Chapter 18 - You're Cheating!

Upon sensing the divine dice system's prompt, Zhao Heng's thoughts stirred.

Previously, after killing so many enemies, he hadn't triggered the memory plundering skill. But Liu Feng could trigger it - was this because his strength and soul were stronger?

The dice system prompted that the soul was about to dissipate. Zhao Heng didn't hesitate and directly activated the theft skill.

As the skill triggered, a faint blue light flashed across Zhao Heng's forehead. A white misty light from the area where Liu Feng had been killed was immediately absorbed by the blue light.

Zhao Heng felt his brain swell, as if something was merging into his mind. It took nearly ten breaths before returning to normal.

Rubbing his head and wondering what had happened, he suddenly noticed two strange memories had emerged in his mind.

One set of memories was about various spirit herbs. Suddenly, massive herb information flooded his consciousness - names, cultivation methods, and medicinal properties became crystal clear, as if he had immersed himself in this field for years.

The other memory segment concerned the Stone Shattering Fist. Zhao Heng suddenly gained numerous insights into this technique, its intricacies profound and far beyond the entry-level understanding.

Instinctively, he threw out a Stone Shattering Punch.

"Whoosh...!"

The punch was sharp and powerful, striking an ancient tree. The tree trembled, with half of Zhao Heng's fist embedded in its trunk.

The punch's power had dramatically increased, approaching the small achievement level. Zhao Heng believed that by slightly digesting the memories in his mind, he could quickly reach the small achievement realm of the Stone Shattering Fist.

Zhao Heng was shocked. He understood these were results of memory plundering - he hadn't just gained memories, but also the other person's experience.

As for why only these two memory segments remained, he guessed that Liu Feng's soul had already fragmented. For Liu Feng, his years of cultivating spirit herbs and practicing the Stone Shattering Fist were his most profound memories, which is why they were stolen.

After once again marveling at the dice system's miraculous skill, Zhao Heng quickly slipped away from this dangerous location.

The sun had already set, and darkness was approaching. The magical beasts in the examination area began to become active.

Many were still hunting magical beasts in the starry night, desperately accumulating points. Zhao Heng had already found a safe place to rest and recover.

The previous group's battle with magical beasts had yielded many beast ears, ensuring they would definitely pass the examination. As for achieving a higher ranking, Zhao Heng hadn't even considered it.

Although higher rankings meant better rewards, it would also attract unwanted attention. He didn't want to stand out.

The next morning, the sect's bronze bell rang, signaling the miscellaneous disciple examination was about to end.

Miscellaneous disciples from various areas gradually emerged, most covered in wounds and exhaustion, carrying beast ears they had hunted to exchange for points and rankings.

Various area supervisors had long been waiting.

Today, Supervisor Liu was radiant, especially pleased that Zhao Heng had not yet appeared.

"Finally rid of this troublesome kid. I can now sleep peacefully," Liu Hong thought to himself.

However, as time passed and the examination deadline approached, Liu Hong suddenly realized that more than ten disciples from the mining area were still missing - precisely the eighteen people he had sent to deal with Zhao Heng.

Liu Hong began to feel uneasy. His gaze swept through the spirit herb garden area's disciples, but he couldn't find Liu Feng either.

"Hmm... Could something have gone wrong?

No, that's impossible. Even if those people couldn't kill Zhao Heng, Liu Feng couldn't have failed. He's already one step into the bone refinement realm. Most ninth-level body tempering warriors are no match for him!" Liu Hong thought.

Just as Liu Hong was feeling anxious, a blood-covered figure emerged from the distant forest, staggering and disheveled.

Despite the person's miserable appearance, Liu Hong immediately recognized him.

"Zhao Heng!"

This kid actually wasn't dead, and all the people he'd sent to eliminate him had vanished.

"How could this be?"

Although Liu Hong had countless questions, the current setting demanded restraint. He could only watch as Zhao Heng approached the point exchange area.

"I... I want to exchange points!" Zhao Heng said weakly, stumbling.

He walked with difficulty, carrying a large package and swaying as if about to collapse. Two law enforcement disciples quickly moved to support him.

Zhao Heng was deliberately acting, wanting to appear unimpressive and avoid drawing attention to his smooth examination passage.

The middle-aged supervisor casually waved his hand. "Open his package."

Everyone assumed that given his apparent injuries from hunting a first-level magical beast, his achievements would be mediocre.

However, when the package opened to reveal a full collection of beast ears, everyone was stunned. The point exchange supervisor, the distant Liu Hong, and even the miscellaneous disciple peak's chief supervisor Zhou Cang all cast surprised looks.

Instantly, dozens to hundreds of eyes locked onto Zhao Heng.

Zhao Heng's heart trembled. "What's happening? Did I fail the examination?"

After quickly counting the beast ears, the middle-aged supervisor spoke with a strange expression:

"Twenty-five pairs of beast ears, two hundred and fifty points. Young man, congratulations on passing the examination. You're ranked third overall."

"What!"

Upon hearing his ranking, the previously weak Zhao Heng suddenly jolted, nearly throwing off the two supporting law enforcement disciples.

"Don't get too excited. Your performance is quite good," the middle-aged supervisor tried to comfort him.

Zhao Heng's mouth twitched. In his mind, he was thinking: "How is this possible? I've been sleeping since last night and even abandoned thirty percent of my beast ears. How could I still rank third? The other miscellaneous disciples can't be this incompetent."

If others heard his inner thoughts, they might want to kill him.

Humans and magical beasts had inherent physical differences, and hunting same-level magical beasts was extremely challenging. Not everyone had martial techniques or would use tactics like Zhao Heng's stone lime strategy.

A typical ninth-level body tempering warrior killing more than ten magical beasts in a day would already be considered impressive. As for spirit herbs, this area had long been picked clean and was rare to find.

The blame lay in Zhao Heng's rapid strength improvement and lack of understanding of the examination's details, leading to his misjudgment.

The situation became somewhat bizarre, with Zhao Heng's plan to remain low-key completely failing.

At this moment, a cold voice rang out:

"Zhao Heng, with your strength, it's impossible you could hunt this many magical beasts. You must have cheated!"

Everyone turned to look. The speaker was none other than the mining area supervisor, Liu Hong.

With this statement, everyone began casting suspicious glances at Zhao Heng.

Indeed, the other two in the top three rankings were outstanding miscellaneous disciples at the peak of body tempering.

How could this unknown newcomer possibly be in the same league?

Hearing Liu Hong's accusation, Zhao Heng was not anxious but instead felt joy. "Just what I was hoping for," he thought.

Zhao Heng immediately responded, "Supervisor Liu is right. These magical beast ears were not actually killed by me."

Hearing this, Liu Hong coldly laughed, "Zhao Heng, cheating in the miscellaneous disciple examination is a serious offense. Mild punishment means canceling your results, severe punishment means expulsion from the sect!"

Zhao Heng calmly replied, "I didn't cheat. I picked up these beast ears."

"Picked up?" Everyone was stunned.

"Nonsense! Do you take us for fools?" Liu Hong coldly rebuked.

Zhao Heng explained leisurely, "Here's what happened. While hunting magical beasts, I coincidentally encountered a group of people fighting magical beasts. They all died mutually, so I simply cut off the magical beasts' ears."

"Impossible!" Liu Hong categorically denied.

Zhao Heng insisted, "It's true. If you don't believe me, you can investigate the examination area."

At this moment, a law enforcement disciple who had been patrolling the examination area spoke up, "He's not lying. We did discover traces of magical beasts and participants fighting yesterday. Those participants' bodies were likely eaten by other magical beasts."

The crowd suddenly understood. This kid had just gotten incredibly lucky.

Liu Hong still seemed skeptical. "How could your luck be so good? Precisely encountering a beast group fighting participants, right near you?"

Zhao Heng counter-questioned, "I'd also like to know why that group appeared near me.

Supervisor Liu, if you're still unconvinced, why not have the law enforcement brothers conduct a thorough investigation to see if there's something suspicious?"

"You...!" Liu Hong's face changed instantly. He naturally understood the implication of Zhao Heng's words.

Seeing Zhao Heng so confident, many people began to believe his story. Even Zhou Cang, the chief supervisor, spoke up:

"Since the law enforcement team has confirmed this incident, it seems this young man was just lucky. Let him pass."

With the chief supervisor having spoken, Liu Hong, despite his unwillingness, didn't dare say more.

Amid the crowd's buzzing discussions, the two exchanged a brief, meaningful glance. Their internal thoughts were surprisingly identical:

"Damn it, I'm definitely going to kill You!"

[--------------------------------------------]

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