The Deadly Hunting Grounds

Another three days passed, and the day of the White Wolf Tribe's tournament arrived as scheduled.

Before they set out, Hai Zhan gathered everyone and gave each of the five children taking part ten soul crystals.

"This contest won't just test your soul power and combat techniques. Your lives will be on the line too! These are soul crystals. You can set them into your Soul Soldiers and use them when your soul power runs low to maintain your weapons' might. They might just save your lives!"

"Wow, so these are soul crystals! I was wondering why my shortsword had a groove in it. It's for setting a soul crystal!"

At the sight of the soul crystals they had heard so much about, the children immediately began playing with them in delight.

Hai Chen and Ling’er, however, looked ready to beat their chests and stamp their feet, utterly beside themselves with regret.

"So soul crystals have a use like this! What a shame we squandered them all at the tribal market..."

"Don't get any ideas!" Hai Zhan's tone grew stern. "We cultivators rely on our own strength. You must never become dependent on external things. That is why I didn't tell you before! During the contest, you may only use them when your lives are in danger!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

So soul crystals have this use too. Then those five soul crystals I lost... could they have something to do with the Crow Cauldron?

Following the others toward the altar at the center of the city, Mu Bai extended his divine sense and secretly examined the Crow Cauldron inside his robes.

That's not right. I don't see any grooves for soul crystals. Unfortunately, I don't have any left to test it with, and I can hardly ask Hai Chen for some.

Mu Bai was preoccupied, while the others were all on edge. No one spoke along the way.

Before long, they reached the altar square at the city's center. The stone-paved square, over a thousand zhang across, was already packed with people.

For this grand occasion held once every five years, almost everyone in White Wolf City who could leave home had arrived early to watch the young talents of the various tribes display their prowess.

Wu Ping, the White Wolf Tribe's Clan Patriarch, sat in the altar's seat of honor, dressed in white robes with a head of white hair, his features indistinct. To Wu Ping's right sat Wu Tai, the White Wolf Tribe's Chief of Fangs, broad-backed and wide-shouldered in red robes, radiating imposing might.

Nine chairs were arranged in order along the two sides, with the leaders of the various tribes seated upright upon them, their expressions solemn.

"Everyone, today marks the tournament held once every five years between our White Wolf Tribe and our allied tribes. I imagine you are all familiar with the rules. There are three trials: battling beasts, battling men, and battling heaven. Each trial will put your lives at risk. Think carefully and prepare more means of preserving your lives."

Wu Tai rose to preside over the tournament. His voice was not loud, yet it reached the ears of every person in the thousand-zhang square with perfect clarity.

"The first trial takes place in the Beast-Hunting Grounds. Slay fierce beasts and collect their beast cores. The twenty contestants with the most cores will advance to the second trial. In the second trial, you will be paired off to fight, competing fairly in skill, and the winners will make the top ten. For the third trial, the tournament's top ten will cross the Void Sea, with the time taken determining their final rankings!"

Although every tournament featured these same three trials, the mention of the Beast-Hunting Grounds and the Void Sea still stirred the spectators.

"I remember the last tournament. A full twenty young talents from the various tribes ended up in beasts' bellies in the hunting grounds!"

"That's nothing. Those who make the top ten are the true Heavenly Prides, yet three of them still perished in the Void Sea, their paths extinguished. It's terrifying."

"But getting into the Void Sea is a tremendous opportunity too!"

"As for the tournament's final rewards, everyone in the top ten will receive a Soul Soldier. The top three will receive even richer rewards: not only a mid-tier Soul Soldier, but also the chance to contemplate our tribe's ancestral spirit, with our patriarch personally performing the rite. They will enjoy the treatment given to our tribe's core members."

Wu Tai spoke slowly, his voice growing stronger and more stirring. When he finished, an uproar immediately swept through the thousand-zhang square below.

"That's practically ascending to heaven in a single step! So many of our tribe's talented youths don't receive treatment like that!"

Some members of the White Wolf Tribe were indignant.

"But it's also a fine way for our Clan Patriarch and Chief of Fangs to keep all the tribes in hand. Won't these so-called tribal Heavenly Prides have to risk their lives for our tribe too...?"

The White Wolf tribespeople saw it clearly, and naturally, so did the Heavenly Prides of the various tribes. Still, receiving the cultivation privileges of the White Wolf Tribe's core members was indeed an enormous temptation to children from these small tribes, and they could not help being moved.

As everyone discussed it, Wu Tai stood on the altar and swept his wide sleeve. In an instant, wind and clouds stirred overhead. Clouds gathered together, forming a towering gateway dozens of zhang high, through which mountain peaks and dense forests could faintly be seen.

"The hunting grounds are open! If you won't enter now, what are you waiting for?"

Wu Tai's commanding voice rang across the square.

The crowd grew excited and began cheering. "It's starting! It's starting..."

Barely had Wu Tai finished speaking when figures shot out from all across the square, charging together into the gateway formed from clouds.

"You have three days. You bear responsibility for your own lives and deaths!"

A cultivator's heart was tough and steadfast. If they clung to life and feared death, how could they contend for their fate and defy heaven? Before the crowd's cheers had faded, all forty-five children participating from the nine tribes had entered the hunting grounds.

The instant they passed through the gateway, the power of teleportation scattered the children across the hunting grounds. A great stele stood on either side of the square, and both now shone all over with flowing radiance, revealing scenes within the hunting grounds. Through the steles' screens of light, the spectators in the square could watch the many events unfolding inside.

This is where the White Wolf Tribe raises fierce beasts. Most beasts in this layer of space are first-tier, with only a few powerful second-tier ones, and fighting one another is strictly forbidden. Unless their luck is terrible, their lives should be safe.

Hai Chen appeared at the foot of a mountain in the hunting grounds. He watched his surroundings warily, silently considering the circumstances Ling’er and the others might now be facing.

For now, we'll each have to hunt fierce beasts with our own abilities.

Having decided, Hai Chen raised his spear and strode into the dense forest. Before an incense stick's worth of time had passed, he encountered a Giant Zhiti Beast. Shaped like a water buffalo, with enormous horns on its head, it charged straight toward him, snapping every plant and tree in its path to the ground.

"What a brute!"

Startled, Hai Chen planted a foot against a great tree at an angle and hastily dodged. With a thunderous crash, the Giant Zhiti Beast rammed a tree so thick that several people could barely encircle it, sending it flying and smashing down a large swath of forest.

"All right, take a spear from me too!"

As the Giant Zhiti Beast paused, a streak of dark light flashed toward its massive body, striking up a fierce shower of sparks.

As expected of something that lives on iron. With copper muscles and iron bones, it's hard to deal it a fatal wound.

The dark light dispersed, and the spear returned to Hai Chen's hand. Struck by the attack, the Giant Zhiti Beast lowered its body, gathered its strength, and leaped, bearing down on Hai Chen like a black cloud pressing overhead.

Seeing that his strike had failed, Hai Chen dared not meet it head-on. He leaped several zhang backward, narrowly avoiding the Giant Zhiti Beast's plunging assault.

After several exchanges, neither man nor beast had gained an advantage, but Hai Chen began to grow anxious. Time is limited. I can't keep getting tangled up in this fight.

Hai Chen swung his spear several times, only managing to inflict a few superficial wounds on the Giant Zhiti Beast. Left with no choice, he channeled his soul power and summoned his Divine Crow Soul Spirit to deal with it.

Using a soul spirit consumed a tremendous amount of a cultivator's soul power. Unless absolutely necessary, cultivators generally would not summon their soul spirits in ordinary combat. He had not expected to encounter such a tough opponent immediately upon entering the hunting grounds, but to end the battle quickly, Hai Chen could only resort to this.

After several exchanges without landing a blow on the human cultivator before it, the Giant Zhiti Beast grew furious too. The iron hairs all over its body stood on end as it unleashed its mighty move. Thousands of needle-like darts shot out at once, enveloping Hai Chen like fine rain and leaving him nowhere to dodge.

At that moment, the Divine Crow Soul Spirit Hai Chen had summoned opened its mouth and spewed roaring flames. The needle darts turned to powdery ash as they met the fire.

"So it fears fire attacks!"

With that thought, Hai Chen immediately poured in more soul power. The flames streaming from the Divine Crow surged, engulfing the Giant Zhiti Beast like boiling oil.

Bathed in searing flames, the Giant Zhiti Beast suffered agonizing pain throughout its body. It bared its teeth and let out a deafening roar of fury, snapping the great trees around it one after another.

Hai Chen continued channeling his soul power, and the Divine Crow Flame kept spewing fire at the Giant Zhiti Beast. Its body grew red-hot and actually began to show signs of melting.

"Strike while it's weakened and take its life! Die already!"

Spear in hand, Hai Chen thrust viciously at the Giant Zhiti Beast's skull. With a wet puncturing sound, the spear pierced straight through. Several breaths later, the Giant Zhiti Beast stopped struggling and roaring and collapsed to the ground.

Hai Chen took out a dagger, deftly sliced off a piece of beast meat that was still steaming, and stuffed it into his mouth to chew. It tasted quite good, so he decided he might as well eat his fill first.

After eating his fill and retrieving the core, Hai Chen continued striding through the dense forest with his spear in hand.

Having watched Hai Chen's battle with the Giant Zhiti Beast, Hai Ya nodded in approval, while Tao Lan beside him scoffed.

"Why does he behave exactly like you? Can't you people from the Haibei Tribe eat your fill before coming to compete?"

Hai Ya smiled without answering and continued watching the great stele's screen of light.

Hai Chen had hunted with the hunting party since childhood. After his soul took form, he had hunted beasts and cultivated alone in the mountains. Now his soul power cultivation had reached the middle stage of the initial level, so ordinary fierce beasts naturally posed him little trouble. By the end of the day, he had collected twenty beast cores.

I wonder how Ling’er and the others are doing...

Hai Chen leaped onto a great tree to rest briefly. Just as the thought crossed his mind, a chorus of chirping swept toward him, and two contestants from the Qinghe Tribe came fleeing in panic.

Such a huge flock of Serpent Sparrows, all pouring out of their nests at night. These two Qinghe Tribe members probably have more ill fortune than good ahead of them.

Sure enough, moments later, the flock surrounded the pair. They could only raise a screen of misty light to withstand the successive attacks of thousands of Serpent Sparrows.

Although a single Serpent Sparrow fell short of a first-tier fierce beast in might, the flock was enormous, and they had no fear of death, crashing densely into the screen of light.

Soon, a much larger Serpent Sparrow flew over, already radiating the might of a first-tier fierce beast.

The two Qinghe Tribe members had been hunting together, combining their strength to kill beasts and splitting the Beast Cores equally. As they searched for prey, they spotted a Serpent Sparrow perched conspicuously on a branch ahead. Although flying creatures were difficult to catch, the pair relied on their ability to weave nets from water vapor and attacked without hesitation.

Serpent Sparrows were not skilled fighters to begin with, much less when facing two opponents working together. Sensing danger, it beat its wings fiercely and flew toward its nest. The two Qinghe Tribe members pursued relentlessly, never expecting that after less than an incense stick's time, the Serpent Sparrow would summon its entire flock out of their nests to rush at them like raindrops. At the sight, the pair turned and fled, leading to the scene before him.

The misty screen of light the two had raised was already on the verge of collapse. The lead sparrow flew in without pausing and pecked straight at them. Its enormous beak pierced the misty screen as though piercing tofu, shattering it on contact. Without waiting for an order from their leader, thousands of Serpent Sparrows swarmed forward. In only a few breaths, the pair were mangled masses of flesh and blood, their lives extinguished.

"All living spirits have their might. Do not bully the frail..." Hai Chen looked sorrowful, then his gaze turned resolute. "But if they attack me, I'll repay them several times over!"

Hai Chen was not someone who bullied the weak, but neither would he ever tolerate others bullying him.

The dangers here cannot be underestimated. I have to find Ling’er and the others quickly!

Once the flock had flown away, Hai Chen leaped down from the great tree and went straight to where the two Qinghe Tribe members' bodies had fallen. Only their skeletons remained, without even a scrap of flesh.

"Fighting each other is forbidden here, but that doesn't mean I can't pick up a little unexpected wealth..."

Hai Chen chuckled, picked up their Soul Bags, and channeled his soul power into them. To his surprise, he found a total of thirty beast cores and two soul crystals inside.

"Looks like traveling in a team really does work. But with methods like yours, you'd never have made the top ten!"

After taking the beast cores and soul crystals, Hai Chen did not linger. He rushed into the distance in the direction indicated by the gateway on the stone token in his hand, hoping to find Ling’er and the others first and join up with them.