272: Chapter 272 The Patience of a Top Hunter

Two minutes later. Deep inside the cave.

Jiang You lay flat with extreme comfort on the slab of bluestone covered in soft moss. He even took off the black-gold team uniform, which represented the highest honor of Magic City Martial Arts University, and covered his stomach tightly with it like a blanket to keep from catching a cold.

He crossed his hands over his lower abdomen, feeling the pleasant, naturally constant cool breeze in the cave.

His dead fish eyes narrowed comfortably into slits, and the corners of his mouth curled into an extremely serene, supremely satisfied, ultimate salted-fish smile.

"Woohoo, time to sleep, awesome!"

Accompanied by an extremely languid sigh.

In less than ten seconds, an extremely steady and rhythmic snoring sound began to echo leisurely through this tranquil otherworldly cave...

At this moment.

At the same time Jiang You began to enjoy his nap, as all the contestants entered the secret realm, the entire Forbidden Zone No. 009 had completely turned into a meat grinder-like purgatory on earth!

"Rumble!"

"Roar!!!"

With the random landing of over a thousand of the nation's top prodigies, the entire boundless otherworldly ruins were instantly ignited by the heaven-shaking sounds of fighting and the wild roars of demonic beasts!

Cutting back to the outside world, to the 100,000-seat spectator stand of the National Martial Arts Competition Center.

Four ultra-high-definition holographic screens, each half the size of a soccer field, had been split into several sub-frames, intelligently tracking the exciting combat footage of the various seeded players.

The blood of the audience was completely ignited, with waves of cheers rising higher and higher!

"Look quickly at screen number three! It's Zhao Zhenlei from the Northern Border Military Academy! He landed in the swamp area and smashed a Tier 4 Iron-Armored Alligator Turtle into pulp with a single punch! How brutal!"

"Chu Tiankuo from the South Sea Martial Arts Academy has also made his move! With a single swing of his sword, his deep-sea sword pressure instantly killed three Wind Wolves, and he even casually killed an unknown contestant while he was at it!"

Just as these various prodigies were showing off their divine might.

On the fifth large screen, the footage suddenly shifted to a set of dilapidated ancient architectural ruins.

"It's the captain of the second team from Magic City Martial Arts University, Lu Xingye!" the commentator shouted passionately.

On the big screen, as soon as Lu Xingye landed, before he could even strike a pose, two Tier 3 Shadow Demon Leopards, the size of jeeps and radiating a scarlet aura, pounced on him from the left and right with extremely tricky maneuvers!

"Well come!"

Facing a life-or-death crisis, Lu Xingye was not alarmed but delighted!

His eyes instantly erupted with an extremely fanatical fighting spirit, and his right hand slammed onto the hilt of the long saber at his waist.

"Oh, Black Flame sleeping in the abyss, listen to my summons..."

"Clang!"

Accompanied by an extremely crisp sound of a blade being drawn from its scabbard, Lu Xingye's figure pulled an extremely cool afterimage through mid-air.

A black blade aura flashed through the ruins, like black lightning streaking across the night sky!

"Puchi! Puchi!"

The two Tier 3 Shadow Demon Leopards, known for their speed, didn't even have time to let out a scream before they were sliced in two with extreme smoothness in mid-air, blood raining down!

"Cool!!!"

"That swordsmanship! It's too clean and swift! Does the captain of the second team from Magic City Martial Arts University actually have this kind of strength?!"

The audience in the stands let out bursts of exclamations, and many female audience members were even screaming continuously, charmed by Lu Xingye's sharp strike.

In the footage, after instantly killing the two demonic beasts, Lu Xingye performed a flashy flourish with his blade and "clicked" it back into its scabbard.

With his back to the camera, he looked up at the gray otherworldly sky at a forty-five-degree angle and whispered in an extremely world-weary tone: "This is just a warm-up... Jiang You, can you feel it? My blade, which cuts through causality, is closing in on you!"

Although the audience couldn't understand what kind of madness he was spouting, it was undeniable that he had pulled off that act perfectly!

With Lu Xingye's stunning performance, the entire audience and the netizens in the live stream suddenly thought of one thing simultaneously.

"Wait!"

"If the second team captain is this fierce, what about the 'Peerless Demon King' from the first team, Jiang You?!"

"That's right! Director, switch the camera! I want to see Demon King Jiang take on a Tier 5 Great Demon!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Where is he? That statement he made before entering was so domineering; he must be slaughtering everyone right now!"

Amidst the extremely fanatical cheers of the audience, the director, being very sensible, switched the largest main screen to the tracking camera representing Jiang You.

However.

When the image on the main screen lit up.

The cheers from the 100,000-seat stand were abruptly cut off, as if a pause button had been pressed.

"Huh?"

"Where is this?"

On the big screen, there was no earth-shattering battle, nor were there any demonic beasts with flesh and blood flying.

The footage showed a very steep mountainside covered in ancient vines.

The protagonist of the footage, Jiang You, was staring intently at a very dark and hidden cave entrance.

The cave was pitch black, and occasionally one could see the corner of the black-gold team uniform fluttering gently with the breeze.

Then the audience witnessed the scene of Jiang You crawling into the cave earlier.

"Jiang You... crawled into a cave?" the commentator was stunned for a moment.

The audience in the stands also looked puzzled.

"What is he doing? Is he setting an ambush to sneak attack people?"

"Wait a minute! Look at this terrain! This spawn point is perfect! Backed by a sheer cliff, with mutated vines covering the entrance, and looking down from a high vantage point, it's simply an excellent strategic location that is easy to defend and hard to attack!"

"I get it! This is called using stillness to control movement! He must know he has too many enemies, so he occupied a favorable position right from the start, preparing to be a one-man army!"

Soon, those "tactical masters" in the comments section began their frantic over-analysis.

"However... although this place is hidden, isn't it too remote? In this godforsaken place, there isn't even a hair of a low-tier demonic beast around, and other contestants will rarely pass by here, right?"

"Yeah, if he ambushes here, can he even catch anyone? Isn't he being too cautious? This doesn't fit his 'Peerless Demon King' persona at all!"

"You guys don't know jack! This is the patience of a top-tier hunter! True experts often conserve their energy and wait for others to fight until they are both injured, then he goes out to reap the benefits! How could mere mortals like you understand the thinking of a Great Emperor?"

Amidst the praises of "The Great Emperor is awesome" and "Tactical genius."

In the VIP spectator area.

Principal Pang Ban of Magic City Martial Arts University was holding a cup of top-grade spirit tea, originally smiling and stroking his beard because of Lu Xingye's cool instant kill.

Hearing the frantic praise from several principals of other schools regarding Jiang You's "tactics," Pang Ban also subconsciously looked at the cave on the big screen.

"Heh, this kid, although he usually looks unreliable, at critical moments, his tactical awareness is still very... Wait!"

Pang Ban's hand stroking his beard stiffened suddenly, and with a forceful tug, he accidentally pulled out two snow-white whiskers.

"Hiss!"

He didn't care about the pain at all; his cloudy old eyes instantly widened like copper bells, staring fixedly at that corner of the black-gold team uniform fluttering on the screen!

An extremely ominous premonition struck his crown like a bolt of lightning!

In Pang Ban's mind, he very clearly replayed the two questions Jiang You had asked with extreme seriousness last night in the hotel business car and during the meeting:

"Principal, is there any kind of abandoned building that is relatively remote, has air conditioning, and has excellent soundproofing?"

"If I accidentally crush the jade token, can I get off work early?"

"This little brat..."