19 19 - Great Archer Hou Yi, I miss you! (There’s another update coming soon~)

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The proctoring room fell into a deathly silence. Everyone stared at the prompt from the Shenyan AI on the screen, unable to recover for a long time.

"It... it's over just like that?"
"Chen Tian was insta-killed by Su Fu without putting up any resistance?"
"Did I... see that wrong?"

That was Chen Tian, a scion of a prominent family who possessed the power of the Garuda divine bird!

No one answered.

Jiang Yuqing’s expression was grave. "We all looked at this the wrong way... we all assumed she just wanted to use the controlled flock of eerie crows to deal with Chen Tian."
"Who could have imagined that the flock of eerie crows was actually meant to disrupt the battlefield? Those four groups of crows colliding recklessly in the air, with their aura of corruption spreading, directly crippled Chen Tian’s greatest pride—his aerial advantage!"

You’re powerful in the air, aren't you?
I’ll just take that away from you!
Can a divine bird that cannot fly still be called a divine bird?

"This was a complete chain trap," one proctor muttered to himself. "Once Chen Tian’s aerial advantage was negated, the rest was just a harvest."
"[Calamity of Demons] to lure and blockade, [Buddha’s Light Illuminates] for immobilization, [Golden Cudgel] to crush and execute..." His voice was filled with awe. "Every step Su Fu took was calculated with pinpoint precision!"

Wang Mingde couldn't help but sigh, "Luring monsters, crowd control, and execution—a perfect sequence."
"Su Fu’s skill synergy is simply flawless!"

Who would dare say her skills were weak now? Who would say her skills lacked synergy? This was clearly perfect coordination!

Jiang Yuqing felt a secret chill. Was Chen Tian strong? Of course he was. As the young master of the Chen family, all his resources were poured into flight-related skills; he could be considered an unsolvable existence against almost anyone. Yet, Su Fu used a few basic skill combinations to directly counter him, not even giving him a chance to display his advantages.

How terrifying. She didn't need any grand ultimate moves; the most basic skill synergy was enough to achieve this. Clearly, the other proctors realized this too, which was why they were so shocked.

After a long while, Zhou Nanyuan finally spoke: "She must have conducted reconnaissance in advance, gathered information, and formulated a plan before making her move."
"So, it is not just the advantage of skill synergy, but the thinking and calculation behind it." A flicker of admiration crossed his eyes. "It looks like Su Fu's skill set killed Chen Tian, but in reality, it was... a tactical crushing!"

Feint to the east, attack in the west? Luring the enemy deep? No one knew how she came up with these, but clearly, she had succeeded. All the proctors fell silent. Before this, who could have imagined that Su Fu’s skills could be linked together in such a interlocking, chain-like fashion? It was only when she performed it that they realized these skills could flow so smoothly, with a silkiness that was breathtaking.

They even began to wonder if they could adopt Su Fu’s style to improve their own strength. But soon, they shook their heads. No, it was impossible. Because the gods they worshipped had already fixed their divine skills, and they could not, like Su Fu, summon different gods at will to acquire different skills. They could only rely on team coordination or the unique nature of their specific divine skills. Perhaps this was the unique advantage of the Huaxia pantheon: one person is a team!

On the screen, Su Fu stood quietly in a clear, golden-lit area. The black fog dissipated, and she stood alone. The onlookers even caught a hint of "I am the cool breeze and the bright moon, untainted by the mundane world."

"Truly astonishing," one proctor remarked. "This calm and composed temperament..."

...

Su Fu stood in place, appearing expressionless. In reality, her thoughts had already drifted to her next skills; she was craving other divine skills like crazy!

"This combination worked even better than I expected." She calculated inwardly. "[Heart of a Hundred Birds] for reconnaissance, [Calamity of Demons] to lure, [Buddha’s Light Illuminates] for control, [Golden Cudgel] to crush..."

This was her first planned strategy: a control-oriented style. Reviewing the actual combat, she summarized that the advantages of the control style were clear: reconnaissance capability, a complete control chain, and stable output. But the disadvantages were equally prominent; the final execution required her to get close, which carried significant risk. If an opponent had countermeasures, she would be in danger.

"Ah... Great God Hou Yi, I miss you!" She craved Hou Yi’s archery skills so much; she could be like Jiang Qingyu, shooting from a distance and perfectly eliminating the risks of close combat. Just standing and firing would be so satisfying!

"Or even Nezha’s [Wind Fire Wheels] would be fine..." Her eyes lit up, and the image of instantaneous displacement followed by a killing blow already filled her mind. Cool! She craved more; the more she thought about it, the more she felt her current skills were simply not enough.

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"And, I need a healing skill, right?"
"Like Guanyin’s [Willow Nectar], or Taishang Laojun’s [Golden Elixir]... I want them all!"

After daydreaming for a while, she composed herself. No rush, no rush! It will come! All of it will come!

Su Fu looked up at the distant sky and released the eerie crows she had urgently recalled. She wondered how Jiang Qingyu was doing. Was she finished yet?

...

The proctors switched their perspective to Jiang Qingyu. At this moment, the battle between Jiang Qingyu and Jiang Yu was clearly in the white-hot stage. Both were in a battle-worn state, clearly having gone through a fierce fight.

Jiang Yu stared viciously at Jiang Qingyu, the jealousy and resentment in his eyes almost spilling over. Why! Why, after working so hard for so long, was he still no match for her? How could he be content with being suppressed by a commoner?

The final strike—must not lose!

"Wrath of the War God!"
BOOM!
"Power of the Storm!"
BOOM!
"Eat this... explode, explode, explode!"
BOOM!

Jiang Yu’s lightning danced wildly in the air, as if trying to tear everything apart. However, a closer look revealed that the lightning could not catch up to Jiang Qingyu’s silhouette. As a hunter, her perception was enhanced to a monstrous degree; she could predict the trajectory of attacks in advance every time. Just as she reached the edge of the lightning range, Jiang Qingyu flipped backward, instantly opening up a large distance.

Jiang Yu suddenly saw the phantom of a goddess emerge behind her, and his heart sank—she was about to unleash her ultimate!

Jiang Qingyu hovered in the air, her hair fluttering in the wind. Her eyes were indifferent, her voice cold:
"[Banquet of the Wild Hunt]!"

In an instant, several phantoms appeared in the air, each holding a longbow, identical to the original. Golden arrows poured down like a rainstorm, covering the entire sky. This was Jiang Qingyu’s trump card, and her strongest skill!

"This is..." Wang Mingde’s eyes widened. "An area-of-effect skill?!"
This was absurd! A hunter had awakened an AoE skill? Heaven had already opened a window for Jiang Qingyu, and now it had opened a door for her as well! One had to know that hunters were supposed to have the strongest single-target attack attributes; now... AoE?!

He suddenly thought of a phrase: "I have a hundred more just as strong as this!"
It was too monstrous! With this rain of arrows, Jiang Yu had nowhere to hide! He opened his eyes wide, filled with despair. How could this be! Jiang Qingyu had actually awakened an AoE skill!

Under the overwhelming attack, Jiang Yu was struck again and again, his health bar continuously dropping. Finally, he collapsed.

"BOOM!"
The Shenyan AI’s notification sounded:
[Candidate Jiang Yu has been eliminated!]
[Exam paper submitted early]
[Candidate Jiang Yu has exited the exam site]
[Remaining candidates: 5]

The proctors were shocked once again, especially Wang Mingde; his expression toward Jiang Qingyu had changed.

"Worthy of being a favorite of the gods, a genius among commoners."
"Now that both single-target and AoE skills are awakened, how is anyone supposed to fight her? And the power of that AoE skill is so strong!"
This meant that as long as she locked on from a distance, she could harvest lives without taking any damage? Jiang Qingyu had hidden such a powerful skill until now!

"It seems this is the biggest variable," Jiang Yuqing said softly. "This is clearly Jiang Qingyu’s trump card. Those phantoms likely possess 30% of the original’s attack power, but with ten phantoms, that’s 300% total attack power!"
"This is probably the highest attack power among all the candidates!"
"Not to mention it’s area damage."

Wang Mingde agreed: "Indeed. Even Shen Yunling’s Apollo technique is not weak, but against Jiang Qingyu—"
"Facing this kind of full-coverage attack, it’s hard to escape death."

Jiang Qingyu sighed with regret: "It’s just that her defense is a bit weak. But as a ranged fighter, if arranged properly, she can harvest from a distance. One could say she has almost no weaknesses."

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Overall, Jiang Qingyu’s combat strategy could be summarized in four words: Keep distance, harvest! As for whether the enemy would charge in? The only one capable of charging, Chen Tian, had already been taken out by Su Fu, and the remaining candidates stood no chance of closing the distance. Plus, she was a hunter with extreme speed; they could never catch her. Who could check such a Jiang Qingyu?

"If Su Fu used that same set against Jiang Qingyu..." Zhou Nanyuan mused, "it would be very difficult to succeed."
"Indeed," Jiang Yuqing nodded. "Jiang Qingyu specializes in ranged combat; she wouldn't give Su Fu the chance to control her."
"On the contrary, Su Fu’s skills all require close range; she seems completely countered by Jiang Qingyu."

Not to mention, Su Fu could never catch Jiang Qingyu, so her control-based style was ineffective against her.

Someone suddenly said: "They are starting to converge."
On the screen, Su Fu and Jiang Qingyu were meeting under the guidance of the eerie crows. Thus, only three camps remained on the exam paper: the noble alliance of the Shen siblings, the commoner alliance of Su Fu and Jiang Qingyu, and Lin Mingxi, who was alone.

Wang Mingde was curious: "There are only three spots left. It seems the key lies with Lin Mingxi. Will he choose the noble camp or the commoner camp?"

Just then, proctors from other universities connected to the feed.
"Damn, you guys at the Seventh High are moving fast? Two people already eliminated?"
They had been attracted by the Shenyan AI’s prompt; the exam hadn't been going on for long, so this speed was simply too fast! Was the competition at Seventh High that intense?

Before the prompt, most proctors were focused on their own exam sites. By the time they saw the first notification, they only saw Su Fu’s interface, and the specifics of how she fought were already gone. Then came the scene of Jiang Qingyu using her ultimate to crush Jiang Yu with AoE damage.

"Jiang Qingyu? Your top student at Seventh High? She actually awakened an AoE skill?"
"Damn, this skill is too strong!"
"A hunter attribute can also use AoE?"
"The Hunting God’s attacks are already top-tier, and now she’s broken through the limitations of single-target attacks..."
"Who can withstand this?"
"Jiang Qingyu has been hiding a huge trump card!"
"It looks like her provincial exam spot is secure!"

After the envy and jealousy, some proctors asked curiously: "By the way, how was Chen Tian eliminated?"
The information of top students from all high schools was shared, especially the hot-topic candidates. Chen Tian was one of them.

"Seems it was a candidate named Su Fu. I find the name very unfamiliar?"
"Su Fu? Huaxia pantheon?" Someone realized, "Oh, a special quota..."
"That doesn't seem right, does it?" Someone questioned. "Chen Tian specialized in flight. If there was a problem, he could just fly into the sky. He could fight and he could escape. How was he eliminated?" Even their own candidates would find Chen Tian’s flight skills quite troublesome.

But Su Fu...
"Su Fu? Never heard of this person."

Wang Mingde silently took over: "It was because of a control skill."
"A control skill?"
The other proctors soon understood: "I see. In that case, yes, if Chen Tian was controlled, he couldn't fly."
Control skills were strong if they worked, but weak due to mechanical limitations. In other words, once the exam was over, everyone would be able to watch the playback and learn Su Fu’s control mechanism, making it easy to crack in the future.

The other proctors concluded: "Then it must be that Chen Tian was careless."
"Jiang Qingyu is much more worth paying attention to! This AoE skill is too terrifying..."

Wang Mingde, Jiang Yuqing, and Zhou Nanyuan silently exchanged glances, reaching a consensus without a word, and no one corrected the assumption. It was better if they didn't pay attention. Then, other candidates wouldn't target Su Fu during the provincial exam, allowing her to develop quietly until the time came... to shock everyone!

Zhou Nanyuan silently forwarded Su Fu’s combat footage to the Lingxiao Province proctoring group. Almost immediately, the chat exploded.

"Interesting..."
"I checked; she hasn't obtained a single duplicate skill so far!"
"The synergy of her skill set is quite good!"
"And I thought about it, she doesn't just have this one set, right? She could use [Calamity of Demons] for a primary luring and annihilation tactic, or [Heart of a Hundred Birds] for a guerrilla tactic. In this sense, her flexibility is quite high."
"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect the Huaxia pantheon to be played this way tactically."
"This counts as breaking new ground!"

Just then, Dean Zhang’s message popped up:
"Finally, something with some novelty."

A brief sentence, yet it shocked everyone in the group. Even Dean Zhang came out to praise her?