Chapter 288 - 200: Clash of the Elites (Part 2)

Chapter 288: Chapter 200: Clash of the Elites (Part 2)

In less than three minutes, the Yulin Army was ready to move out!

The team leaders Jiang Nianwei had chosen were all individuals she had observed over time to be not only stronger but also skilled communicators. While the path of a Martial Artist wasn’t one where only the absolute strongest were revered, the powerful naturally held more sway. Once the strongest members of a team reached a consensus, the rest had no choice but to obey!

In the distance, Qin Hao’s group had shrunk to small black specks. There was always one person struggling to run at the back, weighed down by the sword, before they switched carriers after a short time. If Jiang Nianwei remembered correctly, they were also carrying two cases of Red Mist Wind Dew. They would use some for supplies on the road and leave the rest for Yu Fei.

"Move out..."

The group struggled onward, laden with massive amounts of combat supplies. The biggest challenge was the three Mixed Element Magnetic Cannons. Each one weighed over ten tons, and it took five Inner Qi Martial Artists just to carry one and maintain a steady pace across the difficult terrain.

Jiang Nianwei volunteered to help carry one of the cannons. Even though Yu Fei had put her in command, she couldn’t afford to give herself special treatment. A team’s performance relies on unity, and more importantly, on its leaders leading by example.

With about an hour to spare, Qin Hao and his men finally found Yu Fei!

Spotting them from afar, Yu Fei moved to meet them.

"Phew... Boss, this greatsword of yours is a killer... Damn!"

Yu Fei chuckled, taking the sword and slinging it over his back. He then accepted Soul Devourer from another man. It was an enhanced Level 2 Superpower Firearm, famous for its incredible power and terrifying recoil, and was typically wielded by Divine Realm Martial Artists who specialized in sniping.

"You guys really need to train more. On the battlefield, poor stamina is a quick way to get yourself killed. You’d best go back and pick up a Body Refining Secret Skill that increases your strength!"

As he spoke, Yu Fei calibrated Soul Devourer. This was a crucial part of the plan. Once he confirmed everything was in order, he picked up an Armor-Piercing Bullet and began to charge it with energy.

Qin Hao, having finally caught his breath, began to complain, "Boss, I’d love to, but I’m broke! Iron Body Skills are already expensive enough. Then you have all the Secret Techniques and foundational Cultivation Techniques... The few merit points the school gives us are nowhere near enough. How about you lend me some, Boss?"

Yu Fei pursed his lips. "Get lost. I don’t even have enough for myself. You want merit points? Then just give our dear upperclassmen a ’warm welcome’ in a bit. I’m counting on this wave to strike it rich!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Hao immediately snapped to attention. "I will resolutely follow your orders, Boss! If you tell me to go east, I’ll never turn west! Stick with you, Boss, and the merit points are sure to come flying to us!"

Yu Fei let out a loud laugh. "No guarantees! If you end up starving with me, don’t say I didn’t warn you!"

As he spoke, he chambered the round and aimed at a wild rabbit twelve kilometers away. At distances over ten kilometers, he had to use a scope; the enhanced, beyond-visual-range sight granted by his Illusory Cicada Star Pupil wasn’t enough.

Qin Hao watched from the side, his jaw on the floor. "Boss, your energy-charging speed is insane!"

Not even a minute had passed during their conversation, yet Yu Fei had already finished charging the bullet.

BOOM!

Yu Fei braced the stock hard against his shoulder. Only by reinforcing his body with Inner Qi did he manage not to be moved by the recoil. The resulting shockwave, however, blasted outwards, instantly slicking Qin Hao’s hair straight back!

Through the scope, he saw the bullet hit the rabbit squarely in the neck. The incredible kinetic energy instantly turned the creature into a red mist that vanished without a trace. A weapon lethal enough to injure a Gang Qi Martial Artist was far more than a simple rabbit could ever hope to withstand.

’I should have raised the trajectory just a hair,’ Yu Fei mused. ’I aimed for the eye, but the impact was a little off. A rabbit’s movements are slow. If that had been a Martial Artist, that slight miscalculation, amplified by their speed, could have easily resulted in a miss.’

"Alright, just leave me 50 rounds."

Yu Fei took half of the magazines and clipped them to his gear. The first upperclassman team they would encounter was a single class of no more than fifty people. There was no need to carry more ammo than necessary.

Logically, if the upperclassmen wanted to ensure absolute victory, all three of their classes should have ganged up to eliminate one freshman class at a time. But Yu Fei suspected they wouldn’t be so shameless. They already had a full year of cultivation on the freshmen, giving them an overwhelming advantage. This was supposed to be a curb-stomp match. More importantly, the upperclassmen were looking to erase the shame of last year and rebuild their confidence.

Turning a sure-win scenario into a war of attrition would be incredibly embarrassing. The upperclassmen had their pride to think about.

Of course, if that situation did arise, he would definitely order Jiang Nianwei and the rear team to take basic supplies, break into smaller units, and engage in guerrilla warfare.

"Boss, are we ambushing the upperclassmen here?"

Qin Hao asked nonchalantly. He knew that with Yu Fei’s power, an ambush and escape might be possible, but he himself would probably be beaten to a pulp. Despite his inner worry, his tone remained firm. ’Never lose your presence, even if you lose the battle. Besides, charging an enemy dozens of times our number would make for a hell of a story to brag about later.’

Yu Fei turned to stare at him, and Qin Hao immediately felt a bit awkward.

"Forget it. You’ve all worked hard enough. Go back and help Jiang Nianwei. I’ll mark some locations for you. Leave one bottle of Red Mist Wind Dew here, and place the others at the spots I mark on the map."

Qin Hao felt a surge of relief but put on a dramatic air. "Alas! I was prepared to stand alone against the world, but my Boss denies me this chance at glory!"

Yu Fei chuckled. "Get lost!"

"You got it! Let’s move out, brothers!"

As he watched them leave, Yu Fei walked to his chosen position: a high slope that overlooked the entire area, giving him a commanding view.

He plunged his greatsword, Zhanming, into the ground. Then, watching the time, he waited until only half an hour was left before he began charging an Armor-Piercing Bullet.

’This is the one drawback of superpower bullets,’ he thought. ’This warm-up phase is a major drag on combat effectiveness.’

The night wind blew as the young man sat cross-legged on the ground, a bullet in one hand and a bottle of Red Mist Wind Dew in the other.

The bright moon cast a clear, crystalline glow. His mind settled into a deep state of calm. Everything was ready. Now, he just had to wait for the kills.

All was silent. Suddenly, a roaring sound echoed from the east as three aircraft streaked by at low altitude. A dense swarm of figures poured out of them, raining down from the sky.

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"Oho! My blade is already thirsting for a fight... Haha!"

"Are you ready, little babies?"

In mid-air, a sturdy woman in armor, holding a large blade, plummeted toward the ground. She recklessly ignored the danger, waiting until she was only a hundred meters from the surface to deploy her glider. The powerful impact nearly buckled the wings, which struggled to provide any lift.

The woman’s fall slowed, but she was still smashing toward the earth at high speed. At about ten meters up, she ripped the glider away and brought her blade down in a powerful slash at the ground!

BOOM!

An explosive burst of blade light carved a deep trench in the ground. Spiderweb cracks radiated out more than ten meters from where she landed.

"Haha, I’m the first one down again!"

She then stretched her back, her bones letting out a series of loud CRACKS. Her aura was overwhelming.

A moment later, a man in feathered robes floated down, landing gracefully on the weeds without disturbing a single blade, exuding an ethereal air.

He gently waved his left hand, and the swirling dust and smoke slowed to a halt before dissipating completely.

"Hengji, is your Body Technique still not perfected? You can’t even control your landing impact. Don’t just focus on Body Refining until you’ve trained your brain into mush. If you want to become a Grandmaster, spiritual cultivation is far more important than Body Refining!"

The woman called Hengji erupted in fury, whipping out her blade and pointing it at the feather-robed man. "You damn bird-man! You float around so lightly, your bones must be hollow! I bet I could send you flying with a single fart!"

"Hmph!"

As they argued, the rest of the group landed one by one. Their drop zone was remarkably tight, with everyone touching down within a hundred-meter radius. Clearly, they were all veterans of airborne drops, their caliber far exceeding that of the reinforced platoon Yu Fei had faced during his placement matches.

"You two, stop arguing. We should get to the camp as soon as possible and figure out our respective ’prey’."

A young man wearing glasses, who had the mild-mannered air of a high school student, came over to mediate. He was neatly folding his own glider and instructing everyone to put theirs in a pile. He then reached out and retrieved the glider Hengji had carelessly tossed aside.

"We shouldn’t create trash. This is our home planet; we have to protect the environment..."

Hengji felt a headache coming on but held her tongue, forcing herself to listen to the young man’s lecture for a full three minutes. It wasn’t until a beautiful, mature-looking woman in a white blouse and a tight black skirt walked up and gently tapped him on the shoulder that he stopped.

"We’re going to be late."

"Oh, sorry about that! My apologies for holding everyone up!"