Chapter 42: Heaven’s Net
Chapter 42: Heaven’s Net
The first to arrive was Zhangsun Shenji.
“Yan Zhao couldn’t come. He’s in secluded training within Nie Zheng’s Demiplane, ‘The Darkest Starry Sky.’ Who knows, he might not emerge for a year or two.” Zhangsun Shenji pursed his lips, his expression not looking good. “And I, for certain reasons, won’t be participating in the trial… I have a task for you. Teach Yu Qian a good, hard lesson for me!”
“So it was really him?” His inner suspicion confirmed, a sharp light flashed in Li Yi’s eyes, yet he also felt a headache coming. “But the Martial Display has been changed to a hunting competition…”
“Claiming the top spot on the leaderboard would be the loudest slap in the face!” Zhangsun Shenji gave a light snort, unconsciously touching his own cheek. “I can’t just take a beating for nothing. I did some investigating. What Yu Qian wants is the Samsara Shroud!”
“The Samsara Shroud? The third-ranked prize?” Li Yi looked puzzled. “That item, could it hide some secret?”
“I looked into it. This object comes from the Saint-ranked physician—Hua Tuo! It’s said Hua Tuo left behind two legacies. One was the ‘Green Bag Scroll,’ which recorded his medical arts, but it was burned. The second is the ‘Samsara Shroud,’ which records the path of Body Tempering! Hua Tuo’s second disciple cultivated neither Battle Aura nor magic, yet they lived shockingly long lives…”
“Body Tempering Arts?” Li Yi was somewhat baffled and scratched his nose. “But the Yu family built their foundation on magic, didn’t they? What do they want with Body Tempering Arts?”
“I’m not too clear on that either, but he definitely wouldn’t act without a purpose!” Zhangsun Shenji shook his head, deep in thought. “Moreover, in his lifetime, Hua Tuo held nearly ten titles, including ‘Pioneer of Surgery,’ ‘Divine Needles of Anesthesia,’ ‘Master of Dissection,’ and was hailed as ‘One Who Glimpsed the Secrets of Life’! This Samsara Shroud might hold something extraordinary…”
“Forget it, thinking too much is useless. When we get our hands on it, we’ll know!”
Li Yi gave a resolute smile, patted his chest, and felt quite imposing himself.
“Admirable ambition, but don’t get careless!” Zhangsun Shenji punched his shoulder as a reminder.
The next person to arrive was someone completely unexpected.
Su Xuan’er.
“You won!”
Bathing in the silver moonlight, Su Xuan’er blurted out this seemingly random sentence.
“Won? Won what?” Li Yi was utterly confused.
“If I were in Xun Ye’s position, I wouldn’t have been able to block that Water Bullet Spell either!” Su Xuan’er, clearly feeling her pride wounded, clenched her fists and said angrily, “I said I’d see your skills for myself. But it seems I’ve already lost!”
Li Yi had a good mindset; he wasn’t arrogant. He replied impartially, “Actually, I’m like Cheng Yaojin’s three axe swings. Once I use them…”
“Three axe swings? You really aren’t modest!” Upon hearing this, Su Xuan’er couldn’t help but snort lightly. “Cheng Yaojin’s three moves are called the ‘World-Shaking Three Axes.’ When the axe is unleashed, it can shatter the heavens and earth, once split seas and slew whales, cleaved mountains, and beheaded demons! A little praise and your tail is up to the sky! You actually dare compare yourself to Cheng Yaojin, the ‘World-Shaking Madman’?”
This world didn’t have this particular saying?
Li Yi smiled bitterly. He knew it was like a chicken talking to a duck—they weren’t understanding each other. But he couldn’t explain, so he just let it go.
“That spell of yours wasn’t a secret art; it came from a Bloodline Ability, right…” Su Xuan’er stared intently at him and suddenly spoke up.
“How did you know?” The words left Li Yi’s mouth before he could stop himself. Oops.
“Intuition!” A look of triumph appeared in Su Xuan’er’s eyes.
“Intuition?” Li Yi tilted his head, his face saying, ‘Are you kidding me?’ “Based just on intuition, you can make that judgment?”
“Of course. Don’t you know? The biggest difference between me and ordinary people isn’t the ‘Spirit-God Aperture,’ but Fate Intuition.” Su Xuan’er said it as if it were the most natural thing.
Only then did Li Yi remember that the person before him came from the Su Clan of the “Prophecy of Opportunity,” where “the cicada knows before the autumn wind stirs.”
“I lost, but it’s only temporary!” Su Xuan’er lifted her head, a furious fighting spirit surging in her bewitching purple eyes. “Next year, I will challenge you again! And next time, the winner will definitely be me!”
“Alright, I’ll be waiting for you!” Li Yi spoke hastily, then felt the words might be misinterpreted. He corrected himself, “I’ll be ready anytime!”
“Smooth talker. No good person!” Su Xuan’er latched onto this, her face full of disdain.
Feeling wrongly accused, Li Yi was first annoyed, then his eyes gleamed with mischief.
“Don’t worry, I’m not interested in washboards…” He grinned, placing his hands on his chest and making a gesture of lifting something heavy. “I like ones like Gu Yanran. As for you, tsk tsk…”
“I’m not even fourteen yet! When I grow up…”
Su Xuan’er flew into a rage and blurted out. Suddenly realizing what she said, her face burned. She flung down an angry rebuke, turned, and walked away.
“You creep!”
He teased me? He actually dared to tease me?
Since she was young, she had been a proud daughter of heaven. Those around her treated her like a treasure, afraid she might melt. She had never heard such crass and absurd words!
Su Xuan’er was so angry, steam seemed to rise from her. For some reason, Li Yi’s mischievous grin kept popping into her mind.
Her face burned hotter and hotter. Her walk turned into a run, with a hint of fleeing in panic!
“Xuan’er, I’ll definitely remember the one-year promise between us!”
Thump!
Li Yi saw Su Xuan’er in the distance trip and fall. She grabbed a tree branch clumsily, then disappeared into the grass like a startled rabbit.
He burst out laughing.
For some reason, his dislike for this proud little beauty lessened quite a bit.
…
Dawn arrived with the first rays of morning light, and the Beast Gate roared to life!
The stone gate, a hundred meters tall, like the maw of an abyss, swung open with a thunderous sound, revealing a deep green world.
Of the five Beast Gates, this one was the nearest.
Standing alone on a high peak, he wasn’t in a hurry and observed carefully.
The Beast Tide came in three stages.
The first stage was the Behemoth’s Breath.
At this time, an alien aura surged out from the giant gate, like the hand of Creation, influencing and even transforming the environment for a hundred miles around.
The second stage was probing. Lower-level magical beasts served as scouts for reconnaissance and testing.
The third stage was the actual Beast Tide.
He focused his gaze. Right now, a thick viridescent aura, like a drifting Green Dragon, swirled, galloped, rolled, and coiled. Rings of dark green expanded outward, like a dream of jade!
“Is this… the Behemoth’s Breath?”
Under the influence of the Behemoth’s Breath, all plants seemed to fall into a frenzy. They broke free from the shackles of the Rule/Law and grew wildly!
Ancient trees that had already reached their limits, as if awakened by the spirit of the Jianmu, shot towards the sky, their branches and vines sprawling wildly, forming a huge canopy.
The low shrubs believed they were towering giants, straining to grow taller, their leaves and branches expanding without reason.
The green in his eyes had gone mad!
This wasn’t the lush, vibrant feeling brought by something like the Eternal Dawn Radiance. Instead, it felt eerie. For some reason, Li Yi thought of a certain ailment—a tumor.
“Hmm… Fruit?” His eyes focused, and a strange light appeared within them.
Pale blue wild fruits began to grow sporadically on several towering giant trees near the stone gate.
A monkey plucked one and had just taken a bite when its body suddenly swelled. Its outer skin split, revealing new skin. The new skin continued to swell and split again! Like an endless cycle of a silkworm molting, after several times, that monkey actually transformed into a wyvern. It spread its wings and soared into the sky!
“Beast-Blood Fruit!” Li Yi recognized the item and felt a secret shock.
Beast-Blood Fruits contained the blood of ten thousand forms, incredibly miraculous.
This item couldn’t be eaten directly. But after fifteen processing steps, it could be refined into a ‘Beast Seed.’ Once consumed, it could awaken a new magical beast bloodline!
Of course, it was a dice-rolling game. It might just be a low-tier Dire Wolf bloodline, or it could be a terrifying Unicorn bloodline!
“Though, I definitely can’t reach the inner area.”
After some thought, Li Yi reluctantly gave up.
Just then, the dense forest rustled and shook, as if a large form was crashing into the giant trees, creating waves that spread outward.
“The scouts are here?”
Before his words faded, a black barrier descended from the sky, like an overturned giant black bowl, covering an area of about ten miles.
Immediately after, a red barrier fell, its range even wider, covering over twenty miles, layered over the black barrier.
Next, orange, yellow, and green barriers layered down one after another like Russian nesting dolls, covering over fifty miles in total!
“This is Heaven’s Net! The supervisor here seems to be Hua Lianxing?”
The five-layered barrier was called Heaven’s Net, meaning the net of heaven is large-meshed, but nothing escapes it.
The black barrier could confine magical beasts of Tier 5 and above.
The red barrier was for Tier 4, and so on down the line.
These layered barriers were both a seal and a clearly marked hunting zone, allowing hunters to assess their strength and choose accordingly.
Li Yi had no choice. Naturally, it was the green barrier for him.
He straightened his clothes and walked forward leisurely.
Looking down from a high altitude, one could see hunters pouring in from all directions.
Among them, one figure trailed behind Li Yi, like a dark knife in the shadows.