Chapter 177: A Mere Freshman, Countered by Senior Genius (I)

As Chen Chu had heard the roar of the mountain bear ahead, in another direction, a group of people had also caught wind of the mutated beast's cry.

Five second year students from Longshan Martial Arts High School stood on the hillside. Each person was clad in battle armor, with the leader's being more ornate, crafted from the scales of an unknown golden creature and emitting a halo of light.

It was evidently a transcendent battle armor, possessing defense far superior to ordinary battle armor.

The burly youth at the forefront glanced into the distance, his eyes narrowed. "The roar shakes the mountain, the aura is majestic. That mutated beast is at least level 4, probably in the late stage."

Due to the multitude of mutated beasts they had slain, Zhang Lin could now roughly estimate the level of a mutated beast based on the powerful aura contained in its roar.

The girl in the red battle armor smiled. "Didn't expect our luck to be this good today. We haven't even left Jiuhuan and we've already encountered a level 4."

The Jiuhuan Mountain Range stretched horizontally for over a thousand kilometers, housing fifty-nine martial arts high school bases, with a distance of only a few dozen kilometers between each base.

Coupled with countless geniuses constantly hunting all over these mountains, the high-level mutated beasts in the Jiuhuan Mountain Range were becoming increasingly scarce.

Within a radius of two hundred kilometers around the bases, there were mostly level 2 ordinary mutated organisms. It was only after venturing three to four hundred kilometers into the mountains that one could encounter level 3 mutated beasts.

Level 4 mutated beasts were relatively rare in this area. To find mutated organisms of level 5 or above, one had to venture into the even more distant Yunwu Mountain Range.

At the same time, with humans continuously hunting them, many nearby mutated beasts had become more cunning and cautious. High-level mutated beasts like this one, which roared to assert their territory, were seldom seen. Typically, such mutated creatures moved in from other areas.

Upon discovering the favorable living conditions here, mutated beasts would roar to declare their territory... and in the process, attract martial arts geniuses out on expeditions.

Thinking of this, Zhang Lin, the leader, spoke in a low voice. "Let's hurry over and take a look. If we delay, someone else might snatch it."

"Yes, let's go."

The other four nodded, and with a flash of movement, they followed Zhang Lin's lead, hurtling down the mountainside.

Among the five, Zhang Lin, as the leader, had the strongest aura. His cultivation was at the late stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, approaching its peak. Following him were two at the middle stage and two at the beginning stage of the Fourth.

As geniuses from the second year of Longshan Martial Arts High School, each of them had refined transcendent weapons and cultivated at least two secret arts. Coupled with two years of high-level arts and combat skills, their combat prowess had increased by a substantial amount.

This wasn’t even counting Zhang Lin, who was renowned on the Achievement List. Just a month ago, he had single-handedly slain a late stage level 4 mutated beast with a hint of a king-level bloodline, then used that beast’s heart scale to forge a set of transcendent battle armor.

However, as the group dashed down the slope for a few kilometers, they suddenly heard an enraged roar, followed almost immediately by a wail, causing their expressions to change.

"Oh no, someone beat us to it."

"Quick, let's go see!"

The girl named Tang Tian, the fastest among them and at the middle stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, surrounded herself in green true power, resembling an afterimage as she swiftly dashed through the mountains.

In just a few breaths, she burst out of the forest and shouted back, "Zhang Lin, the mutated beast is just ahead, hurry up!"

With the wind swirling around her, she turned into a green shadow, shooting up along the mountainside and covering hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.

But as she reached the top of the hill, she suddenly paused.

Down in the valley below, the body of a twenty-meter-long giant bear lay still on the ground, its massive head and paws mangled as crimson blood dyed the surrounding ground red.

Next to the beast’s carcass stood a figure in plain black and red battle armor and holding a halberd, with black-red light and a heavy aura emanating from their body.

When she appeared on the hilltop, the figure also looked up at her.

"What's wrong, Tang Tian..."

As Zhang Lin spoke, he also dashed up the hill, followed by the other three behind him, who soon saw the giant bear below, already slain.

"It seems someone beat us to it." Zhang Lin sighed slightly with regret.

Ding Chen, another individual at the middle stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, looked serious. "Where is this person from? They’re very strong, to have slain this mutated beast so quickly."

"Indeed, very strong." Another person nodded.

It had only taken a minute or two from the moment they had heard the bear’s territorial roar, to them covering ten kilometers with explosive speed.

The fact that the opponent could slay the mutated beast in such a short time definitely caught their attention, especially considering their aura was also at the Fourth Heavenly Realm.

"The closest in this direction is Nantian, and beyond that is Langshan, nothing in between." Zhang Lin started to turn around. "Let's go, this mutated beast is already someone else's.”

Snatching rarely occurred on the mutated beast battlefield. One reason was that these geniuses all had their pride, and snatching someone else's spoils would tarnish their reputation.

Secondly, there were over a hundred satellites watching from above, and the school also had rules against killing fellow students.

While the satellites were not always effective, so far, no one had killed or injured another person over a couple hundred contribution points, let alone fought over the carcass of a mutated beast.

Such a thing could easily lead to a vendetta. Who knew if the genius whose spoils had been snatched might explode in cultivation one day, surpassing their rivals, and then seeking revenge by injuring or even killing them?

As a result of this mindset, the martial arts atmosphere in East Xia was overall relatively clean, with no ruthless gang brutality.

However, nobody was perfect, and some people were just naturally sinister and wicked. Therefore, after entering the depths of the thousand-kilometer mountain range, without satellite surveillance, the danger was not only from the powerful mutated creatures but also from the people behind them.

Down in the valley, Chen Chu suddenly spoke. "Zhang Lin from Longshan Martial Arts High School!?"

Though his voice wasn't particularly loud, its calm tone spread throughout the valley, causing Zhang Lin and his companions to pause in their steps.

Turning to look at Chen Chu several miles away, Zhang Lin replied loudly, "That's right, I am Zhang Lin from Longshan. May I ask which school you're from?"

It's indeed him.

Excitement flickered in Chen Chu's eyes as he politely said, "I'm Chen Chu from Nantian. Zhang Lin, I have a proposal. Are you interested?"

"What proposal?" Zhang Lin asked, though he already had a rough idea of the other's intentions.

Chen Chu calmly continued. "I propose a friendly match with you. The wager will be this peak level 4 mutated beast. If I lose, both the beast and any Life Crystals it may contain will belong to you."

Tang Tian shook her head. "As expected, another person trying to climb over Zhang Lin's success."