Chapter 2109: The Ancient Beast-Grass

Teacher Mo Yun on the side also opened his eyes.

Protecting students out here, he couldn't sleep soundly; sensing something, he glanced to the side, and his eyes couldn't help but light up.

Seeing his expression, as if understanding something, Zhang Xuan looked over with doubt.

“If I'm not mistaken, it should be what we're looking for in this trial—the Gale Sand Fox!” Teacher Mo Yun stood up.

Zhang Xuan frowned.

He knew nothing about the Divine Realm; he had no idea what kind of creature this was.

Seeing his confusion, Teacher Mo Yun explained: “It's a divine beast at the lower-grade divine level. Its offense and defense aren't strong, but it excels in speed. Its blood and crystal core contain wind-attribute power; consuming them can make one extremely fast! It's neither dangerous nor easy to catch, making it most suitable for student trials. According to our investigation, its lair should be half a day's journey away. I didn't expect it to show up here!”

This trial was meant to catch this thing. He thought they'd fail by returning early, but unexpectedly, it came to them in the middle of the night.

“Shen Cheng, Wu Xiaoxiao, get up quickly!”

After explaining, Teacher Mo Yun smiled faintly and called out in a low voice.

Though the students were fast asleep, being divine-level experts, they all scrambled up at the call, adjusting to their best state in the blink of an eye, looking over with bright eyes.

“Teacher, what's wrong?”

The white-clad youth named Shen Cheng asked with slight confusion.

“Listen for yourself…” Teacher Mo Yun didn't speak but pointed in the direction he had just looked.

Shen Cheng listened for a moment, and his eyes instantly blazed with excitement: “Is it the Gale Sand Fox?”

“Correct!” Teacher Mo Yun nodded.

“Great, looks like we can finish the task today…” Full of excitement, Shen Cheng leaped up and called to the other students: “Everyone, get ready. Follow the plan we set earlier—move out!”

“Okay!”

Everyone lowered their voices, their bodies shifting, and they shot forward in unison.

Seeing their movements were neat and uniform, without any waste or unnecessary motion, and without causing any sound or disturbance, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but nod.

Truly worthy of being top students from the academy; they indeed seemed extraordinary.

Though they were only ordinary gods, their combat abilities were all quite impressive.

“Brother Zhang Xuan, you rest here. I'll go watch them…” Teacher Mo Yun chuckled, stood up, and followed closely.

“Zhao Ya, you keep watch and take care of the junior brothers, junior sisters, and the master. I'll be back soon!” After instructing, Zhang Xuan vanished from the spot.

He hadn't seen a Gale Sand Fox before; it was a good chance to observe how these academy disciples cooperated to catch it, and to learn more about the Divine Realm.

The group moved quickly. Zhang Xuan, not fully recovered from his injuries, barely kept up. As he arrived behind a rock, he saw Shen Cheng and the other academy disciples already surrounding a divine beast.

It was a fox-like divine beast, not large in size. It charged left and right within the encirclement, its strength not great, but as Teacher Mo Yun had said, its speed was indeed extremely fast.

“These students aren't bad…”

Watching their encirclement tactics, Zhang Xuan nodded approvingly.

He had thought they were a bunch of incompetent students, but seeing their siege techniques now dispelled that notion.

Every move they made followed the principles of a formation, sealing off all escape routes for the Gale Sand Fox in the center. Despite its speed, it couldn't break free.

No wonder Teacher Mo Yun always seemed superior and looked down on students recruited by famous teachers—these people were indeed exceptional.

Their strength, awareness, and movements were all top-notch, far surpassing ordinary people.

“Looks like this Gale Sand Fox won't escape…”

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

Though the divine beast was fast, the students' abilities were not weak; capturing it was a foregone conclusion. Watching or not made little difference.

Just as he was about to return and continue cultivating to recover from his injuries, his mind suddenly stirred.

Based on his understanding of sacred beasts and spirit beasts, each animal had its own territory and activity range, and they rarely crossed boundaries.

According to Teacher Mo Yun, the creature's habitat was at least half an hour away—why would it appear in the middle of the night?

He activated his Eye of Insight.

Complex traces of movement appeared before him, and Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

The direction from which the Gale Sand Fox had come showed a faint trail, clearly indicating it was chasing something.

He followed the trail forward, disappearing into the darkness behind the group, and walked quietly.

For this divine beast to risk leaving its lair in the dead of night, the thing it was chasing must be extraordinary.

After advancing a short distance, he stopped.

The trail vanished into a dense patch of woods.

Frowning, Zhang Xuan flickered and entered the thicket.

The waning moon in the sky wasn't very bright, and the dense foliage blocked the light, leaving everything pitch black. Even Zhang Xuan's Eye of Insight was limited, unable to see clearly.

He stopped.

The trail disappeared completely here.

He searched the ground but found nothing, frowning.

At the spot where the trail ended, there were only some ordinary plants, nothing special.

Could it be that the thing the Gale Sand Fox was chasing had vanished into thin air?

He was merely curious about what could make this creature risk danger to hunt it. Now that the thing had seemingly disappeared despite clear traces, his interest was piqued.

In the half-month since arriving in the Divine Realm, he couldn't use the library, and many plants here differed from those in the Firmament or the Master Continent. He relied on his Eye of Insight to determine if they were poisonous or edible.

If other ordinary creatures regularly ate them, they should be safe.

Of course, even if they were poisonous, it didn't matter—they had someone with a natural poison body. At worst, she could taste it first; if it tasted bad, it was definitely non-toxic…

Having used it frequently lately, he knew the Eye of Insight's capabilities in the Divine Realm well.

Since the trail ended here, the thing being chased must still be nearby!

He searched again but still found nothing.

Zhang Xuan's brow furrowed tightly.

With traces present, unless it could fly or burrow, it couldn't possibly evade him.

“If it could fly, the Gale Sand Fox wouldn't be able to catch it… Could it be burrowing?” The ground was dry and showed no signs of being turned over. Just as he was puzzled, his eyes fell on a lush green weed.

This plant blended in with the surroundings, not too conspicuous, but… he had searched this area over a dozen times for wild vegetables and could guarantee he had never seen such a weed before.

If he had seen it earlier, he would have picked it to eat; it wouldn't still be here.

He gently touched it with his palm.

Hum!

A book appeared in his mind.

“Ancient Beast-Grass: can freely transform between beast and grass. Greatly nourishes the soul. When combined with [Ma Yang Beast Blood] to make a medicine, it can elevate an ordinary god's soul to the heavenly god level. Defect one: highly toxic, harmful to the human body. Without detoxification, the soul advances but the body suffers damage. Defect two: extremely rare and hard to find…”

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

If the library hadn't become usable, he might have been fooled.

This thing indeed looked exactly like ordinary grass, indistinguishable.

Something that was both beast and grass—not just in the Master Continent and Firmament, but even in his previous life, there was cordyceps, which was a worm in winter and a plant in summer, with great medicinal value.

He hadn't expected this one to be similar, and with such a miraculous effect on the soul.

Elevating a god's soul directly to the heavenly god level—that was terrifying.

No wonder the Gale Sand Fox had risked coming out of its lair for this.

As for the toxicity, with his Heaven's Path techniques, it was irrelevant.

Understanding the situation, he wouldn't let such a treasure escape. Zhang Xuan held his breath and grabbed at it.

As if sensing his intention to capture it, the green grass trembled slightly, leaped out of the soil, and shot straight ahead.

Its speed was like a gust of wind.

“Where do you think you're going…”

Earlier, he had failed to catch a rabbit because his injuries were too severe. After a full meal tonight, his strength had recovered somewhat. If he couldn't even catch a blade of grass, that would be truly embarrassing.

He took a step, leaping seven or eight meters, and grabbed in the air.

Divine power released from his five fingertips formed a net.

Heart like a double-threaded net, with a thousand knots within!

A sword technique surpassing Heaven's Path descended, enveloping the grass.

He gently pinched it, holding it in his palm. His divine sense extended into it, and sure enough, he felt a warmth that nourished the soul, flowing continuously and soothing the heart.

With a flick and twist of his fingers, the net of sword energy completely enclosed it, preventing any escape. Zhang Xuan then placed it in his bosom, wrapped in cloth.

His current soul level was only at the lower-grade god level. If he could advance to the heavenly god level, he wouldn't need to fear even a true heavenly god!

After storing the herb, he returned to the camp and found Teacher Mo Yun and the students had also returned. The Gale Sand Fox was struggling in their hands but to no avail.

“Congratulations!”

Seeing they had completed the trial and captured the divine beast, Zhang Xuan smiled slightly.

He had felt earlier that it couldn't escape, and indeed it hadn't.

“Where did you go, Brother Zhang?”

Seeing he hadn't been with the group, Teacher Mo Yun frowned in confusion.

“I went to watch you catch the beast, but before I found you, I came back. We must have missed each other…” Zhang Xuan said.

“Such a short distance, and you still got lost? How clumsy!”

The somewhat attractive female student Wu Xiaoxiao snorted, looking at Zhang Xuan with disdain again.

These guys had nearly caused their trial to fail. Even if they were strong, getting lost over such a short distance was just plain stupid.

The key point was… Senior Brother Shen Cheng, who had always had his eyes on her, hadn't even glanced her way since those girls appeared. Thinking about it made her furious.