It has to be said that the decision to accept the wooden token was the right one.
Zhao Shuning never expected that in just over a month, the prestige of the Viper would reach such a height among the second - year students.
With the wooden token, things had become much more convenient.
Kong Shishuang now looked at the Viper with admiration. She had completely forgotten that it was she who used to talk about all the cruel things the Viper had done.
It was also because of the Viper's apology to Xiaoli that he took extra care of Zhao Shuning and her group. Thanks to this, Zhao Shuning and her companions were able to reach the third level again in a very short time.
The five members of Zhao Shuning's team were extremely excited.
However, once they reached the third level, many things were beyond their control.
Upon reaching the third level, the Viper had his own tasks, and Zhao Shuning and her group were forced to separate from the Viper's team.
Zhao Shuning was an upright person. At this moment, she had no idea that a pair of sinister eyes in the dark had already silently targeted her.
That person was Li Can.
He had clearly remembered every detail of the humiliation the Viper had brought upon him in public.
But Li Can knew very well that he was no match for the Viper, so he naturally transferred all his grudges to Zhao Shuning.
He had previously tested Zhao Shuning's abilities. If she were alone, if he led his gang members to attack her together, she would surely be hard - pressed to cope.
"Master Can, are we really going to do this?"
"Do you dare to question me?"
"No, it's just that if the people of Tianyuan Sparrow get hold of our weakness, I'm afraid our gang will never be able to make a comeback in the Misty Rain Tower."
Li Can sneered and said, "In the Misty Rain Tower, there's another third - ranker now. We've already offended that Viper. Now, we might as well surrender to Tianyuan Sparrow. In the future, let's see how the Viper can fight against us."
Surrender? Did Li Can mean that from now on, the Poisonous Silkworm Gang would merge with Tianyuan Sparrow?
"Master Can?"
"However, I, Li Can, won't surrender to Tianyuan Sparrow without conditions. You go and tell Zhang Tianyuan that as long as he helps me get rid of Zhao Shuning, from now on, the members of my Poisonous Silkworm Gang will also be his people in Tianyuan Sparrow."
"Yes."
Li Can believed that with such an attractive offer, given Zhang Tianyuan's greedy nature, he would surely agree.
Now, the Duanlong Sect had declined. If their gang also surrendered to Tianyuan Sparrow, for Zhang Tianyuan, Tianyuan Sparrow's power in the Misty Rain Tower would be unrivaled in the future.
Zhao Shuning vaguely felt that there was a pair of eyes looking at their group with ill intentions. But every time she wanted to turn around and check, the gaze would disappear without a trace.
It had been three months since they were teleported to the Dark Marsh Land.
In these three months, everyone had changed a lot. The few girls had also gotten a bit tanned.
"Leader, there seem to be many fewer spiritual beasts in the third level. Something's not right."
Zhao Shuning had also noticed this phenomenon earlier.
She lowered her head and looked at the sticky liquid on the green leaves. She sniffed it gently, and her delicate eyebrows involuntarily frowned.
"Blood of a spiritual beast?"
Moreover, it was the blood of a relatively high - ranked spiritual beast.
Most of the members of the Duanlong Sect had already been eliminated. Even Wu Long was no longer in the Dark Marsh Land. The remaining members of the Duanlong Sect should not have the ability to kill spiritual beasts. Those with such great ability to hunt spiritual beasts should be Zhang Tianyuan of Tianyuan Sparrow and the Viper.
The Viper? Thinking of his attitude towards Xiaoli before, Zhao Shuning shook her head. It shouldn't be him.
So, it must be Zhang Tianyuan of Tianyuan Sparrow.
The dark green liquid was hard to recognize as the blood of a spiritual beast if one didn't look carefully.
If her guess was correct, what Zhang Tianyuan had done was really cruel. Just in the place where Zhao Shuning had rested, she had found the blood of no less than ten types of spiritual beasts. This meant that every time Zhang Tianyuan reached a level, his hunting of spiritual beasts was fatal.
But the spiritual beasts in the second level hadn't been severely injured. Why was that?
"What on earth is he trying to do?"
Killing so many spiritual beasts at once, didn't he know that once the supervisors found out, he would surely be punished with confinement? Or did he have someone backing him, which was why he dared to be so unscrupulous during this trial?
Many speculations popped up in Zhao Shuning's mind, but she didn't have time to think them through one by one.
"Xiaoning'er, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Leader, there are far fewer spiritual beasts in the third level than we expected. And the combat power of the spiritual beasts in the third level is about the same as Xiaoli's. This is quite abnormal."
"Seese, you've also noticed this anomaly?"
"But the only ones who reached this level before were the people of Tianyuan Sparrow. Zhao Shuning, last time, after Zhang Tianyuan participated in the freshman trial, his ability suddenly changed greatly."
"Are there spiritual beasts in the freshman trial?"
As if thinking of something, Zhao Shuning quickly spoke up.
Kong Shishuang nodded and said, "Occasionally, one may encounter relatively high - ranked spiritual beasts."
Zhao Shuning's face turned solemn. If her guess was correct, those slightly higher - level spiritual beasts should have been killed by Zhang Tianyuan.
The higher the level of a spiritual beast, the more likely it was to form an inner core in its body. The spiritual power, or combat power, contained in the inner core was extremely powerful. If a cultivator obtained such an inner core, their ability would also be greatly improved.
Last time, after Zhang Tianyuan participated in the first - year freshman trial, his ability jumped to the late stage of the second rank within a month.
Presumably, it was also thanks to the inner core.
However, Zhao Shuning didn't tell the others about this suspicion.
This kind of thing was generally a taboo technique known only to alchemists. Using the inner core of a spiritual beast to improve one's combat power was not allowed in the Eastern Marsh Wilderness.
Moreover, if she told this, it might scare Shuang'er and the others.
"Leader, what's going on?"
Zhao Shuning said softly, "It's probably affected by the environment. Some spiritual beasts may have entered hibernation."
The others nodded. They didn't understand anyway. They just believed whatever Zhao Shuning said.
"By the way, you must remember not to separate. Before, because we were with the Viper, our target was too big, and no spiritual beast dared to attack us. But now it's different. We have to rely on our own strength."
"Got it, Leader."
A Shui and A Yue went into the wild to find some branches and wild fruits. They just ate a little to fill their stomachs.
In the evening, seeing that everyone was busy with their own things, Zhao Shuning found the tallest tree in sight, flew up, and stood on the treetop, looking at the third level.
Suddenly, Zhao Shuning's spiritual power fluctuated slightly.
"Spiritual beast? No, it's not just a spiritual beast. This level should be close to that of a demon beast."