The cold rejection from Lady Mei and the open threat from Senior Huo failed to break Ye Tian’s spirit. On the contrary, they acted as a whip that stoked the fire of his determination inside his small wooden cottage. For two weeks following the grand ceremony, Ye Tian spent every available second in the First-Floor Technique Library. There, he devoured hundreds of scrolls detailing the anatomical structures of mortal beings, meridian networks, and geographical maps of the lower Immortal Realm.

However, the quiet routine he had built for himself was soon shattered by a sudden announcement that shocked the entire Outer Peak.

"Ye Tian! Step forward and receive the competition decree!"

Overseer Zhao’s shrill voice echoed outside the cottage's bamboo fence. Opening the door, Ye Tian found Overseer Zhao standing alongside an inner disciple bearing the insignia of the Elders' Affairs. In their hands, they carried a blood-red parchment scroll—the symbol of a deadly mandate.

"Congratulations, brat. You have been selected as one of the Cloud Sword Sect’s representatives in the Three Sects' Bloody Competition within the Mystical Forbidden Forest," Overseer Zhao said, a sly, unsuppressable grin twisting his face.

Ye Tian’s brow furrowed. "The Three Sects' Competition? Isn't that reserved exclusively for senior outer disciples at the high stages of the Qi Gathering Realm? I’ve been an outer disciple for less than a month."

The inner disciple beside Overseer Zhao snorted coldly. "This is an order from above, recommended explicitly by the factions of Senior Huo and the Discipline Elder. You claimed to be strong when you emerged from the Mist Cave, didn't you? Now prove it in the Forbidden Forest. Refuse this decree, and you will be executed for insubordination!"

Ye Tian narrowed his eyes at the red parchment. A trap, he realized instantly. Senior Huo and the Discipline Elder clearly wished to eliminate him without dirtying their own hands. Sending a man without a spiritual root into the Forbidden Forest was no different from throwing a lamb into a den of divine leopards. They wanted him torn to pieces out there, far beyond anyone's sight.

Yet, rather than panicking, a faint, cold smile curled upon Ye Tian’s handsome face. "Very well. I accept."

Overseer Zhao froze at Ye Tian’s composure, then laughed internally, assuming the youth was simply too stupid to recognize the impending doom awaiting him. What they failed to grasp was that Ye Tian saw this as a golden opportunity. The Mystical Forbidden Forest was notoriously perilous, but according to the scrolls he had read, it was home to thousands of ancient beasts and a natural repository of High-Grade Spirit Stones—the very resource he desperately needed to break through the next threshold of his Mortal Body Cultivation.

Three days later, the atmosphere at the border of the Mystical Forbidden Forest was thick with tension. Dense gray fog blanketed a expanse of colossal trees whose trunks were charred as black as charcoal. Hundreds of disciples from the three major sects—the Cloud Sword Sect, the Heavenly Fire Sect, and the Joyous Valley Sect—had gathered before the barrier formation gate.

The rules of the competition were brutally simple: every disciple was given seven days to hunt beasts. Every monster core carried points, and the disciple with the highest score would receive a lavish reward from the alliance. However, inside that lawless forest, slaughtering fellow competitors to plunder their points and treasures was commonplace and implicitly sanctioned.

"Remember this, trash," a voice whispered sneeringly near Ye Tian’s ear as the Cloud Sword Sect disciples prepared to enter.

Ye Tian turned to see Gao Lu standing among a group of senior outer disciples. Gao Lu’s wrist, previously dislocated by Ye Tian, had fully healed, and he was now clad in luxurious light leather armor. Flanking Gao Lu were three burly outer disciples radiating the heavy aura of the Eighth Layer of the Qi Gathering Realm.

"This forest will become your grave, Ye Tian," Gao Lu whispered maliciously. "Senior Huo has already issued an order. Anyone who brings your head out of this forest will receive a cultivation-boosting medicinal pill. You won't survive the first day!"

Ye Tian merely looked at Gao Lu as if he were a street clown. He brushed his hand against the hemp bag at his waist, ensuring it was bound tight. "You had better worry about your own neck, Gao Lu."

BOOM!

The barrier formation gate roared open.

"The competition begins! Enter!" an overseeing elder bellowed from the sky.

Hundreds of disciples shot forward like arrows released from a bow, scrambling into the gloom of the Forbidden Forest. Ye Tian deliberately took a position at the very rear, maintaining a steady pace as he allowed the dense gray fog of the forest to swallow him whole.

Having traveled only a few hundred meters into the woods, an incredibly dense surge of pure energy struck Ye Tian’s senses. This place was entirely different from the sect's mountain slopes; every gust of wind carried ripples of pure energy. Entwined within the roots of the giant trees, Ye Tian caught flashes of deep blue crystal stones—High-Grade Spirit Stones embedded in the earth.

"Extraordinary," Ye Tian whispered, his eyes flashing with a golden sheen.

Before he could harvest his first spirit stone, however, the battle instincts of his mortal body screamed an instant alarm. The air behind his neck whistled with sharp velocity.

WHOOSH!

Without turning his head, Ye Tian vaulted forward, executing a clean aerial flip before landing atop a massive tree branch.

BLAM!

The spot where Ye Tian had been standing a moment prior shattered into a crater under the strike of a colossal axe. Three burly outer disciples—the very henchmen of Gao Lu he had seen at the gate—emerged from the mist with weapons unsheathed and bloodthirsty grins.

"Impression reflexes for a mortal rat," praised their leader, a one-eyed man possessing a Ninth-Layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivation. "Unfortunately, your escape ends here. Hand over your head for our glory!"

The three disciples lunged in unison, sealing off all of Ye Tian’s escape routes with a net of sharp spiritual energy. They exerted their full power, unwilling to underestimate a target Senior Huo had specifically warned them about.

Trapped atop the high tree branch, encircled by three lethal attacks, Ye Tian displayed not a shred of fear. Instead, a cold smile spread across his face. His body, purified by the Soul-Cleansing Fruit, surged with an eager desire for battle. The lingering Ascension energy within his bloodstream boiled, ready to be unleashed for the first time in a true life-or-death confrontation.

"You think I am the prey?" Ye Tian said softly, his voice swallowed by the thunderous surge of pure energy exploding from his muscle fibers, creating visible ripples of compressed air around him. "You are mistaken. In this forest... I am the hunter."