Chapter 27

**Pang!**

In the forest, filled with withered leaves, the ground suddenly shook violently. A roar filled with ferocity echoed far and wide. Following the direction of the roar, one could see a massive, earth-colored bear, about several meters tall, swinging its heavy, hammer-like paws wildly, furiously slapping at a small figure in front of it.

Facing the bear's strikes, the small figure quickly retreated, the short sword in its hand wrapped in spiritual energy, like a snake emerging from a cave, slicing through a white fur pattern on the bear's chest, leaving a trail of bright red blood.

*Roar!*

The intense pain from its chest made the bear even more frenzied. Its paws were enveloped in deep yellow spiritual energy, and each strike left deep marks on the ground. If this force were to land on the small figure, it would certainly be severely injured.

Fortunately, the small figure was quite agile, constantly dodging and taking advantage of the bear's vulnerabilities to leave more blood marks on its chest.

The two figures, one large and one small, continued to tangle with each other. After about ten minutes, the bear finally could not withstand the exhaustion and collapsed like a mountain.

Seeing that she had finally worn down the bear, the beautiful young girl let out a sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. Panting, she turned her head and saw a tall young man standing under a nearby tree, smiling at the scene.

"Not bad."

Mudan walked over, glanced at the dead mountain bear, and pointed to the white fur pattern covered in blood marks. "But your attack was not decisive enough. This is its vital point. If you had found a single vulnerability, you could have killed it outright. You did too much unnecessary work. If this mountain bear were a bit stronger, you might have been the one exhausted."

Tang Qian'er glanced at the ground nearby, where another mountain bear lay dead. On this bear's chest, there was only a single blood hole, precisely located, straight through to the heart. Clearly, this mountain bear had been killed with a single strike.

This mountain bear was Mudan's achievement. Tang Qian'er had seen that fierce strike earlier, ruthless, precise, and without hesitation. The thrilling and composed manner of the kill was far more graceful than her own clumsy efforts.

"You're a freak, how can I compare to you!" Tang Qian'er pouted. Although she hadn't hunted many spiritual beasts, she could still sense that Mudan's skills were not inferior to those of experienced adventurers who often faced life and death. How could she possibly compare?

Despite her words, Tang Qian'er was somewhat admiring. Along the way, under Mudan's guidance, she had begun to overcome her initial fear. Now, she could even hunt low-level spiritual beasts with mid-stage Lingdong realm strength on her own. As for Mudan, his handsome face always maintained a calm and gentle smile. The dangers that made her tremble were insignificant to him.

Tang Qian'er's eyes flickered, watching the young man squatting to collect the mountain bear's spirit core. The dappled light fell on his body, and his focused side profile had a quality that ordinary young men lacked, making her cheeks flush slightly.

"Today's harvest is quite good. So far, we have obtained eight low-level spiritual beast spirit cores." Mudan put away the mountain bear's spirit core, then stood up and smiled at Tang Qian'er.

Hearing this good news, Tang Qian'er's face also lit up with a smile. Today's harvest was quite satisfying.

"Let's go, continue. The results are secondary; this is a good opportunity for training." Mudan smiled, about to continue deeper, but suddenly his brows furrowed, and he looked to the right.

"What's wrong?" Tang Qian'er asked.

"There's some commotion over there. Let's go check it out." Mudan thought for a moment, then beckoned to Tang Qian'er, quickening his pace. Tang Qian'er followed closely behind.

...

In the dense forest, dozens of Northern Spirit Academy students huddled together, their faces pale as they stared at the ten figures leaning lazily against tree trunks ahead. The gazes of these figures were filled with mockery.

Although these ten figures were relaxed, they exuded a sense of competence. Their eyes were bright and sharp, and a faint scent of blood lingered on their bodies.

They were clearly an adventurer team.

"What do you want?!"

Among the Northern Spirit Academy students, familiar figures like Mo Ling, Tan Qing Shan, Jiang Li, and Teng Yong were present. Their faces, like the others, were filled with anger and fear as they looked at the adventurers.

After all, they were still young, and even facing fierce spiritual beasts made them timid. The ruthless aura these adventurers unintentionally emitted was enough to make them shudder.

"You little brats..."

A young man in leather armor smiled at the Northern Spirit Academy students and said lazily, "Didn't I already say to hand over the spiritual beast spirit cores you have?"

"You want to rob us!" a young man shouted angrily.

"Correct!" the young man laughed loudly, and his companions also burst into laughter, clearly finding this amusing.

"We are students of the Northern Spirit Academy. Our two mentors are here, and they are at the Divine Soul Realm level!" a student tried to intimidate the adventurer team by mentioning their mentors.

"I know you are students of the Northern Spirit Academy. You came here to train, right? Did your mentors tell you that encountering a robbery is also a form of training?" the young man smirked. "As long as you're not killed, your mentors won't care."

"So... hand them over. Don't make me do it; I can be quite rough." The young man grinned, his white teeth like a predator's, sending chills down their spines.

"You!"

Mo Ling couldn't help but get angry, clenching his fists.

"Do you want to try? You're at the late-stage Lingdong realm, just like me. Why don't we see who's stronger?" the young man glanced at Mo Ling and smiled sinisterly, his eyes bloodthirsty.

Mo Ling felt a chill when he saw the young man's predatory gaze. Although they were both at the late-stage Lingdong realm, the young man's aura was far beyond his. Moreover, the young man's companions were no weaker than him.

Mo Ling's eyes flickered, and after a moment, he slowly unclenched his fists, sighing and shaking his head at Tan Qing Shan and Jiang Li.

Tan Qing Shan and the others could only sigh as well. They understood that they were not on the same level as this adventurer team. They could only consider themselves unlucky and hope to avoid further trouble.

"Good, good, good kids."

The young man smiled satisfactorily when he saw Mo Ling and the others give up, but his smile was tinged with mockery. These were the students of the Northern Spirit Academy? Truly disappointing.

"What are you doing?"

Just as Mo Ling and the others were about to hand over their hard-earned spirit cores, a puzzled voice came from behind. They turned to see Mudan and Tang Qian'er standing not far away, looking at them.

"Mudan?"

Mo Ling and the others were initially relieved to see Mudan, but then they remembered something and urgently signaled him to leave.

"What's going on?" However, Mudan seemed to ignore their signals and smiled, walking over with Tang Qian'er.

"Shh, more little lambs."

The young man grinned at Mudan, then his eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Tang Qian'er, whistling and saying teasingly, "And a little beauty!"

Tang Qian'er glared at the young man angrily, but her thin anger only made him momentarily dazed.

Mo Ling could only sigh and shake his head when he saw Mudan and Tang Qian'er approach, then explained the situation.

"Robbery? You really are unlucky." Mudan couldn't help but laugh after hearing the story.

"You're no different." Jiang Li and the others rolled their eyes. This guy was still laughing at a time like this.

"Hey, little guy, since you're here, why don't you hand over some spirit cores too? And let the little beauty hand them over. We can't be unfair, right?" the young man waved his hand, smiling.

"Do you want mine too?" Mudan frowned.

"Who asked you to be unlucky and come here? You kids are really stupid. Your talents are decent, but in a real fight, you're not much." The young man seemed a bit exasperated.

"I only have one spirit core, so here it is."

Mudan scratched his head, took out a spirit core from his pocket, and walked toward the young man.

"You're deaf? I said let the little beauty hand it over. You're starting to get on my nerves." The young man frowned, nagging.

While he was nagging, Mudan had already reached him and extended the spirit core.

The young man reached for the spirit core with one hand, and with the other, he slapped Mudan's head in annoyance. But just as his hand was about to touch the spirit core, the young man's originally smiling black eyes turned cold.

Mudan's palm flipped, and a sharp black light shot out, slicing through the young man's palm with a precise and ruthless arc, causing blood to spurt out.

This happened in a split second, and no one could react, not even the young man's companions, who were momentarily stunned by the blood.

Amidst the shocked gazes, the handsome young man looked up and smiled.

"Sorry, I suddenly don't want to give it to you anymore."

(Today, I hope the number of favorites can reach 60,000. Please help me, thank you.)