Chapter 3649: Zhong Ke Qi Left the Trial Grounds Ahead of Time
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
‘There’s more than a group of them? They must be from the other king-rank forces in Skywind City…’
While Duan Ling Tian was busy slaying the monsters, he discovered another person stalking him.
Similar to before, the person had contacted his comrades, and they had all gathered to deal with Duan Ling Tian. Alas, also similar to before, all these people were killed by Duan Ling Tian.
After killing a few more of the death warriors, Duan Ling Tian discovered there was no one else tailing him anymore.
‘Did I get everyone? Or did their respective forces call them back after discovering the shattered Soul Pearls of the others?’
Not long after this thought appeared, Duan Ling Tian found another group of death warriors. He deliberately left one of them alive so he could question the other party. Alas, the death warrior did not answer Duan Ling Tian’s questions and directly committed suicide. After that, for a while, Duan Ling Tian did not come across any death warriors.
Considering how the death warrior had chosen to commit suicide, Duan Ling Tian knew the death warriors must have sworn on the Heard Devil Blood Oath to be loyal to their respective forces. It was also likely that these death warriors had relatives in their respective forces who were being used to threaten them.
Although Duan Ling Tian admired the death warriors’ determination and decisiveness, he knew he could not show mercy to them. After all, their goal was to kill him. As such, how could he spare their lives?
Among all the death warriors Duan Ling Tian encountered, none was as strong as the old man from the Zhong clan. With this, one could only imagine how easy it was for him to kill the other death warriors.
Duan Ling Tian no longer encountered any death warriors following that. The only people he encountered after that were Ten Stars students of the Hidden Fog Academy.
The Ten Stars students whom Duan Ling Tian would greet him respectfully and address him as Brother Duan. Although he was a newcomer, he had proven to be stronger than all of them. In this world where the strong were revered, it was only natural that Duan Ling Tian garnered so much respect.
There are more than a group of them? It seems like the rest of them must be the Death Soldiers from other king-rank forces of the Skywind City.’
When Duan Ling Tian continued his demon beast slaughtering journey, he discovered another person stalking him. The person contacted his peers to regroup and eventually all of them succ.u.mbed in the hands of Duan Ling Tian. After killing a few of them, Duan Ling Tian realized no one appeared anymore.
As for Duan Ling Tian, despite not being acquainted with the Ten Stars students he ran into, even if his response was not particularly enthusiastic, he would still respond to them with a smile and a nod.
While Duan Ling Tian wandered the trial grounds, his mind wandered to Zhong Ke Qi.
‘I wonder if I’ll run into Zhong Ke Qi. If I see him, I’ll definitely kill him…’ Duan Ling Tian thought to himself as killing intent flashed in his eyes.
Zhong Ke Qi had taken offense when Duan Ling Tian had stripped him of his right to stay in the prominent-grade courtyard for Ten Stars students in the Hidden Fog Academy. Although Duan Ling Tian had done so according to the rules of the academy, Zhong Ke Qi and the Zhong clan had held a grudge against him. For this matter, the Zhong clan even sent their death warriors to kill Duan Ling Tian.
In fact, if the Zhong clan did not send the death warriors to kill Duan Ling Tian, Duan Ling Tian would not have killed Zhong Ke Qi. However, Zhong Ke Qi and the Zhong clan’s actions had crossed his bottom line. Hence, if he were to run into Zhong Ke Qi, he would not hesitate to kill Zhong Ke Qi. His lips curled into a smile when he thought about there were no rules prohibiting students from attacking each other.
…
Zhong Ke Qi was naturally unaware that Duan Ling Tian had already sentenced him to death in his heart. At this time, he had just received a message from Zhong San, the Third Master of the Zhong clan, asking him and Zhong He Liang to leave the Ten Stars students’ trial grounds at once and to stay close to Zhu Chun.
“Why, Third Uncle?” Zhong Ke Qi was confused by Zhong San’s message. He did not understand why he and Zhong He Liang had to leave the trial grounds immediately.
Zhong He Liang, who reunited with Zhong Ke Qi not too long ago, was also confused after Zhong Ke Qi relayed Zhong San’s message to him. After a moment, his expression changed before he asked, “Young Master Ke Qi, what happened? Could it be that Duan Ling Tian is still alive?”
Zhong Ke Qi’s expression darkened. He said through gritted teeth, “You’re right. Not only is he alive, but the 17 death warriors, who were all advanced G.o.ds, are dead as well! This includes Elder Xue Er.” His eyes shone with killing intent as he continued to say, “Once I find out the ident.i.ty of the person who helped Duan Ling Tian, I won’t let him or her go!”
Zhong He Liang speculated out loud, “Could it be members from the 10,000 Leaves Sect? Hou Qing Ning seems intent on befriending Duan Ling Tian, after all.”
“That’s what Third Uncle thought initially. However, when Elder Xue Er died, Chen Feng, the fifth elder of the 10,000 Leaves Sect, and his men had already returned to Skywind City. Chen Feng is the only one capable of killing Elder Xue Er, but it’s been proven he didn’t do it. Hence, it’s unlikely that Hou Qing Ning and the 10,000 Leaves Sect are involved in this matter. In any case, let’s leave first. We’ll have to give up on the trial this time…”
A hint of reluctance could be heard in Zhong Ke Qi’s voice when he spoke. Nonetheless, he still obeyed Zhong San’s orders and left the trial grounds, returning to where the teachers were.
“Teacher Yu, we were injured so we left the trial grounds.”
Zhong Ke Qi and Zhong He Liang looked like they were in a bad shape when they met up with the teachers from the Hidden Fog Academy. Blood stained the corners of their lips. In order to look more convincing, they had deliberately injured themselves, finding a legitimate excuse to quit the trial.
Yu Qian Shan nodded immediately. “Give me your Points Acc.u.mulating Token.”
“Yes, Teacher Yu.”
After the duo obediently returned their tokens, they stood next to Zhu Chun.
“Uncle Zhu Chun,” Zhong Ke Qi greeted Zhu Chun respectfully. After all, Zhu Chun was his uncle by marriage to his aunt.
Zhu Chun said through Voice Transmission, “I a.s.sumed you’ve already heard about what happened, right? Third Brother said he’d speak to you.”
“Yes. However, I wonder who helped him?” Zhong Ke Qi asked.
Zhu Chun smiled wryly before he said, “I’m afraid he might be the one who killed the death warriors. The death warriors died one after another with not much time pa.s.sing in between. It’s likely Duan Ling Tian hunted them down and killed them one after another.”
“Impossible!” Zhong Ke Qi said confidently, “He might be able to kill the others, but he definitely couldn’t have killed Elder Xue Er. You’re aware of Elder Xue Er’s strength. It’s impossible for him to have killed Elder Xue Er!”
“I understand, but there’s still the possibility that he did it. If he did kill Elder Xue Er, it proves that he’s much stronger than he has let on…” Zhu Chun solemnly said, “With that, he’ll be able to join the Hidden Fog Sect ahead of time and become their core disciple.”
“Become a core disciple of Hidden Fog Sect ahead of time? What do you mean?” Zhong Ke Qi narrowed his eyes as his expression changed. He tried to calm down and said, “No, it’s impossible for him to have killed Elder Xue Er. Someone must have helped him!”
“Nevertheless, if the dean can’t find the person who helped him, the dean will definitely recommend him to be a core disciple of the Hidden Fog Sect. However, he still has to pa.s.s a test before he’ll be formally accepted as a core disciple of the Hidden Fog Sect,” Zhu Chun said.
“It’s impossible for him to have such a high innate talent or comprehension skills to pa.s.s the test!” Zhong Ke Qi said disdainfully. However, inwardly, unease began to rise in his heart.
Following that, Zhong Ke Qi sent a message to his uncle, Zhong San. “Third Uncle, Duan Ling Tian has to die! Regardless of whether he’s capable of pa.s.sing the test to become a core disciple of the Hidden Fog Sect or not, his existence is a great threat to the Zhong clan!”
Zhong Ke Qi felt relieved when he received Zhong San’s reply that expressed his agreement. The conflict between the Zhong clan and Duan Ling Tian was started by him, after all. If Duan Ling Tian grew stronger in the future, there was no doubt he would be the first to suffer the consequences.
…
Over the next few days, Duan Ling Tian continued to kill the monsters he encountered. Inwardly, he was still hoping to run into Zhong Ke Qi. Alas, he was only met with disappointment. He had run into many Ten Stars students over the past few days, but none of them were Zhong Ke Qi.
‘He must have received a message from his clan due to the deaths of their death warriors and left the trial grounds. Fortunately, they didn’t discover the death warriors’ shattered Soul Pearls immediately before I was done killing them…’
It was true that the Zhong clan did not discover the death warriors’ shattered Soul Pearls in time, resulting in the deaths of all 17 death warriors. Usually, the Soul Pearls of the death warriors were placed in a designated area. The leaders of the various groups of death warriors were responsible for monitoring the Soul Pearls of their subordinates. However, since Xue Er had led his team out on a mission, no one was left to monitor their Soul Peals. It was only when the Zhong clan discovered none of the death warriors they had sent out were responding to their messages that it occurred to them to check on the death warriors’ Soul Pearls.
…
“Time’s up!”
The trial for the Ten Stars students finally came to an end.
Before the trial ended, Duan Ling Tian took a long time before he finally found another monster and killed it. Then, he left the trial grounds.
After the trial, the number of monsters in the trial grounds had diminished greatly after being killed by the Ten Stars students of the Hidden Fog Academy.