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The mountain was not very large. Gray fog enshrouded the mountain, making it appear as if it had come to life straight off the pages of a poem.

But when he got closer to the mountain, Su Chen was shocked by how bleak and desolate the mountain actually was.

Greyish-yellow wind whistled through the peak violently, blowing away any vegetation, preventing anything green from growing. The sandy soil could hold no water, and it was as if the mountain was actually standing alone in the middle of a desert. The only green that he could see was the grass at his feet.

To Su Chen, this desolateness was actually a good thing – it was much less likely for any powerful Demonic Beasts to survive in this kind of environment.

But just as he got close to the base of the mountain, he discovered that another person was already there.

“Su Chen!” The other party yelled.

“Zhao Xin!” Su Chen recognized the other party.

Zhao Xin was a seventh-year student with student number 38. He was one of the weaker students, but his attitude wasn’t bad, and he also had two kinds of unique abilities.

In a stroke of luck, the first person that Su Chen encountered was not an enemy.

Su Chen quickly ran towards Zhao Xin, only to discover that Zhao Xin’s chest was stained a bright red as he got closer.

“You’re injured?”

“Yes, I just ran into a Ferocious Race youth and battled with him for a bit.”

“How did it go?”

“I wasn’t his opponent, so I ran,” Zhao Xin replied without concealing anything.

During the training period, the instructors had hammered into their heads that they should forget about saving face during real battle. There had been too many examples in history of people lying about their strength or making a mistake when assessing the strength of their opponent, resulting in their own death. A loss was a loss. Trying to conceal it or quibble about the details was basically equivalent to playing with one’s own life.

The Ferocious Race possessed an innately powerful physique. Not many Intelligent Races could compete with them in terms of pure physical strength.

This advantage was extremely prominent at lower cultivation levels.

Because of this, it was very common for Qi Drawing Realm humans to lose to Ferocious Race individuals. Their opponents had been selected out of countless candidates, just as Su Chen and Zhao Xin had been.

What humans relied on from the very beginning was not their strength but their brains. Origin Formations, medicines, team tactics, etc. were all things that the human race excelled at.

Thus, from the very beginning, the students never intended to face the Ferocious Race head-on. Rather, the importance of teamwork was constantly beat into their heads so that they would use their brains when battling. If someone was caught in a one-on-one battle, they were recommended to retreat.

The Ferocious Race member that Zhao Xin faced was very powerful and well-suited for battle. The inscriptions on his body could activate the Qi in his blood, multiplying his strength and hardening his body like iron.

Zhao Xin’s Sudden Rain Needles only covered the Ferocious Race individual in small red dots.

Su Chen knew how powerful Zhao Xin’s Sudden Rain Needles were. A single needle was not particularly powerful on its own, only equal to the strength of thirteen bears, but they were much stronger in large numbers. Despite this, however, the needles could not pierce their target, implying that the opponent’s defense was at least greater than the strength of thirteen bears.

This was even more powerful than the Adamantine Battle Body.

Based on what Zhao Xin had said, the Ferocious Race individual he had fought hadn’t even used his full strength.

Glancing at Zhao Xin’s wounds, Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine from his Origin Ring. “For you.”

Zhao Xin happily took it. “Thanks a bunch. It really is good having an alchemist.”

“No problem. You’re very important as well. Next, we will need to activate your Golden Blazing Eagle Eye,” Su Chen said.

Zhao Xin’s bloodline was the Golden-Eyed Eagle, granting him the Golden Blazing Eagle Eye skill. Not only did it sharpen his vision drastically, but it also allowed him to see past a few obstacles that weren’t too thick. In addition, he was one of the more agile students sent from the Hidden Dragon Institute. Thus, even though he couldn’t defeat that Ferocious Race member, he could at least escape.

The main duty he had as part of the team was to investigate any enemies and to plot their surroundings.

“That’s why I’m here,” Zhao Xin laughed.

As he spoke, he ran to the top of the mountain.

Once he arrived at the top, Zhao Xin activated his bloodline. His eyes began to glow with a fiery light; under the intense beams of light, the greyish fog could not impede his vision.

An instant later, Zhao Xin pulled out a piece of white paper, gently brushing his hand over it. Everything that he saw appeared on the scroll in front of him.

This was the other utility Origin Skill that Zhao Xin possessed. He could directly project everything he saw onto a scroll, forming a map.

An instant later, he produced a detailed map on the scroll and handed it to Su Chen.

“Beautifully done.” Su Chen took the scroll.

Zhao Xin laughed, “That’s why I was chosen to come along in the first place.”

Many of the students who were chosen this time were not particularly strong, but they all had their unique talents. Zhao Xin was one of these people.

Su Chen spread the map to take a closer look.

From the map, he could tell that this half-isolated void was quite expansive. Zhao Xin’s Golden Blazing Eagle Eye couldn’t map out the whole void, and this map was only one part of the terrain.

Based on what they had been taught, the two of them first determined the cardinal directions of the map and marked the mountain they were at as the center of the map. The forest Su Chen came from was to the west, and there was a river to the east. Zhao Xin had come from the south; nothing was there but a desolate wilderness. To the north, however, they could faintly see an even taller mountain, and it seemed that there were things floating in the air.

Su Chen pointed to the north. “That investigation target should be a priority for us. As for where we are right now, we should be in the outer circles of the heart of this place.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on then.”

“There’s no hurry,” Su Chen said as he restrained Zhao Xin. “I need to make some medicine first.”

“Didn’t you already make some?” Zhao Xin said.

Su Chen shook his head. “Just the simplest recovery medicines. I need to make advanced medicines to greatly increase our combat strength. However, advanced medicines tend to be more complicated to make and will require more time, so I need someone to stand guard for me and prevent anyone from disturbing me.”

“Leave it to me.” Upon hearing what Su Chen had said, Zhao Xin began to grow excited.

Next, Su Chen found a cave and began to concoct medicines.

Right now, he was at the peak of being a Distinguished Alchemist, and he could concoct quite a few higher-tier medicines.

While Su Chen was concocting medicine, Zhao Xin didn’t just sit around idly.

He used his Golden Blazing Eagle Eye to search for other students.

In fact, he was able to spot a few, but they were too far away. It was no use if all he could do was spot them; even though he wanted to call them over, he was afraid of attracting unwanted attention from the Ferocious Race. Summoning medallions was a double-edged sword; unless they were in dire circumstances, it was best to avoid using them too lightly.

If Qian Haoli was here, things would be much better.

Qian Haoli was one of the four seventh-year students here. He had a very powerful innate Origin Skill that could connect people’s consciousnesses over extremely long distances. The only prerequisite was that the two people must be able to see each other.

Zhao Xin and Qian Haoli were known as the best pair of partners amongst all of the students.

But once that partnership was torn apart, there was nothing that he could do even though he had such a powerful skill.

Naturally, Zhao Xin spotted a few Ferocious Race individuals as well.

More than once, his keen vision spotted traces of a few powerful Ferocious Race individuals.

If looks could kill, Zhao Xin would have assassinated all of them already.

But very quickly, Zhao Xin discovered that trouble was about to come their way.

A Ferocious Race youth was headed in their direction.