“Oh? Did this person not kill even a single ferocious beast? How could there be anyone like him?”
“He… He’s not dead, is he?” Some people that were new here started to make guesses one after another.
Although the Forest of Death had countless rare things, they were accompanied by great dangers. Throughout the process of searching for those treasures, one would be killed if one was careless.
People could benefit greatly from the Forest of Death, but more people were forever buried inside and disappeared such that their corpses would not be found.
Nonetheless, right after the discussion stopped, someone could not help but laugh. “Heh, since that person’s name is still on the tablet, it means that he’s still carrying his Tianyuan Stone. If he really died, the stone would’ve sensed the absence of his life aura, and his name would’ve disappeared from the Water Suspension Tablet.”
The people that were new to Huixun City finally understood that Tianyuan Stones had such a wonderful effect.
They had a mysterious connection with the Water Suspension Tablet as they could check the carriers’ vital signs. If a carrier were to die or lose his or her Tianyuan Stone, the connection would be cut off.
Even though the Tianyuan Stones were not magical, they were rather practical.
While the people discussed, an elder paced toward the bottom of the Water Suspension Tablet.
The area was not guarded by anyone, but everyone subconsciously stayed a distance away. This was because they knew it was considered the Beyond Heaven Pavilion’s forbidden area.
It was true that the city was meant for rogue cultivators, but even the 2 Venerable Ones that built the city treated the Beyond Heaven Pavilion with enough respect. In fact, rumor had it that the Venerable Ones could only build the city, which stood firmly without being destroyed nor eliminated by various powerful forces, because of the pavilion’s support.
Needless to say, it was only a rumor and could not be verified by anyone.
When the crowd saw the elder approaching the Water Suspension Tablet, they lowered their voices at the same time and quietly introduced the elder to the people around them.
Xu Heran—the pavilion elder who was stationed at Huixun City’s Beyond Heaven Pavilion.
The elder was extremely mysterious and had always lived in seclusion. Unless there were large-scale activities or if incredibly rare materials appeared, it would be tougher to meet him than the 2 Venerable Ones.
Xue Heran arrived in front of the Water Suspension Tablet and narrowed his eyes as he scanned the content on the tablet as though he was long-sighted.
Nevertheless, nobody would underestimate him because anyone that did had turned into yellow soil and vanished from the world.
After a brief moment, Xu Heran nodded and grinned.
Not only was there a mutated high-rank ferocious beast’s blood crystal, but a top-grade savage beast’s blood crystal had also appeared in this Hunting Meet. This could be considered a huge gain. Before the event started, even the pavilion elder did not expect this.
The only thing was that a strange look could be seen on his face when he glanced through Yu Tianrui’s name.
It had been a month, but the young fellow did not show any results, which was truly rare.
Xu Heran looked up at the sky and said, “It’ll be exactly a month once it’s past noon. Let’s wait quietly for a while as they should be returning soon.”
He was not loud, but his voice seemed to carry a magical devilish power that rang in everyone’s ears, thus everyone heard him clearly.
This seemed nothing unusual, but very few people that were present could do it with ease.
At once, the faces of the people that were previously dubious about the elder changed. It turned out that the old man was a powerhouse that kept his counsel.
Far away, there was eventually a sensation as people returned from the Forest of Death in batches.
The names on the Water Suspension Tablet were names of individuals, but this did not mean that they entered the Forest of Death as solo travelers. In actuality, most of them entered as teams, and each team would at least have a person who knew the ropes.
Of course, most people took this as a test. For instance, Wu Xuning—the Wu family’s youngest master—was only taken care of by an Advanced Spiritualist.
As for the clans that wanted to show their reputations on the Water Suspension Tablet, they would send more manpower.
Therefore, the people that came out from the Forest of Death were in groups. They either looked fierce or exhausted but no matter what, they were valiant such that nobody dared to belittle them.
Given that they survived a month in the forest and kept slaughtering fierce beasts, even an elegant young master would have become full of killing intent.
Normal people that were coming out of the forest would not attract any attention but those that were highly ranked on the Water Suspension Tablet caused the crowd to exclaim when they appeared.
“Look! It’s Chen Botian—the rising star from the Chen family!”
“Shopkeeper Su is also out. Hehe, the Su family’s Chamber of Commerce has indeed made sufficient preparations to be able to be in the top 3. They must be proud and elated.”
Among the people that were slowly making their way out of the forest, Chen Botian and Su Tianqian were unquestionably the most eye-catching ones. In particular, the latter might only be an Advanced Spiritualist, but he was smooth and slick in establishing social relations. Since he established the Su family’s business, he was closely related to various forces.
When Su Tianqian walked out of the forest, numerous people greeted him from a distance away. Even so, he smiled at each and every one of them.
Putting aside everything else, his eyesight alone was unordinary.
While being surrounded by the crowd, Su Tianqian arrived beside the Water Suspension Tablet and bowed at Xu Heran with respect.
Xu Heran beamed from his heart and nodded. “You did well. Go on and wait first.”
“Yes,” Su Tianqian responded to him and moved to the side.
The people around them exchanged glances and came to sudden realizations.
Given that Su Tianqian was only an Advanced Spiritualist, his ability to have a place in Huixun City, which was a city that was being watched by Venerable Ones, was not by chance at all.
The Su family’s business had formidable figures as their backing as well.
Chen Botian naturally went toward Chen Danbo. He did not manage to finish in the top 3, but the elder was rather pleased.
The Chen family did not have Venerable Ones nor were they a local tyrant like the Beyond Heaven Pavilion, but they managed to surpass the other rogue cultivator clans and finished with a high rank. What else could Chen Danbo say about this? One could tell from the smile on his face how delighted he was.
On the other hand, Wang Weinian furrowed his eyebrows and looked up at the sky.
‘It’s noon soon. Why isn’t Haobin out yet? Did anything happen?’
Chen Danbo had known him for many years, so he naturally knew his worry. He comforted with a smile, “Brother Wang, Haobin’s guided by experienced powerhouses, so they’re probably coming out on the dot. Hehe, look…”
When Wang Weinian turned to look, he noticed an elder in luxurious clothes staring at the forest too. The elder turned to look as if he sensed someone looking at him.
They nodded with smiles when their eyes met, but lusters were flickering deep inside the eyes.
The elder was Li Xinyi—the Li family’s patriarch of this generation.
It was worth noting that the Wang family and the Li family were the clans of the 2 Venerable Ones that founded Huixun City. While the Venerable Ones no longer bothered about normal affairs, it was inevitable for their younger generations to compare with each other.
Of course, as long as the Venerable Ones were still here, they would not have internal strife. Despite that, they never stopped fighting openly and covertly.
At this moment, not only Wang Haobin, who was in first place, but Li Tianyu, who was in second place, was also not out yet.
Seeing as it was almost noon, Wang Weinian and Li Xinyi were becoming anxious.
All of a sudden, cheers were heard coming from the distance. 2 groups of people appeared from the Forest of Death.
They had great momentum when they exited the forest. Though they were clearly separated and did not interfere with each other, it vaguely seemed like they were confronting each other.
The eyes of Wang Weinian and Li Xinyi lit up at the same time. They were relieved.
They would not have been so worried during other occasions, but Wang Haobin and Li Tianyu had special places in their respective clan; they were young but were the most favored ones among the younger generation by their Venerable Ones. If anything were to happen to them, even Wang Weinian and Li Tianyu might not be able to bear the consequences.
Below the Water Suspension Tablet, Xu Heran smiled faintly. When he watched Wang Haobin and Li Tianyu approaching the tablet, he felt like he was looking at 2 moving treasure depots.
The Beyond Heaven Pavilion could normally obtain blood crystals from rogue cultivators, but they would normally be middle-to-low-ranked blood crystals. An occasional high-rank blood crystal could shake him up as it would be big news for him.
However, Wang Haobin and Li Tianyu were carrying more than 10 blood crystals from high-rank ferocious beasts.
After a brief moment, the more outstanding powerhouses from the younger generation arrived below the Water Suspension Tablet. They had entirely different looks on their faces.
Wang Haobin was smiling, whereas Li Tianyu had a dark face and a fierce look in his eyes.
That said, Wang Weinian and Li Xinyi remained calm. They were well-experienced, so they would not make a big fuss over this.
Xu Heran nodded slowly and cleared his throat.
His coughs rang in everyone’s ears, causing the crowd to fall silent.
The elder then laughed and announced, “It’s almost past noon, so the Hunting Meet is almost over.”
Wang Weinian laughed out loud. “Brother Xu, you’re right. Those that could come out are already out. Even if some of them are still inside, they won’t affect the outcome, so let’s end this.”
It was obvious that Wang Haobin was going to finish first, thus the elder was overjoyed.
Li Xinnian scoffed and said, “I have no comments.”
Countless thoughts crossed his mind at this time. ‘Since we lost this time, we must recover lost ground in other ways and mustn’t let the Wang family oppress us.’
Xu Heran nodded and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to announce the final outcome, he spotted something through the corner of his eye.
5 streams of light were suddenly zooming out of the Forest of Death toward the tablet at lightning speed.
