Hunting

"What?" The male cultivator's face changed drastically. He pushed off with his feet, intending to leap down from the tree, only to realize that his body had somehow already been bound by several vines.

He turned back in terror and saw a young scholar in flowing white robes standing on a branch with his hands behind his back, wearing a beaming smile as if greeting an old friend. But that very smile made him feel a chill run down his spine.

"If you'd come out on your own, things would've been much simpler, and I might have spared your life. But now... you've outsmarted yourself." The White-robed Scholar's smile faded as he spoke. With a flick of his folding fan, an overwhelming pressure instantly crushed down.

The male cultivator's body flew off the tree like a broken kite, plummeting straight down.

With a loud crash, he slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that blurred his vision. But he still saw a woman in red robes swaying her seductive figure as she walked toward him.

"Where are the others?" The Red-robed Woman stepped on his chest and asked coldly.

"Don't... don't kill me. I'll give you the Immortal Qi," the male cultivator said in terror. Losing the Immortal Qi was bad enough, but dying here would severely damage his Divine Soul, forcing him to spend more time recovering. The impact on him would be too great.

"I gave you a chance. Killing you now will still get me the Immortal Qi." The White-robed Scholar fanned himself slowly as he walked over and looked down at him.

"I... I can tell you where the others are. Right... right, there's even one at Qi Refining Layer 4 among them." The male cultivator trembled under the White-robed Scholar's pressure. The Qi Refining Eighth Layer cultivation combined with that cold smile completely shattered whatever courage he had left.

"No need. I prefer to toy with my prey slowly. I don't like ending things too quickly. As for you... I can only say it's a pity. Farewell." As the White-robed Scholar finished speaking, he gently waved his fan. A transparent stream of air materialized and swept across the male cultivator's neck.

Chhh

Blood sprayed from his throat like an unstoppable fountain...

Meanwhile, the White-robed Scholar and the Red-robed Woman had already vanished into the forest.

The male cultivator dissolved into nothingness and disappeared from the Heavenly Court. Beside him, the Jade Token's red number 3000 had now become 2500, while the green 500 had been completely erased.

There were two ways to obtain Immortal Qi: one was to directly kill the opponent, and the Immortal Qi would automatically transfer to the killer's Jade Token; the other was to place the opponent's Jade Token against one's own and absorb the Immortal Qi from it.

This rule also eliminated the cultivators' idea of hiding their Jade Tokens! After all, if they died, their Immortal Qi would still be transferred. So they believed that only fleeing—running far away as fast as possible—was the key.

But there was one person who didn't think that way. At this very moment, Chen Fan was following the river upstream. He had encountered quite a few Monster Beasts along the way, but he never stopped. As the sound of rushing water grew louder, he quickened his pace.

Only when the deafening roar reached his ears did he stop. At the end of the river, a vast curtain of water cascaded endlessly from high above, crashing onto the lake below, sending up towering splashes. Mist swirled in the air, steam rising and clouding the surroundings.

A waterfall—a massive waterfall!

Chen Fan flicked his longsword. A crisp sword hum had just sounded when it was instantly swallowed by the waterfall's roar. He stamped his foot, and his figure shot forward, lunging straight toward the turbulent river.

Splash!

His foot lightly touched the river's surface, sending up a tiny spray and ripples spreading in circles.

Chen Fan walked on the river as if on solid ground, his feet tapping lightly in succession. His form blurred into a streak of shadow as he skimmed across the water, leaving a trail of splashes behind him as he charged toward the mighty waterfall.

Thump!

He stomped down hard, and a tall column of water erupted from the river. His body shot out like a cannonball, hurtling straight at the violent, surging water curtain!

Just as his entire figure was about to crash into it, a brilliant, dazzling burst of sword light exploded from him. Amid a sharp, urgent sword hum, it tore through the fierce roar of the water and slammed fiercely into the water curtain.

A massive circular hole suddenly ripped open in the enormous water curtain, like a gaping mouth that had abruptly opened.

Chen Fan's figure plunged straight into it.

Whoosh—!!

The water crashed down, and the huge hole was almost instantly sealed, burying Chen Fan's figure.

With a slap, Chen Fan landed steadily on the open ground behind the waterfall. It was a narrow cave, carrying a hint of eerie chill.

After taking a few steps, Chen Fan immediately sat cross-legged. He held a Demon Core in his hand, activated the Blazing Heaven Sword Art within his body, closed his eyes, and entered a cultivation state.

A faint blue glow flickered on the Demon Core, and a surge of immense energy violently poured into his body...

Just then, the Jade Token beside him shimmered faintly. The red number 2500 suddenly turned into 2000!

One day later.

At the other end of this forest, two men at Qi Refining Seventh Layer wiped their longswords and looked at the bald male cultivator lying on the ground, shaking their heads.

"So the highest cultivation among them is only Qi Refining Seventh Layer. Looks like this time, we might take all three thousand Immortal Qi for ourselves."

"In that case, we can't kill them. We need to capture them alive, gather them together, and then kill them all at once. Otherwise, once we exceed fifteen hundred Immortal Qi, we'll be forcibly teleported out."

"Agreed. Senior Brother Wang should be thinking the same way, hehe!"

"Hehe!" Their cold laughter carried a sinister chill as their figures flickered and vanished toward another direction.

North of the forest, inside a hidden tree hollow!

"Two dead already, hmph. Must be that waste at Qi Refining Layer 4." The Green-robed Woman hid inside the tree hollow, staring at the Jade Token in her hand, and snorted coldly.

Boom!

A dull thud suddenly came from above her head. Then, with a crack, a beam of strong light shone down into the tree hollow from above.

With a final smack, the Green-robed Woman's face turned pale.

The entire giant tree had been sliced cleanly in half. The massive trunk lay horizontally on the ground, and the cut was only two centimeters from her head.

"Ah, so close!" A male voice called out with some regret.

"Haha, Liu San, you lost. That 500 Immortal Qi is mine now. I told you you couldn't hit her head." Another person laughed with schadenfreude.

"No fair, no fair, Li Tang. This needs to be renegotiated. How about letting her find another tree hollow and giving me one last chance?" Liu San waved his hands repeatedly, refusing to concede.

"Get lost. I knew you'd go back on your word..." Li Tang scolded angrily.

The Green-robed Woman sat dazed in the now-exposed tree hollow, her body trembling slightly. Both men before her were at Qi Refining Seventh Layer. She knew she had no strength to resist. Though she understood that death here didn't mean true death, facing this situation still filled her with fear, and she shook uncontrollably.

"Oh, not bad-looking. Quite a voluptuous figure too." After Liu San got a clear look at the Green-robed Woman's face, a hint of lechery flashed in his eyes.

"Bewitched by lust. Watch out—it'll affect your future path of cultivation." Li Tang shook his head in disdain.

"Heh, desirelessness doesn't suit me. I cultivate immortality just to live better, to enjoy all the beauty in this world—naturally including beautiful women." Liu San grinned as he stared at the Green-robed Woman, his gaze roving wantonly over her voluptuous form.

"Don't forget Senior Brother Wang is here too. We've already got four thousand Immortal Qi. These people are nothing special. Given Senior Brother Wang's character, he won't stop at just completing the mission. To be safe, let's take her back first. There's still plenty of time." Li Tang said calmly.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I'd almost forgotten. Let's take her back then." At the mention of Senior Brother Wang, Liu San felt a chill down his spine and immediately nodded in agreement with Li Tang's suggestion. He then reached out to grab the Green-robed Woman.

By the time the two of them escorted the Green-robed Woman back to the original spot, they found the White-robed Scholar and the others already waiting. Two living people lay on the ground—a man and a woman. The man had ordinary features and a cultivation of merely Qi Refining Layer 6, while the woman was strikingly beautiful, clad in a yellow robe, with a cultivation of Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

Liu San stared from afar at the bound Yellow-Robed Woman lying on the ground, nearly losing his focus. She was several times more beautiful than the Green-robed Woman in his hands—almost like a celestial maiden.

Fortunately, the White-robed Scholar stood beside the Yellow-Robed Woman. The faint smile on his face snapped Liu San back to his senses, and he quickened his pace toward the group.

Seeing the two return, the smile on the White-robed Scholar's face deepened. "Just as I expected."

But after he spoke, his smile faltered slightly. He looked at the Yellow-Robed Woman and the male cultivator on the ground, frowned, and said, "Still one missing. Wasn't there a kid at Qi Refining Layer 4? Did you kill him?"

This question was naturally directed at the other two, as well as the newly arrived Liu San and Li Tang.

The four were all taken aback. A Qi Refining Layer 4 cultivator in a place like this?

They shook their heads almost simultaneously. One of them said, "The one we killed was a bald cultivator at Qi Refining Seventh Layer. Right after that, we caught this kid in another forest."

"We only found this woman." Liu San and Li Tang shoved the Green-robed Woman to the ground, next to the Yellow-Robed Woman.

Hearing this, the White-robed Scholar's brow furrowed into a "river" character. A few breaths later, it relaxed, and a smile crept onto his lips. "Interesting. A Qi Refining Layer 4 managed to hide so well even we didn't notice."

The Yellow-Robed Woman, the Green-robed Woman, and the male cultivator on the ground were startled. They had assumed that one of the two dead must have been Chen Fan, but they never expected that these confident pursuers hadn't even lasted two days before being found.

The Yellow-Robed Woman let out a bitter smile. She had thought that even with Chen Fan's impressive swordsmanship, he couldn't escape the hunt of so many Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivators. As for herself, she had hidden in a hard-to-find cave, only to be discovered by the White-robed Scholar and the Red-robed Woman on the second day. She had fought back, matching the Red-robed Woman evenly, but then the White-robed Scholar joined in. With his Qi Refining Eighth Layer cultivation, it took only a few moves to capture her and bring her here.

"It's over. These people plan to take all our Immortal Qi. That Qi Refining Layer 4 kid will be found sooner or later." The male cultivator lying on the ground spoke in disappointment, lowering his voice to the two women.

Hearing this, the Yellow-Robed Woman's eyes flickered with light as she recalled the scene from yesterday when she saw Chen Fan kill Lone Wolf.

The Green-robed Woman sat in a daze. She had never experienced death before. She was a proud daughter of heaven who had fought her way here, only to realize today how terrifying death truly was. What she found laughable was that the Qi Refining Layer 4 cultivator they had all looked down on hadn't even been discovered yet.

"Where would a Qi Refining Layer 4 get 500 Immortal Qi to even participate in the second level? Could he have already died under a Monster Beast's claws?" Liu San spoke up.