"Six Fangs?!" As soon as Ying Lizhua saw his aura, he was in complete shock. Now he knew how Feng Luotian got those 150 points. And some part deep in his heart was actually amazed and excited as he inwardly thought: "As expected from someone I used to respect."
"I don't know whether you have been hiding your cultivation for so long and having fun fooling everyone, or you have just found yourself a fortunate encounter. Either way, it's good to have you back, Brother. But I won't go back and dilly-dally among your group anymore. I have my own way to keep that oath!!"
With the exception of his foul mouth, Ying Lizhua was actually an open-minded person. Once Feng Luotian was strong enough, he acknowledged him right away.
"I know. Thank you for taking care of me all this time." Feng Luotian gave a profound smile.
"…" Ying Lizhua stayed silent, acting like he did not know what Feng Luotian was talking about.
"I know why you have been bullying me with harsh words and telling Yue'er and Wuji to get away from me. It's all because you think that I will be able to break through much faster being alone than surrounding in an easy-going environment. So, thank you." Feng Luotian explained.
"Hmph!! What are you talking about? It's because you were trash, so you deserved to be thrown away. I will go and wait for you guys in the north. But if that clone appears to be a One Talon clone, I will finish it myself!!" Ying Lizhua executed Eagle Flight on Feng Luotian and quietly left the scene, heading to the northern area with no more words.
Seeing the departing figure, Feng Luotian smiled while saying: "What a troublesome fellow."
After receiving a supportive skill from Ying Lizhua, Feng Luotian's figure was enveloped by a faint white wind.
///// [Positive Buff | Eagle Flight] (Rare) Level 5 : Cover the target's entire body with fierce wind for 10 minutes. Attack +100%. Moving with the wind, Speed +200%. Moving against the wind, Speed +50%. No wind, Speed +100%
"Oh? When getting buffed from others, I can directly sense their skill's detail?" Feng Luotian exclaimed in excitement as another feature of Kronos was discovered.
He was also astonished by Ying Lizhua's skill level: "Rare skill Level 5?! And I thought I'm the only training maniac around."
Although it was only a rare skill, the required proficiency points to raise the skill to Level 5 were about twice as much as upgrading the legendary skill from Level 1 to Level 3.
And even though Feng Luotian needed only one month to do it, he used his knowledge and Kronos to refine only monster cores that benefited his skill, while Ying Lizhua was one of those people who had no knowledge of monster cores' types.
More than that, this buffing skill of Ying Lizhua should use a lot more Theríon than Feng Luotian's Pinnacle Flash Lightning's activation cost, so acquiring one proficient point for Eagle Flight was actually harder.
This made Feng Luotian question whether Ying Lizhua actually used the skill more often than he breathed, or did he ever sleep at all? Outside of his sleeping time, Ying Lizhua should be activating his skill all day long as soon as his Theríon was recovered.
Who in the right mind would do that?
"Anyway, with this Eagle Flight, I will be able to rush to where Yue'er and Wuji are while gaining some points in the process. And with the wind going east, I can get there even faster." With a whoosh, Feng Luotian vanished from where he stood.
With the double-attack boosted by Eagle Flight, Feng Luotian could practically defeat every clone in his path at Seven Fangs or lower in less than one second.
Within five minutes, his score skyrocketed until it reached 400 points. His position rose from 10th Rank to 5th Rank under Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji's party, blowing everyone's mind.
"What?!" Sun Wuji was a bit shocked before, but now he was completely flabbergasted at the sight of the score.
"Wuji, what's wrong?" Ever since she knew that Feng Luotian had passed the exam, Mei Yue'er was not concerned herself with the score anymore, so she did not notice any change that happened on the scoreboard.
On the other hand, Sun Wuji, who was racing against time to beat Mei Hongli because he knew what was at stake, always looked at the score each time he defeated each clone.
So, naturally, he would notice that Feng Luotian's score had soared through ranks and caught up to them.
"Sister Mei, look!! That guy can really get scores on his own!!" Sun Wuji pointed at the scoreboard in the sky.
"Who?" Mei Yue'er raised her head and saw a certain name under theirs. Its points continued to climb.
"!!" She was in a complete stun.
No one knew how long she had been hoping for this day when her beloved … her sworn brother, had finally obtained the strength to fight.
A streak of tears was also coming out due to her overflowing feeling. Several emotions invaded her mind until she became totally motionless and unaware of her surroundings.
At that moment, a Seven Fangs clone dashed out from the bush nearby to attack Mei Yue'er.
"Sister Mei, watch out!!" Upon notice, Sun Wuji knew that he could not save her in time, so he could only shout it out to wake her from the stupor.
However, as if she had cut out all senses, Mei Yue'er did not react to Sun Wuji's call at all, standing still without moving.
As the clone's attack was about to reach her body, a figure flew by and gave the clone an aggressive kick to its stomach. Its body was blown into the forest, crashing several trees, and vanished into aurora light.
"Yue'er, you should be careful of your surroundings."
Now, the voice from the newcomer immediately woke Mei Yue'er up as she cried: "Luotian!!"
Feng Luotian arrived with his usual flame-lightning aura along with the covering wind of Eagle Flight: "Are you okay? Why are you crying?"
"I'm okay!! And I'm not crying!!" Mei Yue'er quickly turned away and wiped away her tears.
"Wow, wow, wow!! Six Fangs, huh?! You could really keep secrets from us, Brother Feng?" After noticing his brother's surprising power, Sun Wuji came to tease him a bit with three wows. He even gave a series of strong smacks on Feng Luotian's shoulder in excitement.
"Six Fangs?!" With what happened earlier, Mei Yue'er did not notice his aura, but after Sun Wuji said it, although she had not finished hiding her embarrassment, she could not help but turn around in shock.
Upon confirmation, she gasped: "Y-You're really at Six Fangs. How can that be? How did you do it? Did you have a fortunate encounter outside the city? Who did you meet this past month? Can he be trusted? Are you really—"
"Save it for later. We do not have much time to get to the first ranking and take that cheater down from there." Before she went any further with her questions, Feng Luotian raised both hands, telling her to stop.
"What's with you guys? Why are you so anxious to take the first place that much?" In her eyes, the matter of Feng Luotian meeting his fortunate encounter beyond the city was far more important than some ranking of this exam.
Sun Wuji looked at Feng Luotian. Now that he was with the cause of all this, he could throw the ball at Feng Luotian to answer this by himself.
At the same time, Sun Wuji was nervous. Whether Feng Luotian told the truth or said something not quite supportive of his previous reasoning, Mei Yue'er might not let it go. Luckily, it was neither of those, as Feng Luotian was quick-witted enough.
Feng Luotian spread his hands: "It is our pride, Yue'er. We can't allow someone like that gets above us. It is men's stuff and might be difficult for you to understand."
Sun Wuji made a huge sigh in his heart and shouted in agreement: "That's right!! I told you, Sister Mei."
Mei Yue'er: "…"
Feng Luotian continued with his objective, smoothly changing the topic and avoiding Mei Yue'er's previous question: "If we continue hunting normal clones, we will not be able to get to the top in time. We need to defeat the strongest clone with five thousand points. I already told Lizhua about forming a party with us. He is waiting for us in the northern area where that clone is."
"You invited Ying Lizhua to join us?! Wouldn't it result in him getting the first place after defeating that clone?" Sun Wuji was surprised.
"As long as Mei Hongli is not placed first, everything will be fine, right?" Feng Luotian did not mind Ying Lizhua getting the first place at all as it was irrelevant to the bet.
"Uh, that's true." Sun Wuji realized.
Sensing a suspicious glare from Mei Yue'er, Feng Luotian added: "And of course, it's because we can't have someone cheating getting the first place, right? Instead, it would be the greatest genius of this city. And he's also our sworn brother. Why would we mind that? And I don't think we can take down the Talon clone without his help."
He then narrowed his eyes, signaling Sun Wuji to agree.
"O-O-Oh, that's right!! If that's the case, then we should hurry there right away." Sun Wuji went along awkwardly.
"First, let me into your party." Feng Luotian raised his hand and offered his Theríon to link with the party.
Sun Wuji instantly accepted it and let him join them.
"Hmm?" Feng Luotian frowned at the information appearing in his mind.
///// Introducing new feature [Party List]
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///// Party Member 1 : Mei Yue'er
///// Eight Fangs Thousand Illusion Aurora Peacock
///// [Illusion Clone] Level 8 : The user can create an illusion clone at the cost of Theríon. The higher level of the clone, the more Theríon it costs. Creating an illusion clone at the same level as the user will cost their maximum Theríon capacity. And the overall status of the illusion clone is increased by 16% at this level.
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///// Party Member 2 : Sun Wuji
///// Seven Fangs Blitz Stone Titan Monkey
///// [Stone Transformation] Level 7 : Transform the user's body to stone, boosting attack and defense, while the user's speed will be decreased according to how much the body was transformed. Trade speed X% to increase attack and defense 3.5X%.