Fire Energy Hunting Competition Turned on Its Head

The vast Sea of Forest was teeming with all sorts of magical beasts. Every so often, a ferocious magical beast would recklessly burst out of the Sea of Forest and roar at the Gryphon formation in the sky. Occasionally, some flying magical beasts would also come after them. However, whenever these magical beasts got within a hundred meters of the formation, they would be terrified and retreat by the powerful aura emanating from Hu Qian and his companions.

Of course, some powerful magical beasts disregarded the oppressive aura of Hu Qian and his companions and charged forcefully towards the Gryphon formation. At this moment, Hu Qian and the three elders began to display their awe-inspiring strength. With each wave of their hands, powerful energy streaked across the sky like thunder. Then, everyone heard a muffled thud, and those rather large magical beasts exploded into a shower of blood that rained down.

As they flew along, all sorts of ferocious magical beasts surged forward one after another, but not a single one could break through the blockade of Hu Qian and his companions.

The students were both shocked and envious. Judging from their auras, most of these magical beasts possessed the power to contend with any one of them. Yet, even so, they were still reduced to blood mist with a mere flick of Hu Qian's wrist. Such power was truly something to be coveted.

Xiao Yuan took it in stride. After all, he had fought against a Dou Huang expert, so he naturally wouldn't be as surprised as the other students.

After nearly an hour, the Gryphon formation finally slowed down. Sensing the decrease in speed, Xiao Yuan glanced ahead. However, apart from a bottomless ravine at his feet, the rest of the area was still an endless expanse of greenery. There was no Inner Academy, not even a single person in sight.

Xiao Yuan subconsciously released the Listening to the Wind's Whisper, but after a moment, as expected, he sensed nothing.

"Landing!"

The sharpness in Hu Qian's eyes gradually faded, and the powerful aura that had risen from his body earlier quietly receded back into his body. He smiled and waved to the flight formation, and the ten Gryphon spread their wings and slowly descended to the opposite side of the mountain stream below.

As the Gryphon formation landed safely, figures followed at Hu Qian's signal and jumped down, crowding the open space. Everyone looked around, their faces blank.

"Where is this? Could the Inner Academy be here?"

Upon landing, Hu Jia was the first to lose her composure and hurriedly asked Hu Qian a question, and everyone else turned their attention to Hu Qian as well.

"The Inner Academy isn't so easy to enter." Hu Qian smiled meaningfully, then, under everyone's gaze, he slowly walked forward about ten steps, stopped, raised his hand and waved it, and a burst of energy shot out from his hand, finally shooting towards the space in front of him.

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, a certain space struck by the energy rippled like water. These ripples fluctuated rapidly, and finally, a pale silver gate, seven or eight zhang tall, appeared out of thin air! Everyone was shocked to see the strangely appearing silver gate. Clearly, they had not expected that this seemingly ordinary place would hide such a mystery.

The silver gate, under everyone's watchful eyes, slowly opened with a crisp sound. The scene behind the gate was the same dense forest as before, seemingly no different from the forest they were looking at.

"Come with me."

With a wave of his hand, Hu Qian took the lead and walked into the silver gate.

Xiao Yuan knew this was some kind of Space Power technique, so he immediately pulled Xiao Yu along and followed.

Xiao Yan was curious about this magical method, so he stopped to observe for a while, only to find that his Third Brother's figure disappeared after stepping into the silver gate!

"What a strange method!"

This scene made Xiao Yan shake his head in amazement, but after recalling the spatial folds in front of the Library Pavilion, he suddenly realized that the methods of those super strong people were indeed beyond their current level of understanding.

After a moment of astonishment, Xiao Yan pulled Xun'er along before following after them.

After everyone, including the ten Gryphon, entered the silver gate, the gate slowly closed, and a final ripple of silver energy spread out, causing the silver gate to gradually dissipate and finally disappear completely.

As Xiao Yuan stepped through the silver gate, he felt a momentary daze before his feet touched solid ground. Looking ahead, he found that the scene before him was the same as the forest before him. However, at the entrance of the forest, there were two old men and several middle-aged men who had appeared at some point. Behind them stood about twenty young people. Xiao Yuan's gaze swept over them and he noticed that they all wore badges with a tower-like pattern engraved on their chests.

"Hehe, Old Hu, you're always so punctual. I trust you with escorting the new students. How are the new students this year?"

At this moment, one of the two old men saw the large group of people entering and smiled at Hu Qian, who was leading the group.

"Very good. The overall level is better than last year. The top few probably already have the potential to challenge the Strong Ranking." Hu Qian smiled upon hearing this and added, "I didn't expect it to be your two old guys on duty this year. Looks like you're in for a tough time."

"There's nothing we can do," the two old men shook their heads helplessly.

"You six come here."

Hu Qian turned around and waved to Xiao Yuan and the other six. After they came to his side, he pointed to the two old men and said:

"These two are elders of the Inner Academy. This is Elder Su, and the other is Elder Qing. If you need anything in the Inner Academy, you can look for them. Hehe, these six little guys are the top five in this year's Selection Competition. They are quite strong."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, the two elders glanced at the six people with slight surprise and asked in confusion, "At such a young age, to be able to achieve the top five shows that your potential is indeed much better than the previous year. But how come there are six people in the top five? Isn't that against the rules?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it. You'll see when the time comes that this is definitely in accordance with the rules, don't worry!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Qian coughed lightly and then immediately offered his assurance.

"Okay, fine."

Seeing Hu Qian say this, the two elders nodded and stopped dwelling on the matter.

"Wow, what a beautiful girl! It seems there will be two more people on the Inner Academy's beauty ranking." After Xiao Yuan and his group of six came out, the young people standing behind the middle-aged men immediately lit up with excitement, whistling and laughing.

"Shut up! Anyone who spouts nonsense will have five days of Tower Cultivation Time deducted!" Elder Su turned around and shouted. The young people, who had been grinning, immediately stopped talking. Clearly, the matter of deducting Tower Cultivation Time made them extremely wary.

After silencing the group of young people, Elder Su turned to Xiao Yuan and the other new students and said slowly, "You are all new here. I hope you can adapt to this place as much as possible. That way, you will gain great benefits. Look at these bastards. In previous years, although they passed the Outer Academy's Selection Competition, they were only ranked at the bottom. But now, in just one year, I dare say that their strength is definitely in the top ten among you."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuan was slightly taken aback. He turned his gaze to the young people and, after a brief look, realized that Elder Su's words were true. These young people were indeed quite strong. Although they were no match for him even when they joined forces, it would not be difficult for them to deal with the students behind him.

Considering that these people were only ranked low in previous years' Selection Competition, yet they have made such a huge improvement now, it is enough to show how their strength has improved by leaps and bounds after entering the Inner Academy.

Fire Energy, Qi Refining Tower, Fallen Heart Flame.

As he pondered distant memories, a thoughtful look flickered in Xiao Yuan's eyes.

It wasn't until Elder Su raised his hand and threw out a handful of jet-black chips, which floated in front of everyone, that Xiao Yuan came back to his senses and reached out to grasp them in his hand.

Upon receiving the chip, Xiao Yuan immediately felt a strange heat emanating from it. He then looked down and examined it closely. On the chip was a transparent mirror, and on this mirror was printed a large red character: "Five"! A Fire Crystal Card?

Looking at the chip in his hand, Xiao Yuan raised an eyebrow. Just as he was about to put it back into his Storage Ring, he noticed that the group of young people standing behind the middle-aged man in front of him were staring at the black chip in their hands with undisguised covetousness in their eyes.

Want Fire Energy? What a coincidence, I want it too! Xiao Yuan smiled slightly, and then put the Fire Crystal Card into his Storage Ring.

"This is a complicated thing to explain, but you'll understand it in time. However, for now, you only need to know one thing: treat the chips in your hands as if they were your own lives. Once you enter the Inner Academy, you'll understand their importance to you! Of course, you might understand a little by looking at the eyes of these guys."

Finally, Elder Su pointed at the group of young people and laughed.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuan turned to look at Xiao Yan, then at Hu Jia and Wu Hao, before nodding slightly.

Xiao Yan immediately understood and returned the look.

"Next, you need to enter the forest and successfully reach the Inner Academy at the end of the forest." Elder Su's finger was still on the group of young people as he said calmly, "While you are traversing this forest, be careful of them! According to the rules of the Inner Academy, they can attack you at will in this forest."

Remember, the number on your chips is incredibly tempting to them. They'll use anything except murder to obtain the "Fire Energy" on your chips—a term you'll find very familiar and endearing later! Now, your task is to avoid them or defeat them. As long as you don't get captured and successfully reach the Inner Academy, you'll receive a final reward. The sooner you arrive, the richer the reward!

Having said that, Elder Su suddenly pointed to the forest behind him, and then added:

"This is a trial before entering the Inner Academy, which we also call the ' Fire Energy Hunting Competition '! Now, I declare that this year's ' Fire Energy Hunting Competition ' has officially begun! Students, let's begin our escape!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuan and Xiao Yan went to Hu Jia and Wu Hao's side together.

What are you trying to do?

Upon seeing the two Xiao Clan brothers approach, the two men instinctively became wary and frowned as they asked.

"I have an idea that I think you two would be interested in. Would you like to hear it?"

Xiao Yuan said with a smile.

Can I refuse to listen?

Hu Jia paused for a moment upon hearing this, then asked in a low voice.

"No, you can't!"

Xiao Yuan's smile grew even brighter, like that of a cunning fox.

"Damn it, then what's the point of asking for opinions at all!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Jia's pretty face hardened, and she began to grumble and curse.

However, her body followed Xiao Yuan's steps as he turned and headed into the forest.

Wu Hao wasn't stupid. He had already gleaned some information from Elder Su's words and knew that Xiao Yuan probably wanted to recruit him and Hu Jia to form a powerful team. Naturally, he wouldn't refuse. After all, if the so-called "Fire Energy" in the black chip was really important, having Xiao Yuan's help would definitely be much more reassuring than relying on the other students.

The six of them soon arrived at a secluded grove and began to talk.

"Speak, what do you want?"

Hu Jia asked casually, since she was no better than Xiao Yuan than to resist.

Wu Hao, who was standing to the side, also cast a curious glance.

"You all heard what Elder Su said just now."

Xiao Yuan nodded upon hearing this, mentally revising his memories into appropriate words, and then began to analyze the situation with a serious expression:

"Since the Fire Energy in this black crystal card is displayed as a numerical value, and it is coveted by those Inner Academy students, it means that this item is probably some kind of important resource, and its function is probably similar to currency. Judging from the fact that they are so eager for a mere five Fire Energy, the monetary value of this Fire Energy is also extremely high!"

Of course, there's another possibility: within the Inner Academy, the rate of Fire Energy consumption is extremely rapid, and their demand for it is so great that they won't let any Fire Energy Fire Energy go to waste!

At this point, the other five nodded in agreement, and then Hu Jia couldn't help but ask, "So shouldn't we hurry up and find a way to get to the finish line? Don't you know how to fly? Why don't you just fly us there!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Hao, who was standing to the side, couldn't hold back any longer.

After some thought at noon, he had guessed that Xiao Yuan's wings were most likely a legendary Flying Dou Technique. Even if such a thing was advanced, it couldn't possibly carry five people, could it? Wouldn't that be exhausting? It's more like he'd carry his girlfriend, not strangers? Ha!

Besides, he had just observed that although the Inner Academy students were strong, he might not be outmatched. To back down before even fighting would be disgraceful! "There's no need for that. My brother's point is that since the Inner Academy students are so desperate for Fire Energy, the Fire Energy energy we have won't be of much use once we enter the Inner Academy. In that case, Fire Energy from those senior Inner Academy students! After all, the rules don't say we can't take it from them!"

Moreover, we need these senior students to explain the specific uses of Fire Energy to us!

Xiao Yan couldn't listen any longer and immediately pointed out Xiao Yuan's unspoken meaning.

"That makes sense! Besides, we're not weak either. If we team up, those senior students might not be a match for us!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Jia suddenly realized what was going on. She patted her smooth forehead, smiled, and said confidently.

"Well, if no one has any objections, then I'll take command of the team, and all profits will be split equally, how about that?"

Seeing that Wu Hao beside him nodded in agreement, Xiao Yuan smiled and made the suggestion.

"I have no objection."

Seeing Xiao Yuan's gaze, Wu Hao didn't hesitate and directly expressed his opinion.

"Well, as long as you don't go back on your word, I have no objection, but you can't use us as cannon fodder!"

Hu Jia naturally wouldn't refuse, but she still gave a somewhat worried reminder.

"Don't worry, since I'm actively recruiting you, it's naturally for the sake of common prosperity. I won't kick you after I've served my purpose."

Xiao Yuan smiled and nodded upon hearing this, then raised an eyebrow and continued:

"I sense an unfamiliar aura; it must be the Inner Academy's team. Follow me!"

After saying that, Xiao Yuan turned around and swiftly headed into the forest behind him.