Chapter 112: The Ambush

A brilliant sun hung high in the sky, casting down its light, yet this radiance was tinged with a ghastly pallor; even the warmth of the sunlight seemed to carry a hint of chill. The sky was not a vibrant blue, but rather a dull, grayish-white. Looking up, the sun resembled nothing more than a white wafer embedded in that monotonous expanse.

Beneath this ash-colored sky lay a primeval forest, stretching boundlessly into the distance. Countless Dragon-Cypress trees, standing over a thousand meters tall, rose in dense, imposing ranks. This was a wilderness far more ancient than the Azure Python Mountain Range, and from its depths came the faint, terrifying roars of ferocious beasts, filled with an endless, murderous intent.

Lin Fan, walking through the dense forest, could not help but offer a bitter smile as he looked at the ten points recorded on his bronze token.

This was his third day in the parallel-dimensional test. The primeval jungle was simply too vast. Three days ago, after the multitude of students completed the second round—the illusion test—the Heavenly Book Academy opened its third and final trial: the Point Scramble.

Out of over a hundred thousand students, more than thirty thousand had been weeded out in the first round; many had lied about their age, and when their bone age was revealed to be over eighteen, they were disqualified from entering the Heavenly Book Academy.

The second round was even more ruthless. Those whose willpower was insufficient to overcome the illusions, or those planted by neighboring kingdoms who were exposed during the trial, were eliminated in droves. It was said that thousands had been sent by neighboring kingdoms, all of whom were quietly taken away by the Ice and Snow Kingdom’s Imperial Guard.

Those who lacked the willpower to pass the illusions but were under eighteen and possessed outstanding aptitude—at the very least reaching the Qi-Induction stage—were sent to the four affiliated academies of the Heavenly Book Academy, as having passed the first round proved their background was clean.

The Ice and Snow Kingdom comprised a hundred commanderies and a thousand cities. Beyond the Imperial Capital, the four great Royal Cities stood supreme, governed by lords who held the title of Prince. While a commandery typically managed dozens to a hundred cities, the Royal Cities were not part of this hierarchy; in fact, a single Royal City governed dozens of commanderies.

As the most powerful entity in the Ice and Snow Kingdom, the Heavenly Book Academy was situated in the Imperial Capital, while its four affiliates—the Heaven-Peak, Heaven-River, Heaven-Capital, and Heaven-Martial Academies—were located in the four Royal Cities.

It was tradition for these tens of thousands of talented young warriors to be sent to these four academies for cultivation. This applied not only to those who failed the second round but also to those who would eventually fail the third-round Point Scramble. The kingdom would never abandon such promising youths simply because they failed to enter the primary academy. Even if they lost in the struggle of dragons, they remained like powerful flood dragons, and one day they might yet surpass the true dragons. Many of the kingdom’s powerhouses did not come from the Heavenly Book Academy or the four great sects, but from these four affiliated academies. Setbacks during one’s youth were common, and at this age, where anything could happen, one could never know who might rise to greatness tomorrow.

With the second round over, over sixty-nine thousand students remained to compete in the third round. Three days had passed, and Lin Fan had only encountered nine students: six in the early stage of the Qi-Induction realm, two in the middle stage, and one in the late stage.

For Lin Fan, such cultivation levels were nothing, and he resolved them with ease, seizing the points from their tokens. However, the exertion caused him to cough up blood several times, worsening his injuries. He had already been severely wounded; the little internal energy he could muster was negligible, and his soul was even more fractured than his energy. The only thing he could rely on was his physical strength.

Yet, his physical body was no better off. Having rushed to sign up for the Heavenly Book Academy while in such a state, and then straining himself to instruct Xiao Shuihan and the others in martial arts, his own recovery had been ineffective. His body was not incapable of exerting force, but every ounce of power he unleashed resulted in a backlash that only added to his existing injuries.

Back at the Four Seas Restaurant, when he was forced to suppress thousands of young warriors, he had aggravated his wounds to the point where even drinking strong liquor would cause him to cough up blood. To put it plainly, he was currently as helpless as a sickly invalid.

Yet, he had to participate in the Heavenly Book Academy; he needed to continue integrating his cultivation techniques.

*Cough, cough, cough...*

Lin Fan wore a snow-white robe, his long hair draped carelessly over his shoulders. His starry eyes were filled with a touch of lethargy, and his handsome face appeared weary.

He coughed a few times and looked at the bloodstains on his handkerchief, smiling bitterly. "In my current state, it seems rather difficult to scramble for enough points to break into the top five thousand!"

Given his condition, he feared that long before he could fight his way into the top five thousand, the accumulated strain of constant combat would claim his life. He had even desperately spent 740,000 negative emotion points on the lottery, hoping to draw a Small Life Pill or a Life Pill to fully restore his health.

Alas, his luck seemed to have run dry; he had only drawn a large amount of Body-Tempering Fruit, some food, and three Qi-Fruit, with nothing else to show for it. Frustrated, he had to stop the lottery. Even if he spent his remaining 600,000 points, he couldn't guarantee drawing a Life Pill. It was wiser to save them and purchase Qi-Fruit once his injuries began to recover.

However, he could not even consume the three Qi-Fruit he had already drawn due to his critical condition.

"Perhaps I can take it slow and wait for a while before targeting those with high point totals," Lin Fan thought. If he continued to fight now, he would only further aggravate his injuries, and his body would collapse before he could reach the later stages of the competition.

Since that was the case, he would choose not to fight or scramble for points at all. He would wait a month or two. By the later stages of the point battle, everyone remaining in this forest would have a significant number of points. He would then target those with the highest totals.

By plundering those few, he might just secure his place in the top five thousand. Of course, those who remained in the late stages would be formidable, and the cost to his injuries would be high, but it was still better than the constant, grinding attrition of frequent fights.

It was a choice between constant, damaging combat—leading to a state where he would be too weak to fight later, allowing others to steal his points—or choosing to remain dormant until the final moment to decide the outcome.

He believed that by the end, only the powerful would remain. Each would be no pushover, so he would focus on the strongest among them. Even if he were left with no strength to fight afterward, it would be enough to intimidate the small-fry and deter others from coming for his points.

Just then, Lin Fan’s brow furrowed. With a light tap of his toes, he glided like a phantom up a large tree, his figure hidden by the dense branches and leaves.

Moments later, three figures appeared where Lin Fan had just been standing. They looked puzzled.

"That can't be right. My hunting falcon just saw someone here!" one of the youths in white robes said, looking confusedly at the other two. He whistled toward the sky, and a bird of prey with a wingspan of less than half a meter circled down and landed on his shoulder.

"Could it be that he spotted the falcon and ran off early?" asked one of the others—a youth in red robes with flaming red hair—while the third, dressed in purple robes and holding a long sword, echoed the concern.

The white-robed youth shook his head. "Impossible. The falcon is a common first-order beast, abundant in any mountain range. Even if someone saw it, they wouldn't mistake it for a trained pet. Besides, they are hard to tame; if I weren't from a beast-taming family, I wouldn't have managed to tame one in just three days."

"Then could it be that we approached too quickly and he had powerful soul perception, spotting us early?" the purple-robed youth asked.

At this, the others fell silent. They knew it was entirely possible. The Heavenly Book Academy recruited talent from the entire kingdom, and those with strong souls were not uncommon. Among nearly seventy thousand applicants, finding a few dozen with innate spiritual talents was simple.

However, they reasoned that if such a person had spotted them, they couldn't have traveled very far. The individual was either still nearby or hiding close by.

The three youths exchanged glances and cautiously drew their weapons.

But the moment they drew their blades, it felt as though heavy hammers had smashed into their heads. A powerful, agonizing force left their minds blank.

"The thing I love doing most in this life is knocking people out from behind..."

Their bodies went limp, collapsing forward. As their consciousness flickered toward darkness, a voice drifted into their ears.

*Knocking me out from behind, you bastard? If you have the strength to sneak up on me silently, why not fight me fair and square? Damn you!*

That was the last thought in the minds of the three youths before they lost consciousness.

"Negative emotion points from Mo Qinghan: +999!"
"Negative emotion points from Cao Jie: +999!"
"Negative emotion points from..."

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

Three sounds of bodies hitting the ground echoed, revealing Lin Fan standing behind them.

*Pfft!*

Lin Fan spat out a mouthful of blood, his already pale face turning even whiter. Wiping the blood from his lips, he quickly stepped forward to retrieve the bronze tokens from their bodies and touched them against his own.

The numbers on their tokens vanished instantly.