Chapter 39: The Hunt Begins

"Purple Cloud Sect, Fairy Luo?" Su Xin’s heart stirred.

He had heard of the Purple Cloud Sect; it was a sect with a profound heritage within the Tianyan Dynasty.

"Su Xin, you geniuses from Yun Prefecture must have just arrived at the camp today, right?" Duan Yunfeng looked over.

"Yes," Su Xin nodded.

"No wonder you don't even recognize Fairy Luo," Duan Yunfeng said with a smile. "Besides the geniuses participating in the hunt, there are also merchants in this camp who sell information on the top geniuses taking part in this event."

"You can wait here in the tavern for a little while; you should see those merchants soon."

"Information?" Su Xin understood.

Not long after, Su Xin spotted a merchant and purchased a dossier from him. A thick notebook was laid out before him, and Su Xin began to flip through it. The very first name on the first page caught his eye—Xia Mang!

"Xia Mang?"

Su Xin read the detailed introduction about Xia Mang below.

"The foremost genius of the current Tianyan Imperial family. Thirty-four years old. His cultivation has reached the absolute peak of the Sea-Transformation Realm. He has mastered the Imperial Origin Art, unique to the Tianyan royal family, allowing his spiritual power to erupt with more force than even most early-stage Void-Piercing Realm experts. His comprehension of artistic conception has reached the first level, and his mastery of the Dragon-Point Spear Technique has reached the state of Great Accomplishment. His spear skills are tyrannical and fierce..."

"Among the nearly one hundred thousand geniuses participating in this hunt, he is a super genius who can absolutely rank in the top three!"

"This Xia Mang is incredibly strong!" Su Xin exclaimed in spite of himself.

"He is indeed strong," Duan Yunfeng, who was beside him, nodded. "Although we are both at the peak of the Sea-Transformation Realm, the Imperial Origin Art he practices is a unique heritage technique of the Tianyan royal family. Its explosive power is terrifying—it's even stronger than the technique I practice. In terms of raw power output alone, he is significantly stronger than me. As for his artistic conception and spear skills, they are not a bit inferior to mine."

"Facing him, I would have to give my all and unleash my strongest techniques just to have a chance at a fight."

Although Duan Yunfeng was extremely confident in his own strength, he was still deeply wary of this Xia Mang.

"I heard that Xia Mang had already secured a special admission spot for the Tianyan Palace, but as a member of the royal family, he didn't want outsiders to think he got in solely because of his status, which is why he decided to participate in this hunt," Duan Yunfeng continued. "Among the nearly one hundred thousand geniuses participating this time, of those who have already revealed their strength, this Xia Mang is the most formidable and fierce. That is why he is considered a guaranteed top-three contender!"

"As for the others, even I am only considered qualified to challenge the top ten."

Su Xin continued to flip through the information on various geniuses, and sure enough, he soon saw Duan Yunfeng.

"Beggar youth Duan Yunfeng, eccentric temperament, mysterious background. For years, he has roamed the various prefectures of the Tianyan Dynasty, challenging experts from all paths. His saber techniques are formidable, and his artistic conception is exceptionally high. To this day, no one has forced him to reveal his true strength. He is considered qualified to challenge for the top ten..."

Seeing this information, Su Xin’s expression was rather strange. He noted two points: first, Duan Yunfeng’s background was mysterious. Second, to this day, Duan Yunfeng had never revealed his full strength.

"To be considered qualified for the top ten without ever revealing his true strength, plus his own confidence..." Su Xin sighed inwardly and continued reading.

"Tu San?"

Su Xin noticed another name. Tu San was also a top genius considered qualified for the top ten, no less than Duan Yunfeng. But the reason Su Xin noticed him wasn't because of his strength, but because of his... origin. According to the information, Tu San came from Prince Qi’s estate, having emerged from a group of orphans adopted by Prince Qi.

"Prince Qi?" Su Xin narrowed his eyes.

As far as he knew, this Prince Qi was the younger brother of the current Emperor. Once upon a time, he had competed for the throne. Even though he had failed, he still held immense power within the Tianyan Dynasty and had intricate connections with many major factions and families. Among them, the Situ family had a very close relationship with this Prince Qi.

"The night raid on my Su family involved a squad of the Yinglong Guard. The Yinglong Guard can only be dispatched by members of the royal family, and only those with significant authority at that. This Prince Qi happens to be one of those with the authority to dispatch such a squad," Su Xin mused secretly. Of course, he only suspected it; he could not be certain.

"Hmm, is this the information on that Fairy Luo from earlier?" Su Xin spotted the information on someone else—the very same Fairy Luo from the Purple Cloud Sect who had just passed by. Although she wasn't quite on the level of Duan Yunfeng or Tu San, her strength was not weak, and she was considered qualified to challenge for the top twenty. Furthermore, this Fairy Luo was actually a bloodline awakener, having awakened a third-grade bloodline.

...

Su Xin quickly scanned the information of one genius after another. Finally, he saw the name he had been looking for—the Situ family, Situ Yu!!

"This Situ Yu isn't exactly dazzling," Su Xin thought, looking at the introduction. While Situ Yu was indeed a top-tier genius within the Tianyan Dynasty and qualified to reach the top twenty, his strength and track record were clearly a cut below Duan Yunfeng and Tu San.

"With my current strength, defeating him won't be difficult!" Su Xin clenched his fists.

Of course, that was only based on what had been exposed. Who knew if Situ Yu was hiding his strength? Moreover, this hunt had gathered nearly one hundred thousand geniuses. While most had already shown their hands, and the truly famous ones were recorded in this dossier, it was inevitable that there were low-profile geniuses with immense strength who hadn't been discovered yet.

Take himself, for instance... his strength had improved too rapidly, and he had only fought a handful of times. Only people like Long Dao, who had sparred with him, knew his strength, but he hadn't even used his full power against them. Naturally, his name was not on this list.

"Among those already public and recorded in this dossier, there are dozens of geniuses qualified to challenge for the top twenty, including several bloodline awakeners. And when you add those who haven't shown their true strength... there are just too many." Su Xin clenched his hands, feeling a hint of pressure.

"However, I am determined to win that spot at the Tianyan Palace!"

"When the time comes, we shall see just how far I can go!"

...

Su Xin and Duan Yunfeng drank in the tavern, chatting about some of the geniuses mentioned in the dossier.

"Someone is challenging Xiao Mo on the arena over there!"

"Xiao Mo of the Xiao family? The one qualified to challenge the top twenty?"

"Quick, let's go see."

The tavern erupted in noise, and many geniuses stood up and rushed toward the arena.

"Xiao Mo?" Su Xin quickly recalled the information on him.

"Su Xin, shall we go take a look?" Duan Yunfeng asked.

"Alright." Su Xin nodded, and the two set off immediately.

They soon arrived at the arena and saw two figures flickering and clashing on the platform.

"Hmm? That's a genius from my Yun Prefecture." Su Xin raised an eyebrow.

As one of the thirty-six prefectures, the geniuses sent from Yun Prefecture this year were not particularly outstanding. While a few had passed the second floor of the Dragon-Seeking Tower, only two were truly qualified to challenge for the top one hundred and were recorded in the dossier. One of them was currently fighting Xiao Mo.

"He's going to lose," Duan Yunfeng remarked.

Sure enough, as Xiao Mo made his move, dozens of cold glints seemed to appear on the arena simultaneously. The genius from Yun Prefecture, caught in the center of these glints, was defeated instantly.

"My apologies," Xiao Mo said with a bright laugh after defeating his opponent. He turned to leave, but as he did, his gaze fell upon Duan Yunfeng below the arena.

"Duan Yunfeng!!"

Xiao Mo’s expression distorted instantly, a flash of resentment crossing his eyes. But he didn't do anything else, merely snorted coldly and walked away.

"Duan Yunfeng, the way Xiao Mo looked at you just now... it seems you have a grudge?" Su Xin asked with interest.

"Heh, I just snatched his bride on his wedding day and taught him a lesson, that's all. Nothing major. This Xiao Mo is just a bit too narrow-minded," Duan Yunfeng said dismissively.

"You're ruthless," Su Xin gave him a thumbs-up. It was no wonder Xiao Mo had looked at him with such hatred.

Su Xin and Duan Yunfeng didn't chat much longer and returned to their respective lodgings to rest. The next two days, the camp remained incredibly lively. Duan Yunfeng couldn't sit still and frequently went to the arena to spar, while Su Xin remained very low-key.

Two days passed quickly, and the day of the hunt finally arrived.

...

Early morning, the sun rose!

Across the vast, boundless plain, nearly one hundred thousand geniuses stood densely packed. Su Xin stood with the ten geniuses from Yongning County, including Long Dao.

"Brother Long Dao, what's wrong? Why do you all look so grim?" Su Xin asked.

He noticed that not just Long Dao, but also Qiu Ze, Ling Yu, and the others all wore dejected expressions.

"Su Xin, we all went to the arena to spar these past few days, but the results..."

After listening to Long Dao, Su Xin understood. Long Dao and the others were at best at the level of having cleared the first floor of the Dragon-Seeking Tower. Among the many geniuses in this hunt, they were too ordinary. When they went to the arena to challenge others, they received a reality check. The people fighting in the arena had mostly cleared the first floor, and many had even cleared the second. After several days of sparring, they had lost far more than they had won, and sometimes they were defeated quite miserably.

"There are just too many geniuses. Coming here, we are essentially just going through the motions. Even this first stage of the hunt is not something we can survive," Long Dao said with a bitter smile. "Out of the ten geniuses selected from Yongning County, I reckon you are the only one who can actually make a push in the first stage of the hunt."

"Don't lose heart. There are so many geniuses participating in this stage; if you're lucky, you might just make it through," Su Xin comforted them.

But Long Dao and the others could only offer bitter smiles in response.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!—

Suddenly, sections of the void began to collapse. Within moments, dozens of spatial passages leading to the Imperial Hunting Grounds appeared before the geniuses' eyes.

Under the awe of the crowd, an elderly man with a weathered face, who was presiding over the hunt, waved his hand.

"Enter!"

Immediately, nearly one hundred thousand geniuses swarmed like a hive of bees toward the spatial passages. In just a short time, all of them had entered the hunting grounds.

The Imperial Hunt had officially begun!!