Shock

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

"Ha ha ha ha, not—not even a hundred points. Is that all the two of you got? What worthless trash. What could just two people possibly gain?" He Wang's shrill laughter echoed ceaselessly across the entire plaza. Even the spectators outside the plaza looked at Huo Hai with mocking faces. These two were truly far too arrogant.

They came from great lineages, yet they had only brought two people. If they died, they only had themselves to blame. How could those people know that Huo Hai had indeed 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 chief culprit behind it all 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 rest easily. Besides, so what if you ambushed us? Didn't all your own men die as well? Those people weren't raised by your He Family, were they?" Ji Mu was no spoiled young miss, and she immediately struck back without mercy.

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On one hand, she exposed He Wang's ambush against her. Not only had he gained nothing from the ambush, all his men had died, while Ji Mu had escaped. On the other hand, she revealed that He Wang had secretly raised private troops.

Many people secretly raised private troops, and everyone knew it. But so long as it was not openly stated and there was no irrefutable evidence, no one cared. Once it was spoken aloud, however, things became different.

"Third Brother, I never expected you to be raising private troops. I was wondering why you refused when the Lineage wanted to assign some men to you. 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 some idiotic wastrel. Raising private troops was one thing, but they were nothing more than a motley rabble. Not only had his attack failed, it had been exposed in the end. Now that his private soldiers had been revealed, life would not be easy for He Wang in the Lineage. Many people would use this excuse to strike at him.

One person paid no attention to He Wang and had been watching Huo Hai all along. That person was Huo Yan. However, Huo Yan's gaze was far from normal. Unlike the concern shown by the others in the Huo Family, his eyes held only malicious delight.

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

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

He was not merely trying to mock Huo Hai. More importantly, he wanted to shift everyone else's attention away. At that moment, He Wang's eyes, fixed on Huo Hai and Ji Mu, were 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 the contents, there seemed to be quite a lot inside. Point cards were extremely thin, yet the bag was this thick. Even the total gains of several large teams from earlier had not amounted to this much.

Before anyone else could move, the examiner opened the cloth bag himself. The instant he did, the people around him sucked in a breath of cold air. How many cards were there? 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?

"My heavens, how are there so many? Could it be that both their points are concentrated on one person?" It was no wonder they had gotten the wrong idea. No one would have imagined that Huo Hai alone had collected so many.

Had Huo Hai not suffered a problem with his mind earlier and wasted several days, he would certainly have obtained even more cards.

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

Moreover, this was not as simple as showing off. So many point cards represented the two's strength and luck. At the same time, they represented the resources the two would obtain after entering the Academy. In He Wang's eyes—or rather, in the eyes of most people—Huo Hai and Ji Mu were completely one team. There was no difference between them at all.

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

"Hmph, how could Big 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 was, the more excited she became as his sister.

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

Moreover, this method made the cards difficult to forge. Even if someone could forge their appearance, the true core within could not be replicated. A special Crystal Stone Board was placed on the table, and the cards were laid upon it. As spiritual power was poured in, light flickered. Every card lit up with a strange symbol.

A moment later, a number appeared on the Crystal Stone Board. "Seventeen thousand three hundred and fifty-two cards." Even he 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 mountain forest for this year's test? More than seventeen thousand cards—perhaps all the cards held by every other trial participant combined only exceeded this number by a little. How had this been done? Just two people... Wait, could they have ventured deep into the forest? The examiner frowned.

After a long while, the examiner thought to himself, Perhaps the two of them possess some special concealment technique. In his eyes, the two must have relied on theft to steal the cards placed in the Spirit Beast nests.

Everyone else was stunned. How had these two managed it? They all thought of the deepest part of the Southern Mountain testing grounds. Perhaps that place had so many cards. Had these two dared to enter it, bold enough to swallow the heavens?

Two people at the Blood Spirit Realm, neither of whom had even reached the Spirit Bone Realm—how had they survived in such a place? Among those taking the test this time, there were even a few Spirit Bone Realm experts. Yet even they did not dare venture too deeply.

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

Huo Yan's mind had completely fallen into a demonic obsession. He did not notice that the higher-ups of the Huo Family behind him, including the family head, were also filled with shock. How had that boy done it? What strength did he possess? How could they not know?

The scene was silent as a grave; even the fall of a needle could have been heard. The way everyone looked at Huo Hai underwent an enormous change. Some even became greedy. To accomplish this, it surely could not have been through his own strength. He must possess some treasure, most people thought. If they could obtain such a treasure, would they become this powerful too?

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

The ground was covered with traces of fierce struggle, all left behind by the Ironclad Hound pack. "Look, where have all the Ironclad Hounds gone? There aren't any elsewhere either. Could they have been slaughtered clean?" an Academy expert suddenly said.

Such a pack of Ironclad Hounds even had a Hound King that had reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm. Even for them, it would be difficult for one or two people to kill them all without suffering any harm. They were no ordinary people—they were the true elites of Imperial City Academy.

"Impossible. How could there be such an expert? If someone like that existed, would they still need to join Imperial City Academy?" Indeed, once one reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm, one could effectively graduate from Imperial City Academy. These elites had fully joined the Academy and remained there. This was equivalent to joining the Southern Cloud Imperial House and serving the Imperial Family in the future.

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

Just then, 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. There were ten thousand point cards, and we even tampered with them."

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 this place. They had also worried 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 equivalent to one million Spirit Stones—something even a great lineage would find difficult to produce casually.

What exactly was going on? Could there be someone among this year's Imperial City Academy entrants stronger than themselves? Now this was interesting. They looked at one another. Once they returned, they had to investigate carefully and find out what strange people this batch contained.