Chapter 290: Chapter 282: Someone Else’s Battle

The Night Demon Duck flapped its large, yellow-feathered wings, sending two vortexes of black water swirling toward them. Its attack pattern hadn’t changed.

Jiang Jinling, commanding her Grass Spirit, chanted an incantation—a spell to activate the Array.

The Grass Spirit chanted in sync, the Mana in its hands shifting as it shot out a small halo of light that struck the tree vines on the ground.

SWOOSH.

The Grass Sword on the flowering vine suddenly flashed. With a gentle slash, it activated the Daoist Skill within the Array, unleashing a beam of emerald sword light.

Even from a great distance, Gu Ming could feel the sharp, sword-like leaves on the trees trembling. The technique was simulating the sword skill of some kind of High-star sword-leaf. He couldn’t tell how much of its Divine Charm had been captured, but just watching it made his eyes sting slightly.

The emerald sword light expanded in the wind, instantly transforming into a sword peak dozens of meters high that forcibly cleaved through the black water storm.

At the same time, another tree vine, this one holding a Jade Ruyi, swayed gently within the Array.

Using his keen Perception, Gu Ming could sense various types of Life Energy from the ground flowing through the vine and into the Jade Ruyi.

Enhanced by the power of the Array’s Daoist Skill, the Jade Ruyi took on a unique Divine Charm.

"This is also simulating the skill of some Spiritual Object," Gu Ming murmured.

This time, he truly couldn’t figure it out. He had no idea what kind of Spiritual Object’s skill it was.

His homeroom teacher once said that Jiang Jinling’s aptitude with Cultivation Techniques was unparalleled. The Elf Pet Beast she nurtured possessed a host of original Cultivation Techniques that formed a complete and systematic set of abilities.

It was basically the equivalent of a lite version of a complete Technique. All its abilities were well-balanced, allowing it to fight by making advanced use of Daoist Skill power.

The Jade Ruyi swayed from a distance, tapping the air and sending out an invisible ripple.

A hundred meters away, the Black Water Tornado was instantly frozen in place, just spinning on the spot.

Jiang Jinling waved her hand again. The cadence of her spell changed, and another vine—this one holding a wooden mirror—rotated its surface, aiming the wood-grained mirror directly at the Night Demon Duck.

Incredibly, the grain on the wooden mirror’s surface shifted, and an image of the big yellow duck appeared, seemingly captured within the mirror itself.

In an instant, the Night Demon Duck was also frozen in place, unable to move. Its eyes bulged as it let out a series of frantic QUACKS.

If anyone had been watching up close, they would have seen that the Night Demon Duck’s feet were already tangled in vines. Soon, green leaves began to sprout on its body, turning the yellow-feathered duck into a green-feathered one. Its entire body was covered in vines, though no one knew when they had attached themselves.

Lu You let out a soft gasp of understanding. "Her Array is one sword, one jade, and one mirror," she said quietly. "Separated, they are the Sword Array, Jade Array, and Mirror Array."

Gu Ming nodded. As someone who understood Array Art, he saw some of the inner workings. He explained:

"The Sword Array cut the water, and the Jade Array stabilized the ’momentum’ on the battlefield."

"Finally, the three combined. It looked like the Mirror Array was controlling the duck on its own, but it was actually all three Arrays working in concert to also stabilize the ’momentum’ beneath the Night Demon Duck’s feet."

’Momentum’ is a crucial concept in the study of Array Art.

An ordinary person seeing the Night Demon Duck immobilized by the vine Array would be impressed but clueless as to the principle behind it. It was a good way to fool people.

But in the eyes of an Array Art researcher like Gu Ming, everything Jiang Jinling used had been covered in the university-level Array Art materials he had studied in advance.

However, knowing about it was one thing; being able to have a Pet Beast actually execute it was another matter entirely. The two couldn’t be compared.

Precisely because he understood how difficult it was to use an Array to stabilize an enemy Pet Beast’s ’momentum,’ Gu Ming was stunned for quite a while after personally witnessing the Grass Spirit set up the Array and immobilize its foe.

The pride he’d felt from obtaining two Four-Colored Techniques was shattered in that moment, forcing Gu Ming to recognize the gap between himself and the other genius students.

If it had been Cyan Treasure fighting, it definitely wouldn’t have been able to hard-control the Three-star Night Demon Duck.

Once the big yellow duck was under control, the two girls beside Jiang Jinling made their move. They had their Pet Beasts each begin to prepare two giant Pet-Eating Flower Seeds.

This flower was a type of Ultimate Skill for Grass Element Pet Beasts. It required long-term nurturing, much like raising a Pet Beast itself. One had to constantly feed the Pet-Eating Flower Seed various medicinal ingredients to cultivate its devouring ability, digestive power, and poison resistance.

In theory, a Pet-Eating Flower summoned by a One-star Elf could swallow a Two-star Pet Beast whole and take a full day to digest it.

At the Two-star level, it could devour a Three-star Pet, but the digestion time would be significantly longer—at least three days.

If more resources were invested in its cultivation, the digestion time could be reduced.

However, compared to its ability to digest Pet Beasts of a higher Star Level...

...the biggest drawback was the long activation time the Pet-Eating Flower required.

Unlike other Grass Seeds, it couldn’t grow into a full plant in just ten or twenty seconds.

Even after Refinement into a Life Grass Seed, and after a secondary seed was planted, the activation time was still extremely long.

It could take ten minutes, or even up to half an hour.

Against any other Pet Beast, such a long preparation time would mean the opponent would have either fled or attacked directly, leaving no chance to summon the Pet-Eating Flower.

However, as the Pet Beast undergoes Evolution, this Ultimate Skill can be cultivated more intensely, gradually overcoming the weakness of its slow growth.

For now, the two girls weren’t worried as they each nurtured two giant Pet-Eating Flowers.

They trusted Jiang Jinling’s control, and they also took into account that the Night Demon Duck wasn’t just an ordinary Three-star Spirit Pet, but a boss-level Pet Beast specially prepared for the local examination.

A single Two-star Pet-Eating Flower wouldn’t be able to digest it quickly.

So, they were preparing two Pet-Eating Flowers, with each one to devour half of it.

This would also cut the digestion time in half. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Besides, they were students from Forest Valley and had their own unique methods for cultivating Pet-Eating Flowers.

Combined with Jiang Jinling’s Grass Element Array, they could even accelerate the digestion process.

As long as they could summon their Pet-Eating Flowers and have them devour the Night Demon Duck, victory would be theirs.

The proctor on-site recognized the new Grass Seeds they had planted. By all rights, the battle could be considered over.

However, the Pet-Eating Flowers grew too slowly. If Jiang Jinling couldn’t hold out that long, it would be a different story.

So, the proctor didn’t announce their victory just yet. Instead, he waited patiently and waved at the newly arrived examinees, gesturing for them not to interfere with the ongoing assessment.

There was only one Night Demon Duck, and since everyone needed to be tested for combat points, they had to take turns in teams.

A Three-star Pet Beast fighting a One-star Pet was like a father fighting his son; the winner was usually decided in under a minute.

Only teams with Two-star Pet Beasts could hold their own against the Night Demon Duck for more than ten minutes.

He waited in silence. He watched as two plump Pet-Eating Flowers sprouted from the soil and slowly grew into giant, one-and-a-half-meter-tall blossoms. The whole process took ten minutes.

The huge, crimson flowers opened their fanged maws. Their sharp teeth, though clearly made of plant matter, glinted like metal in the sunlight.

The proctor glanced again at the Night Demon Duck in the lake. It was still held fast, unable to break free from the Mirror Array’s control.

’It’s been completely countered by the specialty of the examinee’s Pet Beast.’

The Night Demon Duck wasn’t afraid of brute force, nor did it fear attacks from Water Technique, Fire Technique, Poison Technique, or Ice Magic. Its only weaknesses were Illusion Techniques and control from more High-Level Arrays.

This was mainly because it wasn’t very smart.

It was relatively easy for clever students to defeat it.

"Ahem. Jiang Jinling’s team from Forest Valley is victorious. You may all return and rest. The final scores will be announced today at six in the afternoon," the proctor announced.

Jiang Jinling immediately released her control. She rushed over to her Elf Pet, hugging it and wiping the sweat from its brow as she heaved a great sigh of relief.

’Another ten seconds and I wouldn’t have been able to hold on.’

’Thank goodness the proctor called it. If I’d revealed my unbalanced stamina management, the rest of the fight would have been a huge pain.’

The three girls huddled together, cheering. Jiang Jinling hugged her companions, then glanced at the crowd, where she suddenly noticed Gu Ming watching them from afar.

She had been about to leave, but now she wanted to stay. ’I wonder how Gu Ming’s Little Cyan Snake, Grouper Fish, and Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster are going to beat this thing.’

’The gap between a Three-star and a Two-star might only look like one Star Level, but in a real fight, the difference is immense.’