If you want, I'll fight for you.
No one would believe that Chu Li didn't have a tent.
However, Gu Xiaoyue knew that he had the Youming Tiger, and in the wild, he could easily enter the Youming Tiger's hidden space.
So, it wasn't impossible that he really hadn't prepared a tent.
Ye Wanrou heard this, put her hands on her hips, and asked Chu Li, "Oh? Are you trying to take advantage of my Xiao Yue?"
Before Chu Li could answer, Chen Yixuan also came over, told Ye Wanrou that he had forgotten to bring a tent, and asked if he could squeeze in with her.
Chu Li looked Chen Yixuan up and down with a mischievous grin.
Ye Wanrou, however, was blushing furiously and stuttered, "Y-y-you forgot your tent too?"
After saying this, she lowered her head, too embarrassed to look at Chen Yixuan again.
"In that case," Gu Xiaoyue spoke up, "I'll sleep in the same tent as Ye Wanrou, and you two can just sleep in one together."
Ye Wanrou was a bit surprised, but because she was shy, she didn't say anything.
Chu Li hooked his arm around Chen Yixuan's neck. "Oh, so you're using the same trick on me, kid! Your plan backfired, didn't it!"
This was the first time Chu Li had treated Chen Yixuan with such intimacy; before, he had always been cold and indifferent, or even teasing him.
Chen Yixuan felt even more embarrassed. "No, that's not it."
The group chatted and messed around for a while longer before preparing to sleep.
Chu Li kept watch by the campfire, occasionally adding dry wood to keep the fire from going out.
Gu Xiaoyue couldn't sleep, so she left the tent to keep Chu Li company during his watch.
The two sat by the campfire, chatting idly every now and then.
In truth, Gu Xiaoyue had always wanted to ask Chu Li: they had encountered many strange things together, and she could casually produce rare treasures, so why was he not curious?
For example, from the very beginning, Chu Li insisted that she had Heaven-tier talent and said her companion beast was a Baize. Even today, when she contracted the Bi Fang above her level, Chu Li hadn't been the least bit surprised, maintaining a straight face.
She felt that Chu Li also had many secrets.
Could it be that Chu Li also had a system?
"Chu Li," Gu Xiaoyue called out softly, "there are some things—"
Chu Li responded with a confused look.
Gu Xiaoyue sighed. She didn't know if she should ask, or if he would answer, so she ultimately changed the subject.
"After we leave the secret realm, we have to start preparing for the National Competition."
Chu Li nodded. "I don't know what the rewards are, but if you want them, I will fight to get them for you."
Gu Xiaoyue felt touched. He knew she was greedy, and whenever she wanted resources, he would say he would help her get them no matter what.
"Mm. My thought is that if we participate in the National Competition, you should be the captain."
Gu Xiaoyue paused and explained.
"You know I have quite a lot of pet beasts now."
"After we leave the secret realm, I want to focus my energy more on training and the Beastmaster assessment."
Chu Li understood. By his count, Gu Xiaoyue had at least five pet beasts.
In truth, he didn't know that Gu Xiaoyue already had nine pet beasts!
Although she could afford to raise them, it wasn't easy to treat them all equally and be fair to everyone.
Take the Bi Fang, for example; it was so tiny, and the moment it entered the Yu Beast Space, it started whimpering and acting spoiled with Gu Xiaoyue.
Because high-tier pet beasts have a tighter mental link with their masters, when the little Bi Fang acted spoiled in the Yu Beast Space, the other pet beasts also started to get a bit rowdy.
That was why Gu Xiaoyue couldn't sleep and got up to keep Chu Li company during his watch.
And this was just the beginning; there was only one han jiang grass, and she hadn't decided who to give it to yet.
In the future, for all kinds of rare treasures, she couldn't possibly prepare nine copies of everything!
Chu Li basically never refused Gu Xiaoyue's requests, especially not something as reasonable as this.
Time quickly reached 1:00 AM, and Gu Xiaoyue and Chu Li both returned to their tents.
Chu Li swapped with Chen Yixuan for the watch.
Ye Wanrou was a light sleeper, and she happened to wake up right as Gu Xiaoyue returned.
Although she wasn't fully awake, she groggily climbed up to keep Chen Yixuan company while he stood watch.
When Gu Xiaoyue woke up, it was already broad daylight.
Chu Li had prepared water and items for her to wash up, as well as a warm breakfast.
Han Qiao was incredibly jealous and made Fang Xiaoyu prepare the same for her. Although Fang Xiaoyu didn't know how, he followed suit and did it.
But afterwards, Han Qiao still complained about him, saying he only did things when she told him to, and if she didn't say anything, Fang Xiaoyu wouldn't move.
Ye Wanrou couldn't even be bothered to pay attention to Han Qiao anymore; she just focused on packing up her and Chen Yixuan's things and prepared to set off.
Rare treasures in the freshman secret realm were not as common as they had imagined.
Gu Xiaoyue and her group had walked in the secret realm for two days, only defeating a few dozen fierce beasts, without finding any particularly rare treasures.
It wasn't until the fourth day that they discovered a stalk of Ice Heart Grass, which Gu Xiaoyue picked and stored in her Yu Beast Space.
Ice Heart Grass is used to enhance a pet beast's intelligence, allowing the pet beast to more quickly understand the Beastmaster's thoughts during battle, thereby coordinating better with the Beastmaster.
Gu Xiaoyue felt it was a bit useless; the intelligence of high-tier pet beasts was already very high, so there wasn't much room for improvement.
Even if a low-tier pet beast used it, limited by its own tier, the effect wouldn't be very obvious.
However, it could still sell for about 20 million star coins.
It had been agreed that resources discovered together would be split equally, and this time, Han Qiao didn't make a fuss.
However, Han Qiao complained that walking these past few days had given her blisters on her feet, and she wanted to ride her pet beast more instead of walking.
Gu Xiaoyue had no objections; of course, she agreed to such a reasonable request.
Thus, Gu Xiaoyue and Chu Li rode the Fire Phoenix, Ye Wanrou and Chen Yixuan rode the Unicorn, and Fang Xiaoyu took Han Qiao to ride his Golden Claw Leopard.
After traveling for another two days, a mountain appeared in their field of vision.
Golden and cyan lights overlapped on the mountaintop; there had to be treasure on this mountain!
Everyone was very excited and charged toward the mountaintop at full speed.
Their pet beasts were fast to begin with, and with the boost from their high tiers, they arrived at the mountaintop before long.
From far away, they all saw a golden fruit tree.
However, next to the fruit tree, six Beastmasters and six pet beasts were surrounded by two fierce Azure Wolves!
Originally, there were only two Azure Wolves, so they should have been the ones surrounded.
But both Azure Wolves were Mature Tier 1, one in the mid-stage and one in the late-stage.
Looking at the Beastmasters' side, the six pet beasts were four at the Young life stage 9 and two at the Young life stage 8.
It was like six elementary school students facing two adults; they wanted to fight back, but they were being suppressed completely.
When Gu Xiaoyue and the others looked, they saw that this team was Zhuang Yanxin's team.
The situation was not looking good; one Young life stage 9 pet beast and one Young life stage 8 pet beast had already been injured.
But if they recalled them to the Yu Beast Space, it was likely that these two Mature Tier 1 fierce Azure Wolves would immediately pounce, breaking the stalemate.
However, it was clear that Zhuang Yanxin and her group were about to reach their limit.
Gu Xiaoyue's body had been strengthened three times, and from a distance, she could see three ripe fruits on that golden fruit tree.
She shouted to Zhuang Yanxin, "I want the fierce beast carcasses, and we split the spirit fruits 30/70, with me getting 70—do we have a deal?"