71: Chapter 71 The Mutated Ferocious Beast Reappears?! A Campaign Against Jiang Yun!

Jiang Yun was naturally unaware of the commotion in the outside world.

If he knew his every move was being broadcast live, perhaps he would have restrained himself a bit.

"Let's go, Iron Pillar."

Jiang Yun called out, "Following the direction those two guys just ran, we might find traces of Xiao Yutian or Lin Kuo."

At this moment, Zhao Tiezhu had blind trust in Jiang Yun.

Hearing this, he immediately nodded and said heroically, "Alright! I'm sticking with you today, buddy! Let's go do something big!"

The two of them set off together toward the depths of the dense forest.

However, before they had gone far, the sounds of intense fighting and the neighing of beasts suddenly came from ahead.

The two exchanged a look and quietly crept forward.

They saw an open clearing.

Shang Xiaoxiao, the quiet, glasses-wearing female classmate from Qingquan No. 1 Middle School, was commanding her beast, a Water Spirit Fox, in a fierce battle against a massive, red-eyed Black Iron Ninth Tier Iron-Backed Mountain Boar.

But the situation of the battle was quite strange.

Shang Xiaoxiao's Water Spirit Fox was also at the Peak of the Black Iron Ninth Tier and was skilled in using water-type skills; logically, it should have been able to suppress an Iron-Backed Mountain Boar of the same tier.

However, the Iron-Backed Mountain Boar before them was unusually violent, completely unafraid of the Water Spirit Fox's attacks. It braved water arrows and bubbles, charging and biting crazily in a suicidal fighting style.

Instead, the Water Spirit Fox was forced back step by step, several wounds already appearing on its body, clearly at a disadvantage.

"Something's not right!"

Jiang Yun frowned.

The state of this Vicious Beast...

...gave him a familiar sense of incongruity.

Without hesitation, with a thought, the Little Cloud Sparrow on his shoulder turned into a bolt of lightning and instantly swept across the battlefield!

"Slash!"

A Wind-Thunder Blade flashed past, and the frenzied Iron-Backed Mountain Boar froze. A charred crack appeared on its neck, and it collapsed with a bang, its Aura completely gone.

An instant kill!

"Awesome!"

Zhao Tiezhu habitually praised him.

He walked out together with Jiang Yun.

Shang Xiaoxiao saw the two people who suddenly appeared.

Especially seeing the Little Cloud Sparrow that had instantly killed the Iron-Backed Mountain Boar, her face showed surprise and astonishment: "Jiang Yun? Zhao Tiezhu? It's you guys?"

Sensing the undisguised Bronze Rank Aura from the Little Cloud Sparrow, she adjusted her glasses, unable to hide her shock: "Bronze Rank... Student Jiang Yun, your Little Cloud Sparrow has actually..."

Zhao Tiezhu interjected proudly, "Of course! My buddy is amazing, right? Shang Xiaoxiao, are you okay?"

Shang Xiaoxiao shook her head.

Then, she ran distressed to her Water Spirit Fox's side to check its injuries. "I'm fine, it's just that Xiao Ling got hurt a bit."

She hurriedly took out a healing Medicinal Pill and fed it to the Water Spirit Fox, then recalled it to her Beast Taming Space to rest.

She stood up and thanked Jiang Yun and Zhao Tiezhu again, then pointed at the Iron-Backed Mountain Boar's corpse and said seriously, "This Vicious Beast was killed by Student Jiang Yun, so the beast core should belong to you."

Jiang Yun waved his hand and said calmly, "We're all classmates, it was just a small favor. Besides, you fought hard against this beast; I only dealt the final blow. You take the beast core."

Shang Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

She looked at the Little Cloud Sparrow in the air, which was radiating the strength of the Bronze First Tier.

She feared that even without her hard-fought battle...

...the other party could have killed it in one hit!

At this time, Zhao Tiezhu also said carelessly, "That's right, Classmate Shang, don't be polite with him. This guy Jiang Yun is dripping with wealth right now; he doesn't care about one or two cores."

Shang Xiaoxiao saw their sincere attitude.

Thinking that she did indeed need beast cores to compete for a spot, she no longer declined and said gratefully, "Then, thank you both."

After saying that, she walked to the Iron-Backed Mountain Boar's corpse, preparing to extract the beast core.

However, after using a small knife she carried to cut open the beast's head and heart region and searching carefully, a look of extreme confusion appeared on her face. "Strange... how can there be none?"

"None?"

Hearing this, Jiang Yun and Zhao Tiezhu also stepped forward to check.

Sure enough, the beast's body was empty; they couldn't find the energy core that should have been there at all.

The beast core!

"How can a Vicious Beast not have a beast core?"

Zhao Tiezhu scratched his head, looking puzzled.

Seeing this...

...Jiang Yun's expression gradually grew solemn.

A terrifying thought flashed through his mind!

He immediately knelt down and carefully examined the Iron-Backed Mountain Boar's corpse.

He saw that its muscles were withered and shrunken, and its blood was thick and dark, showing a highly abnormal state of exhaustion that overlapped significantly with a certain scene in his memory.

Before, in the Misty Forest...

...the mutated Purple Wood Rhinoceros controlled by the cult that he had killed together with Captain Lin Wei seemed to have looked just like this!

Alarm bells rang in Jiang Yun's heart.

The report from Captain Lin Wei's team members back then still rang in his ears.

The Vicious Beast's flesh was withered, as if its life force had been drained by something, and furthermore, no beast core could be found... Without the slightest hesitation...

Jiang Yun immediately activated his Entry Manifestation ability in secret, focusing his gaze on the Iron-Backed Mountain Boar's corpse.

In an instant, several lines of clear information appeared before his eyes:

[species]: Iron-Backed Mountain Boar (no attribute · Mutant)

[Realm]: Black Iron Ninth Tier

[Status]: Deceased

[Characteristics]: No sense of pain, no fear, extreme desire for destruction, significantly increased defense, life force forcibly stimulated and overdrawn

[Hint]: High concentration of Berserk Potion residue and faint Mental Control Rune fluctuations detected within the body; determined to be a man-made Mutant.

As expected!

Jiang Yun's heart sank.

He could basically confirm that the Vicious Beast before him was yet another mutated Vicious Beast controlled by the cult!

"Jiang Yun, what's wrong? What did you find?"

Seeing Jiang Yun's expression was off, Zhao Tiezhu hurriedly asked.

Shang Xiaoxiao also cast a questioning look.

Jiang Yun took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "This Vicious Beast is not a normal wild beast. It is a Mutant that has been artificially modified and controlled."

He pointed to the corpse's abnormalities. "Look, this beast's flesh is withered and there's no beast core! It's exactly the same as what I've heard about situations after being controlled by the cult!"

Hearing Jiang Yun's words...

...Zhao Tiezhu suddenly slapped his thigh as if coming to a sudden realization:

"Right! Now that you mention it, I remember! I've encountered a Vicious Beast like this too; the one that attacked me just now was the same! Its Realm was clearly similar to my Wood Armor Savage Ox, but it was like it had gone crazy—it didn't know pain or fear and attacked desperately! I thought I was just unlucky and ran into some reckless brute!"

"Killing that beast took quite a bit of effort, and that was when that guy Qin Feng ambushed me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been afraid of that bastard Qin Feng."

Shang Xiaoxiao also nodded repeatedly, still feeling lingering fear. "Exactly, I felt the same way when fighting this mountain boar. It seemed to have no rationality at all, only wanting to destroy everything in front of it."

The testimony of the two made Jiang Yun even more certain of his judgment.

The cult's tentacles... have already reached the arena of this city-level Beast Tamer assessment competition... What do they want to do?

Create chaos?

Or is there some even bigger conspiracy?

Whatever the purpose, the current situation has become extremely dangerous.

These mutated Vicious Beasts have increased strength and are unafraid of death, posing a huge threat to the participating students.

They might even have already been targeted by the cult members.

"The situation is bad."

Jiang Yun made a prompt decision: "We must leave the Inner Circle immediately and head for the Border Safety Zone, or find a way to notify the City Defense Team and the higher-ups outside! It's very likely that a large number of these mutated Vicious Beasts have already infiltrated this place!"

Zhao Tiezhu and Shang Xiaoxiao also realized the severity of the problem. Their faces turned pale, and they hurriedly nodded in agreement.

However, just as they were about to set off...

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

"Thump, thump, thump..."

From all directions, the sounds of dense footsteps and beasts running suddenly came!

Trees swayed, and shadows of people flickered!

Immediately after, as many as a dozen students, riding various kinds of beasts, aggressively closed in from the surrounding woods, completely surrounding the three of them!

These students were wearing the uniforms of Panshi Middle School and Leiting Middle School, and their faces all bore expressions of resentment and schadenfreude.

The crowd parted.

A tall and arrogant figure, standing atop a behemoth, slowly came forward.

It was none other than the number one Genius of Panshi Middle School, Xiao Yutian!

The beast beneath his feet was a giant elephant with a body size comparable to a small truck, skin as rough as rock, a curled trunk, and snow-white tusks.

That was his beast, the Mountain-Shaking Rock Elephant.

Its entire body radiated thick and solid earth-type energy fluctuations; it was impressively a powerful Bronze First Tier existence!

"Jiang Yun! Where do you think you're going!"

Xiao Yutian's voice was loud, carrying a condescending arrogance. "You've robbed so many students from my Panshi Middle School; do you think you can leave peacefully? Today, I, Xiao Yutian, will seek justice for them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd on the other side also parted, and a cold figure sitting cross-legged atop the head of a giant python—as thick as a bucket with scales shimmering with a dark luster—slowly slithered out.

It was precisely the Genius of Leiting Middle School, Lin Kuo!

His beast was the Phantom Shadow Water Python!

As the python's body moved, faint electric arcs flickered, and it similarly radiated the powerful Aura of the Bronze First Tier!

Lin Kuo's narrow eyes squinted as he stared coldly at Jiang Yun, his voice hoarse. "And my Leiting Middle School. Jiang Yun, your robbery game should end now. Hand over all the beast cores and cripple your beast's combat power; perhaps we can consider letting you exit gracefully."

Two great Geniuses, two Bronze Rank beasts, along with several elite students from both schools, completely surrounded Jiang Yun, Zhao Tiezhu, and Shang Xiaoxiao!

The surrounding students who had been robbed by Jiang Yun now felt as if they had found their backbone and began to shout excitedly.

"Crusade against Jiang Yun! Take back the beast cores!"

"Crusade against Jiang Yun! Take back the beast cores!"

"Senior Xiao! Senior Lin! Mighty! Eliminate this robbery Devil Head!"

The waves of sound grew louder and louder, filled with the pleasure and excitement of imminent revenge.

In their view, with the two great Geniuses joining forces...

...even if Jiang Yun had a Bronze Rank beast, he would undoubtedly be defeated!