Huo Hai had no idea that so many people had already set their sights on him. What he was thinking about now was how to obtain enough points as quickly as possible. With his perfectionist streak, Huo Hai would not allow himself to fall short of the points needed to exchange for a Blood Refining Pill.
Glancing back, Huo Hai silently calculated, "With this many people, there should be enough points, right? Based on previous years, the total number of points shouldn't be less than a hundred thousand." Huo Hai recalled what he had learned from asking his father. In most cases, the trial's total points never fell below a hundred thousand.
The harder the trial and the fewer people who passed, the more total points there would be. It was just that a vast amount of those points were concentrated in the hands of a few strongest students, as well as students with their own teams. Once they became academy students, they would obtain even more resources.
Some Lineages even specifically sent people to help certain descendants earn points. Those people met the requirements, but they could only spend the rest of their lives serving the Lineage. The He Family, for example, had such a group.
The Huo Family did not. First, there were too few Huo Family members to put together such a team. Second, the Huo Family revered individual strength and disliked using such methods. It was precisely because of this that, in terms of individual strength alone, the Huo Family was unquestionably number one in the Western Frontier. Seeing that nearly everyone had entered, Huo Hai shook his head and hurried into the Southern Mountain range.
Upon entering the forest, Huo Hai felt as though he had stepped into another world. It was utterly quiet—so quiet that it felt eerie. A sense of danger came at him from all directions. This was no friendly place.
"Eh, where did everyone else go? Wait, could they be hiding? It seems this trial allows people to attack one another." Huo Hai suddenly remembered the rule mentioned earlier—that participants could attack other people.
He also recalled what his father had said: every trial saw quite a few people die in accidents. As long as there was no evidence, no one knew who had done it. Huo Hai's sense of danger intensified. If it were only Spirit Beasts, he would not be overly worried. But adding people to the mix was different. Who knew what methods they might use to deal with him?
"I'd better hide quickly. It won't do if someone spots me." After thinking it over, Huo Hai hurriedly concealed himself in a thicket. He had never encountered anything like wilderness survival. He had not even entered a forest before.
Huo Hai was not worried, because many others were just like him—their hiding and tracking abilities were no better. As for those with superior skills, if he encountered one, he could only blame his bad luck. Good thing I have Gu Insects. Otherwise, I'd really suffer.
As he thought, Huo Hai communicated with the Star Gu and released them. When a large number of Star Gu gathered together, they emitted a crystalline glow. Once dispersed, however, they were far less conspicuous. On the contrary, their radiance made it easier for them to blend into sunlight and moonlight, making them easy to overlook. Under Huo Hai's control, half of the Star Gu flew out.
The other half landed on Huo Hai's clothes, making them seem as though they were made from some special material. Considering Huo Hai's status, no one would find that strange. Before long, the Star Gu relayed news through Little Star.
Huo Hai quickly headed in one direction and spotted a white object beneath a rock. "Haha, I found one so quickly. Looks like my luck is pretty good." This was a point card, representing one point.
Huo Hai picked up the card and casually slipped it into his pocket. These cards were extremely thin; even if he put several thousand in his pocket, they would not get in the way. Even ten cards stacked together were not as thick as a sheet of paper from his previous life on Earth. He truly did not know how such thin cards were made, especially when they were so durable.
Just as he put away the card, before Huo Hai could even raise his head, he heard the sound of wind above him. "Not good, someone's attacking! Danger!" Caught in a sudden ambush, Huo Hai's face changed drastically. For a moment, he did not even react.
He had never fought another person before, and it was the soul from Earth that dominated him. If he could mount an effective counterattack after being attacked, that would have been strange. Huo Hai's reaction was perfectly normal, yet that normal reaction put him in danger. Huo Hai felt his entire body stiffen, unable to respond for a moment. "Damn it, am I going to die here?" His mind went blank.
At that moment, the Star Gu automatically began protecting him. Sensing their master's danger, the Star Gu instantly rose from Huo Hai's body. The incoming arrow was not even as fast as the Star Gu. A swarm of Star Gu swiftly blocked the space between Huo Hai and the arrow.
The Star Gu joined together, resembling a shield formed from faint light. The arrow shot into the Star Gu as if it had fallen into water, vanishing in an instant. "Hmph, I didn't expect your spiritual power to be so pure. I really underestimated you."
At that moment, a young voice rang out from above. Huo Hai turned and looked upward. Someone dressed as a mercenary had long been waiting in a tree. Even that card had been deliberately placed there by him.
Huo Hai glared fiercely at him. "Why did you attack me?" Huo Hai was furious and puzzled. Even if someone wanted to attack others, why not wait until they had collected a large number of cards? This fellow had been watching this place all along, so he clearly knew there was a card here. Unfortunately, since he was up in the tree, the Star Gu had not flown that high and had failed to detect him.
"Hmph, why? Of course it's to reduce the competition. Young masters from great Lineages like you are our greatest rivals. If you don't die, how can we enter Imperial City Academy?" Imperial City Academy was a place everyone yearned for.
Unfortunately, it had always been controlled by the great Lineages. For ordinary people, getting in was harder than climbing to the sky. In every aspect—resources and training alike—they could not compare to those people, nor did they have their numbers. If they did not kill them, how could they ever rise to prominence?
"Hmph, call it bad luck that you ran into me, kid. You haven't killed anyone before, have you? What a pity—you're going to die today. You should feel honored to die beneath my Spirit-Breaking Arrow. One costs ten Spirit Stones. Of course, ten Spirit Stones probably mean nothing to people like you." Only then did Huo Hai realize that all this nonsense was meant to buy time.
While speaking, the young man moved quickly. He had already opened a box and carefully taken out an arrow from within. The entire arrow was crystalline and gave off a faint glow, covered in special runic formations.
Huo Hai had heard of the Spirit-Breaking Arrow's great reputation. It was specifically used to break spiritual power defenses, a deadly weapon for Earth Grade Spirit Masters carrying out assassinations. He had not expected to encounter one here today. Before Huo Hai could speak, the young mercenary drew his bow and fired.
The arrow turned into a streak of light. He could practically see Huo Hai being pierced by it, collapsing to the ground and howling in agony. Torturing one of these young masters born into great Lineages to death was truly one of life's greatest pleasures. There was no one around, anyway. As long as he destroyed the corpse and erased all traces, no one would know he had done it. Perhaps some Spirit Beast had eaten him.
Huo Hai had no time to speak. In panic, he commanded all the nearby Star Gu to come protect him. The dispersed Star Gu gathered again, forming the shape of a shield. With Huo Hai directing them, the shield was denser this time and looked even better.
None of that could conceal the Star Gu's formidable power. In the razor-thin instant before impact, the arrow struck the shield, then vanished soundlessly just as before. Only Chu Yuntian knew that the arrow had not disappeared—it had been eaten by the Star Gu. Star Gu had enormous appetites. They could eat anything, digest it rapidly, and even use it to increase their own strength.
"How is that possible?" The young man's smile froze on his face. He had never imagined that the Spirit-Breaking Arrow he had bought for ten Spirit Stones—nearly one-third of his entire fortune—would prove useless and even disappear.
If not for his desire to avoid being discovered, he truly would have been reluctant to use the Spirit-Breaking Arrow. After each use, even if recovered, it needed a full day before it could be used again. If it was damaged, it might never be usable again.
But why had it completely vanished the very first time he used it? "You—you bastard! Where did you hide my Spirit-Breaking Arrow?" The young mercenary's eyes reddened with anxiety. Whatever his earlier thoughts, he was still young and lacked deep composure. Otherwise, he would not have set a trap so close to the exit.
After being attacked twice in a row, both attempts meant to kill him, Huo Hai's anger was thoroughly ignited. If he had not released his Star Gu in advance, if the Star Gu had not been clever enough to automatically protect their master—
he would have lost his life today. Yet this bastard still dared speak to him like that. Did he really think Huo Hai did not dare kill someone? "Little Star, destroy this bastard for me." Killing Intent surged from Huo Hai's entire body.
Seemingly realizing something was wrong, the young mercenary suddenly pulled out another arrow and poured a large amount of spiritual power into it, preparing to kill Huo Hai first.
Unfortunately, before he could draw the bowstring, the Star Gu had already arrived. They slammed viciously into the young mercenary's body, instantly punching a hole through him. Injured by the insects, the young mercenary felt an intense pain course through his body. But at that moment, the Star Gu suddenly bit into his body and began moving inside him, advancing as they ate.
The intense pain made the young mercenary's entire body tremble. Sweat covered him as he fell to the ground, wailing without end. Huo Hai turned a deaf ear and ordered the Star Gu to continue attacking. If he dared lay hands on Huo Hai, then he had to be prepared to pay the price with his life.
Before long, amid his wails, the young mercenary drew his final breath. The Star Gu had already chewed through his internal organs. The Star Gu ate quickly; if they could gnaw through arrows so fast, would human flesh not be even easier?
Because the Star Gu were so fast, the young man's body began to shrivel. A moment later, his body had become nothing more than a sheet of skin. Finally, even that sheet of skin swiftly disappeared.
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