Chapter 39: Initial Rankings, First Kill on the Island!

At once, beams of light shot toward the water’s surface, forming a bridge of light.

“Lin Yi, board the island!”

Gu Fan clapped his hands and stepped forward, becoming the first to appear on the bridge.

Lin Yi followed closely behind.

Seeing the two take the lead, the other participants quickly stepped onto the light bridge as well.

On the Shangqing Sect’s side, a female disciple moved closer to Lian Huo.

“Senior Brother, when we capture Lin Yi and Gu Fan later, you must let me be the one to kill them!”

Lian Huo stood with both hands behind his back, his expression indifferent.

“Rest assured, Junior Sister. A mere sixth-layer Spirit Sea Realm—suppressing them with one hand is more than enough. You can vent your anger however you wish when the time comes.”

The female disciple already seemed to envision herself torturing Lin Yi to death, a look of excitement spreading across her face.

“Much appreciated, Senior Brother!”

Once all fifteen disciples from the Five Major Righteous Sects had boarded the island, the light bridge over the water vanished.

“The Autumn Wild Hunt lasts for one day! No early withdrawals are permitted. After a day, officials will assess the results based on harvest and casualties to determine the top performer!”

The old eunuch’s voice echoed in the air.

But by this time, the contestants had no interest in listening to his blather.

The moment they stepped onto the island, the scene before them stunned them all.

The island was covered in spiritual plants, with bizarre-looking beasts running rampant and rare spiritual herbs scattered everywhere.

It looked like a scene from primitive times.

Upon seeing this sight, Lian Huo and his four companions’ eyes lit up!

“Everyone, let’s split up and search for spirit beasts bearing markers. If anyone discovers the whereabouts of those two Heavenly Evil Sect disciples, inform me immediately!”

“Yes, Senior Brother!”

With that, all the disciples scattered in different directions.

Only the female disciple remained by Lian Huo’s side.

“Zi Ling, stay close to me. First, it’s safer for you. Second, once I capture those two, I’ll hand them to you immediately.”

“Zi Ling thanks Senior Brother. Please rest assured, once we return to the sect, I’ll report everything to Father.”

A smile finally appeared at the corners of Lian Huo’s lips.

Zi Ling may have had mediocre talent and a plain appearance, but she had a good father—head of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion of the Shangqing Sect, and also the chief elder of the sect.

The Myriad Treasures Pavilion managed all allocations of pills, weapons, and various resources within the sect.

As long as he could cling to Zi Ling’s father’s high branch, cultivation resources would never be a concern again!

Thinking of this, Lian Huo squeezed out a charming smile toward his round-faced Junior Sister Zi Ling.

“Junior Sister Zi Ling, you’re too polite. This is merely what I should do as your senior brother.”

With that, he turned gracefully and walked deeper into the island.

Elsewhere—

Gu Fan and Lin Yi walked through a dense forest, with spirit beasts occasionally appearing around them.

However, once these beasts sensed the killing aura from the two, their animal instincts kept them from approaching.

“Brother Gu, what do we do next? I’ll follow your lead—as long as there’s killing involved, I’m all for it!”

Then Lin Yi seemed to remember something and said with a bit of discomfort:

“But the island’s so huge. We have to spend time looking for people, gathering spirit herbs, and killing—feels like we’re juggling too much!”

Gu Fan chuckled.

“Who said it’s just the two of us?”

“With your Soul Puppet, that’s at most four, right?”

“Not necessarily. Let me show you something good.”

As he spoke, Gu Fan flipped his hand, and a staff seemingly made of jade bone appeared in his palm.

He then waved the White Bone Banner in front of them.

Immediately, a large horde of White Bone Warriors materialized before them!

Lin Yi’s jaw dropped, then he swallowed hard.

“Wait, Brother Gu, this is…”

“The White Bone Banner—a treasure I refined. It can summon White Bone Soldiers.”

Lin Yi sensed the aura of the over one hundred White Bone Warriors before him. They were all at the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm!

What kind of joke was this?

Since when did peak Qi Gathering become so worthless?!

Ignoring Lin Yi’s shock, Gu Fan issued an order to the White Bone Soldiers.

“Scour this area for spiritual herbs and rare treasures!”

The hundred White Bone Soldiers let out a collective roar and then scattered in all directions.

They began gathering spiritual herbs for Gu Fan.

“Hold on, Brother Gu, didn’t you summon them to look for people?”

“What’s the rush? Even if we find someone now and kill them, there’s not much to gain. Let them collect more spiritual herbs first—then when we kill them, we’ll be taking ready-made loot!”

Lin Yi’s eyes lit up.

“Brilliant! Fatten them up before killing!”

…

Outside the island, just after everyone had entered—

On the elevated platform over the water outside the island, a light screen appeared before everyone.

Displayed on it were the hunting rankings of the retainers under the four princes.

So far, the Fourth Prince’s retainers had firmly secured first place, followed by the Eldest Prince Zhou Jing, and then the Third Prince.

As expected, the Second Prince was at the very bottom.

But that was to be expected.

After all, aside from the Fourth Prince’s retainers who were earnestly hunting the target spirit beasts, the other three factions all had different agendas.

The Eldest Prince’s Shangqing Sect had dispatched three disciples of average strength to hunt spirit beasts.

Their strongest, Lian Huo, was currently wandering around with Junior Sister Zi Ling in search of Gu Fan and Lin Yi.

On the Third Prince’s side, his retainers were disciples of the Frostwind Tower and Jialan Gate. Both sects’ strongholds had previously been destroyed by Gu Fan, suffering heavy casualties, so now they were naturally eager to find the two and take revenge.

As for Gu Fan and Lin Yi, there was no need to explain.

They had released the White Bone Soldiers purely to loot spiritual herbs and pocket them for themselves.

After all, opportunities to enter this royal tribute-exclusive garden were rare.

So naturally, their rankings ended up dead last.

This scene caused many people to glance at Zhou Rong with mocking expressions.

Two mere demonic cultivators—did they really think they could defy fate?

“Second Brother, are your two men hiding somewhere? They don’t seem interested in hunting at all.”

Zhou Rong forced out a smile, but inwardly he sneered.

Hunting?

Not a chance.

He had been fully aware of their plan from the beginning—they were going to kill all the other participants.

Their whole strategy was built on ruthlessness!

“Big Brother, you’re too kind. I already said earlier, I’m just here to make up the numbers. Instead of watching me, perhaps you should focus on Fourth Brother—he’s breathing down your neck in the rankings.”

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes and looked at his second brother.

He hadn’t noticed it before, but now it seemed Zhou Rong had been hiding his true self all along.

Just then, someone cried out in alarm.

Everyone’s attention immediately shifted to the light screen.

“Strange! Why did the Third Prince’s numbers suddenly drop so much?!”

“Look! The Second Prince finally doesn’t have zero anymore!”

“Could it be… the Third Prince’s retainers were wiped out by the Second Prince’s men?”

Everyone agreed—that made perfect sense!

One group’s numbers plummeted, the other surged.

Anyone could guess that the two sides must have clashed.

…

On Mingzhong Island during the Autumn Wild Hunt—

Gu Fan sat atop a large boulder.

The surroundings were a complete mess from the recent battle.

Severed limbs and torn flesh lay scattered on the ground—someone had clearly died a gruesome death!

Below the boulder, Lin Yi held a sword to a man’s throat.

“Hand over your spirit beast tags!”

The man kept bowing his head and begging.

“I’ll give them! I’ll give them all! Here are all the spirit beast tags I’ve hunted—please spare me!”

Gu Fan reached out with one hand and took them, glancing at the tags with some dissatisfaction.

“Half a day’s work, and this is all you have…?”

Then Gu Fan smiled at the man groveling on the ground.

“You want to live?”

“Yes, yes! Please spare me! I’ll repay you handsomely in the future!”

“Heh, good, you want to live—then I’ll give you a chance. You all have ways to contact each other, don’t you? Call the remaining three members of your team here, and I won’t kill you.”

The kneeling man hesitated.

He had to admit—these Demonic Path Twin Stars were truly terrifying!

Just earlier, he and another sectmate had encountered Gu Fan and Lin Yi and were instantly defeated.

Now, even if he called the remaining three over, would they even stand a chance?

Swish!

A flash of sword light—and one of the man’s thighs was sliced clean through!

The man howled in agony.

“I’ll call! I’ll call them right now—just don’t kill me!”

“Of course. I keep my word—I won’t kill you.”

With Gu Fan’s promise, the man no longer hesitated and immediately activated his sect’s communication token.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep