More Experts, A Meeting of Minds

An endless yellow desert stretched before them, where a group of oddly shaped Prison Clan members were frantically running, with a sky-obscuring cloud of yellow sand behind them.

Within that sand, massive brown rhino beasts could be dimly seen, their eyes fixed on the fleeing Prison Clan ahead, their hooves kicking up waves of sand as if eager to trample them into mud.

"He Na, your Blood River Squad has been completely scattered by these Earth Rock Rhinos. Now, aside from you few Elite Trial Takers still alive, the only one left who might survive is Di Fei."

"How about this: if you split half the battle suits you're carrying with me, I'll lure these Earth Rock Rhinos away from you!"

Among the Prison Clan group, a humanoid male about three meters tall, with a pair of giant pincer arms and clad in earthen-yellow battle armor, was leisurely following behind a woman in a blood-red battle suit.

He glanced back at the approaching rhino herd from time to time, then taunted the blood-armored woman, as if completely unaware that he too was in danger.

"Yu Yan, just drop that idea! These Earth Rock Rhinos were lured here by you in the first place—their real target is you, you bastard, and you dragged our Blood River Squad into this too. Once I shake off this beast horde, I'll settle accounts with you properly!"

The blood-armored woman shot a fierce glare at the tall man, but her pace didn't slow; in fact, she sped up slightly.

If they could just run out of this desert, the rhino herd should stop chasing so madly.

But no matter what, the Blood River Squad they'd painstakingly organized had completely fallen apart. Not only were the ordinary squad members dead or dying, but even most of the Elite Trial Takers had been caught by the frenzied rhinos and trampled to death.

Now, only Di Fei, who had likely broken through to Sky Grade, and the few Elite Trial Takers beside her were left alive. But their crisis wasn't over yet—if the maddened rhino herd caught up, they could still be wiped out.

And besides the threat of the rhinos behind them, there was also this "Yu Yan" from Thunder Star Mountain and his handful of Elite Trial Takers, who were enemies of her Blood River Squad.

If she wasn't mistaken, these rhinos had been deliberately stirred up by Yu Yan and his people, with the goal of destroying her squad members.

Thinking of this, He Na felt a headache coming on. That Yu Yan, though also an Elite Trial Taker like her, had already broken through to Sky Grade, while she was still at the peak of Earth Grade.

Even though his family status meant Yu Yan wouldn't dare do anything too extreme to her, if he kept sabotaging like this, she'd never be able to recover.

"Haha, settle accounts? You've got no one left. With you, a young lady who hasn't even reached Sky Grade, what can you do to me?"

"You're still too green. The little princess of Blood Sun City—if it weren't for that identity, do you think you'd still be alive? If I were you, I'd have slit my own throat by now. All you do by living is get your teammates killed. Di Fei is the best proof!"

Yu Yan sneered dismissively. He had participated in the Blood Trial three times before, each time relying on his own strength to walk out of the trial grounds.

And now it was his fourth time!

According to the higher-ups' orders, he no longer needed to suppress his strength this time; he could break through to Sky Grade to compete for the "prize" in the trial grounds.

Yu Yan was now brimming with confidence. Not only had he smoothly broken through his bottleneck, but he'd also driven his old rival Di Fei into a corner.

What pleased him most was seeing the usually arrogant little princess of Blood Sun City flee in panic.

Putting aside everything else, just this glory alone filled his heart with satisfaction.

Of course, killing this royal bloodline heir outright was out of the question. The Blood Trial allowed eliminating any competitor, but once outside, different rules applied.

Plus, these young masters and ladies entering the Blood Trial all carried advanced auxiliary optical brains or even smart optical brains—high-tech gear. If he made a killing move, some key information might leak to the outside, which would be very bad for him.

They joined the Blood Trial mainly to gild their resumes, while he joined to gain resources—their goals were different.

Unless necessary, Yu Yan wouldn't actively destroy this little princess; he might even save her at a critical moment.

Hence the scene of Yu Yan and He Na fleeing together!

"You're the one who should kill yourself—your whole family should! Don't get cocky, Yu Yan. Our Blood River Squad is finished, but you ran off alone with a few Elite Trial Takers. Aren't you afraid your own squad will collapse too?"

He Na's face was cold with mockery. She truly hated this sleazy bastard. Just because he'd been in the Blood Trial a few more times, he thought he could lord it over a newcomer?

I'll draw a circle and curse you all!

"Haha, my squad is perfectly safe right now. They're even basking in the sun, waiting for our triumphant return!"

"If anything happened to them, I'd kill myself on the spot—unlike some people who only escaped with their teammates' help!"

"Besides, who in the entire Eastern Domain doesn't know the name 'Rock Fiend'? Who would dare kill my men? Haha, who would dare!"

Yu Yan suddenly exuded an aura of "supreme dominance," looking incredibly imposing.

No wonder—an Elite Trial Taker who had broken through to Star Grade, even if not matching a Special Elite, had at least narrowed the gap considerably.

He figured that no matter how fierce the competition in this trial ground, he, Yu Yan, could walk out smoothly. He had every right to be arrogant.

"Yu Yan, boss, it's bad! Our squad was attacked by that damned wolf beast horde! It's over, everything's over! Except for Tuo Meng and a few others, everyone else was wiped out by the wolves!"

A shrill voice suddenly came through Yu Yan's auxiliary optical brain, and its content made him stumble, nearly falling.

"What did you say? How could they be attacked by a wolf beast horde? There was only a small pack of wolf beasts over there, hiding in the swamp a hundred kilometers away and not daring to come out. Are you messing with me?"

Yu Yan's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the green-clad Prison Clan member on the optical brain's screen, wishing he could pull him out and tear him to pieces.

His painstakingly built team—the capital for his conquest of this trial ground over the next few years—how could they be wiped out just like that?

Worst of all, he'd just boasted, and now this disaster struck—it was like the universe was forcing him to kill himself!

"It's true! Those wolf beasts came out in full force, and every single one was bloodthirsty, as if they held a deep grudge against us. Hurry back, or even Tuo Meng and the others might not escape the wolves' pursuit!"

The green-clad Prison Clan member wore a mournful expression. If he hadn't used his innate talent to hide inside a big tree at the critical moment, his fate would have been no better.

"Fine, I'll return as fast as I can." Yu Yan took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but when he saw the gloating look on He Na's face, his anger surged again.

Clearly, she had heard every word of his conversation.

"Did you do this?"

He glared viciously at He Na, his killing intent growing stronger by the second.

"Do what? If you hadn't run off on your own, would this have happened? Haha, Yu Yan, Yu Yan—look at you now! Weren't you saying you'd kill yourself? Go ahead, I've already got my camera ready for a souvenir photo!"

He Na snapped back to reality as well. Though she was thrilled, now wasn't the time to dwell on who had done it. She had to warn Yu Yan, who was on the verge of losing his mind, that she had already opened the communication channel. If Yu Yan dared to make a move against her, even if he managed to leave the Trial Ground smoothly, he wouldn't have an easy time outside.

Sure enough, He Na's warning sobered Yu Yan up by more than half. He took another deep breath, shot He Na a fierce glare, then spoke to the five Elite Trial Takers under his command:

"Let's go. We need to hurry back."

With that, he took the lead and sprinted off in a certain direction.

He hadn't expected this. He thought he could pull off this trick, only to run into an even more formidable expert.

He didn't even know who had struck, but both sides' goals were almost identical—it was practically a meeting of minds.