73: Chapter 73 Cult Encirclement and Suppression! Crisis Emerges!

Chapter 73: Cultist Ambush! The First Sign of Crisis!

Dead silence.

A suffocating, deathly silence.

Seven or eight Mutated Fierce Beasts with twisted forms and ominous auras had completely surrounded the clearing.

Three figures clad in hooded black robes, looking as if they had crawled out of a grave, slowly stepped out from behind the beast pack.

All the clamor, shock, and weeping...

...came to an abrupt halt at that moment.

Fear, like a cold and viscous tide, instantly submerged every student present.

"Who... who are they?"

"These Vicious Beasts... they're terrifying... I've never seen anything like them..."

"Just now... what did he mean when he said we're all going to die here?"

The whispers were filled with trembling.

The students had never seen such a scene before.

One by one, their faces turned pale with fright.

They instinctively huddled together.

As if this could provide a sliver of insignificant security.

Their beasts also sensed their masters' extreme fear, letting out uneasy whines and slowly backing away.

Suddenly.

A student standing on the edge completely snapped; he let out a scream.

He turned and tried to charge out of the encirclement regardless of the consequences!

"Roar!"

He hadn't even run five meters before the largest giant wolf, radiating the pressure of the Bronze Fifth Tier, casually raised its front paw and swiped through the air as if swatting a fly!

A solid wave of dark energy struck first, accurately slamming into the student's back.

*Pfft—*

Blood sprayed wildly.

The student flew out like a kite with a broken string.

He crashed into a large tree and fell silent.

Almost simultaneously.

A Mutated Fierce Beast covered in slimy tentacles shot one out like lightning, tightly Entwining the student's beast before it could react.

"Ugh... ugh..."

Under the Entwine of the tentacles, the beast let out a painful wail, and its struggles quickly weakened.

At this moment.

The black-robed man standing in the middle slowly stepped forward, lifting his hood slightly to reveal the face of a middle-aged man with a cruel smile.

"Students, it's best if you all stay put."

His voice was raspy: "If you run around, you might accidentally be trampled to death, just like that student just now."

"Ah! Murder! They're killing people!"

"It's... it's real! We're really going to die!"

"I don't want to! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

That horrifying scene just now...

...kept the scene silent for only a moment.

Then, many people began screaming in terror.

Some people's legs gave out, and they collapsed to the ground.

Others even began to vomit.

The threat of death was displayed so vividly before their eyes; a thick sense of despair gripped everyone's heart.

Jiang Yun's pupils constricted.

His heart also sank heavily.

This was the first time he had seen a living person killed right before his eyes.

He felt an indescribable sense of panic in his heart.

But reason forced him to calm down.

An imperceptible blue light flashed repeatedly in his pupils.

The [Manifestation of All Things Entries] talent instantly fed back information on the most threatening mutated beasts around him.

[Mutated Skeletal Demonic Wolf, Status: Dead (Controlled), Realm: Bronze Fifth Tier...]

[Corrupted Tentacle Monster, Status: Dead (Controlled), Realm: Bronze Second Tier...]

[Soul-Eroding Queen Bee, Status: Dead (Controlled), Realm: Bronze First Tier...]

..."They're all in a deceased state, Puppets being controlled."

Jiang Yun analyzed rapidly in his mind.

"However, the strongest is that wolf at only Bronze Fifth Tier. For Little Fire at Bronze Rank Seven, it should be easy to insta-kill these Vicious Beasts. I just don't know if there are other experts hiding in the shadows..."

Jiang Yun thought to himself.

He was calculating his strategy.

Just as his thoughts were racing.

Lin Kuo and Xiao Yutian, who were more experienced, spoke up almost simultaneously with trembling voices.

"Black robes... controlling bizarre mutated beasts... You... you are people from the Yuhai Cult!"

"Yuhai Cult?!"

Hearing this name.

The surrounding students immediately became hysterical.

"It's... it's that Yuhai Cult! The evil cult that specializes in attacking Beast Tamers and killing people to steal their beasts!"

"It's over! Everything's over! These people are cold-blooded killers! *Sob sob*! We're all going to die!"

Those four words were like a thunderclap, exploding among the already panicked students! To these young students, this name represented the bloodiest and most terrifying Legendary tales in textbooks and news!

"What? They're the Yuhai Cult?!"

"It's over... we're dead for sure..."

Most of them were children of large families.

They had all heard of this evil cult organization to some extent.

But this only made them fall into an even more desperate fear.

In their panic.

Many students instinctively withdrew their beasts into their Beast Taming Space, as if that would be safer.

Xiao Yutian suppressed his fear and stepped forward, trying to use his Family background: "Sen... Senior! I am the eldest grandson of the Xiao Family from C City! My grandfather is Xiao Zhan! Please, for my grandfather's sake, let me leave. My Xiao Family will surely reward you handsomely!"

"Xiao Family?"

The middle-aged man acted as if he had heard a great joke. He sneered, his tone full of disdain and contempt: "Just a local landlord in C City. In the eyes of my Sacred Cult, what does that count for?"

His gaze swept across the field, and his voice suddenly turned cold, carrying an unquestionable killing intent: "Enough nonsense! Everyone, immediately surrender your beasts! Otherwise... that person just now will be your fate!"

Hearing these words.

Everyone's heart froze.

Their goal really was the beasts!

The crowd was deeply shaken, their faces turning even paler.

Yet, no one moved.

The absurd thought was born in their hearts that if they didn't hand over their beasts...

...perhaps the other party wouldn't kill them.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man sneered: "Hand them over voluntarily, and you might live a bit longer. Hide them? You'll only die faster!"

Before his voice had even faded.

The Soul-Eroding Queen Bee, which had been circling at a low altitude and looked like a giant hornet, suddenly dove down.

A cold light flashed from its tail.

An almost invisible sharp sting shot through the air!

*Pfft!*

Another student standing slightly on the outskirts of the crowd instantly had a tiny bloody hole in his forehead.

The terrified expression on his face froze, the light in his eyes quickly dimmed, and he fell straight backward.

At the same time.

*Crack!*

A sound like glass shattering rang out.

The moment the student died.

An irregular pitch-black rift suddenly tore open in the air beside him!

A shivering, dazed canine beast was spat out from the rift.

The master died, and the Beast Taming Space shattered.

The backlash from the forced breaking of the contract...

...caused it to let out a mournful cry, blood overflowing from its nose and mouth. Its aura instantly withered as it collapsed to the ground.

Clearly, its Aptitude Origin had been damaged.

The next moment.

The Corrupted Tentacle Monster's tentacles swept in again.

It easily snatched away the beast, which had lost its master and was heavily injured, dragging it into the eerie shadows behind them.

"Now."

The middle-aged man's voice was like a demon's whisper.

Breaking the hair-raising silence.

"Does anyone else want to try?"

Seeing another classmate die.

Under the shadow of death.

Finally, a student whose mind had collapsed summoned their beast while crying, tremblingly pushing it toward the cultists.

The beast was Entwined by tentacles and let out a helpless wail, looking back in despair at its former master with eyes full of incomprehension and sadness.

Xiao Yutian and Lin Kuo saw this scene.

Their hearts also sank to the bottom.

Their Family names were useless, and handing over their beasts didn't guarantee survival; they were truly at a dead end now.

"Bastard!"

Zhao Tiezhu's eyes were bloodshot, his fists clenching until they cracked. He growled in a low voice: "To even abandon one's own partner!"

"Jiang Yun, what do we do?"

Zhao Tiezhu instinctively looked toward Jiang Yun and asked.

It was as if he had already made Jiang Yun his pillar of support.

Jiang Yun's gaze was sharp as an eagle's.

He rapidly scanned the entire encirclement, his brain thinking at an unprecedented speed.

"For the cult to dare to enter the competition grounds so brazenly to slaughter us students, the City Defense Team in the inner area has likely met with misfortune..."

"We don't know if the Principal and the others are aware? Relying on outside rescue is too risky..."

"The cult members in front of me can be dealt with, but are there other Yuhai Cult experts hiding nearby? There's no way to know that either."

"But I must save ourselves right now! Either create a big enough commotion to attract the attention of outside experts! Or create an opportunity for these students to leave and report the situation."

"These are probably the only two feasible ways!"

In an instant.

Jiang Yun had made his decision.

He tilted his head slightly.

In a voice only Zhao Tiezhu and Shang Xiaoxiao could hear, he spoke rapidly:

"Get behind me. I'll deal with them and create chaos. If there's a chance, run away immediately and notify the Principal and the City Defense Team!"

Zhao Tiezhu and Shang Xiaoxiao were both stunned by his words.

They looked at Jiang Yun in disbelief.

Deal with them?

These were all terrifying Bronze Rank existences!

Especially that skeletal giant wolf, its aura was unfathomable!

What nonsense was Jiang Yun talking... "Jiang Yun, you..."

Zhao Tiezhu was about to say something.

But before he could finish.

Jiang Yun had already taken a step forward.

He directly left the protection of the crowd.

Coming to the very front of the group.

Attracting the attention of these cultists.

He looked up, staring directly at the middle-aged man, his voice clear but exploding like thunder in this clearing shrouded in despair:

"Do you really think... you've got us?"

"If you want to touch my partners or take my beast! You'll have to see if you have the skill to take them!"