Four-Star Da Dou Shi!
Xiao Yao felt the Dou Qi within him and nodded in satisfaction.
Besides his Dou Qi cultivation, he also had a formidable physique. When he had been a Three-Star Da Dou Shi, he had easily defeated Han Yue, a Five-Star Da Dou Shi.
Now that he had broken through to Four-Star Da Dou Shi, and with the improvement in his cultivation method's grade, Xiao Yao felt that he could fight and defeat even a Seven-Star Great Dou Master or an Eight-Star Great Dou Master.
With such strength, as well as his terrifying recovery speed and rate of replenishing Dou Qi, Xiao Yao had no fear even if he were surrounded and attacked by a team of senior students.
He was thus qualified to turn the tables and plunder the senior students' Fire Energy.
I've just broken through. I'll find some people to use as whetstones and quickly get used to my current strength.
With that thought, Xiao Yao pushed off and leaped down from the trunk of the massive tree.
After dropping dozens of zhang, Xiao Yao touched down on another tree trunk and headed toward the Inner Academy.
But Xiao Yao had not gone far when he sensed something. He immediately stopped and looked to the side.
Under his powerful soul perception, a group's movements appeared clearly in his mind.
At that moment, a group of five was resting in a forest clearing not far from Xiao Yao.
One of them could not help complaining.
"What kind of lousy idea was that, Captain? It's been a whole day. No matter how slow the freshmen are, most of them have reached the middle of the forest. What are we still doing here?"
"That's right. It's a waste of time. Even if some freshmen teams are still in the front section of the forest, the area's so big we'd never find them all."
"Shut up!"
One of the senior students spoke, somewhat angered by embarrassment.
"What do you know? If the freshmen are heading to the middle section, won't the other senior teams be heading there too? Wouldn't it be difficult to compete with them when the time comes?"
The others fell silent upon hearing that.
Their strength was not particularly great among the senior teams. If they had to compete with the others, it would indeed be very difficult.
The captain continued, "There are always some cautious people among the freshmen teams. They should still be in the front section of the forest. As long as we find them, their Fire Energy will naturally be ours."
The others nodded one after another. Just then, a voice tinged with laughter suddenly chimed in.
"Have you considered that, after you find the freshmen, your Fire Energy might end up becoming theirs instead?"
The group was stunned. Then they rose to their feet in alarm, on guard as they looked toward the voice.
A figure in a freshman uniform slowly leaped down from a tree, moving as lightly and gracefully as a feather. It was clearly a fine movement Dou Technique.
Seeing that he was a freshman, and alone at that, the five immediately dropped their guard and relaxed.
"Hey! Freshman, are you alone?" one of them shouted at Xiao Yao.
Another closed his eyes and sensed for a moment before saying to his companions, "This guy really is alone!"
"Hah?! You dare come looking for trouble with us all by yourself? Kid, you've got some nerve!"
Xiao Yao ignored them. With a turn of his wrist, a fiery red spear appeared in his hand. He pushed off with his foot and appeared before one of them.
The spear slammed toward his opponent like a peal of rushing thunder, too fast for him to react.
The senior student was sent flying by the spear and crashed hard into a tree, unable to keep from spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Something's wrong! He's strong. Everyone, attack together!"
Seeing Xiao Yao's strength, the captain spoke at once without hesitation.
Xiao Yao could not help giving the captain another look. Had he taken less than 0.1 seconds to accept that they had run into a powerful enemy and needed to gang up on him?
Spears and heavy swords came at him from all sides, but Xiao Yao remained unhurried. He swung his spear with the roar of a tiger in the wind and frantically employed his movement Dou Technique, seemingly without any concern for his Dou Qi consumption.
With an explosive burst of movement, Xiao Yao seized the chance to take down another senior student.
With their numbers reduced once more, Xiao Yao found the fight increasingly easy.
The captain looked at his other two teammates, who were struggling to hold on. He sighed, dropped his weapon, and raised both hands.
"We surrender!"
The two remaining students looked at each other and finally stopped fighting.
Xiao Yao could not help giving the captain another look. "A wise choice," he said.
The captain smiled bitterly. "We have no choice. Most senior students who take part in the Fire Energy Hunting Competition don't have enough Fire Energy to begin with."
"If we get injured and have to spend time recovering, we'll have even less time and effort to earn Fire Energy."
"Since you've surrendered, hand over your Fire Crystal Cards like good boys," Xiao Yao said with a smile.
The three looked at each other, then finally took out their Fire Crystal Cards and tossed them to Xiao Yao. The captain tactfully went to fetch the cards from his two injured teammates.
Xiao Yao took out his own Fire Crystal Card and rubbed it against each of the five cards.
At once, the Fire Energy on each of the five cards dropped to just 7.
The amount on Xiao Yao's Fire Crystal Card, meanwhile, shot up to 21 Fire Energy.
Looking at the 21 Fire Energy, Xiao Yao could not help saying, "That's a little meager."
The captain shook his head with a bitter smile and said helplessly, "Like I said, we senior students taking part in the Fire Energy Hunting Competition don't have much Fire Energy. We each have just over 10 points."
Xiao Yao shrugged and said nothing more. He left directly, leaving the five senior students behind.
"Captain, we can blame you this time, can't we?" one of them said, making light of their misery.
"Sigh, that's true. It's all my fault." The captain sighed and looked at his Fire Crystal Card again.
"Luckily, the academy has rules. We can still keep a guaranteed minimum of seven days' Fire Energy."
"Let's go. We've really disgraced ourselves this time," one of them said.
Once a senior team's Fire Energy fell below ten days' worth, they automatically lost the right to participate in the Fire Energy Hunting Competition.
The captain, however, smiled and said, "Actually, there's no need to be so pessimistic. That freshman had an extraordinary presence. I doubt he'll be satisfied with just our team."
"In other words, there'll be plenty of senior teams in the same boat as us?" one of them said, taking some pleasure in their misfortune.
After all, once someone had suffered misfortune, seeing others suffer the same fate would make them feel a little better.
Xiao Yao did not know what the senior team behind him was saying about him. He headed leisurely toward the Inner Academy, keeping his soul perception spread out the entire way as he searched for senior teams.
The primeval forest around the Inner Academy was indeed vast. Even though the academy had marked out a range, the section of forest between the entrance and the Inner Academy alone was astonishingly large.
Xiao Yao searched for nearly half a day before finding another senior team. This one was somewhat different: they had clearly just been through a battle, and their presences fluctuated.
Xiao Yao did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately attacked.
The battle they had fought had surely been against a freshman team. They still wore smug expressions, clearly having gained a great deal from the freshmen.
Then a dazzling mass of energy, bright as the sun, descended from the sky.
Caught off guard, everyone's eyes were stung by the intense light, and they could not help closing them.
Boom!
Blazing Sun Explosive Flame exploded in front of the five, blasting them all into the trees and leaving them in a sorry state.
"Are you going to hand over your Fire Crystal Cards obediently, or do you want me to help loosen your muscles and bones before you hand them over?"