True Hunters

The fourth day of the Hunting competition.

The number of martial artists taking part in the examination rapidly dwindled.

Nearly every martial academy and major faction had suffered losses, yet the competition among them continued.

Lin Hu and Liu Mingze possessed formidable dark strength, and with their great mobility, they moved nimbly through the forest.

Whenever they spotted a contestant carrying valuable prey, they mercilessly intercepted and killed them.

Gradually, the two abandoned hunting altogether and began hunting people instead.

"Brother Liu, you're becoming more and more adept with that bow. Your talent truly is extraordinary," Lin Hu praised Liu Mingze.

Without even turning his head, Liu Mingze raised his bow and drew a wooden arrow from the quiver on his back, listening intently.

The two fingers pinching the arrow's tail suddenly released it. With a whoosh, the arrow shot through gaps between more than a dozen trees.

It struck a martial artist directly in the throat.

The martial artist convulsed all over, gurgling bloody bubbles from his mouth. He had not even seen where the arrow had come from.

As he died, the white sable with an entire pelt in his hand fell to the ground.

Lin Hu and Liu Mingze nodded to each other and moved to retrieve the white sable.

But in the next instant, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—three arrows thudded into the ground before them.

They looked up to see a man crouching in the tree: Lin Zhennan of the Scale Python Martial Academy!

"What a small world. No matter where I go, I run into you two arrogant, overbearing bastards. You actually dared to hunt martial artists? You're beneath contempt!"

The fallen white sable had also been picked up by another person from the Scale Python Martial Academy: Xiao Xiangbei!

The two of them now each carried a white sable, along with all manner of precious prey snatched from disciples of other martial academies.

"Who did I think it was? Aren't these the two senior brothers from the Scale Python Martial Academy?

"You've been in the martial academy for over two years and still haven't broken through to the transformative realm. How laughable, how laughable!" Lin Hu immediately mocked them in a strange, sneering tone.

Liu Mingze snorted coldly as well. "Trash will always be trash. If you can't break through to bright strength in two years, you should go home and farm."

Lin Zhennan and Xiao Xiangbei did not get angry. Instead, they turned and shouted, "Mountain-Breaking Stance Lin Hu and Liu Mingze are here! Come quickly and hunt them down!"

As soon as the words fell, birds in the trees took flight in alarm, and the prey nearby stirred in fright.

But the shout quickly received an answer. Twenty or thirty martial artists surged in from every direction, including most of the martial artists from the Scale Python Martial Academy.

"You think you can fight? What good is being able to fight?

"When you're out in the world, it's all about strength, status, and brains!" Lin Zhennan mocked mercilessly.

Xiao Xiangbei added, "Forgot to tell you two: all along the way, when we burned, killed, and plundered, we did it under your names. Enjoy this grand feast of hunting!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

Lin Hu and Liu Mingze truly had not expected these two cunning bastards to be so dogged.

They simultaneously drew arrows, intending to shoot Lin Zhennan and Xiao Xiangbei dead.

But by then, the surrounding martial artists had already rushed in. After a moment's hesitation, the two turned and ran.

Lin Zhennan and Xiao Xiangbei did not pursue them. They continued using Lin Hu and Liu Mingze's names as they went to seize the prey of another martial academy.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Chen Jingyun and Chen Jingshu were not having an easy time leading the Broken Mountain Martial Arts Hall, largely because the two sisters' appearances were simply too striking.

The martial academies were one thing. Everyone had their own principles, and none wished to provoke the Broken Mountain Martial Arts Hall, which had two disciples with first-class bone potential.

But the factions from outside the county town had far fewer scruples.

They had been born into the martial world, with the four seas as their home and no fixed abode. They had no fear of a martial academy coming after them.

They lived their lives freely and unrestrained, doing whatever pleased them.

What they liked, they seized. What they desired, they took.

Even the martial artists of the imperial court could do nothing about them.

They formed groups of their own and specialized in hunting beautiful female disciples from the county town.

Moreover, they had seen through the fact that these competing martial academies fought on their own and were nowhere near as united as they appeared.

Thus, they became even more unscrupulous. Four or five female disciples had already suffered at their hands, used up like prey.

The men under the mountain bandits had fixed their sights entirely on the Chen Jingshu sisters.

"Senior Sister, what do we do? If we keep running forward, we'll enter the valley. Once we enter it, if we can't find a way out, we'll be trapped to death!"

Some of the disciples came from hunting families and understood well. These factions were doing this precisely to drive them into the valley, to catch turtles in a jar.

And under such extreme terror, everyone's stamina would drain rapidly. Even bright-strength experts would be unable to endure it.

Chen Jingshu and Chen Jingyun took a breath. The former swept her icy gaze over the surroundings and ordered, "Everyone rest where you are and recover some strength. Those people probably haven't caught up yet."

Other than the first day after entering the forest, which had been relatively peaceful, they had been fleeing ever since that night.

They had run without pause for several hours, and their strength was indeed nearly exhausted.

The disciples silently lowered their heads, seemingly reminiscing about the comfortable days of cultivation at the Broken Mountain Martial Arts Hall.

Everyone had peacefully cultivated their own martial arts there. When tired, they could rest; when hungry, they could eat.

Some slapped their foreheads, regretting why they had come to join this excitement in the first place. Now it was great—they could not even keep their lives.

Other disciples looked resentfully at Chen Jingyun and Chen Jingshu. The adoring looks they once held were gone.

They hated that the two senior sisters had to be so breathtakingly beautiful, causing them to be hunted relentlessly.

They could not even proceed with the martial examination properly.

The atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive, and the high spirits from their victory in the blood and qi competition had vanished completely.

Just as everyone took out their food, lewd laughter rang out from every direction.

"Two little ladies, can't run anymore, can you?"

"My brother and I are bright-strength martial artists too. Don't resist. Come with us back to the mountain stronghold, and from now on you'll eat the finest food and drink the strongest liquor. How does that sound?"

"Look at that cold, proud little face. Once I catch her, I'll make sure to discipline her properly."

"Then it's settled. The quiet-looking one is mine."

"You filthy bandits, stop spouting nonsense! Come out!" Fury burned between Chen Jingyun's brows as she gripped the slender sword in her hand.

Yet the laughter did not stop. Instead, it grew denser and denser all around them.

All the disciples stood ready for battle, trembling with nerves and drenched in sweat. Ninety percent of them had never experienced real combat.

At most, they had participated in sparring matches between martial academies. But those did not involve life and death, and were far less perilous than today.

Though the Chen Jingyun sisters had encountered some troubles in the martial world while following their father, their father had handled most of them. The two sisters had rarely had a chance to act, and now the laughter had left them somewhat dazed.

They could not tell whether there truly were many enemies or whether the bandits were merely confusing them with sound. Gritting her teeth, Chen Jingshu said, "Into the valley!"

Unexpectedly, when the small faction of mountain bandits heard this, their laughter turned even more terrifying. "They've taken the bait!"

The chase continued until deep into the night.

Every disciple had cracked lips, lifeless eyes, and numb legs. They no longer had the strength to take even one more step forward, yet they did not dare look back.

Because driven into the valley alongside the Broken Mountain Martial Arts Hall was the Xianghong Martial Academy, whose members were all female disciples.

They had encountered the Broken Mountain Martial Arts Hall halfway through their flight.

Their chief disciple was a dark-strength martial artist, yet she was hopelessly directionless. She had led her junior sisters charging about wildly. Though they had suffered comparatively few losses, she had still put the other disciples through enough misery.

Fortunately, they had encountered Chen Jingyun and the others. They knew one another, and thought that in a crisis, they could join forces against their enemies.

But after traveling such a long distance, everyone was exhausted. Chen Jingshu and the others knew that if it truly came to fighting desperately for their lives—

What the disciples needed was stamina and willpower, and clearly, they possessed neither at the moment.

Chen Jingshu glanced at Hong Yu, the chief senior sister of the Xianghong Martial Academy. The latter was likewise mentally and physically exhausted, with no solution in sight.

"This is bad—there's no road ahead!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

More than a dozen arrows shot in from behind, clanging into the huge boulders before them.

"There's still a path to the left. Let's make one last gamble!"

It was an unnamed, deep and shadowy trail, overgrown with shrubs and wild, untamed brambles.

It looked exactly like the sort of place where countless ambushes lay in wait.

Behind them, around them, and atop the towering cliff faces before them, dozens of men holding torches appeared.

Chen Jingshu's group realized that they had missed their chance to escape.

"Do you dare enter that little path?

"Run. I'd like to see where you can possibly—"

Awooo—

A wolf's howl echoed through the valley.

Everyone's hairs stood on end...