"It ended."
After waiting for some time, Li Yun couldn't hear anything in the cave. It was as quiet as a calm ocean.
'Time to reap some more benefits.'
With a greedy, childlike smile on his face, Li Yun strode forward and walked out of the cave.
***
Outside the cave, Mu Tai and Wang Min were taking deep breaths, both resting their bodies against a tree.
Their breathing was ragged, their faces covered in sweat, and they appeared no less than beggars full of dirt and dust. Yet, a pleasant smile hung on their faces as they looked at the core of the Four-armed Berserk Ape in Mu Tai's hands.
"Mu Tai, now that I've helped you get a 4th level Qi Training Realm core, it's your turn to help me," Wang Min reminded Mu Tai of their deal.
Mu Tai smiled, playing with the core in his hand. "Of course, I will help. But do you have a particular beast in mind?"
Wang Min nodded with a serious expression on his face. "A 4th level Qi Training Realm Flaming Rabbit I've noticed not far from here. I've tried catching it, but I failed. It's just too fast for me to catch it alone."
Mu Tai understood what help Wang Min needed from him and stored the core of the Four-armed Berserk Ape in his storage ring.
"Alright, let's go and kill that Flaming Rabbit," he agreed, standing up after a brief rest.
"You two aren't going anywhere."
But at that moment, an untimely voice sounded before them.
It was Li Yun, who had come to reap the benefits after sowing the seeds. He could have left peacefully without them detecting him, but the temptation of the points held by Mu Tai and Wang Min made him decide otherwise.
They were too ripe not to be taken.
"It's you!" Wang Min exclaimed, his face turning red with rage as he remembered how Li Yun had taken advantage of their team, eliminating them when they were at their weakest after battling the Fourarmed Berserk Ape.
"This guy," Mu Tai also frowned when he noticed Li Yun, then turned to Wang Min. "Go and eliminate him. He has so many points, yet he still decided to show up. It's like he came just to deliver us some points," he suggested with a sly grin.
Wang Min nodded with a ruthless expression on his face. "I've been meaning to do that since he got first place in the test of comprehension, and him coming to us just makes things much easier."
He added with a sinister expression, "Even if he hadn't come, I would still look for him. After all, this bastard eliminated so many of our teammates by taking advantage of their fatigue from battling the Fourarmed Berserk Ape."
As he said that, Wang Min stepped forward toward Li Yun with a sneer on his face.
"Are you a fool, or do you think you can defeat two people at the 3rd level of Qi Training Realm with only the cultivation of a meager 1st level of Qi Training Realm?"
Li Yun smiled when he saw that only Wang Min came to fight while Mu Tai stayed behind. Both were at the 3rd level of Qi Training Realm, and unlike the other disciples he had eliminated earlier, they didn't seem tired or fatigued. Most importantly, they were stronger than those eight disciples by a large margin.
Therefore, he felt glad that they underestimated him and chose to fight him one by one; otherwise, it would be a difficult battle for him.
Getting points from them was only one of his goals for fighting them. The main reason he decided to fight them was that they were stronger and more experienced than the ones he had defeated so far.
Although he had fought and defeated many disciples since the start of the combat assessment, none of them gave him any real pressure. That's why, although he won the fights, he wasn't satisfied with the battles.
He wanted to fight someone who could push him to his limits—someone who could force him to use his strongest attacks without holding back. That way, the experience he would gain from the battle would be much better than simply defeating weaker disciples.
After all, he was still weak, and defeating only weak disciples, probably even weaker than him, wouldn't give him a true assessment of his strength.
'I have tons of knowledge about martial arts and alchemy. I hope they become useful in the future.'
These things were drilled into his head by his father, but he stopped giving him advice after discovering he had no bone frame.
"Come."
Li Yun beckoned and teased Wang Min with his pinky finger as he drew his sword.
Wang Min flared with anger at the sight and immediately used his movement technique.
In an instant, his figure blurred, and he became one with the wind. His movements were so swift and fluid that he seemed to disappear, leaving only a faint rustle of air in his wake.
"Oh, he has mastered the Chasing Wind Step to the 5th layer?"
Mu Tai was surprised when he saw Wang Min's movements. During their fight with the Four-armed Berserk Ape, Wang Min had only used the 4th layer, which led Mu Tai to believe that Wang Min had only mastered the technique to that level.
"It seems he still doesn't trust me, but it's fine—I don't trust him either. But to be able to master the 5th layer of Chasing Wind Step at only the 3rd level of Qi Training Realm, he is indeed the number one genius of Wind Stone City."
Mu Tai complimented Wang Min on his mastery of his movement technique. He had heard of Wang Min's family; it was said that they had been the number one family in Wind Stone City for more than ten years, possessing a rare low-grade human rank movement technique and a strong middle-grade human rank martial technique.
The combination of these two techniques allowed them to stand at the pinnacle of Wind Stone City.
Moving swiftly through the wind, Wang Min appeared in front of Li Yun, who was slightly caught off guard by his speed, and threw a punch.
"Boulder Crashing Punch!"
His fists turned a shade of grey as they moved toward Li Yun.