Chapter 85: Plunder

　　Bam bam!

　　The trees behind Qi Ying were being felled relentlessly, and he gritted his teeth as he fled through the forest. His True Energy flowed like floodwaters through a broken dam, resulting in an extremely high rate of expenditure.

　　‘F*ck, I’m burning money here!’ 

　　Unleashing his movement techniques, while simultaneously using his Feather Tread Boots and Golden Blood Armor, his True Energy was being sapped at a ridiculous rate.

　　In order to maintain the circulation of his True Energy, he had no choice but to prepare a vial of Energy Blast Pills in advance. Once his energy was depleted to a certain extent, he would have to take one of those pills, each of which was worth tens of thousands of crystals.

　　A trail of destruction was left in his wake.

　　Feng Hemu could see what he was doing quite clearly.

　　‘Who the hell is this kid? He’s eating Energy Blast Pill as if they were lollies!’ 

　　Feng Hemu was completely stunned.

　　He had always been with the army, so he didn’t know who Qi Ying was. However, he knew how valuable Energy Blast Pills were. If he had had a vial of Energy Blast Pills a few years back, he would have been able to progress to the Ninth Energy Martial Stage in less than a month. Instead, his inability to afford such expensive pills had hampered his progression quite significantly in the past.

　　‘How is this kid so rich?!’ 

　　Feng Hemu was starting to get very annoyed by the obstruction the terrain posed to him.

　　He was a Spirit Martial Stage warrior; how could he have so much difficulty chasing down an Energy Martial Stage warrior?

　　There were so many bystanders witnessing his embarrassment too!

　　“Listen up, kid!” Feng Hemu’s suddenly yelled, “Stop and hand over your badges, and I won’t hurt you. Otherwise, don’t blame me for what I’m about to do!”

　　The high-speed chase was sapping his Spiritual Energy quite quickly as well. As such, he wanted to put an end to that farce as soon as possible to prevent excessive exhaustion.

　　However, he couldn’t bring himself to give up either.

　　Qi Ying was not stopping for anyone!

　　He still had several vials of Energy Blast Pills in his spatial ring!

　　In comparison, those nine badges were far more valuable, and relinquishing them would essentially be the equivalent of giving up on the tournament.

　　‘Do you expect me to challenge one of the major families by myself, and steal their badges? What a joke!’ 

　　Whoosh! Whoosh!

　　He unleashed his Flowing Shadow Strike again, and he shot through the forest like a lithe and powerful beast. At that moment, he noticed that Feng Hemu was not the only one pursuing him. More and more people were beginning to join in on the chase, and he discovered that they were all members of the Duan, Wang, and Sun families.

　　Thus, there were over a hundred warriors hunting him down, making his situation a lot more perilous.

　　Qi Ying ran like the wind, and he poured forth his True Energy into his movement techniques and his Feather Tread Boots. In terms of absolute speed, he was not much slower than a Spirit Martial Stage warrior. Furthermore, he could take advantage of the terrain to take constant evasive measures, thereby slowing down his pursuers.

　　However, as more and more people began to converge toward him, Qi Ying discovered that he was slowly being surrounded!

　　He ran toward the summit of the mountain.

　　He didn’t try to flee down the mountain as he would be a sitting duck on flat ground.

　　He had to reach the summit first, then devise a course of action thereafter!

　　Whoosh!

　　Qi Ying traveled in an unpredictable zigzag trajectory, but at the same time, he was getting closer and closer to the mountain summit.

　　Many people soon discovered that trend.

　　“Young master, Qi Ying seems to be heading for the summit!”

　　“Why would he go there? He would just be cornering himself!”

　　“But that’s where he’s going…”

　　“Hmph… Surround him!”

　　“Yes!”

　　Whoosh!

　　A large horde of warriors from the three major families converged toward Qi Ying from different directions, while also heading for the mountain peak.

　　They had to kill Qi Ying!

　　In order to provide an incentive, the family leaders had promised lavish rewards for the one who ended up killing Qi Ying.

　　To most of the participants from the major families, they were actually solely in the tournament to help their young masters secure more badges.

　　However, if they were to kill Qi Ying, then they would receive a substantial reward!

　　Everyone was chasing after Qi Ying; if someone wanted to kill him, they would have to get to the front of the pack!

　　Thus, all of them began jostling for the lead in pursuit of Qi Ying, as they frantically rushed toward the mountain peak.

　　…

　　“Holy sh*t, they’re all chasing Qi Ying!”

　　“What has he done to them?”

　　“He’s about to get surrounded!”

　　Cries of surprise erupted outside the hunting grounds.

　　Everyone held complex feelings upon seeing that, especially Principal Gu Shiwei and the elders of the Celestial River Academy.

　　In all honesty, Qi Ying hadn’t done anything over the line. He had always cultivated diligently at the academy, and the only real transgression he had made was that he often ditched classes. However, he always completed many academy missions to a high standard, and he was an unprecedented prodigious disciple.

　　But he had to go and irk the Duan family! The scope of his enemies had since expanded to encompass three of the major families!

　　Fame was a double-edged sword.

　　Life was a difficult balance, as constantly keeping a low profile would get one nowhere, but accruing fame and renown could prove to be one’s downfall.

　　An Ruyi’s fists were tightly clenched as she bit down her lower lip.

　　For some reason, her heart was throbbing with agony at the sight of Qi Ying being chased down by such a large group of people.

　　An Jiahe patted her on the shoulder and sighed, “One man cannot fight against the masses… Sigh…”

　　…

　　The five supervisors flying over the hunting grounds had also noticed that situation.

　　Yan Beigui wore an intrigued smile on his face as he said, “How interesting. So many people are chasing a Fifth Energy Martial Stage kid, but they can’t catch him! He seems to possess exceptional aptitude, comparable to some of the prodigies in the capital.”

　　Qi Shun flew over and chimed in, “He seems to be a little younger than us. In a place like this, he really could be considered to be quite outstanding. Should we consider giving him some special rights?”

　　“No!” Qi Kaiyang immediately turned down that notion in a cold voice, “The rules have already been established, and even supervisors like us cannot interfere with the tournament. If that kid can’t even overcome these slight hardships, then we do not need to afford him special protection either.”

　　Qin Susu stood high in the sky and looked on with a disconsolate expression.

　　‘I should believe in him.’ 

　　…

　　Qi Ying finally stopped.

　　That wasn’t because he had shaken off his pursuers, and nor was it because he had run out of energy.

　　Instead, it was because he had nowhere left to run!

　　A gust of wind blew past, sending a chill running down Qi Ying’s spine. He was close to the mountain summit, and there were over a hundred warriors surrounding him. All of them were at the Seventh Energy Martial Stage or above, and a third of them had reached the Ninth Energy Martial Stage. There were also familiar faces among them, including the likes of Duan Gucheng and Liu Meng.

　　Whoosh!

　　Feng Hemu also stopped.

　　A peculiar scene unfolded. The three major families, and the Spirit Martial Stage Feng Hemu were all hunting Qi Ying down.

　　Everyone looked at one another.

　　All of them wanted Qi Ying’s badges.

　　Furthermore, everyone also wanted to take Qi Ying’s life, with the exception of Feng Hemu.

　　At that moment.

　　A few figures emerged from the groups comprising the three major families.

　　One of them was Duan Lang, and he looked up at Feng Hemu with narrowed eyes. “Commander Feng, are you trying to steal our prey?”

　　“Hmm?”

　　Feng Hemu’s brows furrowed.

　　He recognized a few of the people down below, so he could tell that they were all from the three major families. It appeared that they had teamed up…

　　He didn’t want to give up on Qi Ying’s nine badges; they were his ticket to a bright future!

　　Thus, he made up his mind.

　　So what if he had to oppose the three major families?

　　Once he awakened his Battle Spirit, he wouldn’t have to fear any of their family leaders or elders!

　　Furthermore, if he were to become a student of the Yun Xiao Academy, there would be no need for him to fear any of them!

　　“Hehe!” Feng Hemu chuckled as he turned to Duan Lang, “So what if I’m trying to steal your prey?”