In the Secret Realm, there was no day or night, only a perpetual twilight. But now, several orange-yellow flames drifted up, carrying with them the bloody scent of Demon Beasts.

Surrounded by several bonfires, the students from site eight occupied the largest area, their backs against the three-meter-high trunk of the fallen Demon Plant.

A bald-headed young man wiped a streak of blood from his face and ran over to Jiang Qiu, grinning. "Brother Jiang, we from site five have finished moving the remaining 21 Red Armored Giant Lizards."

Following the direction he pointed, Jiang Qiu saw a mound of dark red corpses piled between two forked roots of the Demon Plant.

"Good. I appreciate it."

"No trouble, no trouble at all! We’ll do whatever you ask, Brother Jiang. You’re the one who saved our lives!"

The bald man’s bloody hands awkwardly rubbed his head. His cut left eyelid was red and swollen, leaving the eye half-closed and making his right eye seem larger than his left.

The first time he’d met Jiang Qiu out here, he was rescued, avoiding a forced ’withdrawal’ from the combat training hunt.

The second time was just now, where Jiang Qiu had saved him from certain death.

’What could possibly be a hassle?’

Before Jiang Qiu could say more, the leader of another group of students ran over, waving. "Brother Jiang, the six of our sites have finished moving all the Iron Armor Lizard corpses!"

"Good..."

"We’ve also gathered all the students who died. There are 27 in total. Should we bury them here or burn them?"

"Leave them. When the Secret Realm spits us all out, their parents can take them home."

"Got it!"

The group leaders who had received their instructions began to rally the students who still had strength, and the work proceeded in an orderly manner. Jiang Qiu glanced to the side and saw Liu Zili strolling toward him. Faint dimples appeared on her blood-stained cheeks, and her bright eyes shone. In her arms, she cradled three fruits that resembled white jade.

"Jiang Qiu, these are the Demon Plant’s Fruits. Xie Kuang found them and asked me to give them to you."

Taking the Demon Plant Fruits, Jiang Qiu paused. His gaze slowly swept over the figures recuperating by the bonfire, the site eight students carving up the Red Armored Giant Lizard, and the group moving corpses in the distance. "Where’s Xie Kuang?"

"He... dragged an Iron Armor Lizard away with him."

Following her slender, blood-stained finger, he saw a tiny black dot dragging a lumpy, dark shape toward the horizon, already a kilometer away.

’He’s gone so far. He must be planning to leave. All living beings who set foot in the Secret Realm are eventually spat back out anyway.’

After a moment of silence, Jiang Qiu turned to look at Liu Zili, who always seemed to be smiling. The corners of his own lips lifted. "Thank you for the Blood Boiling Liquid. You weren’t seriously injured, were you?"

"No, not at all. I’m just a little tired."

Liu Zili shook her head, the short strands of hair framing her face swinging back and forth. Her almond-shaped eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Make sure to eat some Red Armored Giant Lizard meat later. It’s from a Middle Tier Demon Beast, so it will help you recover more stamina. For the next ten-odd days until the Secret Realm reopens, we’ll probably have to survive on Demon Beast Meat. You should rest well. Go sit by the bonfire."

"Okay..."

Liu Zili nodded. She wiped her eyes with the back of her right hand, leaving behind two faint, shimmering streaks of moisture. Her small figure settled peacefully by the bonfire.

Jiang Qiu stared at her back, his lips pressed into a thin line. The image of the crimson glass bottle flying across the battlefield replayed in his mind, and he could still feel how his heart had leaped in his chest at that moment.

’I owe her more than just a bottle of Blood Boiling Liquid now...’

’If she needs anything, I’ll help her if I can.’

Muttering this to himself, Jiang Qiu wandered off to search in the distance. Along the way, unfamiliar students who were nursing their wounds grinned and called out "Brother Jiang," and he nodded or grunted in response to each of them.

’Now that the Demon Beasts are dead and the most powerful Demon Plant is gone, we have meat and a fire to cook it. We just have to wait ten-odd days for the Secret Realm to open, and then we’ll be out.’

’But the biggest problem now is... where is my spearhead?’

Jiang Qiu’s brows furrowed. His gaze swept over the craters in the ground. He overturned a few stones and pushed aside fragments of the Demon Plant’s trunk, but there was no sign of it.

’When the spear broke, it definitely flew in this direction. How can I not find it?’

’That’s my most valuable possession! It’s worth hundreds of thousands—it would have lasted me until I became a true Martial Artist.’

’Gone, just like that?’

’Don’t tell me some Demon Beast happened to open its mouth and swallow it. Wouldn’t that have scraped its throat...’

"Jiang Qiu."

A resonant voice suddenly called out. Jiang Qiu looked up to see a young man with blood trickling from his eyes walking toward him. In his right hand, he held a spearhead broken from its shaft, a cold light glinting off its Double Arc Blade.

"Li Juefeng." Taking the spearhead, Jiang Qiu felt a wave of relief. "Thank you."

"Don’t mention it. I’m the one who should be thanking you."

Li Juefeng pulled his lips back in a toothy grin, his vision blurred by the blood in his eyes. He puffed out his chest with a creak of his bones. "That Spear Dao technique you used to break through to the Mastery Realm was the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the kind of Spear Skill I’m pursuing. Maybe I don’t need the Qiang Su Fragrance after all. I think I’ve already found my path!

You’re a true prodigy—more deserving of a spot in the Prodigy Program than I ever was!"

"The Prodigy Program... Maybe."

Jiang Qiu’s expression remained placid as his thoughts drifted back to a time before he had even set foot in Eighth Middle School.

His parents had still been alive, and he used to watch news reports that had nothing to do with him, sometimes daydreaming about what it meant to be a prodigy.

He supposed it was like the top non-martial arts students in Jiangnan Province. There were always those who stood out, using their exceptional talent in non-Martial Arts fields to achieve a prominent social status.

They were screened and selected as early as junior high, chosen by the Military Department to be special university entrance candidates. They were taught Spear Technique and the even more demanding Bow Technique, given access to more Martial Arts Resources, and saddled with greater expectations.

They took the same university entrance exam as everyone else, but for them, it was just a formality. Their admission to Northwest Martial University was already guaranteed.

For the person he was back then, the very idea of being a prodigy was impossibly remote...

"Brother Jiang, the meat’s cooked! Come and eat!" Zhang Shan’s booming voice pulled Jiang Qiu from his reverie. He raised an eyebrow at Li Juefeng. "Shall we go eat?"

"Alright."

Jiang Qiu led Li Juefeng back to the bonfire near the remains of the Demon Plant. The rich, savory aroma of roasting meat hung in the air. All the other students watched with rapt attention, their gazes fixed on him and the site eight students—including Hu Ye’ye—who were in charge of the cooking.

"Brother Jiang," Zhang Shan said, "using this Demon Plant’s trunk for firewood cooks things fast. We even roasted this Red Armored Giant Lizard’s head until it was crispy."

Taking the lizard head—three or four times the size of his own—from Zhang Shan’s hands, Jiang Qiu raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Start handing out the meat. What are you all staring at me for? If it’s not enough, keep roasting. Once we’re done with the Red Armored Giant Lizards, we’ll move on to the Black Armored Lizards."

"ALRIGHT—"

"WOOO—"

A chorus of drawn-out cheers broke the silence. Every student by the bonfires received a piece of Middle Tier Demon Beast Meat larger than their own torso.

Jiang Qiu sat down quietly within the bonfire circle for the site eight students, leaning his back against the Demon Plant’s trunk. To his right, Zhang Shan was taking huge bites of belly meat; to his left, Liu Zili kept her head down, gnawing on a large leg.

No one spoke much around the bonfires. The overlapping sounds of chewing rose and fell, creating a symphony of their own.

He tore off a large mouthful. The searing-hot skin was tough, like chewing on a rubber band, and it took a long while before it softened enough to be swallowed. As it went down, a warmth began to spread through his entire body.

His depleted blood began to surge, as if a floodgate had been opened.

[Low-Quality Body Refining x1]

[Iron Flesh]

[Features: Copper Skin and Iron Flesh, Fighting Demons with Bare Hands]

[23/1000]

’One Low-Quality Body Refining gives two points. That’s twice as much as the lowest-quality version, double the efficiency.’

As he thought of this, Jiang Qiu—his cheeks still bulging with food—glanced at the pouch lying beside him. The white-jade luster of the fruits was visible at its opening.

’I wonder how many points I’ll get from eating those three Demon Plant Fruits...’