Chapter 107 - 106: Special Reward, Treasure Land

Chapter 107: Chapter 106: Special Reward, Treasure Land

He was a young man of eighteen or nineteen, not exceptionally tall but well-proportioned. He wore ordinary casual clothes and a pair of dark red boots. While his features weren’t particularly handsome, they were regular, and his gaze was steady.

"Is he Ji Zhixing?" Xiang Lin said in a low voice.

"He looks... very ordinary." Someone frowned. They had thought the person who surpassed all the Genius Class students and Cao Zhenxing would have something special about him.

"Ordinary?" A person nearby shook their head. "How could someone who scored six hundred eighty thousand points in the Blood Beast Secret Realm be ordinary?"

"It’s him!" Seeing Ji Zhixing, Cao Zhenxing’s pupils immediately shrank on the platform, revealing a look of disbelief.

"What, you know him?" Meng Feiyi asked curiously from the side.

Cao Zhenxing didn’t speak; his face was terrifyingly gloomy.

Ji Zhixing walked onto the high platform, his gaze sweeping over the nine people there. Cao Zhenxing stood on the far left, burly and rugged-faced, wearing dark gold battle armor and staring coldly at him. Meng Feiyi was a beautiful girl with shoulder-length hair and a calm expression. Xiang Lin, lean and sharp-eyed, gave him a slight nod. Ye Chutong had delicate features and her hair tied back in a ponytail; she was looking him up and down. The others were also watching him, their gazes filled with scrutiny, curiosity, and defiance.

*It really is him!* Cao Zhenxing stared intently at Ji Zhixing as he stepped onto the platform. He had already recognized him.

This figure walking onto the high platform was exactly the person he had robbed of a Tier Two Blood Wolf in the Blood Beast Secret Realm. At the time, he had only considered the other party a passerby and hadn’t even looked closely at his face. Only now did he suddenly realize that the ordinary student whose prey he had snatched was actually Ji Zhixing, the one who topped him on the points leaderboard.

Seeing Cao Zhenxing staring at him, Ji Zhixing nodded slightly, then walked over to stand beside him. The muscles on Cao Zhenxing’s face twitched, and his fists quietly clenched at his sides. He cursed inwardly, "Damn it! How could this happen!"

"Everyone is here." Luo Hongtao’s gaze swept over the ten people, finally pausing on Ji Zhixing for a moment. "Your performance in this Blood Beast Secret Realm trial was very good. Especially Ji Zhixing."

He paused, his tone carrying admiration. "For a regular class student to take first place on the leaderboard is a first in the history of Yu City University."

Down below the platform, the students on the sports field let out a low murmur of amazement. Although they already knew the result, hearing Principal Luo Hongtao personally say the words ’a first’ felt completely different.

Luo Hongtao continued, "According to convention, the top ten students on the points leaderboard will receive a points reward from the school.

"But this time, the situation is a bit special." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd again. "The points leaderboard for this Blood Beast Secret Realm has come out, and it’s very surprising. Not only are you surprised, but even I am surprised.

"To think that the first place was taken by a regular class student who had only fused with a Tier Two gene.

"Therefore, after discussions among the school administration, the reward given by the school this time—aside from the conventional points reward—will include an extra reward for the first-place winner, Ji Zhixing. He will be granted one opportunity to choose any of the school’s precious locations to cultivate."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire field fell into a brief silence before erupting into a massive uproar.

"One opportunity to cultivate in any precious location?" someone gasped.

"This reward is too generous! The first place has never received this kind of treatment before!"

The precious locations controlled by Yu City University were all extremely valuable. Many of them greatly promoted the development of special gene abilities. Others could accelerate a Genetic Cultivator’s cultivation speed. It was safe to say that the extra reward given by the school was truly precious.

"An opportunity to cultivate in a special precious location?" On the platform, Ji Zhixing similarly revealed a look of pleasant surprise upon hearing this.

He knew a bit about Yu City University’s precious locations and understood that if he chose the right place to cultivate, it would definitely be of great use to him and save him a lot of cultivation resources.

He was truly too short on resources. Both his Willow Tree gene and Staff Soldier Stone Monkey gene were on the verge of evolution. He already had great confidence in nurturing the Willow Tree gene to Tier Two and the Staff Soldier Stone Monkey gene to Tier Three; in fact, he would likely accomplish it very soon. But what about after that? Evolving the Tier Three Ten-foot Stone Monkey gene further into a Tier Four Morning Star grade Ruyi Stone Monkey gene would absolutely not be an easy task. The resources required would likely be an astronomical figure, far beyond what he could afford right now.

Yet now, the school was actually rewarding him with a chance to enter any precious location to cultivate once. This was simply a godsend to him in his time of need. His breathing quickened slightly, but he quickly forced it back down.

However, standing beside him, Cao Zhenxing’s expression instantly turned even uglier upon hearing this reward. He had thought it would just be the conventional reward and hadn’t expected the disparity to be so immense. After all, he was a genius who had fused with a Tier Five Radiant Moon grade gene!

After announcing Ji Zhixing’s reward, Luo Hongtao glanced at the nine Genius Class students on the platform. The reason he gave Ji Zhixing such a generous reward, aside from thinking highly of him, was to stimulate the others. In the past two years, the freshmen of Yu City University had been a bit too lax. Ji Zhixing’s emergence this time served perfectly as a catalyst to spur them on.

The only pity was that, other than this one time, Ji Zhixing would probably be unable to serve this purpose again in the short term. After all, the gene he had fused with was ultimately a bit lacking.

Ignoring the discussions and commotion both on and off the platform, Luo Hongtao took several cards from a teacher standing nearby.

"Ji Zhixing, for taking first place this time, the school is directly rewarding you with two million points." Luo Hongtao handed a points card to Ji Zhixing. His tone was calm, but his eyes held a trace of encouragement.

Two million points!

Another commotion broke out below the platform. It had to be known that regular students working hard for several days in the Blood Beast Secret Realm would consider themselves very lucky to get a few tens of thousands or a hundred thousand points.

After distributing the points to Ji Zhixing, Luo Hongtao didn’t stop and continued handing out points to the others. However, the points the others received began to decrease one by one. The reduction wasn’t massive, but every drop in rank meant a deduction of one hundred thousand points.

Once all the rewards were distributed, Luo Hongtao casually offered a few obligatory remarks to encourage the students both on and off the platform, then announced the official conclusion of this Blood Beast Secret Realm trial. Following that, his figure shifted, and he disappeared directly, leaving the area. As the Principal of Yu City University, he was still very busy; it was already not easy for him to come over this time.

Seeing Luo Hongtao leave, Ji Zhixing didn’t linger on the platform. He immediately stepped forward, preparing to head down and leave.

"Ji Zhixing."

Just then, a deep voice came from behind. Ji Zhixing stopped and looked back. The person who had called out to him was none other than Cao Zhenxing.

Standing two paces behind him, Cao Zhenxing wore a gloomy expression. "You’ve done well," he gritted out, enunciating the three words one by one. They were spoken very slowly, each syllable seemingly squeezed through his teeth, carrying a wave of suppressed anger.

After he finished speaking, he didn’t wait for Ji Zhixing to respond and turned to leave.

Ji Zhixing looked at Cao Zhenxing’s back and suddenly chuckled. He glanced at Gu Zheng, who was standing not far away with an equally unpleasant expression, and suddenly spoke up. "Originally, I had already given up on fighting for first place this time."

Cao Zhenxing’s footsteps paused slightly, and he looked back at him.

Ji Zhixing continued at a leisurely pace, "But then you suddenly appeared, snatched that Blood Wolf from my hands, and even announced your name. Well, there was nothing I could do after that."

Cao Zhenxing’s body visibly stiffened. He slowly turned around, staring fixedly at Ji Zhixing with a gaze that looked like it wanted to eat him alive.

Ji Zhixing acted as if he didn’t see the glare. He glanced at Gu Zheng again and then said his second sentence with a smile, "Fortunately, I had good luck. Not long after you left, I ran into Gu, snatched two Tier Two Blood Beasts from his hands, and even took the opportunity to get my revenge by kicking him out of the secret realm."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone revealed a stunned expression. Gu Zheng’s face instantly turned ashen, as if he had been viciously slapped. The gazes of the several Genius Class students nearby immediately landed on him, filled with surprise, mockery, and disbelief.

Gu Zheng had been kicked out of the secret realm by Ji Zhixing?

Gu Zheng stared at Ji Zhixing, his expression icy. "What kind of skill is it to sneak attack me with someone else? You were just lucky this time. Next time, you won’t have such good luck!"

After saying that, he turned and walked away.

Cao Zhenxing’s expression also fluctuated constantly. He stood rooted to the spot, locking eyes with Ji Zhixing for a few seconds. In the end, he didn’t say a word. With a cold snort, he turned and left as well.

Watching the receding backs of the two, Ji Zhixing didn’t linger any longer either and headed straight down the high platform. He had no ulterior motive in saying those words; he just wanted to give himself a little thrill. Since he had already offended them, he didn’t mind offending them a bit more thoroughly.

Stepping off the platform, he ignored everyone else and headed straight in the direction of Xiao Mingyue and the others.

"How is it? Being on stage and envied by so many people, doesn’t it feel great?" Xiao Mingyue asked with a smile upon seeing him return, her tone carrying a hint of teasing.

Ji Zhixing thought for a moment and nodded earnestly. "It’s quite nice."

He genuinely felt quite good. The feeling of standing up high and being watched by everyone didn’t make him feel uneasy or nervous. Instead, it brought him an inexplicable sense of satisfaction. Especially right after stepping onto the stage, under the gazes of so many people, the Staff Soldier Stone Monkey gene within his body had even vibrated slightly.

It was as if it naturally loved being in the limelight. However, the Willow Tree gene in his body remained very peaceful, showing no reaction whatsoever, completely unmoved by the outside world.

"Ji Zhixing..."

While they were chatting, a few gazes looked over from afar, their expressions somewhat complicated. These people were exactly Ren Pingzhi, Zhao Hai, and Feng Yan.

Standing far away, the three watched Ji Zhixing surrounded by Xiao Mingyue, Zhou Han, and the others, and sighed in unison in their hearts. They had previously moved out of the dorms and drawn a clear line with Ji Zhixing out of fear of being implicated by him.

But now...

Not only had Ji Zhixing not been suppressed by Gu Zheng, but he had even taken first place in the Blood Beast Secret Realm, trampling Gu Zheng underfoot and even suppressing Cao Zhenxing.

The three exchanged glances, seeing the bitterness in each other’s eyes. They knew that there would likely be no more interaction between them and Ji Zhixing in the future.

"Let’s go," Ren Pingzhi said in a low voice, turning to leave.

On the other side, Ji Zhixing chatted with Zhou Han and the others for a few sentences before waving goodbye. Zhou Han and the others had all returned early in the morning and had already gone back to the dorms to wash up. But he and Xiao Mingyue had only just returned, and both needed a good wash.

"Let’s go, head to my place first." After Zhou Han and the others left, Xiao Mingyue looked at Ji Zhixing.

"Your place?" Ji Zhixing was taken aback.

"The Heart Refining Stone Pillow, do you still want to use it or not?" Xiao Mingyue looked at him.

"Yes, of course I want to use it!" Ji Zhixing nodded immediately without hesitation.

Following that, he walked alongside Xiao Mingyue all the way to her villa.