A Strange Old Acquaintance!

The cave was not large; Lin Mo and the others had to stoop to squeeze inside.

This made Lin Mo think of the massive frames of the Golden Armored Savage Bear and the Light-Chasing Leopard from earlier.

If they wanted to enter, they would have to break open the cave mouth.

Inside the cave, three Hundred Life Flowers stood upright.

Their emerald green stems radiated vibrant vitality.

Seven pure white petals were delicate and tender, as if even a gentle touch could harm them.

At the center surrounded by the petals, the crimson stamens were exceptionally vivid, stirring a desire in anyone who saw them to pluck and devour them.

Lin Mo reached out to pick one.

"Wait, it's not time yet."

Lin Dabao immediately called out to stop Lin Mo.

"No wonder the two Mutant Beasts outside didn't just force their way in to pick them—these Hundred Life Flowers really aren't fully mature yet. If we pick them now, their effect will be halved."

"Oh?" Hearing Lin Dabao's explanation, Lin Mo suddenly understood.

This kind of Rare Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure hadn't been covered in detail in class.

For one thing, such things were inherently rare and hardly ever seen on the market.

The medicinal materials ordinary Martial Artists used for Tendon Refining were of a different variety.

Their effects were far inferior to these Hundred Life Flowers.

Secondly, talking about Hundred Life Flowers in high school was pointless.

The threshold for becoming a Martial Artist already kept most ordinary people from crossing over.

Let alone reaching the Sixth-grade Martial Artist level?

So, explanations of these rare items in class were few and far between.

"Also, when picking these Rare Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, you have to store them in jade containers. Otherwise, once they leave the soil without proper preservation, they'll turn half-waste or even completely waste—a terrible waste of nature's gifts. So, when traveling out to hunt beasts or do missions, you must prepare some jade storage vessels."

Lin Dabao had now turned into a pedantic scholar, explaining in detail.

"I never noticed you knew so much. Impressive." Lin Mo smiled as he looked at Lin Dabao.

"Of course! My nickname 'Know-it-all' isn't just for show."

Hearing Lin Mo's praise, Lin Dabao couldn't help but tilt his head back in smugness.

"Look at you showing off. After all that talk, did you bring any jade containers?"

Just then, Xiao Ya glanced sideways at Lin Dabao.

"Uh... well, I really didn't bring any."

"..." Lin Mo immediately rolled his eyes hard.

So you talked all that talk, but brought nothing at all. How unreliable can you get.

"Here!" Xiao Ya shot Lin Dabao a glare, then pulled three long jade boxes from her backpack and handed them to Lin Mo.

"Thanks." Lin Mo didn't stand on ceremony and took them directly.

"The Hundred Life Flowers will be ripe soon, within an hour at most. Let's wait here."

"Fine. As for the distribution of these three Hundred Life Flowers..."

"What distribution? They're all yours. If you hadn't killed those two Fifth-grade Mutant Beasts, we wouldn't have gotten these Hundred Life Flowers at all."

Before Lin Mo could finish, Xiao Ya cut in directly.

"This..."

Lin Mo was stunned, not expecting Xiao Ya to be so straightforward.

"Don't 'this' me. Xiao Ya's right. The Hundred Life Flowers are yours. You did all the work; we didn't do anything. I'm already satisfied getting the Light-Chasing Leopard's Beast Core."

Liu Peipei beside him also spoke with a smile.

Lin Mo glanced at Liu Peipei, then looked at Chen Jia and Lin Dabao. Seeing these two nodding repeatedly, he couldn't help but smile.

These people—he had known them for such a short time, yet they could be like this. Not bad!

If it were someone else, they'd probably be eyeing the Hundred Life Flowers with burning greed.

This was the best material for a Sixth-grade Martial Artist's Tendon Refining.

Meanwhile, on another hill.

"Brother Hao, where are we going next?"

Huo Zihao sat to the side, wiping bloodstains off his hands.

His teammates were busy packing up the spoils.

To the right, five Mutant Beasts lay in pools of blood.

"Let's rest a while, then head south. It's close to the river there; if we hold that spot, we should be able to bag quite a few Mutant Beasts." Huo Zihao said after a moment of thought.

Inside the Star Beast Forest, there were three rivers in total, also where these Mutant Beasts came to drink.

Guarding a spot there was far easier than searching all through the forest.

Mutant Beasts were just like people—water was a necessity, and they had to drink every day.

Just then, a rustling sound came from the woods on the left.

"On guard!"

Huo Zihao shot to his feet and drew his weapon.

The others also stopped what they were doing, grabbed their weapons, and stared toward the dense forest.

A few breaths later, ten figures came into view.

The red-haired youth at the front was especially striking.

"Brother Chen?" Seeing who it was, Huo Zihao was startled for a moment, then put away his weapon and walked over to greet him.

"Oh? Huo Zihao?" The red-haired youth was taken aback at first when he saw Huo Zihao, his eyes darting around as if he was thinking something over.

But quickly, a faint smile appeared on the red-haired youth's face as he responded.

"Didn't expect to run into you here. I thought only us folks from Southern Province were taking the assessment."

"Haha, how could that be? This is the Elite Camp—naturally, trainees from all provinces gather here." Huo Zihao glanced at the few people behind Brother Chen; they all looked very unfamiliar, but he didn't ask further and instead looked back at Brother Chen.

"Come on, brothers, let me introduce you. This is my big bro, Ning Province's number one—Lu Chen, a Fourth-grade Awakened!"

"What? Fourth-grade?" Hearing Huo Zihao's words, all his teammates were shocked.

The trainees selected for the Elite Camp this time were all eighteen years old.

Becoming an Awakened at that age and reaching the Third-grade Martial Artist realm was already an extremely demanding requirement.

Now, to have a Fourth-grade Martial Artist of the same age appear—it truly stunned them.

After all, among all the geniuses from Southern Province this time, not a single one had reached Fourth-grade.

"Greetings, Brother Chen!"

The next second, these people tactfully called out in unison.

"Heh, greetings to you too." Red Hair responded with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, though a flicker of disdain passed through his gaze.

The nine people behind him stood there expressionlessly, completely ignoring what was happening around them.

What puzzled the group was that the way those nine looked at them felt very strange, as if carrying a hint of killing intent.

"Huo Zihao, does your Southern Province have any standout geniuses this time?" Red Hair asked with a faint smile.

"Geniuses? Brother Hao right here is one! His Blood Qi Value is 800 cal—that's top-tier among us."

"That's right, Brother Hao is the undisputed top genius from Southern Province this time."

Huo Zihao's teammates immediately started buttering him up.

What they didn't notice was that as they spoke, Red Hair Lu Chen's gaze toward Huo Zihao had shifted.

"Don't listen to their nonsense. My level is just so-so, can't even compare to Brother Chen." Huo Zihao was uncharacteristically modest. "But..."

Suddenly, he changed his tone.

"But what?" Lu Chen looked at him with a smile, his right hand moving to the curved blade at his waist.

The nine people behind him, unnoticed by Huo Zihao's group, also reached for their weapons, their expressions turning fierce.