Set up by corporate interests

"This is..."

As the gates of the Wasteland Zone base swung open, one unconscious demon beast after another was dropped into the empty mountain forest. Huang Dahu and the muntjac brothers slipped in among them.

It was already late at night. The media company staff knew exactly where the explorers were, and as long as they avoided their cameras, none of the viewers would notice anything amiss. The beasts were therefore deployed rather roughly. Cultivators flew to designated locations carrying huge iron cages, whose bottoms opened automatically, sending the beasts crashing to the ground.

Taking in his surroundings, Huang Dahu drew a deep breath and felt a long-absent wildness returning to his body.

This place was almost identical to the Wasteland Zone outside the barrier!

"I just overheard those humans talking. They said there are young cultivators exploring this place for treasure. These beasts are being released as obstacles for them," he said coldly. "If that's true, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for us."

Seeing the muntjac brothers staring blankly at him, Huang Dahu realized he had used another idiom.

He simply pulled out his phone, brought up the photos the Flying Bird Group had secretly taken of Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er, and showed them to the two muntjacs. "We'll split up and search. These two are our targets. If you find either of them alone and get an opening, kill them."

"Heh heh." Second Muntjac grinned viciously. "No problem."

In the city, they sometimes felt lost. But here, in this familiar forest, their bloodthirsty demonic instincts would return in full!

That was why Huang Dahu had called it "the opportunity of a lifetime."

This place would unleash their fighting power to the fullest while hampering the humans. It was practically a hunting ground prepared just for them!

"Oh, and there's one more target," Huang Dahu added. "I don't know where those humans dumped my little brother. Help me look for him while you're at it."

Second Muntjac asked, "Do we kill your brother too if he's alone?"

Huang Dahu's fist tightened, but after some thought, he kept his voice low. "Of course not. Protect him if you find him. Those human cultivators are dangerous, and Little Black's cultivation is weak. I'm worried he'll get hurt."

"All right," Big Muntjac agreed. "Leave it to us. You can rest easy."

Rest easy, my ass.

Huang Dahu thought that if he could find even one other powerful monster willing to help him kill cultivators, he would never have used these two complete morons...

Beep!

The phone in his pocket chimed. Huang Dahu took it out and saw a notification from a video app recommending a "livestream watched by hundreds of thousands nearby."

"Garbage app." Huang Dahu frowned and dismissed it. "At a time like this, you think I'm in the mood to watch a livestream?"

He looked up and waved at the muntjac brothers. "Go!"

The brothers turned and darted away, vanishing into the boundless forest. Beneath dense foliage and dim moonlight, the ferocious hunters set out!

Ji Yang was getting desperate.

Late that night, most of the explorers had chosen to establish safe areas and rest. After spending most of the day exploring, they were all somewhat tired. Besides, humans' spiritual senses weakened at night, while demon beasts' senses grew sharper. Going out to fight now would put them at a disadvantage.

But not Ji Yang. He held his right hand high, a cluster of flames burning in his palm, and walked onward using himself as a torch.

He was looking for demon beasts.

As Hidden Dragon Pool's finest... male disciple of his generation, he had plenty of pride. He had joined this project for one reason alone: to make a name for himself and gain a following.

Like Qi Dian of the Riverside Gate, these young standouts from their respective Immortal Sects believed they could stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest prodigies of their generation, no worse than anyone their age.

Learning that his personal livestream was the least popular had dealt a severe blow to Ji Yang's pride.

Thinking it over, he could accept losing to He Caihua. Sister Hua was a major influencer with millions of followers, after all. He could also accept losing to Li Flying Rosy Clouds, who had brought her own audience. Losing to Liu Yuanjun was hardly surprising either: he had an innate immortal body, was the Mysterious Wind Temple's ace disciple, and had practically secured a qualifying spot in next year's City Heroes' Battle. He could accept losing to his senior sister most of all. She might be shorter than him, but she was stronger, and he had grown up getting beaten by her.

The only thing he really couldn't accept was losing to those two independent cultivators.

What was an independent cultivator?

To Immortal Sect disciples, weren't they basically a bunch of stray cultivators who lived off scraps?

Their cultivation methods and divine abilities were cobbled together from here and there. They had no magical artifacts, couldn't afford rare treasures, and even an occasional stroke of luck wouldn't sustain them through more than a few cultivation realms.

Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er might have earned their places by demonstrating considerable strength in battle, but that only made them better-bred strays, with a chance of being taken in someday.

The problem was, nobody had adopted them yet, had they?

How could he be worse than them?

Most importantly, if he couldn't even beat them, he would be dead last!

He had been working hard to win by opening treasure chests, yet the director had actually told him to learn from Yue Wen, who kept killing demon beasts because the audience liked watching it.

Heh.

What a schemer.

He really found a way to hog the spotlight.

While everyone else was looking for treasure chests, he was off killing beasts and looking cool. Of course that drew attention. Now that I'm killing beasts too, how are you going to compete with me?

Do you even understand what Hidden Dragon Pool's name means?

Ji Yang was determined to show off more of Hidden Dragon Pool's Shadow-Mystic Divine Ability on camera, give the audience something worth watching, and make them understand the fundamental difference between an Immortal Sect disciple like him and an independent cultivator!

But his current problem was that he couldn't find any demon beasts...

After Yue Wen had swept through the area like a plow, the vicious beasts across a vast stretch of land had all become warm, friendly Evil-Suppressing Money. The newly released beasts had yet to stir, leaving the entire park deathly quiet in the darkness.

So Ji Yang had simply lit a fire. Wasn't that supposed to be dangerous in the Wasteland Zone? Wasn't it very likely to draw attacks from all the nearby beasts?

Come on, surround me.

Ji Yang indulged in the fantasy. The new beasts should have been released a while ago. While everyone else was resting and recovering, he would clear out the entire park himself!

The audience will go crazy for me!

By tomorrow morning, my personal livestream will be the most popular. I'll knock Liu Yuanjun down, trample Li Flying Rosy Clouds, and send all those independent cultivators packing.

Whoosh-

In a flicker of firelight, a figure finally appeared ahead of Ji Yang.

The towering figure looked like a partially transformed demon beast. It seemed to have a deer's head, was rather ugly, and wore an ill-fitting set of work clothes.

"Oh?" Ji Yang's eyes lit up, and he murmured, "The new monsters really are tougher. Not just partially transformed, but wearing clothes too."

The beast seemed to be looking for something as well and had initially hurried past. But when it saw the flames dancing in Ji Yang's hand, it suddenly bared its teeth. Clear fury appeared on its face, as though something had set it off. "Fire-"

"It can even speak?" The fighting spirit in Ji Yang's eyes burned brighter. "Killing one of these must be worth ten of the old ones, right?"

With that, he flicked his hand and hurled the fireball in his palm.

Boom-

The monster dodged with incredible speed. The fireball struck the ground and exploded, scattering into more than a dozen clusters of flame.

Ji Yang flashed into one of them, directing all the flames to swarm his opponent!

Boom, boom, boom!

The monster was none other than the elder of the muntjac brothers.

Big Muntjac had been searching all over the mountain for Yue Wen and Zhao Xing'er when he ran into an unfamiliar human cultivator. If nothing had happened, he might have simply moved on.

But this human kept provoking him with fire!

Big Muntjac's eyes turned bloodshot. Swinging a wrench, he smashed apart three fireballs in front of him. In an instant, the only flame left directly ahead was the one containing Ji Yang!

Stunned, Ji Yang turned to flee.

That only convinced the monster that this was his real body. Big Muntjac caught up in one great stride and brought the wrench down viciously!

Clang-

The wrench struck Ji Yang square in the spine, knocking him out of the flames. He tumbled more than a dozen meters and immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Wait..." His face drained of color. "Weren't we supposed to be able to handle all of them? Isn't this beast a little too strong?"

No, no!

Thoughts raced through his mind. He must have underestimated his opponent. Every monster here had been purchased by Carefree Media from the city garrison, and the company would strictly control each beast's strength.

They would all be at a level that required serious effort, but wasn't too difficult to deal with.

There couldn't possibly be an opponent he had no chance of beating.

In other words, the monster in front of him wasn't actually that powerful. He had simply been careless.

The most important aspect of his Shadow-Mystic Divine Ability was concealment. With Shifting Form, Changing Shadow, the enemy would never know where he was hiding and could only endure his relentless harassment.

He had exposed himself too quickly just now.

That had to be it.

With that thought, Ji Yang sprang back to his feet and charged at the monster ahead. Mid-charge, his body suddenly burst into a brilliant flame, scattering through the air as dozens of dazzling fireballs!

Without him noticing, however, the camera bee that had been diligently circling him was engulfed by the flames.

With a hiss, the little bee died in the line of duty.

I'll come from the left, then from the right. Ha ha, you definitely can't guess where I am now! Ji Yang thought with a wicked smile.

Dozens of fireballs swarmed forward. Big Muntjac dodged from side to side, casually smashed a few apart, then lunged forward and once again pinpointed the exact flame in which Ji Yang was hiding.

Clang-

"Ah! You guessed again!" Ji Yang wailed.

The wrench struck with tremendous force, breaking his technique on the spot and sending him crashing to the ground.

Flames scattered like rain across the sky. After Ji Yang hit the ground hard, the world spun around him. His face filled with horror, and only one thought remained in his mind: Is this right?

Why is it beating me like a helpless kid? Something has to be wrong!

Is it too strong, or am I too weak?

Neither makes sense!

Should a monster this powerful even be here? There's no way Yue Wen was fighting monsters this strong. If he could kill dozens of these in a row, I'd eat that wrench!

Even an Astral Realm expert couldn't do that, right?

Yet a monster that shouldn't have been here had appeared right before him, shattering his dream of fame with two blows of a wrench.

Bizarre was the only word for it.

Shock, anger, grief, helplessness... As his awareness gradually cleared, his tangled thoughts came together in an instant. At lightning speed, Ji Yang deduced the most likely explanation.

Carefree Media is trying to screw me over?

I've been set up by corporate interests!