The rewards offered by Guanyun City's Department of Education weren't aimed at Lu Chong alone. They were meant for all local examinees who could make it onto the provincial Top Hundred.
Lu Chong didn't know what the other two were thinking, but he was determined to make the most of this opportunity.
As dusk fell, the roars of beasts began echoing through the mountains, one after another, and carried into every livestream room.
Most students had found relatively safe places to hide, such as secluded caves. Others had banded together for warmth, afraid of being surrounded and eliminated during the night.
By then, Lu Chong had reached the area inhabited by Level 1 Stage 1 Exotic Beasts. He neither hid nor sought shelter, deliberately staying out in the open and continuing deeper despite the risk of being surrounded.
Thanks to the tempering of his Golden Bell Shield, his sight, smell, and hearing were all far sharper than an ordinary person's. Even at night, he could keenly sense the movements of Exotic Beasts.
This Hunting Ground was completely different from the one in Guanyun City. Instead of containing a single species, it was home to a mix of Exotic Beasts that formed a small ecosystem. Lu Chong couldn't identify them all at a glance.
But that didn't matter. He was confident he could make his way through this area.
Roar!
A black shadow suddenly leaped from a thicket three meters away, bringing a wave of foul stench with it.
Lu Chong had already caught its scent. Without even glancing at it, he sprang up on his right leg like a coiled spring, his kick slicing through the night sky.
A scream rang out, and the shadow shot back even faster than it had come.
Lu Chong pursued it, catching up with the off-balance shadow in midair and swiftly removing the Positioning Device from its body.
"A One-Horned Wild Boar. A fine snack to go with liquor. Too bad I can't take it back."
Lu Chong glanced at the shadow, which had fallen to the ground and still couldn't get up, muttered to himself, and hurried away.
With 500 points in hand, Lu Chong's score jumped straight to 926, putting him in 79th place on the Scoreboard.
But this was only the beginning.
His basic goal for the first night of the Combat Assessment was to take first place.
By now, not only was the Guanyun City livestream showing Lu Chong's footage, but the Provincial Official Livestream Room had also begun broadcasting it.
In no time, the audience in Lu Chong's personal livestream room surged again, topping five million and surpassing Xiang Yueya's.
For now, though, few people were tipping him. Most viewers remained skeptical, waiting to see how he would perform.
After all, if Lu Chong was merely courting attention and acting recklessly, only to be eliminated that very night, he wouldn't be worth following.
The provincial officials weren't paying special attention to Lu Chong so much as there were very few examinees daring to venture into a Level 2 Exotic Beast area at night.
Of the three Martial Artist examinees from Guanyun City, Lu Chong was the only one who had entered a Level 2 Exotic Beast area.
Among all the examinees in Hedong Province, only six Martial Artists had entered this area so far.
The other five, besides Lu Chong, were all students from the provincial capital. They were famous in their own right: four were Fifth Stage Martial Artists, and one was a Sixth Stage Martial Artist.
It wasn't all that surprising to see those five in a Level 2 Exotic Beast area. Their strength and reputations spoke for themselves.
But Lu Chong was only somewhat famous in Guanyun City. What gave him the nerve to venture into a Level 2 Exotic Beast's territory at night?
Soon, however, an expert in the livestream room offered an analysis. "Lu Chong, from Guanyun City First High School, is quite capable."
"From what I can tell, he should be a Fourth Stage Martial Artist now. And that Wind Splitting Leg he just used has reached the exceptionally rare Perfection Realm."
Only then did the viewers realize that Lu Chong wasn't a newly promoted Martial Artist. His cultivation was far ahead of most, and he was only slightly behind those five.
Besides, even at a key high school in the provincial capital, there weren't many students who had mastered a mid-grade Martial Skill to the Perfection Realm.
At the Teacher Apartment of Guanyun City First High School, Wang Tong was also anxiously following both the official livestream and Lu Chong's personal stream.
Hearing the expert's comments, he beamed. He grabbed his wife beside him and proudly said, "See? That's a student from my class."
"That kid broke through again. He's a Fourth Stage Martial Artist now."
"And that Wind Splitting Leg—heh, I taught him that myself."
His wife had been watching closely too. At his words, she smiled. She knew how much her husband valued Lu Chong as a student.
But just as viewers in the various livestream rooms had accepted the expert's assessment and begun to see Lu Chong in a new light as a dark horse, they noticed something was off.
Lu Chong didn't stop in the Level 2 Stage 1 Exotic Beast area to look for opportunities to hunt. Instead, he kept moving at high speed, heading north straight toward the Stage 2 area.
"What's he doing? He's about to be surrounded by Exotic Beasts. Is he seriously going to keep going deeper?"
The viewers in the livestream were stunned. Wasn't he taking things too far?
Exotic Beasts were especially active at night, yet Lu Chong dared to keep pressing onward, challenging even stronger beasts.
In the Hunting Ground, Lu Chong was indeed moving in a straight line without stopping to search for Exotic Beasts.
Even so, his brazen advance drew the attention of many beasts hunting for food at night.
One, two, three...
Soon, twelve Level 2 Stage 1 Exotic Beasts were trailing him, chasing after this tempting and audacious prey.
Only when Lu Chong was nearing the Level 2 Stage 2 area did he slow down, waiting for the twelve beasts behind him to catch up.
"Good. This is much more efficient. No time wasted."
Lu Chong muttered to himself, turned, and charged at the snarling beasts rushing toward him.
He unleashed one Martial Skill after another: Monument-Splitting Palm, Nine-Shadow Step, Iron Wire Fist, Cloud Piercing Finger, and Heart-Piercing Kick.
He no longer stuck to fixed routines, instead combining his moves as the situation demanded and striving to defeat each beast as efficiently as possible.
None of the Exotic Beasts before him could withstand a single move. He took them down one by one.
Lu Chong even refrained from using any mid-grade or higher Martial Skills.
He cut through the twelve beasts and ended up with an equal number of Positioning Devices in hand.
Not one managed to escape. And because he deliberately held back, none of the beasts were seriously injured.
This was, of course, intentional. If he killed or crippled the beasts in this area, the pressure on the other examinees would ease, and they would have a chance to steal his points.
The first haul after nightfall made his score multiply several times over, sending it straight to 6,926 and propelling him to third place on the Scoreboard.
The two people ahead of him were both strangers to Lu Chong. One was named Li Ganzhong, and the other Wang Shan.
Their scores were 8,689 and 7,955, respectively.
"So someone really is stealing my money. Looks like I'll have to hurry." Lu Chong felt a pang of regret, then stepped into the Level 2 Stage 2 Exotic Beast area without looking back.
By then, his personal livestream room and both official livestream rooms broadcasting his feed had erupted.
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