Wild Goose Feather

"Just the two of us?" Chu Kuang asked.

At that moment, a girl beside Lin Shuyao said, "Class monitor, don't leave us behind. Otherwise, we'll probably be eliminated very soon."

"Exactly. Lone wolves are easily surrounded. As students of the same class, we'll have a better chance of securing a Source Energy Spring Eye if we stick together."

Jiang Feng also spoke up at the right moment, a hint of provocation in his gaze as he looked at Chu Kuang.

Lin Shuyao hesitated at those words. Most of the students in the class were fairly average in strength, but under these circumstances, banding together was undoubtedly the best choice. Her gaze could not help shifting toward Chu Kuang.

Seeing this, Chu Kuang shook his head. "Too many people will make it inconvenient to move. I'd rather travel alone."

"How can you do that?" Lin Shuyao's expression changed slightly. "Every class is moving in teams. If you go alone, won't you be surrounded and attacked?"

"You don't need to persuade me."

Chu Kuang shook his head and gripped his spear. "I'm used to being alone. Traveling together may not necessarily be a good thing."

With that said, Chu Kuang strode away, walking toward the distance.

"Chu Kuang."

Lin Shuyao opened her mouth to stop him, but Jiang Feng interrupted her.

Jiang Feng shook his head and said calmly, "Let him go. Since he's so proud, let him take down a Source Energy Spring Eye for us to see."

"You..."

Lin Shuyao's gaze darkened. Just as she was about to try persuading him again, Chu Kuang had already vanished into the dim land.

She turned around and looked at the hundred-odd students beside her, a strange feeling suddenly rising in her heart. Could these hundred people really be worth less than Chu Kuang alone?

"That's impossible."

Lin Shuyao quickly shook her head and abandoned the thought of leaving everyone behind to follow Chu Kuang alone.

Meanwhile, Chu Kuang advanced by himself, searching for the location of a Source Energy Spring Eye within the Dark Domain. After walking for over ten minutes, he arrived before a valley.

Here, Chu Kuang sensed a faint trace of source energy.

"The scent of source energy. The Source Energy Spring Eye should be inside the valley."

Chu Kuang felt a flicker of delight. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the sounds of fierce battle. He immediately climbed to the high ground above the valley and saw the scene within.

In the vast valley, two youths wielded weapons as they fought fiercely against a savage beast resembling a giant wolf.

"A Bio-Beast."

Chu Kuang frowned slightly, recognizing the beast's origins.

So-called Bio-Beasts were created by humans capturing Source Energy Fierce Beasts and cultivating them through cloning technology.

These beasts had chips implanted in them and were essentially weakened versions of Source Energy Fierce Beasts. They were generally used as practice opponents for high school students.

After all, once these high school students entered the Dark Domain in the future, they would inevitably have to fight such Source Energy Fierce Beasts.

At this point, the battle had reached its most intense stage. Those three youths had all achieved the Beginner External Martial Arts Compendium, and their Life Levels were likely around 5.9.

This wolf-shaped Bio-Beast was considerably stronger, with a Life Level of roughly 6.2. For the moment, neither side could gain the upper hand in their fierce clash.

"These Bio-Beasts have rich combat experience and much higher Life Levels. With the strength of these two, they probably can't take it down."

Chu Kuang murmured inwardly. To give the trainees sufficient trials in this Special Training, Bio-Beasts had been stationed around every Source Energy Spring Eye in the Dark Domain, and they were stronger than ordinary practitioners of the External Martial Arts Compendium.

Generally speaking, one needed to master the External Martial Arts Compendium as well as achieve mastery in a weapon martial art to have even a small chance of succeeding in the challenge.

Otherwise, several practitioners of the External Martial Arts Compendium—or even an entire class working together—would be needed to successfully subdue one.

The school had arranged things this way to train these high school students' coordination. After all, human martial artists who were nothing more than a disorganized rabble could easily be defeated one by one by other races.

Unless a human martial artist was truly strong enough that even other races throwing their lives at him could not kill him, traveling alone was not a good thing.

"They're from Class Twenty-Seven."

Chu Kuang murmured inwardly. He recognized the two of them.

One of the two youths was named Zhang Tianyi, while the other was Xu He. They were the two Top Students in Class Twenty-Seven who had achieved the External Martial Arts Compendium.

However, both of them ranked beyond two thousand in the Tian Heng Ranking Tournament, so Chu Kuang guessed that neither had mastered their weapon martial arts.

"You up there, why not come down and join forces with us?"

At that moment, Zhang Tianyi called out from below.

Clearly, they had already noticed Chu Kuang's presence and wanted to pull him into their group.

This was not only because the Bio-Beast was powerful, but also because they did not want Chu Kuang to reap the benefits after they had done all the work.

"You can leave. This Source Energy Spring Eye is mine."

In response, Chu Kuang calmly flicked his spear and leaped down from above the valley.

The pupils of the two youths immediately turned cold.

They did not continue attacking. Instead, they withdrew from the valley together, only sighing in relief once the Bio-Beast stopped pursuing them.

Xu He looked at Chu Kuang and spoke warily. "You're Chu Kuang from Class Seven, right? If the three of us join forces, taking this Source Energy Spring Eye will be a sure thing."

"No need. I can take it alone," Chu Kuang said calmly.

"Arrogant."

Xu He's eyes turned cold as he exchanged a glance with Zhang Tianyi.

The two nodded in tacit understanding, then attacked Chu Kuang together.

"Then we'll deal with you first."

The two moved at once. Xu He's Wild Goose Feather Saber arrived first, its blade flashing as swiftly as an afterimage. A silver line instantly slashed toward Chu Kuang's throat—the Wild Goose Feather Saber technique, Chaotic Snow Startles the Swan.

Xu He cultivated the Soaring Swan Art, while his saber technique was the Wild Goose Feather Saber Art. It did not specialize in nimble evasion, but its style pursued speed to the extreme.

"Good!"

Faced with their simultaneous assault, Chu Kuang advanced rather than retreated. He stomped the ground, blasting a deep crater into the earth, and shot forward like a cannonball.

The absolute confidence born of his strength made Chu Kuang choose to meet force with force. The war lance in his hand smashed forward with unstoppable momentum.

Clang—

Amid a thunderous crash of metal, the silver blade-light trembled violently before shooting backward.

The gap in Life Level, coupled with the absolute suppression of the mastered Gold-Splitting Spear, sent Xu Hong's weapon flying from his hand after a single exchange. If they had been fighting one-on-one, he would have been instantly defeated next.

Boom—

In an instant, seeing that Xu He was in trouble, Zhang Tianyi rushed forward at high speed.

An Iron Spear carrying a heavy roar of wind and thunder stabbed straight at Chu Kuang's back. Before the spear arrived, the fierce wind from it had already made Chu Kuang's robes flap violently.

This was the Yang Family Spear, inherited from ancient times a hundred thousand years ago and continuously refined by the descendants of the Yang family. Among all spear techniques, its power was considered exceptionally formidable.

Faced with such an attack, Chu Kuang could only twist aside to avoid the Iron Spear, giving up the perfect chance to pursue Xu He.

However, someone who had merely achieved the External Martial Arts Compendium, along with a Yang Family Spear at minor mastery, was not qualified to make Chu Kuang wary.

As Chu Kuang shifted aside, his left hand instantly formed a claw and seized Zhang Tianyi's spear shaft.

The fierce force of the Yang Family Spear slammed into his palm, yet it actually produced the ringing sound of clashing metal.

"Let go!"

Zhang Tianyi roared, circulating his martial arts with all his strength in an attempt to reclaim his spear.

Yet Chu Kuang did not budge in the slightest, like a mountain-stabilizing cauldron pressing down upon the Iron Spear. No matter how Zhang Tianyi exerted himself, he could not shake it at all.

"Release it—"

Chu Kuang gave a low shout, forcibly activating the Iron Armor Technique to suppress the spear. A terrifying force traveled along the shaft.

The Iron Spear had extremely poor shock absorption. A powerful vibration struck instantly, and Zhang Tianyi felt searing pain in the web between his thumb and forefinger as the refined iron spear was jolted free from his grip and flew into the air.