Chen Chao was unaware of what was happening outside, but he was pleased with what he was doing inside.
He was filled with anger that needed to be vented.
So, initially, he directed that anger toward the demons. But soon, he encountered many cultivators.
During the day, he encountered them in the mountains. When night fell, he encountered them by the lake.
Some intentionally sought him out, while others happened to come across him by chance.
Chen Chao could not determine how many of them intentionally sought him out or how many he coincidentally bumped into, and he did not need to consider it either. After encountering them, he chose the simplest method -- which was to beat them until they conceded.
In the forest, which was his familiar territory, he had the upper hand from the very beginning.
However, later on, the cultivators joined forces and began joining hands to deal with Chen Chao.
Chen Chao had anticipated such an outcome, so he was not concerned at all. He had already familiarized himself with the terrain, and in the forest, no one could truly defeat him.
The cultivators spent a day's time and completely sealed Chen Chao deep within a mountain.
Some cultivators from major sects brought out their sect's magic artifacts, completely cutting off any possibility of Chen Chao's escape.
Some cultivators organized people into teams of five and continuously searched the mountains.
Such a thing had never happened in the previous martial exams, and it was unlikely to happen in the subsequent martial exams.
Who could have imagined that so many cultivators would target one person?
……
……
Night fell.
Many bonfires were lit in the mountain.
Sitting in front of one bonfire were five young people from different sects. Originally, they should have been earnestly killing demons elsewhere, striving for a better rank in the martial exam. However, they were now gathered here because of the same incident. It was rare, but no one had many objections. They seemed to hold the same view regarding this matter.
First, expel Chen Chao, and then move on to other matters.
The light of the fire illuminated many faces.
The only female among the five reached out and added some firewood to the bonfire. She was Ye Qing from the West Mountain Temple, and the others present were her martial brothers.
Ye Qing looked at the fire, rubbed her slightly sore shoulders, and then asked with some weariness, "Senior brothers, do we really have to waste several days here?"
Although they had already determined that Chen Chao was on this mountain, they likely could not succeed in finding him in a short time.
One of her senior brothers said, "Wasting a few days here isn't a big deal. Everyone is here, the rankings of the martial exam won't change. Even if we were to leave here, we similarly won't be a match for them too."
Another senior brother said, "Even if we don't do anything, what about him? Who knows when he might come out and attack us. Although he hasn't killed anyone yet, who knows if he will next time? Besides, when has our foreign cultivation world ever encountered such a situation? A cultivator from the Great Liang Dynasty has made us all anxious and restless."
"Senior Brother Liu is right. How can we let a mere martial artist achieve results in the martial exam? Especially winning first place, that must not happen."
The man sitting next to Ye Qing said, "The news from outside is already very clear, he has already killed many demons. Even if we don't find him and keep him trapped here, it would be great if Fellow Daoist Song and the others can go out and kill demons to take back the top spot. If we let him out, the top spot will likely be taken by him."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the group changed. The consequences of something like that would be much greater than their rankings in the martial exam.
"It would be a real joke if it spreads out, our Myriad Willow Convention actually allowed a mere martial artist to become champion. If something like this happens to us, we will probably have to live with this shame for the rest of our lives!"
Ye Qing looked at her senior brothers and whispered, "Senior brothers, don't panic. It seems that we have already trapped him here, he won't be able to escape no matter what. We just need to wait a little longer until he loses patience."
"But I've heard that he comes from a background as a warden and is exceptionally skilled at killing demons to begin with. Otherwise, we wouldn't have wasted so much time here without finding him."
"Hmph, the so-called wardens of the Great Liang Dynasty are nothing special. I suspect he secretly came from the army in the North to participate in the Myriad Willow Convention, which is why he has such skills. Everyone knows that Liang people are the most cunning and insidious."
Ye Qing looked at her agitated senior brothers, wanting to say something, but she could not find the right words.
She pondered for a moment and said softly, "Senior brothers, have a rest. There shouldn't be anything happening tonight."
"You should rest, Junior Sister. We, as senior brothers, can handle a bit of hardship."
Ye Qing nodded and was about to speak when she suddenly noticed the flickering of the fire in front of her.
"Senior brothers..."
She was just about to speak when a tremor came from afar.
It was like the earth itself started quaking at this moment.
Her senior brothers stood up one after another.
Then, a dark shadow instantly rushed towards them.
They did not react in time and one of them was directly slammed in the chest by the dark shadow. He stumbled and nearly lost his balance.
His complexion turned pale and he suddenly realized something, shouting, "Chen Chao..."
The rest of them turned around and looked at the dark shadow. But before they could react, an even more intense commotion also came from behind them.
It was as if the entire mountain was shaking at this moment.
A monstrous creature, the size of a small mountain, appeared in the distance.
Its body was overly tall. It was like as soon as it appeared, it blocked out the entire night sky.
"A Mountain Spirit?"
A cultivator shouted, his expression turning particularly ugly.
Mountain spirits were a common type of demon in the Great Liang Dynasty. Ordinary mountain spirits were not formidable creatures, but this mountain spirit, the size of a small mountain, left them incredibly shocked. Such a mountain spirit virtually had a hundred years of cultivation base; far beyond what these young people could handle.
Ye Qing's complexion turned pale with fear and she said in disbelief, "This mountain spirit was lured here by Chen Chao!"
Indeed, that dark shadow flashed past earlier. Then, the mountain spirit showed up here. It was naturally Chen Chao's doing.
The cultivators who reacted to it began cursing angrily.
A cultivator shouted loudly, "Take action quickly and subdue this demon!"
As the mountain spirit charged through, it had already caused numerous injuries in an instant. If they still did not act to subdue it now, more people would be hurt later, and perhaps some would even die here.
With that cultivator's shout, the remaining cultivators finally reacted.
Someone's mind stirred and threw a golden giant net, shimmering with a boundless golden light. It instantly landed on the head of the mountain spirit and enveloped it.
"It's trapped!"
A cultivator exclaimed with joy.
But as soon as the cry sounded out, the golden giant net was instantly crushed. The mountain spirit's massive body turned around, opened its mouth, and swallowed the golden giant net whole.
The young cultivator who had thrown the golden giant net earlier had a rather ugly expression on his face.
"Again! Don't stop!"
The cultivators shouted, and suddenly, the night sky shimmered with colorful lights.
Those were the cultivators fending off the enemy with their own magic spells. Some wielded magic artifacts and countless rays of brilliance descended in an instant, all landing on the body of the mountain spirit.
"WARGHHH!"
That mountain spirit cried out in pain.
This mountain spirit was a mutated variant among demons. Without stepping into Great Beyond Realm, it could not speak. Judging from the appearance of this mountain spirit, it had virtually reached high-level Bitter Sea Realm. It was likely just a step away from the Great Beyond Realm.
Among the demons captured by those prominent figures, this mountain spirit could rank in the top three.
To deal with it, perhaps only one of those true geniuses present here would have the ability to do so.
As for the others, it was highly unlikely.
Sure enough.
The seemingly dazzling lights caused little damage to the mountain spirit. After it roared angrily, its body actually grew a bit larger.
As countless specks of dust fell from its body, people realized that the mountain spirit, which already looked massive before, was actually crouching down. Only at this moment, did it really stand up.
It was the size of a small mountain to begin with, and now, it became even more colossal.
That was a true behemoth.
After it stood up, it waved its hand and the surrounding cultivators were sent flying without any ability to resist.
For a moment, countless agonized moans filled the mountain and forest.
Countless cultivators chose to crush the bamboo token at their waist right away, turning into a wisp of smoke and dissipating.
As for the remaining cultivators, they were still struggling to resist.
In the distance, some cultivators had already put away their magic artifacts and were preparing to leave.
Chen Chao watched this scene from a distance without saying a word.
Earlier, before being trapped deep in this mountain, he had already discovered the existence of a mountain spirit on this mountain whose cultivation realm was extremely high. It was not something ordinary people could deal with. So, he deliberately exposed his whereabouts and cleverly made them believe that there was no way for him to escape after coming here, making them think they had truly surrounded and trapped him.
And after that, he only did one thing.
At the moment when they were most relaxed, he provoked the mountain spirit.
Then, he started running away.
The ones who suffered were naturally this bunch of cultivators.
This was the most important part of his plan.
Tonight, whether was it those cultivators who wanted to kill him or those who wanted to make him lose, they would suffer heavy losses.
They would no longer be able to organize such a large-scale encirclement and suppression against him.
Of course, after today, Chen Chao would have completely formed a deep grudge against foreign cultivators from various sects and factions.
However, he did not care.
Since someone wanted to scheme against him like this, he would respond in kind.
He could not go after those prominent figures, but similarly, these ordinary young cultivators were no match for him.
This was his means of retaliation -- decisive and straightforward.
These young cultivators had the best cultivation resources since childhood, had the best teachers, and their own aptitudes were also decent. Naturally, life had been smooth sailing all the way. But in his eyes, these young people were not formidable at all. Compared to him, they did not know how to fight at all and had no understanding of what true life-and-death battles were.
Hence, it was a very normal thing for him to win and for the other side to lose.
Nothing could be more normal.
……
……
Tonight, in the pavilion, the influential figures had gathered here.
They were originally not planning to pay attention to the Heavenly Light Mirror tonight. It was a secret agreement by many prominent figures. But the events tonight were just too significant.
Within moments, there were more than a dozen young cultivators appearing by the lakeside. Furthermore, each of them was injured.
With such a thing happening, they naturally wanted to find out the reason behind it.
"It's a Mountain Spirit."
Someone opened their mouth and said softly, "That should be the work of Daoist Heavenheart. Among the demons we captured, it ranks among the top three."
"A mountain spirit of this size is actually quite rare. Even if it's us, we searched for a long time too. Originally, it was supposed to decide the winner. Only one of those few young cultivators had a possibility of slaying it. But now, it was exploited by that young man."
That person glanced at the distance where young cultivators were still appearing by the lakeside in an endless stream, all of them having survived under the mountain spirit's attack.
"When the mountain spirit is sufficiently exhausted, that young man will make his move."
Someone spoke in anger, "What a shameless act!"
"But the rules didn't say that it's not allowed."
Wei Xu who had been standing by the lakeside all along, came over here at some point. He calmly walked up to the pavilion and arrived in front of everyone. After bowing to the old man from the Myriad Heaven Palace, he said, "Anything is allowed within the permissible limits of the rules."
In fact, the rules for this martial exam were virtually non-existent. Cultivators could even kill each other inside, but because there were prominent figures watching from the outside, no deaths had occurred until now. However, tonight was different; people had already started to die.
Although those people were not killed by Chen Chao, it was essentially the same reasoning.
The mountain spirit was lured over by him.
Wei Xu looked at them and said, "That young man was put at a disadvantage in the first place. Now, he didn't do anything either."
"I think we should disqualify him and bring him out immediately."
"His actions have already affected the overall situation."
An important figure looked at Wei Xu with an unfriendly expression.
Wei Xu shook his head and said, "I've already said it, the rules didn't say he can't do this."
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