The reputation of the mythical beast reapers spread throughout the entire Bahuang Forest. At this point, every other team prayed that they wouldn’t come across this team because it would mean only one of two things—Either they get eliminated, or they don’t get to even touch a single mythical beast!
It was the goal for everyone that was in the borders of the forest to slay as many mythical beasts as they could so that they could get higher rankings, so if they were being honest, they would rather meet the top five teams instead of the mythical beast reapers!
Meanwhile, the infamous team was huddled around a hotpot and eating their fill as they discussed their cooperation from earlier.
“After killing all these mythical beasts, our rankings should have gone up quite a bit!” Wu Hongwen poured a packet of seasoning into the pot before looking up at the others. “Jiji, pour some water won’t you?”
Jiji sent an emotionless stare at Wu Hongwen before it stretched out a mechanical arm and a stream of clear water flowed out from its fingertip.
“What an interesting robot you have there, Miss Gu! Where did you pick it up from?” Baili Wen asked in interest. “To be able to create a steady flow of water like that from the particles in the air, that sort of technology would definitely be beneficial to mankind!”
Upon hearing this, Gu Xiqiao’s hand paused for a moment before she rubbed her nose sheepishly, not saying anything in reply.
Meanwhile, Yao Jiamu and the others could barely stifle their laughter as they pat Jiji’s shoulder. “You hear that? You’re interesting!”
Jiji: “…”
Gu Xiqiao took a piece of lotus root from the pot before her brows furrowed slightly and she looked off into the distance thoughtfully.
“What’s wrong?” Shi Qin looked up at her, knowing that she perceived something that they couldn’t.
Gu Xiqiao stood up slowly and spread out her mental power into the surroundings, her eyes closed in concentration. “Something’s not quite right.”
“What?” Yin Shaoyuan reached to put out the fire before he looked up and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Someone’s calling for help.” She reopened her eyes, and the coldness in those orbs made Shi Qin revert his gaze from her.
“If that’s the case, why wouldn’t they just forfeit?” The nine others looked at each other perplexedly. Even though rankings were important, but nothing was important than their life, no? Even though Gu Xiqiao would eliminate a country’s teams all at once, but she would never cause them mortal harm.
Gu Xiqiao inhaled deeply. “It’s their consciousnesses that are calling out for help, but I can’t quite pinpoint where it’s coming from. Brother Jiang was right, there’s something wrong with this forest.”
Upon seeing her solemn expression, the others all started facing the seriousness of the issue, and Yao Jiamu suddenly remarked, “Right, didn’t a Houtian stage mythical beast flee from us yesterday?”
“Yesterday?” Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly. “How did I not know about this?”
Upon hearing this, they all reverted their gazes awkwardly, and Xiao Yun replied, “When you went off to play with those foreigners, we met a Houtian-stage mythical beast that could speak, but it managed to flee from us.”
“That shouldn’t be right, even though these mythical beasts have intelligence, they’re all supposed to be just clusters of energy. It’s impossible that they could speak…” Gu Xiqiao hummed, before asking, “But anyway, you guys just let it run away?”
No one in the world knew better than she did about how strong these nine were when they cooperated, and she knew that they wouldn’t let that mythical beast flee…
There was something wrong with that mythical beast…
At the same time, the Xiantian-stage mythical beasts in the Bahuang Forest started to increase, and some even appeared together. Most regular teams could only admit defeat if they met a Xiantian-stage mythical beast, lest a whole pack of them!
And so, the entire ranking tournament was slowly but surely reaching its conclusion.
***
Meanwhile, in another corner of Bahuang Forest.
A ten-man team laid there disheveled on the ground while their wooden plaques floated in front of them, their gazes filled with rage and fear as they flared at the pack of Xiantian-stage mythical beasts in front of them.
As if some mysterious forced clamped their mouths shut, they couldn’t even say the word ‘forfeit’!
A fox-like mythical beast was in the leading position of the pack, and it looked down at the ten participants with a human-like mocking gaze.
It raised its claw, and at the same time, the ten wooden plaques burst into dust.
When the wooden plaques were disintegrated, the ten felt as if the clamps over their mouths were released, and they coughed loudly, their faces an unhealthy shade of red.
“You shall be the sixth team that I slay.” The mythical fox stood there as it looked down at them, black wisps of energy around its head. “I’m in a particularly good mood today, so you can choose how you want to die.”
“Die?” Upon knowing that they were about to die, they seemed to finally muster up some courage as they glared up at these mythical beasts as if it were one last show of bravery and gut. “Just you wait, you’ll be the ones that die when the mythical beast reapers come for you!”
“The mythical beast reapers?” The fox scoffed. “How foolish of you to put your hopes in other humans, how very droll. No worries, I’ll let you lot reunite in the underworld once I find them and kill them too!”
As it said so, it raised its claws, and a dark surge of energy was created that sent the leaves on the ground flying.
The ten people couldn’t help but close their eyes.
Right at that moment, the leaves all froze in the air, and a cold, clear voice rang out, “No need to look for us, we’re right here!”
That voice seemed to penetrate into one’s very soul, and the white fox was appalled as it looked up and saw the figure of a girl in light-colored clothes and hair as dark as ink.
Behind her were nine people with wooden weapons, and just by standing there, they seemed to freeze space itself.
Ten people with wooden weapons and a girl of unparalleled beauty…
The signatures of the mythical beast reapers!
The ones on the ground all smiled excitedly. “It’s them! We’re saved!”
They had thought that they were going to breathe their last breaths, but upon seeing them and seeing a glimmer of hope. Even though none of the teams in Bahuang Forest wanted to come across these people for the sake of competition, they were actually quite reverent and even idolized them.
Which group could stand against a pack of Xiantian-stage mythical beasts other than them?
The white fox set down its claws as it looked up at Gu Xiqiao and her team with a spiteful expression. “I have been looking for you…”
After saying this, it stepped back, and the many Xiantian-stage mythical beasts all stepped into position.
A terrifying pulse of pressure shook the forest as the mythical beast arranged themselves into an array, and the mythical white fox smirked eagerly. “Die, mythical beast reapers.”
Gu Xiqiao raised her hand, violet streaks of lightning dancing in her palm before she smiled. “Actually, I’ve been looking for you for a long time too.”
After saying this, her hair flew up behind her as two large streaks of violet lightning shot out in front of her. One of them grabbed the ten helpless participants on the ground and threw them to somewhere safe, while the other dissipated into around a dozen bright balls of light.
Baili Wen immediately threw out all the jade that he had on him, and the precious pieces of jade mixed with the lightning that Gu Xiqiao released.
At that moment, the heavens and the earth were enclosed in an array made of lightning.
Meanwhile, the other eight took up their weapons and started attacking the mythical beasts, smacking and twisting them like dough.
Gu Xiqiao shot out another bolt of lightning that wrapped around the mythical white fox, and it looked up at her in astonishment and despair. Why did it turn out like this? Weren’t these people powerless against it when it met them? How were they so strong this time around?
Meanwhile, the ten participants had managed to regain their bearings as they crawled up from the ground, looking at this scene in awe. “Is this their renowned trap-kill?”
“Yeah, it’s one of their three most well-known killing methods—Lure-kill, trap-kill, and brutal-kill.” Another participant replied. “I’ve only seen the lure-kill, and that was already scary enough, but I never expected them to be this scary!”
“I guess that mythical white fox is regretting its decisions, hah!”
After saying this, the ten of them laughed and looked at each other with shocked expressions.
Gu Xiqiao and co.’s actions had caused quite a commotion in the forest, shaking the ground with pulses of power, and it attracted the attention of most other teams that all stopped what they were doing and closed their eyes to sense the energy around them.
“It must be those people again!”
“Who could do this other than them? Who knows which poor mythical beasts are in their trap this time around?”
“Lure-killing doesn’t give off such strong energy pulses, so it’s probably trap-kill or brutal-kill. Gosh, I get goosebumps every time I remember the time I saw them brutal-kill mythical beasts!”
“…”
***
The energy pulses this time around were truly quite large, and even the elders standing outside the forest felt it too. After some discussion, one of them knocked on Jiang Shuxuan’s door.
“Jiang-dono1, we have reports that several teams have disappeared from Bahuang Forest, and there was a strong pulse of energy coming from inside the forest just now, too…” The white-bearded elder rubbed his beard with a worried expression.
“I know.” Jiang Shuxuan put down the documents in his hand, before taking a sheet of paper out from his desk and handing it to the elder. “Come look at this.”
“These are… Nine points? What does this mean?” The white-bearded elder looked in confusion at what Jiang Shuxuan gave him. “Does this have anything to do with Bahuang Forest?”
“According to a prophecy, these are the spots that will experience calamities in the future.” The lithe fingers moved across the paper, connecting the nine dots together. “According to this, Japan will be next.”
“Jiang-dono, I’m talking to you about Bahuang Forest!” The elder threw away the piece of paper. “Don’t tell me you believe in this mumbo jumbo prophecy?”
Jiang Shuxuan looked at the paper that fluttered onto the floor, before looking back at the elder with a gaze that made the elder burst out in cold sweat.
Thankfully, this gaze didn’t hold him for long before the younger man reached out and the paper flew back into his hand.
After carefully folding the piece of paper and sticking it into his pocket, Jiang Shuxuan glanced at the elder again before his form flickered and he disappeared, along with a single sentence. “I’ll go look.”
After the terrifying cold aura disappeared from the room, the elder couldn’t help but wipe away the sweat on his forehead in fear. What possessed him to talk to Jiang Shuxuan like that?
As soon as he walked out, he was met with two people that congratulated him as soon as they saw him, “Congratulations, from the looks of it Nozawa is going to win! Look, his energy points are many times more than that of the second place!”
The elder rubbed his beard again with a proud smile.
Outside Bahuang Forest, on the giant obsidian ranking list, it was written:
First place: Nozawa!
The reputation of the mythical beast reapers spread throughout the entire Bahuang Forest. At this point, every other team prayed that they wouldn’t come across this team because it would mean only one of two things—Either they get eliminated, or they don’t get to even touch a single mythical beast!
It was the goal for everyone that was in the borders of the forest to slay as many mythical beasts as they could so that they could get higher rankings, so if they were being honest, they would rather meet the top five teams instead of the mythical beast reapers!
Meanwhile, the infamous team was huddled around a hotpot and eating their fill as they discussed their cooperation from earlier.
“After killing all these mythical beasts, our rankings should have gone up quite a bit!” Wu Hongwen poured a packet of seasoning into the pot before looking up at the others. “Jiji, pour some water won’t you?”
Jiji sent an emotionless stare at Wu Hongwen before it stretched out a mechanical arm and a stream of clear water flowed out from its fingertip.
“What an interesting robot you have there, Miss Gu! Where did you pick it up from?” Baili Wen asked in interest. “To be able to create a steady flow of water like that from the particles in the air, that sort of technology would definitely be beneficial to mankind!”
Upon hearing this, Gu Xiqiao’s hand paused for a moment before she rubbed her nose sheepishly, not saying anything in reply.
Meanwhile, Yao Jiamu and the others could barely stifle their laughter as they pat Jiji’s shoulder. “You hear that? You’re interesting!”
Jiji: “…”
Gu Xiqiao took a piece of lotus root from the pot before her brows furrowed slightly and she looked off into the distance thoughtfully.
“What’s wrong?” Shi Qin looked up at her, knowing that she perceived something that they couldn’t.
Gu Xiqiao stood up slowly and spread out her mental power into the surroundings, her eyes closed in concentration. “Something’s not quite right.”
“What?” Yin Shaoyuan reached to put out the fire before he looked up and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Someone’s calling for help.” She reopened her eyes, and the coldness in those orbs made Shi Qin revert his gaze from her.
“If that’s the case, why wouldn’t they just forfeit?” The nine others looked at each other perplexedly. Even though rankings were important, but nothing was important than their life, no? Even though Gu Xiqiao would eliminate a country’s teams all at once, but she would never cause them mortal harm.
Gu Xiqiao inhaled deeply. “It’s their consciousnesses that are calling out for help, but I can’t quite pinpoint where it’s coming from. Brother Jiang was right, there’s something wrong with this forest.”
Upon seeing her solemn expression, the others all started facing the seriousness of the issue, and Yao Jiamu suddenly remarked, “Right, didn’t a Houtian stage mythical beast flee from us yesterday?”
“Yesterday?” Gu Xiqiao squinted slightly. “How did I not know about this?”
Upon hearing this, they all reverted their gazes awkwardly, and Xiao Yun replied, “When you went off to play with those foreigners, we met a Houtian-stage mythical beast that could speak, but it managed to flee from us.”
“That shouldn’t be right, even though these mythical beasts have intelligence, they’re all supposed to be just clusters of energy. It’s impossible that they could speak…” Gu Xiqiao hummed, before asking, “But anyway, you guys just let it run away?”
No one in the world knew better than she did about how strong these nine were when they cooperated, and she knew that they wouldn’t let that mythical beast flee…
There was something wrong with that mythical beast…
At the same time, the Xiantian-stage mythical beasts in the Bahuang Forest started to increase, and some even appeared together. Most regular teams could only admit defeat if they met a Xiantian-stage mythical beast, lest a whole pack of them!
And so, the entire ranking tournament was slowly but surely reaching its conclusion.
***
Meanwhile, in another corner of Bahuang Forest.
A ten-man team laid there disheveled on the ground while their wooden plaques floated in front of them, their gazes filled with rage and fear as they flared at the pack of Xiantian-stage mythical beasts in front of them.
As if some mysterious forced clamped their mouths shut, they couldn’t even say the word ‘forfeit’!
A fox-like mythical beast was in the leading position of the pack, and it looked down at the ten participants with a human-like mocking gaze.
It raised its claw, and at the same time, the ten wooden plaques burst into dust.
When the wooden plaques were disintegrated, the ten felt as if the clamps over their mouths were released, and they coughed loudly, their faces an unhealthy shade of red.
“You shall be the sixth team that I slay.” The mythical fox stood there as it looked down at them, black wisps of energy around its head. “I’m in a particularly good mood today, so you can choose how you want to die.”
“Die?” Upon knowing that they were about to die, they seemed to finally muster up some courage as they glared up at these mythical beasts as if it were one last show of bravery and gut. “Just you wait, you’ll be the ones that die when the mythical beast reapers come for you!”
“The mythical beast reapers?” The fox scoffed. “How foolish of you to put your hopes in other humans, how very droll. No worries, I’ll let you lot reunite in the underworld once I find them and kill them too!”
As it said so, it raised its claws, and a dark surge of energy was created that sent the leaves on the ground flying.
The ten people couldn’t help but close their eyes.
Right at that moment, the leaves all froze in the air, and a cold, clear voice rang out, “No need to look for us, we’re right here!”
That voice seemed to penetrate into one’s very soul, and the white fox was appalled as it looked up and saw the figure of a girl in light-colored clothes and hair as dark as ink.
Behind her were nine people with wooden weapons, and just by standing there, they seemed to freeze space itself.
Ten people with wooden weapons and a girl of unparalleled beauty…
The signatures of the mythical beast reapers!
The ones on the ground all smiled excitedly. “It’s them! We’re saved!”
They had thought that they were going to breathe their last breaths, but upon seeing them and seeing a glimmer of hope. Even though none of the teams in Bahuang Forest wanted to come across these people for the sake of competition, they were actually quite reverent and even idolized them.
Which group could stand against a pack of Xiantian-stage mythical beasts other than them?
The white fox set down its claws as it looked up at Gu Xiqiao and her team with a spiteful expression. “I have been looking for you…”
After saying this, it stepped back, and the many Xiantian-stage mythical beasts all stepped into position.
A terrifying pulse of pressure shook the forest as the mythical beast arranged themselves into an array, and the mythical white fox smirked eagerly. “Die, mythical beast reapers.”
Gu Xiqiao raised her hand, violet streaks of lightning dancing in her palm before she smiled. “Actually, I’ve been looking for you for a long time too.”
After saying this, her hair flew up behind her as two large streaks of violet lightning shot out in front of her. One of them grabbed the ten helpless participants on the ground and threw them to somewhere safe, while the other dissipated into around a dozen bright balls of light.
Baili Wen immediately threw out all the jade that he had on him, and the precious pieces of jade mixed with the lightning that Gu Xiqiao released.
At that moment, the heavens and the earth were enclosed in an array made of lightning.
Meanwhile, the other eight took up their weapons and started attacking the mythical beasts, smacking and twisting them like dough.
Gu Xiqiao shot out another bolt of lightning that wrapped around the mythical white fox, and it looked up at her in astonishment and despair. Why did it turn out like this? Weren’t these people powerless against it when it met them? How were they so strong this time around?
Meanwhile, the ten participants had managed to regain their bearings as they crawled up from the ground, looking at this scene in awe. “Is this their renowned trap-kill?”
“Yeah, it’s one of their three most well-known killing methods—Lure-kill, trap-kill, and brutal-kill.” Another participant replied. “I’ve only seen the lure-kill, and that was already scary enough, but I never expected them to be this scary!”
“I guess that mythical white fox is regretting its decisions, hah!”
After saying this, the ten of them laughed and looked at each other with shocked expressions.
Gu Xiqiao and co.’s actions had caused quite a commotion in the forest, shaking the ground with pulses of power, and it attracted the attention of most other teams that all stopped what they were doing and closed their eyes to sense the energy around them.
“It must be those people again!”
“Who could do this other than them? Who knows which poor mythical beasts are in their trap this time around?”
“Lure-killing doesn’t give off such strong energy pulses, so it’s probably trap-kill or brutal-kill. Gosh, I get goosebumps every time I remember the time I saw them brutal-kill mythical beasts!”
“…”
***
The energy pulses this time around were truly quite large, and even the elders standing outside the forest felt it too. After some discussion, one of them knocked on Jiang Shuxuan’s door.
“Jiang-dono1, we have reports that several teams have disappeared from Bahuang Forest, and there was a strong pulse of energy coming from inside the forest just now, too…” The white-bearded elder rubbed his beard with a worried expression.
“I know.” Jiang Shuxuan put down the documents in his hand, before taking a sheet of paper out from his desk and handing it to the elder. “Come look at this.”
“These are… Nine points? What does this mean?” The white-bearded elder looked in confusion at what Jiang Shuxuan gave him. “Does this have anything to do with Bahuang Forest?”
“According to a prophecy, these are the spots that will experience calamities in the future.” The lithe fingers moved across the paper, connecting the nine dots together. “According to this, Japan will be next.”
“Jiang-dono, I’m talking to you about Bahuang Forest!” The elder threw away the piece of paper. “Don’t tell me you believe in this mumbo jumbo prophecy?”
Jiang Shuxuan looked at the paper that fluttered onto the floor, before looking back at the elder with a gaze that made the elder burst out in cold sweat.
Thankfully, this gaze didn’t hold him for long before the younger man reached out and the paper flew back into his hand.
After carefully folding the piece of paper and sticking it into his pocket, Jiang Shuxuan glanced at the elder again before his form flickered and he disappeared, along with a single sentence. “I’ll go look.”
After the terrifying cold aura disappeared from the room, the elder couldn’t help but wipe away the sweat on his forehead in fear. What possessed him to talk to Jiang Shuxuan like that?
As soon as he walked out, he was met with two people that congratulated him as soon as they saw him, “Congratulations, from the looks of it Nozawa is going to win! Look, his energy points are many times more than that of the second place!”
The elder rubbed his beard again with a proud smile.
Outside Bahuang Forest, on the giant obsidian ranking list, it was written:
First place: Nozawa!
