Chapter 720: Is Zhang Xuan About to Lose?

“Hunting a spirit beast at the Return to Void stage?”

Zhang Xuan was startled, then suddenly understood.

He had checked his storage ring and found no beast-scale incense, meaning the item was still on those two.

That being the case, hunting a Return to Void stage spirit beast was not impossible.

Although Lei Yuanfeng had been mostly cleared out by Elder Mi, there were still Return to Void stage spirit beasts; as long as they searched carefully, they would surely find many.

With the spirit beasts that had besieged the master teachers scattered, lacking command and coordination, and with the treasure of beast-scale incense in hand, the chances of hunting spirit beasts greatly increased. Getting so many was nothing special.

But... why were those two wearing animal hides?

Had that flying spirit beast stripped off their clothes?

What a perverse sense of humor!

No wonder those hides looked like they had been gnawed by dogs. Without storage rings, not even weapons, it was hard to make them neat; they were probably torn off by brute force.

“How pitiful!”

He looked at them, his eyes full of sympathy.

Two genius master teachers, stripped naked by a spirit beast and thrown into a valley—just thinking about it was utterly miserable.

He was full of sympathy, but Brother Yu beside him did not feel the same. Basking in the astonished shouts of the crowd, he clasped his hands behind his back, full of pride, then turned around with a condescending air: “I’ve brought out my inner cores. Master Zhang, what about yours?”

“Mine?”

Knowing it involved the bet, Zhang Xuan stopped dwelling on it. With a faint smile, he flipped his wrist and a pile of inner cores tumbled out.

On the way, he had also hunted a few Bridge Heaven stage peak spirit beasts, plus the ones those two had gathered earlier, so the quantity was also large. Throwing them all out was equally stunning.

However, there were no Return to Void stage inner cores.

“Luo Yang beast, Qing Yan beast, Qi Xu beast... why do they look so familiar?”

Seeing the inner cores he threw out, Brother Yu and Feng Wu exchanged glances, both startled.

The inner cores they had been robbed of that morning by a spirit beast seemed to mostly overlap with Master Zhang’s, looking very similar.

“Probably... there are many spirit beasts on the mountain, and the types are similar!”

After a moment’s hesitation, they thought to themselves.

Their storage rings had been taken by a spirit beast; it couldn’t be such a coincidence that it was related to this Master Zhang. The only possibility was that there were many spirit beasts on the mountain, and everyone hunted the same ones—nothing unusual.

“These inner cores, though numerous, still fall short compared to ours. This guy... is doomed!”

After the shock, their eyes lit up.

This Master Zhang had defeated Feng Wu with a single finger and staked a high-grade spirit stone on the bet, so he had been somewhat uneasy. Now seeing the quantity and types of inner cores he brought out, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

With a light smile, he regained his confidence, cupped his hands, and looked at the senior students in front: “I ask the seniors to verify the points.”

“Alright!”

Seeing both sides of the bet produce so many inner cores, the senior students were also amazed and began to examine them.

After a moment, one senior stepped forward: “This junior has one Return to Void stage inner core, three Bridge Heaven stage, twenty-six Harmony stage, and eighteen Turbid Clarity stage peak, totaling... two thousand six hundred and fifty-eight points.”

“Over two thousand five hundred points?”

“This... is off the charts!”

“Earlier I thought Brother Hu from the Wan Yu Empire’s seven hundred-plus points were incredible, but this guy is even more ruthless! Over two thousand... this probably breaks the record! No wonder he’s so arrogant; with this strength and ability, it’s impossible not to be arrogant!”

“I wonder how many points that master teacher who came at noon has, but compared to over two thousand six hundred, he probably doesn’t have much advantage...”

...

The crowd buzzed.

Others couldn’t even get a single point, but this guy had over two thousand points—just thinking about it was terrifying.

“What do you think... how many points does this Master Zhang have?”

After the shock, everyone turned their gaze to Zhang Xuan, full of curiosity.

These two master teachers in animal hides had gotten so many points; since this Master Zhang dared to bet with him, he was probably no weaker!

“This Master Zhang has five Bridge Heaven stage peak, three Bridge Heaven stage initial, and thirteen Harmony stage... totaling two thousand five hundred and eighty points.”

Another senior in charge of verification spoke.

“Two thousand five hundred and eighty? Only a difference of about seventy points—what a pity!”

Hearing the total points, everyone was stunned, then burst into uproar.

If the gap were large, it wouldn’t feel so bad, but both were over two thousand points, and the difference was less than a hundred—such a loss was truly regrettable.

“Not enough?”

Zhang Xuan was also startled.

He had thought that with those two having their storage rings taken by that flying spirit beast, it would be hard for them to surpass him. Unexpectedly, in one afternoon, with only a single beast-scale incense, they had turned the tables.

Impressive!

As expected of geniuses from other powers, they had many tricks up their sleeves... none should be underestimated.

“If I lose, do I have to give him the high-grade spirit stone...”

He hadn’t expected to lose, so he hadn’t given it much thought. Now that his points were clearly insufficient, he couldn’t really hand over the hard-won high-grade spirit stone, could he?

“What if... I take out that Thousand Ant Bee Queen?”

He pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

Once he brought that out, the fact that everyone was being monitored would surely be exposed, and the matter of the alien race using the Purple Sun Beast to scheme against so many master teachers would also come to light... The result would be no different from bringing out the Purple Sun Beast.

No matter how they maneuvered, they would end up too conspicuous and become a target for everyone.

But since a bet had been made, would he really have to hand over the spirit stone to the other party?

"Alright, the results are out. Master Zhang, do you have anything else to say?"

Seeing that he had indeed won, Brother Yu clenched his fist, his eyes shining.

"What is there to say..."

Zhang Xuan shook his head: "This is the total points of you two combined; it doesn't mean you've beaten me, does it?"

"That's right, these are the points of two people, how can they count as one?"

"If they hunted together and split the points equally, Master Zhang would still win..."

The crowd was taken aback, then all nodded.

You two hunted together, while Master Zhang was alone, and the points were about the same; no matter how you looked at it, the latter should win, right?

"Elder Mi said that when people cooperate, they can freely allocate the points. I only need 77 points, and the rest go to Brother Yu!"

As if expecting him to say this, Feng Wu on the side said with a smile.

"Shameless!"

"He only takes 77 points, so that Mr. Yu gets 2581 points, just one point more than Master Zhang!"

"Intentional, absolutely intentional!"

"But this is the rule set by Elder Mi, and no one can argue against it..."

...

Hearing Feng Wu's words, the crowd was speechless.

Elder Mi had previously said that when people hunted together, points could be freely adjusted. This guy only took seventy-seven points, leaving Brother Yu with 2581, not a point more or less, just one point more than Master Zhang... utterly shameless!

"Dear seniors, is this acceptable?"

Ignoring the crowd's murmurs, Feng Wu cupped his hands.

"This..."

The few hesitated for a moment: "It is acceptable."

Since it was a rule, even they couldn't go against it.

"Then it's settled... Master Zhang, what do you have to say now? Even if I take away seventy-seven points, Brother Yu still has one point more than you, so you still lose..."

Feng Wu's lips curled up.

Having been repeatedly struck by this guy, he finally made the other party look bad. Waves of pleasure surged through him, and he felt as if he might float away at any moment.

Zhang Xuan rubbed his brow.

The other party was right; even if this guy took away seventy-seven points, that Brother Yu still had more than him, so the match could only be considered a loss.

Shaking his head, he turned to look at the senior students ahead: "Seniors, may I ask... has the hunting time ended?"

"Time?"

A senior student turned to look back. Not far away, a long incense stick was inserted into a stone platform, its smoke curling upward, nearly burned out.

The trial required one day—not a vague reference but precisely timed. Although the sun was now setting, there was still some distance from the full day's end. Only when this incense stick completely burned to ashes would it truly be over.

"About ten more minutes..."

Calculating the burning speed of the incense, the senior student said.

"Ten minutes?"

"Yes."

The senior student nodded.

"What? Do you think since time isn't up, you can still go hunting? Do you think ten minutes is enough?"

Hearing their exchange, Brother Yu knew what he meant and laughed out loud.

Most of the spirit beasts below the mountainside had been captured or killed. This was the foot of the mountain; running to the mountainside would take more than ten minutes, let alone finding a spirit beast... If he really wanted to turn things around, not to mention such a short time, even half an hour might not be enough!

Absolutely wishful thinking!

"Indeed, time is insufficient..."

Looking at the incense, the other masters couldn't help shaking their heads.

On such a high peak, hunting a spirit beast within ten minutes... unless one could fly!

Otherwise, it was impossible.

"Admit defeat. Even with ten minutes, you can't succeed. Besides, I just said I need 77 points. If I only needed one point, you'd have to kill a Qiaotian-level spirit beast to surpass me, or kill two Heling-level spirit beasts. Do you think you can do that?"

Feng Wu on the side also sneered.

The difference between them was 78 points. If he only needed one point, this Master Zhang would need 78 points to surpass Brother Yu.

The inner core of a peak Heling-level spirit beast was worth forty points, meaning he would need to kill two to succeed, unless... he hunted a Qiaotian-level one!

Unfortunately, they had searched all day and found only a few Qiaotian-level spirit beasts. Finding and hunting one within ten minutes, then bringing back its inner core—wasn't that a dream?

"Well... if I had to do it, it wouldn't be easy indeed!"

Ignoring everyone's doubts and Feng Wu's mockery, Zhang Xuan rubbed his brow: "But I don't want to lose yet, so I'll have to give it a try!"

With that, he suddenly looked up and let out a sharp cry.

Woo-woo-woo!

Hearing the sound, a huge Purple-Winged Sky Eagle flew over, its broad wings flapping once, instantly disappearing from sight as it shot straight toward the mountain peak.

"That... half-step ninth-level beast pet of yours? It can only be used once. Did you... not use it during the day?"

Exchanging glances, Feng Wu and Brother Yu's faces suddenly turned pale.