Don't try to cultivate immortality; mortals live longer than immortals.

While monitoring Duan Xuan's physical stats to prevent him from overexerting himself and revealing a weakness, Ling Yun offered encouragement. After all, her host's combat experience was not much better than that of college students, and in fact, it was even less.

This has nothing to do with whether or not one has a true Heavenly Spiritual Root. Experience comes from accumulation and honing one's skills, and it has only been a little over three months since he entered the cultivation school.

……

at the same time.

Zheng Lei and Jiang Yaoguang floated silently on the open ground in front of the dormitory building. Not far ahead, there was an exceptionally clear projection image.

Every blade of grass and every tree inside is depicted in exquisite detail.

At this moment, Duan Xuan is dodging the sharp claws of a demonic beast that leaps out from behind the rock wall, and then he uses a Wind Binding Technique in the backhand.

Immediately afterwards, with a flick of the other finger, a fiery red, longan-sized ball of light was sent into the monster's mouth.

The moment the light bullet entered its throat, the monster's struggle abruptly stopped, and the surrounding energy aura flickered irregularly...

boom!

A loud bang was heard.

A blinding blue light burst forth from the monster's body, and then the enormous monster transformed into streams of data and specks of light, disappearing into thin air...

The whole process, though seemingly complicated, was actually as smooth as flowing water. From the moment the monster used the rock wall to hide and launch a sneak attack, to Duan Xuan seeing through it and turning the tables, it only took two and a half seconds at most.

Zheng Lei took in the whole scene, a strange look flashing in his eyes. He looked down at the spiritual energy fluctuation curve displayed on the holographic screen.

With a combat power of 52 points, fluctuating within a range of no more than 3, this spiritual power output value is almost mediocre at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Zheng Lei frowned slightly, seemingly somewhat taken aback. This was different from what he had expected. Although the victory was easy, such a display of combat prowess was unlike that of a genius from Shuiyun Daoyun Academy...

But he quickly came to terms with it.

The little guy is still a bit naive and is probably hiding his strength. But since I already know his background, my acting so ordinary is precisely my biggest weakness.

This thought only crossed Zheng Lei's mind briefly; he had no intention of getting to the bottom of it.

As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. Judging from Fairy Yaoguang's attitude, it's clear that these two little ones have extraordinary backgrounds, or rather, they're hiding great secrets. Even I, with my Golden Core, might not be able to afford to offend them...

It's better to pretend you don't know anything!

A slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, his expression became indifferent, and he even looked away from Duan Xuan.

Just then, Fairy Yaoguang's voice came through again: "Duan Xuan did quite well. Now let's look at Zhou Ran."

"it is good."

Zheng Lei nodded, then reached out again and gently poked the air in front of him. As he did so, the image related to Duan Xuan that was currently displayed burst like a bubble.

The next moment, the light representing Zhou Ran became brighter and brighter, and expanded rapidly, soon occupying the center of the entire screen.

At this moment, Zhou Ran had actually reached the edge of the Gobi Desert, and not far in front of him was a giant silver-gray wolf.

The giant wolf was about half a person's height, with protruding fangs, scarlet eyes filled with ferocity, and sharp claws like daggers, with a faint glint of cold light. It was clearly no ordinary creature.

Zheng Lei saw it clearly, and a strange look appeared on his face. He muttered to himself, "This little guy runs pretty fast. In such a short time, he has actually explored to the edge of the Gobi Desert. But he is really unlucky. He actually ran into the virtual Cracked Claw Demon Wolf."

Upon hearing this, Yao Guangxian's expression actually held a hint of schadenfreude: "Cracked Claw Demon Wolf, if I remember correctly, this demon is much more powerful than the centipede from before. Is it a demon at the sixth level of Qi Refining?"

"Not bad." Zheng Lei nodded. "Although it's only the sixth level of Qi Refining, combat power isn't a fixed number; it fluctuates within a certain range. Hmm, let me check."

As Zheng Lei spoke, he reached out and tapped lightly in the air. A box popped up at the bottom of the screen, filled with various numerical values.

Clearly, he was using his administrator privileges to access the Cracked Claw Wolf's backend data.

「战斗力45，这已经达到鍊气七层的水準了。」（鍊气7层战斗力的中位数是50点，浮动範围是38~65）。

"Oh, so this wolf demon is considered a mini-boss?" Jiang Yaoguang smoothed her hair upon hearing this, a playful expression appearing on her pretty face.

"You could say that." Zheng Lei, without any doubt, patiently explained, "Although the Cracked Claw Demon Wolf is only at the sixth level of Qi Refining in terms of cultivation level, its combat power was maximized during the design process."

"Of course, it is still within the reasonable fluctuation range of the sixth level. However, in this way, it can not only be compared with a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining in terms of objective combat power, but also has more explosive power. It does have the potential to become a boss."

"In short, they are not easy to deal with. The Cracked Claw Demon Wolf should be more troublesome than a seventh-level demon beast of the same combat strength."

"Hmm, I see."

Upon realizing this, Fairy Yaoguang's smile grew even brighter.

She holds grudges. Zhou Ran was rude to her yesterday. What did he say? He said that she dared to interfere with him, and if she wasn't satisfied, they would have a fight during the practical training tomorrow.

I really don't know how to live or die!

Jiang Yaoguang originally wanted to teach this fool a lesson, but things didn't go as planned. This kid was unlucky; before she could even make a move, he ran into a boss-level monster.

Given this trend, I'm afraid I won't even need to play myself anymore.

"However, as a cultivator with a mutated celestial spiritual root, his combat strength should not be weak. Even if the process is somewhat tortuous, defeating this Cracked Claw Demon Wolf should not be a problem!"

Jiang Yaoguang suddenly felt a little worried. She only wanted Zhou Ran to suffer a bit, but she didn't want the little guy to be eliminated for no reason.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhou Ran's eyes shone brightly as he faced the ferocious-looking giant wolf.

Instead of feeling any fear or apprehension, they started drooling.

"I'm so hungry. I used to read in online novels that grilled wolf meat tasted pretty good. This one is so big, it's enough to fill me up for a meal."

Zhou Ran was lost in thought, his saliva already dripping onto the ground.

Off-screen, Jiang Yaoguang and Zheng Lei were both completely bewildered. Although they were both Golden Core Ancestors, they did not possess mind-reading abilities.

Being so far away, how would I know what this kid is thinking?

Why do I drool?

Was it scared?

But that doesn't make sense!

When someone is terrified, shouldn't their legs go weak or they cry?

So it's normal to shed tears, but drooling is truly puzzling and confusing...