Time ticked by, one second at a time.

What began as a chaotic melee between students from over a dozen high schools had, after half an hour, dwindled to just the teams of two schools left standing in the ruins.

The other students had either made a tactical retreat to preserve their strength or fought until their Pet Beasts were severely injured and forcibly removed from the battlefield by the Thousand-eyed Wind Birds.

Another group, much like Gu Ming’s, was hiding in the shadows, waiting to see how things would unfold.

Now that the situation had clarified, these opportunists could no longer sit still. They exchanged glances, preparing to enter the fray.

The remaining victors on the field consisted of six teams from two high schools.

They fed their Pet Beasts Elixirs, letting them rally to face the new opponents about to join the battle.

Suddenly, a voice shouted toward the high ground where Gu Ming was positioned.

"You students still lurking in the back! Either join the battle or we’ll drive you out!"

The speaker’s tone was aggressive, their gaze fixed directly on Gu Ming’s location.

"We’re not letting anyone play the oriole here! Either fight to the finish or get lost!"

Wang Teng was eager to give it a try. He knew all about Cyan Treasure’s combat prowess from Gu Ming, including its mastery of the Ultimate Skill, "Mastery of Wood Escape."

It was an Ultimate Skill even more formidable than the Earth Escape Technique, capable of spreading poison seeds over a wide area. The attack was silent, subtle, and incredibly potent.

Who would have thought that Cyan Treasure could bury Light Element poison-infused grass seeds in the ground and use a mysterious power to rapidly grow them, creating a battlefield of toxic mist?

The battlefield was mostly a chaotic free-for-all, making it difficult for anyone to focus their fire on Cyan Treasure. It was the perfect environment for a Pet Beast specializing in Poison Attacks.

Wang Teng whispered, "We could give it a shot. Cyan Treasure’s move can control the field, and we can provide cover."

But Gu Ming remained unmoved. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He stared at the system interface, which still displayed the future event: "Examinees Set Up Stalls to Trade."

To trigger the bug, he had to refuse to get involved in this real-life slaughter, forcing the system’s logic to short-circuit from the contradiction.

In the system’s eyes, they were buying Spirit Medicine from others who had set up stalls.

By this point in the "market," business was already winding down.

It was worth noting:

Spirit Medicine found in the examination area could be carried and used to heal Pet Beasts, but if an examinee lacked a Beast Taming Space or other means of storage...

...they would be inspected by the proctors’ Pet Beasts upon leaving, and any excess Spirit Medicine would be confiscated.

Of course, if a Pet Beast could consume the Spirit Medicine directly, the proctors had no authority to interfere.

The system saw Spirit Medicine as a "tradeable resource," but Gu Ming deliberately stayed away from the crowd and refused to interact, further intensifying the conflict between reality and the system’s perception.

Gu Ming knew that if he joined the fight, the system would interpret it as him going in to "haggle."

From the system’s perspective, haggling was done with words. In reality, it meant sending in Pet Beasts for a real, physical fight—a literal "price chop."

He could do that, of course, but it would mean being too compliant with the system, which wasn’t what he wanted.

’I’m going to do the opposite and see what happens.’

"We’re pulling back," Gu Ming said.

"Huh?" Wang Teng couldn’t understand.

But Lu You nodded. Being quite afraid of fighting, she agreed with Gu Ming’s idea.

They were an exploration team, after all, focused primarily on earning cultivation points. They avoided combat whenever possible.

Proactively joining a battle went against their team’s principles.

Among the three of them, it was two votes for retreat and one for fighting.

The minority had to yield to the majority. Wang Teng could only pat his Dumb Flower and follow Gu Ming’s retreat.

After walking a short distance, Gu Ming stopped.

Wang Teng saw him stop. Coincidentally, Dumb Flower was still sensing the situation from two thousand meters away, the limit of its Perception.

Then, it dawned on Wang Teng.

"So that was your plan! You’re waiting for them to wear each other out so we can go in and clean up."

Gu Ming smiled without a word, tacitly agreeing.

Meanwhile, an interesting change occurred on the system’s side.

He was still haggling with the merchants, and the "negotiations" were impressively intense.

He haggled with the first stall, then the second, then the third and fourth, but he never managed to buy the Spirit Medicine he wanted.

Gu Ming watched the system’s haggling progress with great interest, vaguely realizing a use for this bug.

’I can use the haggling progress to judge the state of the battle over there.’

Although Dumb Flower could sense things, its Perception was quite fuzzy at a distance of two thousand meters.

The system showed that he was haggling with the last stall and all the other merchants had packed up.

At the same time, Dumb Flower sensed that the battle was still in a white-hot stage, with many survivors remaining.

Gu Ming made an immediate decision. "We’re going in to clean up now."

"Huh? But there are still a lot of people over there," Wang Teng said, confused.

Wang Teng wasn’t the captain, so when Gu Ming started moving, he had no choice but to follow.

After they had walked over a thousand meters and gotten closer to the scene, he finally realized just how terrifying Gu Ming’s intuition was.

Dumb Flower could now sense that the valley in the forest had fallen silent, with very few human voices left.

As they drew near, they saw only two student teams left in the garden, both from Yangyang High School.

One of them was none other than Zhou Lie, the genius student Teacher Ling had mentioned.

His Pet Beast, a Blast Flame Lizard, was crouched at the entrance to the garden. It opened a pair of crimson-gold vertical pupils to look in Gu Ming’s direction, its lizard-like mouth spitting sparks.

A student walked out from the garden and sneered.

"Hah, I knew you were up to no good. We should’ve beaten you half to death before letting you go."

Someone in the victorious team recognized Gu Ming. Seeing that he had left only to return, they immediately understood his cunning plan.

But Zhou Lie just said contemptuously, "Just a small fry. Watch me take him down myself!"

Zhou Lie sent out his One-star Pet Beast, and the two of them charged toward Gu Ming alone.

Since Gu Ming dared to face the challenge, he had naturally come prepared.

On the way, he had secretly had Cyan Treasure lay down grass seeds. Now, he just ordered Mouse Treasure to use its Earth Shifting Technique to erect an earthen wall as a temporary barrier.

The Blast Flame Lizard opened its mouth and spat out a giant fireball, effortlessly smashing through the earthen wall.

Gu Ming feigned defeat and led his team in a tactical retreat.

The Blast Flame Lizard was incredibly brazen. Confident that it feared no sneak attacks, it stepped right into the grass seed trap Gu Ming had laid.

Gu Ming immediately ordered Cyan Treasure to tap the ground lightly, activating the Grass and Wood Flood Dragon Power to trigger the hundreds of buried seeds.

The battle erupted in an instant.

The Blast Flame Lizard’s scaled claws crushed the gravel, dark red magma flowing between its toes.

With every step, the scorched earth let out a faint SIZZLE. The toxic mist left by Dumb Flower was evaporated by the high temperature, turning into a cloud of white steam.

Zhou Lie followed behind his Pet Beast with one hand in his pocket, the collar of his school uniform flapping in the heatwave.

"Is that all you’ve got?"

The young man sneered and snapped his fingers. ’Poison-type pets are certainly effective against some beasts, but no matter how potent the poison is, it can’t stand up to high heat.’

The Blast Flame Lizard’s vertical pupils constricted. The fireball in its mouth swelled to three times its size and, reeking of sulfur, blasted through three earthen walls with unstoppable momentum.

As shattered stones rained down, Gu Ming had already lifted Cyan Treasure onto his shoulder, using the Earth Shifting Technique to direct the falling debris elsewhere.

"Cyan Treasure, now!"

Following the command, Cyan Treasure extended its serpentine tail and struck the ground hard with its emerald-green tip.

Countless mycelial threads erupted from beneath the Blast Flame Lizard’s feet. The Poisonous Mushrooms, empowered by Mastery of Wood Escape, had a tenacious life force, stubbornly blooming even in the magma. Pale spores burst forth, mixed with the fresh scent of grass and wood.

Dumb Flower’s Flying Leaf Blades had been lying in wait. Eight leaves transformed into streaks of turquoise light, precisely slicing into the gaps between the Blast Flame Lizard’s scales.

A metallic scraping sound pierced the eardrums as sparks flew from the crimson scales.

The Blast Flame Lizard roared in pain and swung its tail. Wherever the magma swept, three Poisonous Mushrooms instantly vaporized.

But Mouse Treasure used the dust cloud kicked up by the tail swipe to its advantage. Covered in amber-colored Rock Armor, it leaped into the air, its modified Earth Dragon Stomp whistling through the air as it aimed straight for the Lizard Beast!

Zhou Lie’s pupils shrank. He roared, "Magma Shield!"

The Blast Flame Lizard slammed its front claws on the ground. Viscous magma erupted, solidifying into a translucent barrier just before Mouse Treasure’s claws could reach its eyes. Its outer shell was wreathed in a single layer of semi-molten lava.

The searing fluid and Earth Element Energy collided violently, and the resulting shockwave sent all the gravel within a five-meter radius flying.