Chapter 43- The Hunters’ Plot

The man roared as he ran away from the sword energy. He twisted his body and faced it, swinging his sword at his enemy

But the other was just a step faster, slashing deeply across his back before swiftly jumping away, avoiding his blow.

“Wei Mian, you’re so despicable!” Burning anger could be seen from the injured youth’s eyes as he glared at the sinister, black faced youth who had just attacked him.

The youth called Wei Mian released an evil chuckle, “Despicable? Official Song already said that we are allowed to use any methods or means. Since you’re now wounded, just obediently hand over the renunciation token and I’ll spare your life.”

“Hmph, if you want my renunciation token, then come over and take it if you dare!” They were all young and vigorous youths, and were willing to stake their lives on their goals without fear.

“Die! The token is mine!” A ray of sword energy exploded out, ripping through the wounded youth’s body. Blood splattered everywhere and the renunciation token dropped on the ground as the youth collapsed.

After a short well, the corpse fell through the illusionary battlefield and crash landed on the arena platform below.

The crowd below them saw everything with crystal clarity. They didn’t expect that the youth who had such a strong start would die so easily, and that his death would be due to internal strife. Their hearts trembled and they finally understood the cruelty and bloodiness of the Martial Exam.

“My son!” A middle aged man shouted in grief as he rushed up to the platform, weeping sorrowfully as he hugged the body of the youth who had fallen. He raised his bloodshot eyes and glared at his son’s killer in the illusionary battlefield, killing intent overflowing from his eyes.

At this moment, on the battlefield, Qin Zhao had finally made a move, and he managed to snatch a renunciation token.

Qin Zhao was at the initial stage of Immersion Realm, while his target was only at the peak of Origin Realm. His target was also injured, and simply had no way of withstanding Qin Zhao’s singular strike.

“On the battlefield of this Martial Examination, life and death is decided by fate and cannot be blamed on others. If he died, he died. Just take your son’s body and scram!” Official Song spoke to the middle aged man coldly.

“You, you guys——” The middle aged man’s voice was filled with both grief and indignation, and he was stewing with rage. However, no matter how furious he was, it was useless. He was no match against them and could only leave with silent resentment while hugging his son’s corpse.

Up above, Qin Zhao had obtained a renunciation token. Lu Wushuang immediately rushed up and grabbed it, “Quickly, give this to me and go snatch another one.”

“Ok.” Qin Zhao nodded and looked at the two other youths who also held a token.

Of the two, one was at the initial stage of Immersion Realm while the other was at the peak of Origin Realm. Qin Zhao’s eyes focused on the Origin Realm youth.

“Hand over the token or die!” His domineering and cold voice brought along the suffocating pressure of death.

That person knew that he absolutely wasn’t Qin Zhao’s opponent. He thought of how Qin Zhao had brutually killed the other guy earlier. Finally, he clenched his teeth, and threw the token at him. “Fine, I’ll give it to you.”

Qin Zhao took the command token and snorted proudly. “Let’s go!” He pulled Lu Wushuang’s hand and left with her.

The two immediately left the main hall, disappearing into the mountain range.

The three people inside all looked at each other. The sinister youth called Wei Mian had originally wanted to take one of the renunciation tokens but unfortunately, only the initial stage Immersion Realm youth had one. He didn’t dare to fight him for it and could only leave the hall by stomping out.

The remaining two competitors also didn’t say anything and stomped out the hall.

……

Outside, in the mountain range, Qin Yu walked along a mountain path, vigilantly keeping a lookout for any trace of movement around him. His surroundings were very peaceful except for a distant scream and the sound of wind blowing through the treetops.

With Qin Yu's life's experience, he wasn't shocked at how realistic the illusion was. Instead, he was surprised by how the low-quality cultivators here could produce such a lifelike illusion.

Furthermore, earlier in Governor’s Hall, the two mirrors that had opened the Illusionary Battlefield absolutely wasn’t something that two mere Transformation Realm cultivators could obtain themselves.

What was even weirder was that normally, the Martial Examination consisted of fighting on the arena platforms. Yet, they created an illusionary battlefield for the exam this time. What was the real reason?

“Ss.”

“Ah!”

While Qin Yu was letting his imagination run wild in his mind, a mournful scream sounded from the hillside ahead.

Had somebody been attacked? Who knew which man had met with misfortune?

Qin Yu’s footsteps paused and the next moment, his body became like wind, and he flew towards the source of the scream.

He arrived at a small hill and saw a corpse slowly sinking into the earth and disappearing.

Qin Yu’s eyes flashed with doubt as he watched the corpse fade away. The one who had just died was a youth, yet he was not one of the twelve competitors that came from Luosang City.

How could this place actually have other people?

Qin Yu frowned, a strange feeling arising in his heart. He remembered that when the illusionary battlefield was formed, only twelve youths had been entitled to enter. He himself had burst in forcefully.

“Hehe, another one came.”

A cold voice sounded behind Qin Yu while he was thinking. He swiftly turned around and saw two men who were wearing the exact same black outfit walk out from the forest. However, the duo had completely different faces- one was completely white and the other, black. The two’s bodies both held a strong scent of blood, indicating that the duo had clearly killed many people.

The two were both at the initial stage of Immersion Realm.

Qin Yu’s swept his sight unhurriedly over the two, his gaze icy as he stared at the two walk by.

“It’s just another peak Origin Realm cultivator. Tsk tsk, how boring.” The leading black faced youngster looked at Qin Yu, a trace of disappointment on his face, “Brother White, I killed that other guy earlier so I’ll leave this one to you, alright?”

“Alright, since Brother Black isn’t interested, then I’ll go and deal with it. At least this is better than not doing anything, hehe.” The white faced youth stepped forward, folding fan in hand, as he laughed evilly.

“Who are you guys?” Qin Yu calmly watched them, a cold voice spilling from his lips.

“Why should a dead man ask so many questions?” The black faced youth’s lips curled into a sneer. In his eyes, Qin Yu’s death was inevitable.

“Brother Black, seeing as how he’ll soon be giving us another fire bug, it doesn’t matter if we tell him some information so that he can at least die while knowing the reason why.” The white faced youth cackled.

“Fire bug?” Qin Yu’s gaze was icy, sensing something.

“Right, by killing you, we would obtain a fire bug. But naturally, that’s meaningless for you. You just need to know that you’ll be dying in a hunter’s hands.” After the white faced youth’s final words, the fan in his hand unfolded, “Die!”

The fan’s unfolded edge was as sharp as a knife. Its speed was astonishingly fast as it flew forward, spinning and slicing towards Qin Yu's body.

“Cloudtrack Phantom.” Qin Yu’s body changed into a phantom and faded away, leaving nothing but a remnant image behind. The whirling fan cut apart the remnant image, slicing it directly in half. If his speed was even a step slower, it wouldn’t have been the remnant image that was chopped in half, but the actual person.

“Huh?”

The two were both clearly shocked that Qin Yu was actually able to dodge the blow with unbelievable speed.

“Brother White, be careful. Behind you!” Guan Zhan, the black faced youth shouted.

“Bone Eroding Evil Winds!” Qin Yu swiftly arrived behind him, and he executed a palm strike imbued with the berserk yin demon's qi.

“Humpth, overestimating your abilities.” Brother White snorted disdainfully and turned his body, sending out another palm strike backwards to meet Qin Yu’s palm. Although he was striking a target behind him, his speed wasn’t slow at all.

“Bang.”

The two palms made a muffled ‘boom’ sound as they met and they both couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

“What?” The black robed youngster Guan Zhan’s gaze was incredulous and a trace of astonishment appeared on his face. Qin Yu, an Origin Realm cultivator’s palm strike had actually forced the white faced youngster back. This…...

“Not bad. You now qualify to fight seriously with me.” The white faced youngster stood on his heels, his face changing slightly.

A trace of an evil charming sneer appeared on Qin Yu’s face, “Unfortunately, you already no longer have the qualifications to fight with this young master. You’d better look at your hand.”

The white faced youth was startled for a moment before he suddenly reacted to the piercing pain in his hands as his bones were being eroded. Upon noticing this, his face changed completely, and fear instantly struck every cell of his body. His hand had only been in that lump of black fog for a moment and yet it had already been corroded—the speed was simply astonishing. In the flash of an eye, half of his arm had already been enveloped by the black fog and very quickly, the upper half of his body was also being corroded.

“Ah, save me!”

At this moment, the white faced youth no longer had any of his earlier domineering attitude, and was shouting loudly for help.

“Brother White, I’m coming to help you. Quickly, chop off your arm.” The black faced youth released a loud shout as he turned into a black hurricane and swiftly arrived in front of the white faced youngster. His hand held a pitch black sword as he ruthlessly and swiftly stabbed the white faced youth.

“Ah——!” A pained, blood curling scream teared through the air, echoing through the mountain range for a long time.

The white faced youngster was filled with disbelief as he lied on the floor and saw his stomach split open by a sword. He slowly turned his head, the light in his pupils slowly dying out as he stared rigidly at the black faced youth whose sword was still dripping with blood.

“You, you… why?”

The black faced youngster laughed evilly, “Elder Brother White, you can just die without worries now. You can leave the fire bug you had obtained with me.”

“You…!” The white faced youth finally understood the black faced youth’s goal and raging flames ignited in his eyes. His voice was filled with bitter resentment, “You, you will not have a good…death!”

After the white faced youth died, the black faced youth rushed forward and struck his dantian region without any trace of politeness. Suddenly, ten red, green, white, and grey lights came flying out of the white faced youth’s dantian region like fire bugs.

The black faced youth’s eyes were filled with greed as he watched the different colors of “fire bugs”. He opened his mouth with excitement and sucked in—the multicolored things were all sucked into his mouth.

Those were the so called “fire bugs”?

From beginning to end, Qin Yu had been watching in silence from the sidelines. He didn’t launch an attack and didn’t flee; he wanted to see what exactly was going on. After observing the black faced youth’s actions, he could already made a deduction with his past two lives worth of experience.

This illusory battlefield definitely wasn’t the work of the two from King City and also wasn’t truly above the Govenor’s Hall of Luosang City. The two mirrors were just the key to opening the entrance to the battlefield. Somewhere else, they definitely had the same method to open a pathway to the Illusionary Battlefield and enter.

Perhaps this so-called Martial Exam battlefield was only a huge conspiracy, attracting all kind of elite talents to enter and throw away their lives.

Or it could also be a game, a hunter’s game and the Martial Exam’s participants were no more than pitiful prey.

Of course, if the examinees could survive under the hunters, then it’d also be a testament of their strength and they will obtain the qualifications to participate in the decisive battle in King City. From this point of view, it had to be said that it really was a good way to pick out the crèmè de la crèmè. However, this method was just far too cruel and ruthless.

Who wanted to do it this way? The people of King City?

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