Night fell, but even within the forest, the unique structure of the Starlight Forest kept it from growing dark.
What was more, everyone here was at least a Tier 6 Warrior. Even candlelight was enough for them to see clearly for a hundred meters.
Everyone gathered in one place. Even the Golden-Bearded Mastiffs in the distance sensed something and growled uneasily. They wanted to leave, but the weaker members of their tribe would likely all be killed by these humans. The Golden-Bearded Mastiffs were practically invincible in this forest, which had led to an overabundance of young mastiffs. Now they had become a burden, making the adults afraid to migrate at will. All they could do was wait where they were.
This trial took place once every four years. How could its chosen target possibly be allowed to run away at the last moment?
"Everyone, tonight is not only a crucial moment for our trial. More importantly, we're about to accomplish something extraordinary!"
A young swordsman wearing a special suit of tight-fitting armor stood in the middle of the crowd, delivering the speech he had prepared for a long time.
Ganlan, the son of the Leiquan City Lord.
"These are Golden-Bearded Mastiffs—the very Golden-Bearded Mastiffs that even Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts avoid. There are a full two hundred of them! Anyone short of a Super Tier powerhouse—human or beast—would have to give them a wide berth. But I say that today, we'll kill every last one of them!"
"Every last one!"
The warriors responded with a shout.
"Good! I won't waste time. I'll tell you the rules we must follow. Anyone who breaks them will be killed. If we can't do it today, I'll use the power of Leiquan City to hunt them down forever!" Ganlan's expression was stern. He clearly wasn't joking.
"Leiquan City?"
Everyone drew a sharp breath.
The Aoyu Empire had only seven cities. Aside from the capital, Lionheart City, there were only six others, and Leiquan City was one of them. Every city had more than one Super Tier expert stationed there. If Leiquan City hunted you down, a Super Tier expert might even step in to kill the wanted criminal.
Everyone had to weigh the significance of those words. After all, Ganlan was the son of the Leiquan City Lord.
"Everyone, there's no need to panic. My rules are simple. First, look at those people in the distance. They don't want to leave and are hiding here, clearly hoping to steal the Golden-Bearded Mastiffs from us or take our prey in the chaos. So the first rule is that we stand together against outsiders. If they dare come over, kill them on sight." Ganlan pointed into the distance. One or two hundred people were still hiding in the woods. They weren't joining the hunt, but they weren't leaving either. Clearly, they were waiting for a chance to plunder.
"Even if Young Master Ganlan hadn't said anything, we wouldn't let them steal from us."
"Right! If they dare come over... kill them on sight."
"We're the ones doing the work, and they think they can get their hands on the Golden Whiskers without lifting a finger? Hmph, I, Thunder Hand, am no pushover. I'll make sure they learn their lesson."
Ganlan's words immediately struck a chord with everyone.
Ganlan nodded. "The second rule is that we work together to kill the Golden-Bearded Mastiffs. Once they're routed, the Golden Whiskers are up for grabs, and everyone can rely on their own abilities. If I tried to divide them up, I doubt anyone would agree. But anyone who tries to snatch them before the mastiffs are routed will answer for it afterward."
Everyone nodded. There were more than two hundred Golden-Bearded Mastiffs, and an adult had only six Golden Whiskers. There weren't enough to go around if they divided them up. Letting everyone rely on their own abilities suited them better.
"All right, those are the rules. I recommend forming groups of seven or eight. A few more won't hurt. Work together to take down one Golden-Bearded Mastiff. If you charge in recklessly, you'll only get yourselves massacred. As for mounts, don't bring them unless they're high-grade intermediate mounts or powerful mounts like Yellow Lion Tigers. Golden-Bearded Mastiffs are Tier 8 Ferocious Beasts. Their aura alone is enough to send some mounts that aren't suited for combat running in terror."
Everyone laughed. "Don't worry, Young Master. Anyone who made it here knows what they're doing."
"Give the order, Young Master. We can't wait any longer."
Ganlan nodded and shouted, "Tier 8 Warriors, take the vanguard! There are one hundred and eleven of you. You'll take on the Tier 9 Golden-Bearded Mastiffs. The rest of you, follow!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ganlan urged his ferocious mount forward and charged toward the nearby Golden-Bearded Mastiffs.
The hundred-odd Tier 8 Warriors behind him immediately followed. Every one of them wore a Diamond-Grade Battle Suit and carried Life Potions at their waists to quickly recover from injuries.
Ganlan had paid a hefty price to assemble such a vanguard.
"Young Master, do you think they'll follow the rules?"
A Tier 8 Warrior drew up beside Ganlan and asked.
Ganlan replied coldly, "The rules are just there to make things go more smoothly for us. As long as nothing goes wrong at the start, we'll get enough Golden Whiskers. As for the rules? With the Golden Whiskers right in front of them, who'd follow them obediently? Only an idiot. But that has nothing to do with us. We only need them to charge alongside me once. Otherwise, none of them could easily kill a Golden-Bearded Mastiff alone."
The Tier 8 Warrior nodded repeatedly and returned to his place.
It seemed that after that setback, the young master really had matured.
In the distance, amid the crowd.
"Chen, let's go too." Guen urged the Yellow Lion Tiger beneath him and followed. It was the only Yellow Lion Tiger left, and the strongest one. As for the other two, to keep them from benefiting anyone else, they had naturally become the dearly departed.
"Mm." Chen nodded and followed.
They exchanged no further words. Guen and the six people around him naturally drew closer together. The eight of them would work together to take on one Golden-Bearded Mastiff, but they were also potential competitors. As soon as the mastiff died, their fragile alliance would fall apart.
"Roar!"
At their leader's call, the Golden-Bearded Mastiffs rose one after another. All the trees around their gathering place had been knocked down. Once the humans charged in, nothing would stand in their way, and they would face the mastiffs' attacks head-on.
Nearly two thousand people charged forward. The sound of their mounts' hooves pounding the ground was like a war drum, setting everyone's blood ablaze.
"Kill!"
The five Tier 9 Golden-Bearded Mastiff leaders led their tribe in a charge, but they still left around ten adult mastiffs behind to protect the young.
"Boom!"
The vanguards on both sides collided. The sound of bodies slamming together was just as earth-shaking. If the clash before had been a war drum, now it was a peal of thunder.
"Kill!"
Guen and Chen were in the second wave. In an instant, they charged into the Golden-Bearded Mastiffs' ranks.
There were too many people!
The Golden-Bearded Mastiffs couldn't break through their formation or coordinate with one another.
The humans and mastiffs farther back were left dumbfounded. Although the formation had spread out in a fan, people crowded against people and beasts pressed against beasts, leaving some of those in the rear unable to engage the enemy.
The Golden-Bearded Mastiffs roared furiously, while the humans were far less orderly.
Those at the very front clashed with the mastiffs, and the fiercest fighting broke out there. It was dangerous, but they also had the greatest chance of obtaining the Golden Whiskers.
Guen's group followed close behind. But because of the formation, the huge Golden-Bearded Mastiffs couldn't all spread out. Sometimes a single mastiff had to face two groups attacking it at once.
The Golden-Bearded Mastiffs roared over and over, tearing and biting, each time forcing several people back. But there were simply too many humans. They could watch their heads or their tails, but not both.
"Roar!"
The Golden-Bearded Mastiff lowered its head and saw Guen punching it repeatedly in the belly, making its internal organs cramp.
As soon as it lowered its head, another warrior's sword flashed across its eye, and blood sprayed out.
"Roar!"
The Golden-Bearded Mastiff let out a furious, frustrated roar. It could knock several humans back at once, but people attacking from other directions took the opportunity to strike. In the blink of an eye, it was covered in wounds. None of them were serious on their own, but together they were devastating.
The Golden-Bearded Mastiff went berserk. Its one remaining eye fixed on whoever it could see, and it fought them to the death.
"Fall back! This Golden-Bearded Mastiff's gone crazy!"
Guen retreated in time. His Yellow Lion Tiger mount had long since disappeared. Guen hadn't been its master to begin with, and now that it was no longer under restraint and the situation was so dangerous, it had naturally run off.
Only Chen was safe, attacking from the air again and again with his unicorn.
Suddenly, a Flying Dagger shot out and instantly sliced off all six of the Golden-Bearded Mastiff's Golden Whiskers, drawing them into someone's Battle Suit.
Several more Flying Daggers flew in from elsewhere, each returning with Golden Whiskers as well.
Since they had just fallen back a little, several people saw the Flying Daggers vanish into the Battle Suit of a Scar-faced Man who had appeared from who knew where.
Artifact User!
Guen was furious and shocked.
The Scar-faced Man's apparent strength was only Tier 6, but before an Artifact User reached Tier 9, their true strength was generally two tiers higher than a warrior's.
In other words, the Scar-faced Man was a Tier 8 Artifact User.
"He's actually an Artifact User. Why would someone at that level come here? Any Artifact User could join the official organization directly just by revealing their identity, and as a senior member, too. Compared to warriors who passed the trial, they'd only rank lower if the gap in strength were enormous. So why?!" Guen stared hard at the Scar-faced Man. To take the trial, one only needed to have their strength assessed within a year and submit an application through the appropriate institution. Unless they revealed it themselves, no one would know.
But it was rare for an Artifact User to hide their identity while cultivating to this level.
And what puzzled Guen even more was that this had happened before with another Artifact User, and now this one was doing the same thing.
They both actually wanted to take the trial.
"I hate that look," the Scar-faced Man said as he glanced over the crowd and saw everyone glaring at him furiously. Without making any other movement, he sent a Flying Dagger toward them.
Guen charged forward to meet the Flying Dagger, surprising the Scar-faced Man.
Since you're asking to die, I'll grant your wish.
The Scar-faced Man sneered inwardly. Just as the Flying Dagger was about to collide with Guen's fist, it suddenly veered off course and shot toward Guen's undefended face.
Guen blinked. The crude clothes on his body suddenly extended to cover him completely, leaving only his eyes exposed.
The Flying Dagger struck Guen's face without leaving so much as a white mark. Guen's head tilted back slightly, but he continued charging at the Scar-faced Man without being affected.
"How is this possible?!"
Apart from Guen, only Chen, high in the sky, had blocked the attack with the Gem Shield of his Diamond-Grade unicorn. Everyone else had been killed in an instant.
An Artifact User's hidden weapons were not only incredibly powerful, but could also change direction at will, making them impossible to guard against. Yet this red-haired youth had not only blocked them, he didn't even seem particularly affected.
The Scar-faced Man froze.
"Die!"
That moment of hesitation gave Guen his chance.
A Tier 7 Warrior was incredibly fast. They had both been fighting the same Golden-Bearded Mastiff, and they were only about ten meters apart. That brief hesitation was all it took for Guen to close the distance. He grabbed the Scar-faced Man with one hand and punched him in the face.
In his fury, the force of the punch increased by another tenth!
The Scar-faced Man grunted.
Although he wore a Diamond-Grade Battle Suit, the suit mainly protected his body. Apart from that, he only had a helmet. It had a faceplate, but the faceplate was nowhere near as durable as the rest of the suit and offered only limited protection. The Scar-faced Man had assumed that, as an Artifact User, he had no need to lower his faceplate.
But he was also puzzled. How had Guen's faceplate covered his face in an instant, leaving only his eyes exposed? And why hadn't the Flying Dagger hurt him at all?
Guen paid him no attention. He threw one punch after another, falling into the rhythm he knew best. He attacked furiously, giving his enemy no chance to catch his breath.
Fast!
Heavy!
Unstoppable!
For a Fighter, the best way to win a battle was to crush the enemy with the fiercest assault.
The Scar-faced Man fought back with all his might. Flying Daggers struck Guen one after another. Each dagger could leave a Golden-Bearded Mastiff with torn flesh and shattered bones. But every tribe of Golden-Bearded Mastiffs had a Tier 9 Ferocious Beast as its leader.
The Golden-Bearded Mastiffs also lived in groups, packed together one beside another. Under those circumstances, killing one without drawing the leader's pursuit was difficult. The Scar-faced Man had tried three or four times and only succeeded once. After that, he heard the fighting and joined Ganlan's group.
He had no idea he'd run into a monster like Guen.
Punch after punch, Guen broke down his defenses.
The Flying Daggers he had always relied on seemed like toys now. They couldn't even tickle Guen.
"Clang, clang, clang."
The Flying Daggers fell all around them. The Scar-faced Man had no life left in him, and his head had been reduced to a pulp.
Guen looked up. Everyone around him, human and beast alike, stared back in fear.
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