Shock

Huo Hai was powerful. Under normal circumstances, he should have obtained many cards. The main reason He Wang dared mock him like this was that Ji Mu had already taken out her extra cards.

"Hahahaha, not—not even a hundred points. Is that all you two gained? What trash. What could two people possibly gain?" He Wang's shrill laughter echoed endlessly across the entire square. Even the spectators outside the square looked at Huo Hai with faces full of ridicule. These two were truly too arrogant.

They came from great lineages, yet had brought only two people. If they died, they would have deserved it. How could they know that Huo Hai truly had been alone, but Ji Mu had her own team—and quite a large one at that?

If she had not been ambushed, she would not have been left alone, nor would she have nearly gotten herself killed. The culprit behind all this was He Wang. Hearing his mockery, Ji Mu glared at him furiously.

"Hmph, He Wang, if you hadn't ambushed me, how could all my subordinates have died? Our Ji Family will not let this matter go lightly. Besides, what did your ambush amount to? Didn't all your men die as well? Those people weren't trained by your He Family, were they?" Ji Mu was no spoiled second-generation heir. She counterattacked without the slightest courtesy.

On one hand, she exposed the fact that He Wang had ambushed her. Not only had his ambush brought him no good outcome, all his men had died, and Ji Mu had still escaped. On the other hand, she revealed that He Wang had privately trained personal soldiers.

Many people secretly trained personal soldiers, and everyone knew it. But so long as it was not openly spoken of and there was no irrefutable evidence, no one cared. Once it was said aloud, however, things became different.

"Third Brother, I never expected you to be training personal soldiers. I wondered why you refused when the Lineage wanted to assign you some people. So that was why." At that moment, He Lu walked over and spoke with a calm expression. Yet his words made He Wang deeply uncomfortable.

The way everyone looked at He Wang began to change, as though they were looking at an idiot wastrel. Training personal soldiers was one thing, but they had been nothing but a rabble. Not only had they failed to act, the matter had even been exposed. And now that his soldiers had been revealed, He Wang would have a hard time in the Lineage from now on. Many people would seize this excuse to strike at him.

One person paid no attention to He Wang and had been watching Huo Hai the entire time. That person was Huo Yan. Yet Huo Yan's gaze was far from normal. Unlike the concern shown by the other members of the Huo Family, his eyes held only malicious delight.

Huo Yan had not received much support, only a team of ten people. Even so, when he came out, he had earned more than five hundred points. After handing over two hundred points to bring one person into the academy, he still had three hundred starting points left.

Huo Hai ignored them. Before everyone's eyes, he took out a small cloth bag hanging from his body. "Hahahaha, he really took it out! Look, such a big cloth bag—there must be plenty of points in there. What do you think, could there be several thousand?" Seeing Huo Hai's actions, He Wang laughed again and shouted loudly.

He was not merely trying to mock Huo Hai. More importantly, he wanted to divert everyone else's attention. At that moment, the way He Wang looked at Huo Hai and Ji Mu was filled with hatred. It was all because of those two—otherwise, how could he have ended up like this?

When the examiner received the cloth bag, he too found it strange. Looking at what was inside, there seemed to be quite a lot. Point cards were extremely thin, yet the bag was this thick. Even the combined gains of several large teams earlier had not amounted to this much.

Before anyone else could move, the examiner opened the cloth bag himself. The moment he did, the people around them all sucked in a breath of cold air. How many cards was that? How could they be piled so thickly? They had initially thought there might be something else inside, but now they could see that they were cards—entirely and completely cards. How had they obtained so many points?

"Heavens, why are there so many? Could it be that both of their points are concentrated on one person?" It was no wonder their thoughts went astray. No one would have imagined that Huo Hai alone had collected this many.

Had Huo Hai's mind not gone wrong earlier, causing him to waste several days, he would definitely have obtained even more cards.

"Impossible! Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! There must be something else inside—there must be something else!" He Wang suddenly went mad. What he least wanted to see was Huo Hai and Ji Mu stealing the spotlight.

Besides, this was not merely about showing off. So many point cards represented the two people's strength and luck. At the same time, they represented the resources the two could obtain after entering the academy. In He Wang's eyes—or rather, in most people's eyes—Huo Hai and Ji Mu were completely one team, with no distinction between them.

The examiner frowned. Could someone like this also join Imperial City Academy? He wondered whether He Wang would be expelled. With a light sweep of his hand, the cards were fully spread out. They were all point cards, with nothing else mixed among them.

"Hmph, how could Brother Hai possibly cheat? That guy is such a huge idiot." Huo Hai's younger sister, Huo Yuner, was delighted now. The more astonishing Huo Hai's performance became, the more excited she was as his sister.

The examiner nodded. Someone beside him immediately brought out an instrument and began the test. Every point card bore a concealed array mark made by the academy. There was no need to count them manually.

This also made the cards difficult to forge. Even if someone could imitate their appearance, the true core within could not be copied. A special crystal slab was placed on the table, and the cards were laid upon it. Once a thread of spiritual power was injected, lights flickered. Every single card lit up with a strange symbol.

A moment later, a number appeared on the crystal slab. "Seventeen thousand, three hundred and fifty-two cards." Even the examiner himself was shocked as he announced the number. How could there be so many cards?

Could it be that more cards had been placed in the forest for this year's test? More than seventeen thousand cards—perhaps all the cards carried by every other trial participant combined only exceeded this by a little. How had this been done? Just two people... Wait, had they ventured deep into the forest? The examiner frowned.

After a long while, the examiner thought to himself, Perhaps those two possessed some special concealment technique. In his eyes, the two had likely relied on theft to steal the cards placed in the spiritual beast nests.

Everyone else was stunned. How had these two done it? They all thought of the deepest part of the Southern Mountain testing grounds. Perhaps there were this many cards there. Had these two dared to enter such a place, their courage reaching the heavens?

Two Spirit Blood Realm cultivators who had not even reached the Spirit Bone Realm—how had they survived in such a place? Among those taking the test this time were a few Spirit Bone Realm experts. Even they did not dare venture too deep.

Huo Yan's eyes began to burn. Why? Why are there so many? The Lineage must have given them some secret weapon. There must be a large force from the Lineage inside, and they just haven't come out yet. Damn it, that must be it. How am I inferior to that idiot? Why? Is it just because he is of the direct line? Is that why all the benefits belong to them?

Huo Yan's mind had completely fallen into a demon's snare. He did not notice that the Huo Family elders behind him, including the family head, were equally filled with shock. How had that boy done it? What strength did he possess? How could they not know?

The scene was so silent that even a needle dropping to the ground could be heard. The way everyone looked at Huo Hai had changed enormously. Some even looked greedy. To achieve this, it surely could not have been his own strength; he must have some treasure on him. That was what most people thought. If they could obtain such a treasure, would they become this strong as well?

At the same time, the Imperial City Academy experts who had entered Southern Mountain to recover the cards were also plunged into shock.

A vast stretch of ground bore traces of struggle and battle, all left behind by the Ironclad Hound pack. "Look, why have all the Ironclad Hounds disappeared? There aren't any elsewhere either. Could they have all been killed?" An academy expert suddenly said.

A pack of Ironclad Hounds like this even had a hound king that had reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm. Even if one or two of them acted together, it would be difficult to kill them all without injury. They were no ordinary people; they were true elites of Imperial City Academy.

"Impossible. How could there be such an expert? If someone like that existed, would they even need to join Imperial City Academy?" Indeed, after entering Imperial City Academy, one could effectively graduate upon reaching the Spirit Practitioner Realm. These elites had fully joined the academy and remained there. This was equivalent to joining the Southern Cloud Imperial House and serving the imperial house in the future.

After reaching the Spirit Practitioner Realm, it was impossible to obtain better things without joining the imperial house's ranks.

At that moment, another voice rang out. "I'm afraid... I'm afraid these Ironclad Hounds really are dead. Look, the point cards we placed here are gone. Ten thousand point cards—and we tampered with them here."

Everyone nodded. That was right, they had tampered with them. It caused no harm, but it could attract the Ironclad Hounds and keep them from leaving. They had also feared that if the Ironclad Hounds left, others might seize the opportunity and pick up ten thousand points for nothing. In the outside world, that was one million Spirit Stones—something even a great lineage would struggle to produce so easily.

What exactly was going on? Could there be someone joining Imperial City Academy this time who was even stronger than them? Now this was interesting. They looked at one another. Once they returned, they would have to investigate carefully what strange person had appeared in this cohort.