19: Chapter 19 Hunters in the Sky

The moment lightning tore through the night sky, all the Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats on the rift slope crouched down simultaneously.

It was not an order from Lu Jin.

It was because the things in the sky were too heavy.

Seven Thunder-wing Griffins pressed out from the clouds first, their wings spreading to cover half the edge of the sinkhole in shadow. Higher up, there was a fainter layer of wind light hidden behind the night clouds, where a hanging silver-white altar was vaguely visible, with four slender wind pillars descending from it, echoing exactly with the thunder patterns on the backs of the Griffin flock.

Lu Jin took only one look, and his eyes sank.

The Griffins were not everything.

The real thing controlling the field was higher up.

Grey Pupil stood by his side, his grey eyes fixed on the constantly shifting flight formation in the sky, his voice kept very low.

"High ring, open vision; middle ring, seal the slope; low ring, probe the holes."

Just as he finished speaking, Ji Mingxiao's voice descended from the sky.

"High ring, open Thunder Eyes."

"Middle ring, lock the wind."

"Low ring, sweep the ground."

Three sentences, as clean as if cut by a knife.

The next instant, the seven Thunder-wing Griffins flapped their wings simultaneously.

Blue-white thunder patterns lit up section by section along their wing bones, as if seven eyes had opened in the night sky. Following closely, over a dozen Silver-feathered Scout Griffins descended from both sides, skimming along the line of the rift slope and the abandoned cable shaft, the wind pressure they brought stripping away a layer of loose ash.

A fake cave entrance at Lu Jin's feet was swept by that wind, revealing the cavity buried beneath it.

Boom!

A lightning bolt from high above nailed straight down.

Debris exploded, and the entire fake cave collapsed on the spot.

Lu Jin didn't blink, tapping his bone clacker.

"Collapse entrance No. 1, keep heat at No. 3, vent ash at No. 5."

"Transport Team, move the cargo to the second level."

"Digging Squad, open the return passage behind the side vent by another half a zhang."

The rat swarm split instantly.

A few of the most heavily injured Transport Rats dragged fire sandbags and soil-stabilizing paste, diving into the newly opened second-level burrow. The Tunneling Rats dove headfirst into the black stone crevices, continuing to hollow out along the bottom of the rift slope. The Ambush Squad sank completely into the ash, suppressing even their breathing to the lightest level.

The rat swarm, having just crawled out alive from being buried alive, was terrified, yet also incredibly fierce.

Lu Jin could clearly feel the lines of faith in the Dead Ash Mine tightening section by section.

Those surviving Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats were no longer just in awe.

They had staked their lives as well.

The wind pressure from the sky grew heavier and heavier.

Every cave entrance still venting air was like a lamp under the high-altitude Thunder Eyes.

This was the most disgusting thing about the Sky school.

No matter how deep you dig underground, as long as you need to breathe, walk, or retain heat, you will definitely be seen.

Grey Pupil stared at the fake cave pinned down by the lightning, a very faint low growl rolling in his throat.

"He is calculating the wind."

"Which cave is active, which cave is empty—he can filter out half of them in one circle."

Lu Jin looked up at the person on the back of the Thunder-wing Griffin in the very front.

Ji Mingxiao stood very steadily.

He did not lean over, he was not arrogant, nor was there any hint of playfulness when looking at prey. He just looked down at the entire rift slope, and occasionally the wind-thunder positioning disk in his hand would turn, and a new locking line would descend.

This person was not here to show off.

He was dismantling the map.

"Lure him to descend."

Lu Jin said.

Grey Pupil said nothing, raising his claws to quickly scratch three marks on the ground.

Soon, the No. 3 fake heat vent began to emit steam.

That vent was hidden behind a broken stone beam; the heat was induced by a mixture of residual ash fire and water vapor, the cave was less than a zhang deep, and two newly snatched Earth-binding Crystal Spikes were buried underneath. A bone rope threaded from the ends of the crystal spikes into the ash, with the other end tied to the waists of dozens of Ambush Rats.

The Silver-feathered Scout Griffin truly set its sights on that spot.

The one in the very front was not large, but its speed was astonishing; it tucked its wings and dived down, almost grazing the stone beam. There were thunder patterns at the corners of its eyes, and fine electricity coiled around its claws; it was clearly a low-level reconnaissance unit specifically used for probing caves.

"It's here."

Grey Pupil pressed his claw tip down lightly.

The fire sandbags buried by the cave entrance exploded first.

It wasn't a large explosion, only a choking ball of ash fire that suddenly surged up, blurring the Scout Griffin's vision for an instant. It reacted extremely quickly, flapping its wings to pull up, but the stone beam beneath it suddenly collapsed.

The Tunneling Rats had hollowed out the entire base.

The Silver-feathered Scout Griffin stepped into empty air, and just as its wing roots folded back, the two Earth-binding Crystal Spikes simultaneously bit into the rock layer, and the bone rope in the ash snapped taut, like a well-laid trap line, snapping against the base of its left wing on the spot.

Rip!

A large patch of silver feathers mixed with blood flew out.

The Scout Griffin let out a shrill, long cry, the entire bird losing control and smashing toward the rift slope. The Ambush Rats swarmed out from the ash crevices on both sides, pouncing on its injured wing roots and the electric sac under its belly.

In less than two breaths, they had already torn off three long thunder feathers.

Grey Pupil was even faster, skimming across the ground, and with one claw, he dug into the side of the Scout Griffin's belly, forcibly stripping off half of the still-pulsing thunder-patterned electric sac.

Ji Mingxiao in the sky finally moved.

He raised his hand, his five fingers closing together.

"Fall."

A lightning spear, thinner and more precise than before, nailed down from the night clouds, not striking the rat swarm, nor the ground, but hitting the taut bone rope exactly.

Snap!

The bone rope exploded and snapped instantly.

A dozen Ambush Rats still biting onto it were swept away by the lightning arc on the spot, their fur scorched upon landing. The Scout Griffin took advantage of that instant to lift half its body, rushing back into the sky with a trail of blood.

Grey Pupil had already retreated back into the crevice.

He threw that half of the electric sac at Lu Jin's feet and pressed down on the three thunder feathers, his voice still cold.

"Seven burned to death, two crippled."

"Exchanged for half an electric sac and three long feathers."

Lu Jin looked down at them.

The electric sac was still pulsing.

Pale blue electric filaments shot out from the tear, leaving a string of scorch marks on the stone surface.

Good stuff.

The formation in the sky was silent for a moment.

When the injured Scout Griffin flew back to the middle ring, it clearly wobbled twice. Several companions immediately filled its position, and the entire flight circle was not in any disarray.

Ji Mingxiao did not get angry, did not scold, nor did he continue to press down fiercely.

He just lowered the altitude by another level.

This time, Lu Jin was finally able to see his face clearly.

Very young, with sharp contours, but his eyes were excessively heavy. That wasn't the excitement that only lit up when Lu Jingyao stepped on someone, but a very stable focus, as if he had only been looking at the situation from beginning to end, not at emotions.

Ji Mingxiao looked down at Lu Jin on the rift slope and spoke.

"Lu Jin?"

Lu Jin looked up.

"If you have business, then fight."

Ji Mingxiao glanced at the remains of the blockage still emitting ash fire by the main shaft, and then at the traces of materials being dragged away alive at the rift slope entrance.

"That match under the sinkhole, you did it."

"Yes."

"Those squads at the sealed entrance, you flipped them too."

"You saw it."

Ji Mingxiao didn't respond to that, his gaze falling on that half of the electric sac and the three thunder feathers, pausing for a moment.

"This underground network of yours is dug well."

Grey Pupil's ears twitched slightly, and for the first time, a trace of very faint ferocity surfaced in his Grey Pupils.

This was the number one seed of Qinglan City.

He was not insulting him.

He was acknowledging him.

Lu Jin, however, did not relax, his voice still cold.

"Finished complimenting?"

Ji Mingxiao finally looked at him.

"Not yet."

As soon as he finished speaking, the twelve Thunder-wing Griffins in the middle ring tilted their wings simultaneously.

They were not attacking the ground.

They were locking the wind.

The wind direction across the entire rift slope was instantly changed.

The residual heat of the ash fire that was originally dissipating outward was all forcibly pressed back into the stone crevices. Several side vents that were hidden very deep immediately began to backflow, and even the moisture in the second-level burrow was forced out.

Grey Pupil's expression changed slightly.

"He is forcing out the real vents."

Lu Jin's gaze sank further.

This move was more uncomfortable than the lightning strikes.

Lightning strikes blew up caves.

Locking the wind forced out the escape routes.

Either you continue to vent air and be seen by him, or you seal all the openings and stifle yourself.

"Seal entrance No. 7, open a downward crevice."

"Press the soil-stabilizing paste to the ceiling of the second level."

"Bury the electric sac in the ash pile on the right slope, leave a fuse."

Once the order was given, the Transport Team immediately pounced toward the second level.

The just-snatched soil-stabilizing paste was pressed lump by lump into the cracks in the cave ceiling, smoothed over with wet ash and black stone powder. The Digging Squad cut downward, forcibly biting out another narrow crevice beneath the main path for air circulation.

On the right slope, Grey Pupil personally buried half of the electric sac into the ash pile, leaving only three thunder feathers as a guide.

The wind from the sky was still pressing down.

Ji Mingxiao did not continue speaking, just sending the Scout Griffins down circle by circle. Soon, the second low-flying Scout Griffin reached the right slope.

Just as its wing tip grazed the ash pile, Grey Pupil's claw tip landed.

Boom!

The electric sac buried in the ash was triggered by the thunder feathers and exploded on the spot.

Pale blue electric arcs mixed with ash fire surged upward; the Scout Griffin was blown into a somersault, its right wing scorched black, and it almost crashed directly. But this time, before it hit the ground, a greater wind pressed down from high above, supporting it and lifting it back up.

It was not the Griffin's own wind.

It was the wind pillar descending from the silver-white altar higher up.

Lu Jin saw it.

In that instant, the four wind pillars seemed to come alive, connecting the entire flight circle into a net. The Griffin flock was just the claws and teeth on the net; what truly allowed them to descend, lock the wind, and instantly rescue was that altar hanging behind the clouds.

Ji Mingxiao also saw that Lu Jin had seen it.

The two looked at each other across half the rift slope.

Neither of them tried to say any more nonsense.

Lu Jin spoke first.

"So it turns out you weren't relying on the birds."

Ji Mingxiao said calmly: "You weren't just relying on rats either."

As these words fell, the edge of the sinkhole suddenly went quiet.

The Griffin flock above no longer continued to press down, and the rat swarm below the rift slope lay still, unmoving. Only a few wisps of ash fire continued to vent intermittently by the main shaft, like the still-warm breath of this battlefield.

Ji Mingxiao withdrew his gaze, raised his hand and wiped it, and the locking lines on the wind-thunder positioning disk immediately faded.

He did not fight this battle to the end.

Lu Jin did not pursue to bite back either.

If he continued to fight, he could rely on the terrain and the cave network to bite off more thunder feathers, or even drag a low-level Scout Griffin to its death. But once that hanging altar in the sky really pressed down, his current divine power and rat swarm could not withstand it.

Ji Mingxiao was clearly aware of this too.

It was not worth it to fight to serious injury for a few points here against a Cave school practitioner who had just crawled out of the dirt.

When he turned to leave, he suddenly dropped a sentence.

"I don't do that kind of work like Lu Jingyao."

The wind curled, and these words fell onto the rift slope, cold and hard.

Lu Jin looked at him without responding.

Ji Mingxiao did not need a response.

The main Griffin beneath his feet flapped its wings and ascended, and the entire flight flock turned with it. The outline of the silver-white altar behind the clouds flashed, then hid back into the night.

Just before pulling away completely, Ji Mingxiao looked back.

"Before the finale, don't die."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sky over the entire Collapsed Star Mining Field suddenly lit up simultaneously.

It was not lightning.

It was the Unified Exam main leaderboard.

A grand voice pressed over the sound of the wind, crashing down from all directions at once.

"The Collapsed Star Unified Exam enters the final screening."

"Six hours later, the mining field will close."

"At that time, the top eight in points will enter the city-wide live-broadcast final battle."

The leaderboard in the night sky suddenly elongated, and the top eight were framed directly by golden lines.

[1st: Ji Mingxiao, 118]

[2nd: Lu Jingyao, 91]

...

[8th: Lin Ce, 72]

Below the golden frames, names continued to scroll.

[9th: Su Yao, 69]

[10th: Lu Jin, 64]

The wind on the rift slope suddenly turned cold.

Grey Pupil looked down at the board, his claw tips slowly tightening.

"Still eight points short."

Lu Jin did not look at him.

His gaze had already fallen toward the direction of the North Mining Ridge.

A blue dot was still shining over there.

Lonely, not extinguished.