The Oriole Behind

The person beside him stiffened upon hearing Young Master Shang's words.

"Young Master Shang, you agreed before that I only needed to tell you the location. Why do you still want me to lure the Fierce Beast?"
"If I tell you to go, you go. Why so much nonsense?"
"I've already told you the location. Whether you go get it or not is your business." After saying this, the man turned to leave.

"That's not up to you." With that, he pulled out a Sheyu Fruit from his side and smeared it directly onto the skinny youth. Bound and restrained, the skinny youth could not move.

Shang Yunqing threw him with force, tossing him under the tree.

"Shang Yunqing! Damn it, you're not human!" the skinny youth cursed loudly.

Shang Yunqing, who was cursed at, showed a look of disdain, a trace of cruelty flashing in his eyes.

As soon as the skinny youth was thrown under the large tree, a python as thick as a thigh lunged down from its hiding spot in the branches.

"Qingjiao Python!" the skinny youth cried out, turning to run.

Ignoring Shang Yunqing standing in the distance, the snake chased straight after the skinny youth.

Shang Yunqing quickly climbed up the giant tree.

Not long after, he jumped down from the tree holding a pale blue Ability Pearl. He scanned his surroundings before turning and vanishing into the distance.

Shen Yi ignored the skinny youth and slowly followed Shang Yunqing. It was unacceptable for someone else to snatch something he had spotted first.

After running for a while, Shang Yunqing looked back. He kept feeling like he was being followed, but turning around revealed no clues.

Just as he passed a tree ahead, he felt something strike the back of his neck.

*Bang!* With a dull thud, his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

Shen Yi jumped down from the tree. After searching him for a while, he found the Ability Pearl, slipped it into his pocket, and vanished.

When Shang Yunqing woke up, he found himself tied to a tree. His clothes had been stripped clean, and standing in front of him was the skinny youth he had set up earlier.

"Young Master Shang, so you have a day like this too." Seeing the skinny youth before him, who carried a faint scent of blood and was staring coldly at him, Shang Yunqing's heart sank.

"Did you do this? You'd better let me go, or else you know the consequences once we get out," Shang Yunqing threatened, assuming the person who knocked him out was the one in front of him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Young Master Shang, you really are naive. Do you think anyone is going to come save you here?"

"Have you cultivated so much that you've lost your brain? Do you think threatening me now will scare me?" Li Yunfei held a dagger, lightly tracing it in the air, a mocking look on his face.

"Five million! How about five million? I'll give you five million!" Shang Yunqing panicked completely, his face filled with pleas for mercy.

"But what if I want Young Master Shang's life?" Li Yunfei lightly slid the dagger across his neck. Shang Yunqing could clearly feel the sharp blade.

"You have to understand, if you kill me here and the instructors find out, you won't have a good end either." He was still trying to convince Li Yunfei, truly terrified this time.

"It's not impossible for me to let you go," Li Yunfei said slowly after a moment of thought.

"Tell me! As long as you let me go, I'll agree to anything you say!" Shang Yunqing said hurriedly.

Li Yunfei plunged the dagger straight into Shang Yunqing's chest, smeared a type of powder on him, and then vanished from the place without looking back.

Shang Yunqing looked down at the dagger in his chest, wanting to say something but unable to make a sound, before drawing his last breath.

Shen Yi looked at the Ability Pearl in his hand. Sensing no Ability Skill from it, he simply tossed it into his bag and headed to the next location.

Over the next few days, he followed the System's markers, continuously searching for Ability Pearls.

Three days later.

[Ding~]

[Reward completed: Strength +2]

After three days of non-stop searching, he had finally gathered exactly ten Ability Pearls.

As the System's rewards were distributed, he felt stronger than ever.

[Name: Shen Yi]
[Talent Grade: S-grade]
[Spirit: 22]
[Strength: 30]
[Ability Level: Tier Two, Second Awakening]
[Ability Type: Fire, Hidden Ability: Destructive Thunder]
[Ability Skills: Reconnaissance (Mastery (20/200)), Flame Substitute (Proficient (20/100)), Power of Destruction (Perfect (0/0))]
[Free Attribute Points: 0]

The increase in his attribute points made his search for the next Ability Pearls even faster.

After resting, he set off once again to search for Ability Pearls.

In the Special Training Camp, Li Mengxue was observing the students' training results.

Since the first day, students had been finding Ability Pearls one after another. Numbers appeared behind a few blue dots on the map. However, they were few; only a handful of people had obtained any.

Yesterday, she saw a blue dot disappear from the map. After confirming, she realized the student had either died or their bracelet had been destroyed, making monitoring impossible.

She called Tang Lie over to ask about it.

Tang Lie couldn't enter either; the place could only be opened when the training ended.

Left with no choice, she could only continue to observe, hoping there wouldn't be too many casualties this time.

On the third day of the special training, as Li Mengxue was gloomily looking at the students' data, the number ten suddenly appeared behind a blue dot.

Li Mengxue's eyes widened. Who was this? So powerful! While others had none, he had already gathered ten.

Looking at his direction of movement, he was slowly heading toward where the Ability Pearls were.

"What is going on? Can he actually see where the Ability Pearls are?" Moreover, every time he reached a location, the red dot representing the Fierce Beast there would disappear.

This left her completely baffled. Not long after, the number behind the blue dot changed to eleven.

Shen Yi followed the System's markers like a fish in water, finding every single Ability Pearl.

The most difficult encounter along the way was almost comparable to his first meeting with the Ya Di Long Beast. It was a Tier Three Wind Wolf. This Fierce Beast possessed an Ability Skill, releasing nearly transparent wind blades that cost Shen Yi a great deal of effort to kill.

Because of this, he paid a terrible price, with his arm almost completely severed. But with his monstrous constitution, it recovered before long.

The System's prompts kept ringing in his mind as the number of Ability Pearls he obtained grew.

Currently, he had nearly two hundred Ability Pearls in his bag. However, the System's final quest required him to obtain *all* the Ability Pearls. He truly had no way to complete it—not because he couldn't find them, but because others had already taken them first.