Miss Loser is too enchanting

This was already their tenth day in the Yanshan Mountain range. The tasks they had chosen included four to find herbs and six to collect Phantom Beast Demon Crystals. So before the missions were complete, they had to stay in the Yanshan range.

They had already finished three: two involved searching for specified herbs, and one was collecting ten Demon Crystals from Spiritual Beast level Wind Wolves. Last night, they happened to encounter a pack of Wind Wolves, and after a fierce fight, they had exceeded the task requirements.

After resting for a night, everyone set off again the next day.

"Qingling Grass is a shade-loving herb that usually grows in valleys. Let’s check out the valley ahead there," Dugu Qianye pointed towards a mountain peak in the front left and said.

"Okay."

Everyone agreed, arriving there by noon. Sun Kui patted his belly and said to Dugu Qianye with a grin, "Captain, it’s already noon. Should we have lunch before we go?" Hearing Sun Kui’s words, Gao Liang, Sang Yu, and Lei Xiaohu also looked at her eagerly.

Originally, everyone had prepared their own dry food before departing, but they had all resolutely abandoned it after Dugu Qianye took out cookware such as pots and pans on the very first day.

Dugu Qianye took out the cookware and made a simple meal of four dishes and a soup. Although it was simple, it still made everyone eat with great relish. After lunch, the group entered the valley.

"There really is Qingling Grass! So much of it! Captain, how did you know there would be some in this valley?" Lei Xiaohu asked curiously upon seeing the large patches of Qingling Grass.

"Near Qingling Grass, there are often puptents, which have large leaves and climb trees," Dugu Qianye pointed at a nearby tree and explained. Indeed, they saw large patches of puptents.

"You’re really impressive, Bai Li! You know everything," Sang Yu exclaimed.

"I just happened to know it. Let’s start digging," Dugu Qianye replied, and then went to dig.

The five of them quickly dug up all the Qingling Grass in the valley and then left.

Another half-month passed, and Thunder Squad had almost completed their tasks. Gao Liang calculated that they now only had two more Demon Crystal collection tasks left.

"We only need Earth and Fire elemental Demon Crystals now, and then we’ll have completed the missions," Gao Liang stated.

Sang Yu stretched lazily, took a deep breath, and said, "Then let’s keep up the good work!"

"Let’s go look for Phantom Beasts now," Lei Xiaohu suddenly stood up and asked, "But where can we find Earth and Fire Phantom Beasts?"

"Earth Bears and Polar Rats are the most common Earth-elemental ones, but they’re tough to deal with," Sun Kui commented.

"Then let’s tackle them one by one. Let’s go and catch a Holy Beast to ask; that should do it," Dugu Qianye stood up and suggested.

The rest of the group was speechless; could she not make catching a Holy Beast sound as easy as chopping vegetables, please?!

Dugu Qianye called out Xiaoyin and asked it to capture a Holy Beast. Xiaoyin, delighted to be let loose, scampered off and quickly returned with a level-one Holy Beast Tusk Beast.

"Where can we find Earth and Fire elemental Phantom Beasts?" Sun Kui went up to ask, reaching out to touch its fangs. Damn, that was awesome!

"Mostly Earth-elemental ones in that mountain, and Fire-elemental ones mostly in the other," the Tusk Beast pointed in two directions and said.

Dugu Qianye nodded, letting it go, "Let’s go, to the nearest one first."

Dugu Qianye and the others went to the Fire-elemental mountain first, and in less than two days, they had collected enough Fire elemental Demon Crystals. Then they headed to the Earth-elemental mountain.

"We mustn’t encounter any Polar Rats, they’re too troublesome," Lei Xiaohu said, but within half a day, the group was surrounded by a swarm of Polar Rats.

"Damn it, just had to jinx it!" Sun Kui looked at the dark mass of shapes with a tingling scalp.

"No choice left, we’ll have to fight it out," Sang Yu said, then, sword in hand, charged forward. Dugu Qianye and the others also sprang into action.

This wasn’t a classroom exercise, this was a life-or-death battle. It wasn’t the previous five-on-one advantage either, now they had to win against superior numbers with fewer. However, the fact was they were quickly overwhelmed by the group of Polar Rats.

"Our teammates are those we can trust with our backs in battle!" Dugu Qianye said, "Everyone, back-to-back, focus on the Phantom Beasts in front of you!"

Upon hearing Dugu Qianye’s words, Lei Xiaohu and Sang Yu stood back-to-back, while Dugu Qianye, Gao Liang, and Sun Kui formed a circle. Free from worry about Phantom Beast attacks from behind, they gradually shifted from disadvantage to advantage. Before they were completely exhausted, they finally took care of all the Polar Rats.

"Crap, that was a real fight. I almost lost my life just now," Sun Kui said as he plopped down, gasping for breath. Accidentally pulling at his wound, he hissed in pain.

"No kidding, thank goodness the captain reminded us in time!" Lei Xiaohu had already sprawled out on the ground.

"I didn’t tell you all at first because I wanted you to experience firsthand the difference between fighting alone and fighting back-to-back," Dugu Qianye said calmly, "You should know, when you entrust your back to your teammates, your back is also supported by them."

The group pondered his words when suddenly a voice called out, "Yo, boss, we hit the jackpot this time, so many Polar Rats, our mission is complete!"

Dugu Qianye and the others all stood up, only to see five people walking out of the woods behind them. All five were at the Great Phantom Master level and, judging by their appearance, were also students who had accepted missions from the academy.

"What do you want?" Gao Liang asked.

"Heh, boss, they’re so tired that even their brains are fried. Look how obvious our intentions are and they still ask what we want," another man, with a sneaky look, laughed maliciously.

"Are you trying to rob us?" Dugu Qianye said coldly.

"All of you are tired now, we just want to help you collect the fruits of your labor," said the captain in the middle.

"Shameless!" Sun Kui shouted, about to rush forward but was pulled back by Gao Liang at his side.

"Oh, you want to fight? Not to mention you are weaker than us, do you even have the strength left to fight us?" the man sneered, seeing Sun Kui move forward, and launched a Phantom Power attack that injured both Sun Kui and Gao Liang on the ground.

"Sun Kui!"

"Gao Liang!"

Sang Yu and Lei Xiaohu ran over to help them up, and Dugu Qianye stepped forward to face the aggressors, "You can take all the Demon Crystals, just don’t harm us!"

"Ha, that’s the spirit!" the leader said, "Boys, collect the Demon Crystals."

"Alright! Let’s go!" The five men went forward with their tools and began to extract Demon Crystals from the corpses one by one.

Dugu Qianye instructed Sang Yu and Lei Xiaohu to help Sun Kui and Gao Liang aside.

"Boss, how can you just let them take all the Demon Crystals?" Sun Kui yelled out in anger.

"What else can we do? Didn’t you see they are all Great Phantom Masters? You don’t even have the strength to stand, how could you fight? Or do you think he went too easy on you just now, didn’t finish you off on the spot?" Dugu Qianye replied coldly, "To fight without strength is folly!"