Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Raging Sand vs. White Flame

"Yu Bao! Block with Yellow Earth Wall!"

"Woof!" (Got it!)

Thanks to their experience fighting the Valley Tiger Hunter, Su Zhi and Yu Bao were well-prepared this time.

A pale yellow Energy Light Array quickly materialized. A Yellow Earth Wall, two meters tall and over two meters wide, shot up, splitting the arena in two.

The Yellow Earth Wall did almost nothing to stop it.

flanked the Yellow Earth Wall, its claws wreathed in Rune Chains, and launched a heavy punch right at Yu Bao.

Its Body Technique was uncanny and fluid. It could stop and turn on a dime, seemingly unaffected by inertia!

However, flanking was still more time-consuming than a direct approach.

That split-second surplus gave Yu Bao just enough time to dodge.

BOOM!

004’s Rune Iron Fist slammed into the arena floor, blasting out a shallow crater burning with pink flames.

Just as the blow landed, Yu Bao activated Desert Concealment, dissolving into wind and sand to successfully evade to a safe distance.

’It worked!’ Su Zhi clenched his fist.

This was precisely why he had Yu Bao learn Yellow Earth Wall.

After sparring with Yinzangsi, Liu Junpo had helped him analyze Yu Bao’s strengths and weaknesses.

Both of Yu Bao’s other Skills were more AoE-focused, while Desert Concealment was for evasion and closing the distance.

But against a mobile Pet Beast that specialized in fast attacks, relying on Desert Concealment alone was stretching his capabilities thin.

Although the defensive Effect of Yellow Earth Wall was average, unable to stop any slightly aggressive attack, using many of them in conjunction with the Earth Force Field could effectively limit a mobile Pet Beast’s assault.

And as it turned out, that had been the right move.

Without the Yellow Earth Wall, Yu Bao might have been taken out right then and there!

"That was so fast and clean, I barely even realized the match had started... Oh, by the way, Teacher Yan, we’ve just received some complaints from students, accusing the White Flame Battle Spirit of attacking before the bell. What are your thoughts?"

"There’s no issue. The White Flame Battle Spirit’s attack came after the bell. It was just so fast that it’s hard to discern without professional equipment."

Yan Shouzheng kept his eyes glued to the arena, making the call with the superior vision and reflexes of a Master Level Beast Tamer.

In this entire venue, he *was* the most professional equipment!

"We can see the Yu Dian Dog also managed to evade, using Yellow Earth Wall and Desert Concealment! Those two Skills aren’t part of the standard exam curriculum, are they?" the announcer asked, blinking.

"Students with extra energy can practice skills outside the curriculum after completing their exam requirements."

Yan Shouzheng cleared his throat. "But it absolutely must not overshadow the main objective. The focus should still be on the exam Skills."

"Oh! In that case, Su Zhi and his Pet Beast must be incredibly diligent to have mastered even non-curriculum Skills like this! I bet his exam-required Skills are amazing too!"

’No, he has none at all...’ Yan Shouzheng thought, sitting quietly with his hands tucked in his sleeves.

This was a time to just smile and nod.jpg

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Back in the arena, 004 and Yu Bao continued their high-speed exchange of offense and defense.

If Yinzangsi’s Ghost Claw excelled in being uncannily hard to defend against, then 004’s assault was unbelievably fast.

It was relentless, a continuous storm that threatened to swallow its opponent whole. Even Su Zhi, watching from the sidelines, felt suffocated!

Yu Bao’s performance was also outstanding. By combining Yellow Earth Wall and Desert Concealment, he successfully kept 004’s offensive within a manageable range.

Despite the gap in their Energy Values, the level of skill they displayed put them on equal footing. Neither was weaker than the other.

"Yu Bao, watch out!"

When he saw 004, which had been maintaining its rapid assault, suddenly pull back, Su Zhi instantly knew something was wrong.

Sure enough, the moment it retreated, the White Flame Battle Spirit placed its claws in front of its chest.

The Rune Chains quickly began to glow with a faint pink luster, swelling and then releasing in an instant.

A Fire and Telekinesis Element Low Level Elite Skill, White Flame·Blade Form!

A ball of white Flame, its edges tinged with pink light, took the shape of a sharp blade and shot toward Yu Bao.

Yu Bao was ready for it, throwing up a Yellow Earth Wall to block in advance. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

But this Flame was surprisingly sharp, piercing straight through the Yellow Earth Wall!

BOOM! BOOM!

Yu Bao instinctively threw up two more Yellow Earth Walls. It wasn’t until the third one was mostly shattered that the White Flame Blade was finally neutralized.

At the same time, Yu Bao instinctively looked up and unleashed a Sandstorm.

Su Zhi had told him to look for an opening during a stalemate. Throughout the recent exchange, Yu Bao had been trying to read 004’s offensive choices.

Unlike the Valley Tiger Hunter, 004 had many lines of attack, making it difficult to discern a simple pattern.

Even so, Yu Bao had vaguely sensed some of 004’s combat philosophy.

His intuition told him that 004 would launch a surprise attack from above while he was busy blocking the White Flame!

WHOOSH!

A vast torrent of wind and sand surged into the air, carrying the ferocity of an offensive skill and the fury of a defensive counterattack.

004, launching its surprise attack from mid-air, hadn’t expected Yu Bao to predict its move.

knew from Fang Yuan that Yu Bao had mastered Sandstorm, but it never imagined the skill would be this ferocious—almost as if it were a natural-born Desert Pet Beast, a companion to the sands!

The Sandstorm’s coverage was immense. 004 couldn’t dodge; it could only block.

Leaping in mid-air, the White Flame Battle Spirit had no leverage and was knocked back several meters by the Sandstorm, barely managing to stop at the edge of the arena.

’The Sandstorm is too dispersed. If it were just a little more powerful, I would’ve won!’

’If only the Sandstorm could be focused, like the White Flame...’

Yu Bao subconsciously felt a pang of regret, but he didn’t stop. Following Su Zhi’s command, he launched another Sandstorm.

The raging sand, carrying an unstoppable momentum, surged mightily toward the White Flame Battle Spirit.

This attack would also be hard to dodge!

However, to the utter shock of both Yu Bao and Su Zhi, the White Flame Battle Spirit’s figure suddenly vanished just an instant before the sand reached it.

It didn’t move. It didn’t dodge. It simply disappeared!

"Fang Yuan’s White Flame Battle Spirit has vanished into thin air! I’m sure all of you students are very confused!"

The announcer, microphone in hand, spoke with animated excitement, "What in the world just happened? Even I want to know! Let’s ask Teacher Yan to explain it for us!"

’You’d better watch out, or you’ll get smacked...’ Yan Shouzheng thought, impassively taking the microphone.

"The skill the White Flame Battle Spirit used is Burning Ash Divine Concealment, a Fire and Telekinesis Element High Level Elite Skill. You can think of the White Flame Battle Spirit as a mass of Flame. This skill temporarily ’extinguishes’ that Fire to achieve a state of invisibility, then reignites it when needed."

"However, according to the exam curriculum, this is a skill that isn’t taught until the second year. It’s clear that Fang Yuan must have trained exceptionally hard to allow his White Flame Battle Spirit to attain this level of combat power ahead of schedule."

"Woof! Woof!" (You, you come out!)

Yu Bao stomped his paw, scanning his surroundings.

"Don’t panic, Yu Bao!" Su Zhi’s voice came from the Beast Taming Space.

’The problem is huge, so panicking is useless.jpg’

"We haven’t trained specifically for this, but all Stealth Skills fundamentally leave some kind of trace. Think about how we dealt with the Valley Tiger Hunter’s Ghost Claw!"

Of course Yu Bao knew. Back then, he had captured the attack trajectory of the Ghost Claw by detecting the vibrations of earth particles within his Earth Force Field.

But... it wasn’t working now.

No matter how hard he concentrated, there was no trace of the White Flame Battle Spirit in his Earth Force Field.

’What went wrong?’

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