Plundering Fire Energy

In the dense forest, warm sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, casting patches of mottled light across the ground.

"Are you all coming with me, or are we fighting separately?"

Xiao Yun sat atop a large boulder, leisurely looking down at Fang Wen and the others as he spoke.

After the Fire Energy Hunting Competition began, the top five were automatically assigned to a team. As the strongest among them, Xiao Yun naturally became the captain. However, he was not overbearing and would not force the others to obey him, so after entering the forest, he asked the other four what they wanted.

"Boss Xiao Yun, of course I'm following you." Fang Wen, who knew Xiao Yun's strength best among the four, was the first to speak. Xiao Yun had beaten him twice, knocking him out in one move both times. His strength far surpassed Fang Wen's. If he did not cling to such a powerful backer now, when would he?

"Captain, we're choosing to follow you too." After exchanging glances, the remaining three nodded in tacit agreement and spoke in unison.

"Very well. But let me make this clear first: since you've chosen to follow me, I hope that until we leave this forest, none of you will pretend to obey while secretly defying me and cause anything detrimental to us. Otherwise, don't blame me, Xiao Yun, for being merciless. When that happens, I'll personally strip him of his Fire Energy Chip!"

Xiao Yun rose from the boulder and jumped down to the ground, issuing his warning to the group. It was good that these four were following him. Although he had no problem soloing ordinary old student teams with his strength, unlike the others, Xiao Yun knew nothing about the mysterious Inner Academy.

Xiao Yun knew that there were ten old student teams in the Fire Energy Hunting Competition. Nine of them were composed of Da Dou Shi, stationed throughout the forest to ambush new students. Once lucky or powerful new students broke through these nine lines of defense and reached the end of the forest, they would face the White Fiend Team, which had a Dou Ling expert!

When the time came, Xiao Yun would need a few people to hold back the other White Fiend Team members so that he could have a one-on-one battle between real men with that old student at the Dou Ling level.

"Junior brothers, what are you chatting about?"

While Xiao Yun and Fang Wen's group were talking in the woods, a faintly teasing voice suddenly rang out. Xiao Yun and the others looked toward its source and saw five young men standing at varying heights on branches not far away. Each wore the small tower-shaped badge Xiao Yun had seen earlier on his chest.

At that moment, the five Inner Academy old students were looking at Xiao Yun's group with mocking expressions, like cats spotting mice.

"Oh, there's even a little kid. I suppose he must be one of those so-called geniuses?" One of the young men in blue robes pointed at Xiao Yun on the ground and laughed.

"Hahaha, a genius? At such a young age, how high could his cultivation possibly be? Besides, after entering the Inner Academy, how could the speed of our cultivation there be something a mere genius could catch up to?"

"Junior brothers, hand over the Fire Energy on you if you know what's good for you. Otherwise, your senior brothers will have to teach you a proper lesson."

The other four sneered viciously, as though Xiao Yun and the others were already meat on a chopping block, ready to be carved up.

"Are you senior brothers really that confident?" Xiao Yun sneered as he took the Red Blood Spear from his Storage Ring. The aura of a Seven-Star Da Dou Shi erupted from his body.

Fang Wen and the other four also drew their weapons and circulated their Dou Qi. Immediately afterward, four powerful auras, weaker than Xiao Yun's but still at the Da Dou Shi level, spread through the surroundings.

"I didn't expect you to have such strength. Are you the top five of this year's Inner Academy Selection Tournament?" Sensing the auras of Xiao Yun's group, the expressions of the five men who had been sneering changed drastically. The young man in blue robes spoke in disbelief.

Xiao Yun did not answer his question. His figure flashed, transforming into a dark crimson streak of light as he charged at the five men.

Seeing Xiao Yun attack, the young man in blue had no time to use a Dou Skill. He could only hurriedly circulate the Dou Qi within him, forming an earthy yellow Dou Qi armor over his body.

Bang!!

In an instant, an incomparably savage force slammed violently into the young man's chest, as terrifying as a cannonball. The muffled impact shook the surrounding trees.

The earthy yellow Dou Qi armor shattered like paper beneath the spear. The shaft struck the young man's chest, and the tremendous force within sent him flying. He crashed beneath a towering tree and completely lost consciousness.

"Roguo..." The other eight people present broke into cold sweats. The old students had not expected Xiao Yun, who looked so harmless, to possess such terrifying strength. Roguo, whom he had just sent flying, was the captain of this old student team and a Five-Star Da Dou Shi.

Although Xiao Yun had seized his timing well and Roguo had not had time to resist, he should not have been knocked unconscious by a single blow, right? Just how great was this child's strength?

"Run!"

Seeing their captain's miserable state, the other four old students were stunned by Xiao Yun's ferocity, but they did not move slowly. They immediately scattered and fled.

They wished their parents had given them two more legs. Dou Qi surged beneath their feet as though the wind carried them, and they leaped back and forth through the branches, about to vanish into the depths of the forest.

"Hahaha, isn't it a little late to think about running now?" Fang Wen and the others had long been guarding against them slipping away. With a few flashes, they blocked every route of escape.

"I'm warning you, don't come any closer! Do you understand respecting the old and caring for the young? I'm your senior, you can't treat me like this... Ah!"

"You're too noisy." Xiao Yun smashed his spear down, and the terrifying force instantly knocked the chattering old student unconscious, leaving him sprawled on the ground without the slightest movement.

Immediately afterward, Fang Wen descended from the sky and landed beside the old student. He reached out and searched him, soon pulling out a pale blue crystal card.

"Boss, here you go." Fang Wen walked over to Xiao Yun and respectfully handed him the card.

"No need to give it to me. Since we're teammates, what we gain shouldn't be mine alone. Old student teams also consist of five people. For every opponent we defeat, each of you can choose one Fire Energy Chip as spoils. But there's one thing I must emphasize: choosing a chip is entirely based on luck. No regrets afterward!" Xiao Yun directed the last sentence at the other three.

"Thank you, Boss!" Fang Wen hurriedly took out his own black crystal card. He pressed the two cards together and lightly rubbed them. The number twenty-seven on the pale blue crystal card became seven, while the number on Fang Wen's pitch-black crystal card became twenty-five.

"Oh, twenty days of Fire Energy. That's quite a lot. Thanks, Senior Brother." Fang Wen grinned at the old student on the ground. Had the old student not been knocked unconscious by Xiao Yun, Fang Wen's words would probably have made him cough up blood in anger.