The Fish May Die, but the Net Won't Break!

Ji Xuan took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the anger churning in his heart.

His sinister gaze swept across the surroundings.

Reason told him that fighting head-on now would not be wise.

Although the Thunder Kylin Beast was in a weakened state, it was still an Earth Ranking Spirit Beast. Once it went berserk, the consequences would be unthinkable.

And with these four covetous fellows watching from the sidelines...

Ji Xuan's eyes shifted, and a seemingly sincere smile appeared on his face.

"Hehe, since everyone is interested in this Thunder Kylin Beast, why don't we... work together?"

He spread his hands, putting on a magnanimous posture.

"If the four of you are willing to lend me a hand and help me take down this beast, we'll split the Essence evenly!"

"What's more..."

Ji Xuan paused, then threw out an even bigger bait.

"I can promise that during the upcoming Spirit Road trials, my team and I will never become enemies with you. We can even share information and help each other. How about it?"

His words were utterly flawless. He had given them enough respect while offering genuine benefits.

If they had been ordinary Spirit Road participants, they would probably have been tempted already.

After all, what was there to lose by avoiding offense to Ji Xuan while still getting a share of the spoils?

However, the response he received was two undisguised snorts of laughter.

"Pfft."

Bing Tianxiao sat on a tree branch, laughing so hard he nearly doubled over as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

He said to Luo Li beside him:

"Oh, I can't take this. I'm dying of laughter. Luo Li, listen to him. Has this guy been kicked in the head by a donkey? He actually thinks he can fool us with an empty promise like that?"

Luo Li did not laugh aloud, but her glasslike eyes were also filled with mockery.

On the other side,

Mu Chen helplessly shook his head. The way he looked at Ji Xuan was like he was looking at a buffoon making a fool of himself.

"Ji Xuan, Ji Xuan... Do you think you're the only clever person in the world?"

Mu Chen crossed his arms, his tone flat.

"Work together? Do you take us for fools? Once you obtain the Essence and advance to a Fourth-level Spirit Body, won't we be the first people you kill?"

The smile on Ji Xuan's face instantly stiffened, and a flash of anger at being exposed flickered in his eyes.

"Then what do you want?"

Ji Xuan's voice turned cold, carrying a hint of threat.

"Don't forget, I still have dozens of brothers behind me. If we really fight to the death, you won't come out ahead either!"

"Fight to the death?"

Bing Tianxiao finally stopped laughing.

He wasn't about to indulge the other party. Although he was merely a member of a branch of the Ice Spirit Clan,

the Five Great Academies were only Sovereign-level forces. They were not powerful enough to make him overly wary of Luo Li.

The Ice Crystal Longbow in his hand rose slightly and pointed at Ji Xuan from afar. His gaze instantly turned sharp.

"The fish may die, but the net won't break!"

Bing Tianxiao licked his lips, a bloodthirsty gleam flickering in his eyes.

"I think kicking this so-called 'number one person on the Spirit Road' out of the game would be more interesting."

"What do you think, Mu Chen?"

Mu Chen grinned when he heard this, revealing a row of snow-white teeth.

The gentle air around him vanished without a trace, replaced by a trace of coldness.

"Great minds think alike."

"Ji Xuan, the Spirit Road has no room for a big shot like you."

"So..."

The two spoke in unison, their voices echoing through the open forest.

"Please go die!"

Before the words had even faded, Bing Tianxiao's longbow was drawn to its full extent.

"Crack!"

The arrow struck the weakest point of the spiritual energy net with pinpoint accuracy, shattering the previously incomparably tough strands of spiritual energy.

"Roar--!!!"

The Thunder Kylin Beast, which had long been driven into a frenzy by the torment, felt its restraints loosen.

It immediately let out a furious roar that shook heaven and earth.

Its enormous body suddenly heaved, and the tattered spiritual energy net instantly split apart.

Terrifying lightning surged wildly from within its body, transforming into thick lightning serpents that struck indiscriminately at the panicked students surrounding it.

"Ah!!"

"Help! The beast's gone berserk!"

"Run! Run!"

The previously orderly encirclement collapsed in an instant, with screams and cries of alarm rising one after another.

Several students closest to it did not even have time to react before the rampaging lightning blasted them into charred corpses.

"Damn it! Bing Tianxiao! I'll kill you!"

Ji Xuan watched this scene with bloodshot eyes, trembling with rage.

His carefully arranged trap had actually been destroyed just like that!

Yet what made him even more desperate was still to come.

Just as the panicked students tried to retreat, two figures appeared on their escape route.

Mu Chen held a black short sword, while Zhan Xiong wielded a huge axe.

The two stood there expressionlessly, like grim reapers guarding the entrance to the underworld.

"This way is blocked."

Mu Chen spoke lightly.

With the rampaging Thunder Kylin Beast wreaking havoc ahead, Mu Chen cutting off their retreat behind them, and Bing Tianxiao's cold arrows overhead,

Ji Xuan's team of seventy or eighty people, which he had always been so proud of, had now become turtles trapped in a jar!

Amid the chaos, the Thunder Kylin Beast's fury became the most effective tool for clearing the field.

It regarded these dozens of students entirely as enemies to be torn apart.

Lightning rained down like a prison, while sharp claws ripped through the air. Every pounce brought a vast spray of blood and severed limbs.

Ji Xuan's eyes nearly split from rage, but he was struggling to protect himself at that moment.

In merely a few dozen breaths, he had already lost more than ten subordinates.

"Move!"

Ji Xuan forced the word through clenched teeth, knowing that the situation was lost.

If he continued entangling himself here, forget the Essence—he might not even make it out alive.

He glared hatefully at Bing Tianxiao.

In the end, he abandoned most of his subordinates and charged headlong into the depths of the dense forest with several Third-level Spirit Bodies.

Mu Chen and Zhan Xiong did not pursue them.

They had already achieved their objective.

A cornered enemy should not be pursued, especially since Ji Xuan's strength was not to be underestimated. Pushing him too far would only create trouble.

With Ji Xuan's departure, the remaining people lost all fighting spirit. Under the Thunder Kylin Beast's frenzied attacks, they soon marched toward annihilation.

In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the battlefield quickly fell silent.

The Thunder Kylin Beast panted heavily. Its body was torn open in many places, exposing bone-deep wounds. Most notably, the wound on its neck, ripped open by an Ice Crystal arrow, was gushing blue blood mixed with electric arcs.

Its enormous body swayed, and the madness in its eyes gradually gave way to exhaustion and weakness.

After one fierce battle after another, the poison from the spiritual energy net, the counterattack from Ji Xuan's team, and its frenzied outburst just now had already pushed it to the end of its strength.

Now!

"Whoosh!"

A shrill sound suddenly tore through the air.

An arrow pierced through the Thunder Kylin Beast's already mangled neck wound.

"Pfft!"

The arrow sank into flesh.

This once-arrogant Earth Ranking Spirit Beast finally died.

Its enormous body collapsed with a thunderous crash, kicking up dust that filled the sky.

Bing Tianxiao leaped down from the treetop and landed steadily beside the Thunder Kylin Beast's corpse.

With practiced movements, he split open the Thunder Kylin Beast's skull and took out a fist-sized Essence that glittered with dazzling lightning.