The newcor glanced at the group, then his gaze landed on Fan Xiu, who had already lost his mark.
"You destroyed your own mark. Then you should understand the rules. Co with ."
Fan Xiu, unwilling to accept this, imdiately said, "Inspector sir, it was that man who forced to do it. I didn't do it of my own free will. Please uphold justice for !"
Fan Xiu's sudden betrayal startled the young girl in red. If the Inspector got involved, then the young man who had just saved her might be in trouble.
But just as she was about to speak up on Liu Bai's behalf, the Inspector directly cut her off with a cold voice, "Save your breath. I'm only responsible for taking away those without a mark. As for the rest, I'm not concerned."
As he spoke, he grabbed Fan Xiu by the shoulder and lifted him up, then turned into a stream of light and vanished.
The girl opened her mouth, but no words ca out. Her delicate face still bore a trace of confusion.
Liu Bai, however, secretly chuckled to himself. This Fan Xiu really thinks too highly of himself, actually expecting the Inspector to stand up for him.
From the mont that Shadow projection announced the rules, Liu Bai had known that the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy would not interfere with the assessnt.
Seeing the confusion in the girl's eyes, Liu Bai smiled and explained, "There are two circumstances in which one gets eliminated early in the Northern Heaven Realm's assessnt. The first is destroying the mark on one's forehead, which is equivalent to voluntarily forfeiting. An Inspector will then appear to take the person away. The second is receiving a fatal attack. In that case, the mark will erupt with a brief burst of power and extract the person from the realm, which also ans elimination."
Of course, if the attack is too overwhelming—so much so that the mark doesn't even have ti to react before the person dies then there's no choice but to accept one's fate.
Although the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy doesn't want to see a high number of casualties during the assessnt, so-called "accidents" are inherently unpredictable and impossible to completely avoid...
The girl understood Liu Bai was saying this for her sake and finally ca back to her senses. After hesitating for a mont, she said, "Thank you for saving , but I don't have anything to repay you with. You can take my mark if you want, and if you're after the SpiritJade Fruit, I can give that to you too."
Liu Bai smiled but didn't accept her offer.
After all, that wasn't his goal...
"I want to know whose force this so-called Zhou Faction belongs to. What's the real reason you three were chasing after this girl? As for that Spiritjade Fruit, don't even ntion it. I don't believe a few fruits would make you go to such lengths." He looked directly at the two remaining individuals as he questioned them.
When they saw Liu Bai's gaze fall on them, they were instantly startled. Upon hearing his question, their expressions turned awkward.
"Don't want to talk? You heard what I said earlier. If you refuse to answer, don't bla for sending you out directly."
That explanation just now had also been ant to intimidate the two of them. If they really stayed silent, Liu Bai wouldn't mind acting personally to eliminate another one.
At these words, the two beca even more flustered. They had joined the Zhou Faction precisely to gain an easier route into the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy and to have backing once they got in. If they got eliminated now, what would have been the point?
"I'll talk! I'll talk..."
Finally, one of them caved under pressure and quickly spoke up.
Seeing this, the other panicked as well. "I'll talk too. Our Zhou Faction was established by 'Zhou King' Zhou Fan. He participated in the Spiritual Road trial and was evaluated as King level. Afterward, he and a few of his friends ford the Zhou Faction. They're all Divine Soul Realm experts, so once they entered the Northern Heavens Realm, a lot of people joined them. Right now, it's one of the largest factions in the Northern Heavens Realm!"
Hearing this, Liu Bai raised his brows in surprise. He hadn't expected the Zhou Faction to be founded by a King-ranked Heaven's Chosen. Soone like that should now at least be in the late stage of the Divine Soul Realm, right?
The boy who first yielded, seeing his companion steal the lead, quickly followed up, "The reason we were chasing this girl is because she knows about the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk. To prevent her from leaking that information, we acted against her."
"Our original goal was to capture her or at least delay her. As long as our leader killed that Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk, she wouldn't be a threat anymore."
"What?! How do you know about the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk?!" The girl in red was even more agitated than before, shouting the question harshly.
"Uh... we don't know either. We were just following orders from our leader..." The two began stamring as they spoke.
But Liu Bai no longer cared about that part. When he heard the words "Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk," his eyes had already lit up.
The Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk ranked sixty-fifth on the Earth Rank of the Myriad Beasts Record was a powerful Heavenly Beast. A mature one possessed the strength of a late-phase Heaven Fusion Realm cultivator. Using it as the spiritual essence for a spiritual beast would be ideal.
He'd been worrying about where to find a spirtit beast essence suitable for himself. He hadn't expected one to walk right into his path...
Although the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk was an ice-elental beast and didn't match his current cultivation thod, Liu Bai had already decided to follow the path of Five Elent Convergence. Eventually, he would cultivate water-elent techniques too. By then, the attribute would align perfectly with the hawk.
In fact, after discovering he could cultivate five spiritual wheels, Liu Bai had even considered whether he could fuse five spiritual beast essences one for each elent. If he truly succeeded, his strength would be several tis or even dozens of tis greater than cultivators of the sa level!
The so-called invincible among peers would be child's play!
"Do you know where the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk is now?" What Liu Bai worried about most at the mont was whether Zhou Fan had already killed it. If that were the case, he'd have no shot at it.
"Uh... no, we don't know..." the two said nervously in low voices.
Clearly, the three of them weren't Zhou Fan's inner circle. Otherwise, they wouldn't have reached the Divine Soul Realm without even refining a spiritual beast essence. It was clear Zhou Fan hadn't offered them much.
At this thought, Liu Bai turned his gaze toward the girl...
The girl in red gritted her teeth slightly. Originally, the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk had been her target. But due to insufficient strength and manpower, she had to give it up. She had planned to recruit so reliable helpers before making her move but now, it seed the information had already leaked out.
As for Liu Bai, his interest in Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk was obvious. That ant her own chances were practically gone.
"I actually know the whereabouts of another Heavenly Beast. If you're willing to work with to take down the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk, I'll tell you the exact location. I'll also help you deal with that beast... Believe , that Heavenly Beast is definitely not weaker than the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk!"
Liu Bai looked surprised when he heard this. Could this girl be so kind of luck-maxed hidden character?
They'd only been in the Northern Heaven Realm for a single day, and he'd struggled to even spot a Heavenly Beast's trace. Yet she already knew about two?
"Tell about it first. I'll listen." Liu Bai said with interest.
"That Heavenly Beast lives in a massive underground cavern. Although I've never entered it, I once heard its roar from one of the entrances. It sounded like the bellow of an ox. The aura alone made my heart tremble it's definitely a Heavenly Beast!" the girl in red said with a serious expression.
"Oh? A spiritual beast that lives in the subterranean depths, and its roar sounds like that of an ox…" Liu Bai fell into deep thought.
Spiritual beasts that dwell underground are usually of the earth attribute, though so may possess the tal attribute or other special ones. However, earth-attribute beasts are more commonly seen in such environnts.
"Oh right, I also noticed that the entrance to the cavern had very smooth marks, likely caused by frequent friction from the beast passing through. So it's highly possible that it's a type of python or flood-dragon spiritual beast," the red-dressed girl added.
"A python or flood-dragon type spiritual beast…" Liu Bai's eyes lit up.
Given that the Northern Heaven Realm is a trial world controlled by the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, the spiritual beasts within should not exceed the Heaven Transformation Realm. Therefore, the Heavenly Beasts residing here should be ranked outside the top fifty of the Earth List in the Myriad Beasts Record. Among the flood-dragon type beasts ranked below the top fifty, none are of the earth attribute. That ans it's highly likely to be a type of stone python. The most probable candidates would be the Mountain Devouring Python, ranked eighty-fourth, or the Earthstone Spirit Python, ranked seventy-fourth.
If it turns out to be the Mountain-Devouring Python, then that's manageable. Its mature strength is only comparable to the early phase of the Heaven Fusion Realm, which Liu Bai could still handle. But if it's the Earthstone Spirit Python, then it becos quite troubleso. That one is comparable to a mid-phase Heaven Fusion Realm entity—sothing even a group of Divine Soul Realm cultivators might struggle to take down.
Regardless of which it is, both would be excellent choices for Liu Bai at present, as his current primary cultivation art is the Mountain God Art, an earth-attribute technique. If paired with the right spiritual beast essence, the power would surpass even that of the sixty-fifth ranked Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk.
After a mont of thought, Liu Bai said, "I can agree to help you obtain the spiritual beast essence of that Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk, but whether we succeed or not, you must still tell the location of that other spiritual beast you ntioned."
The red-dressed girl didn't hesitate for long. After a brief mont of consideration, she nodded in agreent.
After all, upon realizing that the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk had already been targeted by Zhou Fan, she had nearly given up hope. Asking Liu Bai for help was simply a last-ditch effort out of desperation.
What if, by chance, they succeeded?
"Oh right, I still don't know your na," Liu Bai suddenly looked at her and remarked.
The girl had already regained her composure, and most of her injuries were healed. She replied, "I'm An Ran."
Upon hearing that na, Liu Bai's steps involuntarily paused.
He suddenly realized his own luck wasn't too bad he had just t two young won, and both turned out to be well-known nad characters from the original story. Wasn't this An Ran the sa An Ran who, in the original novel, beca Mu Chen's opponent during the final trial of the Northern Heaven Realm? At that ti, she should already have reached the Heaven Fusion Realm. And if he rembered correctly, her spirit beast essence was indeed the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk…
Could it be that the spirit beast essence of the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk in the original story was obtained right here in the Northern Heaven Realm?
Liu Bai smiled lightly, finding it all a little surreal.
"What's wrong?" An Ran asked with a hint of suspicion, having noticed Liu Bai's odd reaction.
"Oh, it's nothing. Let's hurry. If Zhou Fan acquires the spiritual beast essence of the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk and leaves, we won't have any chance left!"
Hearing that, An Ran imdiately set aside her doubts. She quickly led Liu Bai toward the depths of the desolate wilderness.
Back at their original location, the two remaining young n looked at each other in dismay.
What should they do now?
Go back?
They didn't quite dare. At the very least, they couldn't return imdiately there would be no way to explain this incident.
Gritting his teeth, one of them said, "Let's find a place to recover our injuries first. That guy is ridiculously strong. Even Fan Xiu got eliminated by him. We're seriously wounded too, so we'll return to the boss only after we've healed up."
"Yeah yeah, you're right. We're badly hurt. We need to heal first…"
At this point, the two of them were like grasshoppers on the sa rope. Neither of them feared betrayal, so they simply went along with each other.
On the other side, as they traveled swiftly, Liu Bai asked An Ran, "The mature Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk is comparable to a late-phase Heaven Fusion Realm. Is the one you ntioned really that strong?"
An Ran shook her head and replied, "The Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk is entirely icy blue in color, but golden plus grow along its wings. Every ti a new layer of golden feathers appears, its strength increases. In total, it grows three layers before reaching maturity. The one I saw had only just developed its second layer, so its strength should still be at the peak of the early Phase of the Heaven Fusion Realm."
That would be good news if they were facing the hawk alone, but given that Zhou Fan and his people had already made their move, things didn't look promising for Liu Bai and An Ran.
Under siege from multiple Divine Soul Realm cultivators and especially with soone as powerful as Zhou Fan, a King-ranked academy disciple even a not-fully-matured Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk might not be able to hold out...
Soon, the two of them arrived beneath a range of towering snow-capped mountains.
These peaks appeared to rise thousands of zhang into the sky. From the halfway point upward, the slopes were blanketed in thick snow. Even at the foot of the mountain, Liu Bai could feel a piercing chill in the air.
"The nest of the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk is at the summit of this snow mountain!"
An Ran had once caught sight of it purely by chance, seeing the creature descend from the mountain's peak. The scene had been terrifying a massive ice-blue eagle, so vast that it seed to blot out the sky, swooped down in a dive, and all the spiritual beasts within the snowy region fled in panic. The scene was nothing short of dreadful.
Back then, she had rely taken a quick glance from afar before fleeing herself. She vaguely recalled seeing a figure flash by in the distance as well. At the ti, she hadn't paid it much mind, but in hindsight, it must have been the person who leaked the information.
And it was that sa person who had rembered her and brought all this misfortune upon her.
...
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