Chapter 169 – Zijin's Talent

In the training room’s swimming pool, a petite mermaid girl cautiously poked her head out, secretly watching the scene ahead.

There, in the rest area at the corner of the training room, Su Ming and the others had already settled down and entered casual conversation mode.

By now, Su Ming had taken a shower and changed clothes, looking no different from usual, finally dispelling the strange gazes from the three girls.

After chatting for a while, Jiang Wanyu brought up the topic they had discussed in the cafeteria earlier.

“An unsettled Longyao City and strange incidents happening one after another…?”

Su Ming narrowed his eyes slightly.

As someone who knew quite a bit about the many events secretly occurring in Longyao City, Su Ming didn’t dismiss Jiang Wanyu’s remarks like An Zijin and Yao Beibei did.

He knew that this situation was most likely a series of ripple effects caused by those two SS-Rank missions.

However…

(I didn’t expect the impact to become almost impossible to conceal.)

Su Ming sighed silently to himself.

If even students like Jiang Wanyu could detect something strange from various reports, then many observant people must have noticed even more.

The leakage of information was clearly one sign that Longyao City was gradually losing control over the increasingly intense repercussions.

Longyao City was indeed becoming more and more unsettled.

“The war just ended, and now there are so many follow-up incidents. Longyao City is truly plagued by misfortunes,” Su Ming remarked with feeling.

The three girls didn’t understand what Su Ming was referring to, thinking he meant the Phantom Demons causing trouble everywhere.

“Things should calm down soon, right?” Yao Beibei said quietly. “They’re just some stragglers after all. With Longyao City’s strength, they should be able to eliminate them all quickly.”

“That’s right,” An Zijin agreed. “Longyao City even managed through the Huaming Campaign. These are just some leftover stragglers – definitely no problem.”

While An Zijin and Yao Beibei were saying this, only Jiang Wanyu maintained her mysterious expression.

“I actually think things aren’t that simple,” Jiang Wanyu said mysteriously. “If things were really calming down, the senior students should be becoming less busy. Instead, everyone seems to be getting busier, with mission frequency increasing rather than decreasing. This clearly shows the situation is getting worse, doesn’t it?”

Jiang Wanyu’s words made Su Ming glance at her involuntarily.

(This girl actually has such sharp observation skills?)

Su Ming viewed Jiang Wanyu with newfound respect.

“You should stop saying such random things, Wanyu,” An Zijin scolded lightly, completely unbelieving of Jiang Wanyu’s alarmist talk. “The war just ended, and Longyao City is about to return to its former peace. If you keep stirring up trouble like this, you might get pulled aside for a lecture by the instructors!”

“This… this isn’t really random talk, is it?” Jiang Wanyu shrunk her head, muttering, “Although I might be exaggerating a bit, I really think there have been many strange things happening lately. Even Beibei feels the same way.”

Yao Beibei was caught off guard that the conversation had turned to her, momentarily stunned.But just as Jiang Wanyu had said, Yao Beibei indeed had a feeling that a storm was brewing.

Of course, it was merely a feeling—Yao Beibei certainly couldn’t explain the reason behind it.

At the moment, Yao Beibei could only stammer, “I was just saying it casually…”

“Huh?” Jiang Wanyu immediately puffed up her cheeks in frustration. “How can you say that?”

“See?” An Zijin teased mischievously. “Beibei said so, didn’t she?”

“Zijin!” Jiang Wanyu protested.

The three girls began to playfully bicker, their laughter creating a warm atmosphere that couldn’t help but bring a smile to anyone watching.

Su Ming smiled as well.

However, unlike the girls, Su Ming clearly understood what was about to happen in Longyao City.

Under such circumstances, Su Ming felt it necessary to caution these juniors.

Thus, Su Ming spoke up.

“Although Junior Jiang’s words might sound a bit mysterious, it’s also true that Longyao City hasn’t fully settled down yet,” Su Ming said to the three girls. “As long as the situation remains unresolved, anything unexpected could happen. Remember to be careful, you three. Don’t leave the Academy unless necessary, and even if you have to go out for missions or something, make sure to go together. Don’t act recklessly, understood?”

“Understood!”

The three girls were willing to heed Su Ming’s advice.

After all, unlike when they had first met, the camaraderie forged during the Huaming Campaign had laid a foundation of trust. Not only An Zijin, who had always been obedient to Su Ming, but even Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei subconsciously regarded Su Ming as a reliable senior.

During the Huaming Campaign, Su Ming had taken good care of them, without losing his authority as a senior.

Thus, the three naturally took his words to heart and nodded obediently.

The topic was dropped just like that.

But soon after, Jiang Wanyu’s curiosity got the better of her again.

“Senior, you’ve been training hard lately, right?” Jiang Wanyu studied Su Ming and asked, “How are the results?”

This topic piqued the interest of An Zijin and Yao Beibei.

The girls knew that ever since returning to the Academy, the three seniors had been pushing themselves harder than usual, each entering a phase of intense training.

Whether it was Su Ming, Lei Hao, or even Ye Bai, all three were striving to improve themselves in their own ways.

So, to what extent had the seniors’ efforts paid off lately?

The girls couldn’t help but feel curious about this.

Especially Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei, who still hadn’t forgotten Su Ming’s unusual and mysterious qualities. They secretly hoped to uncover some of his secrets.

This seemed like a good opportunity—perhaps they could learn something.

However, the two girls didn’t realize that the man standing before them was someone who kept countless cards close to his chest.

Naturally, such a man wouldn’t easily reveal his hand.

“Well, the results are pretty good, I’d say.”

Su Ming didn’t elaborate, which left Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei somewhat dissatisfied.

Nevertheless, they could tell from Su Ming’s expression that he was in a rather good mood.

If that was the case, then Su Ming must be satisfied with his training progress, right?

With that thought, Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei pressed him for more details.”Has Senior Su Ming already mastered the Intermediate Spirit Art?”

Jiang Wanyu tentatively inquired.

“Most elite students are studying the Intermediate Spirit Art. Senior’s Spirit Power is so high, and he’s been studying so diligently lately—he must have made significant progress.”

Even Yao Beibei began probing in a similar manner.

“Really?”

Only An Zijin was genuinely happy about Su Ming’s improvement from the bottom of her heart.

If Su Ming had truly mastered the Intermediate Spirit Art, then he would be well-deserving of his status as an elite student.

At the Demon Hunter Academy, only top students and elite students had the qualification to enter the Archive, search for Spell Formula books on the Intermediate Spirit Art, and learn from them.

Although not all top and elite students could master the Intermediate Spirit Art as a result, it was undeniable that those who did would firmly establish their elite status among these students.

Many people were actually dissatisfied with Su Ming becoming an elite student.

After all, Su Ming had been relatively unknown before, but after the Huaming Campaign, he suddenly surged ahead of many others and directly became an elite student.

In the eyes of many, an elite student like Su Ming was absolutely undeserving of the title—they believed he had only risen to the ranks of elite students due to the academic credits rewarded for his contributions during the war.

And high contributions didn’t necessarily mean one’s strength was sufficient.

Even though many had testified that Su Ming’s Spirit Power was exceptionally strong, to the point where he once served as the main artillery force on a defense line, having strong Spirit Power didn’t automatically equate to strong combat ability, right?

Could he use high-sequence Spirit Arts?

What was the highest sequence of Spirit Art he could use?

That was the true standard for measuring a Sorcerer’s strength.

Thanks to those who held such views, Su Ming’s situation was actually quite similar to Lei Hao’s—both faced considerable skepticism.

In fact, Su Ming’s case was even more severe than Lei Hao’s.

The reason was simple: Su Ming had previously been involved in widely circulated rumors of a scandal, had connections with Xu Qianqian, and was favored by An Zijin.

This led many jealous individuals to inevitably utter a few slanderous remarks.

If this continued, it was inevitable that some restless individuals would step forward to openly provoke or even challenge Su Ming.

But if Su Ming had learned the Intermediate Spirit Art, then those people would have to shut their mouths.

This was An Zijin’s thought, making her unable to resist casting a hopeful gaze toward Su Ming.

Surprisingly, her gaze bore some resemblance to Little Hai’er’s expression when she had been begging for the red rhodochrosite earlier.

Su Ming immediately reached out and patted An Zijin’s little head.

“I have indeed been studying high-sequence Spirit Arts, and the results are… quite acceptable.”

Su Ming said this with a smile.

“That’s wonderful!”

An Zijin immediately beamed with joy.

“Congratulations, Senior.”

“Congratulations, Senior.”

After a moment of surprise, Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei also offered their congratulations to Su Ming.

Even though there had been an element of probing in their questions, both held goodwill toward Su Ming’s progress, and their congratulations came from the heart as well.

Unfortunately, the girls had no idea that the high-sequence Spirit Art Su Ming referred to was not the Intermediate Spirit Art.Intermediate Spirit Arts were something Su Ming had already mastered back in his first year. By now, he had learned almost all the low-level and intermediate Spirit Arts, except for some special types.

Currently, Su Ming was no longer studying Intermediate Spirit Arts but had moved on to Advanced Spirit Arts, which were typically only explored by Upper-Rank Sorcerers.

As Su Ming had mentioned, his recent efforts had not only improved his abilities as a Hunter but also as a Sorcerer.

In terms of sorcery, Su Ming had been researching 【Futian Falling Blossom】 and 【Vast Karma Brahma Scene】, and he was already making progress.

Especially with the 【Futian Falling Blossom】 spell formula, perhaps because its sequence was relatively low and it was almost at the starting level of Advanced Spirit Arts, Su Ming could now smoothly construct its circular arrays.

The appearance of seven circular arrays in total told Su Ming that, even without casting it, he had successfully mastered this spell formula.

Moreover, compared to the 【Fate Heaven Earth Shift】 spell formula, which required excessive Spirit Power and was still unstable in use, the 【Futian Falling Blossom】 consumed less Spirit Power and felt more natural and smoother to wield.

This meant Su Ming had truly mastered an Advanced Spirit Art. Combined with his awakened Vision Mark, he could now firmly establish himself among Upper-Rank Sorcerers.

An Zijin and the others thought Su Ming had only learned Intermediate Spirit Arts and could hold his ground among elite students, unaware that Su Ming was aiming for the level of an Upper-Rank Sorcerer.

The difference between the two was truly like heaven and earth.

Of course, Su Ming wasn’t the only one who had made significant progress.

“This way, there are two Sorcerers in our original team who can use Intermediate Spirit Arts,” Jiang Wanyu suddenly remarked, causing Su Ming to pause in surprise.

“Two?”

Su Ming initially thought Jiang Wanyu was referring to Ye Bai, but upon reflection, Ye Bai was still studying Offensive Spirit Arts—how could he have suddenly learned an Intermediate Spirit Art?

Excluding Ye Bai, the only Sorcerers left in their original team were two.

One was naturally Su Ming.

The other was present right there.

“Little Zijin, could it be that you…?” Su Ming looked at An Zijin in astonishment.

An Zijin seemed a bit embarrassed, but seeing Su Ming’s surprised expression, she couldn’t help feeling a little proud.

“The spell formula you gave me, Brother Su Ming, I was able to use it a while ago,” An Zijin happily shared the good news.

Before the Huaming Campaign began, in the Academy District of Huaming, Su Ming had indeed given a spell formula to An Zijin.

【Octagonal Crystal Barrier】, a defensive Spirit Art ranked fifty-fifth in sequence.

This spell formula was what An Zijin had mastered.

In other words, after just over two months since enrollment, An Zijin had become an elite student capable of using Intermediate Spirit Arts.

All she lacked was an actual ranking.

“Impressive,” Su Ming’s gaze toward An Zijin changed.

This girl-next-door’s talent was even higher than he had imagined—by more than a notch.

In terms of pure talent, no one in the current Demon Hunter Academy could surpass her.

Including Su Ming himself.At the very least, Su Ming had relied on treasures obtained from packages to grow so rapidly, enabling him to use Intermediate Spirit Art as a first-year student.

In contrast, An Zijin had always depended on her own talent from the very beginning.

Watching An Zijin unable to suppress her joy under his praise, Su Ming thought to himself.

(Perhaps this girl’s future is even more formidable than that of Young Miss Xu.)

With just a gentle push from him, An Zijin might soar to great heights.

(Should I nurture this girl a bit?)

After all, she was his childhood friend, the girl next door he had grown up with, and Su Ming felt a twinge of compassion.

(Let’s give it a try.)

In the end, Su Ming made this decision.

(End of Chapter)