– Deng Lei's team, three low-rank mid-stage spirit beast soul cores, eight low-rank early-stage spirit beast soul cores...
– Liu Yun's team, two low-rank mid-stage spirit beast soul cores...
– Yong Tong's team...
...
The camp was exceptionally bustling. In front of the instructor's table where achievements were being recorded, disciples stepped forward one after another, holding spirit beast soul cores in their hands to report their scores. Loud, clear shouts announced a variety of achievements, high and low, as the multi-colored soul cores sparkled in their hands.
"Mu Chen, do you think we can get first place?"
Tang Qian'er looked at the bustling, market-like scene before her, her beautiful, sparkling eyes shifting slightly as she asked Mu Chen, bright with anticipation.
"Aren't the top three places rewarded the same? What's the point of fighting for first place?" Mu Chen said with a smile, not overly concerned about the title of first place.
"That's one way to put it," Tang Qian'er whispered, "but the only ones here who might surpass us are probably the two brothers of the Liao family. For the past half month, those two have been targeting you. If we lose to them, I'd be quite annoyed."
Hearing this, Mu Chen's gaze unconsciously drifted towards the west side, where he met the cold gaze of Liu Mubai, who was still watching him. Beside Liu Mubai was the alluring girl in red, Hong Ling; she also seemed restless, her clear, water-like eyes happening to glance at Mu Chen.
"Those people..." Mu Chen gave a faint smile. Ever since the incident with Xue Tu, Liu Mubai's gaze towards him had been strange, as if filled with resentment and regret. This made Mu Chen consider a possibility: it seemed that Xue Tu's sudden encounter with him was inevitably connected to those people.
"Mu Chen, it's our turn," Tang Qian'er suddenly nudged Mu Chen's side and said in a low voice.
"Then you go," Mu Chen smiled. "Didn't you keep all those things?"
Mu Chen smiled.
Tang Qian'er nodded and quickly stepped onto the platform. Many eyes around them turned to follow her steps. By now, Mu Chen was already too famous; the story of him leading Mo Ling and his group to hunt Fire Spirit Apes on the very first day had spread throughout the camp. Disciples from both academies shivered and widened their eyes in fear when they heard it. No one could have imagined that while everyone else was struggling to fight individual low-rank spirit beasts, Mu Chen and his group had dared to charge into a nest of hundreds of them to battle—it was truly inconceivable.
Furthermore, there was the incident of Xue Tu being killed, which made the stories surrounding Mu Chen even more mysterious. Although no one dared to claim that Mu Chen could, by his own strength, kill a late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm expert, to escape from the hands of a master like Xue Tu and safely preserve his life was already an astonishing feat.
All sorts of tales about him were enough to turn him into a shining star in the camp. Disciples who had previously scorned and looked down on him no longer dared to arrogantly display such thoughts in front of everyone today.
Therefore, almost everyone was curious and eager to know the achievements of Mu Chen's team.
Under the numerous watchful eyes, Tang Qian'er approached the score-recording table. In front of the instructor, she took out small, glowing objects, placing the brightly colored spirit beast soul cores onto the table.
"Thirty-five low-grade, mid-stage spirit beast spirit cores."
The instructor glanced over, a flicker of surprise in his eyes as he read the count aloud. For these teams, hunting down even a single Mid-Spirit Movement stage spirit beast a day was already an outstanding achievement. He had not expected Tang Qian'er to produce so many.
Tang Qian'er did not stop there. Her delicate hand reached out again, drawing out more dazzling spirit essences.
"Fifteen low-grade, late-stage spirit beast essences."
Finally, a commotion stirred in the surrounding crowd. Late-Spirit Movement stage spirit beasts were creatures most of them only dared to observe from a distance. Mu Chen was truly formidable to have hunted down so many.
Hearing the murmurs around her, a triumphant look flashed across Tang Qian'er's delicate face. After a brief hesitation, she carefully retrieved an object that glowed as bright as fire.
Within that fiery glow, the phantom of a Fire Spirit Ape King seemed to roar. Its spiritual energy fluctuations were so astonishing that the murmuring disciples instantly fell dead silent.
"Is that... the spirit essence of a Fire Spirit Ape King?"
Mo Ling and Jiang Li gasped, both shocked by the familiar appearance of the spirit essence. They had personally encountered the Fire Spirit Ape King and had later seen Mu Chen return with its skull. Connecting the dots now, they realized the spirit essence had indeed fallen into his hands.
"How incredible! To even bring out the spirit essence of a Fire Spirit Ape King... who can possibly compete with that?"
Mo Ling muttered, "That's a mid-grade spirit beast at the Late-Spirit Wheel stage. Among us disciples, who could possibly have the ability to hunt such a beast?"
Teacher Mo and Teacher Xi both stared at the Fire Spirit Ape King's spirit essence. Teacher Xi's eyes showed considerable shock, but Teacher Mo remained calm. That day, he had personally witnessed how Mu Chen used the strategy of "driving the tiger to swallow the wolf" to cleanly eliminate the Fire Spirit Ape King.
The instructor recording the scores trembled slightly, clearly not expecting a disciple to present a spirit essence of this caliber.
"One... mid-grade, late-stage spirit beast essence..."
As the instructor's trembling voice announced the score, the entire arena fell silent for a moment before erupting into a thunderous uproar of astonishment, curiosity, and awe among the disciples of both the East and West Courts.
"Teacher Xi, I object! There is no way Mu Chen could have hunted a Late-Spirit Wheel stage spirit beast on his own. He must have cheated!"
A furious voice suddenly cut through the noise. Everyone turned to see Liu Yang stepping forward, his face sullen and his voice filled with suspicion.
"Fortunately, I was present when Mu Chen hunted the Fire Spirit Ape King. Although he relied on strategy, wit is also a form of strength in training. There was no cheating involved."
Teacher Mo replied calmly.
With Teacher Mo speaking up, Liu Yang's face instantly flushed with embarrassment and anger, leaving him speechless.
"Haha, Teacher Mo is right. Regardless of the methods used, as long as one can slay a spirit beast, it is a testament to their capability."
Liu Mubai let out a soft laugh. As he spoke, he stepped forward and produced two glowing spheres—both of them spirit beast essences. Furthermore, both were mid-grade spirit beast essences from beasts whose strength had reached the Early-Spirit Wheel stage.
If Mu Chen hadn't had the Fire Spirit Ape King's spirit essence, his score might have been lower than Liu Mu Bai's. But comparing these two early-stage mid-grade spirit essences to Mu Chen's score, it seemed Liu Mu Bai was still far behind.
Tang Tian'er saw that person's spirit essences, and a hint of joy appeared in her eyes. Naturally, she didn't want Liu Mu Bai to defeat Mu Chen.
Tang Tian'er's glance was fleeting, but Liu Mu Bai still caught it. A slight smirk played on his lips, and his hand once again reached into his sleeve.
Everyone intently watched his actions. What else did Liu Mu Bai have hidden in there?
"Hahaha, a few days ago, I coincidentally encountered two spirit beasts whose strength had inexplicably plummeted, but they were originally at the late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm. In the end, it turned out to be quite convenient for me..."
Liu Mu Bai chuckled, extending his hand. In his palm, two rays of light, one green and one yellow, slowly flared to life. Their spiritual energy fluctuations were no less potent than the Fire Spirit Ape King's spirit essence.
These two spirit beast essences, unexpectedly, also reached the late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm!
A commotion, a clamor, an uproar...
The shouts of surprise and fear were even more numerous than when Tang Tian'er had announced her results earlier. Disbelieving gazes fixed on Liu Mu Bai. How could he have hunted and killed two spirit beasts whose strength reached the late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm?
"You... you're cheating!"
Tang Tian'er's face paled with anger. Liu Mu Bai's strength wasn't bad, but to say he could hunt and kill late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm spirit beasts was absolutely impossible. And that excuse about coincidentally encountering two late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm spirit beasts whose strength had inexplicably plummeted? Who would believe him!
"Are you saying only you can be lucky? Good things in this world don't just fall into your hands."
Liu Yang sneered.
Instructor Mo and Instructor Xi, witnessing the argument before them, also frowned but said nothing. In reality, evaluating achievements was originally just for encouragement. The truly desired outcome was how much a disciple's strength had improved, not how many items they could produce.
Tang Tian'er clenched her fists, extremely angry, but there was nothing she could do. She could only stomp her foot in frustrated resentment.
Mu Chen remained calmly standing there the entire time. Only when Liu Mu Bai took out the two late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm spirit essences did he glance at Hong Ling. The girl was smiling somewhat unnaturally, and upon noticing Mu Chen's scrutinizing gaze, she quickly looked away.
"Forget it, anyway, the top three ranks all get a Yunling Pill."
Mu Chen gave a faint smile, pulling the fuming Tang Tian'er back and gently advising her.
"But they're clearly cheating,"
Tang Tian'er said irritably. The Fire Spirit Ape King was hunted and killed by Mu Chen, who had risked his life and almost died. She absolutely refused to believe that Liu Mu Bai could, by his own ability, hunt and kill a late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm spirit beast.
"Hahaha, it's just a small competition. Don't be so bothered by a little loss. There will be plenty more opportunities in the future."
Liu Mu Bai's tone was mocking and smug, as he let out a cold, provocative chuckle.
Mu Chen rubbed his nose, a helpless expression on his face. He really didn’t want to play this childish, deceitful game, but who told you to get involved…
“Teacher Mo.”
Mu Chen suddenly called out to Teacher Mo, a smile on his face as he spoke:
“I suddenly forgot just now, but it turns out I still have a few spirit beast cores on me. Can I add them now?”
Teacher Mo raised an eyebrow at Mu Chen. He understood that the young man was about to play another trick to put others down, and nodded.
Seeing his request granted, Mu Chen shrugged and glanced at the smugly smiling Liu Mubai. He then looked up at the sky, reaching into his sleeve as if searching for something that wasn’t there.
Everyone was watching the show, their eyes fixed on his hand rummaging inside his sleeve. What else could this mysterious guy possibly pull out?
Finally, Mu Chen slowly extended his hand, causing both masters and disciples to gape in astonishment once more. In his hand were five distinct glows of different colors, each with spiritual energy fluctuations no weaker than the Fire Spirit Ape King's essence.
Five essences, all of them late-stage intermediate spirit beast essences!
Mu Chen sighed and scratched his head, then, looking at Liu Mubai's ashen face, he smiled:
"My apologies, it's just that earlier, five late-stage Spirit Wheel Realm spirit beasts ganged up to settle a score amongst themselves, and then they all just dropped dead, so it was convenient for me to pop out and scoop them all up..."
Everyone collectively coughed up blood. That guy, to pull out such a ridiculous excuse—wasn't he clearly taking a deliberate jab at Liu Mubai?
Glancing at Liu Mubai, they all saw his handsome face had become extremely grim.
Clearly, Liu Mubai had been played.