48: Chapter 48, the Challenge Beast, is about to begin.

In the tropical rainforest, surges of energy billowed.

A chaotic battle broke out in the woods as students from the Tianhe, Shengyuan, Zhenyan, and Niliu systems encountered one another and clashed.

A Challenge Beast spawn point was nearby and would open in half an hour; they were all fighting for those one thousand Merit Points.

Currently, the Academy Leaderboard rankings were as follows:

Rank 1: Niliu Academy, total points: 23,500.

Rank 2: Tianhe Academy, total points: 23,000.

Rank 3: Shengyuan Academy, total points: 21,800.

Rank 4: Zhenyan Academy, total points: 21,600.

It should be noted that after defeating a Challenge Beast marked in purple, every survivor on the field would gain one hundred points.

One hundred might seem like a small amount, but it was a group buff. If hundreds of people from a single academy survived, they would gain tens of thousands of points.

In other words, once the Challenge Beast appeared, these point totals would continue to rise; reaching millions was a common occurrence.

This was the tournament organizers' way of encouraging combat—forcing everyone to gather in the same place to compete.

However, the prerequisite was that an academy had enough Disciples left. This was why some ninth-level Divine Sea Realm or A-rank students were responsible for protecting weaker Disciples; it certainly wasn't out of the kindness of their hearts.

But Chen Xing only cared about fighting whoever he saw.

Bang!

In the forest, Qin Feng was taking on a crowd alone. All sorts of blades, swords, and flames came at him from every direction, making them hard to defend against.

His performance in the melee was terrifying. As long as someone touched him, he could defeat them in almost under ten Moves, even including B-rank Ability Users.

B-ranks were already the backbone of the forces. His terrifying performance immediately put the other A-rank Ability Users on high alert.

“Let's take this guy down together first. We can deal with the rest later, how about it?” an A-rank Fire Ability User from Zhenyan Academy spoke up.

“I hate to admit it, but it's best to take out the strongest one first,” the A-rank Blade Ability User from Niliu Academy nodded.

“Hey, Golden Crow, stop fighting. Let's prioritize the big picture, alright?” they then shouted to another A-rank Ability User on the field.

That was someone from Shengyuan Academy, also from the Lu family, named Lu Qingnian.

She looked at Qin Feng in the center of the field, her gaze deep, and said nothing.

“Hey, I'm here!”

At the same time, reinforcements from Shengyuan Academy arrived.

The leader was a burly man named Zhou Kuoyun, an A-rank Ability User whose ability was the Black Tortoise.

“You're too slow,” Lu Qingnian said.

“I'm a tortoise; you can't expect me to have the speed of a Golden Crow, can you?” Zhou Kuoyun spread his hands with a smile.

Lu Qingnian was speechless.

“What's the situation?” Zhou Kuoyun got down to business, stepping onto a rock to look down below.

“There's an expert down there. The neighboring academies want us to cooperate to take out the strongest one first,” Lu Qingnian didn't hide anything.

“The strongest?” Zhou Kuoyun paused, his gaze filled with a hint of doubt.

“I don't believe it either,” Lu Qingnian stated plainly.

“Fine, keep an eye on things for me. I'll go test him out,” Zhou Kuoyun said before leaping into the battlefield.

“Stay put,” Lu Qingnian ordered, and the students who had arrived behind her stopped in their tracks, waiting for orders.

Following the commands of high-ranking Ability Users was already common knowledge. Even if newcomers didn't know how, veteran members would teach them.

In short, as long as they didn't make mistakes, it was fine.

“Hey, what do you mean? Are we cooperating or not?” the A-rank Ability User from Niliu Academy couldn't help but ask at this point.

“Wait a moment, it won't take long,” Lu Qingnian said.

“Get lost!” the two of them snapped, their faces darkening.

Their academy's people were still down there. Of course it wouldn't take long for her, but their people were about to be eliminated!

Immediately, the two of them joined forces and attacked downward.

Bang!

On the field, Qin Feng was unstoppable against the crowd, accompanied by a blood-colored dragon soul that looked majestic and overbearing.

Zhou Kuoyun charged down, his sandbag-sized fist imbued with the power of the Black Tortoise. It was incredibly heavy, crashing down like a giant boulder.

Qin Feng was unhurried, striking out with a Dragon Soul Claw. The terrifying force knocked the man back and even left three bloody gashes.

Zhou Kuoyun was shocked. He had the Black Tortoise ability; in terms of defense alone, he should definitely be the strongest person on the field.

“Run, let the experts handle it. Let's not throw our lives away.” At this time, the surrounding C-rank and B-rank Ability Users all backed away.

“What are you doing?” Lu Qingnian asked.

“Crap, it's over. How did I end up covering for others to retreat?” Zhou Kuoyun slapped his forehead.

Whoosh!

Meanwhile, the Fire Ability User Xu Cheng charged over, his entire body wreathed in flames, pushing his explosiveness and speed to the limit.

Qin Feng took a step, and the dragon soul spiraled around his body. Immediately, a large number of scales appeared, forming the Dragon Soul Armor.

With a boom, the raging fire slammed into him like a high-speed missile, causing a violent explosion.

“Only this much power? Though it's not bad.”

To everyone's surprise, it was a case of much smoke but no damage; Qin Feng grabbed his head with one hand.

Xu Cheng was shocked. What kind of defensive power was this? Even his flames couldn't blast through those scales?

Just as Qin Feng was about to crush his head, a chill came from behind—a flash of a blade heading straight for his neck.

Bang!

Qin Feng turned quickly and performed the Dragon Soul Art, manifesting a dragon head that locked onto the target behind him.

With a bang, Chen Yunxiao, the Blade Ability User who had circled around for a surprise attack, only struck the dragon head.

Xu Cheng seized the moment of Qin Feng's distraction, immediately igniting the flames on his body to perform a close-range self-detonation Move.

Having just been blasted once, and now at such close range again, the Dragon Soul Armor lost some of its luster, and some scale plates even fell off.

“Alright, this guy really does have some skill,” Zhou Kuoyun said.

“The Challenge Beast will appear soon, and we need to rest. Let's cooperate then,” Lu Qingnian nodded.

“Now you think about cooperating? Where were you earlier?” the short-tempered Chen Yunxiao couldn't help but say.

“Sorry, I just wanted to see your sincerity,” Zhou Kuoyun said cheerfully.

“Then let's cooperate, stop arguing!” Xu Cheng shouted.

Because Qin Feng had already locked onto him; if these few kept arguing, he might actually die.

Immediately, Lu Qingnian moved as well.

She took flight, a massive Golden Crow screeching high in the sky. Fireballs rained down from her golden wings, falling in sheets.

“The Divine Beast Golden Crow... it seems to be higher grade than my Dragon Soul Body,” Qin Feng stopped in his tracks.

The dragon soul let out a low growl, turning into a barrier that blocked all attacks.

Immediately after, Xu Cheng rushed to the others' side, and they stood together.

“I'm going to be standing by Old Chen's side in the future. If I can't even beat these few people, I shouldn't talk about being the strongest A-rank,” he thought to himself.

Thanks to two months of special training—facing pressure in the deep sea, facing the unknown of the darkness, and being surrounded by Vicious Beasts—he had become desensitized to fear.

“Come on.” Qin Feng clenched his fists and charged forward.

...

Divine Sea Realm Battlefield.

Passing through the jungle, Chen Xing arrived at a vast plain, which was also a famous place modeled after reality.

And nearby, there was a Challenge Beast spawn point.