126: That's really funny.
Jumping down from the branches, Liu Yiyi landed steadily on the ground. Although she had lost her eligibility to continue the competition, she wasn't frustrated; instead, she was quite satisfied.
"Sister Yiyi, how was the harvest?" Jiang Jianbin walked over from the side and asked.
"Not bad, but still not as good as you. You've scavenged so much, I bet you'd even strip the bark off the tree if you could," Liu Yiyi said as she walked toward the Azure Dragon Beast Taming University team.
She had seen it clearly; in the middle of their team, a mountain-high pile of quenching thought beads and monster beast crystal cores was stacked up—all of it was Jiang Jianbin's loot.
In comparison, her harvest was much smaller, but those two platinum-level demon beast eggs were enough to bridge the gap.
"Hehe, I can't use all this stuff anyway. If you like anything, Sister Yiyi, just take it," Jiang Jianbin said generously, patting his chest.
"Are you sure? Then I'll take it all, okay?" Liu Yiyi said with a smile.
At this, a trace of hesitation appeared on Jiang Jianbin's face.
Seeing this, Liu Yiyi covered her mouth and chuckled, "Haha, alright, I'm just teasing you. I won't take it for nothing.
"I have two platinum-level demon beast eggs here, and I won't be able to use both in the short term. I might as well give you one in exchange for your resources."
"Just as well, demon beasts need a lot of resources to grow quickly after hatching. The ones I have might not be enough."
"Deal!" Jiang Jianbin said with an excited face.
He didn't know how long it would take for him to use up so many resources alone. It just so happened that he felt his Spiritual Power was about to break through to a new beast taming slot soon, so he was exactly in need of a demon beast egg.
He could also choose to resell the resources in his hands and then use the money to buy demon beast eggs.
But demon beast eggs, especially high-rank ones above Gold-rank, weren't something that could be acquired just with money; more often than not, they were in high demand but low supply.
High-level demon beast eggs had long been scooped up by the major families and powers, making it difficult for them to flow into the market.
Of course, the demon beast eggs from Su Ze's system were an exception.
At this time, Liu Yiyi's willingness to exchange a platinum-level demon beast egg with him couldn't be better. Otherwise, he might have ended up only being able to contract that gold-rank monster beast egg he had snatched from someone else.
"Let me see... how about this? We'll put our respective loot together and then split it half-and-half?" Liu Yiyi proposed.
This would save them the trouble of pricing each quenching thought bead and monster beast crystal core. Moreover, neither of them knew exactly what the price of something like a platinum-level demon beast egg would be.
Jiang Jianbin said with some hesitation, "But... Sister Yiyi, shouldn't we leave a share for Big Brother Kuang Yi and Brother Su Ze? They haven't come down yet."
Liu Yiyi replied, "Them? There are better things waiting for them up there. In fact... I have a feeling that the wutong fruit at the very top will be taken by one of them."
"The wutong fruit? That requires climbing to the highest point and getting first place. Can they beat the people from other schools and those major families?" Jiang Jianbin wasn't sure.
"Who knows."
And just then, three more people fell from the tree.
Unlike the two who had jumped down lightly and unscathed, these three had various degrees of injuries on their bodies.
One person had even fallen completely; he was caught steadily by the teachers waiting below, but he was still heavily injured.
After Liu Yiyi left, they had fought tooth and nail to snatch the remaining meager resources.
They couldn't possibly participate in this Beast Taming Grand Competition only to return with two measly quenching thought beads, could they?
They had specifically stayed back a year or two for this. Otherwise, they would have joined forces like the Great Xia Spirit Guards long ago, and the salary they could have earned in those one or two years would be far more than this.
The final result was a chaotic battle among the four. The weakest among them was the number four seed from Vermilion Bird Beast Taming University, who was in the same group as Su Ze.
Because he wanted a better prize, he had given up the gold-rank monster beast egg to Jiang Jianbin.
As a result, he had now been knocked unconscious and fallen, and all the items on him had been snatched away.
Everyone was even wondering whether he had been knocked out by someone or if he had fainted from pure rage because he couldn't catch his breath.
The other two also had some harvest, but the ultimate winner was someone from Vermilion Bird Beast Taming University—the number two seed, the strongest among the remaining four.
As a fellow student, he hadn't shown any mercy. While dealing the heaviest blows, he hadn't chosen to give up; he wanted to go up another level to get a better prize!
Both of them still remembered his arrogant look after he won: "I'm not like you. This is the end for you, but I still have the qualification to keep going up. You lot just go down obediently!"
He had just seen Su Ze, the number four seed from Azure Dragon Beast Taming University, fishing in troubled waters and continuing upward.
Therefore, as the number two seed, there was no reason for him to give up here!
"He seems to have gone up from here. If I take the same path, there's a high probability I'll rest on the same branch as him. Among the remaining people, he's the easiest to deal with!"
Carrying this belief and enduring the internal and external scorching heat, he climbed up bit by bit.
Soon, he saw the next round of branches above, four in total.
To his relief, Su Ze was indeed ahead and was about to climb onto a branch.
And resting on the same branch he chose was none other than the number one seed of his Vermilion Bird Beast Taming University, Lin Queer!
Kuang Yi, on the other hand, chose a different branch, avoiding the two.
The eight people above were divided into four groups, with exactly two people on each branch.
And now, he wanted to break this balance.
"Is this kid not going to keep clinging to his school's number one seed's leg? Perfect. After Lin Queer eliminates him, she'll pick the good stuff first, and she should leave the rest for me out of school fellowship, right?"
Although he could only pick up the leftovers, he firmly believed that even the leftover trash at this height would be stronger than what he had just gotten below.
Soon, all eight people above him had reached the branches and begun to rest.
The branches at this height no longer allowed them to keep their distance, yet no sounds of fighting broke out; it was even exceptionally quiet.
It was so quiet that it felt unsettling, like the calm before a storm.
The only thing echoing across the wutong tree was the heavy, huffing breath of the Vermilion Bird Beast Taming University's number two seed as he climbed.
Soon, he also reached the underside of this branch.
His hands gripped the edge, and with a surge of strength, he flipped himself up, saying, "Sister Queer, I'm here to help you..."
Before he could finish, he felt a powerful heatwave surge toward him, slamming into his body and blasting him backward.
*Pfft—*
The heatwave struck his chest directly, knocking the remaining air out of his lungs in one go. His eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness from oxygen deprivation.
He then began a free-fall until he was caught by a teacher, losing his eligibility to compete.
The others also gathered around curiously, wanting to see who had been eliminated this time.
"It's him? Didn't he say he was going to keep climbing? Why's he down so soon?"
"Don't know. Doesn't look like he got anything good?"
"Did he fall off because he couldn't hold on halfway?"
"Pfft, didn't he say he was qualified and we weren't? Looking at it now, that really is quite hilarious."
Several sounds of mockery for his overestimation of himself followed.
He had only briefly fainted due to lack of oxygen, and just as he showed signs of waking up, he heard this and his eyes rolled back again as he fainted from rage.