"Big Brother, just as you predicted, that Ling Feng has indeed joined the Hunting Competition!"
He Zhonglei's voice was icy and filled with rage.
Ever since encountering Ling Feng, the two brothers had been unlucky. Now, they were the laughingstock of the entire West Court.
If it weren't for their background as family of the commandant of justice, others would have openly ridiculed them.
But even without that open ridicule, they could feel the disdainful gazes of others. It was as if they were regarded as fools.
As a sky-tier student, repeatedly being bested by a mere yellow-tier student was unbearable.
"Hmph, you little bastard, daring to humiliate me time and time again. You better hope I don't catch you. Gu Tengfeng can protect you outside, but once we're inside... Hehe..."
He Zhongjie's eyes flashed with cold killing intent. He had never endured such humiliation before.
"Big Brother, with you on our side, that brat won't stand a chance, even if he has nine lives!" He Zhonglei sneered.
"Hmph..." He Zhongjie snorted coldly, then shifted his gaze away.
Inside the Tianwei Mountain Range, demonic beasts roamed freely. If someone happened to 'accidentally' die inside, who could tell how it happened?
Ling Feng suddenly raised an eyebrow. His senses, particularly towards killing intent, were incredibly keen, especially after condensing the Slaughterous Sword Will.
No killing intent could escape his senses.
Especially not that of He Zhongjie and He Zhonglei, whose killing intent was targeted towards him.
"Hehe!" Ling Feng's lips curved into a smirk. If he didn't encounter them inside, it would be fine. But if he did...
You want to kill me? I want to kill you too!
It's perfect that the Slaughterous Sword Will requires blood to nourish it!
After a while, the final batch of participants arrived, coming in slowly.
Following the usual rules, students were divided into four levels: sky, earth, mystical, and yellow. They would then enter the Tianwei Mountain Range, each with their designated hunting areas.
Generally, higher-tier students were not allowed to hunt demonic beasts in lower-tier areas. However, if lower-tier students believed their strength was sufficient, they could venture into the higher-tier areas.
Of course, once inside the Tianwei Mountain Range, it didn't matter where you were. However, for sky-tier students, only the demonic cores of third-tier high-level demonic beasts would count towards their scores. So, staying in areas where low-level demonic beasts were was meaningless.
Some naive students thought they could store a bunch of demonic cores in their storage spirit rings to deceive the inspectors, but this was a foolish endeavor.
For a seasoned appraiser, it was easy to accurately determine whether or not the demonic cores were fresh ones collected within three days.
Such attempts at deception occurred almost every year. However, once discovered, the perpetrators were often expelled from Tianwei Academy.
Soon, all the students entered the Tianwei Mountain Range in batches. Among the crowd, Ling Feng spotted Ye Nanfeng. According to their agreement, if Ling Feng entered the sky-tier student activity area, he could signal Ye Nanfeng to join him, and they would act together.
"It's our turn!" Leng Jianfeng saw that the preceding participants had entered, so he cleared his throat and said loudly, "For the next three days, you little bastards better stay alert and not mess around with your lives, got it?"
"Yes, Instructor!" The East Court students shouted in unison.
"Also, it's tacitly permitted for students to snatch demonic cores from each other. So, if you encounter such a situation, fight if you can win, but don't stubbornly persist if you can't. Otherwise, if you get seriously injured and then encounter a demonic beast, you're done for!" Leng Jianfeng continued to warn sternly.
"Alright, off you go! You bunch of little bastards!" Leng Jianfeng patted the shoulder of a nearby student and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Among his past students, there would always be three or five unfortunate souls who died inside. Hopefully, this year wouldn't see such unfortunate souls.
Ling Feng tapped his nose knowingly and glanced at Leng Jianfeng. This bearded man, though appearing fierce, was actually a typical 'harsh with words, soft-hearted' type.
With that, the forty-six yellow-tier students from the East Court also entered the Tianwei Mountain Range.
This signaled the beginning of a bloody Hunting Competition.
"Big Brother, we'll be on our way!"
After entering the Tianwei Mountains, the group ventured deep into the forest. Jiang Xiaofan and Ouyang Jing headed southwest to fend for themselves.
Zhou Kai and He Yiming also bid farewell to Ling Feng and left.
Yang Jun and Feng Mo continued to accompany Ling Feng.
At this moment, Qin Wanwan briskly walked over and wrinkled her nose at Ling Feng. "Stinky Ling Feng, dare to compete with me?"
Ling Feng raised an eyebrow and smirked with disdain.
Among the yellow-tier students of the East Court, perhaps the only one who could compete with him was Li Bufan.
"Hmph! If I make you hand over all the demonic cores you collect to me, wouldn't you lose?" Qin Wanwan grinned.
"You..." Ling Feng's expression faltered. He had forgotten about this condition!
"Hehe, see how formidable I am?" Qin Wanwan stuck her tongue out at Ling Feng. "Scared, huh? Well, I won't take advantage of you."
With a teasing glance at Ling Feng, Qin Wanwan waved to Liu Yunfei. "Yunfei, let's go!"
Liu Yunfei chuckled as he walked past Ling Feng. "Brother Ling, my cousin talks a lot, but don't take it to heart!"
"Get going! You chatterbox!" Qin Wanwan gave Liu Yunfei's leg a hard kick, forcing him to follow behind her with a bitter expression.
Being an elder cousin was really not easy...
"Every rose has its thorn!" Feng Mo sighed as he watched Qin Wanwan's figure.
"Alright, stop sulking." Yang Jun nudged Feng Mo, then turned to Ling Feng and asked, "Brother Feng, which way do we go?"
"Let's head straight to the area of mystical-tier students," Ling Feng said with a smirk, startling Feng Mo and Yang Jun.
"Brother Feng is indeed Brother Feng!"
Feng Mo gave Ling Feng a thumbs-up, but Ling Feng and Yang Jun had already left, leaving him behind, so he started running to catch up.
Meanwhile, Li Bufan, who entered the Tianwei Mountain Range right after Ling Feng's group, glanced in Ling Feng's direction and thought to himself. Straight to the high-tier students' area? Then I'll go directly to slay the weakest fifth-tier demonic beast. With its demonic core, it'll be enough!