The wilderness beyond the domain was immense, setting the team's pioneering task within the Marquis Domain made the requirements for the team even higher. Even though there were plenty of referees patrolling around, no one took this matter as a joke.
Xiang Beifei and his companions kept moving forward for about twenty minutes, entering a forested mountain area.
The trees here were extremely tall and grew wantonly—easily a hundred meters high. Each tree was also very sturdy, probably because various powerful desolate beasts roamed throughout, and if they didn't grow thicker and harder, they would struggle to endure the ravages of the desolate beasts.
Some saplings were still okay, but most of the trees were as hard as steel. A few particular trees were such that even those with the strength of the Meridian Opening stage couldn't pluck their leaves.
"We've been walking for twenty minutes, we can stop now. In another ten minutes, we'll know what the target desolate beast we need to hunt is," Long Guocheng said.
"Let's walk a bit farther."
Xiang Beifei did not stop, but led the others to continue forward along a stream.
Long Guocheng said in a grave voice, "It's unwise for us to continue . If the desolate beast we are supposed to hunt is behind us, we'll have to turn back."
"No need to turn back, if we miss it, just leave it and move on," Xiang Beifei said.
Xiang Beifei wasn't walking straight forward but kept changing direction.
"Are you being cautious about something?" Li Zimu noticed Xiang Beifei's intentions.
Xiang Beifei did not hide it and said, "Teams from Qingzhou University and Yanzhou University."
"Everyone's going to hunt desolate beasts, not get into group fights. What's there to worry about them?" Ma Ziqian said, not understanding.
Xiang Beifei crossed over a yellow, foul-smelling ditch, explaining as he walked, "Haven't you read the rules? The rules only state that points will be scored based on the quantity of Beast Pills from the hunted desolate beasts, but it doesn't specify how these Beast Pills are obtained, which means—snatching Beast Pills from others' kills is also within the rules!"
"Then what are you afraid of? Even if Qingzhou University comes to rob us, can't we handle them? Even if they have two students at the Meridian Opening stage, isn't one of them someone you could take down with a punch? You should be able to handle the other one too, plus we have three at the SR rank, and the four of us could just beat them up," Long Guocheng said eagerly, rubbing his hands together.
Xiang Beifei shattered a clump of black thorns that lunged at them with his fist, then stopped on a flat stone, turning around to look at the others, he said, "One Qingzhou University isn't anything to worry about, but if they team up with Yanzhou University to deal with us, then we're facing five at the Meridian Opening stage."
"Five at the Meridian Opening stage?" Li Zimu and the others exchanged glances. "Where did the five come from?"
"Just be vigilant, in case other schools join in too, to surround and chase us, there might be even more than five. If things go south, Ma Ziqian, remember to take everyone and retreat first," Xiang Beifei instructed Ma Ziqian.
Ma Ziqian was puzzled but didn't say much more. He had the ability within the team to retreat, capable of taking the others away quickly.
At that moment, Xi Keyao reminded them, "The types of desolate beasts have been announced."
Everyone immediately took out the list in their hands, and as expected, the list already displayed a line with the names of the desolate beasts they needed to hunt.
"There're a total of twenty specific Meridian Opening stage desolate beasts, each Beast Pill is worth five points, and for each type of desolate beast, we must find at least one, with ten points deducted for any we lack," Li Zimu read from the list, frowning slightly.
Long Guocheng pondered and said, "So we need to hunt at least twenty specific Meridian Opening stage desolate beasts—this is problematic."
"That's why we were given five days, to find them. And just hunting the twenty beasts on the list won't be enough for a good score, other schools will definitely try to hunt at least thirty or more," Ma Ziqian said.
The quantity was not limited, meaning the more they hunted, the better. Hunting twenty specific Meridian Opening stage desolate beasts in five days was not an easy task, because they needed to find those beasts first.
And after finding them, they couldn't just go back; to ensure they surpassed other schools, they definitely couldn't just hunt twenty.
Looking at the list of beasts, Xi Keyao said, "Apart from the twenty specific kinds of desolate beasts, hunting a mid-stage Meridian Opening desolate beast awards an extra twenty points, and hunting a late-stage Meridian Opening desolate beast an extra fifty points! Hunting mid and late-stage Meridian Opening beasts also earns points."
"Those beasts are too powerful; captain, are you going to try for those?" Ma Ziqian asked.
"We'll deal with it if we encounter them!"
Xiang Beifei surveyed the landscape; this place was a forest, with black trees emitting miasma that obscured the view.
He leaped onto a branch and reached the treetop, looking into the distance, and said, "The White Bone Scarlet Essence on the list usually lives in caves; there's a canyon over there. Let's go check it out."
Immediately, everyone followed Xiang Beifei's lead, traversing through the woods, and soon arrived at the entrance of the canyon.
A red mist filled the canyon, and the intermittent scent of flowers that was refreshing to the heart and mind could be heard faintly.
"This fragrance... could it be lilacs?" Ma Ziqian asked.
"It's bone worms; don't smell too much, or you'll be paralyzed. Wait here, keep an eye on the surroundings, and don't get separated," Xiang Beifei warned the others to wait and went forward.
"Xiang Beifei, where are you going?" Xi Keyao quickly asked from behind.
"I'll be right back."
Xiang Beifei vanished into the canyon in a flash.