"Are you some kind of freak?"
A seductive figure emerged from the shadows behind Wang Teng, her gaze fixed on the demon corpse on the ground as she looked it over again and again.
"Your Shadow Escape is really convenient. You followed the positioning and arrived this fast."
Wang Teng rarely showed a hint of envy. The Shadow Element was one of the few magic elements that could exert tremendous practical value even at the Basic Tier.
"Hm? An essence!"
"Your luck is seriously enviable!"
"No Soul Vessel, right? Here—take this~"
Tang Yue's small mouth opened wide in surprise, then drooped. She reached into her pocket, pulled out an item, and tossed it into his hand.
Wang Teng drew the essence into the Soul Vessel, then tossed it back to Tang Yue.
"Y–You… what are you doing? I don't want it?"
Tang Yue stared blankly at the Soul Vessel she was holding.
"It's yours. Consider it payment for helping me. It's not worth much anyway."
Wang Teng waved his hand dismissively. He genuinely meant it. For the sake of his resources, Tang Yue probably didn't have much left herself.
An essence was nothing more than several million. Useful to him, yes, but not that important. He wasn't lacking one or two—what he lacked was a lot.
Aside from demon cultivation itself, Space Element magic was his primary focus. His stars absolutely needed to be strengthened to Level Five, at least through the Basic and Intermediate Tiers.
That required a massive number of essences.
"Hehe~ You've got some sense!"
Tang Yue felt genuinely happy after hearing that. She tucked it away with satisfaction—this was the first real return she'd gotten after half a year of effort.
Wang Teng glanced at her slightly money-grubbing side, then licked his dry lips. White liquor had this drawback—drink too much and your mouth dried out easily.
"Let's talk about this Bloodthirsty Rat Demon."
"This place is already close to the safety barrier, yet a Servant-level demon managed to sneak in."
"Based on this species' habits, it most likely operates in groups. One means a whole pack."
"The river here has many sewer outlets connected to the city's underground water network."
"Looks like Bo City won't be peaceful."
"It'd be best to have the City Hunter Squad search key areas—places like hospitals and schools with dense populations, especially underground. Servant-level demons still need to feed. Shopping malls probably don't need attention—if something happens there, the owners would be the first to panic."
Tang Yue stared at him as he spoke with confidence, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing. Your analysis is very solid."
"Alright, you should head back. I'll notify them about this matter. Focus on preparing for the annual assessment."
For once, Tang Yue's tone was gentle and considerate, her gaze carrying an unmistakable authority that left no room for refusal.
After a brief moment of thought, Wang Teng replied, "Alright then. I'll leave first."
He walked a dozen meters forward and found his little electric scooter lying in the roadside ditch not far away. With one hand, he lifted it out.
"Pretty durable~"
After checking, he found only a few scrapes on the outer shell—nothing serious.
He then rode the scooter back home.
"Pulling him into the Judgement Court really was the right choice."
Tang Yue looked at the corpse and sighed. There were no traces of magic at all—purely a violent, single-strike kill.
"But this absolutely can't be exposed. At least, not yet."
"Fire Burst—Bone Incineration!"
With a casual flick, she tossed a flame onto the corpse. Without any demonic power to resist, it burned even more easily.
After several bursts of flame, only a pile of ash remained. A gust of wind scattered it completely, leaving behind nothing but scorched marks.
Once the cleanup was complete, Tang Yue melted back into the shadows and vanished.
...
Time quickly arrived at the day of the assessment.
That very day, news that shook the entire school spread like wildfire—the genius girl had returned. The famous young princess of the Mu Family had come back from the Imperial Capital!
On the grand field, numerous formations were lined up in preparation for the assessment. The excitement below only grew—students stood on tiptoe, bent over, even stacked on each other.
All for the sake of getting a glimpse of the snow-silver-haired young princess standing not far from the stage.
She was truly the center of all attention!
"Tsk—there's something to her."
"Huh? What do you mean 'something to her,' Old Wang?"
"Can you not call me Old Wang? We're not that close."
"Tch—now that's just wrong."
"We've drunk together at the same desk. How can you be this distant?"
Seeing Xu Zhaoting stubbornly forcing his way into conversation, Wang Teng decisively ended the topic, closed his eyes, and began drifting off into meditation.
"This guy really doesn't like me, huh?"
"I'm a Lightning Element mage, you know. Am I really not worth associating with?"
Xu Zhaoting watched Wang Teng start meditating again and couldn't stop complaining internally. He clearly remembered how, at the start of the semester, this guy looked at him like he was some kind of plague.
Even now, though things had improved slightly, it was only slightly. Conversation was still scarce—say one extra sentence and the topic died immediately.
He didn't want to shamelessly stick close either, but Wang Teng clearly had something special about him. In terms of intelligence and insight, he admitted he fell a bit short.
After that night, he'd deliberately sought out Zhang Jianguo, who explained things to him in detail. Only then did he understand.
Those few sentences spoken that night contained so much information—it made Xu Zhaoting realize just how sharp Wang Teng was.
They were all students—how could the gap be this huge? It really dented his confidence.
That was why he deliberately tried to get closer to Wang Teng. Every time Wang Teng spoke, there had to be deeper meaning. Learning even a little from it would be worthwhile.
Unfortunately, the bright moon shone upon a ditch.
"Big Brother Fan! Look, it's Princess Mu Ningxue!"
Zhang Xiaohou shouted excitedly, even more hyped than Mo Fan.
"Enough, stop yelling. Is Princess Mu someone your big brother can hope for?"
"He won't even need to stay in this school much longer. Don't get your hopes up."
Zhao Kunsan seemed to respond on instinct—his head hadn't even turned, yet the retort was already out.
"Who do you think you are, judging my Big Brother Fan? A thing that only knows how to bark!"
Zhang Xiaohou snapped back immediately.
"The hell—Zhang Xiaohou, you've got some nerve, huh? Your dog master has no future left, and you're still here snapping at people. Careful you don't get beaten to death."
Zhao Kunsan roared angrily. He already looked down on Mo Fan, let alone Mo Fan's lackey.
"What? You wanna fight?"
Zhang Xiaohou raised his chin fearlessly, rolling up his sleeves and preparing to throw down.
Seeing Zhao Kunsan barking again, Mo Fan felt even more irritated. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something strange about that fair-faced Mu Family pretty boy.
The guy didn't seem to care at all—completely unlike his usual behavior. Even with the annual assessment and Mu Ningxue present, he showed none of the fanatical excitement.
His brows were deeply furrowed, as if pondering something. His expression was extremely focused, so much so that the surrounding noise didn't affect him at all.
Aside from him, there was another person behaving the same way—Zhou Min. The two of them were almost identical, like some kind of performance art by the same person.
Wait—
A flash of realization passed through Mo Fan's mind. A certain invisible person from Class 7—the one who had flirted with their beautiful teacher Tang Yue.
Wang Teng!
Mo Fan instinctively turned his gaze and found Wang Teng from Class 7 as well—eyes closed, expression relaxed, yet deeply focused.