Chapter 40

Pingluanshan was taken aback. The enemy was stronger than he had imagined, and he wasn't unaware of it. However, he had clearly confirmed that the level of the Ming beast was exactly as the other party had declared.

He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are you sure?"

Jiang Feng nodded, "Yes. While you were fighting, I was observing that Ming beast and collecting its data."

He squatted down, picked up a stone, and started writing and drawing on the ground.

"For example, I set a standard, the strength of an ordinary person is..."

He skillfully recited a series of numbers, detailing the data for ordinary people, Pingluanshan, the second-level griffin from last time, and today's golden-haired ape...

All the data was clear and precise.

These were all battles that Pingluanshan had personally experienced. As Jiang Feng spoke, Pingluanshan compared the data in his mind. He found that the data matched his own judgment, and Jiang Feng was right!

In fact, he wasn't unaware of these situations; he had always had a sense of them. However, when Jiang Feng listed them out with data, it became much clearer and more understandable.

He asked in disbelief, "But I observed carefully..." He pointed to his forehead, "The mark on its head clearly indicates it's a first-level, first-stage Ming beast!"

Jiang Feng stood up, wiped the ground with his foot to erase all the data, and narrowed his eyes, looking in the direction of the county office: "To find out what's really going on, we need to look at those Fuliang disciples..."

...

...

Usually, there were a few Fuliang disciples in Hezhong County, but so many of them came this time because of the Tianzhao Preliminary Exam.

A special area was set up in the county office for them to rest.

Next to the Fuliang disciples' quarters was the beast arena, where all the Ming beasts for the candidates' battles came from.

The square outside the county office was very lively, but inside, it was very quiet, as if all the personnel had been dispatched elsewhere.

A black shadow climbed up the wall with a few steps, paused on the wall, and whistled a few bird calls.

Another black shadow darted up the wall, cautiously observing the surroundings, and pointed in a direction: "The beast arena is over there!"

The first one to climb up was Pingluanshan. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "How do you know?"

Jiang Feng pointed, "Look, there's a clump of fur over there, and some bloodstains on that side. It's clear they went this way."

Pingluanshan was slightly surprised, "Your eyesight is really sharp."

Jiang Feng smiled slightly, "Let's go!"

The two black shadows slipped down and moved forward along the shadows of the trees. They carefully avoided anyone who passed by.

Before long, they heard the roars of the Ming beasts. Pingluanshan lowered his voice, "It's over there. Shall we go check it out?"

Jiang Feng nodded, and just as they were about to move forward, two people carrying a cage came out.

They were clearly struggling, as the cage was shaking violently, as if the Ming beast inside was using all its strength to escape.

These two had the mark of Fuliang disciples on their sleeves, and the spirals on their foreheads indicated they were second-meridian martial cultivators, with strength comparable to Pingluanshan.

They carried the cage down a small path.

Jiang Feng and Pingluanshan exchanged a glance and quietly followed them.

The two men's arms glowed golden as they were exerting all their might to suppress the struggle inside the cage, completely unaware of the two following them.

Halfway through, the Ming beast in the cage suddenly let out a wild roar. The two men stopped, their arms glowing even more intensely, clearly using all their Ming power!

The iron cage shook violently, the cloth covering it bulging outward as if it would burst at any moment.

After a few breaths, the commotion in the cage suddenly stopped, becoming completely silent. The two men sighed in relief and looked at each other, "It's over, no problem!"

They easily carried the cage to an open area at the back, lifted the cloth, and opened the cage.

The Ming beast inside was much smaller than expected. It was about the size of a human head, a fiery red porcupine. Its body was now smooth, with all its quills stuck in the cloth.

It lay in the cage, lifeless, already dead.

The two men dumped the porcupine out, and one of them shook the cage, "This job today was really tiring."

The other man had a black mole near his nose, like an extra nostril. He laughed easily, "Of course, these beasts become much stronger after being drugged, making it quite a struggle to suppress them."

The first man's face darkened, and he said sternly, "Shut up, this is outside, don't talk recklessly!"

The man with the mole laughed, "There's no one here, what's to be afraid of?"

As he spoke, he looked around. Pingluanshan was stunned by the word "drugged," and Jiang Feng pulled him, making him hide.

The first man said sternly, "Whether there's someone or not, you must be careful with your words! If you keep talking without restraint, I'll report you!"

The man with the mole smiled apologetically, "No, no, I'll be more careful in the future!"

The first man glared at him and said, "Let's go back and continue working!"

The two left, and Jiang Feng and Pingluanshan emerged from behind a pile of rocks.

Earlier, their view had been blocked by the rocks, so they could only see some of the men's actions. Now, as they circled around the rocks and looked at the open area, they both drew in a sharp breath, speechless!

The open area was layered with the bodies of Ming beasts.

Three days of battles, and so many Ming beasts had been killed?

They exchanged a glance, and Pingluanshan whispered, "This is not right, it's impossible for so many to die."

Although his preliminary exam was scheduled for the third day, he had been squatting here since the first day to gather more information.

From what he knew, the number of Ming beasts that truly died in battle was not that high. There were people like Mr. Gan in each tent, and most of the time, as soon as the battle was decided, they would intervene to stop it.

This was partly to minimize casualties among the candidates and partly to avoid losing too many Ming beasts—catching so many for the exam required a lot of manpower and resources!

With no one around, they revealed themselves, walked to the open area, and began checking separately.

After a while, they met up again, and Pingluanshan said in shock, "You're right, there's something wrong with these Ming beasts!"

Jiang Feng nodded, "Yes, less than one-fifth of them died from external injuries. The rest..." He pointed to the porcupine that had just been dumped, "are like it, with no obvious external injuries!"

He squatted down and drew a line on the porcupine's belly, "Cut it open from here."

Pingluanshan took out a thin knife and cut along the line Jiang Feng had indicated. As soon as he cut, Jiang Feng immediately pulled him back.

There was a soft "pop," like a balloon bursting, and a large amount of flesh and blood spewed out from the porcupine's insides, splattering the ground!

The flesh and blood contained a small amount of Ming power. If Pingluanshan hadn't moved back, he would have been splattered, and might have been injured.

He asked in shock, "What's going on?"

Jiang Feng said, "This is the cause of their death. Their bodies contain external Ming power, which is very chaotic and constantly surging, giving them extraordinary strength and making them extremely aggressive. However, this Ming power is very unstable, so they were doomed to die soon after being injected."

Pingluanshan asked in surprise, "How do you know?"

Jiang Feng smiled slightly but didn't speak.

Before meeting Zhongfan, he had forcibly eaten the meat of Ming beasts, and occasionally experienced such effects. If he hadn't used his strong willpower to endure the pain and sort it out, he would have died many times.

So, he immediately recognized what was happening with these Ming beasts.

Pingluanshan took a deep breath and cleared his mind, "So, they used some kind of drug to forcibly enhance the Ming beasts' strength, making them live for a short time but display super-level power, making it impossible for us to pass the exam?"

Jiang Feng didn't speak, and Pingluanshan asked, "Who are 'they'? Why are they doing this?"

Jiang Feng was silent for a moment and said, "You should know."

Pingluanshan narrowed his eyes, a light flashed, and he remembered something that had happened recently: "The Fuliang disciples? Because I refused to join Fuliang?"

Jiang Feng said, "For now, we can only consider this. But we need to investigate further to confirm."

Pingluanshan's mind was in chaos, and he asked subconsciously, "Who should we investigate?"

Jiang Feng suddenly pulled a Ming beast's body over the exploded porcupine and then pulled Pingluanshan, saying, "Let's go!"

Pingluanshan subconsciously followed him to hide. A moment later, footsteps were heard again, and the two men returned with another cage, dumping out a black mountain pig.

This time, the job seemed easier, as the mountain pig was silent from start to finish, clearly already dead.

Jiang Feng wrote two characters on Pingluanshan's hand, and Pingluanshan immediately understood, pointing to himself. Jiang Feng nodded, and Pingluanshan took a deep breath, patted his shoulder.

In an instant, his figure floated like a breeze, gliding into the shadow of a roof eave.

The two men looked up, but saw nothing.

Pingluanshan, being of the same level and skilled in movement, was indeed hard to detect when he deliberately hid.

Before long, he followed the man with the mole.

After everyone left, Jiang Feng walked out, surveying the Ming beasts, his brows furrowed.

Fuliang Jun was the imperial teacher, known as the "teacher of the world," and deeply trusted by King Zhuyang.

Why would he use such means to drive away martial cultivators who didn't join his sect from the exam? Wasn't this too short-sighted?

Because of the young lady, Jiang Feng deeply hated this person.

But the more he hated, the more he dared not underestimate him. There was definitely something unreasonable about this!

—Thank you, lollipop, for the support! Thank you, San Shao, for the recommendation! ^___^ Keep recommending!

Previous page AD starts

Previous page AD ends