Chronicles of Immortals and Demons Book 2 Chapter 31 - Running Wantonly and Crazily

'Firefly', four five emblem withdrawals.

'Thunder Python', four five emblem withdrawals.

'Silver Fox', three five emblem withdrawals.

'Black Bat', three five emblem withdrawals.

'Golden Sunflower', three five emblem withdrawals.

…

A red-robed Jiang Xiaoyi stared at the public announcement signboard for a long time. Compared to yesterday, regardless of whether it was achievements or rankings, there were noticeable changes.

Many names that were previously on the list but now disappeared represented yesterday's failure, their achievements already wiped out.

The 'Silver Fox' he stared at, compared to yesterday, went up in ranking as expected, reaching three successful five emblem withdrawals.

This further proved his intuition, that the 'Silver Fox' who defeated him twice might very well be Self Defense Department's heaven's choice, Lin Xi who defeated Qiu Lu yesterday!

"If it really is you… how could your strength have improved so quickly?!"

Now, what he felt towards Lin Xi was already no longer the competitiveness from being defeated, but rather respect and curiosity. After all, if this 'Silver Fox' really was Lin Xi… he fought with Lin Xi twice, moreover personally watched him fight Qiu Lu. From these three instances, he was already certain that Lin Xi wasn't hiding his strength, but rather indeed had an astonishing growth rate.

"Don't tell me that he really is one of those who innately possess Braveslayer aptitude? Is that why the academy chose for him to enter as heaven's choice?"

Suddenly, Jiang Xiaoyi who was already heading towards the valley came to a stop. This thought that abruptly emerged in his mind immediately made his fingertips a bit numb, and also immediately completely flipped over his previous less than optimal impression of this Self Defense Department heaven's choice.

Some students felt jealousy and resentment towards their own peers surpassing them, and this type of resentment would accompany them for the rest of their lives, but there were some who only felt respect and adoration towards those who surpassed themselves; Jiang Xiaoyi, who was born out of a family with a refined background, belonged to the latter.

The legendary Braveslayers, even if they were before a great army, were unstoppable, hundreds of sets of heavy armor unable to stop them. The opposing great army could only watch as their own great generals' heads were taken. 

Because of this sudden association, Jiang Xiaoyi whose hands and feet all became a bit numb took a deep breath, and then continued towards the training valley. Apart from doing his best to improve his fighting strength, from this moment on, he had another objective in the training valley: follow Silver Fox's traces, see if he was someone who had the potential to become a Braveslayer.

A dragon claw scholar tree grew in a slanted manner next to an odd looking mountain rock, a now already changed Jiang Xiaoyi moved out from behind this rock. Unlike a few days ago, the students who entered the training valley already begun to experience the cruelty of the battlefield, at times, even if one's martial skill was greater than their opponent's, a single slip up would result in being taken advantage of, and then there was no turning back. On the battlefield, no one cared about martial skill being greater or weaker, there was only life and death.

Some students who were looking for weapons more suitable for themselves would also do their best to hide the weapons they discovered, but didn't wish to use a bit better, not allowing other students to find them. That was why even though the amount of weapons scattered throughout the training valley was many, compared to a few days ago, finding a weapon one liked became much more difficult.

It had already been twenty halts since Jiang Xiaoyi entered the training valley, yet he only now saw the first weapon. There was a sickle spear in the underbrush in front of the dragon claw scholar tree.

Crack!

However, the moment he prepared to rush out and pick up this weapon, the sound of dried branches being crushed under someone's feet suddenly sounded from the mountain forest opposite of where he was.

Immediately afterwards, a wave of disorderly and incredibly fast footsteps could be heard, as if they were drumbeats, carrying a type of extremely nervous feeling. The noises grew louder and louder, only when he once again hid behind the large stone did two black-armored warriors wielding bladed weapons run out frantically from the forest. Dried branches were crushed underneath their feet, rocks flying everywhere, earth and dust surging under their powerful steps.

Jiang Xiaoyi's pupils immediately contracted, to the extent where he didn't even pick up the sickle spear that was only several dozen steps from where he was, instead rushing straight in the direction those two black-armored warriors were frantically running towards, disregarding everything else.

It was because he clearly saw the symbols on those two's black armors, it really was a coincidence… the one in the front who was running with a long black blade in hand, the symbol on his chest was the 'Silver Fox' that he had constantly been preoccupied with!

…

Jiang Xiaoyi didn't see incorrectly, the one who was fleeing at the front, was precisely Lin Xi.

Meanwhile, the one chasing after him with a three-edged spear, was precisely a ranked individual on the new student training valley ranked signboard: Golden Sunflower.

In reality, Lin Xi who had just completed his windstalker training only entered ten minutes before Jiang Xiaoyi, but the first opponent he encountered, 'Golden Sunflower', was the most powerful opponent Lin Xi had faced ever since he began training in this valley.

The instant the two exchanged attacks, the longsword and the other party's three-edged spear clashing, he was almost forcibly sent flying. At the same time, a kick from the other party directly pushed Lin Xi until he tumbled backwards.

Lin Xi whose right arm became numb, his chest feeling bone splitting pain from just the first encounter, instantly understood that the gap in strength between the opponent and himself was extremely great. Even when facing Qiu Lu, he didn't feel such a massive difference in strength between the two parties.

Moreover, from the other party's extremely fast and nimble defensive movements, as well as his kick that was even faster than his own, the other party had to either be a border barbarian like Tang Ke, or a golden spoon or bumpkin who began cultivating a few years before even Qiu Lu.

That was why Lin Xi immediately chose to run.

Originally, he chose to run because he wanted to try and see if he could find a weapon more suited to himself. However, in the following pursuit, it was basically like facing the Direct Spear Strikes Trial, immediately becoming dangerous and interesting.

The other party's crazy assault was completely like a wild berserk horse, speed just too fast.

That was why he had to continuously rely on the surrounding terrain to do his best to move through the jungle, continuously changing directions… however despite this, both him and the black-armored warrior with the Golden Sunflower symbol still only had several steps of distance between them.

'Golden Sunflower' also decided to just fight to the end, the two, one in front, one in back, rushed through the training valley's jungle, doing their best to run frantically like thunder!

Lin Xi ran in a rather carefree manner. He never expected that with the support of soul force, he could actually run crazily like this for so long. Apart from his heavy breathing, his body was actually able to hold on, granting him an indescribably free feeling.

In the previous world, which youngster didn't want to run crazily along the streets under the dusky street lights at night, as if they were squandering away their youth? However, just like how the wantonly spent youth seemed endless, yet it passed in the blink of an eye, in the previous world, who could continue running crazily for a long time?

Jiang Xiaoyi was also frantically running behind these two, breathing heavily like an ox, running until every breath he released was burning hot.

However, the further he ran in a berserk manner, the more he stared at those two figures, the more he was filled with disbelief. Moving intensely in this type of black armor would consume soul force extremely quickly. From the first encounter, Jiang Xiaoyi felt like 'Silver Fox' had worse cultivation aptitude than himself, his strength a bit lacking. Now that they ran frantically all this time, the soul force within his body was already seventy to eighty percent gone, yet this Silver Fox's soul force still hadn't been completely used up!

Jiang Xiaoyi knew that there was some huge factor he hadn't considered, and that was why what he originally felt ought to obviously be the case didn't quite add up. However, as for what exactly that factor was, he just couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly, a hint of irregular movement happened to all three of the frantically running individuals.

The source of this surprise came from a shrubbery to the left of Lin Xi. In the shrubbery, there was a black stone strong bow and a quiver filled with black arrows.

Lin Xi saw it, the 'Golden Sunflower' behind him also saw it, while Jiang Xiaoyi even further back also saw it.

Looking at it from the direction Lin Xi was running in, he clearly wanted to obtain the black stone power bow and quiver, but Jiang Xiaoyi clearly understood that even if Lin Xi could seize this black power bow and the quiver of arrows, it was completely useless. It was because there was simply no way of increasing the distance between the 'Golden Sunflower' and himself.

Perhaps the moment he obtained the black stone power bow, Golden Sunflower's three-edged spear would have already smashed straight into his body.

Unknown as to what kind of emotions suddenly drove him into acting like this, not even Jiang Xiaoyi himself knew why, a wave of flames burned from his chest. He gathered all of his strength, picked up a giant rock, and sent it smashing towards Golden Sunflower. Even though he was unarmed and defenseless, he still rushed out, duty-bound and not looking back, charging at Golden Sunflower.

Roar!

Golden Sunflower, who originally didn't take the completely unarmed Jiang Xiaoyi seriously at all, released a low roar of hidden anger. He avoided the large boulder, and then the three-edged spear stabbed straight towards Jiang Xiaoyi's neck, releasing air tearing sounds. It was just like nailing a grasshopper, smashing Jiang Xiaoyi straight into the ground out of the air.

Jiang Xiaoyi's expression immediately became snow-white, the strength behind the blow was great to the point where he couldn't breathe at all. Right at this moment, his slightly turned head saw that Lin Xi had already flung aside the black longsword in his hands, fiercely leaping out. With a flip, he grabbed the black stone power bow, drawing out an arrow from the quiver.

Because the situation was too dire, and because he couldn't control his own balance, he fell heavily into the shrubbery, a muffled grunt of pain sounded from behind his silver mask. However, the instant his back smashed heavily into the ground, he already drew the black stone power bow, pulled back the bowstring, holding an arrow. With a light weng cry, the black arrow shot out like a streak of lightning. An explosive pa sounded, smashing into Golden Sunflower's lower back.

Golden Sunflower's body shook slightly, the three-edged spear leaving Jiang Xiaoyi's neck. Lin Xi already got back up, the black quiver attached to his body, starting to run frantically again while firing ice-cold arrows.

He didn't know why Jiang Xiaoyi would help him, nor did he see the Rose Flower symbol on Jiang Xiaoyi's chest. However, seeing Golden Sunflower's strike just now that nailed Jiang Xiaoyi to the ground, making it so that he couldn't even breathe, his arms and legs even trembling slightly… a wave of cold flames was ignited within his chest.

Chapter end