9 Saint Realm 02

The group of 6 continued to walk towards the 1st region. As they got closer to the exit, the nearby academy gradually entered their lines of vision. Although there were definitely many people that had been unable to endure the task and gave up on it in the middle, at least 1000 people had entered the forest together. Even if more than half had given up, there were still at least a few hundreds of people remaining. However, the mere hundreds of people spread out in the enormous forest rarely met each other, so it was rare to come across others that had decided to remain in the forest.

Sasuke's gaze swept across the people around him that were similarly heading out of the 1st region towards the academy. He saw that most of the males sported naked torsos, and were covered with wounds. However, without any exception, all the people were in sorry states; their naked torsos were covered with dirt, and their faces could not be discerned with all the filth covering them.

Only some of the females still wore the academy uniforms. However, every single one of the uniforms had become beyond dirty, and there were tears all over the clothing. Even a beggar's clothing was better than theirs. In addition, they used wide leaves to cover the parts that their clothes didn't, making them look like extremely sorry figures.

Amongst all the people, there were also a few people who had serious leg injuries, rendering them unable to walk. They were being supported by their companions the whole way, and approached the outside of the forest, one step after another.

Perhaps it was because there were so so many people present here, but there were absolutely no magical beasts in the vicinity. It was even safer than before.

Soon after, Sasuke's group followed the direction the enchantment in the sky pointed to in order to exit the 1st region, and they finally exited the forest. Outside stood the vice headmaster, Baien, wearing a white robe, his back straight. Behind him stood a few teachers with indifferent expressions. Further behind them was a large group of nearly 1000 Kargath Academy students. They were split into two groups: the group on the right had many more times people than the other group. Among them, some people were wearing academy uniforms that were dirty, but had very few tears. On the whole, they seemed to be in excellent and undamaged conditions.

The other group of people seemed to be in a more difficult situation. Their uniforms were all tattered, and sported quite a few bloodstains as well. Underneath the multiple rips on their clothes, it could clearly be seen that they sported many scars on their bodies.

The people in the left group only had around 200 people. All of them were in sorry states; majority of the people there were wearing clothes made of bark or beast skins, and there were quite a few people that had naked torsos. However, all the people that walked out of the forest were organized by a teacher to join the group on the left.

Afterwards, Sasuke's group sat on the grass quietly in wait. By this point, he had already understood that all the people in the left group were those that had stayed in the forest for the entire 3 days, and had just left the forest today. On the other hand, the people in the right group were all those that had escaped before the three days were up. According to the academy's regulations, no matter whether or not they had fulfilled the requirement of obtaining 2 monster cores, they still had failed their tasks.

As he swept his gaze in a circle, Sasuke discovered that many people in the group he was with had melancholic expressions. There were others that looked at certain people with looks of deep hatred, looking like they would spit out flames from their eyes.

At that moment, Sasuke sensed something. He turned around to look behind him, and saw two people with dirty faces and wearing clothing made of beast skins supporting a student in similar attire. The two were currently glaring at Sasuke with poisonous hatred, as if burning him into a crisp with their gazes alone….a strong killing intent.

After Sasuke closely examined the people, his mouth formed a hint of a sneer. He already recognized that the person was actually Luo Jian. Although Sasuke knew that after what happened the previous night, he had definitely wronged Luo Jian, Sasuke didn't pay much mind to it. In terms of strength, he wasn't below Luo Jian at all. Once he was able to condense a Saint Weapon and become a Saint, Luo Jian would no longer pose any threat to him.

In terms of family backgrounds, although Sasuke wasn't completely sure of Shangyang clan's strength, they were in no means weak in any sort of aspect. Luo Jian was the heir of a major powerful clan in Forbidden City, but in Sasuke's opinion, there was no way they Luo clan would bother harassing him over such a trivial matter. After all, Luo Jian had only been injured by Sasuke because of the training event that the academy had sent them on. In addition, the situation at that time had been because Luo Jian had first attacked his older brother's group.

Afterwards, once all the people had walked out of the forest, Sasuke's group had already increased to 300-400 people.

At this moment, the vice headmaster Baien walked up to the front of the crowd. He looked around at the group of figures that had obviously suffered through difficult situations. He smiled, and loudly said, "Very good. As expected, none of you have disappointed me. I hadn't imagined that this event to hunt magical beasts and stay in the forest for 3 days would have more people remaining this time compared to all the previous times this event has been held. Now, I want everyone to maintain their current formations, and begin walking back towards the academy."

Afterwards, the entire two groups maintained their exact formations and quickly advanced towards the academy. In the middle of the journey, when they encountered a small river, everyone stopped to wash their faces clean, and then continued forward. Very soon, the group of students began to approach the academy, and in the distance, they noticed that a tall platform had been erected in the centre of the sports field.

The group of people stopped in front of the platform, and the vice headmaster Shang Baien, as well as a few teachers, walked up to it. The vice headmaster sat in the chairperson's place with a straightforward and imposing manner, and calmly said, "The Magical Beast hunting competition occurring once every three years has now officially ended. According to the academy's regulations, after the task has been completed, we will now hand out awards. I would like to now invite all the people who had stayed in the forest for the entire 3 days and have gathered 2 monster cores to simultaneously step forwards."

As soon as the vice headmaster finished speaking, a hundred or so people immediately walked out of the crowd.

"I will now first count the Class 1 Monster Cores. Students who have hunted Class 1 Magical Beasts, please come up to the platform for the number of monster cores in your possession to be counted." The vice headmaster continued.

Following this, all the students that had killed Class 1 Magical Beasts, including Sasuke and Tieta, all walked up to the platform. There stood a teacher specifically assigned to count and record the number of monster cores that the students had earned.

Among the 100 or so people, the majority of them were below the Saint level, and had performed the event in the 2nd region. When the students that had Class 1 Monster Cores walked up, only a bit over 30 people remained. This made the students who did not know much about the 3rd region's conditions puzzled.

Although the 3rd region had Class 2 Magical Beasts, they all had low attack powers. To a Saint that could condense a Saint Weapon, although it may not be possible for him/her to fight against the magical beast alone, as long as a few people worked together, hunting magical beasts within the 3rd region shouldn't be very difficult to do. It should definitely be easier than a student that had not yet reached Saint level killing a Class 1 Magical Beast. After all, the Saint Weapons that Saints had were extremely powerful, and far surpassed those other ordinary weapons.

Logically, the chances of students completing their task in the 3rd region should definitely be much higher than those in the 2nd region. However, nobody had imagined that the event would end up with such results. In the 3rd region, only a pathetic 30 or so students had completed their task; this was much less than the people who had finished in the 2nd region.

When the first student arrived in front of the teacher inspecting the monster cores, he directly reached into his Space Belt and lightly placed all of his monster cores on the table. This student only took out 3 monster cores total.

Casually gazing at the three Class 1 Monster Cores, the approximately 50-year old teacher in charge of inspecting the monster cores nodded and said, "Hm, not bad. You qualify as passing. What's your name?"

"Teacher, my name is Ming Yunfeng." The youth that was being inspected excitedly said. The two words "Not bad" had already confirmed the fact that the teacher was praising him. Being complimented by the teacher was the greatest honor to him.

The teacher picked up his pen and recorded the information on a piece of paper, then said, "Go return your Space Belt to the academy. Take your monster cores. Also, this is a badge that represents your glory. You must take good care of it." The teacher pulled out a badge from underneath the table, and handed it to the student.

The student happily agreed. He carefully and tenderly took the badge, and then he walked off the platform in extremely high spirits.

"Next!"

Afterwards, students walked up in succession and handed their monster cores to the teacher for appraisal, and at the same time, were recorded. The process was quite fast, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of people had already passed. The fewest number of monster cores among them so far had been 2, and the greatest number had taken out 8, which had made the appraising elder shocked for a moment.

At this moment, a handsome youth with an uncommon air walked up to get his monster cores inspected. The youth had a small scar on his forehead, and it was most likely a recent wound from the forest, since the scar still had a hint of blood on it.

The youth calmly walked up to the elder, and quietly took off his Space Belt. He then began to take out monster cores, and placed them on the table one by one. As he was removing them, the table was soon filled with 6 Class 1 Monster Cores, yet he showed no signs of stopping. He continued to leisurely pull out monster core after monster core from his Space Belt. His movements were not at all rushed, and the expression on his face was indifferent, giving off the impression that he was a very steadfast person.

When the youth first took out 6 monster cores, the inspecting teacher finally returned to his senses. A smile slowly formed on his face, and he lightly nodded while looking at the youth with an expression of admiration.

Soon, the youth had already pulled out 10 monster cores. At this moment, the expression of the elder inspecting the monster cores finally changed. His gaze towards the youth was no longer one of admiration, but one of shock. For a person that had not yet reached Saint level to have managed to kill and retrieve monster cores from 10 Class 1 Magical Beasts was definitely not an easy task. In addition, the youth still showed no signs of stopping, signifying to everyone present that he still had not finished removing all of the monster cores from his Space Belt.

The students lined up being this youth had already been shocked speechless at the sight of him pulling out so many monster cores. They thought back to how much energy they had consumed in the forest just to retrieve 2-3 monster cores; to them, this had already been quite an amazing achievement. Many of them had even felt quite proud of this. Yet the youth in from of them had pulled out many times more monster cores than they had received within the last 3 days in a single breath. How could they not be shocked? Having fought against the Class 1 Magical Beasts quite a few times, they had been left with a deep realization that without reaching Saint level, using an iron weapon to kill Class 1 Magical Beasts with such thick skin was extremely difficult.

The youth did not pay any mind to the onlookers' expressions, as if he didn't see them. His movements had still not stopped, and he continued to pull out monster cores from his Space Belt one after another without a pause. Soon, there were already 15 monster cores piled onto the table, yet the youth still didn't show the slightest trace of stopping. He was still equally unhurried as before, and he very calmly continued to take out more monster cores from his Space Belt.

At this moment, all the teachers on the platform were gazing at the youth in shock and disbelief. For a person not yet a Saint to have killed more than 10 magical beasts within 3 days would perhaps be possible if he worked together with 5-6 people, but to have hunted so many magical beasts in 3 days alone was really something the teachers felt was impossible, unless those magical beasts were all seriously wounded.

Sitting on top of the platform, the vice headmaster Shang Baien smiled and said, "His name seems to be Mu Tian. He only entered the academy last year. After only a single year, he went from the 8th Saint Force layer to the peak of the 10th layer. This speed is quite good. It's said that he even tried to attack a Saint. Although he ultimately failed, it has to be admitted that the Mu clan really did send a good young successor this time."

The vice headmaster Shang Baien paused for a bit, then shifted his gaze towards the lined up Shangyang Xiang Tian and Tieta and muttered, "I really anticipate Shangyang Xiang Tian's and Tieta's harvests. It's said that the two of them had actually ran to the 3rd region to hunt Class 2 Magical Beasts on the last day. Their powers are clearly not at the Saint level yet. To have relied on iron weapons to hunt Class 2 Magical Beasts, that is really too unfathomable. If I hadn't personally witnessed the two of them kill a completely undamaged Class 2 Magical Beast, I would not dare to believe that such a situation was true. It seems that not only did the headmaster accept a good apprentice, Lore City's Shangyang clan which has been silent for so long will soon return to their former glory because of Shangyang Xiang Tian in the near future."

Only after the youth had taken out 23 Class 1 Monster Cores did he finally stop. He calmly looked at the inspecting elder taking notes, and said, "Teacher, these are the monster cores I retrieved."

The elder in charge of the inspection swept a glance at the 23 monster cores and let out a long breath. He looked at the youth with bright eyes full of emotions and asked, "What's your name?"

"Mu Tian!" The youth replied in an indifferent tone.

The elder's gaze gradually became more serious as he continued to ask, "Mu Tian, did you gain these monster cores by yourself, or did you work together with others for them?"

Mu Tian's expression did not change, as he had long since expected this would happen. "Teacher, these monster cores were gained by my hard work alone."

Hearing this, the elder's expression immediately changed. He looked intensely at Mu Tian with an expression beyond admiration, then smiled and nodded, "Mu Tian, right? Very good. Your results are extremely outstanding. I hope that you continue to work hard in the future." The elder did not ask how Mu Tian had gained the 23 monster cores; that was not important at all. The important part was that he knew that these monster cores had been gained through Mu Tian's hard work alone. After all, in the Tian Yuan Continent, strength represented everything. As long as one could achieve the final victory, no matter what kind of dishonest methods were used, nobody would say anything about it.

Hearing the elder's words of praise, Mu Tian could not help but smile.

At that moment, the elder took about a sky blue belt and badge. He handed them over to Mu Tian and said, "This is a Space Belt you had previously given us, and this is your badge. Take proper care of them."

Mu Tian calmly accepted the Space Belt and the badge of glory, and re-inserted the 23 monster cores into his Space Belt, before walking off the platform. From beginning to end, Mu Tian had not shown a single trace of arrogance or pride; he always had the same, indifferent expression.

Because Mu Tian had taken out over 20 monster cores, the following students didn't induce any type of reactions when they removed their monster cores. Majority of them had only the minimum 2 monster cores; the number of people that had more than 2 was very few. Aside from Mu Tian's 23 monster cores, the highest harvest had been the previous 8 monster cores.

The inspection went by quickly, and it was soon Sasuke's turn. At this moment, the gazes of the vice headmaster sitting in the chairperson's seat, as well as a few other teachers, immediately lit up. Their eyes closely followed Sasuke, showing expressions of extreme concentration. The vice headmaster Shang Baien who had previously been reclining in his seat could not help but straighten his back, as he gazed at Sasuke, full of expectations. Although he knew that Sasuke had killed quite a few magical beasts in the forest, he didn't know the exact numerical value of this "quite a few".

Sasuke calmly walked up to the elder in charge of inspecting the monster cores and lowered his head to look at the 2 meter long table. An awkward expression showed on his face, and after some time, he said, "Could you change to a larger table?"

"Huh?" Hearing Sasuke's words, the elderly man who was closely inspecting paused, and asked in confusion, "What did you just say?"

Seeing that the table was originally not very large, and that there were already some items of little value on top of it, Sasuke could only show a helpless expression. This table was really too small; there was absolutely no way he could fit all of his monster cores that pretty much completely filled his Space Belt.

"This table is too small." Sasuke continued.

Hearing Sasuke's words, all the students lined up behind him, aside from Tieta, showed expressions of shock. They all gave extremely strange looks at Sasuke, and quite a few suspected that they had heard him wrong. In their opinion, if you needed to hand over your monster cores, then just hand them over. Why would you bother caring about how large the table being used was? Wasn't this simply asking for trouble?

"Who is that person? He's really reckless, to even ask the teacher to change tables…."

"He's really an idiot, to dare tell Teacher Steve that the table was too small in front of so many people. The most unfathomable thing is that he wants Teacher Steve to change tables for him. Heavens, for him to confront Teacher Steve about the table being used, does he not know that Teacher Steve is the strictest teacher in all of Kargath Academy?"

Quite a few people began to point at Sasuke in discussion, looking at him as if he was an idiot.

The inspecting elder's expression changed, as he furrowed his brows and stared severely at Sasuke. He snorted and then in a low voice said, "What's your name? You even tried to confront a teacher like this; this table was prepared ages ago. It's not something that can be changed just because you said it should be changed."

Sasuke's words not only irritated the inspecting teacher, even a few of the teachers judging from the back could not help but knit their brows as they looked at Sasuke with displeased expressions. Sasuke's words were completely disrespectful to them as teachers.

Not a single one of the people even considered the fact that Sasuke had requested for change in tables because the current table had no way of fitting all the monster cores inside his Space Belt.

Of course, there were some teachers who were exceptions; their demeanors were still very calm. Their faces only showed a light trace of a smile. These few were the ones who watched Sasuke and Tieta viciously kill a group of Blue Wolf Kings.

At this time behind them, a beautiful girl with a pair of bright eyes stared suspiciously at Sasuke's figure, frowning in deep thought and whispering softly, "Strange. Why do I feel that his shadow is a little familiar, maybe I've met him somewhere?" The girl's eyebrows furrowed as she thought hard. Suddenly, her eyes flashed, and a familiar figure appeared in her mind. The next moment, her eyes exposed a look of surprise accompanied by a magical color. She unconsciously shouted, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, he is Shangyang Xiang Tian!"

The girl's voice was not concealed at all so many people heard her. The moment everyone heard the name Shangyang Xiang Tian, their faces started to change as the students who had been recklessly hurling insults Shangyang Xiang Tian started to shut their mouths like obedient children.

Shangyang Xiang Tian was a name that was prominent throughout Kargath Academy and was practically heard of by everyone. However, not many people had actually seen what he looked like, most of who did were freshmen. Sasuke's face was rendered indistinctive with all of the mud and grime that left very little of his face unblemished, his clothes were also extremely tattered to the point of him looking like a beggar. With his current state of appearance, no one would be able to recognize him even when he was lined up in front of everyone.

After hearing Shangyang Xiang Tian's name, the teacher in charge of inspecting the monster cores went blank as he gave a closer look. Apparently, Shangyang Xiang Tian was a name even the teacher was familiar with, however, that didn't mean that Sasuke had the proper authority to be able to command him to bring a new table. The teacher's mouth dropped open one more time in disbelief before preparing himself to speak again, but at that moment, Baien from the academy board called out, "Someone bring out a bigger table immediately!" There was a smile on his face instead one of discontent, instead, he was looking at Sasuke with anticipation as if he had already guessed the reason why Sasuke had wanted a bigger table.

The vice-headmaster Baien looked as if he was 34 years old, but his prestige within Kargath Academy was exceptionally high, second only to the headmaster himself. When he had spoken, all of the teachers went silent. Aside from a few teachers, the other teachers had not understood what the vice headmaster was trying to say. To think that he had asked for a bigger table even though the original table was more than enough to register a student's monster core's count, there was just simply no use for a bigger table.

Soon after, a 3 meter long and 2 meter wide table was lifted up to the stage, and the original table that had been used by the inspecting teacher was taken away.

"Shangyang Xiang Tian, you should be satisfied with this, right?" The inspecting teacher sat in front of the larger table. His attitude towards Sasuke was not very amiable; it was evident that Sasuke's request for a larger table had left an extremely bad impression on the 50-60 year old teacher.

Seeing that the elder's heart had some sort of prejudice against him, Sasuke could not help but smile bitterly. He hadn't imagined that just because of something like this, the teacher would actually have something against him. This had definitely gone against his expectations, but Sasuke didn't mind it too much.

Afterwards, Sasuke directly removed his Space Belt. Unlike the other students that had removed the monster cores one by one, he directly grabbed a handful of at 10 monster cores and pulled them out, lightly placing them on the table. All of these monster cores were faint white in colour, and were about one circle larger than the size of an adult's finger.

Seeing Sasuke pull out 10 monster cores at once, although the appraising elder was previously unsatisfied with Sasuke's earlier actions, he could not help inwardly nodding. However, just as the appraising elder had assumed these were all the monster cores Sasuke had, Sasuke's hand once again reached into his Space Belt, and continue to pull out a great handful of monster cores. Once again, there were 10 of them in his hand.

Now there were already 20 monster cores on the table in front. Seeing this, the appraising elder's eyes lit up. He looked at Sasuke in astonishment and inwardly thought to himself, "This Xiang Tian's reputation is indeed not undeserved. Although he has not yet reached Saint level, he was able to defeat a Saint. It seems that he really is quite skilled."

Following this, Sasuke continued to reach into his Space Belt and once again pulled out a handful of monster cores to gently place onto the table. Knocking sounds rang out as the hard monster cores came into contact with the wooden table.

Seeing Sasuke once again take out 10 monster cores from his Space Belt, the expression of the appraising elder had instantly changed. His eyes now reflected complete shock, since by now, Sasuke had taken out 30 monster cores, 7 more than Mu Tian had.

For a student that had not yet reached Saint level to have killed 30 Class 1 Magical Beasts within 3 days inside the forest was undoubtedly a record. Even the elder that had gone around the world and witnessed many things before could not help but be dumbstruck by disbelief. Although these magical beasts had relatively low attack power, it was by no means an easy task for a student only at the peak of the 10th Saint Force layer to kill them.

When Sasuke grabbed 30 Monster Cores, the teacher evaluating him became astonished, along with the other teachers behind him as they watched this inconceivable sight. Only a few teachers who had inside information on the matter had a smile on their faces while the students lined up behind him had been dumbstruck when he had pulled the 30 monster cores out.

But Sasuke didn't bother to look at the stupefied expressions on the teachers and students around him. While everyone was staring at him, his hands went into his Space Belt once more and grabbed another bunch of monster cores to put onto the table. When his hand refused to stop, the teachers all looked on with a sluggish expression, as the cycle repeated and he reached into his Space Belt and grabbed yet another handful…

Soon after Sasuke had placed a couple handful of monster cores onto the table, the big official table was filled with monster cores. Although they were all Class 1 Monster Cores, because they came from different species, the cores would not be the same size or shape. Small cores were almost the size of the big toe of a person, and the biggest cores were the size of a small child's fist.

Whether it was a student or teacher, both groups had been put into shock by Sasuke. For a person who was not yet at the Saint level state to hunt and kill almost 100 Class 1 Magical Beast in a span of 3 days; if someone were to try to say this to someone else, they wouldn't be believed. At this moment, aside from a small amount of people, every other person would not believe that it was Sasuke who had killed all these magical beasts. Many people had thought that the huge amount of monster cores were a result of many people helping him collect monster cores or that he had stolen them. The consensus was that he could not have killed all those Class 1 Magical Beast by himself.

Seeing the official table being covered by a little under 100 monster cores from Sasuke, the teacher in charge of counting them let out a deep breath. Although in his heart he thought that Sasuke had to have fought many other groups for their monster cores. He had to admire Sasuke's strength however, even when it came to dishonourable acts like thievery, the teachers would not care since this is a common event in the Tian Yuan continent.

Seeing almost 100 Class 1 Monster Cores from Sasuke, the vice headmaster Baien let loose an incredulous look. He knew in his heart that the reason why the 2nd region had so many less people hunting for monster cores was because they had been robbed by Sasuke. There was no doubt that Sasuke had stolen all of the monster cores from someone else, otherwise, everyone would have passed the test with the monster cores they earned by a legitimate show of strength from killing magical beasts.

With this recent development, the vice headmaster Baien was quite emotional today as even his heart shook. Though at the same time, there was a small amount of doubt, could it be that Sasuke and Tieta could easily kill magical beasts without even adding qi to weapons? Were they just not using cultivation anymore? Unexpectedly, Sasuke and Tieta had both killed around 100 magical beasts over the span of the last three days.

The look in the teacher's eye was quite complicated. Soon after he had started to count the monster cores on the table; the teacher didn't ask how Sasuke had acquired these monster cores since the definite conclusion was already clear in his mind.

The monster cores were quickly counted. The elder in charge of the appraisal said, "There is a total of 98 monster cores here. This is your Space Belt; please return the academy Space Belt now." The elder handed Sasuke an emerald green Space Belt; this was the Space Belt that Sasuke's father, Shangyang Ba, had gifted him when he had left the Shangyang clan.

Sasuke looked at the academy Space Belt in his hands for a bit, and after some hesitation said, "For the time being, take care of my belt here. After this evaluation ends, I will return the academy Space Belt."

Hearing this, the elder knit his brows, and asked in confusion, "What?" Perhaps it was because Sasuke alone had gained nearly 100 monster cores, but the elder's attitude towards Sasuke had clearly changed.

"I still have Class 2 Monster Cores in my Space Belt, so I still need to take part in the Class 2 Monster Cores evaluation later." Sasuke plainly said. Right now, the evaluation was only being held for Class 1 Monster Cores; the evaluation for Class 2 Monster Cores wouldn't begin until after this one finished.

"Hm, is that so? You still have Class 2 Monster Cores?" Hearing this, the elder had disbelief written on his face, and he looked at Sasuke with suspicion. It wasn't only the elder, the other teachers sitting on the platform were currently looking at Sasuke with identical expressions.

Sasuke nodded, "Yes."

Hearing this, the elder let out a deep breath. His gaze towards Sasuke grew solemn. Only now did he realize that he had really underestimated the rumors that had been going around about Shangyang Xiang Tian. However, he didn't bother wasting his breath on this matter, and waved his hand, "Alright, store away these monster cores. You can continue to attend the second round of evaluations."

Afterwards, Sasuke placed the 100 or so monster cores back into his Space Belt and left the platform. However now, both the teachers on the platform and the students surrounding him looked at Sasuke with completely different expressions. Their gazes were complicated, mixed with jealousy, envy, and even some with disdain.

After walking off the platform, Sasuke didn't re-join the crowd. Instead, he walked up to the people waiting for the Class 2 Monster Cores evaluation that were currently lined up in wait. All the students awaiting evaluation had already reached Saint level, and aside from Shangyang Hu's group, all of them looked at Sasuke with expressions of shock and doubts as he walked up to them. They hadn't even met Sasuke in the 3rd region, and it was obvious that they found it extremely abnormal for a person not yet a Saint to be able to show off Class 2 Monster Cores. The really found it extremely hard to believe that Sasuke had actually entered the 3rd region and killed Class 2 Magical Beasts; in addition, he had at least managed to gain two Class 2 Monster Cores.

Lined up behind Sasuke was Tieta. After Sasuke walked off, Tieta also arrived in front of the appraising elder.

At this point, Tieta being the Kargath Academy's headmaster's apprentice was no longer a secret; all the teachers recognized him. When Tieta walked up, the appraising elder could not help but smile as he said, "Tieta, I wonder what your profits were like this time?"

Tieta laughed, but did not say anything in reply. Just as Sasuke had done, he reached his hand into his Space Belt and directly pulled out a large handful of monster cores, before lightly placing them on the table. Tieta's fists were slightly larger than Sasuke's, so each one held 14-15 monster cores every time.

Seeing the 14-15 monster cores on the table, the appraising elder began to smile, as he inwardly thought to himself, "As expected of the person that the headmaster has his eye on. Although he has the heart and body of a tiger and seemed to lack shrewdness, his talent really cannot help but make one sigh in admiration."

After taking out 14-15 monster cores, Tieta's movements didn't stop at all. He once again reached into his Space Belt to pull out a fistful of monster cores. The students and teachers all stared at the table as gradually, the number of monster cores increased more and more, until there were multiple dozens.

Only after Tieta had finally taken out a little under 100 monster cores did he finally stop. Seeing all the monster cores he had gained, Tieta laughed in a straightforward manner and happily said, "Teacher, these are the monster cores I have gained."

At that moment, all the teachers and students in the vicinity were shocked speechless. They all stared at the slightly under 100 monster cores piled on the table with expressions of disbelief.

The appraising elder let out a long breath, and then looked at Tieta intensely, and slowly said, "Good, good. Tieta, you've done very well, and have not lost any face for your master." Saying this, the elder lowered his head and began to count the monster cores. He did not inquire how Tieta had gained those monster cores. In his heart, he had already linked together Tieta's means of collecting the monster cores with Sasuke's.

The elder quickly finished counting the monster cores and said, "There are a total of 97 monster cores here." Saying this, the elder recorded it into his notebook.

After he had finished taking note, the elder took out an exquisite, extremely well-made, black Space Belt adorned with a few gems, and handed it over along with the badge of glory to Tieta, and said, "Tieta, this is the Space Belt that you had left in our care, as well as the badge of glory that you have earned. Collect your monster cores, and then return the academy Space Belt to the academy."

It was obvious from a single glance that this high-grade Space Belt had been given to Tieta by the headmaster after he had become the headmaster's apprentice. Otherwise, a child born into a commoner family like him would have absolutely no way of purchasing such a high-grade item like this Space Belt. Although these types of Space Belts were not uncommon in Tian Yun Continent, it was not something that ordinary people could own.

Tieta's gaze was locked onto the black Space Belt for while, before he shook his head and said, "Teacher, I would like to keep this Space Belt under your care. I still have Class 2 Monster Cores."

"What! You also have Class 2 Monster Cores?" Hearing this, the appraising elder looked at him with an extremely shocked expression, with a hint of disbelief hidden as well.

Hearing Tieta's words, the other teachers that were sitting on the platform exchanged glances of disbelief with each other. They hadn't imagined that after Sasuke, there would be another student not yet at Saint level that had managed to gain Class 2 Monster Cores.

That appraising elder hesitated for a bit before replying, "Tieta, did you go to the 3rd region?" Although the elder's question was overstepping his responsibilities, he could not ignore the strong feelings of curiosity in his heart. Even though he had already guessed the answer, he would definitely not dare to believe it unless Tieta confirmed the situation.

Tieta nodded, and spoke in a muffled voice, "Yes, I went to the 3rd region."

The appraising elder continued to ask, "Did you gain your Class 2 Monster cores from killing magical beasts?" Despite the fact he was far overstepping his boundaries, nobody tried to stop him, since it was not only the elder that was extremely curious to know the answer. Even all of the teachers on the platform felt the same way, and they wanted a clear-cut confirmation.

"A portion of it was gained from Shangyang Xiang Tian and I killing magical beasts." Tieta had no intention of hiding anything, but he only said half of the story.

Hearing this, the elder asked in shock and disbelief, "What! You're saying that you and Shangyang Xiang Tian killed Class 2 Magical Beasts?"

Tieta nodded and replied, "Yes."

This answer made all of the teachers on the platform stunned. Many of them couldn't believe what they had just heard; for two students not yet Saints to have killed Class 2 Magical Beasts was unprecedented in the history of Kargath Academy.

Afterwards, Tieta stowed away his monster cores and walked off the platform. He joined the group of people waiting for Class 2 Monster Cores evaluations, and stood behind Sasuke. However at this point, Tieta and Sasuke had already become the centre of everyone's attention, and the people who had failed the task that were currently standing behind them looked at the two with quite a lot of jealousy. There were many of them that had been pathetically running all over the place to escape from the pursuits of Class 1 Magical Beasts, and they had never imagined that Sasuke and Tieta, who were not at higher levels than them, would manage to not only gain a hundred Class 1 Monster Cores in the 2nd area, but also gain Class 2 Monster Cores. This made them feel extremely disoriented, and quite a few of the upperclassmen felt embarrassed as well.

Soon afterwards, the Class 1 Monster Cores evaluation ended. The one that had the highest number of monster cores was Sasuke, with a total of 98 monster cores, while Tieta was in second place, with one less monster core. The two of them had many more times monster cores than Mu Tian, who was in third place.

Amidst the crowd of people, Mu Tian's eyes flashed in astonishment at Sasuke and Tieta, and he murmured to himself, "Tieta, Shangyang Xiang Tian, your reputation is well-deserved. You two are indeed experts that can defeat Saints. I'd love to have a chance to interact with the both of you."

Although he had had his spotlight taken away by Sasuke and Tieta, Mu Tian did not show a single trace of dissatisfaction. He was still just as indifferent as before, as if this was an insignificant matter that had absolutely no impact on him.

At that moment, Shangyang Hu walked up to Sasuke with a happy expression, and said in a low voice, "Little Brother, the two of you are really too abnormal. Within 3 days, each of you managed to gain nearly 100 monster cores." Shangyang Hu's tone barely concealed his happiness, and he looked at Sasuke proudly.

Sasuke smiled wordlessly. Suddenly, his gaze shifted as he sensed something. He looked behind him to see a youth with tattered clothes glaring at him with poisonous hatred. The youth's gaze did not bother to conceal his strong killing intent, and it was so severe that Sasuke could not help but furrow his brows.

However, when Sasuke inspected the youth's appearance a bit more closely, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. The youth was Luo Jian, who had all of his monster cores plundered by Sasuke. Luo Jian's monster cores had been entirely stolen from him mercilessly, and he had even been heavily injured. Although it did not greatly affect his movements, since he and his group of companions had completely lost all of their battle spirit, they had been unable to gather the energy to steal others' monster cores or hunt magical beasts afterwards. Thus, Luo Jian's group had ended the task with failure.

Sasuke smiled, his expression showing a hint of disdain. He paid absolutely no mind to Luo Jian. In regards to people like Luo Jian, Sasuke had met many of them as a wanderer in his previous world. However, very few of them had the ability to really stir up storms.

The second round of monster core evaluations soon started. The students that had reached Saint levels and finished their task walked up to the platform in succession. However, there were two exceptions among them: Sasuke and Tieta, who had not yet reached Saint level, while everyone else had.

The teacher evaluating the Class 2 Monster Cores was still the same elder, and the assessment progressed quickly. Because of all the stealing that had occurred in the 3rd region, the several hundred students' monster cores had ultimately been gathered by the 30-40 people present. Thus, all of them had much more than 2 monster cores, and many people had over 10 monster cores in their possessions. There were even quite a few people that had gained 23 monster cores.

Quickly, over ten people passed the inspection. At this time, an unusual young man came up. This young man had tattered clothes but the arrogance between his brows was present as ever. When he came up to the table, he quickly brought out a huge pile of Monster Cores to place onto the table.

The old man in charge of the inspection obviously knew this young man and after counting the number of Monster Cores on the table, he said appraisingly, "There are a total of 93 Magic Cores. Pretty good, Ming Xiang, your score is exceptionally good."

Hearing Ming Xiang's name, Tieta, who was at the end of the line, looked at Ming Xiang standing in front of the table, waiting for his evaluation to finish. Tieta's eyes were bright with battle spirit; he hadn't been able to forget his last unfinished fight against Ming Xiang. At that time, he wasn't as strong as he was right now, especially after killing magical beasts in the forest for the past 3 days. Since he had also gained some pointers from Sasuke, Tieta's current fighting abilities were far greater than they had been before. He believed that with his current strength, as well as his newly gained battle experience, he would be able to fully utilize his godly strength in the fight to make up for the difference in Saint Force between the two of them. There was definitely no way he'd lose to Ming Xiang.

Although Tieta appeared to be thick-headed, he clearly understood that this was not the time to spar against Ming Xiang, so he could only angrily glare at Ming Xiang's back. Eventually, he managed to suppress his strong desire to fight Ming Xiang.

Hearing the elder's praise, Ming Xiang smiled, and his eyes showed pride and arrogance behind them.

The appraising elder recorded the value in his notebook, then continued, "93 Class 2 Monster Cores, huh! If nothing unexpected happens, then you will definitely be part of the top 3 places for Class 2 Monster Cores. In addition, you are the Cultivation Genius, so your future is boundless. Keep working hard."

"Thank you very much for your praise, Teacher Steve!"

The elder's compliments made Ming Xiang's arrogant expression even more pronounced.

Afterwards, Ming Xiang returned the academy Space Belt and retrieved his own as well as the badge of glory, before stepping off the platform.

After Ming Xiang left, another student with similarly tattered clothes walked up to the table. He directly pulled out a large handful of monster cores; it seemed that he did not have any less monster cores than Chen Ming Xiang.

The appraising elder smiled and nodded, his gaze resting on the youth's face as he slowly said, "Not bad, Huang Dong. It seems that your harvest this time is quite plentiful."

Hearing Huang Dong's name, quite a few students below the platform exclaimed in shock. Sasuke's expression also shifted, his gaze immediately locking onto that youth's figure. Sasuke was no stranger to Huang Dong's name; his strength was third on Kargath Academy's top 10 experts list. Sasuke had heard that his power had already reached the peak Saint level last year, and he was only one step away from becoming a Great Saint. In addition, once he successfully broke through, it would signify that he could graduate.

Kargath Academy's top 10 experts list referred to the 10 strongest and most formidable students. All of them had already reached peak Saint level, and were not far from becoming Great Saints. Once they broke through, they would leave the top 10 experts circle.

In response to the elder's praise, Huang Dong only smiled, and did not reply.

Soon, the elder had already finished counting the monster cores on the table. Huang Dong had earned a total of 91 monster cores, 2 less than Ming Xiang.

Once Huang Dong had left the platform, more people from the top 10 experts list appeared on the platform. Almost all of them had numerous monster cores, and the first ranked student on the top 10 experts list, Bogadi, had a total of 103 monster cores. However, among these top 10 experts, only 4 of them had completed the task; the other 6 had all been eliminated. They had encountered people of the same level as they were, but had lost to the opposite party due to a difference in numbers. Thus, their monster cores had been plundered.

Very quickly, all the people on the top 10 experts lists had already left the platform. The people remaining were all extremely well-known. At this point, the one who had displayed the highest number of monster cores so far was the first ranked on the top 10 experts list—Bogadi, with a total of 103 monster cores.

The person in second place was the fifth ranked, one of the top 10 experts list: Jing Ming Yue. She was also the sole female on the top 10 experts list. She had earned a total of 101 monster cores, 2 less than Bogadi had.

The person in third place was Ming Xiang, with a total of 93 monster cores. Although he was not on the list of top 10 experts, his power had already reached the upper Saint levels, and he was also a higher-ranked elite at Kargath Academy. His abilities were not much lower than the people in the list of top 10 experts, and at Kargath Academy, he had acclaimed the title of the Cultivation Genius. His cultivation speed was much higher than most people's, and his abilities in battle couldn't be underestimated either.

After the three of them had left, all the people had already determined the top 3 winners, because the only people left in line were people who were not well-known in Kargath Academy. Their powers were all only primary or mid Saint levels, and there was, naturally, no way they could compare to the other three.

Shangyang Hu's group of four had managed to pillage quite a few monster cores thanks to being with Sasuke. Although the four of them had equally split half the cores, each one of them had still managed to get 30-40 of them. Even though this did not count as that plentiful of an amount, based on their strengths, this number was already quite good. After all, they were only primary level Saints.

Very soon, all the Saints had already finished their evaluations. Although there were people who had quite a few monster cores, none of them had more than the third place holder. Right now, the only 2 people remaining were Tieta and Sasuke.

Currently, both the teachers on the platform and the students below it had their gazes locked onto Sasuke and Tieta. The two of them weren't Saints yet, but they had reached the level at which they could kill Class 2 Magical Beasts. This made quite a few people feel intense jealousy and emotions of turmoil. At that moment, everyone was trying to guess how many monster cores were on these two, who hadn't condensed Saint Weapons yet. Of course, nobody dared to use the other upperclassmen as a basis for Sasuke's and Tieta's earnings; they all guessed that the two of them wouldn't have that many Class 2 Monster Cores on them.

Sasuke walked up to the appraising elder and removed his Space Belt. At this moment, the elder was looking at Sasuke with an expression of praise; the previous prejudices he originally had towards Sasuke had now completely disappeared. Although he was sure that Sasuke and Tieta would definitely not have more than 10 Class 2 Monster Cores in their possessions, just the fact that the two of them had entered the 3rd region and slayed Class 2 Magical Beasts without being a Saint was already something that the elder had to have a whole new level of respect for. After all, this was the first time non-Saints had ever been able to kill Class 2 Magical Beasts in the history of Kargath Academy.

At that moment, the listless teachers sitting on the platform could not help but get excited. One by one, they turned their gaze towards Sasuke.

Sasuke calmly swept his gaze across the surrounding teachers. When he confirmed that the teachers were staring at him with eyes that were bright with anticipation, his previous indifferent expression could not help a subtle smile. He directly reached into his Space Belt and removed a handful of Class 2 Monster Cores and placed them on the table; there seemed to be around 10 of them.

After seeing Sasuke take out the 10 Class 2 Monster Cores, many of the teachers on the platform had expressions of shock and disbelief. It was very obvious that this number had surpassed most of their expectations. After all, in terms of strength, the difference between Class 2 Magical Beasts and Class 1 Magical Beasts was extremely great. Based on their original assumptions, it would've been quite amazing if Sasuke only had 3-4 Class 2 Monster Cores. However, they hadn't imagined that he would actually have 10 of them.

Following this, without waiting for the others' minds to form any more thoughts, Sasuke once again withdrew a fistful of Class 2 Monster Cores from his Space Belt.

Currently, the number of Class 2 Monster Cores on the table had already reached over a dozen in number. This amount was already equal to the number of cores that some of the Saint students had gained the past 3 days.

Witnessing this scene, all the teachers on the platform showed incredulous expressions. Even the appraising elder could not help but be shocked speechless at the dozens of monster cores that Sasuke had pulled out. Although there were only a few dozen Class 2 Monster Cores, this still made the teachers' emotions surge even more than when Sasuke had pulled out around 100 Class 1 Monster Cores in a single breath. After all, these Class 2 Monster Cores had been pulled out by a person that hadn't reached Saint level yet.

At that moment, all the teachers suddenly realized that if those dozens of monster cores had been earned by Sasuke personally killing Class 2 Magical Beasts, then his future achievements would be….

When the teachers thought of a student that was not yet a Saint killing Class 2 Magical Beasts, a dozen of them in fact, they could not help but find it incredible.

Vice headmaster Chang Bai En, who was sitting in the chairperson's spot, had a satisfied smile and murmured, "Not bad, not bad, not bad at all. The only thing that remains unknown is how many of these monster cores you were able to earn by killing magical beasts with your own strength. It seems this will have to be more closely investigated later."

After taking out dozens of Class 2 Monster Cores, Sasuke's movements still did not stop. His hand once again reached into his Space Belt and pulled out another handful of monster cores. Afterwards, Sasuke's movements continued to repeat, and under all the incredulous teachers' shocked gazes, he continued to pull out various sized Class 2 Monster Cores, until the whole table was completely covered.

Seeing the table full of Class 2 Monster Cores, all the teachers on the platform were stuck in a daze. Even the students below the platform that could see what was going on at the table had expressions of disbelief, as if they had just witnessed an unfathomable scene.

The appraising elder inhaled deeply, and tried to quell his emotions of shock as well as he could to calm himself down. The monster cores on the table were ones that he had never in his lifetime seen before, and he had seen many more higher-level monster cores before. Yet these Class 2 Monster Cores could not be described through ordinary means.

The appraising elder looked intensely at Sasuke before lowering his head to count the monster cores. Soon, the assessment had finished. However, the elder had a shocked expression of disbelief on his face, as his emotions that had just calmed down now began to surge uncontrollably once more. He sat in front of the table in a daze, unable to open his mouth and report the number of monster cores.

A few breaths later, the vice headmaster Chang Bai En sitting in the chairperson's position could finally no longer wait any longer, and said, "Steve, hurry up and report the number of monster cores." Vice headmaster Baien's tone trembled slightly with excitement, although his expression was extremely calm.

Hearing the vice headmaster's words, the appraising elder took a deep breath, before declaring, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, number of Class 2 Monster Cores gained: 118."

After the appraising elder finished his statement, everyone inhaled sharply in shock. The whole arena instantly became so silent, that one would've been able to hear a pin drop.

This number made even the vice headmaster Shang Baien speechless. His gaze locked onto the huge pile of Class 2 Monster Cores on the table with an expression of astonishment. This number far surpassed the amount of monster cores that the previous first place winner, Bogadi, had.

A while passed before a student couldn't help but shout out, "No way, that's definitely impossible. How could he, who isn't yet a Saint, be able to gain so many monster cores in the 3rd region, and have even way more than the school's top-ranked expert. Bogadi? This is definitely impossible. He definitely brought these monster cores from an outside source."

The single input raised a flood of responses. As the student finished speaking, more and more cries of protest rang out. Sasuke's nearly 100 Class 1 Monster Cores had already made many people jealous, and had made them feel that it was unfair. Now that he had taken out 118 Class 2 Monster Cores, which was an amount even greater than his Class 1 Monster Cores, the students were no longer able to accept it.

Under the platform, the currently number 1 expert in Kargath Academy's rankings, Bogadi, was staring at Sasuke's back in shock as he murmured, "His strength is obviously not yet at Saint level; how could he have gotten so many Class 2 Monster Cores? Could it be that these monster cores really were taken from an outside source?" Bogadi also couldn't help but think the same way as the others. However, this assumption was immediately rejected by him, since before entering the forest, the school administration had completely confiscated all of the students' Space equipment, and the students had all gone through very strict inspections. In addition, the forest only had one entrance, so there was no chance for someone to sneak monster cores in from the outside.

Moreover, even if someone really did manage to bring them in, Bogadi believed that nobody would be stupid enough to present 100+ Class 2 Monster Cores at once. That would undoubtedly make the entire school shocked, and the administration would definitely hire people to investigate the situation.

Nearby, a gorgeous girl in tattered clothes looked absentmindedly at Sasuke's figure on the platform and muttered, "How could that be? A rookie like him who isn't yet a Saint actually managed to get 100+ Class 2 Monster Cores?" The girl's melodious voice was filled with shock and incredulity.

On the other side, when he heard the appraising elder announce Sasuke's monster core amount, Ming Xiang gaped in shock as he stared disbelievingly at Sasuke. However, his expression soon became gloomy, and eventually became completely replaced by wrath. This was because the person in third place for the monster cores competition received rewards. Although these rewards were not worth that much to those born in major clans, like him, instead it seen as a great honor, a verification of strength. Originally, Ming Xiang had been placed as third, but now with Sasuke in the picture, he had been forcibly pushed out of the top three. This made him extremely angry; what was even harder to accept was the fact that Sasuke still wasn't even a Saint.

"Shangyang Xiang Tian…" Shifting his gaze, Ming Xiang's face became beyond gloomy as he looked at Sasuke with a glare full of poisonous malice.

In the crowd, Luo Jian's expression was equally gloomy. He glared hatefully at Sasuke, as if he could eat Sasuke alive with his gaze alone.

Although Sasuke's current strength was still quite weak, his "Spirit" was extremely powerful. Perhaps he wouldn't be able to notice an ordinary gaze, but once a particularly severe gaze was pointed towards him, his Soul could immediately detect it. Thus, Luo Jian's and Ming Xiang's malice filled glares were immediately sensed by Sasuke. He turned around and used the aid of his powerful Soul to track the glances' sources, and easily found Luo Jian buried in the crowd.

Seeing Luo Jian's dark expression, Sasuke sneered, but did not pay any mind to it. He had swiped all of Luo Jian's monster cores from him, forcing him to fail the task. In addition, Sasuke had injured Luo Jian as well, so it was completely normal for Luo Jian to hate Sasuke so much.

However, as Sasuke's vision shifted towards Ming Xiang, his brows furrowed as he showed a cold expression. He didn't have any enmity with Ming Xiang; the previous incident in front of the library was so minor that it couldn't have been the cause of such fierce hatred. The main reason was the fact that Sasuke had forcibly pushed Ming Xiang out of the top 3.

After all, being able to place as the top 3 among the entire academy was an achievement that was an extreme glory. This was especially true for those born in noble clans, as this honour could directly increase their status by a large amount.

If it were any of the top 10 experts that had pushed Ming Xiang out of the first 3 places, he definitely wouldn't have felt unhappy at all. However, since the one who had forced Ming Xiang out of the top three wasn't even on the top 10 list, he was also only a freshman who did not even reach the Saint level yet, causing Ming Xiang, Kargath Academy's cultivation genius, to feel humiliated. He couldn't imagine that a freshman that had just entered the school would end up reaching his level, and from this feeling, a hatred towards Sasuke was born.

Although there was also Tieta, who was the headmaster's apprentice, and thus had a greater power behind him than Ming Xiang had. Of course, Ming Xiang wouldn't dare to casually offend the headmaster.

The appraising elder took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He looked at Sasuke profoundly, and smiled, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, you've really made me shocked. I hadn't imagined that someone like you who isn't yet a Saint could actually gain so many Class 2 Monster Cores. You've already far surpassed the previous first place, Bogadi. It seems that this competition's first place has definitely been taken by you." The elder handed Sasuke his own Space Belt and the badge of glory.

Sasuke chuckled, and reached out to accept the items. "Your words are too much. Nobody can say yet who first place will be. After all, Tieta is still behind me. The number of monster cores he has is not any less than me." Saying this, Sasuke re-stowed all of the monster cores into his Space Belt.

Hearing Sasuke's words, the elder shot Sasuke a deep glance, and he smiled wordlessly.

After Sasuke had completely stored away all of the Class 2 Monster Cores on the table, he directly walked off the platform. Afterwards, Tieta walked up to the table, and began to take out his own Class 2 Monster Cores from his Space Belt.

Tieta had entered the 3rd region with Sasuke, and they had equally distributed the monster cores. Thus, he had pretty much exactly the same amount of monster cores Sasuke had. After the appraising elder finished counting, it was revealed that Tieta had a total of 119 Class 2 Monster Cores, only one more than Sasuke.

After the appraising elder announced Tieta's total amount of monster cores, all of the people at the arena were once again shocked speechless.

Below the platform, the fifth ranked person on Kargath Academy's top 10 experts, Jing Ming Yue, was in a daze. From the look in her eyes, it seemed as if she had lost her spirit. She had suddenly been forced out of second place by two freshmen; this result was difficult for her to accept. After all, she had spent a lot of energy and effort earning those monster cores. She couldn't imagine how the two newly entered non-Saint freshmen could've gotten so many monster cores.

At that moment, an extremely beautiful girl walked up to Jing Ming Yue, and intimately hugged her arms around Jing Ming Yue's waist. Laughing, she said, "Miss Jing, you hadn't imagined that you would've been forced down from second place by two new freshmen, right?"

Jing Ming Yue sighed, and bitterly smiled, "It's really unfathomable. Those two freshmen haven't even reached Saint level, and yet they were able to gain so many monster cores. The two of them even forced Kargath Academy's number one expert, Bogadi, down to third place. I really have no clue how they got their hands on so many monster cores. Could it really be possible that they had brought them in from outside?"

The girl giggled in response, "Miss Jing, you've guessed wrongly. I believe that those Class 2 Monster Cores were earned from their own strength, not from outside as you suspect."

The girl's words made Jing Ming Yue start. Jing Ming Yue turned around and glance doubtfully at the girl, and asked in a curious tone, "Xiaole, why do you say that?"

The girl smiled mysteriously, as she showed a prideful expression. In a low voice, she said, "Miss Jing, I encountered those two in the 2nd region, and even stayed with them for an entire day. You cannot underestimate them; they're both very formidable. Especially that Shangyang Xiang Tian, he managed to kill quite a few Class 1 Magical Beasts with a lousy iron rod by piercing them directly through the throat."

"Really?" Jing Ming Yue asked in shock, obviously not believing it.

"Of course, I saw it with my own eyes. There's no way it'd be false." The girl puffed out her chest and said firmly, "Also, that night, we encountered a secret attack from 20+ Blue Wolves. The two of them effortlessly killed all of them."

"What? You said that the two of them managed to kill 20+ Blue Wolves by themselves?" Hearing this, Jing Ming Yue could no longer hide her shock. Although she was already a high level Saint, she would still flee if she faced 20+ Class 1 Magical Beasts, let alone kill them.

The girl vigorously nodded and said, "That's right, Miss Jing. I personally witnessed it. Although Shangyang Xiang Tian and Tieta haven't condense their Saint Weapons, their strength is definitely not any weaker than a Saint's. That's why I can promise that the monster cores in their hands are definitely not brought in from the outside."

Hearing this, Jing Ming Yue lowered her head and thought it over seriously. Despite the fact that Sasuke and Tieta had forced her out of the top 3 places, she didn't show a trace of dissatisfaction in her expression. From this alone, it could be seen that Jing Ming Yue was not a narrow-minded person.

After the evaluation had finished, the awards ceremony began. This time, the event's top 3 places for both Class 1 Monster Cores and Class 2 Monster Cores would receive the same rewards. The first place reward was a Class 4 Monster Core and a medal of honor completely made from Purple Coins. Both second place and third place rewards included one Class 3 Monster core, and a medal of honor made from Gold Coins.

These medals weren't worth much money, but what they represented was of extraordinary significance. Thus, even the nobles that had powerful backgrounds couldn't keep their eyes from reddening at those medals of honour.

Sasuke and Tieta had taken the first 2 places for both Class 1 Monster Cores and Class 2 Monster Cores, and thus earned twice the amount of rewards. Third place for Class 1 Monster Cores was still Mu Tian, and third place for Class 2 Monster Cores was Kargath Academy's number one expert, Bogadi.

After the awards ceremony had finished, Sasuke could not help but smile excitedly at the surging, pure power in the Class 4 Monster Core he held in his hand. With the Class 4 Monster Core, as well as the 200+ monster cores in his Space Belt, he had enough to last him for a long time. Based on Sasuke's calculations, he wouldn't have to worry about not having monster cores to use for at least a year.

After the award ceremony finished, the students at the sports field gradually began to leave, dispersing until there was absolutely nobody left. During the past 3 days of fighting against the magical beasts in the forest, almost all of the students had numerous injuries. Now that the award ceremony was over, everyone returned back to their own dorms to treat their injuries. The only people left in the sports field were the completely uninjured students that had given up on the task ages ago.

However, after experiencing this event, Sasuke's and Tieta's reputations in Kargath Academy had reached its peak form. They had already become the greatest stars in the academy; no matter where one went, their names could be heard being discussed.

Sasuke and Tieta, as well as Shangyang Hu's group of three, bid each other farewell, and returned to their own dorms to treat their injuries as well.

In the centre of the academy was a tall tower around 100 square meters large. Vice headmaster Shang Baien was currently respectfully standing in the centre of a room on the top of the tower. In front of him sat Kargath Academy's headmaster, lazily sitting in front of the office desk, with a smiling expression. His profound gaze also had hints of happiness and excitement reflected in them.

"Ah, Baien, it seems that a genius really has appeared in Kargath Academy this time." The headmaster excitedly said with a smile.

Vice headmaster Shang Baien nodded and smiled back, "Headmaster, that is not correct. This time, Kargath Academy has more than one genius; rather there are two. These two are Shangyang Xiang Tian and Tieta."

The headmaster shook his head and smiled, "No, it isn't wrong. Tieta's talent is definitely extremely high, and he also has godly strength. However, compared to Shangyang Xiang Tian, he still has a long ways to go."

Vice headmaster Shang Baien was surprised at this response, and he asked doubtfully, "Headmaster, why do you say that?"

The headmaster let out a long sigh and said, "You definitely cannot underestimate Shangyang Xiang Tian. He is quite a complicated person; no wonder the old fellow at Shangyang clan kept praising him."

"Actually, yesterday afternoon, after I had heard the news that Shangyang Xiang Tian and Tieta had killed a Class 2 Magical Beast in the 3rd region, I personally rushed over myself to secretly watch them. Although those 2 aren't Saints yet, their combat abilities cannot be underestimated. Especially Shangyang Xiang Tian, with just a broken iron rod, he was pretty much invincible in the 3rd region. Not only are his movements incomparably fast, they are also extremely precise. His battle experience is not anything alike to a 15 year old youth's; on the contrary, it seems as if he's a person that has fought 100 battles already. The Class 2 Monster Cores in the two's hands were pretty much completely killed by Shangyang Xiang Tian alone. Tieta was simply involved in the fights."

Hearing this, the vice headmaster Shang Baien's gave an incredulous look and asked, "Headmaster, is Shangyang Xiang Tian really as formidable as you say?"

The headmaster nodded and said, "If I hadn't personally witnessed it, I wouldn't believe that a 15 year old could have such powerful strength either. The most important part is his extensive battle experience and combat techniques. These are not something that can be learned just because one wants to learn it. Without experiencing hundreds of battles, these concepts just cannot be grasped. It's no wonder that old man Shang Bai praised Shangyang Xiang Tian so much; he really is an extremely talented genius. It seems these things were all taught by the old man."

The vice headmaster Shang Baien looked relieved as he said, "Under the great master Shang's guidance, Shangyang Xiang Tian would find it difficult to not be renowned."

The headmaster nodded and said, "Even if old man Shang is guiding from the side-lines, if Shangyang Xiang Tian didn't originally have such outstanding talent, then even old man Shang wouldn't be able to teach him much, even under careful teaching. If Shangyang Xiang Tian wasn't Shangyang clan's fourth master, I would really make him my apprentice. After all, such geniuses are rare. If he continues to mature like this, it would be fortunate for Gesun Kingdom."

After the awards ceremony, Sasuke retrieved a new uniform and then took a shower to completely wash off all of the filth on his body that he had gained from the few days in the forest. After he wore the brand new uniform, he felt refreshed as he headed back the dorm. Although he had battled virtually every single moment during his 3 days in the forest, he didn't show any traces of exhaustion. In his previous world, he had experienced even worse conditions.

After returning to his room, Sasuke sat cross-legged on his bed. He held a Class 1 Monster Core in each hand, and began to cultivate. Although Sasuke's power had already reached the peak of the 10th Saint Force layer, he could clearly sense that the Saint Force in his body had not yet reached a state of saturation.

As he gradually began to absorb the energy within the monster cores, Sasuke's Saint Force once again quickly rose. His speed of cultivation was ten times faster than when he absorbed World Essence.

For the next three days, aside from eating meals, Sasuke used all of his time to cultivate in his room. Eventually, the Saint Force inside him had already reached a saturated state; no matter how much further Sasuke tried to absorb the monster cores' energies, his inner Saint Force would no longer continue to grow.

Sasuke clearly understood that he needed to rush to Saint level and condense his Saint Weapon. Otherwise, the Saint Force within him would come to an eternal standstill.

In terms of condensing Saint Weapons, Sasuke had long since clearly learned the procedures to becoming Saint from the school library. It used the principle of condensing all inner Saint Force and slowly shaping it into a Saint Weapon. In the end, one uses their 'Soul' to perfectly harmonize with it. Once the inner Saint Force is completely condensed into a weapon, then a person is officially a Saint.

Sasuke didn't stop. He took out a Class 4 Monster Core from his Space Belt, preparing to use it if needed, and immediately began to condense a Saint Weapon and rush to Saint level.

The Saint Force in Sasuke's dantian was firmly contained by his "Soul". In the presence of his powerful "Soul", Sasuke had absolute control over the Saint Force in his dantian. Sasuke used his mind to control all the Saint Force within his dantian and gradually began to gather it together. Slowly, he formed it into the shape of a sword, and he finally began to compress it.

Sasuke's powerful Soul was brought over from his previous world. Since birth, it far surpassed other people's and under this power, the weak Saint Force had no way of resisting it. The Saint Force was firmly suppressed by Sasuke, and he constantly compressed the sword-shaped Saint Force.

As the Saint Force was compressed smaller and smaller, Sasuke's dantian that was originally filled with Saint Force quickly began to lessen as well. Despite this, the strength of his Saint Force continued to rise, and the makeshift sword became clearer in form as well. Eventually, it became an extremely tiny sword within his dantian.

At the same time, Sasuke was still trying to condense it even more.

Although Sasuke had already successfully gathered and condensed his Saint Force into a sword, this didn't mean that he had already become a Saint. There was still the last and most difficult step left; this step was precisely what blocked so many people in Tian Yun Continent from becoming Saints for the rest of their lives.

In this last step, he had to merge a part of his Soul into his dantian to completely condense and form the sword and create a spiritual relationship with it. At the same time, he would have to completely harmonize with the Saint Weapon. Although this seemed simple, it was extremely difficult to do in reality.

Although this step was difficult for most people, to those that had incomparably strong spirit like Sasuke, this was something that could be smoothly performed.

It was at this moment that Sasuke had finally become a legitimate Saint. This last step had provided absolutely no obstruction to him.

Just as Sasuke had perfectly harmonized his Soul and his Saint Weapon, he suddenly felt something strange, as if the condensed sword within him had become his own limb. He could easily control it, and he could also clearly sense every single component of this sword.

Right now, Sasuke's dantian didn't have a single trace of Saint Force remaining inside it. The only thing left was the condensed sword, which acted as the new energy source. The sword seemed extremely tiny; from its width and length, it didn't seem very different from an embroidery needle.

Now that he had condensed his Saint Weapon, Sasuke could sense the powerful fluctuations from Saint Weapons far clearer than he had before. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that as an ordinary Saint, he could easily defeat a person at the peak of the 10th Saint Force layer. Unless some unexpected or special circumstances occurred, a person at the peak of the 10th layer would absolutely be no match for a Saint.

Both Sasuke and Tieta were amazing. With Tieta's godly strength, as well as his extremely powerful body, even Sasuke who had been training Saint Force since he was young was naturally not as powerful as Tieta. Tieta's abnormal strength in addition to his formidable defense was enough to make up for any lack of Saint Force. Unless the difference in strength was extremely large, there was no way he could be a match against Tieta. At most, they would be stuck at a standstill.

Sasuke had previously used his power at the peak 10th layer to defeat a middle ranked Saint. Although he had completely relied on the experience and battle techniques from his past world, Sasuke's quick sword techniques and his high accomplishments in the ways of the sword, as well as his fighting willpower gained from countless experiences from life-or-death battles in his previous world were enough to make him invincible to those at the same level as him. In addition, battles with ranks higher than him weren't even worth mentioning either.

At this moment, Sasuke's expression suddenly changed. Immediately following, his dantian had surprisingly begun to tremble once more. His entire dantian began to fluctuate intensely in an unstable way. As soon as it began fluctuating, before Sasuke could react, the World Essence began to frantically burst forth. The countless surrounding World Essence seemed to have been affected by some invisible attractive force, and gradually began to gather where Sasuke was. At this moment, Sasuke's body seemed to have left his control, and it felt as though all of his pores had suddenly opened. They frantically began absorbing the dense World Essence surrounding him.

The energy within the Monster Core in Sasuke's hand also fiercely dropped, forming a stream of energy visible to the naked eye which flowed into Sasuke's body.

At this moment, Sasuke's body was like a bottomless pit. It didn't matter how strong the World Essence around him was, it was completely absorbed into his body like a whale swallowing water. At the same time, the energy of the Class four Monster Core in his hand rapidly diminished, and the speed at which it was being absorbed was unbelievable. The originally fist sized Monster Core was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.