Now it's a team game

With all six Four-winged Golden Eagles in the air, Gu Xiaoyue's Sand Throw skill could not be very effective.

She mentally commanded her Little Bear to cast Earth Shield, protecting all the beast pets on the ground.

The Four-winged Golden Eagles' attacks all struck the Earth Shield, causing no damage to their beast pets at all.

He Zhichen was not surprised; he just wanted to test the power of Gu Xiaoyue's Earth Shield.

With another gesture, the attacks from all six Four-winged Golden Eagles surged toward Zhuang Yanxin's Colorful Ice Butterfly.

Seeing that the Colorful Ice Butterfly was about to be targeted, if all these attacks connected, it would inevitably suffer serious injuries!

No sooner said than done, an Earth Shield appeared out of thin air in front of the Colorful Ice Butterfly, blocking all the attacks for it.

It can even cast Earth Shield in mid-air?

He Zhichen was astonished. Could this Raging Sand Bear's Earth Shield already be at the Mastery level?

They didn't have the advantage in the number of beast pets, and now, were all their attacks going to be blocked?

Gu Xiaoyue breathed a sigh of relief—fortunately, she had consumed the golden scale fruit and had undergone physical enhancement six times, so the Four-winged Golden Eagles' attacks looked like slow motion to her.

Otherwise, at this moment, Zhuang Yanxin's Colorful Ice Butterfly would likely have already been riddled with holes!

Moreover, Little Bear's Earth Shield had indeed leveled up to the Mastery level, allowing it to be cast out of thin air to block damage, though it could only withstand one wave.

Even if it could be cast continuously, it certainly wouldn't be as sturdy as when cast on the ground.

This move caught He Zhichen off guard, causing him to reveal a flaw.

Gu Xiaoyue seized the opportunity to have Qingqing use Luan Song, hard-controlling the six Golden Eagles for two seconds.

Fire Phoenix also unleashed fireballs and a Fire Sea, burning four of the Golden Eagles.

Qingqing didn't stay idle either; after casting Luan Song, she threw out Ice Flame, frost-biting the other two Four-winged Golden Eagles.

Due to the level gap, the six Golden Eagles were completely suppressed by the Qingluan Fire Phoenix.

Fang Xiaoyu and the others' ground-based beast pets could only watch the excitement, but they were quite used to playing this supporting role.

He Zhichen was unwilling to admit defeat and commanded his beast pets to launch several more waves of attacks, which were blocked by Gu Xiaoyue without any suspense.

Now, all six Four-winged Golden Eagles were slightly injured, and their attack damage and speed were no longer at their peak.

The Qingluan Fire Phoenix did not continue to attack, fearing that causing them more severe injuries would affect the next match.

Although there were still people cheering for the Chongbei contestants off the stage, after several failed attacks, He Zhichen knew the situation was lost.

He was unwilling to give up, but for the sake of the big picture, He Zhichen signaled to the referee that he was conceding.

The arena was not actual combat, after all; he could not let their beast pets suffer injuries too severe to affect the upcoming matches.

Before leaving the stage, He Zhichen cast a meaningful look at Gu Xiaoyue and Chu Li.

If they weren't opponents, they might have been able to become good friends.

Perhaps everyone has an admiration for the strong; He Zhichen was very talented, and he understood the principle that there is always someone better.

Gu Xiaoyue and Chu Li were indeed very strong opponents in his impression, and if their character was fine, they could be worth befriending.

Chongbei losing to Nanya was something that hadn't happened in many years.

Nanya had always been the perennial fifth place, while Chongbei had always been the existence second only to Huaqing.

Gu Xiaoyue and Chu Li could not only summon two beast pets at the same time, but the Qingluan Fire Phoenix was already at the Mature Second Tier—this news spread like wildfire, and almost all the contestants knew about it.

Especially Gu Xiaoyue, who had summoned a Nine-headed Snake in the previous match.

During the battle against Chongbei, the Qingluan and the Raging Sand Bear were both at the Mature stage.

This made everyone even more curious about her true strength, and the buzz about Gu Xiaoyue potentially becoming the first place in the individual event of this National Competition was extremely high.

Returning to the dormitory, Zhuang Yanxin thanked Gu Xiaoyue, "Thank you for just now on the arena, Xiao Yue."

If it weren't for Gu Xiaoyue blocking the damage for her Colorful Ice Butterfly in time, she would probably be taking the Colorful Ice Butterfly to the infirmary right now.

Gu Xiaoyue returned a smile to Zhuang Yanxin, "We are teammates; this is what I should do. What is there to thank me for?"

Zhuang Yanxin nodded. Gu Xiaoyue was right, but she just couldn't help but express her gratitude.

Just as Gu Xiaoyue wanted to rest, a consciousness fluctuation came from the Yu Beast Space—Xiao Mo and Xiao Lü had upgraded one after another—both growing to the early Mature First Tier.

The system also rewarded her with 1800 points for achieving the milestone of having 8 mature first-tier beast pets.

Her body felt a bit feverish, a sensation brought on by the successive physical enhancements.

Presumably, Gu Xiaoyue's body defense was now comparable to that of a ferocious beast at the middle or even late Mature First Tier.

As for her strength and speed, she was even more of a standout among her peers.

Even those with Heaven Tier talent did not have the Mental Power that Gu Xiaoyue possessed to contract so many beast pets.

Now, all of Gu Xiaoyue's beast pets, except for the Bi Fang, Ying Long, and Hou obtained in the secret realm, had already leveled up to the Mature First Tier.

She calculated that the Demon Tier Xiao Lü had been contracted a few days earlier than Xiao Mo, but since they leveled up to the Mature stage at the same time, it proved once again that Demon Tier beast pets leveled up slower than Immortal Tier ones.

The warmth in her body gradually faded, signaling that the physical enhancement process was over.

Gu Xiaoyue happily looked at the Young life stage 6 Bi Fang, and the Young life stage 5 Ying Long and Hou in the Yu Beast Space, muttering for them to grow up faster.

She took out many bags of snacks and fed them to each beast pet one by one.

The schedule was already past the halfway point; Nanya, Huaqing, and Xiangzhong all had 10 points, while Chongbei and West River had 8 points.

"The remaining teams to face are Huaqing, Luoshui, Xiangzhong, and West River. Except for Luoshui, the other three teams are tough battles!"

Zhao Huaiyao chatted with Fang Xiaoyu and Sun Jian with some concern.

So far, Huaqing and Xiangzhong had not fully shown their strength, and West River had lost to Chongbei, so they might not be their opponents either.

Fang Xiaoyu, however, remained calm as if Mount Tai were collapsing before him, saying, "Let's just do our best!"

In the matches over the next two days, they had a symbolic fight with West River.

Luoshui Academy conceded directly, and Nanya won without a fight.

Finally, only Xiangzhong and Huaqing remained. The officials deliberately placed the match between Nanya and Huaqing at the very end, probably with the intention of creating hype.

The duel between Nanya and Xiangzhong was about to begin, and this time there were more spectators than at any point since the beginning of this National Competition.

The reason was that the captain of the Xiangzhong team participating this time had a very powerful Mental Power attribute; even Huaqing had only narrowly defeated them this year.

Xiangzhong had also won their match against Chongbei.

Therefore, there were naturally many people curious about which side, Nanya or Xiangzhong, would win.

Even the contestants from Huaqing and Chongbei, who rarely paid attention to other matches, came to watch.

On the arena, the referee asked Nanya and Xiangzhong if they could start the match.

Xiangzhong's captain, Qian Mingyu, raised his hand and asked, "May I ask if I can choose one person for a one-on-one?"

Chu Li narrowed his eyes, calculating who he would choose for a one-on-one.

If he chose himself or Xiao Yue, it would be fine, but if it were anyone else, they wouldn't be able to match Qian Mingyu in terms of Mental Power, and their perfect winning record would be gone.

"Who do you want to choose for a one-on-one?"

"I want to choose Student Zhuang. It is said that she is dual-cultivated in combat power and healing; I want to spar with her!"

Qian Mingyu curled his lips, looking clearly like he had victory in his grasp.

Chu Li shook his head and said, "I refuse."

Qian Mingyu was a bit surprised; he thought that since Chu Li had asked, it meant he intended to accept, "Student Chu, you aren't afraid, are you?"

Chu Li chuckled, "You don't need to provoke me. Zhuang Yanxin is dual-cultivated; her combat power is the weakest in our team.

You're quite good at picking the softest persimmon to squeeze!

You want to have a one-on-one with her, but I don't agree—this is a team match!"