People say there are no years in the mountains.

When Du Yu came back to his senses, he had already spent a full 15 days in the Mountain Fire Saber Training Camp.

For the three rookies, these 15 days could almost be described as "reborn from the ashes."

From relying solely on innate talent to take on enemies in the beginning, to the three-man team's seamless cooperation, encircling and hunting the Mountain Fire Blade Soul later on.

From barely managing to take down one Mountain Fire Blade Soul a day at first—with Lin Chuan's help—to taking down two a day later on, and occasionally winning big...

Lin Chuan considered himself fortunate, having witnessed the birth of a powerful squad, and even more so, the rise of a Paper Crane Disciple.

Compared to his sister, whom he knew inside out, Du Yu gave Lin Chuan an even greater shock!

At first, Lin Chuan thought Du Yu was just a long-range archer.

Only to discover later that Du Yu was actually a close-combat archer...

Within this team, Du Yu was without a doubt the biggest aggro magnet!

Every time the Mountain Fire Blade Soul tried to move, an arrow would zip over, nailing the blade tip with pinpoint precision!

And the Mountain Fire Blade Soul's stabs would always be off by a hair—missing by a mile!

Because of this, every Mountain Fire Blade Soul followed the same old path as the very first one!

After Du Yu messed with them to the point of mental collapse, they didn't care about anyone else—all they wanted was to cut down Du Yu.

And Du Yu's combat talent was absurdly high. With the Ghost Firefly Torch at his side and aided by Demon Soldier Pattern, his melee skills shot up at a speed visible to the naked eye!

He fumbled less and less, always managing to create openings for the team.

Just like now—the last battle before Demon Spirit Academy opened—things were at a fever pitch, and Du Yu once again gave the team a chance...

"Ding!"

The Mountain Fire Blade Soul clashed against the Flame Pattern Shield with a crisp sound.

Du Yu stood in a bow stance, right hand reverse-gripping the Demon Soldier Pattern, Flame Pattern Shield up, holding it tight in front of his face.

The blade soul's hilt was lashed and pulled by Flower Vine, but it couldn't care less about anyone else!

Because Du Yu had maxed out its aggro!

The Mountain Fire Blade Soul was ramming furiously against the Patterned Shield, desperate to smash it to bits, forcefully pushing Du Yu backward toward the wall.

Meanwhile, in his left hand Du Yu gripped the Ghost Firefly Torch, blasting a Wind-Fire Pillar at the wall behind him!

Even with allied support, Du Yu still slid backward—though slowly.

"Ready!" Du Yu shouted, the Patterned Shield vanishing quietly. He suddenly sidestepped, springing away. With a contract order, the torch's Wind-Fire Pillar snapped shut.

With a "whoosh," the Mountain Fire Blade Soul, losing its resistance, shot ahead, stabbing directly at the wall behind.

"Ee-yah!" Xiaoyan let out a sharp fox cry, and a fireball a full 25 centimeters across blasted out viciously.

People grow, and so does Xiaoyan. Her Spark Splash had gotten even bigger.

"Boom rumble!"

The fireball swallowed up the blade hilt sticking out of the wall instantly, scattering sparks everywhere.

The handle of the Mountain Fire Blade Soul quietly sprouted a crack. After all this intense fighting, the Mountain Fire Blade Soul was finally on its last legs!

It had taken too many wounds, battered again and again by Spark Splash explosions.

The Flower Vine wrapped around the hilt let go early, but didn't return—instead, it whipped around and wrapped up Du Yu nearby.

"Go, you~" Du Yu grabbed the Flower Vine and, summoning all his strength, flung it forward.

Off in the distance, Lin Shiwei was yanked over, body arched and waist jutting forward, shooting ahead fast!

Fire gleamed on the Finger Tiger rings on her fists—flames surged!

"Boom!"

Her sharp eyes held a heart that charged ahead, unstoppable!

Lin Shiwei looked ready to smash through the wall, charging headlong into the blazing flames.

Maybe she'd get hurt, and the Demon Breath Battle Robe would definitely get rattled.

But if it meant killing the enemy, it was all worth it!

As long as she didn't take a direct hit from Spark Splash's explosion, she could take the lingering flames—and she'd willingly endure it for a team victory!

As soon as Lin Shiwei's fists exploded against the blade hilt, Du Yu braced the Flower Vine underfoot, yanked hard, and pulled the girl back: "Mengnan!"

"Hya~!" Li Mengnan shouted with girlish ferocity, Demon Soldier Sword in hand flaring with sharpness, charging into the rolling flames, too.

Strike while they're down—go for the kill!

True teamwork means seamless transitions!

In a flash, a sharp sword hacked at the Mountain Fire Blade Soul's hilt.

"Crack!"

The hilt was covered in cracks already—Li Mengnan kicked off the wall and darted out fast.

"Ee-yah!" Xiaoyan's Spark Splash was ready, blasting out at the wall again...

"Vrrrm!" While the Mountain Fire Blade Soul shook violently, a shattering sound rang out, its terrifying buzzing like a final furious howl at the world.

Amid wild explosions, the sound of glass shattering came one after another.

Another Mountain Fire Blade Soul—blown to pieces!

"Ugh~" Li Mengnan shielded her face with one hand, stumbling back step by step, tossing away her Demon Soldier Sword off-handedly.

She was soaked—each backward step sprinkling a patch of sweat onto the ground.

After just a few short steps, her legs gave way and she collapsed on her back, chest heaving as she gulped for air: "Hah...hah..."

She tried to suck in air, but what filled her lungs was pure Fire Demon Breath—it burned like her lungs were about to explode.

Little You Ying floated down, her big eyes blinking as she watched the pitiful big sister. Little You Ying started spinning and danced an odd little routine, as if to comfort her.

But before Little You Ying could get into her groove, Li Mengnan scooped her up and held her to her face.

Forget the stinky rotten egg smell—what she needed was that cool ghost fire from the Ghost Firefly Torch.

At this point, Li Mengnan really wanted to treat Little You Ying like an ice cream cone and take a huge bite...

"Finally over." Du Yu murmured, wiping sweat from his brow and plopping down on the floor too.

Mountain Fire Blade Soul—them, they could handle.

But each fight was perilous and harrowing—they had to be ready to drop out injured at any moment.

Over the past half month, all three of them, without exception, had gotten smacked by Lin Chuan's wooden training posts.

Not just once, either.

The Mountain Fire Blade Realm was already hot; the underground training ground was stifling in the extreme. Battling for their lives here didn't just sharpen technique—it tempered their willpower even more.

"Glug, glug, glug." Not far away, Lin Shiwei's hands trembled as she hugged a 3L bottle of mineral water, tossing her head back and chugging it down.

A trickle ran from the corner of her mouth down her chin, mingling with beads of sweat and dripping to her feet.

After chugging half the bottle, she poured the rest over her head, panting hard: "Hah..."

"Du Yu, Du Yu~"

"Mm." Du Yu answered weakly, head drooping, quietly trying to steady his breathing.

"Sister Xiaowei is about to level up."

"Oh?" Du Yu managed to turn and look at the distant, tall figure pouring water over her head.

Lin Chuan clearly sensed it too—the swirling Fire Demon Breath surged crazily over to Lin Shiwei's side. That was an obvious sign of leveling up!

"Shiwei!" Lin Chuan pulled a Demon Crystal from his pocket and tossed it to his little sister. "Quick, absorb the Demon Crystal—stabilize it!"

Lin Shiwei caught the incoming Demon Crystal, made no bones about it, and sucked it dry. The Demon Crystal cracked in just moments.

"Du Yu, Du Yu~ Let's go level up too!"

"Us?" Du Yu frowned slightly—no one knew his own state better than he did.

He was almost ready to advance, but not quite at the threshold yet. At his current rate, he'd need 2 or 3 more days of cultivation.

"Come on, silly Du Yu~ While Sister Xiaowei's leveling up and the Demon Breath is thick, let's break through together!"

Catching a lift?

"Alright!" Du Yu replied inwardly, dragging his exhausted body to his feet and heading for Lin Shiwei. "Xiaoyan, You Ying, come over here."

With Du Yu's contract summons, both Demon Pets hurried over at once.

"Du Yu, don't disturb Shiwei leveling up," Lin Chuan reminded.

"It's fine, bro." Lin Shiwei's face was stiff, her breath tight, but seeing Du Yu slide down the wall beside her, she actually scooted even closer to him.

Not only that, the Rose Double Spirit on her shoulder got the command too, shooting out two vines that wound around Li Mengnan's long legs and dragged her over like a dead dog.

"Hey? Hey..." Li Mengnan called out symbolically, but let her teammates do their thing, not resisting at all, just leaving a long wet trail on the ground.

Seeing this, Lin Chuan could only smile, helpless.

Bonds—those were built over time.

Especially on the battlefield. When you've put your life in your teammates' hands, what else even matters?

On a training ground where serious injuries or sudden death were always just a heartbeat away, Lin Chuan had saved the trio more than once. But without a doubt, the three rescued each other even more often.

More and more Fire Demon Breath welled up around Lin Shiwei—it was getting hot enough to burn.

Just as Lin Shiwei braced herself on the wall, striving to break through, suddenly an even stronger wave of Demon Breath flared beside her!

"Hmm?" Lin Shiwei was thrilled—she looked to her lower left. Was Du Yu leveling up too?

But all she saw was Du Yu slumped on the ground, motionless, sweat dropping from the tip of his nose.

He looked totally out of it—so different from the wild surge of energy in his body. Was he advancing... or about to pass out?

Mmm... Maybe it's not a contradiction?

Lin Shiwei pressed her shoulder to the wall, slowly sliding down, and whispered, "Hang in there, Du Yu, don't you dare fall asleep. I know you're tired, we're all exhausted, but this is the critical time for breaking through..."

Du Yu felt warmed by her concern.

"Don't worry," Du Yu muttered, feeling a surge of fire in his Qi Sea Acupoint!

Hu Xiaoyan advanced first!

Earth Level·Great Success!

Little Fen Yang muttered, "Of course, Xiaoyan's still the best."

Du Yu: "..."

"Whew..." Lin Shiwei suddenly let out a long breath—a ring of fire gently spread out.

"Eh?" Li Mengnan was still lying on the ground playing dead dog. Having been dragged over by Flower Vine, she was now pushed back half a meter by the surging fire ring.

Li Mengnan was ready to cry. Pouting, she whimpered, "Third Sis, let Big Bro rest for a bit, don't keep playing with Big Bro... Uh."

Just as Lin Shiwei's fire ring passed, Du Yu's fire ring spread out too.

This ring was even denser than the previous one, pushing Li Mengnan back another half a meter...

"You two little punks!" Li Mengnan ground her teeth in anger and glanced at the wall—sure enough, Second Bro and Third Sis had gotten to their feet.

Demon Tamers leveling up—fully recharged!

Lin Shiwei stretched her neck from side to side, letting her joints crack—feeling great.

Du Yu stretched lazily too—that strange sensation was back.

Mentally, he was dead tired—he could fall asleep instantly. But physically, he felt endless power surging through him—so comfortable he could melt.

Demon Tamer Journeyman·Great Success!

Li Mengnan just felt sour—both of them had leveled up...

Lin Shiwei knelt on one knee and looked down at Li Mengnan. "Mengnan, you couldn't level up? How much left?"

Li Mengnan pouted miserably, rolled onto her side, and wrapped one arm around Lin Shiwei's thigh, burying her face in her knee.

Lin Shiwei smiled and gently patted her head. Although Li Mengnan was technically the big brother of the group, in personality she was more like a little sister.

Du Yu came over too, looking at the mortified Li Mengnan, and blurted out, "Mengnan is so weak~"

Li Mengnan: "..."

Little Fen Yang: "Silly Du Yu~ don't copy me!"

...

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