The call connected almost immediately, and Su Yang's voice came through from the other end.
"Who is this?"
Hearing that voice, both Li Tianpao and Han Shuo felt an intense, itching irritation deep in their teeth.
"I am Liu Chaofeng."
Liu Chaofeng's tone was indifferent.
"Mei Chaofeng? The one who uses the Nine-Bone White Claw?"
"My surname is Liu. Liu Chaofeng, the school team captain."
No matter how good Liu Chaofeng's patience was, he was starting to grow impatient, feeling that this person truly needed to be put in his place.
"Oh, selling insurance? I don't have any money."
With that, he hung up directly.
Beep, beep...
Listening to the busy tone on the line, Liu Chaofeng was somewhat stunned.
Did this fellow not recognize him?
Or was he arrogant beyond all reason? Did he genuinely think that defeating two school team members made him invincible under the sun?
Although Li Tianpao and the others remained silent, they were communicating wordlessly through their eyes.
A trace of glee showed plainly in their gazes.
Go on, keep asking for it. Act as arrogant as you like.
The harder you court death, the more miserable your end will be.
Liu Chaofeng did not call back; instead, he asked Han Shuo with a baffled expression, "Has our school team really fallen that low?"
For a moment, the others were a bit bewildered. Compared to the entire major metropolis, their Suicheng school team was weak, but within Suicheng itself—
Aside from the Zenith Class, no one ever dared to treat them with disrespect.
"I'm afraid so."
"Otherwise, some random clown wouldn't dare provoke us so recklessly."
Hearing this, Han Shuo was filled with wild joy, though he was frustrated that his body was wrapped in bandages, leaving him unable to celebrate.
He was furious.
Peak Brother was truly furious.
When Peak Brother got angry, corpses would drift for a thousand miles...
***
On the other side, Su Yang curled his lip.
"Who does he think he is? So what if he's the captain?"
Muttering to himself, he pocketed his phone directly.
Tomorrow was the weekend, just the right time to make a trip outside the city and hunt some monster beasts to get Xiaohuo some extra nourishment.
Before that, however, he needed to head over to Martial Artist Street to purchase some gear.
Hunting monster beasts was no child's play; if anything went wrong, there was a very real chance of losing your life.
Martial Artist Street was located in the very center of Suicheng.
Spanning a full three kilometers in length, the entire avenue was dedicated to selling all kinds of supplies needed by martial artists.
Weapons, elixirs, cultivation techniques, and more were available in complete array.
In addition, there were specialized shops that bought back martial artists' spoils of war.
Building-Beyond-Building was undoubtedly the largest of them all, and anything a martial artist could possibly need could be purchased right here.
The moment Su Yang reached the main entrance, he was stunned by the scene before him.
If not a surging river of people, the crowd was certainly an endless stream.
Buyers and sellers practically filled the grand hall to capacity.
Before long, a receptionist wearing Building-Beyond-Building's standard-issue short skirt walked up to Su Yang.
"What does the distinguished guest require? I can introduce our products to you."
Su Yang stated his purpose, and the receptionist led him toward the second floor.
Naturally, the first thing Su Yang wanted to pick out was a battle saber; the one he usually used was just an ordinary iron-bladed long saber.
It was fine to use inside the city, but if he went outside to battle monster beasts, it would fall rather short.
To say nothing else, if he happened to run into a monster beast with strong defense, that sheet-metal blade might not even pierce its thick hide.
Before long, Su Yang selected an alloy battle saber priced at three hundred and twenty thousand.
This battle saber weighed around thirty catties, pitch-black from top to bottom, and looked quite imposing.
Of course, it was merely one of the most common types of battle saber available here.
Its only virtue was being cheap. He couldn't afford a better one anyway.
"As expected, a penny can defeat a hero," Su Yang thought with a wry, internal smile.
After purchasing the battle saber, he picked out a combat uniform that was reasonably priced, along with a first-aid kit, bringing his total expenditure to nine hundred thousand.
This directly hollowed out his financial foundation; he had no money left if he wanted to buy anything else.
"Do you guys buy monster beast materials?"
Before leaving, Su Yang asked the receptionist.
"We do. When the distinguished guest has monster beast materials, you can contact me directly."
Hearing this, the receptionist was overjoyed. She earned a commission on sales and a commission on purchases; this single transaction had just netted her double.
She immediately pulled out a card and handed it to Su Yang.
"My name is Zijuan. The distinguished guest can contact me directly if you come again."
Su Yang nodded and tucked the card into his pocket.
***
Returning home and turning on his computer, Su Yang logged into a martial artist community website.
This website not only featured discussions on martial techniques and various gossip among martial artists,
it also contained many guides shared by martial artists who had ventured outside the city.
These generally detailed the monster beast levels, danger degrees, and necessary items to prepare for each trial ground.
Su Yang focused mainly on posts of this type, and half an hour later, he finally selected Trial Ground No. 31.
It was about a hundred miles away from the urban area, and shuttle buses ran both ways.
Most importantly, the outermost perimeter of Trial Ground No. 31 basically consisted of unranked ferocious beasts, while deeper in were Tier 1 monster beasts, and the core area supposedly harbored a Tier 2 Martial Artist.
Such a configuration was undoubtedly a very good fit for him.
However, a comment further down also caught his attention.
"Those preparing to head to Trial Ground No. 31 recently should be careful. According to reliable news, a Tier 3 giant beast was chased by a Shanhai Realm bigwig all the way near No. 30 and lost its trace; it might have escaped into Trial Ground No. 31."
"No. 31 isn't the only one adjacent to 30, right? 29 and 32 are possible too, aren't they?"
"I'd call the person above an argumentative nitpicker. Your life is your own; if you lose it, you can't blame anyone else."
Su Yang hesitated slightly, but still decided on Trial Ground No. 31. As for that giant beast, he would just exercise some caution when the time came.
Having made up his mind, he carefully checked his gear once more.
Caution was the name of the game.
Since he had transmigrated with such difficulty, he had no desire to become a monster beast's ration in some obscure fashion.
After confirming everything was in order, Su Yang entered the cultivation room.
He walked straight up to the force tester and threw a casual punch.
The numbers on the display flickered like a phantom...
Even though Su Yang had mentally prepared himself, he was still given a major fright when he saw the actual reading.
1,000 kilograms?
You had to know that an ordinary early-stage Tier 1 Martial Artist could only muster six hundred kilograms with an all-out punch, yet a casual strike from him reached 1,000 kilograms. If he went all-out, his punch would likely approach nearly two thousand kilograms.
Even ordinary Tier 2 Martial Artists would find it difficult to reach this level.
If he were to face Li Tianpao again, he could probably flick him away with a single finger.
Furthermore, if this trump card were displayed in public, the harvest of emotional value would definitely be a bumper crop.
The Suicheng top scorer held no more attraction for him, but what about the main city top scorer?
Or even taking the top scorer for the entire Southern Territory?
By then, that emotional value would probably burst straight through the heavens.
Besides, there were still more than twenty days left until the martial arts examination, and he still had plenty of room for improvement.
Thinking this, he couldn't help harboring even greater anticipation for the martial arts examination.
***
Early the next morning, Su Yang hurried to the city gates, where the bus station for transportation outside the city was also located for convenience.
Su Yang bought a ticket bound for Trial Ground No. 31 and boarded the bus according to the directions.
He had originally assumed that due to the news about the giant beast, very few martial artists would go there, but to his surprise, as soon as he got on, he saw that there were already about twenty martial artists seated inside.
Even more unexpectedly, there were a few familiar faces among them.