Haofei fell into deep thought, carefully recalling the scene from a minute ago. Suddenly, his eyebrows lifted, and he associated it with the answer.

"So that's it!" Shen Haofei slapped his head hard, feeling ashamed of his own negligence.

One minute ago, during a long-range attack against the Mountain Giant, the Blazing Bird had landed on the ground for the first time, landing exactly where the Mountain Giant had just been standing. However, it flew up again in the blink of an eye. Because the interval was too short and the battle too intense, Shen Haofei had subconsciously ignored this detail.

In that split second, the Blazing Bird had used a skill called Volcano Eruption. This was a highly covert skill; when cast, almost no abnormality could be seen. However, this skill needed to be cast in advance and would automatically activate after one minute. Not only did one have to grasp the timing, but one also had to lure the enemy to that position.

The Volcano Eruption skill had many limitations, but its power was astonishing and, more importantly, impossible to guard against. This was why, even though Li Zhangsheng knew Shen Haofei was using a "damage-for-damage" tactic, he insisted on having the Blazing Bird use its ultimate move to clash head-on with the Mountain Giant just now; it was primarily to lure the Mountain Giant to that position.

There was a certain element of gambling involved in this, but during the previous entanglement, Li Zhangsheng had roughly figured out the Mountain Giant's various long-range skills and their "cooldown" times, which allowed him to complete this series of plans.

Of course, if any deviation occurred, Li Zhangsheng would have activated his backup plan, having the Blazing Bird use the Phoenix Inheritance skill—Burning Body Explosion. With the astonishing power of Burning Body Explosion and the Blazing Sun Weather, he believed the Blazing Bird would definitely be able to perish together with the Mountain Giant.

In the Tiandu Academy rest area, after the Blazing Bird successfully defeated the Mountain Giant, the previously active atmosphere suddenly fell silent. These Tiandu Academy team members looked at one another, and no one spoke.

The Tiandu Academy's team leader, the Vice Principal, paced back and forth in the rest area with a livid face, feeling increasingly uneasy.

With the fall of the Mountain Giant, it meant Shen Haofei had only one Demon Pet slot left. This was very bad. Even though the Tiandu Academy Vice Principal had great confidence in Shen Haofei, Li Zhangsheng's sudden rise still made him feel like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat, and he felt inexplicably nervous.

As they were all among the Four Great Academies, the resources they were allocated were closely tied to their rankings. One-third of the resources were allocated to the academies ranked 5th–16th, and the first place could also receive one-third of the resources; the second place was halved, meaning one-sixth of the resources; the final one-sixth of the resources were split between the third and fourth, with the third getting slightly more than the fourth, but there was a clear gap compared to the second place.

If Shen Haofei lost, Tiandu Academy would only be able to compete for third place, and there was even a risk of being defeated by Huating Academy and becoming fourth.

In the Yuanling Academy rest area, the atmosphere here changed from silent to active. Everyone stood up one after another; they saw the hope of victory, and even knowing Li Zhangsheng couldn't hear them, they still cheered loudly.

It wasn't just these two academies; the other two of the Four Great Academies also cast their gazes over. The group from the Royal Academy was slightly surprised, but then thought nothing more of it. There was no helping it; with Yuanling Academy's lineup, they couldn't possibly be their opponents.

Only the group from Huating Academy was relatively worried. Whether it was Tiandu Academy or Yuanling Academy, the overall strength they displayed seemed to surpass their own. This immediately made them uneasy; it seemed they had become the "strong contenders" for fourth place!

In the Academy Exchange Tournament, failing to advance and instead regressing not only represented failure but also the loss of a large amount of resources. Next year, they would definitely have to tighten their belts, and once that happened, the students' progress speed would inevitably be adversely affected. By the time the next Exchange Tournament arrived, their strength would likely regress rather than advance, causing a series of bad results.

The match was still ongoing. Shen Haofei clenched his fists and took a deep breath, soothing the tension and unease in his heart. Like Li Zhangsheng, he represented the hope of his respective academy—how could the pressure not be immense!

The next moment, a gorgeous Purple Hexagram began to emerge on the field.

When the Purple Hexagram vanished, a giant python with six snake heads appeared on the spot, ten meters long, with a body like a dog, its entire body covered in gray scales.

At the first moment, Li Zhangsheng obtained the data on the Six-Headed Snake.

【Spirit Beast Name】: Six-Headed Snake (Growth Stage)

【Spirit Beast Realm】: Leader 6th Rank

【Spirit Beast Race】: High-level Commander

【Spirit Beast Quality】: Top-tier

【Spirit Beast Bloodline】: Nine-Headed Snake (Pure)

【Spirit Beast Attribute】: Darkness, Earth, Metal, Water, Ice, Wind

【Spirit Beast Status】: Healthy

【Spirit Beast Weakness】: Light, Thunder, Wood

Compared to the Three-Headed Snake, the Nine-Headed Snake bloodline possessed by the Six-Headed Snake had been further improved, and at the same time, its Regeneration ability was even more monstrous.

Hiss, hiss—

As soon as it was summoned, the Six-Headed Snake flicked its tongues slightly, and its cold six pairs of snake eyes instantly locked onto the Blazing Bird.

"Top-tier Six-Headed Snake!"

When he "saw" the quality of the Six-Headed Snake, Li Zhangsheng's breathing noticeably hitched. This was the second time he had dueled against a top-tier Demon Pet in the Exchange Tournament; the first was Duan Chen's Thunder Pegasus. But compared to the Thunder Pegasus, the Six-Headed Snake was more than a grade stronger.

At the same time, this was also the strongest opponent Li Zhangsheng had encountered to date!

(End of chapter)