CHAPTER 348: CHAPTER 302: HUNTING

Cui Yixian’s Heart Thought stirred, and his figure turned into a sword light that streaked across the sky, descending onto the Heavenly Boat moored outside the Mountain of Mind and Heart.

The Heavenly Boat was loaded with a wealth of supplies and accompanying personnel, so while students from the various countries were camping arduously within the dense forests and deep mountains, those aboard the massive ship were enjoying a small wine banquet.

"Mountain Master,"

the nephew of the Turkic Khan, the Turkic Protector, with furrowed brows, raised his wine cup and asked in heavily accented Chang’an official speech, "I can’t understand why ranks must be announced at night. Doesn’t this encourage students to attack each other and plunder from one another, causing a detrimental influence?"

The joy at the banquet paused momentarily, as some personnel from Jing Country and Yu Country looked at the stoic Turkic Protector with his thick beard, their expressions somewhat strange. Honestly, the way he puts it! Aren’t the Turkic People the ones who enjoy looting and plundering the most in the world? He’s only saying that because few Turkic students qualified for the final trial, and he thinks they don’t have a good chance of winning, right?

"The purpose of this academic exchange is to let the students of all nations realize the true environment of the Cultivation World."

Lian Xuanyao spoke calmly, "The Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains, the Endless Sea, Li Yuan, Nine Nether... These unknowable forbidden lands have become increasingly active over the past hundred years. Perhaps this generation or the next will face a situation similar to the Two Jin Period, with demons wreaking havoc upon the Human World. It is good for them to adapt in advance."

A world in chaos due to demons...

The air on the deck of the Heavenly Boat became heavy, and a Zhou Kingdom envoy stammered, "Mountain Master, aren’t demons swarming just a legend...?"

Lian Xuanyao glanced at him indifferently and continued calmly, "There is no eternal golden age under heaven; dynasties rise and fall, order and chaos cycle endlessly, and so goes the relationship between humans and demons. In the past three hundred years, the Human Clan has been strong and the demons have weakened, but as yin and yang tend towards balance, there will surely come a time for a reversal of fortunes, when a horde of demons could sweep across the land. It may be fifty years from now, or a hundred years in the future. We cultivators should think ahead in times of peace to prepare for potential dangers."

Lian Xuanyao paused, suddenly realizing that his words weren’t quite appropriate.

Our kind... There were very few cultivators left from his time in the world. The acquaintances he knew had passed away one by one; even the generation of his disciples had gradually faded into obscurity, becoming the "seniors" spoken of by the younger generation of cultivators. He was already that old.

The Mountain Master’s eyelids drooped slightly as he gazed toward the horizon at the end of the deck, as if he could see through the dark and profound forest and gaze upon the students below. Grow up quickly.

In the early morning, Li Ang got up from his hammock and immediately went to check the traps he had set in the surrounding forest. Most of the traps had not been disturbed; only one bamboo spike trap had been triggered, catching a plump wild rabbit.

Li Ang swiftly and efficiently slaughtered the rabbit, bled it, skinned it, and sliced the meat, while Xiao Da took the initiative to go into the woods to find some Cornelians—the very Cornelians from the saying, "Brothers climb to the heights, less one who plants Cornelians." This plant, also known as ’Yue Jiao’ or ’Ai Zi,’ contains Cornelian fruit with a spicy flavor and, along with Sichuan pepper and ginger, is recognized as one of the "Three Incenses."

The two found a flat stone by the river, washed and crushed the Cornelian fruit, and placed it on the stone with the rabbit meat. Then, they used a Burning Temperature Talisman on the backside of the stone for heating, making a simple spicy rabbit dish. One wild rabbit was clearly not enough for the two of them, so Xiao Da caught two fish from the river. After quickly cooking and finishing their meal, still wanting more, he buried the Stone Tablet in the soil, washed away the spicy taste in his mouth with river water, packed up their equipment, and started a new day of hunting.

Their hunt yielded encounters with a Level 5 Demon Beast, the Black Sack Wolf; a Level 4 Demon Beast, the anchovy demon; and another Level 4 Demon Beast, the Sheep Demon, among others.

The two moved south along the riverbank, plundering Sea Shell Bell Beads from various demons along the way. By the day’s end, they had acquired eight more Bell Beads, but Xiao Da’s expression grew increasingly grave.

They began to encounter demon beasts along the path that did not carry Bell Beads; evidently, they had already been plundered by other competitors. This was a dire omen, implying that others, like them, were hunting along the river, and their hunting territories were gradually overlapping, possibly leading to a direct confrontation at any moment.

This concern peaked when the scores were projected again into the starry sky that evening.

First place was still held by Shangguan Yangyao from Taihao Mountain, with eight hundred and ten points—a full five hundred and forty points more than yesterday!

"How is that possible?!"

Xiao Da exclaimed in shock. He knew that a single Level 4 Bell Bead was only worth fifty points. Even Shangguan Yangyao, the top Cloud Patrol powerhouse of the younger generation, could not possibly hunt eleven different Third-Level Demon Beasts in a single day.

It is known that demon beasts have a concept of territory, and the more powerful ones can sense the presence of other demons of the same realm nearby through an inexplicable intuition. They maintain a certain distance from each other. This also meant that within the Mountain of Mind and Heart domain, the distribution of powerful demon beasts would be relatively even. Even if Shangguan Yangyao really was that formidable, ensuring a catch with every action, it would still be impossible for him to traverse the vast expanse of the Mountain of Mind and Heart, hunting while on the move.

There was only one possibility...

"Shangguan Yangyao has already teamed up with others, and now, they are hunting other contestants," Li Ang narrowed his eyes, gazing up at the scroll of stars in the night sky. "Fortieth place, Zhao Hebi, twenty points. Thirty-ninth place, Che Weihong, forty points. Thirty-eighth place, Zou Shuiyue, fifty points. Do you see? Their scores are even lower than yesterday’s."

"You’re saying that the people at the bottom of the leaderboard have already been plundered by Shangguan Yangyao’s team?" Xiao Da quickly grasped the situation. "Wait, why haven’t they been eliminated then?"

"There are two possibilities. The first is that these people at the bottom didn’t encounter hunters like Shangguan Yangyao and his team, but have teamed up with trustworthy compatriots and have transferred all their Bell Beads to a teammate. However, this possibility is slim because the Bell Beads require blood to use, and to maximize effectiveness, they should be kept separately if they really teamed up." Li Ang said calmly, "The second possibility is that these people at the end of the leaderboard did indeed encounter the Hunter Team, but the Hunter Team only plundered their Bell Beads and let them go. It’s like breeding animals, purposely letting them survive to continue collecting Bell Beads, making it easy for a second or third wave of harvesting. Your jungle, my pig farm."

"This..." Xiao Da was about to ask why the plundered contestants wouldn’t just surrender, when he realized. Yes, the Hunter Team would definitely target the weakest, least threatening Rain Listening Realm contestants for ’rational pig farming.’ The plundered cultivators from the Rain Listening Realm wouldn’t immediately surrender and withdraw because they still harbored the hope of teaming up with powerful cultivators from their own country in the later stages of the competition.

"Damn it..." Xiao Da clenched his fists, taking a deep breath. "Shangguan Yangyao and his team, they don’t want to give up a single Zhanquan spot. Would the judges on the Heavenly Boat tolerate this?"

"This situation obviously falls within the rules’ design and isn’t considered a breach. The strong forming teams to hunt the weak—this is the second phase of the trial." Li Ang paused for a moment. "It’s just, I didn’t expect it to come this soon. It seems that Shangguan Yangyao is even stronger than I had thought."

"What do we do then?" Xiao Da asked gravely. "This river area has seen many demon beasts plundered of their Bell Beads, and our hunting grounds are overlapping with others. If Shangguan Yangyao is indeed hunting those in the Rain Listening Realm, he is bound to find us eventually."

"..." Li Ang, looking up at the slowly fading characters in the night sky, thought for a moment and said, "Our best course of action would be to proceed towards the center of the Mountain of Mind and Heart. Since rivers surround and flow around the Mountain of Mind and Heart, the hunting of the basic-level teams these past two days has all occurred around the periphery of the mountain. Only by heading to the center of the Mountain of Mind and Heart will we stand a chance of avoiding Shangguan Yangyao and his team in the coming days. Moreover, the center of the Mountain of Mind and Heart is also where the Jialan Sect ruins are located. If Shangguan Yangyao and his team are playing it safe, they definitely will not enter to explore the ruins in the early stages of the trial..."

Before he could finish, a thunderous boom echoed from the distant woods. Countless trees snapped in half, and birds and beasts fled in terror.

That was...

Xiao Da looked towards the soaring pillar of light in the far distance, his teeth clenched tightly.

The Haotian Divine Technique.

Shangguan Yangyao was nearby.