In the vast sea of the forest, all kinds of magical beasts roamed. From time to time, ferocious magical beasts would surge out from the forest, roaring at the Griffin squadron in the sky. Occasionally, some flying magical beasts would also chase after them. However, when these beasts approached within a hundred meters of the squadron, they would be frightened by the powerful aura exuding from Hu Gan and the three elders, retreating in fear. Yet, not all cases were like this. In this endless mountain range, where magical beasts were densely packed, there were naturally some with terrifying power. Therefore, half an hour after the flight squadron entered the back mountain of the Jia Nan Academy, powerful magical beasts began to forcibly rush towards the Griffin squadron, undeterred by the intimidating aura of Hu Gan and the others. At this point, Hu Gan and the three elders began to display their awe-inspiring strength. With a single wave of their hands, robust energy whipped through the sky like thunder, and then a muffled sound was heard; those massive magical beasts exploded into a bloody mist, raining down.
As they flew, various vicious magical beasts surged forward one after another, but none could penetrate the blockade set by Hu Gan and the others. Standing on the Griffin, Xiao Yan and the others gazed in astonishment at the bodies of the exploding magical beasts. Judging from their auras, most of these beasts possessed the power to fight against one of them, yet, even so, they were turned into blood mist with a simple movement of Hu Gan and the others. Such power was truly enviable.
“No wonder an escort was needed. I didn’t expect the back mountain of the academy to be so dangerous. If we were to cross through the forest, few of us would make it through alive given our current strength,” Xiao Yan said with a smile as he watched the blood mist explode about fifty meters from the squadron. When the team had flown over the endless mountains, his keen spirit perception sensed that there were even magical beasts of the fifth rank, or Dou Wang level, appearing in the dense forest below. However, beasts of such a level already possessed wisdom not inferior to humans, and thus, they naturally recognized the strength of Hu Gan and the others. Hence, they did not attack the Griffin squadron recklessly, unlike the lower-level magical beasts. It was fortunate that these high-ranking beasts knew what to fear, for otherwise, even with the protection of Hu Gan and the four Battle Emperors, the Griffin squadron would likely not have made it to their destination unscathed.
As they flew, surrounded by blood mist, Hu Gan and the other four were like sharp cones, tearing a path through the overwhelming number of magical beasts. The strength of a Battle Emperor was formidable indeed. After nearly an hour of such brute force, the Griffin squadron finally began to slow down. Sensing the deceleration, Xiao Yan glanced ahead and found, to his surprise, that aside from a deep, bottomless ravine underfoot, everything else was still an endless green canopy. There was no sign of the inner courtyard, let alone any people.
“What’s going on?” Xiao Yan exchanged glances with Xun Er and the others, all of them puzzled. “Land!” The fierce look in Hu Gan’s eyes gradually faded, and the powerful aura that had risen from him earlier quietly retreated into his body. He smiled and waved his hand, and the ten Griffins flapped their wings, slowly descending toward the opposite side of the ravine.
The Griffins brought shadows and strong winds, landing steadily on the ground. Xiao Yan and the others saw Hu Gan signaling to them, and after exchanging glances, they leaped off the Griffins, appearing in disarray on the open ground. They looked around in confusion. “Where are we? Is the inner courtyard here?”
After landing, Hu Jia was the first to ask Hu Gan, and the others all turned to look at him, clearly wanting the same answer. “The inner courtyard is not that easy to enter,” Hu Gan said with a faint smile. Then, under everyone’s watchful eyes, he walked a dozen steps forward, stopped, and with a wave of his hand, a burst of energy shot out, striking the space before him. Suddenly, a strange scene unfolded. The energy caused ripples in an empty space, which rapidly fluctuated, and a large, light-colored gate appeared out of nowhere!
Xiao Yan and the others were surprised. Clearly, they hadn’t expected something so extraordinary to be hidden in such an ordinary place. The silver gate, under everyone’s gaze, slowly opened with a crisp sound, revealing the dense forest behind it, which seemed no different from the one they had just seen. “Follow me.” Hu Gan waved his hand and led the way through the silver gate, followed by dozens of curious students. Xiao Yan hung back, watching the people entering the gate, then glanced at the space outside the gate, and was startled to see that those who had entered the gate vanished as if they had entered another dimension. “What a strange place…” This scene made Xiao Yan marvel and shake his head. Recalling the spatial folds in front of the library, he realized that the methods of the super-strong were beyond their current understanding. After a moment of amazement, Xiao Yan stepped forward and followed the group, passing through the silver gate and disappearing.
Once everyone, including the ten Griffins, had passed through the gate, it slowly closed, and a ripple of silver energy spread out, causing the gate to gradually dissipate until it completely vanished. At that moment, the area transformed once again into a very ordinary forest entrance.
…
Stepping through the gate, Xiao Yan felt a momentary daze before his feet touched solid ground. Looking ahead, he was surprised to find the scenery still the same as the previous forest. However, at the forest entrance, two elders and several middle-aged men had somehow appeared, along with nearly twenty young people standing behind them. Xiao Yan’s gaze swept over them, noticing that they all wore badges with a tower-like pattern on their chests.
“Ha ha, old man Hu, you’re always so punctual. We can trust you with the new students. How are this year’s freshmen?” One of the elders, seeing the large group coming in, smiled at Hu Gan.
“Not bad, better than last year,” Hu Gan replied with a smile. “I didn’t expect it to be your turn to guard this year. It seems you’ll be quite busy.”
“Can’t help it,” the two elders shook their heads helplessly.
“Come here, you five,” Hu Gan turned and called to Xiao Yan and his companions. As they approached, he pointed to the two elders, “These two are the elders of the inner courtyard. This is Elder Su, and the other is Elder Qing. You can seek them out for any problems you have in the future. Ha ha, these five youngsters are the top five of this year’s selection, and their strength is impressive.” The last part was directed at Elders Su and Qing.
“Oh?” Hearing this, the two elders cast a slightly surprised glance over the five and nodded, “To achieve the top five at this age, their potential is indeed much greater than last year’s batch.”
“Ooh, pretty girls. Looks like the beauty rankings of the inner courtyard will have two new additions,” the young people standing behind the middle-aged men whistled, their eyes lighting up.
“Shut your mouths! Anyone who talks nonsense will have five days of tower cultivation time deducted!” Elder Su turned and scolded them, and the young people immediately stopped, looking fearful. Clearly, losing the so-called tower cultivation time was something they feared greatly.
After silencing the group, Elder Su turned to Xiao Yan and the other newcomers and spoke slowly, “You are all new here. I hope you can adapt to this place. That way, you will gain great benefits. Look at these guys. Though they passed the outer courtyard selection in previous years, they were only at the bottom of the rankings. But in just one year, I dare say their strength can easily place in the top ten among you.”
Hearing this, Xiao Yan was slightly stunned and looked at the young people, his eyes narrowing. He could sense that these young people were indeed very strong. Among their group, only a handful could probably defeat them, and these were the ones who had ranked at the bottom in the previous selection. From this, it was clear that entering the inner courtyard had dramatically improved their strength.
“Alright, no more idle talk. Even though you’ve passed the selection and earned the right to enter the inner courtyard, it’s not over yet…” Elder Su smiled and raised his hand, producing a handful of pitch-black crystals. He threw them, and the crystals shot out, hovering in front of each person. Xiao Yan and the others reached out and grabbed them. Holding the crystal, Xiao Yan and the others immediately felt a strange warmth seep out. Looking closely, they noticed a transparent mirror on the crystal with a large red number “5” inscribed on it.
“What does this mean?” Xiao Yan asked, somewhat confused, lifting his gaze to see the young people behind the middle-aged men, their eyes blazing with desire as they stared at the black crystals in their hands.
“The explanation is a bit complicated. You’ll understand later. For now, you need to know one thing: guard these crystals with your life. When you enter the inner courtyard, you’ll realize how important they are! And you can get a hint from the looks in the eyes of those guys,” Elder Su finished, pointing to the young people with a smile.
Xiao Yan and Xun Er exchanged glances and nodded, tucking the crystals away in their storage rings.
“Next, you need to enter the forest and successfully reach the inner courtyard at the end of it,” Elder Su continued, his finger still pointing at the young people. “While crossing the forest, be wary of them… According to the rules of the inner courtyard, they can attack you freely in the forest. Remember, the number on your crystal has a great allure to them. So, they will use every means, short of killing, to obtain the ‘Fire Energy’ on your crystals. You’ll become familiar with this term soon. Your task is to either evade them or defeat them. If you reach the inner courtyard without being caught, you’ll receive the final reward. The earlier you arrive, the greater the reward.”
Elder Su’s finger suddenly shifted to the dark forest behind him, “We call this competition ‘Fire Energy Hunt’…”
“Now, I declare that this year’s ‘Fire Energy Hunt’ officially begins! Students, start running!”
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