Battle Through the Heavens

Xiao Yan smiled a little as he eyed the glow that was emitted from the two Fire Crystal Cards as they were rubbed together. He also smiled at the number on the dark, black crystal card, which had jumped up once more. Currently, his Fire Crystal Card stored a full seventy-four days worth of ‘Fire Energy’ within it. If he were to count, it appeared that this amount of ‘Fire Energy’ was sufficient for him to train for over two months in the ‘Sky Flame Qi Training Tower.’ This could be considered a plentiful harvest.

“Adding this group, we should have collected from five groups by now.” Xun Er returned her crystal card properly. She took one glance at the five people, who were tied to the tree trunk after they were knocked out and continued happily, “Other than the two groups known as the ‘Black White Evil Stopper’, we can still snatch from the other three groups.”

“It a pity that this forest is so large. It might become difficult to locate the last three groups within it. Once we expose our whereabouts, it is likely that those groups will all hurry over to surround and cut us off. Although our cooperation is much better after those two days of special training, we can only handle one group at a time. Two groups would be our limit. If there were three, we would definitely be defeated.” Hu Jia voiced her thoughts.

Xiao Yan frowned slightly. A moment later, his gaze swept across the five new students, who were still standing in the middle of the empty ground, in a stunned state. His heart suddenly moved as he slowly said, “Currently, there are only three older student groups, not including the ‘Black White Evil Stopper,’ who still have the qualifications to participate in this Hunting Competition. In other words, there are still fifteen people. Yet, us new students don’t have the restriction where we lose qualification to participate if our ‘Fire Energy’ is less than ten. Therefore, I think that there should be quite a lot of new students who are still wandering around within this forest, right? After all, this forest is too big. They don’t have a route to follow, so they would have great difficulty successfully leaving the forest within such a short time.”

“What do you plan to do?” The four of them were startled when they heard Xiao Yan’s words. Bai Shan knit his eyebrows and asked.

“Gather all the new students together. After that, let news slip to attract the other three groups. Use the strength of all the new students to finish them off altogether. What do you think?” Xiao Yan said fainly.

“Attract all of them over? That means all three groups will be attacking us. What if the other new students are unable to successfully block them? Won’t this be similar to a goat entering the tiger’s lair?” Bai Shan’s expression immediately changed a little when he heard this extremely bold suggestion from Xiao Yan. They needed to use tacit cooperation in order to just defeat one group. If it were three groups, the one who would lose would definitely be them. He did not want to give the ‘Fire Energy,” which he had snatched with great difficulty, to someone else.

TL; a goat entering the tiger’s lair - seek death

“That may not be true. If there is a sufficiently large number of new students, we will definitely be able to gain the advantage. Don’t look down on the other new students. Their strength is definitely not weak if they are able to enter the top fifty. It is just due to the lack of cooperation between them that they collapse after receiving a single blow from the older students.” Xiao Yan shook his head and replied.

“Moreover, we cannot continue to drag things out like this. Finding an opportunity to finish all of them off in one go would save us a lot of trouble. Don’t you all want to quickly head to the Inner Academy and witness this ‘Sky Flame Qi Training Tower?’” Xiao Yan spread his hands and questioned.

“Ah, we have already spent three or four days within this forest. It is not a solution to continue dragging it out.” Wu Hao nodded and replied in a deep voice.

“I’m fine with anything. At the very most, we will just have to return the ‘Fire Energy’ that we’ve obtained.” Hu Jia curled her lips. She faced Xiao Yan and said, “Now, you are already the group leader. You can just decide on these matters alone. There is no need to be overly sensitive.”

Xiao Yan helplessly shook his head when he heard this. This action of his, to obtain opinions from his companions, had been criticized as being overly sensitive.

“Ah, alright. I will listen to you once more. Hopefully, you don’t ruin it.” Seeing that Wu Hao and Hu Jia did not have any objections, Bai Shan could only nod his head. He clearly knew that in this group, Xiao Yan already had credibility that caused Hu Jia and Wu Hao to be convinced in their hearts after these two days of fighting together. Moreover, Xun Er always agreed with everything that he said. Therefore, Bai Shan’s words were basically something that was dispensable in this group. Who let him be in a position where he had few supporters?

Seeing that the opinions were once again unanimous, Xiao Yan smiled and nodded. He mused for a moment before suddenly turning toward the other five students. With a smile, he walked over and flipped his palm. A couple of healing medicines appeared in his hand, which he then handed over. “Are you guys alright?”

“Senior Xiao Yan, thank you very much for lending us a hand. Otherwise, I’m afraid that we wouldn’t have been able to escape from being beaten into pig heads today.” A young man, who appeared to be the leader, spoke with a face filled with gratitude. He was somewhat excited when he received the healing medicine, which Xiao Yan handed over.

“Ke ke, we are all new students. We ought to support one another.” Xiao Yan laughed indifferently. His gaze stared at them as he suddenly asked, “Do you want to help us retaliate against those fellows?”

The five new students were startled when they heard this. They naturally understood that the ‘those fellows’ that Xiao Yan had just mentioned referred to the older students from the Inner Academy that were participating in the Hunting Competition. After hesitating for a moment, they grit their teeth and nodded. During these past two days, they had endured quite a lot of those fellows hopelessly stupid anger, but they only dared to be angry and did not dare to say anything due to the difference in their strength.

“Since that is the case, I would like you all to help me with something.” Xiao Yan smiled and said softly.

“Senior Xiao Yan has rescued us once, just tell us what needs to be done.” When he heard Xiao Yan’s words, a young man hurriedly pounded his chest and basically agreed without any hesitation. His companions beside him also nodded with faces that were filled with excitement.

Seeing that this small group of people had agreed in such a straightforward manner, Xiao Yan was also startled. Perhaps even he himself did not know how deep of an impression he had left within this batch of new students when he lead his group to hunt down the older students. Most of the current new students already viewed Xiao Yan as an idol which they worshipped within their hearts. It was not for any other reason besides him having the strength and courage to contend against those older students who had bullied them.

“Ke ke, in that case, thank you very much... It’s like this, I want to ask you to try your best to spread out and search for other new students within the forest. After which, tell them that if they want to regain all the ‘Fire Energy’ that they have lost and that if they trust me, they can all gather at this place. I will lead them in a ruthless battle against those arrogant Inner Academy students!” Xiao Yan cupped his hands toward them and asked softly, “May I know if the few of you will agree?”

“Alright! Coincidentally, we are communicating with some of the new students. As they were worried of being captured by the older students, many of them have already hidden themselves.” A fiery heat swarmed on the five new students face. They had been led by Xiao Yan’s words until their hot blood was boiling. After so many days of being bullied and suppressed, they were now finally able to retaliate. How could they not be excited?

“Yes, the few of you should take advantage of this opportunity. Additionally, if you were to meet the older student groups alone during the journey, you should first hand over your ‘Fire Energy’ to them. I, Xiao Yan, will compensate the ‘Fire Energy’ which you have lost after this is over.” Xiao Yan sighed in his heart as he reminded these five people.

The five new students nodded their heads when they heard this. They immediately cupped their hands toward Xiao Yan and said, “Senior Xiao Yan can just wait for us to bring the other new students over. As long as you are leading us, we dare to follow you to retaliate against those bastards.”

Once they said that, the five of them swiftly separated. Under Xiao Yan’s focus, they swiftly entered into the dense forest and disappeared between the moving tree leaves.

“Hee hee, it’s settled. Next, let’s wait for the rest of the new students to gather. Once everyone has been gathered, our absolute grand retaliation will begin!” Xiao Yan stood up, turned around and smiled as he spoke to Xun Er and the three others.

Perhaps it was because they had the hope of retaliating against the older students of the Inner Academy, but the efficiency of the five new students was so outstanding that it caused Xiao Yan to be somewhat astonished. In merely one morning, there were new students carefully appearing around this clearing one after another. Only when they saw that the the ones seated cross-legged between the trees and resting were Xiao Yan’s five man group were they completely convinced. After which, human figures began to flash within the quiet forest. One by one, miserable-looking figures landed and entered into this empty space. When their gazes swept across the five older students, who were tied to a tree trunk by Xiao Yan, the hatred which had accumulated in their hearts for two to three days finally began to ease up.

These new students agglomerated here from various locations and were extremely conscious, not daring to interrupt Xiao Yan’s five man group, who were training with their eyes closed. One by one, they formed a circular shape, surrounding Xiao Yan’s five men group.

As time passed, more and more new students came flashing out successively from the dense forest toward this empty ground. Their gazes involuntarily gathered on the black-robed young man in the middle of the encirclement, carrying a faint heated worshipful feeling within them.

At a certain instance, Xiao Yan, who had his eyes shut, finally opened them slowly. He eyed the the surrounding new students, who were seated cross-legged in an orderly manner around him with sparkling eyes. A gratified smile surfaced on his face. This number did not disappoint him.

“Everyone, do you want to return the grievances that you endured these past two days due to those self-righteous Inner Academy’s older students?” Xiao Yan slowly released his pent up breath and his voice suddenly sounded among the trees.

“Yes!” Orderly low furious voices shook the tree leaves on the trees around them.

Xiao Yan nodded slightly as he eyed the fury and resentment that swarmed onto the faces of the new students. What he wanted was this fury that had agglomerated into anger!

The tree branches between the trees suddenly moved. Two or three human figures flashed out. There were instantly dozens of gazes jumping over from the open ground.

“Senior Xiao Yan, we did as you asked and exposed our position to the other three groups. Now, they are likely hurrying to this place!”

“Good.”

Xiao Yan clapped his hands together heavily. He suddenly stood up and his gaze looked around at the new students, whose eyes were filled with fury, despite their miserable appearance. In a deep voice, he said, “Everyone, hide yourselves properly. Today, we will give those haughty older students a ruthless slap!”

As Xiao Yan’s voice fell, nearly forty students immediately began entering the dense brush around them in an agile manner. In just the blink of an eye, the originally crowded open ground had once again become empty.

“Everyone, prepare yourselves. We need to finish them off in one blow.” Xiao Yan smiled and reminded Xun Er and the three others.

“Yes!”

On top of a huge tree somewhere in the dense forest, two old men were sitting cross-legged there with open eyes. They looked at one another. A soft laughter slowly reverberated through the air.

“Hee hee, it’s going to get lively now!”