Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the next morning.
Su Yuan parted the vegetation and walked out from a hidden stone cave. He resumed Wind Walking and continued towards his target, the red zone.
Yesterday, after killing the Shadow Leopard, Su Yuan hunted star beasts along his way.
Not only did he get close to the target red zone, but the day's harvest was also significant with many star beasts slain.
Currently, Su Yuan's kill and points status was as follows:
Sixth Stage Star Beasts: 5, 100 points.
Seventh Stage Star Beasts: 18, 540 points.
Eighth Stage Star Beasts: 14, 700 points.
Ninth Stage Star Beasts: 6, 600 points.
Bronze Level Early Stage Star Beast: 1, 1000 points!
Total: 2940 points.
The high efficiency was due to the denser distribution of star beasts in the Rainforest Secret Realm, and also because Su Yuan's strength had increased significantly. He could now easily handle Star Apprentice Ninth Rank star beasts.
Furthermore, last night, Su Yuan extracted all star cores of Star Apprentice Level star beasts into Star Cards, except for the Shadow Leopard, and obtained a total of 43 White Cards!
Star cores were the energy core of star beasts, containing highly compressed star power. Besides extracting Star Cards, they had multiple uses such as refining elixirs, serving as high-level energy sources, creating barriers, and acting as refining materials.
The star power in Bronze Level star cores was several times that of Star Apprentice Level star cores, making them much more valuable. Star Card extraction only considered the beast's grade, not level.
This meant that extracting Star Cards from an Ordinary Bronze Level star beast would only yield a White Card, which wasn't very valuable, making the star core itself more worthwhile.
Hence, unless there was a particularly good skill, extracting Star Cards from Bronze Level star cores was not profitable. Selling the star cores directly was more cost-effective.
Su Yuan sped forward for over two hours before finally entering the red zone near the center of the Secret Realm.
Soon after entering, Su Yuan found the carcass of an Armored Rhinoceros in the forest.
He quickly approached and examined it: "Based on its size, it should be a Ninth Stage Armored Rhinoceros. Judging by the wound, it was pierced through the neck by a sword from the side."
The physical defense of the Armored Rhinoceros was extremely high, surpassing even the Iron-Backed Ape in the areas covered by scales.
"It seems someone is ahead of me. I need to hurry up…"
Su Yuan continued towards the center of the red zone and encountered some scattered star beast corpses along the way, all slain by a sword. It seemed to be the same person.
Following the direction in which this person advanced, Su Yuan gradually sensed increasingly clear and intense star power fluctuations from deep within the forest!
"This fluctuation… Bronze Middle Stage!"
Su Yuan's eyes flickered. This wave was much stronger than any he had encountered before, surpassing both the Wind Running Weasel and the Shadow Leopard. This was definitely a Bronze Middle Stage star beast.
"Bronze Middle Stage star beast, worth 2000 points… Killing it would secure a top-three spot." Su Yuan pondered, a fierce silver light gleaming in his eyes…
Meanwhile, deeper in the forest, four people were besieging a nearly eight-meter-long, fierce snake.
Among the attackers was a girl with a red ponytail, Su Yuan's desk mate from class, Jiang Jun.
The second was a handsome young man wielding a longsword. He wore the uniform of First High School and was the Ninth Stage genius from First High School who had attended Shuzhou's special recruitment with Fang Kun, Lv Xinghen. The star beast corpses Su Yuan had seen along the way were all killed by him.
The last two, both at Bronze Eighth Stage, wore the uniforms of Seventh High School and seemed to be together.
As for the serpent they were besieging, it had two triangular heads, one red and one green. It was called the Poison Fire Two-headed Python, a particularly troublesome star beast even among Bronze-level star beasts.
[Poison Fire Two-headed Python]
[Grade: Ordinary]
[Type: Snake]
[Element: Poison, Fire]
[Talent: Double Head]
[Six Dimensions: Strength F, Agility E, Defense E, Constitution E, Spirit F, Star Power E]
[Skill: Flame Snake Breath (Ordinary), Poison Mist (Ordinary)]
Except for strength and the rarely used spirit, four of the Poison Fire Two-headed Python's attributes were all E, surpassing some elite star beasts of the same level.
In addition, its unique talent, Double Head, required both heads to be severed for it to die completely.
Moreover, it was at the Bronze Middle Stage!
Such a Poison Fire Two-headed Python was challenging even for an ordinary Bronze-level Star Card Master.
Jiang Jun and the others' siege was indeed not going well.
The area within a twenty-meter diameter centered around the Two-headed Python was filled with pale green poison mist spewed from the poison snake head. The mist was highly corrosive, making flesh difficult to resist.
Lv Xinghen, Jiang Jun, and the others continuously released their star power to shield their bodies from the corrosive mist.
However, the cost was a rapid depletion of star power!
In contrast, the Poison Fire Two-headed Python, with its robust constitution and defense, was unharmed by the swords and blades of the four. It moved agilely within the poison mist, handling four opponents with ease.
"Kill!"
Jiang Jun shouted, slashing a foot-and-a-half-long wound on the fire snake's neck. Before she could retreat, the Poison Fire Two-headed Python flicked its thick tail, sweeping it toward her.
Although startled, Jiang Jun remained calm. She swiftly leapt backward, barely avoiding the strike.
"Huff, huff…"
Breathing heavily, Jiang Jun tightened her grip on the longsword and charged again.
"The situation isn't good. This poison mist is suppressing us too much. I fear the four of us together might not be its match…"
Earlier, Lv Xinghen, Jiang Jun, and the two from Seventh High School had arrived here one after another and tested the Poison Fire Two-headed Python's might.
They quickly realized they were no match for it alone, so they decided to team up.
As for who would get the kill points, it depended on who dealt the fatal blow.
Initially, all four held back, hoping to land the final strike.
However, the Poison Fire Two-headed Python was stronger than expected, soon forcing everyone to give their all. Even so, they were still suppressed.
This was mainly because skills like Poison Mist were extremely effective against people below the Bronze level like Jiang Jun and the others.
Compared to Lv Xinghen and Jiang Jun, the two at Eighth Stage from Seventh High School were in worse shape.
They were staggering, drenched in sweat, their strength and star power nearly exhausted. Without Jiang Jun and Lv Xinghen diverting the python's attention, they would have already been overwhelmed.
"Old Deng… I-I can't hold on much longer!" One brown-haired boy from Seventh High School gasped.
"Me either…"
"Bang!"
The boy called Old Deng reacted a second too late. Before he could finish his sentence, the python's tail struck him, hurling him far away to crash into a tree, where he vomited a mouthful of blood.