Ji Mo approached the demonic wolf to retrieve its core, which was covered in mysterious runes as well. Demonic cores with runes like that indicated that the demonic beast definitely had talent and divine power. Nevertheless, Ji Mo did not consume the core this time because the number of demonic beasts killed would be recorded for the Hunting Competition, and demonic cores would be the best proof of his kills.
Besides that, the cores could be used to exchange a substantial amount of spiritual medicine at the academy.
Ji Mo had consumed the demonic cores that he obtained from killing demonic beasts previously, but he was forced to save some to gain points for the Hunting Competition. After all, the winner of the competition would acquire a seventh-grade spiritual medicine, which was worth far more than a demonic core of a demonic beast on the Qi Plundering Boundary.
After cleaning up the mess, Ji Mo left the ravine with a bright smile.
The demonic beasts in the ravine had been completely wiped out. Ji Mo wondered what the others would think if they knew that he killed all the wolves in a den, as well as a wolf king that was about to enter Qi Plundering Boundary. It was likely that the academy's senior management would be too shocked to say anything.
As the days passed, it was finally the last day of the Hunting Competition.
The few senior management staff from Tianyuan Academy gathered outside Mount Luofu to await the returning disciples after the hunt ended. Each year, there would be disciples who died from the Hunting Competition, which was a normal scene because the weak were prey to the strong in the cultivation world. If one could not survive the attacks from low-level demonic beasts, one would eventually die on the cultivation path anyway.
Therefore, those from senior management staff from Tianyuan Academy were already very used to life and death.
"It's almost time. They should be returning," an elder mentioned. He had white hair, a powerful aura, and was a master in the Qi Plundering Boundary. In fact, he was a master in ninth-tier Qi Plundering Boundary. The elder had no hope of advancing to the next boundary due to his old age, hence he was asked to manage Tianyuan Academy.
Behind the elder, who was at the ninth-tier Qi Plundering Boundary, stood a middle-aged man and a pretty woman. Both of them were masters in the Qi Plundering Boundary as well, and at the academy, they were inner disciples who were assigned to the academy management.
Despite that, they were different from the white-haired elder because their cultivation base was not that high. Nonetheless, they were young enough with plenty of time to spare, and they were only transferred to Tianyuan Academy temporarily, so they could return to the sect soon.
"Elder Xu, take a guess. How many out of the two hundred disciples will survive?" the pretty woman asked.
"More than half," answered Elder Xu, who was the elder on the ninth-tier Qi Plundering Boundary.
Another middle-aged man scoffed. "I think it's going to be half and half. The b*stards are mostly disciples from well-known families, and they usually live in peace and comfort, so they rarely work hard to cultivate. This batch of outer disciples is the worst I've ever seen."
The pretty woman's eyes glowed. "That's true, but there are some with good qualities and strength. For instance, there's Chen Ran from the Chen family, Wan Qinghe, Du Jia, Dong Hao, Nangong Ye, Xia Jiaojiao, and the others. They're qualified to be inner disciples."
Upon hearing him, the middle-aged man sneered. "Junior Sister Ling, I'm afraid that you don't know about this yet. We found Dong Hao and Nangong Ye's corpses in the forest not long ago, so they're both dead. Moreover, even Chen Ran is half-dead as he was crippled. Xia Jiaojiao was with him, but she's nowhere to be found now."
"What?! They're all outstanding disciples, but they're actually dead?!" The pretty woman, whose surname was Ling, was utterly shocked. She found it strange, but she also felt sorry for them at the same time.
"Based on their injuries, it doesn't seem like they were injured by a demonic beast, and since Chen Ran was crippled, I'm guessing that someone else did it," said the middle-aged man.
"Oh Lord, were those the work of another outer disciple? How could that person be so ruthless toward other disciples from the same sect? We must find out who did it!" The pretty woman had a cold look in her eyes.
"Alright, this will be inspected later. They're back," Elder Xu said plainly while glancing at them.
After that, three figures came out of the forest. They were all disciples from the academy. Each of them was covered in wounds, and one's arm was even crippled. That disciple's arm was covered in blood, which was hanging powerlessly while he was being helped out of the forest by his companions.
The three teens walked out with bloody footsteps, but each of them looked resolute, and even the teen whose arm was crippled was composed. After steeling themselves in blood during the hunt that lasted for a month, the teens had transformed such that they matured and were stauncher than before.
"We are disciples Wang Sheng, Tian Long, and Tian Hu. We have completed the hunting training!" The three teens approached the few seniors in the academy with determined expressions and they stood still even though they were covered in blood.
"Mm, not bad. You've certainly matured a lot." Elder Lao nodded as he was satisfied.
"Pass me your treasure pouch and I'll check your result," the middle-aged man said coldly, then he received treasure pouches from the three teens. The pouches had been given to them before the Hunting Competition started, and they were specially for them to store their captures.
The middle-aged man began counting the demonic cores in the treasure pouches which indicated the number of demonic beasts that they killed.
"Wang Sheng, 20 low-level demonic cores, 10 middle-level demonic cores, and 5 high-level demonic cores. Mm-hmm, this isn't bad." He nodded calmly.
The demonic cores were retrieved from demonic beasts, and beasts that had not broken through to the Qi Plundering Boundary were separated into low-, middle-, and high-levels. Low-level demonic beasts were the most common ones, but they were not very powerful as they were only a bit stronger than wild beasts. Middle-level demonic beasts were those that possessed spiritual intelligence, hence they were strong, and were more than ten times stronger than ordinary wild beasts. Finally, high-level demonic beasts were the ones second to demonic beasts on the Qi Plundering Boundary, and they were comparable with cultivators with an eighth or ninth-tier tempered body in terms of speed and power.
"Tian Long, 15 low-level demonic cores, 10 middle-level demonic cores, and 7high-level demonic cores.
"Tian Hu, 20 low-level demonic cores, 7 middle-level demonic cores, and 4 high-level demonic cores."
The middle-aged man checked their results one by one while the pretty woman, whose surname was Ling, was in charge of tabulating.
"Very well. You may stand aside." Elder Xu nodded at the three teens, but honestly, their results were average, so the elder did not react specifically.
Swoosh!
All of a sudden, there was a sword-light when a teen descended by maneuvering a sword-light. He was Leng Jianyun, an inner disciple from the Tianshan Sword Sect.
"Junior Brother Leng, you're late." The pretty woman smiled at Leng Jianyun. Then, he continued tabulating the records of the outer disciples.
"How was it? Didn't you find her yet?" On the other hand, the middle-aged man turned to frown at Leng Jianyun.
Leng Jianyun had a ghastly expression on his face as he nodded at the middle-aged man. "I didn't see Susu at all during the last few days. She mentioned that she was going to handle something, and it has been almost half a month, but I haven't heard from her since. I'm really worried."
"What's there to be afraid of? When cultivators enter a deep forest, we might even stay for a few years if we encounter a lucky chance, yet you're missing Susu when you haven't seen her for only half a month," Ling teased, then she cast a flirtatious look at Leng Jianyun.
"But Susu didn't leave me a message when she left…" Leng Jianyun could not help but sigh. He had no idea that Lu Susu had already been killed by Ji Mo, and that her corpse was already destroyed.
"Mm, it's okay. We'll look for her after the hunt ends," the middle-aged man comforted.
"That's the only way." Leng Jianyun nodded.