Trial Ends

"He's dead!" Ning Rong shouted. "You can cut the line!"

That's right, to prevent the fierce beasts from escaping with the crossbow bolts, Yang Ning had also prepared arrows with ropes attached. Once the arrows hit their target, they would expand into barbs!

This turned the ballista into a harpoon!

As for poison, who didn't know that the fierce beasts in Demon Subduing Valley had high poison resistance? How could ordinary poison be used?

A Sixth Level of Body Refinement Black Wolf could reach a speed of 140 meters per second at full burst, almost equivalent to teleportation. The arrow's speed was 258 meters per second. Shooting at a target 200 meters away would likely miss.

But that wolf just had to stand on the most conspicuous rock and howl. As everyone knows, wolves always lift their heads when they howl and wouldn't be looking at the tank below.

Caught off guard, it was hit.

"So that's what the barrel was for!" Ming Yuxiu nodded. With his eyesight, he could naturally track the speed of the arrow that had just been shot. "A very clever idea!"

"Hmph, what's the use? If the Black Wolf King hadn't lifted its head to howl, he definitely wouldn't have hit it!" Lin Tianheng said coldly. "It's completely useless against cultivators at the Sixth Level of Body Refinement, and even cultivators at the Fifth Level could completely dodge it if they were prepared!"

"But he's only at the Second Level of Body Tempering. To be able to steadily threaten someone at the Fourth Level and injure someone at the Sixth Level who wasn't prepared, isn't that very impressive?" Ming Yuxiu said.

"Unorthodox methods, unconventional techniques!" Lin Tianheng said coldly. "This is simply a disgrace to cultivators!"

"But he's an Artifact Forging Master, and he can use artifact forging techniques to defeat stronger opponents!" Li Yuan retorted. "He might not be a genius among cultivators, but among Artifact Forging Masters, he is definitely a genius, a genius rarely seen in a thousand, no, ten thousand years!"

"Oh?" Lin Tianheng glanced at him coldly.

Li Yuan was not intimidated at all. It was wrong of me to have looked at your sister just now, but when it comes to artifact forging techniques, I am in the right!

"He just attacked from a distance. Now that so many Black Wolves have surrounded him, and he can't use fire, let's see what he does now!" Lin Tianheng was too lazy to argue with these people. He had already seen Ming Yuxiu's intentions.

But so what? This Yang Ning was dead for sure!

"Brother," Lin Yuanxi beside him frowned. What was going on? She felt like her brother was targeting Yang Ning!

Did he know about her situation? Impossible!

"Whoa!" Someone exclaimed, and as the more than forty Black Wolves rushed forward, three giant swords suddenly emerged from the second level of the fortress.

The next moment, the giant ship began to hum and rotate.

None of the Black Wolves that charged forward could withstand the giant swords' cutting power. These things were incomparably sharp; a mere touch meant death, and a graze meant injury. Some, at a good angle, were even cut in half. After cutting down fifteen or sixteen of them, the remaining Black Wolves stood frozen, not daring to move.

Even though they didn't move, the fortress could move. It advanced directly towards them.

Black Wolves had no loyalty. Seeing their king dead and so many of their companions killed, they stopped charging. Instead, they whimpered and fled with their tails between their legs.

They didn't run completely, but instead lagged behind the tank, waiting for it to tire before swarming it again.

But they didn't expect that even when the tank stopped, they couldn't bite through it. Instead, arrows would occasionally shoot out from inside.

Unless they hit a vital spot, these arrows didn't do much damage. However, they were all coated with poison, and being hit meant certain death. In less than an afternoon, the wolf pack was so decimated that they no longer dared to pursue.

The tank didn't rest. After confirming the points were recorded, it moved to another location to continue hunting beasts.

The rest of the scene became somewhat boring.

The wolf packs couldn't break through the tank's defenses and were constantly being killed. If a wolf king was careless, it would also be sniped.

A lone Fifth Level of Body Refinement Black Bear also attempted to attack the tank, but the bear, which could knock down a giant tree, was merely tickling the tank.

It didn't know it could open the hatch on top to get to the tank's driver. After being chased by the tank for a long time and being shot fifteen times, it was finally poisoned to death!

The Crimson Python, known as the trial student killer, hid in the mud, but was crushed twice by the tank and killed.

The Fire God Ant Swarm, known as the black harbinger of death, was burned to ashes with their nests using fire oil. It was a shame that burning insects didn't earn points.

The Golden Winged Eagle, known as the forbidden territory of the sky, wore its beak down trying to bite through the tank's outer shell, and finally left in frustration.

"This... it's a bit unsolvable!" Ming Yuxiu said. "There's nothing that can break through this fortress's shell. As long as they can't break the shell, even if the person inside just shoots arrows, combined with the poison on the arrows, they can poison any kind of fierce beast to death."

"Uh, pretty much!" Fang Zhuo replied. "The academy only prohibits buying weapons from outside, but it doesn't prohibit buying medicine. Because pill refining produces a lot of pill toxin, which is cheap and abundant. Yang Ning bought a lot, but he didn't expect it to be used like this."

"What was the pill toxin used for before?" Ming Yuxiu asked.

"It was all destroyed! Or buried in landfills. Some were also used to cultivate poisonous plants," Fang Zhuo said. "Ordinary people don't need this stuff for hunting, after all, they're afraid of being poisoned by the pill toxin if the poisoned fierce beast isn't properly handled!"

"This..." Ming Yuxiu blinked. He knew that things from the cultivator world rarely flowed into the mortal world, even pill toxin. And Taiheng Sect was known as a righteous sect, with few disciples who used poison. The academy also didn't teach people how to use poison.

After all, the academy's purpose in teaching disciples was to advance and become immortals. Combat techniques were also meant to invigorate blood essence.

Pill toxin would ruin one's foundation and was only used in external wars. But why would Taiheng need cultivators at the Body Refinement Realm to fight on the battlefield?

This resulted in mortals who could use pill toxin for warfare not getting it, and cultivators not being able to use it. Pill toxin was essentially useless in Seacloud City.

And today, this useless thing was being used by Xun Hu's team.

Ming Yuxiu suddenly realized that Yang Ning was not only good at inventing, but his thinking was also very unconventional!

No one had ever thought of using fire to burn Cherry Blossom Ladybugs before, nor had anyone ever thought of poisoning arrows to kill fierce beasts.

How did he come up with these ideas?

Perhaps creations like the pulley bow and mobile fortress were also products of this line of thinking?

He definitely had to ask him when he came out!

The scene shifted, and the audience was about to curse when they suddenly fell silent.

Because what appeared on the screen were corpses.

Since the trial is a trial, casualties are naturally expected. The academy's promise of teacher supervision only applies to first-year students; second-years are not covered.

However, in the footage, there were bodies of both first-year and second-year students.

"This..." Ming Yunxiu frowned, looking at Fang Zhuo. "Is this what you meant by foolproof?"

"This..." Fang Zhuo's forehead beaded with sweat. "This is the first time the academy has allowed first-year students to participate in the trial. We lacked experience and didn't assign enough personnel. I'll end the trial now and have them withdraw!"

"Mm!" Ming Yunxiu nodded. He had been speaking to Fang Zhuo, but his words were directed at Lin Tianheng.

The implication was clear: I'm not stopping you from killing them. You saw it yourself, the first-year students on that ship are almost all dead. Just let the rest go!

Wang Yi frowned and looked at Lin Tianheng.

Lin Tianheng's expression was stern. His lips moved slightly, but no sound was transmitted.

Wang Yi's eyes lit up. "Young Master Ming, that statement is inappropriate. The Demon Subduing Valley trial is set for three days, and it's only been a day and a half. Ending it now is against the rules. How about this: just call out the first-year students?"

"That could work!" Ming Yunxiu nodded, his expression becoming serious.

He wouldn't agree so easily. It seemed the real battle was yet to come!

While the two spoke, the fate of thousands of students inside was decided. Fang Zhuo, the Dean, had no say in the matter. He could only issue a notification on the Identity Jade Token, then waved his hand. Thousands of teleportation gates opened, sending out the remaining two thousand-plus first-year students.

My job is finally done. The rest is up to you!