Chapter 161: A Complimentary Piece of Information
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
While most people were still digging in the weeds, some of them figured out the existence of the Weed Technology company. Lin Huang had done the investigation and confirmed that the company had nothing to do with the assessment.
"Weed, what does that mean?" Lin Huang was back at square one, trying to figure out the clue as he left the company. He then browsed through the Hunter Forum with his Copper Hunter permit. He used the keywords 'weed', 'Beixuan City' and 'Foothold No.7B24'.
After browsing for awhile, he could not find anything useful.
"There's nothing on the Hunter Forum..." Lin Huang frowned as he felt that he arrived at a dead end.
"If I was a real hunter, what would I do if I wasn't able to find the information that I'm looking for on the Hunter Forum and network..." Lin Huang mumbled to himself as he attempted to change his point of view, hoping that he would figure out something from a different perspective.
Just as he said that, he stopped walking all of a sudden. He lifted his head and said to himself, "I'm sure there are other ways to look for some information, and perhaps through ways that are illegal!" Lin Huang opened up a complete map of Beixuan City with his Emperor's Heart Ring immediately and got the location of the black market. He walked into an alley without surveillance cameras and altered his features to become Scarface. He wore his black suit with a gray coat on top before he walked out of the alley.
He got himself a car and headed to the black market. An hour later, he arrived at the area. After paying an entrance fee, he walked straight onto a street. Lin Huang had learned ways of identifying the location of a black market, who he should look for when he needed certain items and how should he should behave in a black market from his time at the Purple Crow training camp.
He placed his hands in his pockets and walked the street without an expression. The street was quiet, and he attracted quite some attention with his presence. However, nobody wanted to mess with him as he had Scarface's features on his face. Soon, Lin Huang found a bar and as he walked in, he noticed everyone's gazes fall on him as he attracted attention in the bar with his attire.
He ignored them and walked to the bench in front of the bar and took a seat. He knocked three times with his index finger on the bar counter and said to the bartender, "Give me a glass of Black Letter." The bartender was a tall, skinny young man. He looked at Lin Huang and gave him a pitch black drink awhile later. Lin Huang smirked as he lifted up the glass. He looked at the numbers that were engraved at the bottom of the glass.
'B-012'. Lin Huang left to the cellar with his glass. Arriving at the entrance of Room B-012, Lin Huang noticed that the light inside was green. He walked straight into the room and it looked like an office - spotless. Behind the mahogany table was a middle-aged man with black framed glasses who then said to him, "Sit."
Lin Huang took off his coat and hung it on the stand by the door and took a seat at the table. He placed the glass on the table and faced the room number engraved at the bottom of the glasses at the man. The man looked at the glass and smiled, "What would you like to know?"
"Simple. Weed." Lin Huang said what he was here for.
"Weed?" The man seemed surprised when he heard the word but soon he composed himself and continued, "What would you like to know about weed?"
"Everything," Lin Huang said and added. "Especially its relation to Beixuan City."
"I understand, give me a moment." The man projected a couple of pages before himself. However, the pages were opaque and the side facing Lin Huang was black. Lin Huang could not see a thing.
Awhile later, the man nodded to Lin Huang, "It will cost 18 billion credit points."
"That's not cheap, are you sure that the information is worth this much?" Lin Huang looked at the man without an expression.
"Don't worry, it is definitely worth the price you're paying," the man replied with a smile.
"Sure," Lin Huang nodded.
"Please transfer your credit points to the trading chip," the man then handed him a green chip that was the size of a thumb. The purpose of the trading chip was to avoid personal details of either party from being leaked elsewhere. The buyer would transfer his credit points to the trading chip and the seller would retrieve the credit points to his own account. With that, nobody would know the account details of the opposite party. Moreover, such trading chips could not save personal details because once the scan was complete and the credit points were transferred, account details would be automatically be deleted. There would not be an issue like personal information being leaked. Compared to the anonymous transactions with Emperor's Heart Rings, such trading chips were much safer.
Lin Huang took the chip, transferred 18 billion credit points into it and handed it back to the man. The man placed the chip aside and brought out a black chip. He then scanned his Emperor's Heart Ring on the black chip and transferred it the information that Lin Huang asked for. Soon, the transfer was complete. All the pages were closed, the man then passed Lin Huang the black chip.
"Everything you want is on this chip."
Lin Huang nodded and took the black chip from the man. He stood up and attempted to leave after putting on his coat. Suddenly, the man spoke again, "I'll give you a complimentary piece of information."
Lin Huang stopped in his step.
"Somebody came here about an hour before you did, the person asked about something similar. The person did not look too friendly, you might want to be careful," he warned.
"Thanks!" Lin Huang said but did not turn around. He walked out right after he thanked the man. He left the bar and left of the black market with a heavy heart.
"I arrived here at around 11 a.m., the person was an hour earlier than me, which means he was here at around 10 a.m. The assessment started at 9 a.m., it would take an hour riding on the car from the Hunter Association. This would mean that the person came here directly after leaving the Hunter Association. The person did not even go to the Weed Technology company."
"Someone who would come to a black market in search of information might be someone from the underground..." Lin Huang thought. It was not the first time the underground placed spies in the Hunter Association. Of course, Lin Huang was not 100% sure of that. The person could have just been really smart and looked passed the details that Lin Huang did not see and came straight to the black market without going to the Weed Technology company.
Chapter 162: Ponytail
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After leaving the black market, Lin Huang took out the black chip he had bought when he was sure he was at a safe place. He then scanned the information with his Emperor's Heart Ring. With that, he finally knew what 'weed' meant. Weed was an advanced drug named ZC. People in the industry would call it 'weed' and outsiders were unaware of such a name.
The drug was in the form of a black crystal and had no unique smell to it. However, those available to be purchased on the market were processed and was in the form of a powder instead of a crystal. The main contents of the drug were unknown. However, it caused intense hallucinogenic effects which reciprocated with one's Life Power, making it more powerful than usual drugs.
It was called an advanced drug as it was only consumed by people who had full control of their Life Power. For common people, they would die if they consumed even one gram of the drug. Even those who had full control of their Life Power would need to be careful with the addictive nature of the drug as it would cause severe damage to their brain and organs. If people on iron-level were to take the drug more than three times, the damage caused to the body would be irreversible. There would be a high possibility of organ failure which would then lead to death or severe brain damage. Even for those who had higher combat strength or defensive abilities would be addicted as soon as they took it more than twice and there would be no way for them to quit the drug. Left unattended, these people would eventually die.
Lin Huang looked at an image of the complete crystal. It looked exactly the same as the one that the head examiner showed them earlier.
"So the head examiner was talking about this drug..." He suddenly realized that the assessment was not as simple as he expected. He then proceeded to read about 'weed'. Aside from the introduction to the drug, there were many cases of deaths that were caused by the drug which included the deaths of some gold-level members. Their deaths were devastating.
Lin Huang frowned as he finished reading all the cases. He was not frowning because of the disgusting images and videos of the cases. Instead, he felt that the value of the information was not worth the price he had paid. However, he found the information that he wanted when he reached the end of the list of cases.
The creator of weed was a pharmaceutical lecturer at a hunter college. After resigning from the college, he managed to create an empire of his own within a couple of years. His empire was called Hiesen Castle, and one of its division was located in Beixian City. The information that Lin Huang bought from the black market had complete details about the castle and the personal information of the pharmacist, the information of his empire seemed to be complete.
"No wonder this piece of information is so expensive, there were three transcendents who endorsed this Hiesen Castle. It was comparable to the more common royal families. The division alone had two gold-level guardians and more than 30 silver-level people in it..." Lin Huang finally realized how valuable this information was.
"The weed available on the market is in powder form, it seems like the only place I will be able to get the crystal form of the drug is from Heisen Castle. That would mean, to be able to pass the assessment, the only way is to steal it from Heisen Castle. However, looking at the number of guardians they have, it's not easy." Looking at the difficulty of the assessment, Lin Huang thought in his mind that he would be able to count the number of participants who would be able to pass the assessment.
"As expected, we were being tested on our ability to source for information but obtaining the drug is an odd requirement as the task itself is way too complex," Lin Huang frowned, "This is quite impossible to be achieved alone by most of the bronze-level participants unless it's a group effort... Could this assessment be testing our ability to work together?" Lin Huang suddenly thought of a possibility.
After spending some time thinking and considering the possible intentions of the examiners, Lin Huang shook his head and put the idea aside. He summoned his Alexandrian Eagle and headed to Heisen Castle. There were many people who owned flying mounts in B-grade footholds. Although an Alexandrian Eagle was rare, it did not attract much attention. Within a couple of minutes, Lin Huang arrived near Heisen Castle.
He landed on the branch of a big tree and recalled the Alexandrian Eagle. He then leaped into the air and his body shot down to the ground like an arrow. As he got closer to the ground, he diverted his drop to the branches close by. To reduce his momentum, he caught hold of a branch and started swinging from branch to branch. Around 10 minutes later, he stopped swinging and leaped onto a branch as he realized that he was at a dead end. Before him was an ancient castle and it looked like it had been around for a long time. There was a huge red metal door in the middle of the castle walls, with two security towers on each side. Lin Huang could see there were guards walking around the security towers. Upon closer observation, he saw a Warning Bug sitting on top of each tower.
A Warning Bug was an insect that was very sensitive to the environment surrounding it. It had incredible vision and as soon as it noticed unfamiliar creatures entering the area it was protecting, the insect would emit a loud chirp that sounded like a siren. After a certain amount of training, an insect like this could be used as a perimeter alarm. If Lin Huang had not used Boundless Visionbefore sneaking in, he might not have noticed the presence of the two warning bugs.
The rock wall surrounding the castle was more than 30 meters high. It would not have been easy to leap over that height, even for a gold-level hunter. Lin Huang ducked low on a branch and hid behind a thicket of leaves. He watched the castle through the gaps. It would not have been difficult for him to sneak into the castle as soon as he transformed himself into Specter. However, it would have been more dangerous to reveal himself during the day so he decided to carry out his mission at night.
Just when Lin Huang was planning to get some rest, he felt someone was watching him. He quickly turned around and shouted, "Who's there?"
Suddenly, a girl dropped from a tree not far away from him. She looked like she was about 15 or 16. Her hair had gold highlights which she tied up in a ponytail. She wore a pink long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She smiled and sighed. She then raised her arms in submission and said, "Alright, you found me."
She looked like one of the participants of the assessment. Although she seemed harmless, Lin Huang did not let his guard down. Since she was here before him, it meant she was the person who was at the black market an hour earlier than he was. She could be one of the members of the underworld.
"Who are you?" Lin Huang asked to confirm what he already knew.
"I am just like you, of course, just one of the participants in this assessment. Who else would you think I am?" The girl in the ponytail said as she approached Lin Huang as she stepped over a few branches to close the gap between them. She stopped when she was on a branch right across him.
"How did you find out about this place?" Lin Huang asked.
"From the black market of course. Aren't you here for the same reason? How else would anyone know what 'Weed' meant?" The girl in ponytail rolled her eyes and continued, "Since you got the information from the black market, then you should know that there are two gold-level guardians and more than 30 silver-level guardians in this castle. It won't work if we just barge in. Would you like to work together?"
"You arrived 40 minutes after me. Although you're obviously dumber than me, I'll say that you're not as bad, compared to those idiots who are digging in the weeds. It would be a wise choice that'll work in your favor if you teamed up with me," the girl in ponytail said as she looked at Lin Huang. He did not say a word in reply her suggestion which annoyed her. Frustrated, she said again, "Hey, this is the first time I've taken the initiative to invite someone to join my team, what does your silence mean?"
"How do we work together?" Lin Huang was not interested in working together as he already had the ability to sneak out the item on his own. However, if the girl proceeded to pester him, it might affect his plan later that night.
"It's simple, I will sneak in and get the item while you distract them. As soon as I'm out with the item, we will meet again. You will get 30% while I get 70% for the weeds." The girl in a ponytail was out of her own mind, he thought. "70% of 5,000 pieces of crystals would be 3,500 pieces. I keep one to myself and sell the rest at 100 Life Crystals each, I would make 350,000 Life Crystals from that..."
"Have fun." Lin Huang said and turned around in an attempt to leave.
"Hey! then what do you have in mind?" The girl in ponytail shouted at him.
"Change it up. I'll go in while you distract them, you get 30% and I'll get 70%." Lin Huang turned around and countered her offer with a smile.
"I'm a girl, and you're using me to distract them? Do I get only 30%? If you were in my position, would you really want that?" The girl in ponytail said in anger.
"Of course I won't mind if I'm in your position," Lin Huang smirked.
"You bully!" The girl in ponytail stomped her feet. Leaves rained down as the tree shook wildly. Lin Huang checked to see if their cover was blown. The sentries on the towers seem unphased by the disturbance.
"To each, his and her own then. Bye!" Lin Huang said and leaped up high, away from the girl.
"Damn, you'll pay for this!" The girl shouted after him, furiously.
After getting rid of the girl in the ponytail, Lin Huang sat down on a branch while waiting for the night to come. What he did not know was after he left, the girl in ponytail summoned a white wolf with a Monster Taming Token and headed to the Hunter Association...
Chapter 163: Trouble is Here
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A crowd gathered at the entrance of the Hunter Association looking at a piece of white paper on the right side of the door. A girl in ponytail stood outside the crowd and smirked.
"Lin Huang, it took me quite awhile to find your name on the list. How dare you decline my offer to work together. Now, you'll have to pay the price!"
The piece of white paper on the right side of the door had a bunch of words written in a graceful handwriting. The handwriting wrote, "The weed that was mentioned in the assessment tip is an advanced drug called ZC. All of you can find a portion of the information about the drug on the Heart Network. Such a drug is only available in a powder form on the market and only the manufacturer has the black crystal, its crystal form. The empire that manufactures the drug is called Heisen Castle, a strong empire endorsed by three transcendents. There's a division of in Beixian City. The division is located in a jungle in the south of the city. It's in a castle and you can find the exact location on the map.
However, Heisen Castle was invaded by one of the participants. His name is Lin Huang, he had stolen all the drugs. He told me that if any of you wants to pass the assessment, you would have to purchase the drug from him at 1,000 Life Crystals each..."
A picture of Lin Huang taken during the registration was attached at the bottom of the handwriting, it was enlarged to the size of the paper.
"How dare he ask for 1,000 Life Crystals from each of us! There are a total of 5,000 weed crystals, wouldn't he be making five million from that?!"
"This is too much!"
"We can still considering paying him if the price is reasonable, but the price he is asking is just ridiculous!"
Many were furious when they read what had been written on the piece of paper. Some of them began to browse the Heart Network to see if the news was true. Soon, they found an image of the ZC crystal and confirmed that it was exactly the same one that was shown to them by the head examiner earlier. They also found some information about Heisen Castle and confirmed that they were the manufacturer of the drug.
Since the information shown on the network was true, many began to believe that Lin Huang really did steal the drugs. An uproar broke out within the crowd and they asked to see Lin Huang. Since the writing on the paper revealed Lin Huang's location - a jungle south of the city, many headed to the jungle via the monster car. They wanted to get Lin Huang to give them the weed crystals.
"Lin Huang? Isn't that the kid who was not even iron-level? If that's really him, I'll teach him a lesson!" Bai Yan who was wearing a red coat frowned as he read the messages on the paper. He remembered seeing Lin Huang a couple of months ago, the Imperial Censor who was finding fault with him. Because of Lin Huang, he was accused of being a coward on the Heart Network.
After mumbling to himself, Bai Yan summoned a Crimson Eagle and headed to the jungle in the south while the rest was admiring him. The girl in ponytail disappeared too. Lin Huang who was in the jungle in the south of Beixuan City was not aware of the events that had happened at the Hunter Association.
It was almost noon, he was relaxing while eating snacks that he bought online while waiting for the night to come patiently. Suddenly, he heard flapping above his head. Lin Huang then activated Boundless Vision as he looked up.
"A Crimson Eagle?!" Lin Huang recognized the Crimson Eagle immediately as the one he saw when he bumped into Bai Yan, the eagle was now a silver-level.
"Bai Yan had found this place too?"
Lin Huang found it strange, he did not expect Bai Yan to find this place that quick as he had only been here for less than half an hour. Theoretically, it should take quite some time for Bai Yan to get information on the drug.
"Come out, Lin Huang!" Bai Yan shouted from the sky. Fortunately, there was quite a distance between him and the ancient castle. Lin Huang was worried that the girl in the ponytail would look for him again, which was why he went two to three kilometers into the jungle. Otherwise, the people in the ancient castle would definitely hear Bai Yan.
"He's here for me?" Lin Huang frowned. He did not expect Bai Yan to come for him instead of the castle.
"Bai Yan, are you crazy?!" Lin Huang stood up from the branch and glared at Bai Yan who was flying in the air. Bai Yan patted his Crimson Eagle as it landed slowly on the ground. He then recalled the Crimson Eagle and looked at Lin Huang who was on a branch, "Lin Huang, I can't believe it's really you. Because of you, I was criticized by the netizens that called me a coward for running away. I will teach you a lesson today and take a video of this. I shall show everyone who is the real coward!"
"You're crazy! Maybe you're just a lunatic." Lin Huang stared at Bai Yan from above, "So you're here for me just because people are calling you a coward? Did I accept any interview requests from the media and badmouth you?"
"You..." Bai Yan did not know how to react to Lin Huang's reply. He then recalled that it was two other people who revealed what had happened to the media and not Lin Huang. Lin Huang did not participate in any interviews by any media, nor did he badmouth Bai Yan. He had no comeback for Lin Huang's reply.
"However, I think what they said was right because you really are a coward!" Lin Huang proceeded to reply when he saw Bai Yan unable to reply.
"Damn it!" Bai Yan hated being called a coward.
"Since you don't have a comeback for me. Would you like to fight me instead?" Lin Huang laughed, "Now that I think about it, why did you choose to run away the other day? Were you really scared that you would die? Aren't they right to call you a coward?"
Veins were bulging on Bai Yan's forehead because he did not have anything to rebut Lin Huang with.
"Also, the time you ran away was not the only proof of you being a coward." Lin Huang smirked.
"What do you mean by that?! Lin Huang, if we don't talk things out today, I'll kill you. I don't care if I'm blacklisted by the Hunter Association, I'll kill you!!!" Bai Yan was so furious that he was shaking.
"Alright then. Since you want to know, I'll tell you." Lin Huang was proud.
"Half a year ago, you were given the priority to join the association as a hunter, there was no need for you to join the Reserve Hunter assessment like everybody else did. However, you decided to join anyway. As for the reason you joined? Perhaps it was really like what you said. You wanted to test where your ability stands. That's not it! You just wanted to show off that you were more powerful than the rest of us.
"Right now, you've joined the Regular Hunter assessment with the same purpose - to show off that you're more powerful than all of us."
"What's wrong with that?! I really am more powerful than all of you. What gives you the right to call me a coward?" Bai Yan still had no idea what Lin Huang really wanted to say.
"Have you realized that you've been comparing yourself to people who are weaker than you? You enjoy showing off your strength before the weak to make yourself feel content. That's the reason why you've been participating in assessments unnecessarily."
"If I were you, I would spend the time you took to participate in assessments in my training so I can strengthen myself instead of wasting my time on unnecessary assessments."
"Real power comes when one is brave enough to face the risk before them. They are those who dare to challenge someone who is more powerful than them to break through their personal barriers... Unlike you, who have already placed yourself in your comfort zone while you show off to people who are weaker so you feel superior."
"You're afraid to challenge people who are more powerful than you. This is why you've been joining unnecessary assessments again and again instead of challenging those who're on the same level with you or those who're stronger such as Copper Hunters. You're afraid that you will lose so you put all your attention in winning your fights with the weak."
"Tell me, are you not a coward for your fear of a real challenge?!" What Lin Huang said made Bai Yan speechless.
Bai Yan did not realize that he had such issue himself, all he knew was that he loved surprising the weak. He had never looked at this issue on a deeper level. What Lin Huang said had made him realize his real fear - avoiding real challenges. He had nothing to say.
Bai Yan was furious. Although what Lin Huang said was right, his pride could not take it. He did not want to admit that Lin Huang was right. The bronze-level ring on his hand transformed into a spear. He pointed the spear at Lin Huang who stood on the branch, "Lin Huang, we shall forget about everything that has happened between us after this battle. I won't be looking for trouble with you anymore. To prevent you from a humiliating defeat, I won't summon any of my monsters. Please try to ... Withstand my attacks without losing too fast since the difference of ability between your mouth and your actual combat abilities is like the distance between heaven and earth."
Lin Huang smirked when he heard what Bai Yan said. The bronze-level ring on his hand transformed into a sword. He then leaped from the branch and dove towards Bai Yan like an eagle attacking a rabbit. A red flash flashed through the air like a meteor in the night sky, so fast that Bai Yan was shocked. He managed to avoid the slash just as Lin Huang dove towards him.
"Such speed..." Bai Yan exclaimed. The spear on his hand was sliced into half by the slash and there was a light stain of blood on his neck. Feeling pain from his wound, he touched his neck and saw the blood on his finger, realizing that he was wounded. He was in total shock, "How did this happen? Why are you so powerful?" It finally dawned upon Bai Yan that Lin Huang could kill him with that slash. Another centimeter deeper and his neck would have definitely got cut off.
"This is what I've achieved during the past six months. While you wasted your time on useless things like this, I have been strengthening myself." Lin Huang explained.
"It was you who said that we will forget whatever things that had happened between us once this battle ended. I hope you'll keep your promise and stop bugging me." Lin Huang said and walked away.
"Wait!" Bai Yan shouted and stopped Lin Huang from leaving.
Chapter 164: Lin Huang The Actor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang frowned as he heard Bai Yan speaking behind him. The reason he did not kill Bai Yan was that nobody was allowed to kill any of the participants during the assessment or else they would be blacklisted. However, if Bai Yan disturbed him again, he thought about killing Bai Yan in an untraceable way.
"Is there anything else that you'd like to say?" Lin Huang stopped walking and asked in an unfriendly manner.
"I just want to warn you that the news of you stealing all the drugs from the Heisen Castle has been leaked. Many of the participants are on their way here to get the drugs from you." Bai Yan reminded him.
"I stole the drugs from the castle?" Where did you hear this from?" Lin Huang was speechless.
"Somebody posted a note on the entrance of the Hunter Association, I heard it was done by a girl." Looking at Lin Huang's reaction, Bai Yan began doubting the news that he read.
"That b*tch!" Lin Huang knew what happened when he heard it was done by a girl. The only person he knew that he had met was the blond girl with a ponytail. He then asked Bai Yan, "How many people knew about this?"
"Everyone should know about this." Bai Yan said and could not help but to ask, "Is this not true?"
"Of course it isn't! I haven't even stolen them yet!" Lin Huang shouted.
After Bai Yan left, Lin Huang knew that it was not the end. He did not expect the girl would do something like this.
"Crazy b*itch, what was she thinking? We only have a total of 48 hours, if she misled everyone like that, they would waste most of their time on me. Although she could get in my way, there's no benefit for her if she did something like this. Moreover, if more people were in this jungle, it would be difficult for me to obtain the drug if the people in castle noticed the crowd." Lin Huang could not understand why the girl would do this. If it was merely because he rejected her offer to team up with him, it would be quite childish.
About 20 minutes later, a crowd rushed into the jungle south of Beixuan City. They have been deceived by the girl in the ponytail, having come here for Lin Huang. However, Lin Huang had used a Specific Transformation Card and transformed himself into the Specter and went underground to head to the castle. As there would be an uproar when the crowd arrived, Lin Huang was forced to start his mission earlier than he had planned.
Lin Huang passed through the entrance unground the castle. There was a roofless courtyard inside the castle and the main hall was further in. When he arrived on the first floor, Lin Huang went into the wall and strolled around the entire floor. Aside from a couple of silver-level humans on watch duty, there was nothing else.
Then, he went to the second floor by going through the ceiling and found nothing as well. The same happened for the third and fourth floor, there was no sight of weed at all. When he arrived on the fifth floor, Lin Huang finally found something. There were many staff members in white uniform working on something and there was a massive amount of chemicals as well as a complete production line. Pieces of black crystals were made on the production line and were put into a box. Lin Huang watched from the wall, the box was quite small, seemingly only being able to fit 100 pieces of weed in each box. The boxes were wrapped up later on.
After watching the entire production process, Lin Huang noticed that aside from the staff in white uniform, the number of guards were most concentrated on this floor. Aside from one gold-level rank-3 human, there were also 10 silver-level rank-3 humans. Before he got his hand on the weed, Lin Huang did not want to attract any attention. He proceeded to the sixth floor and a stroll, Lin Huang found a warehouse that was filled with hundreds of boxes of the weed crystals.
It was what Lin Huang had been looking for. However, there was a gold-level rank-3 human at the entrance as well as two silver-level humans. There were also five to six silver-level humans walking around the floor. The gold-level rank-3 human seemed to be watching some sort of video on the Heart Network, he was laughing occasionally. As the network page was semitransparent, he was facing the direction where the boxers were placed.
"From this angle, he would definitely notice me stealing the boxes." Lin Huang frowned as he looked at the surveillance cameras around the room, "This is an issue as well. If the cameras detect my presence, the alarm would go off and people would know there is a break in. By then, they may keep the boxes in their storage rings and my mission would fail."
Since Lin Huang had yet to find the control room, he left the warehouse and proceeded to the seventh floor and finally found the control room. There were three silver-level guards in there. After observing them for a while, he decided on what his actions would be and summoned Bai behind the three silver-level guards. Before they could even react, their heads were chopped off by Bai'sBlood Spirit wings which transformed into a blade.
Seeing the headless bodies on the chairs, Lin Huang then recalled Bai and went back to the sixth floor. Fearless, Lin Huang stored all hundreds of boxes of weeds in the warehouse into his storage space while he was in his Specter Form. Just as Lin Huang was storing the boxes, the gold-level human noticed something was wrong. He then stopped watching the video immediately and noticed that the weed had disappeared.
Just as he was figuring out what happened, Bai appeared behind him but was too late for him to reach for anything. Bai covered his mouth with a hand that was transformed from his Blood Spirit wing while his other wings transformed into a sharp spike that pierced his heart from his back. He died a while later, the two silver-level humans did not notice anything at all.
Lin Huang then transformed back into his human form. He walked out from the room with Bai with his two Blood Spirit wings transformed into spikes, piercing through the temples of the two guards at the door. Bai then transformed his other two Blood Spirit wings into vines and sliced through their waist. Although Bai was also silver-level rank 3, he was a monster that had mutated twice. He was similar to a human genius with abilities that were a level higher than most people. A common silver-level rank-3 human was nothing to him.
After the sixth floor was cleared, Lin Huang followed closely behind Bai to the fifth floor. Since nobody knew what they had done earlier, many were shocked when they saw the both of them. It was only then that they realized that the castle had been invaded. Lin Huang then summoned Charcoal and the Ghastly Clown. He did not summon Tyrant as it was too big, there was no space for it to unleash its power.
Just when the gold-level human got ready to attack, he fell into the Ghastly Clown's trap and could not move. In the midst of all that, Charcoal released its dragonflame and killed all the uniformed staff members, including the silver-level humans while Bai took their lives like the grim reaper. In the 10 seconds that the gold-level human was trapped, the people on the entire floor had been slaughtered by the three monsters.
The gold-level human looked at Lin Huang and knew Lin Huang was the mastermind behind all this.
"Kid, do you know what you are doing? We have three transcendents in Heisen Castle, if you destroy the division, the headquarter would definitely get the transcendents to kill you!"
"They wouldn't know that this was done by me." Lin Huang smiled and instructed the three monsters, "Kill him!"
Although the gold-level rank-3 human was powerful, Bai was no less powerful than him. Within a minute, he was killed by the three monsters. After the fifth floor was cleared, Lin Huang did not destroy the manufacturing machine because he wanted the people from the Union Government to take it. After some hesitation, Lin Huang placed 50 boxes of the weed crystals next to the production line.
With his three monsters, he proceeded to kill everyone on the fourth floor. Even the security guards on the security towers killed themselves under the Ghastly Clown's control. After everyone was killed, Lin Huang went back to the seventh floor and got Charcoal to destroy the control room with its dragonflame. He proceeded to get Charcoal to destroy all the surveillance cameras in the castle.
When Lin Huang recalled the three monsters and walked out of the hall on the first floor, the two Warning Bugs sounded the alarm almost at the same time. The volume was more than 10 times louder than the alarms on earth. Lin Huang ignored the alarms and used a Specific Transformation Card and went underground when he arrived at the door.
He transformed back into his human form when he found a place without any people in the jungle. Many started running to the castle as smoke was coming out of it. Lin Huang followed them as well. Many were hesitating, considering if they should hide in the jungle but they started running after Lin Huang as they recognized his face from the notice posted on the door of the Hunter Association.
Lin Huang ran along like the rest and entered the castle with its wide-open doors. Seeing the dead bodies on the ground, many were in shock and forgot about their purpose here which was Lin Huang.
"What happened?" Someone asked.
"I think there was a massacre here." Lin Huang said while glaring at the girl in the ponytail who got him into trouble.
"Let's look around, they should have the weed crystals that we are looking for."
"Didn't you steal all the weed crystal?" Somebody asked.
"I'm only a bronze-level rank-3, do you think I could be able to steal under the watch of two gold-level humans and a bunch of silver-level humans?" Lin Huang said while glaring at the person who asked the question. He then pointed at the girl in the ponytail, "All of you were cheated by this girl. We had some misunderstanding earlier so she set me up by releasing fake news."
Many looked at the girl in the ponytail. She did not say anything but rushed into the main hall of the castle instead. Lin Huang followed suit and pretended to look for the weed crystals like everybody else. Looking at the bloody dead bodies, many exclaimed.
"Who did this... That person must be powerful?"
Soon Lin Huang followed the girl in the ponytail and a couple of other people to the fifth floor. When they saw the boxes next to the production line, they rushed towards them almost at the same time. It was chaotic. Many of the others who heard the noise upstairs and went up. Seeing the boxes, they started fighting. The fifth floor was crowded.
Lin Huang spilled a couple of boxes on purpose to allow the black crystals to roll out of the boxes. Seeing the crystals, the people in a frenzy. After some fighting, Lin Huang managed to get more than 10 boxes while the rest got their own share. Before the rest made it to the fifth floor, all the weed crystals had been taken away. Many who were downstairs regretted not coming upstairs sooner. Some of them even started to negotiate with Lin Huang to see if they could purchase the black crystals from him...
Chapter 165: The Truth About The Second Assessment
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The 50 boxes of weed crystals that were placed by Lin Huang next to the production line as well as a couple of boxes on the product line were taken away by Lin Huang and the other six people. Lin Huang got the most while the girl in ponytail got the second most. Lin Huang finally got her name from the rest. Her name was Xia Yu.
Recalling that Xia Yu wanted to sell a single weed crystal for 100 Life Crystals, Lin Huang thought it was completely ridiculous. One Life Crystal was sufficient to purchase two to three silver-level pieces of equipment. Even if she was the only one who possessed the weed crystal, nobody would buy it from her for 100 Life Crystals unless it was a recruitment assessment for Copper Hunters. However, it was only the second round of assessment and even if they passed through the second round, the possibility of them passing the following rounds were still an unknown.
Moreover, there were seven of them who possessed the weed crystal and people would definitely compare prices. Therefore, they could not sell the crystal weeds at a high price and could only probably sell each for one for two Life Crystals. However, Lin Huang was satisfied with what he got. He had earned himself some Life Crystals and nobody knew he was the one behind the massacre.
The head examiner, Zhuo Lin was surprised when more than 5,000 of the participants showed up at the Hunter Association with a weed crystal in their hands. Soon, he heard about the massacre in Heisen Castle from some of the participants. He then reported to the management and got them to follow up with the incident.
48 hours had passed, the head examiner Zhuo Lin looked at the 5,600 people and started to speak.
"Aside from the tip that I gave in the second round of assessment, the rest of the information was fake. That includes the 5,000 black crystals that had inscriptions on it from yours truly. It was to prevent all of you from cheating. I believe a few of you had figured out the true purpose of this mission."
"The first one would your ability to manage information. An outstanding hunter should have the ability to differentiate if a piece of information was real or fake instead of blindly believing in whatever people said, even if the person was your head examiner."
"The second would be your ability to retrieve information. There are many ways to retrieve information. The Heart Network and Hunter Forum would be the mainstream platform many used to obtain information. However, there are times where a hunter would need to rely on other ways to obtain certain information. In this assessment, there are only two people who retrieved the correct information. They are Lin Huang and Xia Yu while the rest of you failed."
"Third was the ability to work together. I chose a mission that was impossible to be done alone, it was not meant to get you killed but instead, for you to obtain the item by working together. However, due to this incident, the goal was not achieved."
"However, luck is considered to play a part in all of this. Therefore, all of you who managed to obtain a black crystal will pass the assessment..."
Many who were worried were relieved when they heard that. Many of them thought that the result of the assessment would be invalid due to the incident.
"However, it's too early for all of you to relax. This is only the second round of assessment, nobody knew how many of you would pass the following rounds." Zhuo Lin smirked.
What he said was like splashing cold water on those who were excited. Since the second round of assessment was already so difficult, many of them began to worry if they could handle the following rounds.
"I would like to inform you on behalf of the head examiner of the third round of assessment that all of you must gather at the Hunter Association at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Someone will bring all of you to the assessment point. Don't be late, you would be disqualified if you are late." After informing them about the third assessment, Zhuo Lin then knocked on the table with his walking stick, "Alright, that's all I have. You can leave now."
The 5,600 participants then left the Hunter Association. After they left, the head examiner of the first round of assessment, Xu Jinpeng appeared again.
"I thought you would only pass the two kids who retrieved the correct information." Xu Jinpeng laughed.
"I gave them 48 hours but these two kids managed to retrieve the information within two hours. They are really something. However, that doesn't mean that the rest could not retrieve the information within 48 hours." Zhuo Lin laughed as he explained.
"However, if the incident didn't happen, the passing rate would be close to zero. It's too risky that you set the mission like this." Xu Jinpeng shook his head, he disagreed with the way Zhuo Lin carried out the assessment.
"Lao Xu, it seems like you don't know me at all." Zhuo Lin laughed, "This assessment would end once the participant walked out of the black market. It's not important if they managed to find the weed. Did you really believe what I said about working together? I was once a spy, I had never worked with anyone on any missions."
"You sly fox, you are always lying." Xu Jinpeng did not expect he was cheated by Zhuo Lin.
"Alright, let's talk business. What's the situation now at Heisen Castle?" Zhuo Lin asked. Xu Jinpeng was the one who was responsible for following up on the incident. Xu Jinpeng frowned, "We can't track who did this. All of the surveillance cameras were destroyed, it was a clean cut job and the culprit can't be determined. There could be one, two or three people who did this. It could also be done by a powerful Imperial Censor who owned many summoning monsters."
"There were three possible scenarios that killed the staff. They were either sliced by a blade, burnt by flames or they probably committed suicide."
"We could only speculate that the person have mastered the sword, the fire element, and even some illusion or mind control skills."
"Could it be done by one of the participants? The time that the incident happened seems to match the hunter assessment that's going on. This is skeptical." Zhuo Lin suggested.
"You're thinking too much. Looking at the trails, the murdered killed all the silver-level humans in one hit. Even one of the gold-level rank-3 guards was killed in one hit. This means the murdered was at least gold-level rank-3. None of the participants is silver-level, how could they manage to do that? Even if any of them is an Imperial Censor, the most powerful summoning monster they could summon would be a silver-level rank-3. Both of us are gold-level rank-3, why would we be afraid of a silver-level rank-3 monster?" Xu Jinpeng shook his head and smiled.
"If I encounter a double mutated monster, I would be afraid." Zhuo Lin was silent before he responded.
"A double mutated monster? Do you think these bronze-level kids could manage to control a monster like that?" Xu Jinpeng insisted that Zhuo Lin was thinking too much.
"Alright. You didn't see how clean cut the murder scene was. The murderer must be someone who some terrifying combat skills. Even I couldn't do that."
"I must be thinking too much then..." Zhuo Lin shook his head and left the thought behind.
...
Lin Huang did not hear the conversation between Zhuo Lin and Xu Jinpeng. If he heard them conversing, he would be concerned because Zhuo Lin's estimation was very close to what exactly happened. Once the second round of assessment ended, Lin Huang thought that the difficulty of assessment was much harder than he could ever have imagined. He thought the assessment would just inspect their abilities and they would be given a pass. He did not expect there to be unpredictable traps everywhere.
Almost all of the head examiners set the assessment contents according to their own personalities, which made the assessment unpredictable. Nobody could tell how ridiculous the head examiner could be.
"Hopefully the head examiners of the following assessments would not be too eccentric. If they were the same as the head examiner in the second assessment who even lied to us, the passing rate would be rather worrying..." Lin Huang said worriedly.
Chapter 166: Mr. Fu
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On the next day, Lin Huang checked out of the hotel early in the morning. From what the head examiner said earlier, he could guess that the location of the third assessment would not be in Beixuan City. After breakfast, Lin Huang arrived at the Hunter Association near the plaza at around 7:40 a.m.
Lin Huang looked around but he did not see Bai Yan. Lin Huang was sure that Bai Yan had dismissed himself from the assessment. However, he saw Xia Y and she saw him too, but she turned her head to the other side and pretended not to see him. Lin Huang smirked, "Do you think I'd let you go just like that?..."
Soon, it was 8 a.m. Nobody was late this time, all the participants who passed the second assessment had arrived. A Demonic Crystal Spaceship landed from the sky which was puzzling because the plaza in front of the Hunter Association was not the official docking point for the spaceship. Seeing the spaceship arrive, it was clear that the spaceship was being chartered exclusively by the Hunter Association for transportation.
"The Hunter Association is so generous to the point that they would get a Demonic Crystal Spaceship to pick us up."
"This is not a common Demonic Crystal Spaceship, but the latest Red Devil from the MEA Group. Each division is only limited to 100 of these and the price of each of them is equivalent to the price of three five-star relics. There are attack and defense systems on it that are on the same level as relics. I heard that even if the spaceship encountered transcendent monsters, it would be able to defeat them." A young man who was quite knowledgeable about the Demonic Crystal Spaceship said in excitement.
A gigantic red spaceship landed on the plaza at the entrance of the Hunter Association. A short, old man with white beard walked down from the spaceship. The two head examiners, Xu Jinpeng and Zhuo Lin rushed to greet the old man, they said respectfully, "Mr. Fu."
The old man laughed and nodded.
"Why are you here, Mr. Fu?" Xu Jinpeng asked. Mr. Fu was a transcendent with many other apprentices who were also transcendents. He was a highly respected person here in Division7.
"I just bought this Red Devil, is it wrong for me to show it off a little?" Mr. Fu laughed and Xu Jinpeng did not know what to say.
Zhuo Lin jumped in and said, "Seems like you took good care of your spaceship, Mr. Fu."
"Of course, it arrived just yesterday." What Mr. Fu said made them speechless again.
The both of them did not say anything but laugh along with the old man.
"Alright, I shall stop fooling around with you guys. I just bought this spaceship but l need to use it in order for me to test it out. I heard you guys needed a spaceship so this is my chance to try it out." Mr. Fu said and looked at the participants, his gaze stopping at the direction of Lin Huang and a few other participants.
"There is some great potential here."
Xu Jinpeng and Zhuo Lin were glad to hear that, they knew that Mr. Fu had a unique observation skill which was why all his apprentices were terrifyingly powerful. Since he saw great potential here, there was bound to be some participants who were worth training by the Hunter Association.
"Alright kids, scan your identity? You should board the spaceship now!" After chatting with the two head examiners, Mr. Fu then waved to the participants. A bunch of them rushed to board the spaceship. Once all of them boarded the spaceship, Mr. Fu waved at both head examiners and returned to the spaceship.
"Please find yourselves a room, we'll only arrive at our destination tomorrow morning." Mr. Fu said to the participants and headed to the cockpit. The participants were wondering who he was.
"Who is this Mr. Fu?"
"How can he afford this Demonic Crystal Spaceship on his own? He must be a transcendent."
Aside from the speculation of Mr. Fu being a transcendent, none of them knew who Mr. Fu really was. Even a couple of young men from royal families had no idea. Lin Huang stood on the deck and watched the spaceship depart. He saw Xia Yu from the corner of his eye. She was standing at the side of the spaceship, looking down at the Beixuan City beneath them with a frown. She seemed to be troubled. Noticing that Lin Huang was watching her, she looked at his direction but Lin Huang had looked away. She then proceeded to look outside once again. Lin Huang did not care what she was thinking about as he walked towards the residential area.
Many of them were trying to get into the VIP area on the top floor but Lin Huang randomly picked a room on the second floor. The reason why he chose the second floor was simple; he did not want to share the elevator with the others. It was convenient for him to get downstairs and more importantly, it was quiet. The spaceship had outstanding soundproofing but the sound of people walking in the corridor could still be heard in the rooms.
Although the spaceship was luxurious, it was empty as there were no other crew members on board. There were no kitchenware, plates, or alcohol in the restaurant on the first floor except the equipment. The only entertainment on the spaceship was the swimming pool on the top floor which could only be used with Mr. Fu's permission.
As the sun began to set, the spaceship began descending as well and startled quite a few people.
"Please do not panic, I wanted to try out the sailing function of the spaceship at night. Just rest on the spaceship as usual. I'll send all of you to the assessment location tomorrow morning." Mr. Fu's voice was heard on the loudspeaker. The red Demonic Crystal Spaceship landed on the ocean. Usually, most Demonic Crystal Spaceships came with the ability to sail float on water or even dive.
As it began to slowly sail on the ocean, Mr. Fu grabbed a fishing rod and walked out of the cocktail and headed to the side of the spaceship with a smile. Many were concerned if they could make it to the assessment location on time because the spaceship was moving slowly. They approached Mr. Fu to confirm if they would make it and Mr. Fu waved his hand, "Don't worry, if I don't make it on time, I'll get the Hunter Association to give you your licenses immediately."
What he said reassured the participants. Mr. Fu then walked to the side of the spaceship and took up a tall chair from his storage space. There was no bait on his hook but he sat on the chair and tossed the hook into the sea. He proceeded to smoke a pipe but seemed like he was falling asleep.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang was watching the sunset on the balcony. He saw Mr. Fu fishing and used his Emperor's Heart Ring to take photos of the scenery. The pictures came out good. An old man sitting by the spaceship, fishing with an orange sun next to him. The view was quite breathtaking.
Lin Huang then returned to his room and ate some snacks. When the sun was beginning to set, he walked to the balcony again. Mr. Fu did not catch any fish but he did seem relaxed. Lin Huang thought to himself that since he had nothing to do, he might as well accompany the old man. Perhaps he could even grill the fish if the old man managed to catch one.
Lin Huang headed directly to Mr. Fu after he got to the first floor. He stopped beside Mr. Fu and asked, "Mr. Fu, do you have any more fishing rods?"
Mr. Fu looked at him in doubt and asked, "Do you know how to fish?"
"I have tried fishing before but it was a long time ago." What Lin Huang said was the truth. When he was on earth, he had a customer who loved fishing. He learned many things about fishing from him as he would occasionally fish with the customer. That was how he learned how to fish.
Mr. Fu did not say anything but passed Lin Huang a fishing rod and a tall chair like the one he was sitting on. Lin Huang took the fishing rod and noticed that there was no bait so he put his snack on the hook. He then sat on the chair and tossed the hook into the sea. Mr. Fu could see that Lin Huang really did know how to fish so he gave him a nod and continued smoking.
Soon, the bait hooked a fish!
"Not bad." Mr. Fu complimented and passed Lin Huang a net. After Lin Huang got the fish on board, he used the net to capture the fish while he took out a pail he brought from his storage space. He cut open the top of the pail and tossed the fish in. The fish was quite small at only one catty but this was definitely a good start!
After the first fish, Lin Huang was getting luckier. Within half an hour, he managed to catch more than 10 fishes and the biggest one was almost 10 catties. Meanwhile, Mr. Fu still hasn't caught one. However, he did not appear to be worried. Lin Huang, on the other hand, felt awkward.
"Mr. Fu, why don't you try using my snack as bait." Lin Huang suggested.
"Don't worry, it's about time." Mr. Fu looked at the sky, it was getting dark.
Lin Huang did not understand but did not ask further either. As the sky got darker, he noticed that was something under the water. There seemed to be a small, glowing red snake under Mr. Fu's fishing rod. Lin Huang then activatedBoundless Vision to look and he realized that it was a red snake formed completely from Life Power. It was moving beneath the waters and could not be seen clearly during the day but now that it was dark, its red glow became obvious.
"That's a terrifying mastery of Life Power... He is able to use his Life Power to create a lifeform that can move." Lin Huang suddenly realized that fishing was part of training for Mr. Fu. Suddenly, a gigantic shadow approached his bait at lightning speed. Mr. Fu smirked and a strong power pulled on his fishing rod halfway into the ocean.
"Up!"
Mr. Fu smirked and shouted, his right hand pulling up a gigantic black fish that was almost 100 meters long. The fish landed hard on the deck behind the both of them. The entire spaceship shook and many who saw what had happened were shocked.
"This is... A sea queen! A gold-level Goldenink Grouper!" Some of the people watching exclaimed in excitement.
Chapter 167: Food Hunter
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The sea king were the real kings of the ocean. Most of them resided in the deep sea with bodies longer than 10,000 meters. They were gigantic and a small population of the sea kings possessed abilities comparable to the dragonkin. The sea queens were also comparable to the sea kings. They possessed the blood of the sea kings but because their blood contained a lesser form of power, they were called sea queens instead. In the ocean, a sea queen was almost comparable to an overlord-level creature. Aside from the sea kings, they feared no one... Nothing! They possessed abilities that were superior to monsters of a similar level.
The Goldenink Grouper that Mr. Fu captured was a sea queen. Its body was at least 90 meters and it was hooked by Mr. Fu's fishing rod which was as thick as a thumb. It died after they docked at the deck of the Demonic Crystal Spaceship. Mr. Fu kept his fishing rod and exclaimed to the people, "I'm in luck today. This is my treat!"
Lin Huang put his fishing rod away and leaped down from the chair. He was attracted to the gigantic Goldenink Grouper. The fish was as black as ink, it was as if its body was covered with a layer of black metal armor. A couple of its scales were white and judging by its length, Lin Huang could tell that it was gold-level rank-3.
Although Lin Huang had seen many transcendents, he could not help but to secretly look at Mr. Fu. He was only 1.5 meters tall and always smiling. However, now that he had shown off how powerful he was, nobody would look down on him anymore.
"Boy, why don't we use the fishes that you caught as side dishes?" Mr. Fu suddenly looked at Lin Huang.
"Sure!" Lin Huang nodded immediately.
"Let's feast, please step aside."
Mr. Fu's got down and dirty with his hands. One of his hands transformed into a knife, as red Life Power shot through his arm. The knife turned into a 20-meter giant knife and he began to remove the scales from the Goldenink Grouper...
10 seconds later, the fish was completely sliced into pieces. Not only were its organs and scales removed, it was also sliced into 100 pieces.
After putting away the fish slices and fish head, Mr. Fu turned on the automatic cleaning system to clean the area surrounding the spaceship. He then tossed the pail with fishes Lin Huang caught into the air. As he threw the pail, five of his fingers transformed into red knives that glowed and just as the fishes fell back into the pail, it seemed like they were completely clean with their scales and organs removed.
Many people cheered and only Lin Huang and a few others who have mastered the sword could see that Mr. Fu had used a high-level sword skill.
"This must be at least an Epic sword skill." Lin Huang was sure.
Mr. Fu then grabbed a normal-sized wok from the air and began to season the meal with chives and ginger.
Fragrance soon filled the air and Mr. Fu tossed all the fish slices into the wok after taking it out from his storage space. The fish cubes shrunk in midair as they landed in the wok. Mr. Fu proceeded to add the 10 fishes Lin Huang caught into the wok. As he cooked, a delicious fragrance of fish lingered in the air and he poured a special sauce that he specially made into the mixture and stirred.
Lin Huang and the rest were drooling. Mr. Fu ended the show with some seasoning and it had taken him a total of half an hour to cook the fishes.
Washbasins that were used as plates were brought out. Although they were huge, each washbasin was only sufficient to contain one fish. Soon, the 100 washbasins were arranged in a row on the spaceship deck.
"I call this Big Sauced Fish Slices!" Mr. Fu then distributed the fish slices to everyone. After that, he got himself one as well. The color was a bright red and the fish slices were covered in a flavorful sauce. With the salivating fragrance coming off the fish, many of the participants began to dig in. Lin Huang took a bite as well and almost bit his own tongue off because there were no bones and the meat was as soft as tofu. It was so delicious that it tasted like the food he once had at Stable Residence.
"Mr. Fu must be a Food Hunter!" Many began to think. With only one bite, Lin Huang could feel changes happening to his Life Power. If his Life Power was not full, that one single bite of the fish would fill up his Life Power. A couple of participants in the crowd experienced an upgrade in their combat strength after eating the fish. Three of them leveled-up from bronze-level rank-1 to bronze-level rank-2 and two people leveled-up from bronze-level rank-2 to bronze-level rank-3. It was such a treat.
As Mr. Fu watched, he smiled but he did not say anything while he ate the fish silently. They finally finished eating in the middle of the night. Lin Huang's stomach was filled to the brim from eating seven to eight pieces. The rest were full as well with many of them holding their stomach while they lay down on the deck. Some even fell asleep on the deck.
Lin Huang slept in his room and when he woke up, it was already 7:30 a.m. He got up from his bed immediately and looked out the window to see if the spaceship had landed.
"Kids, it's already 7:30 a.m. You better start cleaning yourselves and get off the spaceship. We've arrived at the location of your assessment. If you don't leave by 8 a.m., don't blame me if you fail the assessment..."
Mr. Fu's deep voice was heard through the loudspeaker and woke many participants up. Many of them did not even wash their face or brush their teeth as they rushed out of the spaceship. Lin Huang looked at the time and it was only 7:30 a.m. so he took his time cleaning himself.
When he arrived at the deck, there was nobody left on the spaceship. Mr. Fu was standing next to the entrance. Lin Huang walked towards him and when he heard Lin Huang's footsteps, Mr. Fu turned around and said, "All the best, young man!"
"Okay." Lin Huang nodded, he recalled something as he was near the entrance. He stopped walking and took out the photo he took of Mr. Fu when he was fishing.
"I took a photo of you yesterday. Take it as a gift from me to you."
"That's not bad!" Mr. Fu seemed happy to see the photo, "Let me add you to my contacts."
After adding each other to their respective contact lists, Lin Huang sent the photo to Mr. Fu and left the spaceship.
Chapter 168: The Third Assessment Has Started
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Just as Lin Huang stepped out of the spaceship, he saw a row of gigantic fences, up to 100 hundred of them. A tall and big sized man stood before the fence. He had bulky muscles and was covered in a beard. He wore army pants, a black singlet and a pair of sunglasses. He looked serious because he stood there crossing his arms. He looked like the type of guy that nobody would want to mess with.
There were two staff members that wore hunter uniforms standing next to him. Lin Huang could tell that the bald man was probably the head examiner of the assessment. After Lin Huang left the spaceship, the last few people remaining got down from the spaceship after him. The spaceship then flew away and disappeared.
When it was 8 a.m., the bald man finally spoke.
"My name is Jiang Sen, I am the head examiner of the third assessment." The bald man introduced himself, "I don't appreciate bullsh*t and I also don't think of myself as the brightest man in comparison to other examiners. Therefore, this assessment will be simple."
"I believe all of you noticed the metal fence behind me. Behind the fences are long corridors which connect three monster cages. Each cage contains one silver-level rank-3 monster. Those who gets through the corridor, manages to get past the three monster cages and leave the corridor from the other end will pass this round. "
"The rules are simple. Before going into the fence, you will have to give me your Emperor's Heart Ring and storage rings. You are only allowed to keep three pieces of equipment with you and the equipment has to be iron-level or bronze-level. Nothing higher than bronze-level."
Silver-level rank-3 monsters had an advantage over bronze-level humans. A bronze-level defensive weapon would not have an impact if it was used on silver-level rank-3 monsters.
Meanwhile, bronze-level weapons had little to no effect on silver-level rank-3 monsters. If they encountered monsters with a high defense, there was nothing that they could do to attack them.
The head examiner continued speaking.
"The assessment limit will be an hour per person. If you do not pass through the exit within an hour, you fail the assessment!"
"If you spend more than half an hour in any monster cage, you fail as well!"
"Also, in this assessment, you're only allowed to go forward. There is no going back or retreating. Once you've entered the monster cafe, you're not allowed to back out from the corridor. If you step back into the corridor after entering the monster case, you will fail!"
"Lastly, I would like to remind you that there will not be any safety measures taken during this assessment. If you die in the hands of the monsters, we've been instructed to only collect your corpses."
The participants looked even more upset with each passing rule that they were told. After Jiang Sen finished his briefing, he turned to all of them.
"It's not too late to withdraw from the assessment now. I'm giving you 10 seconds to think about it.
The assessment officially starts after 10 seconds!"
"10, 9, 8..."
Some of them hesitated because they could lose their lives in this assessment. As he counted down, one person raised his hand in surrender and shouted, "I give up!"
After the first person gave up, more people were having second thoughts.
"I give up too!" A second person raised his hand up. More and more people began to leave the assessment and many of them were bronze-level rank-1 and rank-2.
When he counted down to one, there were already more than 120 participants who chose to give up.
"Alright, those who have given up, please follow the staff to the resting room." Jiang Sen nodded to the staff next to him. The staff then waved at the participants, "Those who had given up please follow me, let us not delay the assessment for the rest." There was a group that followed her.
As the people left, Jiang Sen continued to say "The silver-level rank-3 monsters are stronger than most of you. It's normal to face a monster stronger than you but an outstanding hunter won't be afraid. Instead, they'll be able to convert their fear into courage and find a way to survive in times of crisis."
"What I'm looking isn't ability alone but bravery as well. This is why I'm giving you guys a time limit for this assessment. You're only allowed to move forward. No backing out!"
"There are a total of 100 corridor entrances with the code 001 to 100. Now, you can proceed to draw from the ballot to see which corridor you get to start from." Jiang Sen said and nodded to the staff next to him.
A couple of staff brought the ballot box over and placed it on the ground. It was a black, sealed box with a hole in the middle.
"Come forward and draw the ballot." Jiang Sen nodded. Many of them rushed forward and took out a round card that was the size of a mug.
After the rest were done, Lin Huang walked slowly forward and picked a card for himself. There was a red '066' printed on the white card and a black '23' was printed on the back of the card. Lin Huang raised an eyebrow, he wanted to ask why were there two numbers but somebody else beat him to it, "Why are there two numbers? One red while the other black?"
"The red number is the corridor number that you will need to enter from. The black number at the back refers to the order of your entry."
Hearing Jiang Sen's explanation, some of them who got the number '1' turned pale. None of them knew what to expect and what kind of monsters lurked behind those corridors.
"What is there to hesitate about? There's no difference whether or not you are the first or the 50th to enter. If you fail, our staff will escort you out and you won't be able to watch other participants perform."
He added, "I would like to remind you that none of you should exchange the number that you get. If you do, I'll make sure the both of you are blacklisted and you won't be able to join any hunter assessments for three years."
"Alright, those who got the black number '1', please choose the three pieces of equipment that you would like to bring along with you. Also, do pass your Emperor's Heart Ring and storage rings over to our staff. Once you've done that, you can proceed to enter the corridor. Half an hour later, the one who has the black number '2' will enter and it's best if we maintain a few minutes gap in between participants."
Chapter 169: Monster Shed No.66
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At the 100 numbered fences, the 100 participants who picked the number '1' on the black side of the card quickly gave their Emperor's Heart Ring and storage rings to the staff. Each of them brought three bronze-level pieces of equipment with themselves. Most of the participants brought along one piece of armor and two weapons. A couple of them brought two pieces of armor and one weapon. Those who were at the back saw someone putting on two layers of armor and thought it would be a good idea since the defensive prowess of a piece of bronze-level armor was limited and would not be able to defend against the attacks of silver-level rank-3 monsters. It would work better if they had two layers of armor on or at least, that was what most of them thought.
However, when Lin Huang and some of them saw this, they shook their heads as they knew it would not work. When an equipment was in its ring form, it would not weight a thing. However, as soon as the ring was activated, the weight of the equipment would return to normal. Although the armor was made of a special material that was lighter than regular armor, putting on two pieces at the same time would decrease both speed and agility. What this round of assessment required were speed and agility.
It was impossible for most participants to defeat silver-level rank-3 monsters. In a space so small, the only thing they could do was to avoid themselves from getting attacked and leap to the side of the corridor. Such a tactic would not work if they were even one second late. Therefore, putting on two layers of armor was actually pretty stupid, though it may seem like a wise move in their perspective. Moreover, one or two bronze-level pieces of armor would not make much difference when they encountered the monster. Their armor would be like one or two pieces of paper that could be easily pierced with a knife.
Once the first batch of participants entered, the area behind the fence became crowded. Although they could not see what was happening behind the fence, they could hear the monsters roar from the outside. Within a minute, an announcement was heard from the loudspeaker, "The participant No.1 in monster shed No.62 has been disqualified! Participant No.2 can now enter." Many of them who were already nervous got even more nervous when they heard the participant getting disqualified within a minute.
About two minutes later, another announcement came from the loudspeaker.
"Participant No.1in monster shed No.13 has been disqualified! Participant No.2 can enter now." As time passed, there would be announcements coming from the loudspeaker every now and then.
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.18 has been disqualified! Participant No.2 can enter now."
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.97 has been disqualified!"
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.55 has been disqualified!"
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.43 has been disqualified!"
...
Many of them lost faith when they heard the announcements coming one after the other.
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.66 is dead! Participant No.2 can enter now."
Lin Huang raised his eyebrows because the number he picked was also No.66. Many of them were in a panic as someone actually died during the assessment! Many of them thought that the head examiner was kidding when he said there were no safety measures in this assessment. Now that somebody had actually died, they finally took what the head examiner said seriously.
After the death of a participant was announced, a staff ran out and whispered into Jiang Sen's ear. Jiang Sen nodded and looked at participant No.2 for monster shed No.66.
"What are you looking at, the assessment goes on!"
As participant No.2 walked into monster shed No.66, Jiang Sen frowned. He did not expect the monster in No.66 to go through a mutation out of nowhere. Since the difficulty of the assessment had been raised, he hesitated for a moment and wondered if he should notify the participants who had picked monster shed No.66 or if he should sweep the matter under the rug.
Just as he was hesitating, an announcement came from the loudspeaker again.
"Participant No.2 in monster shed No.66 is dead! Participant No.3 can enter now."
Many started to find it odd that there were two consecutive deaths in monster shed No.66. The monster in that particular shed was probably much stronger than the rest.
As the participant No.3 walked in, Jiang Sen shouted at him, "Alright, don't go in." The participant stopped walking and stayed where he was. Jiang Sen then took out a loudspeaker and explained, "Those who picked No.66, the first monster that we placed in the shed had just gone through a mutation which caused major upgrade in its intelligence and ability. Due to special circumstance, we shall break the rules for this time only. Those of who would like to change your number, please register with our staff here. Those who do not want to change their number, you can proceed with the assessment."
Most of the participants left the queue and rushed to the staff to change their drawn numbers, only a few which included Lin Huang remained in the queue. Lin Huang was initially No.23 but because most of them left to change their number, there were only two participants before he was scheduled to enter. He was happy because he would only need to wait for an hour to enter. The rest of them who left the queue looked at them like they were idiots.
"You think what you're doing will make you a hero?"
"You'll pay the price for being proud. It'll too late for regret if you die in there."
"Even if you manage to pass through monster shed No.66, how does that make you any different than the ones who manage to pass through other monster sheds? Is it necessary to be so persistent?"
Some of the participants who bought the weed crystal from Lin Huang shouted at him, "Lin Huang, get another number! It won't benefit you if you remain with No.66."
"Of course there's an advantage!" Lin Huang smiled at that person, "Now that the queue is shorter, I can pass the assessment at a shorter time."
What he said made them speechless. Once most of the participants left the queue for shed No.66, the queue was shortened from 55 people to five people. There were two people in front and behind Lin Huang.
Those who left the queue had to queue at the back again. Soon the assessment for monster shed No.66 began. The participant who was the first in queue walked in confidently with two weapons and a piece of armor. Lin Huang had high hopes in that participant. He was a muscular young man who seemed quite mature. Although he was also a bronze-level rank-3, he was going to break through to silver-level anytime.
As the announcements from the loudspeaker continued, the first good news was finally announced.
"Congratulations! Participant No.1 in monster shed No.37, Xia Yu had passed the third assessment!"
"That girl? Not bad, the assessment has only started for less than 20 minutes and she has already passed." Lin Huang raised an eyebrow, he decided to finish the assessment faster than Xia Yu did.
Just as everyone was cheering for the good news, they looked at Lin Huang as another announcement came from the loudspeaker.
"Participant No.11 in monster shed No.66 is dead!" Even Jiang Sen was frowning, "Nevermind, those of you who got No.66 please re-register and get another number. Stop wasting your time in the queue!"
Since the head examiner had spoken, the other four participants walked towards the staff members to draw another number but Lin Huang remained there, standing still.
"Sir, I would like to give it a try." Lin Huang said to Jiang Sen.
"Aren't you afraid that three people who went in there had all died?" Jiang Sen turned around and looked at Lin Huang.
"Silver-level monsters are not worth being afraid of." Lin Huang smiled and shook his head.
"Kid, if you're very capable and proud, it's what I'd call confident. However, if you're proud but you're not capable, that's what I'd call idiotic." Jiang Sen shot Lin Huang a deadly glare."
"I'll prove with my actions that I'm the former."
Without waiting for Jiang Sen to say anything, Lin Huang took out two modified CopperSparrow23s and a bronze-level battle sword from his Emperor's Heart Ring. He then placed all his rings into his Emperor's Heart Ring and gave it to the staff.
What he did seemed like he was digging his own grave to the others. However, some were anticipating what would happen to him.
"Can you open the door now?" Lin Huang looked at Jiang Sen.
Jiang Sen glared at Lin Huang and said to the staff, "Open the door for him!"
The door opened and Lin Huang walked in without a moment of hesitation...
Chapter 170: Can't Keep A Low Profile Any Longer
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After going into the passage to the monster shed, Lin Huang walked along the dark corridor. The walls and ceiling were cast in a silver metal. The floor was made of black metal boards and it was not hard to tell that the corridor was made for temporary use.
After walking for around 100 meters, Lin Huang had finally reached the end. He finally saw the monster cage.
It was a gigantic metal cage that was similar to a birdcage, with metal bars that were as thick as an adult thumb hanging from the top, made from a material unknown to Lin Huang. The metal bars were embedded into the black metal floor with a gap of only 20 centimeters between them so adults could not enter.
The monster cage was surrounded with green plants and seemed to be in a dense jungle. He could even see the other monster cages on both sides. It was a circular area that was 100 meters in diameter and the ground was covered in blood. However, Lin Huang did not see any dead bodies so he thought that the staff may have removed them.
After observing the environment around him, Lin Huang then looked at the monster across from him. It was a big, red bird with purple feathers on its tail and the bottom of its wings. There were a couple of golden crests on the top of its head and the bird looked rather colorful. Lin Huang could recognize that it was a bird that was similar to a parrot on earth but this was known as a Fenixplume Peacock in this world. It was an intelligent fighting bird.
Most talking peacocks could mimic sounds of other creatures but the Fenixplume Peacock was a mutated monster. It was a master in mimicking voices, being able to mimic a sound after only hearing it once. This ability was not only used for mimicking voices as it also used it to hunt for prey. For instance, it would mimic the sound of a mother beast to lure the baby beast to it or it could mimic a mating call to attract male beasts...
After spending more than three months with humans, a Fenixplume Peacock could even master a human language and understand what the words meant. To be exact, it was even smarter than most humans when it came to learning new languages. However, a Fenixplume Peacock only fed on meat. Its attacking prowess was unparalleled as its beak and claws were comparable to weapons. The defensive abilities of its feathers were also comparable to armor and it could take short-distance flights at the speed of light.
Looking at the gigantic bird, Lin Huang frowned as he knew it would not be easy for him to handle such a beast.
"Damn, boy. Are you here to dig your own grave?" The Fenixplume Peacock spoke. Its voice was husky, unfriendly and unpleasant to the ear.
"You can speak human language? It seems like you've spent some time with humans so why would you want to kill humans?" Lin Huang asked because the Fenixplume Peacock had spent some time with humans so it technically should not harbor any ill will towards humans.
"It's because human are bastards!! They deserve to die!" The Fenixplume Peacock shouted.
"Seems like you had a bad owner. It's no wonder you're hot-tempered." Lin Huang thought in his mind that perhaps the peacock must have been tortured by its human owner, which explained why it would say such things.
"Nonsense! My master is the best human in the whole wide world. He would kill humans every day to feed me the freshest human organs while waiting for me to go through a mutation. Unfortunately, I mutated today but he was not able to see it happen because he was killed by a human like you!" The Fenixplume Peacock shouted even louder this time.
"So your master was a Dark Imperial Censor. If that's the case, he deserves to die." Lin Huang knew finally knew what the backstory was when he heard what the Fenixplume Peacock had said.
There was an evil sect among the Imperial Censors called the Foulblood Imperial Censors. The Foulblood Imperial Censors would keep many human slaves and cast spells on the slaves using their own blood. They would then feed the slaves that had died from the spells to the monsters that they reared. The spell would continue to fester in the monster and after a certain level had been achieved, the monster would undergo a mutation due to the spell. If the monster was fed enough human slaves, it could even go through two mutations. That was the reason why the Union Government and Hunter Association killed them on sight because they did not want a cursed monster that had undergone two mutations to become a transcendent that could harm the world.
"How dare you!" The Fenixplume Peacock heard Lin Huang saying that its master deserved to die, it shouted again.
"Such a hot temper. It's got to be the curse..." Lin Huang thought it was a normal mutated monster and he was considering if he should keep it. Once he found out that it was owned by a Foulblood Imperial Censor, there was no need for such consideration.
"Since you're cursed, you'd do no good to the world."
Lin Huang extended his hand and called out, "Come out, Tyrant."
The gigantic Tyrant appeared before Lin Huang. Its body was so muscular that it looked like it was covered with a golden armor. There was no fat on its body and it had a perfect body that would make any woman go crazy.
Tyrant's golden eyes glared at the Fenixplume Peacock. Its feathers stood up as Tyrant glared at it as it had never felt a fear like this. It was like it had been chosen as prey by a high-level predator, it would become food on its plate at any time.
"Kill it." Lin Huang pointed at the Fenixplume Peacock. Tyrant plunged towards the Fenixplume Peacock at the speed of light to the extent that even Lin Huang could not see it moving. The Fenixplume Peacock attempted to fly to the top of the cage immediately but it was too late. Tyrant was already there with its hand on the Fenixplume Peacock's neck.
Flapping its 10-meter-wide wings, the Fenixplume Peacock was like a helpless chick before Tyrant. It struggled but the tips of its wings were pinched together by Tyrant. Then, Tyrant broke its neck with its hand and pulled off the Fenixplume Peacock's head. Purple blood splashed out from its neck all over the place.
The Fenixplume Peacock began to struggle and only stopped 10 minutes later. Looking at the purple blood on the ground, Lin Huang frowned and thought, "Looking at the color of the blood, it was definitely cursed." Although the Fenixplume Peacock had accumulated enough curses to make it go through a mutation, it did not mutate until today for some reason.
Lin Huang then recalled Tyrant and walked to the second part of the corridor across from him. An announcement came from the loudspeaker.
"The first monster in monster shed No.66 is dead! Please get the monster cage changed as soon as possible."
Hearing the announcement being made, the people outside the monster shed were shocked.
"He killed the monster?!"
"A mutated silver-level rank-3 monster! How did that kid manage to kill it!? Who is he!?!"
"He's only bronze-level rank-3, how could he kill a mutated monster above his rank. Could he be the genius of the legends?"
Even the head examiner Jiang Sen could not stay calm any longer. He looked at the surveillance camera immediately to see what exactly happened. He was shocked to see Tyrant killing the Fenixplume Peacock within seconds.
"What kind of summoning monster is that? It looks a giant but it's not the same. It kinda looks like a new mutated species. It managed to kill a mutated monster on the same level as it was. That's ridiculous!"
Jiang Sen did not know that Tyrant was a monster that had gone through two mutations as it was almost impossible for that to happen if a monster was below transcendent. He thought that Tyrant was a powerful mutated monster. However, it was because Tyrant did not show how fast and strong it really was. If they were fighting gold-level rank-3 monsters, almost anybody would be ablt to tell that it had undergone two mutations.
Lin Huang was not worried that Tyrant would reveal his ability as Tyrant was not involved in the Heisen Castle massacre earlier. Even if the Hunter Association knew that he had a mutated monster, they would not think that he was the murderer. An Imperial Censor would have to have great luck if they were able to own a monster that had undergone two mutations before they reached transcendent. It was almost impossible for them to own two or more double mutated monsters.
Lin Huang decided to reveal his abilities for the assessment because he knew he could not defeat the Fenixplume Peacock. Besides, he did that in the hopes that he would be able to gain access to more resources from the Hunter Association. As one of the largest organizations in this world, the Hunter Association owned vast amounts of information that other organizations and individuals were not privy to. No matter how powerful an ordinary person was, they would have limited access to information. Many rare materials were unavailable to trade for outsiders no matter how many Life Crystals one owned. Among all the organizations, the Hunter Association had the least amount of restrictions on their members while owning the most resources after the Union Government.
So far, the hunters that Lin Huang have met were good so joining the Hunter Association was a wise choice. After entering the second corridor, an announcement came from the loudspeaker again. Lin Huang heard it loud and clear. He smiled and shook his head, knowing that there was no way for him to keep a low profile any longer.
"Since I can't keep a low profile any longer, then I'll show them how powerful I really am. It'll be great if they'll grant me a Silver Hunter position after the assessment ended. It would be even better if I can get a residential permit to stay in an A-grade foothold!"
Chapter 171: Right In The Assh*le
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Passing through the corridor, Lin Huang arrived at the second monster cage. It was a One-Armed Ape in the cage. The One-Armed Ape was a giant. It was not called the One-Armed Ape because it only had one arm, but because one of its arms were regular sized while the other was as big as its entire body. The gigantic arm had terrifying power and monsters on the same level would die with just a single hit. However, there was a downside to the gigantic arm - it moved at a slow speed. It was the price it had to pay to obtain such power.
Most people would be scared if they saw this monster because a simple rub with its arm would spell certain death. However, Lin Huang smirked as he held the CopperSparrow23 in both of his hands and walked into the corridor. He then started to shoot at the One-Armed Ape. The ape roared in pain as it rushed towards Lin Huang with its giant arm covering its face.
Lin Huang then activated Cloud Steps without much effort and avoided the ape's attack. He turned around and shot at the ape's face while it used its giant arm to defend itself. Lin Huang smirked again and said, "Goodbye, big guy!" Lin Huang then leaped to the entrance of the third corridor with the Spectral Snowsteps movement skill. He then disappeared into the third corridor.
The One-Armed Ape groaned in anger. The weakest part of the monster was its head. As soon as it was attacked on its head, its first reaction would be to defend itself with its giant arm. However, that would mean that it would block its own vision. Lin Huang used the opportunity to run away and the entire fight took less than 10 seconds.
Soon, Lin Huang arrived at the final monster cage after passing through the third corridor. It was a Silverscale Pangolin. This monster's attack power and speed were mediocre but it was born with terrifying defensive abilities. When a silver-level rank-3 Silverscale Pangolin goes into its defensive form, it would transform into a silver ball. Even gold-level rank-1 or rank-2 monsters could do nothing to it.
The CopperSparrow23 in Lin Huang's hands fired again, he was attempting to lure the monster away from the exit. However, he did not expect the Silverscale Pangolin to not attack him but roll into a ball instead. It even rolled itself over to the exit on purpose and blocked the exit entirely.
"Are you kidding me?" Lin Huang was speechless.
He frowned and walked closer to the Silverscale Pangolin before he opened fire. It remained in its defensive mode and seemed like it intended to stay that way until Lin Huang gave up. Standing next to the Silverscale Pangolin, Lin Huang gave it a kick but it did not respond at all.
"Alright then, you're the one who forced me to do this." Lin Huang then stored the two modified guns and took out his bronze-level battle sword. He activatedBoundless Vision and walked around the Silverscale Pangolin. He stopped and grinned.
The bronze-level battle sword stabbed into a gap between its scales. The Silverscale Pangolin let out a cry and rolled to the side. As planned, Lin Huang entered the exit of the third corridor. The Silverscale Pangolin gave Lin Huang a deadly stare so he put his arms up and tossed the sword away.
"You're the one who forced me to do this. If you didn't get in my way, I wouldn't have had to stab your assh*le. I don't want this sword anymore, keep it as a souvenir."
Lin Huang then walked towards the exit. Recalling the expression on the Silverscale Pangolin's face, Lin Huang laughed. The defensive ability of a Silverscale Pangolin was stunning but it had a critical weakness. When it was rolled into its defensive form, there would be a tiny gap between its tail and body. It was hard to see with the naked eye but with the help of Boundless Vision, the gaps between the scales were magnified. With the right angle, it was not difficult to force a sharp blade into the gap. It was the Silverscale Pangolin's assh*le, a soft and delicate part of its body. The hole Lin Huang stabbed into earlier was its assh*le...
Going through the last corridor, Lin Huang was close to the end. Just as he was walking out of the exit, he heard a distinctive voice coming out of the loudspeaker.
"Congratulations participant No.23, Lin Huang who passed through monster shed No.66 and passed the third assessment!"
Within two minutes after the announcement of the first monster was killed, Lin Huang managed to finish the entire journey.
"That's quick!" Many of the participants exclaimed. Even the head examiner Jiang Sen could not help but to look at Lin Huang's performance in the second and third monster cages. He could feel the Silverscale Pangolin's pain when he saw Lin Huang's stab its assh*le.
"This is isn't just a powerful Imperial Censor. He actually has a good understanding of all monsters' habits and weaknesses! His mentality and ability are considered to be close to that of a genius. I must recommend him to the management." Jiang Sen nodded in satisfaction. After downloading the complete video clip of Lin Huang's performance, Jiang Sen wrote a short report and sent it to the Hunter Association of the Division7's headquarter together with the video clips.
In reality, not many people knew that aside from the recruitment of Copper Hunters through the annual assessment of the Hunter Association, there was a secret evaluation. All head examiners could recommend participants that they deemed fit individually to the headquarter. Each head examiner would a quota of three recommendations in each assessment. If any of the recommended participants were selected, the particular head examiner would be given a luxurious reward.
Aside from managing the assessment, the responsibility of a head examiner was also to source for talents for the Hunter Association. However, not many participants could pass the evaluation. There were around 180 assessment points in the entire Division7 with five head examiners each. With two assessment annually and three recommendation from each head examiner, the Hunter Association would receive more than 5,000 recommendations in Division7 alone. However, there would be less than 10 people who could pass and it was usually only four to five people who would pass the evaluation.
When the list arrived at the headquarter, the respective managers would go through the list for a preliminary review. After that, the documents would be given to the other managers for a review. After the review was over, the managers would conduct a meeting with each other for a final review. Once the final review was over, an application for intensive training would be carried out. Once a participant arrived at this stage, they were considered to be a member of the intensive training group. As long as the participant was not involved in the underworld, they would remain eligible for the intensive training group.
After Lin Huang's name was sent, he passed the preliminary review and review. As the managers were all transcendents, they could tell that Tyrant was a double mutated monster with one glance. Theoretically, an Imperial Censor who owned a double mutated monster would worth the resources that went into intensive training. Soon they arrived at the final review.
The manager who was responsible for the review gathered the 12 managers of the Division7. Besides Xu Tianyu, the rest who presented at the meeting were all holograms.
"Lao Xu, we have been busy with the assessment these past few days. Do you have a recommendation for anyone who had passed your review?" A lady whose age could not be estimated chuckled.
"I think so. That could be the only reason." A hunk nodded in all seriousness.
Xu Tianyu sat on the president's seat and smiled at everyone, "That's right, we have a recommendation here. I can't decide for myself, so I thought I'd ask for your opinions."
Xu Tianyu then played the video clip of Lin Huang during the assessment. Everyone was silent after watching the video.
"Is this it? Are there more videos?" An old man with a white beard and hair bun asked.
"There's none at the moment, the kid only revealed his ability as an Imperial Censor this one time." Xu Tianyu shook his head. "The summoning monster looked like a giant but it's obviously a new type of monster that had gone through two mutations. Aside from its immense strength, it hasn't shown any other abilities that are more powerful."
"How about the Imperial Censor himself? Are there any videos of him in the combat?" Somebody asked.
Xu Tianyu nodded and played the two video clips of Lin Huang that were taken in the following monster cages.
"His mentality isn't bad, movement skills as well. From his sword skill, I can see that he has the standard of a beginner gunmaster. He seems to know monsters well. However, that's one quality that all Imperial Censors should have. As a whole, he is considered a common genius, there's nothing else to shout about." The old man in hairpin commented.
"I wouldn't agree to list him into the intensive training group based on this double mutated monster that has no room for improvement."
"Although this double mutated monster is a new type of monster, what it had shown was merely its strength. It's not difficult to tell that it's just a strength-based monster, something similar to a giant. Even if such a monster manages to become a transcendent, its intelligence would be stunted. Among all the transcendent monsters, this belongs to the weakest kind. If it's similar a double mutated monster who possessed the ability to control people like what we read in the earlier report, I'd definitely agree to put him into intensive training. However, from what we can see from this monster alone, it wouldn't be worth training him in the long run. It's no different from a special monster that went through one mutation. I don't agree about putting him into intensive training."
"With this monster alone, I don't see a future in him. I disagree." The lady who spoke earlier shook her head.
"I disagree!"
"I disagree!"
"I disagree!"
...
Lin Huang was rejected by everyone in the final review. Xu Tianyu nodded, "I understand, I shall turn him down then."
Chapter 172: I'm Not Interested In A Flat-Chested Girl
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang had no idea that he was being recommended to be included in the intensive training list. He had no idea that he was rejected in the final review. Walking out of the monster shed of the third assessment, a staff from the Hunter Association approached him with his Emperor's Heart Ring.
"Hi there, this is your Emperor's Heart Ring."
Lin Huang put on the Emperor's Heart Ring and turned it on to confirm if it was really his.
"Thank you, may I know when will the fourth assessment commence?"
"Based on our estimation, this assessment should take more than fifty hours so a two-day break will be given to you. The exact timing of the fourth assessment has yet to be confirmed." The staff explained.
"What is this place? Are there any hotels around here?" Since there were still two days from the next round of assessment, Lin Huang thought he would check into a hotel.
"I'm sorry, this is a level-4 wild zone, Little Devil Island. There are no hotels here, all of the participants will have to settle their own accommodation and food during these two days." The staff explained.
"This is Little Devil Island?!" Lin Huang's eyes were wide opened, his voice a pitch higher than before.
The staff did not understand what was the matter with him as he nodded in confusion
Lin Huang was being dramatic as he had chosen his Life Seed monster to level-up to silver-level before joining the assessment. Coincidentally, the Life Seed monster that he wanted was on this island.
The island was scattered with demon, undead and spiritual monsters. The Life Seed monster that Lin Huang picked was an undead monster called the Silverblade Swordfiend. The reason why he chose this monster was because the monster could obtain a skill that could evolve into a secret skill (Total Domination) after it becomes a transcendent. Before it evolves, it had a talent called Sense Circle . With Sense Circle , the user will be able to see what was happening clearly as it allowed the user to stand in a circle which would act as a sensing area.
After the talent evolves into Total Domination , the user would be able to dominate a part of the area as his own, allowing his attack to reach any part of the territory. It was a powerful attack-based secret skill. Lin Huang picked that particular monster from more than twenty silver-level Life Seed monsters, it was the secret skill that he desired the most.
"Little Devil Island..." Lin Huang's excitement only lasted for a short while, as he began to think of the practicality of the matter,
"It's a little too fast for me to level-up from iron-level to silver-level within half a year. However, since the existence of Tyrant had been revealed, people would think that obtaining a double mutated monster was just my luck since I did not show what I really have and they wouldn't think that I'm worth being trained. It doesn't matter if they knew how fast I could level-up since no one in history could break through to silver-level in half a year. Even if the Hunter Association found out, they might keep the secret for me as they would not want other organizations to take me away..."
Lin Huang had made his decision. Instead of waiting, he has decided to level-up to silver-level on the island before completing the assessment.
"Is the two-day break confirmed?" Lin Huang asked the staff immediately.
"I was thinking about killing some monsters during these two days before I come back for the assessment two days later."
"It's been confirmed. Don't worry, you can train. However, I'd suggest that you get a good rest before the assessment instead of wasting too much strength and energy so you can perform your best in the assessment." The staff nodded but he did not forget to remind him.
"I know what to do, thanks." Lin Huang said and walked hastily into the jungle.
Seeing Lin Huang walk away, Xia Yu hesitated but followed him anyway. Soon, Lin Huang found out that somebody was following him. When he landed on a branch, he turned around and activated his CopperSparrow23 as he pointed at a tree, "Show yourself, stop hiding."
"You're quite alert, aren't you?" Xia Yu walked out from the back of the tree giggling.
"Why're you following me?" Lin Huang asked in an unfriendly manner with his gun was still pointing at her.
Although she seemed harmless, Lin Huang has never underestimated her. Up to this point, Lin Huang had yet to figure out what her purpose of joining the assessment was. From her performance, she did not seem to care about the result of the assessment. Moreover, her ability was quite outstanding. He noticed it when they were fighting for the Weed Crystal earlier. Although she did not give it her all, it was not difficult to tell that bronze-level hunters could not defeat her.
"Nothing, I have nothing going on for the next two days so I thought I'd join you." Xia Yu smiled at Lin Huang.
"You should go find someone else. I don't have time for this." Lin Huang rejected her straight away. He did not want to be tailed by someone that he was not familiar with.
"Hey, at least I'm a beauty, you should be proud that I'm following you." Xia Yu crossed her arms.
"I don't need that. Also, I'm not interested in flat-chested girls. Stop following me." Lin Huang kept his gun and summoned the Alexandrian Eagle. He disappeared from Xia Yu's field of vision quick.
"Flat-chested... How dare he said I'm flat-chested..." Xia Yu was stunned by what Lin Huang said. She was furious and punched the tree next to her. The tree cracked into half.
After freeing himself from Xia Yu, Lin Huang rode on the Alexandrian Eagle and found the coordinates of the Silverblade Swordfiend. The monster only existed in two footholds on the island and there were limited numbers of them. He landed and recalled the Alexandrian Eagle. With Boundless Vision , he ran towards the foothold that had the Silverblade Swordfiend in it. He wanted to find a mutated Silverblade Swordfiend as killing it would result in a higher chance to obtain a Life Seed.
The Silverblade Swordfiend was a humanoid monster with silver armor. The inside of the armor was covered with black fog and there were two flaming eyes showing from within its helmet. It's eyes were its only weakness. Hiding 100 meters away, Lin Huang did not see any mutated ones after walking around its territory. After hesitating for a moment, he summoned the Alexandrian Eagle and headed to the second foothold.
When he arrived in the second foothold, Lin Huang stayed hundreds of meters away while browsing his selections. The Silverblade Swordfiend had a sensing area of its own, if one stepped into the area, it would start attacking. After taking a stroll, Lin Huang was disappointed that he did not see any mutated ones. However, it was at that moment that a Silverblade Swordfiend turned around and looked directly at him.
He had been discovered! Lin Huang was shocked at first, but soon he grew excited as the Silverblade Swordfiend had only one eye, a sign that it was mutated. He stood 200 meters away from the monster - 100 meters outside the Silverblade Swordfiend's sensing area. However, he was detected by the Silverblade Swordfiend. Lin Huang was sure this was the one-eyed monster that he had been looking for!
Chapter 173: One-Eyed Swordfiend
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang did not move when he realized that the One-Eyed Swordfiend had discovered his existence. However, the other Silverblade Swordfiends nearby seemed to have sensed him approaching as well and they all looked at Lin Huang's direction. He knew that the Silverblade Swordfiend had telepathic abilities, as soon as one of them discovered enemies within the sensing circle, the information would be shared with all of their comrades nearby.
Lin Huang's excitement faded as he noticed that more than 10 Silverblade Swordfiend looking at him in unison. There were more than 80 Silverblade Swordfiends in the entire foothold, all of them should know where Lin Huang's location was by now. As the One-Eyed Swordfiend made its first move, the other Silverblade Swordfiends seemed to receive an instruction to attack Lin Huang all at once. All of them ran towards the location where Lin Huang was hiding.
"I thought I could get the Ghastly Clown to lure it out. Now, it seems like the only solution is to use violence..." Lin Huang shook his head. "Come out, Tyrant!"
Tyrant appeared before Lin Huang immediately.
"Beat up those with two eyed ones and capture the one with one eye." Lin Huang instructed.
Tyrant then plunged towards the bunch of Silverblade Swordfiends surrounding them. Lin Huang was like a helpless sheep with the Silverblade Swordfiendss surrounding him; it was hard to break away from them. Tyrant punched at them with his firsts and with every punch, several Silverblade Swordfiends would be defeated, none were able to defeat Tyrant.
More than 10 Silverblade Swordfiends were defeated quickly. Although they were still alive, the armor they had on had become deformed and it would take some time for them to recover. Tyrant then aimed his attacks at the One-Eyed Swordfiend. The One-Eyed Swordfiend seemed to know that Tyrant's mutation level was higher than its own but it attacked Tyrant without fear. A long sword stabbed at Tyrant's throat. The speed was terrifying, Lin Huang could only see its shadow as it attacked.
However, the attack merely left a crack that was less than one centimeter with the thickness of a hair and Tyrant recovered from the injury in no time. When the One-Eyed Swordfiend planned to attack again, it was choked by Tyrant and was immobilized. After the One-Eyed Swordfiend was captured, Tyrant walked to Lin Huang and presented the One-Eyed Swordfiend to Lin Huang, bowing down before him. It did not let go of the One-Eyed Swordfiend, but instead, showed its head to him.
Lin Huang was surprised at its gesture, he held his head up and asked Tyrant, "You knew that its weakness was its eyes?"
Tyrant nodded.
"Do you also know that I'm killing it for my Life Seed upgrade?" Lin Huang asked again.
Tyrant nodded again.
Lin Huang realized that he had underestimated Tyrant's intelligence. He had always thought that there was no improvement in Tyrant's intelligence even after it mutated twice. However, it seemed like its intelligence was similar to Bai's. If the managers of the Hunter Association were watching this, they would be shocked.
The giants and monsters that were similar to the giants were never appreciated because even when they mutated twice, it would not affect their intelligence much. Even if they became transcendent, they would have to fight with their instincts. The most they could do were to attack with explosive strength, the growth rate of their intelligence was too low.
"Tyrant, you surprised me today!" Lin hung complimented.
Tyrant smiled so wide that its teeth were showing, Lin Huang did not know it was able to smile.
"Alright, hold it still. I'm going to kill it." Lin Huang took out the black relic battle sword from his storage space. A glow from his sword flashed in the air and the tip of the sword stabbed right into the One-Eyed Swordfiend's eye. Soon, a notification popped up.
"Congratulations, you have received a rare Monster Card - One-Eyed Swordfiend!"
Before Lin Huang could even look at the details of the card, he was covered in a white Life Light. His body was transforming. Under the bright Life Light, the color of the Life Wheels in his body was changing. It was now an extravagant silver color. From the six circles of columns, three more were added to his Life Wheel, making it nine circles now. The columns on every circle were the same as before, 360 columns. The newly added columns were empty and had no Life Power.
Within the Life Wheels, the initial six circles were filled with Life Power. The color was changing too, it was now a silver color from its original turquoise color. The four Life Wheels that were duplicated using the Life Power Storage Cards were transforming too. Once the transformation completed, a grayish black bead that was the size of a thumb dropped from the One-Eyed Swordfiend's body and drilled itself into the new silver Life Wheel in Lin Huang's body.
"New Life Seed has been identified, would you like to turn it into a card?" Xiao Hei asked.
"Yes." Lin Huang nodded. Soon, Xiao Hei spoke again.
"Life Seed has been made into a card."
Lin Huang then took a look at the new Life Seed card.
"Life Seed Card"
"Life Seed Name: Sensing Circle"
"Rarity: Rare"
"Type: Psychic"
"Talent effect: It could allow the user to stand in the circle which became the sensing area. Within the area, the user could sense what is happening crystal clear within the radius of 300 meters."
"Card Remarks: Nothing special"
Now that his Life Wheels had transformed and the new Life Seed was in hand, the entire Life Light Baptism was completed. Lin Huang looked at the Rare Monster Card that he had just obtained.
"Monster Card"
"Rarity: Rare"
"Monster Name: One-Eyed Swordfiend"
"Type of Monster: Undead Monster"
"Combat Level: Silver-level rank-3"
"Skill 1: Killer Sword (Advance)"
"Skill 2: Dark Sword"
"Skill 3: Sensing Circle"
"Summoning Limit: Activated"
"Card Remarks: Nothing special"
Noticing two skills he had never seen before, Lin Huang read the details of the skills.
" Killer Sword (Advance) : An exclusive skill of swordfiends. Great killer attack skill."
"Dark Sword: Contaminated sword. Though it would still be able to retain its original powers and speed, the contamination would enhance the sword to improve its power."
"These three skills are basically useless to me. I'm not sure what'll become of them when they're upgraded to epic-level." Lin Huang was left with two Advance Cards which was perfect to upgrade the One-Eyed Swordfiend. Just when he planned to use the advance cards, he sensed something going on within the 300 meters sensing circle.
A small-sized girl was walking towards his direction. Lin Huang frowned as he knew who it was. He kept the card in his hands immediately while recalling Tyrant. He managed to keep the One-Eyed Swordfiend's body into his storage space. Soon, the girl stopped and hid behind a tree when she was 100 meters away from him.
"You really have nothing better to do, Xia Yu." Lin Huang looked at the location that she was hiding.
"How did you find out when I'm so far away!" Xia Yu showed herself, she could sense the change to Lin Huang's aura.
"You have leveled-up to silver-level? How did you complete the Life Seed monster kill within such a short period of time?"
Lin Huang did not want to bother himself with her. Since his purpose here was complete, there was no need for him to stay. He turned around and attempted to leave.
"Hey! Although I didn't see the battle, I heard the roar of the beast from afar. If I'm not mistaken, it was your summoning monster." Xia Yu tried asking again.
"That's none of your business." Lin Huang summoned the Alexandrian Eagle. Just as he was about to ride it, Xia Yu spoke again. "Many organizations are recruiting Imperial Censor, why would you choose to join the Hunter Association?"
Hearing what she asked, Lin Huang turned around, "So, which organization do you represent?"
"What are you talking about? I don't understand." Xia Yu pretended to not know what Lin Huang was asking.
"I have no idea about your intention of participating in the assessment. However, I know very well that it's not to become a hunter. If you'd like to recruit me, aren't you supposed to let me know the name of your organization at least?" Lin Huang did not want to play games with her anymore.
"I really don't know what are you talking about. What organization name? My intention of joining the assessment is to become a hunter! What else could it be?" Xia Yu looked innocent.
"Alright then. No matter what you're here for, stop trying to pull me in. I'm not interested in joining any other organization. I don't care even if you're one of the people from the underworld or anywhere else for that matter. If you bug me again, I will not go easy on you! This is the last warning, stop following me." Lin Huang gave her a deadly stare.
Sensing that Lin Huang had the intention to kill her, Xia Yu replied, "I won't follow you then, is it necessary to be rude?"
Lin Huang rode on the Alexandrian Eagle and left. Seeing Lin Huang leaving far away, Xia Yu's innocent face turned cold. She smirked, "Interesting guy, seems like I can't play with him at the moment. I really need to get my thing going within these couple of days..."
Chapter 174: Fourth Assessment
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Lin Huang returned from the third assessment after resting for two days, his combat level had already upgraded to silver-level rank-3.
In those two days, he brought Tyrant along to kill silver-level monsters. His Life Power constantly increased, having nine of Life Power columns in all four duplicate Life Wheels overflow. However, he had only accumulated 200 columns in the ninth column of his actual Life Wheel. Lin Huang intentionally left it at this amount of Life Power, so that he would not accidentally get a Life Light Baptism from killing gold-level monsters.
The upgrade in Lin Huang's combat level resulted in the ability to summon four monsters. The Epic level cards - Bai, Tyrant, Charcoal and the clown had been automatically upgraded to gold-level rank-3 as well.
Although the Demonic Dandelion Vine was an Epic level card, its combat level still remained at silver-level rank-3. The reason why it was not upgraded was probably because it had undergone mutation in a different way in the past. Lin Huang would attempt to train the Demonic Dandelion Vine after he had completed the assessment. Parasites that had gone through two mutations were rare and useful.
For the One-Eyed Swordfiend, Lin Huang did not upgrade him after he was attacked by Xia Yu. Lin Huang was focused on killing monsters to increase the Life Power in his body and had completely forgotten about it.
Lin Huang saw hundreds of colorful tents as soon as he returned to the third assessment location. The tents were probably set up by the candidates.
A few of the staff were startled when they saw Lin Huang. Since they were also Silver Hunters, they could sense that Lin Huang had upgraded to silver-level.
"You've leveled up?" A man wearing a uniform asked. He was the staff that explained the details to Lin Huang two days ago.
Lin Huang smiled and nodded his head, "The Life Seed that I'm looking for is at the Little Devil Island. That's why I asked you about it that day."
"Congratulations! At silver-level, it's quite easy to pass the assessment." The man in uniform congratulated him.
"Thank you." Lin Huang smiled. He then asked, "The third assessment had not ended yet?"
"There are still few of them in the monster cages. I guess that the result will be released after half an hour."
"How many of them had passed the third assessment?" Lin Huang asked again.
"There are currently 481 of them." The staff told him as it was not a secret.
"There are more than 5000 candidates who joined the third assessment. Only about 480 of them passed. The passing rate is low as there were less than one-tenth of them that passed the assessment." Lin Huang sighed, shaking his head.
However, the third assessment was indeed tougher. The first two rounds did not actually evaluate the candidate's' abilities. In the third assessment, candidates had to possess actual abilities in order to pass the assessment. Although it was not a must, it would still be difficult for the bronze-level hunters to pass the assessment as the monsters in the monster cage were all silver-level rank-3.
Soon after Lin Huang had returned, people began coming out from the monster cage. Half an hour passed and eight participants came out from the corridors.
One of the staffs immediately received instruction and announced the results of the assessment.
"5541 candidates participated in the third assessment and 489 of them passed. I'll now announce the official end of the third assessment!"
"The head examiner of the fourth assessment is on her way, you can keep your tents first. Please clean up the rubbish so it won't cause pollution..."
After listening to the reminder from the staff, they immediately kept their tent and cleaned the rubbish on the floor.
Lin Huang was surprised to see that the people in this world had environmental awareness?!
At about nine o'clock in the morning, the head examiner finally arrived at the examination site, riding on a Four-Winged Dragon Condor.
Looking at the unusually good-looking Four-Winged Dragon Condor, many of the candidates were envious of him.
The Four-Winged Dragon Condor was not considered to be a sky dragon. It was only considered to be a gold-level mutated monster with a low density of dragonkin blood. If the monster was upgraded to transcendent and went through two rounds of mutation, it was possible that it could evolve and become a sky dragon. However, to many of the participants that were not even an Imperial Censor, they felt envious of the head examiner that had this monster to ride on.
Lin Huang smiled. If his Alexandrian Eagle was upgraded to gold-level, it would be as good-looking as the Four-Winged Dragon Condor.
As soon as the Four-Winged Dragon Condor landed safely on the ground, the head examiner then got off the dragon condor and quickly recalled it. She did not use a monster taming token. Obviously, she was also an Imperial Censor.
The head examiner was a woman who looked tough and was dressed in a blue suit. Her hair was cut just below ear level. Although she tried her best to look mature, one could still see that she was only 20 or even less. However, she was tall and clocked in at a height of about 1.8 meters when she was on her heels.
"My name is Mu Lan. I am the head examiner of the fourth assessment..."
Everyone was shocked when they heard her name.
"Is she the girl who ranked fourth on the Gold Hunter Leaderboard?!"
"I think it's her. I heard that Mu Lan has short hair and likes to dress in a simple uniform. She doesn't like to wear dresses."
"Aside from majoring in the sword, I've also heard that Mu Lan is an Imperial Censor."
...
When she heard everyone talking about her, Mu Lan maintained a neutral facial expression and said, "I know that many of you might have heard of my name. However, the assessment is about to start. Please don't waste your time on this. I'm the head examiner of this examination site. If anyone of you interrupts me, you'll be disqualified."
As soon as she finished her sentence, everyone became silent.
"I'll now talk about the rules for the next round of the assessment. We are now on Little Devil Island. There are demonic, undead and spiritual monsters around the level-4 wild zone. There are many gold-level monsters at the center of the island. Please try to avoid them."
"The rules are simple. You're given 15 days to kill five different silver-level monsters and bring their carcasses back. If you do that, you would have passed the assessment."
Many of them were stunned as they listened to the rules of the assessment. It was difficult enough when they had to pass the monster cage during the previous assessment. They had to hunt down the monsters in this round?!
"Hunting down monsters was possible as long as one was at silver-level rank-1 to silver-level rank-3. There's no restriction on how you kill the monsters. You can use whatever you have in your storage space. You can even buy whatever you need from our staff. However, we don't provide powerful weapons..."
At that moment, one of the candidates raised his hand.
Mu Lan then looked at him, nodding her head, "Please say."
"What's the price?" The candidate asked.
"It's the same as the market price. We don't earn extra credit points." Mu Lan explained.
After answering his question, another candidate raised his hand.
"Can we form a team to kill the monsters?"
"Yes, you can." Mu Lan nodded her head.
Lin Huang then raised his hand too.
Similarly, Mu Lan looked at him and nodded her head, "Please ask."
"Can we steal the carcasses from the others?" Lin Huang asked with a smile. Many of the candidates shifted their gazes towards him as he asked.
By asking this question, Lin Huang's intention was not to snatch their carcasses away but to sell them at a higher price.
"Yes, you can. However, you're not allowed to kill people. A murderer will be blacklisted forever." Mu Lan frowned and answered.
After answering these few questions, they did not ask any other question. Mu Lan then said, "This assessment allows you to kill monsters based on your own creativity. I gave all of you 15 days to complete this assessment by hunting down five different monsters. That being said, you'll have three days prepare yourselves before killing each of the required monsters. It can actually be killed instantly. However, you'll be given three days to collect more information about the monster like its living habits and weaknesses before you decide on a strategy to kill it. Please don't waste your time on nonsense and plan your strategy properly. It's not difficult to pass the assessment."
When she uttered that last sentence, she glanced at Lin Huang.
After explaining the rules of the assessment, Mu Lan lowered her head and looked at the time, "It is now 9.40 a.m. 15 days later, candidates that come back to me with the carcass of five different silver-level monsters before 10 a.m. will pass the assessment. Also, the carcasses have to be monsters on Little Devil Island. Using other monsters to meet the monster count will cause you to fail the assessment."
She gazed upon the crowd and since nobody raised any more questions, Mu Lan announced, "The fourth assessment starts now!"
Chapter 175: Not A Peaceful Night
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Right after the head examiner had made her announcement, many of them began looking for teammates on the spot. Killing monsters in a team would, of course, be much easier than hunting them alone.
Some of them asked Lin Huang to team up. However, Lin Huang just smiled and refused. He went into the forest alone. After walking for a short while, he then jumped into a tree.
The tree was located east of the examination site and was also the spot where most of the monsters gathered so many people would pass by this place.
Lin Huang sat leisurely on one of the tree branches, patiently waiting for the rest of them to team up.
It would be too obvious if he sold monster carcasses in front of the head examiner. If selling monster carcasses was prohibited, he would not be able to earn some extra credit points. Lin Huang then went to a place that was out of the range of her vision.
Soon, the first team came.
One of the members of the team had bought some weed from Lin Huang before. He could recognize Lin Huang. Seeing him sitting leisurely on the tree, he invited Lin Huang to join them.
"Lin Huang, it seems like you're not worried about the assessment at all. You can actually join us."
"I have killed enough monsters in the past two days. I have extra, you can look for me if you want to buy any." Lin Huang smiled proudly, "You can choose any monster that you want that's from silver-level rank-1 to silver-level rank-3."
"Is that true? All of them are monsters from Little Devil Island?" They were interested in buying some.
"Yes, of course. After the third assessment, I went hunting for monsters as I have nothing to do. I didn't know that the task to be completed in this round of the assessment would be this." As soon as Lin Huang finished his sentence, he jumped down from the tree, taking out three monster carcasses, "Here they are. I have carcasses of monsters ranked silver-level rank-1 to silver-level rank-3."
"They were indeed monsters from Little Devil Island!" They had done some research on the monster that would appear on this island. They could recognize that the carcasses were the monsters living on this island.
"How much does it cost?! How much does it cost!?" They immediately surrounded him.
"It's not that expensive. Three Life Crystals for the silver-level rank-1 carcasses, six Life Crystals for those on silver-level rank-2, and nine Life Crystals for the silver-level rank-3 carcasses." Lin Huang then told them the price.
"The price is 10 times higher than what's on the market. It's almost the same as the price of a gold-level carcass..." They immediately expressed their dissatisfaction with the prices.
"When something is scarce, it is valuable. Can you find another seller? Think about it, if you were to kill them on your own, it's a waste of time and strength and they might even hurt you. If you're unlucky, you might even encounter mutated monsters and get killed by them. It might be slightly more expensive to buy the carcasses from me. However, it saves you time and strength and it's convenient. If you were to buy the silver-level rank-1 carcasses, it'll only cost 15 Life Crystals to buy five of them. With just 15 Life Crystals, you're guaranteed to pass the fourth assessment. Why not go ahead with it?"
As Lin Huang saw that they were still hesitating, he added, "Well, there are five of you here. If all of you are going to buy the silver-level rank-1 carcasses, it'll cost 75 Life Crystals in total. Since you're my first customers, I'll give them to you at 80% of the price. You'll only need to pay 60 Life Crystals which means you'll each have to fork out 12 Life Crystals. That's the best price that I can offer. Hurry up if you want to buy them. Perhaps after today, you won't get it at this price anymore."
Few of them hesitated for a moment and the one who had bought the crystalized weed from Lin Huang in the past said, "I'll buy them from you! It's the fourth assessment. If we can pass this, there's only one more round to go. We should conserve our physical strength so that we can be more relaxed during the next round. Also, if we can become a Regular Hunter, it'll be easy to earn back the credit points."
After making his payment, Lin Huang took out various types of silver-level rank-1 carcasses while the rest of them were still hesitating. There were 17 different types.
"Here are 17 types of silver-level rank-1 carcasses. Choose any five that you like. Not many of these are left."
When the rest of them saw the carcasses and heard that not many of them left, they finally said, "I'll buy some!"
The first deal was done.
Five of them left with their carcasses. Of course, they did not complete the mission immediately or the head examiner might suspect something.
People behind them saw the five of them buying carcasses from Lin Huang so they went after him.
Lin Huang's business was growing quickly.
Many of them left when they heard that the price was 10 times higher than the market price, but many of them still chose to accept the offer.
Lin Huang sold thousands of silver-level rank-1 carcasses in just one day, earning more than 3000 Life Crystal.
The market was eventually tapped out by Lin Huang after selling so many of the monster carcasses. There were less than 500 candidates and more than 200 of them had bought the carcasses. The rest of them had either refused to buy any or had gone to some other places. Lin Huang was getting too lazy to try and profit from them.
It's late. Lin Huang then set-up his tent. "I've earned quite a satisfying amount today. I should claim the cross-ranking kill reward tomorrow. Then, it'll be time to complete the mission."
After having his dinner, he went back to his tent and read some news before he slept.
...
However, it was not a peaceful night.
Lin Ziluo was one of the candidates. It was not easy for him to pass the first three rounds. Since they had all bought five carcasses from Lin Huang during the fourth round, the team they formed earlier had disbanded.
Exploring the forest alone, he found an area where monsters were less likely to appear and set-up his tent.
"I'll rest here for the next few days in my tent. After passing the carcasses to the head examiner, I'll pass the assessment..." Lin Ziluo ate some snacks before going into the tent.
After lying in the tent for a short while, Lin Ziluo could hear a tiny squeak coming from outside the tent.
"Who are you?!" He got up, turning the weapon ring on his hand into a sword.
A long sword suddenly pierced through the tent with the tip aimed at his neck.
"Come out!" The voice of a young man was heard from outside.
Lin Ziluo slowly walked out of the tent. He then realized that he was one of the candidates.
"Eh, you're also a candidate. Why are you trying to kill me? The head examiner said we shouldn't waste time on nonsense. You should focus on hunting monsters." Lin Ziluo raised both of his hands. However, he had a gut feeling that the candidate wouldn't have the guts to kill him.
"Who's a candidate? I was never interested in joining the Hunter Association." The young man waved his left hand, letting the blade glide across Lin Ziluo's neck causing him to instantly faint.
The young man then took out a fist-sized cage and opened the top of the cage. He then put Lin Ziluo who had fainted into the cage. There were already a few people in the cage and they had all fainted.
Shrinking it down and wearing it cage around his waist, the young man left quickly.
When Lin Ziluo regained his senses, the sky had brightened.
He was shocked as he quickly checked his surroundings. He was in a big cage.
There were about 30 of them. Some of them had woken up while some of them were still in a coma.
They looked familiar as most of them seemed to be the candidates of the assessment.
"Anyone knows what's happening? Where's this place? Is this the fifth assessment?" Lin Ziluo asked one of the young men beside him.
"I just woke up too. I don't know what's happening." The young man shook his head.
"I think we were caught by the heretics..." One of the women explained, "There was a symbol of the heretics tattooed on the neck of the person that caught me last night."
"Tattoo... I saw it too..." Lin Ziluo then recalled it as he heard what the woman said. "There were three crosses. One of them was bigger while the other two were smaller. They were tattooed on the left side of his neck! It's definitely the symbol of the heretics..."
"We're doomed. The Heretic Organization is one of the strongest forces in the underworld. If we're caught alive, we might be killed and turned into human steamed buns or dumplings..." Lin Ziluo began to think of nonsense once as he knew that he was caught by the heretics.
"Eh, stop saying that. I have a strong urge to pee. I can't stand it anymore..." Another young man beside him immediately said.
"We have to inform the others to rescue us." Lin Ziluo then thought rationally and immediately opened the communication web page using his Emperor's Heart Ring.
"It's useless. This is probably a prison-like relic. The Emperor's Heart Ring has no signal here at all. We're not capable of breaking through this cage as well." The woman said again. "We can only hope that they'd notice us missing and come rescue us. The one who catches us is capable of activating this relic. That being said, he's also at least gold-level. Only the head examiner can defeat him..."
"The head examiner gave us 15 days to complete the assessment. Since they've already caught us, I believe that they'd have their ways to escape this island in a short period of time. We'd have probably left Little Devil Island before the head examiner even notices this. Then, no matter how powerful Mu Lan is, there's no way we can be rescued." Lin Ziluo analyzed the situation and said.
After listening to what Lin Ziluo said, everyone kept quiet, looking forward for the worst
Chapter 176: Encountering The Heretics
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was a sunny morning on Little Devil Island. Although the name of the island was unpleasant, there were many monsters wandering around and it was lush with plants. The air in the morning was filled with the fresh fragrance of flowers. Lin Huang woke up at seven, stretched his body as he walked out of the tent and as he took a deep breath, he exclaimed, "The air is so fresh!"
After cleaning himself and snacks as his breakfast, Lin Huang kept his tent and summoned the Viridian Wolf. Riding on the Viridian Wolf, Lin Huang headed to the center of the island. He did not summon the Alexandrian Eagle as the island was not that big anyway. With the Viridian Wolf's speed, he could arrive at his destination in half an hour. Since he had just woke up, he wanted to warm himself up by killing some monsters along the way.
After riding more than 20 kilometers in the jungle, all the monsters that he encountered along the way were easily killed using his sword. The Viridian Wolf did not even need to decrease its speed at all. Suddenly, he patted the Viridian Wolf's back and it stopped running immediately. The silver ring on Lin Huang's right middle finger was transformed into a modified SilverPhoenix16 and he held the gun in his right hand; it was the gun that he traded from the Purple Crows using his accumulated points in the past.
He recalled the Viridian Wolf, turned around and shouted at the tree behind him, "Who is that?!"
With the sensing circle, nothing within the radius of 300 meters could escape Lin Huang. He could sense that there was someone following him since a while ago. Although the sensing circle did not allow him to see the person's face, he could sense the person's height and body size. Lin Huang was sure that it was not Xia Yu.
"You are the only one who could tell that I'm following you." A muscular young man revealed himself. Lin Huang could tell that he was one of the participants who passed the third round of assessment. However, the man did not conceal his aura. Lin Huang could sense that the man was much stronger than he was.
After checking him out, Lin Huang noticed that there were three cross tattoos on the left side of his neck.
"Are you one of the heretics?"
"That's right." The strong young man nodded. "I know your name, Lin Huang. You are the most outstanding one in the assessment. You managed to kill a mutated silver-level rank-3 monster when you were only a bronze-level rank-3. You probably have a powerful summoning monster. Am I right?"
"Since you already know that I do, aren't you afraid that I'll summon my monster and kill you? I'm already silver-level now." Lin Huang smiled.
"Of course I am not afraid. Although you have concealed your aura, you are only a silver-level rank-1. You must have only leveled-up during the past two or three days. No matter how much Life Crystals you have, you won't be able to go to silver-level rank-2 in such a short period of time. Which probably means that the strongest summoning monster that you have would only be a gold-level rank-3. I am already gold-level rank-3." Although the muscular man seemed confident, he did not attack Lin Huang. He seemed to be afraid of Lin Huang's summoning monster.
"So? Are you here to kill me or recruit me?" Lin Huang asked.
"Of course I'm here for the latter. We heretics are always the peacemakers." The muscular man laughed.
"If I reject your recruitment offer, you would definitely kill me. Isn't that what the underworld organizations always do? Do you think that's a peaceful solution?" Lin Huang said in a sarcastic tone.
"No, we don't do that. We like to capture those who reject us and work on their minds until they become one of us." The man shook his head and laughed.
"So you mean brainwashing? You're really different from the rest..." Lin Huang was speechless. "Why me?"
"It's not only you. All the kids who passed the third assessment in this area are our targets. You're the 36th person. From the progress, I believe me and my partner can capture all the targets before noon so that the Hunter Association would get nothing!" The man laughed.
"So you let the Hunter Association do the grunt work while you reap the harvest?" Lin Huang finally understood what the man was thinking, "However, there are less than 500 people who passed the third assessment. Even if you captured all of us, that would do little to your organization. Unless..."
The man's tone suddenly became serious, "Boy, you're asking too many questions."
Suddenly, he launched his attack by attempting to catch Lin Huang with his hands that had claws on them.
"Tyrant!"
Tyrant then appeared before Lin Huang and punched the man.
"Go away!" The man shouted, his held his fist tight and punched hard in Tyrant's fist. Both of their fists collided and an intense wave was generated from their fists colliding, causing dust to fly everywhere.
Even Lin Huang who was standing behind Tyrant covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. Then, a bang was heard and the man flew 10 trees away and fell to the ground while Tyrant remained standing. Lin Huang was stunned at how powerful Tyrant's punch was. He knew very well that if he was punched like that, he would have died after crashing into the trees. However, since the man was higher leveled than Lin Huang, perhaps he would not die so easily.
"Tyrant, see if he's dead. If he's isn't, don't kill him, I need to talk to him." Lin Huang said to Tyrant. Tyrant nodded and walked towards the man. A few moments later, Tyrant came back with the man and placed the man on the ground. He was dying, the golden armor on him was destroyed by Tyrant's punch. If it was not for the layer of protection, he would have died instantly.
However, he might not be able to live long anyway.
"You're not silver-level rank-1..." The man looked at Lin Huang in hatred.
"I never said that I was. It was you who assumed it." Lin Huang shook his head.
"An Imperial Censor who has a double mutated summoning monster and also happens to be a genius... You are worth dying to..." The man said and vomited blood.
It was obvious that his organs were damaged from Tyrant's punch earlier. He would not live any longer.
"I have a question for you." Lin Huang squat down.
"I won't tell you anything, don't waste your time." The man looked away instead of looking at Lin Huang."
"You have no say in that." Lin Huang said as he summoned the Ghastly Clown.
"Isn't this clown the one who appeared in Daxi City earlier?" The man knew about the appearance of the Ghastly Clown clown in Daxi City, he was shocked to see it with Lin Huang, "Who are you?!"
"Clown, control him." Lin Huang frowned, he did not expect the man to recognize the clown.
A mask was formed in the clown's hand. After putting the mask on, the clown's face was transformed into the man's face.
"Are there more assessment locations that have been invaded? How many of them have been invaded?" Lin Huang asked the questions in his mind.
"Among the 180 locations in Division7, we have invaded 63 of them."
"What is your intention? Is it really to take away all the talents?" Lin Huang asked again.
"Yes, to cultivate them into members of our organization."
"How did you guys get into the assessment?" Lin Huang could guess the answer to this question but he was not sure.
"We have spies in the Hunter Association who helped us with our IDs in the assessment location. Our aura was sealed by an immortal-level human and there are also experts who helped us cover our organization tattoo and other marks that might reveal our identity."
"How many of you are here in this location, what are their abilities?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask.
"There are a total of 11 of us, one holy fire-level transcendent and 10 gold-level rank-3 hunters.
Lin Huang was shocked at the answer, he did not expect a holy fire-level transcendent to participate in this. The head examiners of the assessment were only gold-level, even Mu Lan who ranked No.4 on the Gold Hunter leaderboard might not be able to fight a holy fire-level transcendent.
"Does the same apply to the other locations?"
"Yes, it's always led by one holy fire-level manager with a team of 10 to 12 gold-level rank-3 hunters.
After hearing what he had to say, Lin Huang was sure that the Hunter Association was at a loss.
"Where do you guys keep the participants that you manage to capture?" Lin Huang was wondering about that.
"In the dark pseudo-prison. The dark pseudo-prison is a one-time relic that imitates the five-star relic, the dark prison. It can capture creatures who had lost their consciousness but once the creatures were released, it would disappear. All of us have one of them with us when we go on this mission."
From what the man explained, Lin Huang could tell that the man would make someone unconscious and place them into the dark pseudo-prison. He then noticed that there was a black cage on the man's waist, he thought it was an odd accessory. Picking up the cage, Lin Huang asked, "Is this the dark pseudo-prison that you're talking about? How do I release the people in there?"
"Yes, there's a spiral Life Pattern on the cage. All you'll need to do is to insert your Life Power and follow the pattern three times."
"When you've completed your mission, how do you leave the assessment location?" Lin Huang could guess the answer as well but he wanted to know more.
"The leader would use a one-time dimensional portal and meet us at...." The man vomited blood again and started to cough. Lin Huang looked at the Ghastly Clown next to him, the clown shook its head. Lin Huang knew that there was no way that he could ask further.
After coughing vigorously, the man spat out a mouthful of blood and died. The mask on the Ghastly Clown's face disappeared.
"Sigh, I almost got their meeting point and time..." Lin Huang shook his head and sighed.
Chapter 177: Reporting To The Management
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang did not expect that he would encounter such a thing when he participated in the assessment. The heretics were one of the most powerful organizations in the underworld. For this mission, they have sent out more than 60 transcendents and more than 600 gold-level rank-3 hunters. It was crazy. Since the establishment of the Hunter Association hundreds of years ago, they had never encountered anything like this. What the heretics were doing was completely out of anybody's expectation.
"Seems like I need to inform the head examiner so she can contact the management and send transcendents here as soon as possible!" Lin Huang kept the corpse of the muscular young man as he summoned the Alexandrian Eagle to head to the assessment location.
A couple of minutes later, Lin Huang arrived at the assessment location. The head examiner Mu Lan frowned as she saw him. Lin Huang leaped from the Alexandrian Eagle and walked towards Mu Lan after recalling his monster.
"Only participants who had completed the assessment can be here. You're breaking the rules." One staff said to Lin Huang.
Lin Huang took out the muscular young man's corpse out and looked at the head examiner Mu Lan, "My name is Lin Huang and I'm one of the participants in the assessment. This man is a spy for the heretics. There is a holy fire-level heretic transcendent hunter and 10 gold-level rank-3 hunters that have infiltrated the assessment. We're not the only ones. There are 63 assessment locations in Division7 are invaded."
Everyone was shocked when they heard what Lin Huang said.
"How did you know about this?" Mu Lan asked in doubt.
"I managed to ask this man before he died." Lin Huang said and took out the dark pseudo-prison. "This is their purpose, they're here to bring the participants back to brainwash them. The participants are kept in this relic."
Mu Lan took a step and next, she appeared next to Lin Huang, "Dark pseudo-prison?! This belongs to the heretics." She recognized the relic at first glance.
"You can have it. I don't have enough Life Power to release the people." Lin Huang then passed the fist-sized black cage to Mu Lan.
"Follow the pattern and use your Life Power to trace the inscription three times."
Mu Lan took the dark pseudo-prison and looked at Lin Huang, "How do I know that what you've said is the truth? From what I know, the heretics would never reveal anything about their mission."
"I have my ways and I'm sure that the information that I got is the truth." Lin Huang explained to her vaguely.
Mu Lan did not ask further as everybody had their own secret so it was normal for Lin Huang to keep his. Following Lin Huang's instruction, Mu Lan managed to open the dark pseudo-prison and released all the captured participants. The one-time relic then disappeared.
Seeing Mu Lan appear before them, a bunch of participants approached her and talked at the same time.
"Please send one person to explain what had happened. As for the rest of you, do not interrupt!" Mu Lan frowned. The participants were silent. Lin Ziluo was pushed out from the crowd and he gave the complete account of what had happened to them which matched what Lin Huang said.
"Alright, noted. The assessment is going to be put on hold for now, please report to the staff. After you're done, stay with the staff and don't walk around." Mu Lan said and briefed the staff.
"Please report to the management as soon as you can. They have transcendent leaders, we can't fight them. Also, the mission will end by noon and they will leave using a dimensional relic. If we want to save all the participants, we have to move fast!" Lin Huang said immediately after the information was confirmed.
Mu Lan looked at him with a complex expression before she contacted someone. After reporting everything that Lin Huang said, she hung up the phone. She looked worried, "The transcendent will take half an hour to arrive here while the other assessment locations would start their own investigations. That being said, there's bad news from the headquarters... They told me that members of the heretics would usually inform their leaders about their progress every half an hour. Now that you had killed the man when the leader did not get any response from him, he would know that something had happened to the man."
Lin Huang frowned, if the leader knew that their mission was compromised, he would possibly leave with the rest earlier. It would be difficult for them to get the participants back if that happened. After some silence, Lin Huang spoke again, "If that's the case, we have to move even faster! If we can't fight the transcendent leader, we can kill the rest first and rescue all the participants."
"Could you really fight those gold-level rank-3 hunters?" Mu Lan asked. If Lin Huang had shown his true ability, Mu Lan would not have to ask that.
"Shouldn't be a problem to fight those hunters who are below transcendent." Lin Huang nodded.
"Alright then, let's split up." Mu Lan nodded and turned around to order one of the staff, "Please get all the coordinates of the participants on the island."
"Do you think the heretics should have changed their Emperor's Heart Rings before the assessment? Can we still locate them?" Lin Huang asked.
"It's doable. Within the assessment period, the head examiner had the ability to triangulate their coordinates. As long as they did not throw their Emperor's Heart Rings away, we can track their locations even if their rings were placed in their storage space." Mu Lan explained.
The staff got all the participant coordinates quickly. On the maps, there were only more than 100 yellow dots left. These were the coordinates of the participants that they managed to locate. Mu Lan frowned and scanned her identity code to access the coordinates.
Then, the map was refreshed. There were a couple of red dots that appeared on the map. The red dots were the locations of the Emperor's Heart Rings that were kept in the storage space. Lin Huang frowned as he had yet to get rid of his old Emperor's Heart Ring, it seemed like keeping it with him would be unsafe. It would mean trouble if the Purple Crow managed to locate him using the same method.
"Lin Huang, please add his contact details to your ring. He'll send you a map." Mu Lan said and briefed a couple of the staff members, "Please keep your map activated at all times. If you close it after I leave, you'll need my authorization again and Lin Huang would not be able to see the red dots on the map anymore." The staff nodded. Lin Huang added his contact number to their rings and got the map from them.
"I will start from the east. You take the west." Mu Lan said to Lin Huang and left with her Four-Winged Dragon Condor. Lin Huang summoned Alexandrian Eagle and headed to the west.
Chapter 178: You've Got Beautiful Eyes
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang had finally located the first coordinate of the red dots on the map in the forest west of the assessment location.
Although the red dot was moving quickly, it was impossible for it to move faster than the Alexandrian Eagle.
The Alexandrian Eagle quickly flew towards the man. Lin Huang then recalled his eagle and blocked the man's way.
"Haha, a little brat that comes to me all by himself..." The man looked at Lin Huang and teased.
Lin Huang sized up the man. He was not tall and was rather skinny with pale skin and he looked around 20 years old.
"Are you one of the heretics?"
The young man squinted his eyes as he heard this. "Who are you?"
"I think so." Despite avoiding the question, Lin Huang could still confirm his identity. He extended his hand and summoned Tyrant before commanding, "Kill him!"
The young man immediately became alert when he saw Tyrant. Two of the gold weapon rings were instantly transformed into two short blades.
Right after Tyrant had received his orders, he thrust forward and struck a blow at the young man.
The next moment, Tyrant's quickly sped up his blow and a loud sound was heard from the sky.
The young man failed to avoid the attack. He lifted his hand and placed both of the short blades in front of his chest.
"Bang!"
There was a loud explosion and the young man was blown away. Both of the short blades he was holding onto flew away.
The young man died after crashing into several huge trees.
"Congratulations, you've obtained a Rare Skill Card - Hundred Flowing Blades'."
Once the notification window popped up, Lin Huang could confirm that the man had died without even going near him.
He did not check the information of the new Skill Card that he had just obtained. Lin Huang instructed Tyrant to collect the corpse and he took both gold-level short blades that had flown away just now. The blades were still functioning well.
After keeping the corpse and the short blades in storage, Lin Huang took out his Emperor's Heart Ring and after staring at the ring for a moment, Lin Huang then threw it at Tyrant's feet and commanded, "Crush it." Tyrant then stepped on the ring and it was instantly broken into pieces.
Lin Huang recalled Tyrant and summoned the Alexandrian Eagle once again and headed towards the second red dot closest to their location on the map.
...
Division7, Hunter Association Headquarters .
Mu Lan's information had spread quickly to Xu Tianyu who was the executive officer of the assessment. He then gathered the other executive officers.
In the meeting room, 11 holograms of the executives appeared.
"Old Xu, why are you calling for an urgent meeting? Are you going to talk about the locations for the intensive training again?" One of the executives teased.
"No, it has nothing to do with the locations for the intensive training. One of the head examiners informed me that her examination site was being attacked by the heretics. She said that through a trial, they've discovered that the heretics have sneaked into 63 examination sites in Division7. They're looking for candidates that have passed our assessment. They will then brainwash them and train them as new members of the Heretic Organization. Among the 63 examination sites, each of them now has a holy fire-level heretic as the leader of the team and 10 Gold-level hunters." Xu Tianyu then reported the information he had to the others.
"I guess it is just a rumor. The heretics have been keeping a low profile all these years. Why would they suddenly do this? Moreover, there are more than 180 examination sites in Division7. If they sneaked into 63 of them, that would mean that we've heretics sneaking into a third of our assessment sites. Do you really think this could happen?!" The executive that teased Xu Tianyu earlier immediately shook his head and refuted in disapproval.
"Tianyu, are you sure she mentioned the heretics?" The old man frowned and asked.
"Yes." Xu Tianyu nodded his head, "Li Lao, why do you ask?"
"A few days ago, Mr. Fu called me. We discussed the assessment. He then reminded me to be aware of the heretics or any other forces. I thought it was just a gentle reminder and did not bother so much." The old man then told him what happened a few days ago.
"Li Lao, is it Mr. Fu from the Union Government?" Xu Tianyu immediately asked while the rest of them shifted their gazes towards Li Lao.
"Other than him, are there any other Mr. Fu's in Division7?" Li Lao glanced at Xu Tianyu.
"If Mr. Fu was the one who reminded you, could it be true? Who told you about this?" A middle-aged woman immediately asked.
"A female head examiner told me about this. I'm not sure who she was. I'll ask them regarding this matter."
"Let's listen to the recording of the call when she informed you about this." Li Lao suggested.
Xu Tianyu nodded his head and played the recording.
After listening to the recording, a woman said, "If I'm not mistaken, that should be Mu Lan's voice. I've met her twice. She's quite good and wouldn't report to you without evidence."
"Is Mu Lan the girl who's ranked fourth on the Gold Hunter Leaderboard?" Many of the executive officers had heard her name before.
"Yes, it must be her. Old Xu, please confirm again." The woman told Xu Tianyu.
After a moment, Xu Tianyu nodded his head, "It's confirmed that the information was provided by Mu Lan."
"It seems that there's indeed something wrong with the assessment." Li Lao and the other executive officers had a serious expression on their faces.
"We can't set up an interdimensional blockade now. Otherwise, the heretics would notice it. They'll escape the interdimensional blockade and leave through the dimensional portal before the holy fire rescuers arrive."
"We can't make an official announcement to inform the candidates either as there are heretics among them. We can only inform the head examiners so that they can figure out ways to delay them. It would be best to rescue them without notifying the holy fire heretics."
"We can't stop the assessment. We have to carry on with it. Otherwise, the heretics might notice our actions..."
"Now, we're going to ask our holy fire-level transcendent hunters to go to the nearest assessment site to them. Upon their arrival, only then will we ask them to stop the assessment and set up an interdimensional blockade!"
12 of the executive officers quickly came up with a solution and informed the other assessment sites about it...
...
In less than half an hour, Lin Huang killed three heretics continuously.
Just as Lin Huang was getting closer to the fourth red dot, Lin Huang could sense that the opponent was a girl. He activated Boundless Vision and looked through the gaps between the branches and leaves. Lin Huang was stunned when he saw her from the side.
"She's with the heretics!" Lin Huang saw Xia Yu.
While Lin Huang was startled from his discovery, she seemed to have sensed Lin Huang looking at her and she looked in his direction. She grinned and suddenly disappeared.
"Are you looking for me?" A voice was heard behind Lin Huang.
Lin Huang was taken aback as Xia Yu appeared without him noticing. She was less than 10 meters away from him. However, Lin Huang's sensing circle did not respond to her. This indicated that Xia Yu's had the combat ability of a holy fire transcendent. She must be the transcendent leader of the heretics' operation.
"Oh, I just passed by and I sensed that there was a person moving over there. I didn't know that it was you." Lin Huang's heart sank but he did not show it on his face. "I'm going to continue with my monster hunt. You can continue playing."
"Lin Huang, do you really like the Hunter Association so much? Privileges are only given to the geniuses involved in intensive training while other organizations treat everyone equally. Training resources should only be able to be obtained by hunting down monsters or completing a task with their own two hands."
"Although you are talented, don't ever think about getting a place in intensive training from the Hunter Association. Each year, there are limited slots for intensive training in Division7. Spots are usually given to the geniuses that are capable of killing enemies that are one level above them." Apparently, Xia Yu did not know that Lin Huang himself had killed a silver-level rank-3 monster during the third assessment. Otherwise, she would not have mentioned this.
"I've told you that I'm not interested in joining you regardless of what organization you're from. You don't need to waste your time on me. I believe there are many other talented people out there. You can look other people." Lin Huang then turned his back to her when he was about to leave.
"We have found many of them and most of them had agreed to join us." Xia Yu laughed as he heard what Lin Huang said.
"Oh, congratulations." Lin Huang then summoned the Alexandrian Eagle.
"You have asked me before which organization I'm from right? Don't you want to know now?" Xia Yu asked with a smile.
"It is best to avoid trouble whenever possible. I'm not interested any longer." Lin Huang shook his head and rode off on the Alexandrian Eagle.
"What if I insisted on you joining our organization?" Xia Yu tilted her head and asked.
"Bye." Lin Huang patted the Alexandrian Eagle. Fluttering its wings, it flew up to the sky in an instant.
Lin Huang was relieved after he acted stupidly just now. Just as he thought that he had managed to escape, a hand suddenly patted his shoulder.
Lin Huang was frightened. When he turned back, he saw Xia Yu stabilizing herself, standing on the Alexandrian Eagle' back.
"Eh, do you really hate me so much?" Xia Yu crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"When did you come on?!" Lin Huang was startled.
"I followed after you when you took off." Xia Yu said proudly.
"What do you want from me?" Lin Huang was helpless.
"As long as you promise to join us, I'll not bother you anymore." Xia Yu was not giving up.
"What do you like about me? Can I change it to something else?"
"You've got beautiful eyes. If you can give it to me, I'd consider giving up." Xia Yu was simply being unreasonable and Lin Huang was speechless.
At that moment, the communication page of Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring suddenly popped up and rang. It was an unknown number.
"Eh, your Emperor's Heart Ring rang. Aren't you going to answer the call?" Xia Yu asked.
"No. It must be those direct sale calls." Lin Huang shook his head because it was likely Mu Lan's number. Xia Yu was right behind him. If he answered the call, she would have found out.
He directly ended the call. Lin Huang was trying to figure out a way to settle this matter. However, after a short while, the communication page popped up again.
"It's the same number. You should just answer the call." Xia Yu suggested.
"No." Just as Lin Huang was about to end the call, Xia Yu moved a tad bit faster than him and answered the video call.
Mu Lan's face was instantly projected before them. She then said, "Lin Huang, why are your coordinates on the same location as the red dot? Both of you are heading towards the same direction at a fast speed..."
Chapter 179: Mu Lan vs Xia Yu
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Once Mu Lan finished speaking, she noticed that there was a girl behind Lin Huang, bending down her body, staring at the projection suspiciously.
"Damn! I'm doomed!" Lin Huang's facial expression changed abruptly and he quickly closed the communication page. He then communicated with the Alexandrian Eagle telepathically.
Flapping hard, it turned a few rounds in the air and attempted to get rid of Xia Yu.
However, Xia Yu's legs seemed to have deeply rooted itself in the eagle's back as she was standing firmly on it even when it struggled. Even if the Alexandrian Eagle was to hang upside down in the air, Xia Yu's legs would never leave the eagle's body.
Lin Huang was the one who had to bend his body down a hug the eagle tightly. He grabbed its feather tightly as he almost fell.
"So all this while, you actually know my identity but you acted ignorantly?" Xia Yu stared at Lin Huang expressionlessly.
"No, I just found out." Lin Huang told her the truth since he knew he could not get rid of her. "I went after the red dot on the map which showed where members of the Heretic Organization was located and you were there."
"How much do you know about us?" Xia Yu's face was very serious.
"Almost everything." Lin Hung felt that there was nothing he could hide anymore.
"Has the woman informed Hunter Association about this?" Xia Yu continued asking.
Although Lin Huang had immediately closed the communication page, he knew who she was referring to.
"Yes, you're right. The operation was uncovered. The Hunter Association would send transcendents to get this settled." Lin Huang nodded his head and said, "You should stop now!"
"In this case, I'll bring you back with me." Xia Yu extended her arms, about to catch him after she finished her sentence.
However, Lin Huang quickly recalled the Alexandrian Eagle before she had even finished her sentence. They both fell in mid-air and Xia Yu's attack missed him.
Just as he was about to reach the ground, he summoned the Alexandrian Eagle again and flew up into the sky.
The Alexandrian Eagle flew up into to the sky but Xia Yu began chasing after them again shortly after.
Xia Yu had a cold, stony expression on her face as she grinned at them. Her voice was clearly heard by Lin Huang, "Do you know that the more you try to fight against me, the more determined I am to bring you back to the heretics?"
"You're such a crazy woman!" Lin Huang scolded her, instructing the Alexandrian Eagle, "Go down!"
The Alexandrian Eagle tucked in its wings and landed on the ground.
"There's no way you can escape!" Xia Yu's voice was heard again. She did not give up the chase, seemingly holding a grudge against Lin Huang.
Before he landed on the ground, the Alexandrian Eagle flapped its wings again and glided through the air.
"Slow down!"
Lin Huang saw a big tree not far away. He leaped towards the tree and used both legs to step on the branches.
He then bounced from branch to branch and fled.
"Do you think that you'll manage to escape just by going into the forest?" Again, Xia Yu's voice was suddenly heard behind him.
When he saw the open space in front of him, he sped up, jumping down from tree branches to land in the open space. He then stopped.
"Why aren't you escaping anymore?" Xia Yu was still floating in mid-air, not touching the ground because she was worried that there were traps on the ground.
"The Alexandrian Eagle can't fly faster than you and I can't run away from you in the forest. Trying to escape is a waste of strength." Lin Huang shrugged his shoulder.
"So are you going to give up and leave with me?" Xia Yu grinned. She was even more interested in Lin Huang after chasing after him.
"Of course not. I won't be influenced so easily." Lin Huang shook his head, "Since I can't run away from you, let's fight!"
"You want to fight me?" Xia Yu laughed when she heard what Lin Huang said. "Do you know my combat level?"
"I know you're a holy fire transcendent." Lin Huang nodded his head.
"Yes, you're right about that. However, I'm not holy fire-level rank-1. I'm a holy fire-level rank-2 instead and I'm about to achieve holy fire-level rank-3. Even if you could summon a gold-level rank-3 mutated monster, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself against me." Xia Yu grinned when she revealed her actual combat level to him.
Lin Huang had heard about the five colors in the holy fire-level before. After the Life Fire was ignited, each change in the Life Fire color would result in significant improvements in combat level. Those who were on holy fire-level rank-3 could instantly kill creatures on holy fire-level rank-1. Even those who were on holy fire-level rank-2 were much stronger than those on holy fire-level rank-1. It was indeed not exaggerating to say that Xia Yu could kill the gold-level rank-3 mutated monster in an instant.
Lin Huang wanted to summon Tyrant so that he could delay her a little. However, listening to what Xia Yu told him, he hesitated for a while.
At that moment, a screeching sound was heard and a large bird flew towards them.
"Mu Lan?!" Lin Huang could immediately recognize the Four-Winged Dragon Condor.
Xia Yu raised her head as well and looked at the Four-Winged Dragon Condor. She definitely knew who the monster belonged to.
The Four-Winged Dragon Condor flapped its wings and landed on the ground, stirring up a gust of dust.
Mu Lan jumped down from the Four-Winged Dragon Condor and recalled it. She then looked at Lin Huang and asked, "Are you okay?"
"You nearly killed me..." What Lin Huang said was the truth. He might still be hanging in mid-air, attempting to delay her a little while longer if it was not because of her. He would not have had to escape so clumsily.
"I'm sorry. She was right behind you and I didn't notice her at first. I only knew that there was a person behind you right after she bent down her body ..." Mu Lan immediately apologized.
"Hi, head examiner. How are you?" Xia Yu looked at Mu Lan with a smile.
"You're the leader of the heretics?" Mu Lan frowned and looked at Xia Yu as she could not really remember seeing her.
"You're right." Xia Yu smiled as she looked at Mu Lan. "Mu Lan is the daughter of the Mu royal family. You're 17 years old with gold-level rank-3 combat level. You major in the sword and you're an Imperial Censor. You are currently ranked fourth on the Gold Hunter Leaderboard. I can't believe that you came to me by yourself. If I can capture you, this operation won't be considered a failure."
"Then let's see if you're capable of doing so!" Despite facing a transcendent opponent, she showed no fear on her face. She was holding a blue sword relic in her hand.
"You're holding a 5-Star Sea Chasm Sword relic. The Mu family is investing a lot in you. No wonder you're not even afraid of me even though you know fair well that I'm a transcendent." Xia Yu could immediately identify the long sword in Mu Lan's hand.
"I've killed three holy fire transcendents using this sword." Mu Lan said coldly.
"It's a good sword. However, you can't change the fact that you're gold-level rank-3. Regardless of how powerful your relic is, you won't be able to fully utilize it." Xia Yu grinned as she said this and a huge black sickle appeared in her hand.
"So big..." Lin Huang sighed as he saw the weapon that looked like Death's Sickle. The size of the sickle did not match Xia Yu's body size. Xia Yu's was about 1.6 meters tall in height but the length of her sickle was approximately two meters.
"I'll show you the true force of a relic when a holy fire transcendent wields it." As soon as she finished her sentence, she turned the large sickle around and grabbed the end of the sword. She seemed to use the sickle with ease.
Her sickle released a beam of black light that caused a stir, distorting the air around it as it flew by.
Although the beam of black light seemed to be moving slowly, Lin Huang could tell that it was not the case because it appeared in front of Mu Lan in an instant.
Xia Yu had apparently excluded Lin Huang from the battle as she believed that Lin Huang would definitely die if her attack hit him as he was only a silver-level hunter. In addition, she was not afraid that Lin Huang would run away as she needed only about two minutes to defeat the daughter of the Mu family. She could catch Lin Huang after that.
Of course, Mu Lan was not going to let this happen.
She did not avoid her attacks at all, unsheathing the sword relic in her hand without a moment's hesitation. A beam of blue light streaked across the sky that resembled a blue comet racing across the sky.
Soon, the tip of her blue sword hit Xia Yu's black sickle.
A loud bang was heard when both weapons touched one another. It was not the sound you would usually hear when weapons collided. It sounded more like two immensely powerful forces crashing together.
After a short while, the glow from the black sickle disappeared. Mu Lan's body then swayed a little and the blue glow appeared again, like a fiery beam that moved towards Xia Yu.
Xia Yu's pupils rapidly dilated, as she put on a serious expression.
She brandished her large sickle again and part of her blades disappeared. The moment it reappeared, it was already touching the tip of Mu Lan's sword.
A loud explosive noise was then heard.
Mu Lan who was hanging in mid-air was blown away and retreated about 10 meters away.
"No wonder you dared to challenge me. It's unbelievable that the Mu family had taught you The Sword Immortal's Path!" Xia Yu retreated a few meters away too.
"I didn't expect this from you too. As far as I know, Trials of Death is a combat skill that the heretics would only teach the saints. No wonder you're already holy fire-level rank-2 although you're still so young. If you didn't use this skill, I would still think that you're a old woman that behaves like an underage girl." Mu Lan could confirm her identity after the fight.
"Humph, you're not qualified to call me an old aunty. I should be the one addressing you in that way!" Xia Yu was angry.
"So you're admitting that you have stunted growth?" Mu Lan purposely said that with her head held high.
"Damn, old woman!" Xia Yu seemed to be particularly sensitive to this topic. She then waved the sickle in her hand and the blade disappeared again.
Mu Lan stabbed her sword into the ground abruptly and a loud clang was heard. Mu Lan then leaped up in the air, retreating back to a tree not far away. She stepped on the tree trunk and her body disappeared in an instant.
The next moment when she appeared, the tip of the blade and Xia Yu's sickle hit against each other.
"No wonder you could defend against my attacks easily. You're wearing the Revolution Armor which is a 4-Star defensive relic!" Xia Yu finally noticed that as her attacks could do no harm to Mu Lan.
"It's not too late for you to retreat now. We've killed your companion. If you insist on fighting me, you won't be able to escape later when the transcendent team arrives!" Mu Lan knew that her opponent had no way to defeat her and the attacks had no effect on Xia Yu as well.
"Humph! If I can't catch you, I will catch him!" Xia Yu then extended her arms towards Lin Huang...
Chapter 180: Please Give Me Some Respect
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang was alert when both of them were fighting to avoid any unexpected incidents.
As expected, since Xia Yu's attacks were rendered useless, she then shifted her aim back at Lin Huang.
When Xia Yu was coming for him, before she could even launch an attack, Lin Huang commanded, "Tyrant!"
The next moment, Tyrant appeared out of nowhere and stood before Lin Huang. He was completely blocked by Tyrant's large body. Xia Yu could not see a thing!
"Humph!" Xia Yu scoffed as she saw Tyrant appear. She turned the claws on her hands that were about to reach Lin Huang into her palm and slammed them against Tyrant's chest.
She thought that it would be impossible for gold-level rank-3 monsters, even those that had mutated to survive such an attack.
Tyrant retreated a few steps backward as her palm hit him. However, only cracks that looked like spider webs appeared on his chest. A strong shockwave came off Tyrant's body and hit her, causing her to retreat a few steps back too.
Xia Yu was startled and she took a look at Tyrant. The spider web-like cracks that appeared on his chest had healed quickly on its own while she was looking at it. After a few moments, the cracks had completely healed.
"He's a monster double mutated monster with impressive defensive and self-recovery abilities!" Xia Yu's eyes immediately brightened up.
Even Mu Lan who was standing right next to her was surprised, seeing Tyrant alive despite being struck by Xia Yu's attack. Mu Lan knew how powerful Xia Yu was as she had just fought her. Although she did not attack using her sickle and just used the claws on her hands, a gold-level rank-3 monster would be incapable of defending itself against such an attack.
However, aside than retreating a few steps back, the injuries to Tyrant's body had already healed itself. She instantly knew that Tyrant was a monster that had gone through two mutations.
"His defensive and self-healing abilities are indeed terrifying." Even Mu Lan was amazed by his abilities.
"Lin Huang, you really surprised me!" Xia Yu grinned and said, "Let me test and see the extent of this large creature's defensive abilities."
As soon as she finished her sentence, Xia Yu brandished her large sickle again.
At that moment, there was a beam of blue light that streaked across the sky, flying rapidly towards Xia Yu.
Xia Yu frowned and she had to defend against the attack.
The black sickle tore through the air and was about to slash at Mu Lan's body.
The large black sickle and the blue longsword then collided once again.
A sizzling sound was heard when the gold and black Life Power crashed into one another. The sound was similar to the sound of flowing electric current.
After a short while, the impact of their Life Power had reached its peak, causing an explosion.
Mu Lan retreated and landed on the ground, directing all of the forces acting on her body into the ground through her armor.
"Daughter of the Mu Family, are you sure that you're not going to give up?" Xia Yu stared at Mu Lan coldly.
"Lin Huang is a member of the Hunter Association. I won't allow you to bring him back. Furthermore, you're a transcendent. How capable are you if you're trying to bully someone who's only silver-level?" Mu Lan stood before Tyrant, having no intention whatsoever to retreat.
"Am I bullying him? I feel that Hunter Association can't provide him with the best training. Therefore, I've decided to bring him to the heretics so that he can be properly trained. I believe that he can shine with the heretics. Also, he hasn't passed the assessment yet so technically, he isn't considered to be a regular member of the Hunter Association yet." Xia Yu looked towards Tyrant's direction.
"He is indeed not a regular member yet. However, he's one of the candidates under my supervision. As the head examiner, I won't let you bring him back. In addition, the Hunter Association would definitely train talented hunters. You don't have to worry about that. I believe that Lin Huang can do well in the Hunter Association." Mu Lan then said.
"So you insist on getting in my way?" Xia Yu had a stone cold expression on her face.
"Yes, you're right." Mu Lan had no intention of retreating as she shot back a gaze at Xia Yu.
"That's good. There are some abilities that I've held back on but you've forced my hand." Xia Yu said as she put her weapon away and weaved an intricate sigil in the air.
Mu Lan's facial expression immediately changed as she turned her head around to yell at Lin Huang, "Leave! Quickly!"
"It's too late..." Lin Huang lifted his head and stared at the sky with fear.
A powerful aura spread in the air before something seemed to appear, filling the air of Little Devil Island with a terrifying aura.
Countless monsters crawled around in fear, bodies trembling as if they were before a king, worshipping him.
Although Tyrant did not prostrate on the ground, his body began to shake slightly too.
While both of them looked at the monsters, a large sickle made of pure gold appeared before Xia Yu.
"Regal Relic - Godslayer Sickle..." Mu Lan's face immediately turned pale as she spat out the words.
"This is the ultimate relic - Godslayer Sickle. In Heretics, only the three Saints and president were allowed to activate this relic. Xia Yu said with a smile, looking down at Mu Lan. "About the abilities this sickle gives me... You should've heard about it, right?"
"It cuts through everything..." Mu Lan frowned.
"Yes, it cuts through everything. Be it the 5-Star Sea Chasm Sword in your hand, the 4-Star Relic - Revolution Armor or that huge creature with its impressive defensive abilities... With just one cut, everything can be cut in half!" Xia Yu lifted the large golden sickle that was even bigger than the previous one and pointed it towards Mu Lan.
Lin Huang's expression changed after listening to what Xia Yu had said. He never knew that a weapon with such horrifying powers existed in this world.
She brandished the gold sickle in her hand after she finished her sentence.
A golden glow appeared before of Mu Lan. Mu Lan was not able to dodge the attack and had no time to defend against it. The golden blade then slashed her body.
"Am I dead?" Mu Lan lowered her head and looked at her wounds. She then noticed her armor beginning to crack but she was not injured at all.
"Don't worry. I've just removed that annoying Revolution Armor that you're wearing. It's better to capture you alive than killing you. You are a hunter that is ranked fourth on the Gold Hunter Leaderboard and you're also the focus of the Hunter Association. It would be a waste to kill you. Perhaps the heretics would need you. If you upgrade to a holy fire transcendent, your abilities wouldn't be weak at all." Xia Yu's voice was heard coming from above.
Lin Huang frowned as he attempted to think of ways to solve this situation. The opponent's weapon was terrifying. She could slaughter any of the monsters he could summon with just one hit. If he were to summon Charcoal and Bai, they would definitely die and they would still be in danger.
On the other hand, Mu Lan was nervous as the Godslayer Sickle was a very dangerous weapon. It does not only cut through everything but it has invisible attacks as well. Even if she wanted to flee, she would have no way to escape under such circumstances.
"Daughter of the Mu Family, you can now bid farewell to your Sea Chasm Sword." Xia Yu grinned and attempted to cut it in half.
A golden glow appeared out of nowhere and slashed at the Sea Chasm Sword in Mu Lan's hand.
A purple laser beam appeared abruptly at just the right moment and collided with the golden glow of the sickle.
Unexpectedly, the impact had caused the golden glow to dissipate.
A large shadow then appeared beside Mu Lan.
It was a middle-aged man with thick brows that had a scar on the left side of his lips.
Lin Huang could recognize him immediately. He was the transcendent that fought the Ghastly Clown in Daxi City.
"Uncle Zhu Nian!" Mu Lan was surprised the moment when she saw him.
"You're Zhu Nian?" Apparently, Xia Yu had heard his name before.
"I'm surprised that you know me too." Zhu Nian looked at the girl floating in mid-air with a smile.
"Of course, how can I not remember the name of the nominated candidate for the position of executive officer in Division7." Xia Yu said with fear, knowing full well that her opponent was a transcendent that was about to achieve immortal-level. Once he was upgraded to immortal-level, he would become the executive officer of Hunter Association. With such authority, the powers that came with his position would be incomparable.
"Miss Saint, please don't put them through too much trouble." He said while looking at Xia Yu with a smile. Actually, it was his way of giving both parties a way to step down and save face.
The people respected Xia Yu. If she caught them, she would probably trigger a battle between the heretics and the Hunter Association. The entire region from Division1 to Division12 would then fall into chaos.
Xia Yu knew that she would not be able to catch anyone as Zhu Nian was there. Knowing that her opponent was trying not to embarrass her, she also understood that he was actually hinting at her, saying in his mind, "You should stop and leave now."
Her mission had failed and it was useless to continue any farther.
"Mr. Zhu Nian, since you've offered, then I'll let it go." Xia Yu shifted her gaze towards Lin Huang and Mu Lan and grinned. "We still have time. I'll let them stay at the Hunter Association first. I'll look for a chance and bring them back to the heretics."
Obviously, she was trying to provoke them. Zhu Nian laughed after listening to what she had said and held his tongue.
Putting away the gold sickle, Xia Yu summoned a dimensional portal before the three of them and went in. Before the portal closed, she waved at them.
Right after Xia Yu left, Lin Huang finally recalled Tyrant.
Zhu Nian looked at Lin Huang as if he was in deep thought. He then told both of them, "Let's go back to the assessment location first. Tell me what happened."
After bringing the both of them back to the assessment location, the candidates were released from the pseudo-prison. Zhu Nian then began to ask about the incident.
Lin Huang and Mu Lan told him everything. Zhu Nian nodded his head after listening to them.
"I will report this to the superiors. The assessment may need to be paused. We'll have to wait for the official announcement to determine if the assessment will continue. You may stay on the island during this period of time." Zhu Nian quickly came out with a solution.
Mu Lan and the rest of the candidates had no objections. They then set up their own tents.