10x Rewards: Novel's Extra's Cultivation Stealing System-Chapter 39: Rules of the Hunting competition

About an hour later at the edge of the Ten Thousand Poison Forest.

Gu Chen led the Gu Clan forces towards the outskirts of the forest where they found the Bai Clan people already waiting for them.

There were roughly two hundred of the Bai Clan members as well, clad in matching dark green and silver robes.

With the thick, sickly green fog clung to the damp earth, smelling heavily of rot and sulphur in the background they looked like a pack of starving wolves.

With curved sabres, long swords, twin blades and even poisoned darts strapped to their waists, the Bai Clan disciples’ eyes scanned the Gu Clan disciples with open hostility.

At the front of the Bai Clan stood Bai Yun, their lead disciple. He was a tall, sharp-featured youth with a nasty scar running down his jaw. He was at the 6th Stage of the Spirit Realm, just one step below Gu Chen.

The moment the Gu Clan stopped marching, the Bai Clan disciples began taunting.

"Look what the stray dogs dragged in!" Bai Yun shouted, his voice echoing across the clearing. The Bai disciples behind him erupted into cruel laughter.

Bai Yun pointed his sabre directly at Gu Chen, "Look at you, Gu Chen! Wearing bright white pristine clothes to a poison swamp. Are you coming to a hunting competition, or are you dressing up like a virgin bride for me?"

Gu Chen’s jaw clenched. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, "Watch your mouth, Bai Yun. Your arrogance will be your downfall in there."

"My arrogance?" Bai Yun scoffed, walking forward a few paces, "Your clan is the one bleeding honour!"

"You let a guest get slaughtered in your own home, try and put it on the Bai Clan and now you drag your feet here playing the righteous heroes."

Bai Yun’s eyes scanned the Gu Clan ranks, stopping dead when he noticed the unarmoured, ragged figure of Gu Fan standing in the back.

Bai Yun burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. He slapped his thigh, pointing at Gu Fan.

"No way! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Bai Yun howled, "Hahaha!"

"You brought the cripple with you?!"

"Gu Fan?! The famous useless Seventh Young Master is here?"

"What’s the matter? Gu Clan Couldn’t find a few real men in their entire pathetic clan?"

"Did they bring the bastard along to use as beast bait?"

The Bai Clan disciples roared with laughter, slamming their sabres against their shields.

"Hey cripple!" one of the Bai disciples yelled, "If a boar looks at you funny, don’t piss your pants! Just lie down and let it eat you!"

Gu Chen’s face darkened completely. The insult to the clan’s pride was stinging his fragile ego. He glared back at Gu Fan, furious that the boy’s mere presence was making him look bad.

But Matriarch’s words were final. He could do nothing but glare.

On the other hand, Gu Fan ignored Gu Chen’s furious glare, ignored the Bai Clan disciple’s words.

Because he was busy doing the math.

Gu Fan systematically scanned the two hundred Bai Clan disciples.

He didn’t see rival warriors.

He didn’t see arrogant young masters.

His gaze was darting from one storage ring to another. He saw low-grade spirit stones, mid-grade herbs, cultivation manuals and weapons.

And hovering over every single one of their heads, in his mind, was a massive treat: Rewards x 50.

’Talk all you want,’ Gu Fan thought, licking his lips, ’In a few hours, I am going to strip your entire clan bare and leave your naked corpses for the maggots.’

Just then, two Elders from both the Gu and Bai clans stepped forward, walking into the empty space between the two hostile armies. They raised their hands, and the jeering slowly died down.

"Quiet!" the Gu Clan Head Elder barked. His voice carried the heavy, oppressive weight of an Origin Realm cultivator, forcing the disciples to pay attention.

"The rules of the Joint Hunting Competition are simple," the Gu Elder explained, his eyes sweeping over the crowd. "You have exactly three days in the outer and middle rings of the Ten Thousand Poison Forest. Points are awarded solely based on what you bring out."

He held up a hand, listing the metrics on his fingers.

"Ten points for a Mortal Grade herb or a 1st to 5th Stage Body Tempering beast core."

"Fifty points for a Spirit Grade herb or a 6th to 9th Stage Body Tempering core."

"Hundred points for a Earth Grade herb or a 1st to 5th Stage Spirit Realm beast core."

"Two Hundred points for a King Grade herb or a 6th to 9th Stage Spirit Realm beast core." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"And anything higher than the above grades, you will be awarded five hundred points."

The disciples nodded, their eyes burning with competitive fire as they heard the Gu Clan Elder.

Then, the Bai Clan Head Elder stepped forward. He was a skinny, rat-faced old man with yellow teeth. He smiled cruelly, looking directly at the Gu Clan disciples.

"The Gu Elder has explained the points," the Bai Elder rasped, his voice like grinding stones. "Now, I will explain the reality."

He paced back and forth, gesturing broadly to the dark, forbidding tree line.

"Inside the Ten Thousand Poison Forest, there are no clan rules. There are no city guards. There is no mercy." The Bai Elder grinned maliciously.

"Robbing your rivals is allowed. Killing your rivals is allowed," The Bai Clan elder grinned looking at the Gu Clan disciples, "If you find a two hundred point beast core, you better have the strength to hold onto it. If you are weak, you will not just lose points. You will become fertilizer for the poison weeds."

A cold chill ran through the weaker disciples. The stakes had just been elevated from a simple hunt to a lawless bloodbath.

The Gu Clan Elder didn’t object. He simply nodded in grim agreement. "Only the strongest will return. This is the way of the cultivation world."

"Furthermore," the Gu Clan Elder added loudly, his voice carrying over the tension of the crowd, "Throughout the duration of the hunting competition, the Elders of both the Gu and Bai clans will stand guard along the entire perimeter of the forest outskirts."

"We will ensure that no one enters the forest in the meantime to help the disciples. You are entirely on your own."

The Elders stepped back.

"The hunt begins now!" the Elders roared in unison.

With a deafening battle cry, the disciples from both clans surged forward. They drew their weapons, charging blindly into the fog with murder in their eyes, eager to claim glory, loot, and blood.

Gu Chen led the charge for the Gu Clan, rushing ahead to secure an early lead and distance himself from the weaker members.

Gu Fan didn’t run.

He lingered at the very back of the pack, walking at a leisurely pace as the crowd thinned out in front of him. As soon as the thick canopy of the forest swallowed the sunlight and the fog obscured him from the Elders’ view, Gu Fan stopped.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the rotting, sulfurous air. His Ancient Venom Physique reacted instantly, his Qi syncing perfectly with the toxic miasma of the forest.

To the beasts and cultivators alike, his presence faded into nothing more than another deadly pocket of poisonous fog.

He slipped into the dense, thorny underbrush, moving with the silent, predatory grace of a viper.

"Twenty-four hours," Gu Fan whispered into the empty fog, his voice blending completely into the rustling leaves.

He drew his Earth-Tier ’Skull-Crusher’ Meteor Hammer, the heavy, spiked iron ball resting easily in his grip.

"Let the slaughter begin."