Before Su Yuan's eyes blurred for a moment, he found himself in the midst of an endless tropical rainforest.
The air was humid and sultry, the sun dazzled, and the sounds of various birds, beasts, and insects were incessant.
"It's really hot here..."
"Yeah, and especially stuffy. Look how sweaty I am already, and we haven't been here that long."
Turning his head to look, Su Yuan saw two students standing not far from him, who, judging by their uniforms, were likely from No. 11 High School.
For students from Guangchuan City, which was in the plains, such an environment was indeed difficult to adapt to.
"Hey, student over there, are you alone?"
One of the tall and skinny boys noticed Su Yuan and called out to him.
Upon seeing Su Yuan alone, the tall and skinny youth invited, "It's fate that we ended up here together; how about forming a team? It'll be handy to have a companion to keep watch with over the night, don't you think?"
As soon as the tall and skinny youth spoke, his green-haired companion hastily said, "Old Wu, why bother teaming up with him? With both of our Eighth Stage strength, getting one of the top two hundred White Cards shouldn't be difficult. There's no need to team up with someone we don't know."
The tall and skinny youth whispered, "Those who dare to act alone are mostly experts; it's good to have more people."
Of course, Su Yuan had no intention of teaming up and smiled, "Thanks for the invite, but I prefer to operate solo."
With that, Su Yuan opened the electronic map on his locator.
The map marked a lot of information, including the density distribution of Star Beasts and showed the danger levels of each area with four colors: green, yellow, orange, and red.
According to the locator, green indicated relative safety, with no Star Beasts above the Sixth Stage in the area.
Yellow indicated the presence of Star Beasts from the Seventh to Eighth Stages in the area.
Orange indicated the area housed Ninth Stage Star Beasts.
As for red, that signified the presence of Bronze-level Star Beasts in the area!
Su Yuan quickly identified his location—in a yellow zone at the southeast corner of the entire rainforest.
"Luck isn't on my side, huh. The nearest red zone is also almost half a day's journey away... I need to hurry."
According to the rules, to vie for the top three, one must target a Bronze-level Star Beast.
Su Yuan figured that special recruits like Chen Jiujun and Fang Kun probably had the ability to kill a Bronze-level Star Beast.
And among the remaining Ninth Stage students from the twelve high schools, there might be others who could kill a Bronze-level Star Beast.
So even killing one Bronze-level Star Beast might not guarantee a position in the top three. To get into the top three and secure a Green Weapon Card, one needs to use every minute to kill more Star Beasts.
Seeing Su Yuan engrossed in the map, the green-haired youth snorted, "This guy is so full of himself. His Star Power fluctuation is at most Eighth Stage, and yet he refused us."
The tall and skinny youth whispered, "Those who dare to act alone are definitely masters; it would be great if we could win him over."
"Both Eighth Stage, how strong can he be..." The green-haired youth hadn't finished speaking when suddenly a Clear Wind blew through.
Before the two, Su Yuan appeared as a blurry phantom, swiftly leaving and vanishing into the depth of the rainforest in the blink of an eye, disappearing completely from their sight.
"That... That was so fast!" The green-haired youth returned to his senses and swallowed hard, so shocked he was almost at a loss for words.
The tall and skinny youth was also taken aback, having guessed that Su Yuan had some strength, but not to this extent.
"This trial is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Let's also hurry and take action, lest we end up with no White Cards at all!"
"Right, right, let's move!"
...
Having left those two behind, Su Yuan's thoughts were focused, and the howling winds around his body gradually calmed down, leaving only a few wisps of Clear Wind twining around his legs.
Using Wind Walking to its full extent was quite exhausting. To travel, unleashing twenty to thirty percent of its power was enough. It reduced the consumption and still offered a remarkable speed boost.
With his left hand resting on the long sword at his waist, Su Yuan continued to move forward while staying alert to his surroundings.
Although he wasn't afraid of confronting a common Bronze-level Star Beast head-on, the rainforest was fraught with crises, and the dense trees obstructed the view, making it easy to suffer a loss if attacked by a Star Beast.
Injuries themselves weren't the issue, the fear was that injuries might reduce his efficiency in hunting Star Beasts.
He hadn't gone far when Su Yuan sensed a dense rustling "shasha" noise from the plants around hip-height on both sides, as if something was rapidly approaching.
"Here it comes!"
Su Yuan looked up to see an area ahead where the vegetation was relatively sparse, and without hesitation, he leapt forward, drawing his long sword, and vigilantly surveyed his surroundings.
It was then that the rustling noise drew closer, and the surrounding plants were successively flattened. Subsequently, three large snakes with yellow-brown spots all over their bodies poked their heads out from three different directions and spat out bursts of yellow-green poison mist towards Su Yuan!
[Poison Miasma Giant Snake]
[Grade: Common]
[Type: Snake]
[Element: Poison]
[Talent: Enhanced Toxins]
[Six Dimensions: Strength F, Agility E, Defense F, Constitution E, Spirit F, Star Power F]
[Skill: Poison Mist (Common), Poisoned Teeth (Common)]
"Three Eighth Stage Poison Miasma Giant Snakes, their coordination isn't bad."
Su Yuan's expression remained calm as the wind on his legs suddenly surged in strength. A strong Wind Element enveloped him, blowing away the three converging bursts of yellow-green poison mist before they could even get close.
"Pity, it's still too weak."
Seeing their poison mist dispersed by the fierce wind around Su Yuan, the three Poison Miasma Giant Snakes immediately coiled their bodies and opened their mouths wide, preparing to spring forward in a combined attack.
Su Yuan's right hand touched the long sword while he eyed the snake directly ahead. With one step, his figure moved as swiftly as a feather caught in the wind, skimming close to the snake. He drew his blade and swung with detached ease.
With a flash, a snake's head soared through the air.
Copious amounts of yellow-green venom sprayed out, but it was all blown away by the whipping wind around Su Yuan.
Turning around, Su Yuan saw the other two Poison Miasma Giant Snakes had already sprung up and were flying towards him with extreme speed.
But you're fast, I'm faster!
Wind Walking, full power!
With a surge of wind, Su Yuan's figure blurred and he slipped past the two Poison Miasma Giant Snakes.
In a brief exchange, both snakes were bisected and fell to the ground, their severed parts still frantically writhing.
Su Yuan was swift with his blade. Using the long sword, he punctured the heads of the three Poison Miasma Giant Snakes one by one, ending their lives for good.
Su Yuan examined his newly-purchased E-3 standard long sword. Although it had only sliced through the Poison Miasma Giant Snake in an instant, a small section of the blade had already been corroded and dulled.
"Just bought this sword for over twenty thousand dollars..."
Su Yuan regretfully sheathed his long sword and took out a multi-functional locator to snap a picture of the three Poison Miasma Giant Snakes.
Fifty points for an Eighth Stage Poison Miasma Giant Snake, so three would be 150 points.
Not much, but even a mosquito is still flesh.
This device recognized the snakes quite quickly. In half a second, the point display went from 0 to 150.
After recognition, Su Yuan proficiently took out another knife and expertly extracted the Star Cores from the three snake corpses and placed them in his backpack.
"Earning points and hunting Star Cores, two birds with one stone, feels great!" Su Yuan was in a pretty good mood.
Although Eighth Stage Star Beasts only provided limited points, the White Cards produced from the extracted Star Cores were genuine. Each Star Core meant one White Card, 10 points of Star Dust.
The density of Star Beasts in this Secret Realm was much higher than in the Great Barbarian Mountain Area. Just in this short time, he had already encountered three Eighth Stage Star Beasts.
At this rate, even if it was just for two days, he might be able to max out the Gray Flame Strike of Great Success!
After tidying up, Su Yuan didn't rest any longer. He hurried towards the closest red area on the map...