The horrifying scene of the Demon Tree’s arrival, tearing apart the entire medicinal herb garden in the valley, was transmitted back to the rear command post via the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird.

The proctoring teachers looked grave, their expressions twisting in alarm as if they were facing a formidable foe.

"Quick, dispatch the patrolling teachers! Go and subdue that Grass Element Demon Fiend!"

"What’s the situation on-site? Report its Star Level fluctuations immediately!"

The Beastmaster at the command post, controlling the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird, opened his eyes after a few seconds of sensing and replied:

"It’s a Five-star Level Grass Element Demon Fiend. I’ve never seen a species like this. Be careful of its five flowers; they give me a very strange feeling."

Upon hearing this, everyone, despite their worry, breathed a collective sigh of relief.

It was only Five-star Level, still within the range of what they could handle.

If it had been a Six-star Level Demon Fiend, they would have been powerless. Only the strongest teacher stationed locally could have sent out their True Dragon Pet Beast to subdue it.

Other than that, no one was capable of fighting a Six-star Level Demon Fiend.

The teachers at the post mobilized quickly. Instantly, ten Five-star Beastmasters were flying off at high speed, riding on avatars created by the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird.

Back at the scene.

Gu Ming and the others, suspended beneath the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird, landed some distance away.

He gazed at the valley several miles away. Due to the great distance, the shape of the Demon Fiend was already blurry.

However, it had torn the entire mountainside apart and risen straight up from the valley, which allowed one to just barely make out its exaggerated size.

Just seeing the hazy silhouette of its roots under the moonlight from so far away was enough to feel a black, mind-eroding madness surface in his heart, making his scalp tingle.

’Why did things turn out like this?’

’I was just taking an exam. How could I run into such rotten luck?’

For a moment, he wondered if one of the system’s causality events had affected reality.

He checked the system again, and as expected, the updated plot synopsis wasn’t looking good:

「You attempted to create the Moonlight Enhanced Cyan Dew Rejuvenating Powder, but unexpectedly alerted the Demon Tree lying dormant in the exam area.」

「As it turns out, it has been lurking here for over thirty years, taking root and spreading its descendants everywhere.」

「Now, by drawing down moonlight, you have inadvertently revealed the strange reaction between the local sinister energy and the Moonlight Power.」

「You saw through the strange discrepancy hidden within, fled, and informed the teachers at the rear command post via the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird.」

「Seeing this, the Demon Tree could no longer sit still. It tore the earth asunder and declared war on humanity.」

「Faced with this powerful Seven-star Level Demon Fiend.」

「At this moment, only two words remain in your mind—’It’s over!’」

"System, don’t just go raising death flags! I’m not dead yet," Gu Ming couldn’t help but want to vehemently roast the system’s cursed words.

However, there was one thing in reality that the system got wrong.

It didn’t have the strength of a Seven-star Level.

Based on the Star Level fluctuations emanating from the Demon Fiend, it was closer to his own Black and White Long-Armed Ape and Hidden Mist Butterfly.

In other words, it was most likely a Five-star Level Demon Fiend.

’Thinking about it that way, the team of proctoring teachers can probably subdue it.’

The people who could serve as proctoring teachers here were mostly Four and Five-star Beastmasters, with the Five-stars forming the main force.

There were probably a few Six-star experts holding down the fort as well. ’Presumably, now that the situation is known, they should also be on their way.’

Therefore, Gu Ming wasn’t panicking at all.

In fact, the information from the system led him to a realization. If this Demon Fiend had been lurking here for over thirty years, then he had encountered it during its first few years of dormancy.

It might have even been the very first year it infiltrated this place that Gu Ming stumbled upon it.

At this stage, it hadn’t fully developed yet and was still in its latent period.

Gu Ming had stumbled right into it. By a stroke of luck, he had performed a great service.

Soon, the teachers from the rear arrived, summoning their Five-star Pet Beasts.

Ten streaks of light tore through the night sky.

The Thousand-eyed Wind Birds, carrying the Five-star Beastmasters, descended over the valley’s medicinal herb garden.

By now, the Tree of Evil’s root system had woven a black net across the ground, blotting out the sky.

Distorted, bestial faces struggled madly on the surface of the roots. A foul-smelling mucus dripped through the gaps in the web, corroding the earth into countless deep pools that emitted a green smoke.

The crimson flower was in full bloom, and the flesh-and-blood star within its pistil radiated an eerie red light.

The other four flower buds were wrapped in dark vines, pulsing like living hearts as if accumulating enough Power to destroy the heavens and the earth.

"Break!"

The lead teacher threw a Beast Bell from his waist, and a giant ape covered in rocky patterns burst out from it.

The Rock Armor Giant Ape beat its chest, and the dislodged rubble turned into a rain of rock blades that poured down toward the Demon Tree’s crown.

A female teacher flung out her arm, releasing a Flying Python. Only a meter long, it hissed in mid-air before landing and transforming into a massive, hundred-zhang python.

As its forked tongue flickered, a dense poisonous fog spread toward the Demon Tree’s black roots.

A teacher with an Iron Bow on his back drew it and shot at the flesh-and-blood star flower, his arrow imbued with his Divine Sense.

His Pet Beast was a Porcupine Pet Beast covered in sharp quills. After its master’s arrow guided the way, it shook its body, loosing a torrent of thousands of quills that followed the arrowhead—a truly spectacular sight.

At the same time, it didn’t forget to charge forward after landing, head down, and ram straight for the Demon Tree’s main trunk.

At this moment, the Tree of Evil let out a piercing shriek.

The torn-apart land of the herb garden was like a boiling black cauldron. Chunks of earth bulged upward, and black mist shot into the sky, coalescing mid-air into an inverted forest.

Tree fragments were flung into the air, only to be corroded by the black mist and suddenly begin growing downward.

Countless black threads, shaped like bony claws, descended from the branches, clawing at the Flying Python, the porcupine, and the giant ape.

Just then, the flesh-and-blood star flower flared with light, and countless blades shaped like Blood Drops spread out in a fan.

The rain of rock blades was shattered, the poison fog was dispersed by the bloody light, and the volley of quills launched by the porcupine was broken apart in mid-air, clattering to the ground as a mess of scattered projectiles.

Deep cracks were cut into the Rock Armor Giant Ape’s stone armor by the blood blades. The Flying Python’s poison fangs bit into the roots, but its body was corroded in turn by a black, polluting venom, coating its white fangs in a layer of darkness.

In the sky, the female teacher riding on the back of the Thousand-eyed Wind Bird swayed, clutched her head, and collapsed onto its back.

The Demon Fiend’s corruption was terrifying to behold!

Only the Porcupine Pet Beast, with its agile body, weaved through the gaps between the blood blades, closing in on the Tree of Evil’s second flower bud.

It raised its quill-covered tail—its true ultimate weapon. This was its life-bound projectile, possessing extreme armor-piercing capabilities. A single shot could pierce through a mountain.

But just then...

The Demon Tree’s second flower bud suddenly split open a crack. A dark golden liquid dripped out and, upon hitting the ground, instantly grew into a cage of thorns, trapping the porcupine inside.

Immediately after, a new wave of roots surged toward the teachers’ Pet Beasts like a tide.

...

Gu Ming’s Realm was low, so he could only watch from a great distance.

At the same time, because the commotion from the battle in the valley’s herb garden was so huge, it attracted other nearby students who came to watch.

By now, it was already past nine o’clock at night.

No one could sleep at all. People were talking, wondering what could have happened to cause the entire team of proctoring teachers to mobilize and suppress it.

"What a series of unfortunate events."

A familiar voice sounded out.

Gu Ming turned his head and saw Akagi Shu from the neighboring high school walking over with his Red Flame Flood Dragon.

Gu Ming hadn’t expected to run into him here.