Chapter 83 – The Xu Family, Young Miss

Longyao City, Huaming District, 17:00.

As evening twilight approached, everyone in the defense line camp received a summons.

“The Spirit Demon Abyss entrance is about to open. All Professionals guarding the defense line and students of Demon Hunter Academy, please proceed to the camp central assembly to discuss battle preparations.”

This announcement was broadcast through loudspeakers.

The broadcast repeated continuously, as if worried someone might miss it, playing over and over without stopping.

Thanks to this, all Professionals and students resting in the camp began leaving their rooms and gathering toward the assembly area.

Su Ming’s group of six was among them.

Everyone had made thorough preparations—not only carrying weapons but also wearing small pouches on their waists or thighs containing either alchemical potions or various tools, ready for immediate use.

Even Su Ming somewhat pretentiously attached a small pouch to his lower back, placing several alchemical potions inside as a cover.

Of course, all truly important items were stored in his Golden Finger backpack.

When actually needing those items, Su Ming only had to reach into his back pouch pretending to search and retrieve the items from his backpack.

Before departing, Su Ming even organized his backpack somewhat, sorting out items likely to be useful, taking inventory, and reinforcing his memory of them.

It couldn’t be helped—Su Ming’s backpack contained too many items. Even after trading more than half to Xu Qianqian previously, opening 147 packages had replenished quite a lot.

To avoid forgetting crucial items when needed, Su Ming’s desire to organize and reinforce his memory was understandable.

With these extraordinary items as backup, Su Ming felt more confident handling whatever might occur next, including any unexpected situations.

Thus, groups of Professionals and students converged toward the camp’s central assembly in a grand procession, causing the crowd there to grow larger.

The assembly was essentially a large open area temporarily cleared, containing various instruments and even a projector displaying a battle map of Huaming District on a screen.

Around the assembly, countless soldiers stood in orderly formation, sternly encircling the entire area with murderous intent.

Professionals and students entered the assembly through the only unblocked entrance, arriving at the center of the open area.

“Brother Su Ming, over there…”

Just after entering, An Zijin suddenly tugged Su Ming’s sleeve.

Su Ming looked in the direction she indicated and immediately spotted a group of people.

They wore standardized combat uniforms covered with black cloaks, carrying various weapons, appearing extremely conspicuous.

This group radiated intense Aura. Judging by their weapons and attire, they seemed to all be Hunters, and even from their atmosphere shared many similarities—clearly a team from the same organization.

Everyone entering the assembly noticed them immediately, demonstrating how strongly they stood out.

“They must be from that Upper-Rank Professional’s large Family, right?”

Lei Hao examined them with curiosity.

“Which Family?”

Ye Bai also couldn’t help paying attention.Even Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei glanced over there, their eyes filled with scrutiny.

“Is that someone from one of the major Families in Longyao City?”

“Truly worthy of being from a top-tier Hunter Family, not inferior at all to the top Families in Yinze City.”

The two of them quietly discussed like this.

Only Su Ming looked at those people with an inexplicable expression in his eyes.

But he said nothing, blending into the crowd like an ordinary passerby as he led his companions slowly into the venue.

The number of people in the venue grew larger and larger, eventually forming a massive group consisting of thousands of Professionals and students from the Demon Hunter Academy.

Under such circumstances, one particularly eye-catching student team also arrived fashionably late.

“Is that… that kid from the Li Family’s branch line?”

“And the one next to him, could that be Xu Qianqian from the Xu Family?”

“The others seem to be this generation’s famous top students from the Demon Hunter Academy too.”

“How interesting.”

“It’s not easy to see these highly anticipated Geniuses even in a Defense Line like this.”

The Professionals began whispering among themselves, making the students from the Demon Hunter Academy nearby unconsciously straighten their backs and lift their heads.

Since arriving here, the students had been somewhat timid.

After all, aside from themselves, everyone else here were official Professionals in the career circle.

Among these Professionals, some were Seniors who also came from the Demon Hunter Academy, while others were skilled individuals who had trained through other channels and made their way to Longyao City. Compared to students still studying at the Academy who hadn’t graduated yet, they were superior in terms of strength, experience, Aura, and status.

Facing these Seniors, the students instinctively placed themselves in a lower position.

Now, with the appearance of the Demon Hunter Academy’s proudest and strongest team, even these Seniors already in the professional circle had to pay their respects, naturally making fellow students feel they could lift their heads a little higher.

What they didn’t know was that with Xu Qianqian’s appearance, someone from the most prominent group present couldn’t help but step forward.

“Hmm?”

The people present saw one person slowly emerge from the group of Family Hunters wearing standardized combat uniforms, heading toward Xu Qianqian’s location, and they all froze in surprise.

Li Wei and the others, who were the center of attention, seemed to notice something too, stopping one by one.

Especially Xu Qianqian, who was the first to halt her steps, her gaze falling on that person as her eyes turned cold.

“Qianqian?”

Li Wei noticed Xu Qianqian’s unusual behavior, his face showing surprise.

But Xu Qianqian paid him no mind, simply watching the slowly approaching Family Hunter.

“Who is that?”

“What does he want to do?”

The other members of Li Wei’s team also saw the strangely behaving person, exchanging glances while instinctively wanting to step forward and intercept him for Xu Qianqian.

But before they could, Li Wei reached out and stopped them.

He had already seen the approaching person’s face.

Therefore, Li Wei’s expression had already become filled with shock and doubt.

This reaction naturally attracted the attention of many people.

Among them was Su Ming.

“What’s wrong?”An Zijin, Jiang Wanyu, Yao Beibei, Lei Hao, Ye Bai, and the others were somewhat bewildered.

Everyone could only watch as that person approached Xu Qianqian and stopped directly in front of her.

“————”

All the noise in the venue vanished at that moment.

It happened almost imperceptibly.

In that instant, many people began to realize that the atmosphere between Xu Qianqian and that person had turned peculiar.

Then…

“Long time no see, Qianqian, little sister.”

The person spoke with a tone of inexplicable mockery while pulling back the hood from their head.

It turned out to be a rather beautiful woman, exuding mature charm, with somewhat exaggerated makeup that didn’t provoke distaste but instead evoked an indescribable sense of stunning allure.

“Holy shit!”

Lei Hao and Ye Bai widened their eyes slightly, expressing their inner astonishment in an uncultured manner.

The others present also reacted with varying degrees of surprise, admiration, or excitement, creating a mild commotion.

Only a portion of the crowd recognized this person’s identity and, like Li Wei earlier, showed expressions of shock and suspicion.

“Isn’t that Xu Yanyan?”

“The Xu Yanyan from the Xu Family?”

“Is that really her?”

Some began discussing among themselves.

“Xu Yanyan?”

Su Ming also took note of this name.

In contrast, Xu Qianqian’s expression turned unprecedentedly icy.

“So it’s you who came in person?”

Xu Qianqian’s expression toward the other party was anything but friendly.

“What kind of look is that?” Xu Yanyan laughed, her voice still carrying that inexplicable mocking tone as she spoke leisurely. “After all, I am your cousin. That expression doesn’t look like someone who’s just seen their cousin at all.”

Xu Yanyan’s words not only made Xu Qianqian’s expression grow increasingly colder but also caused the surrounding people to become more unsettled and suspicious.

“Cousin?”

“She’s Senior Xu’s cousin?”

“Does that mean those Family Hunters are from the Xu Family?”

An Zijin, Jiang Wanyu, and Yao Beibei exchanged glances with each other.

Meanwhile, Lei Hao, who had been staring intently at Xu Yanyan, suddenly exclaimed.

“What are you yelling about?”

Even Ye Bai was startled.

Lei Hao ignored him.

“I remember now!” Lei Hao shouted. “She’s Xu Yanyan, the daughter of the current Xu Family Head’s eldest son! She graduated from the Academy just three years ago – a genius senior! I heard about her from some fourth-year seniors!”

Lei Hao’s words made even Su Ming turn his head.

“You’re saying that Xu Yanyan is from our Academy too?”

Su Ming was somewhat surprised.

“Yes!” Lei Hao nodded emphatically, speaking with certainty. “This senior has quite a reputation in the Hunter Department. Not only is she, like Xu Qianqian, a Young Miss of the Xu Family, but I heard her academic performance was outstanding too. When she graduated, she ranked first in the entire Hunter Department. After passing her graduation assessment, she was directly granted Two-Star status – she’s a formidable person who skipped One-Star entirely and became a Two-Star Hunter right out of the gate!”

Although the graduation assessment for students isn’t particularly strict, as mentioned earlier, star promotion is another matter entirely.

Anyone who graduates successfully can become a One-Star Professional.

But becoming a Two-Star Professional requires genuine capability.

Some people work hard for several years after debut without managing to pass the Two-Star evaluation and become Two-Star Professionals.Some individuals with poor aptitude may even need to spend over a decade diligently improving themselves before they can advance to Two-Star.

Yet Xu Yanyan was directly awarded Two-Star during her graduation assessment.

Achieving Two-Star upon debut is an honor that only one or two individuals in each year’s graduation season at the Demon Hunter Academy can attain—sometimes there is even a complete gap where no one manages to achieve such results.

“I heard from a senior who admired her that she seems to have already become a Three-Star Hunter,” Lei Hao shared this piece of information.

“Moreover, among the Three-Star Hunters in Longyao City, this senior appears to be quite formidable.”

(End of Chapter)