Chapter 148: Goshawk

The next day.

While Lin Yi was in the middle of his cultivation, a voice echoed from outside his hotel room.

"Mr. Lin, we need to head to the Martial Arts Association before nine o'clock," Die Nianshang reminded him.

Lin Yi stopped cultivating and checked the time. It was already eight o'clock. Without hesitation, he opened the door and said, "Let's go."

The three of them left the hotel and arrived at the Martial Arts Association a few minutes later.

Along the way, they spotted a few members of the Joy Valley. The women looked at Lin Yi with sheer terror, deliberately keeping their distance.

Inside the Martial Arts Association today, there were no ordinary martial artists—only talented individuals gathered from various regions for advanced training.

There were around two hundred of them. While that might sound like a considerable number, one had to remember that these were elites representing over twenty provincial transcendent forces across the Divine Land.

The arrival of Lin Yi and his companions did not cause much of a stir. Only Yu Xiaoyu walked over and exchanged a few extra words with Lin Yi.

When the clock struck nine, a tall man walked into the hall. He looked to be around forty years old, dressed in a black athletic tank top and military trousers. His bulging muscles stretched the fabric to its absolute limit, as if it were about to burst at any second.

Having just broken through to the half-step Spirit Sovereigns realm, this man was not yet able to fully suppress his oppressive aura.

The moment he stepped inside, a heavy sense of suppression washed over everyone in the hall.

The strength of these geniuses generally hovered around the initial breakthrough of the Grandmaster realm, with the younger ones still lingering at the Xiantian stage.

"You are the latest batch of geniuses sent here for advanced training. My name is Dong Chenyi. I will be leading you to the training grounds shortly."

"I expect all of you to be on your best behavior and not cause trouble halfway there. Otherwise, don't blame me for being unpolite," Dong Chenyi said in a deep, stern voice.

No one dared to utter a word. Given Dong Chenyi's formidable strength right before their eyes, who would be foolish enough to court disaster?

Dong Chenyi swept his gaze across the crowd and continued, "If there are no objections, form a line. There are vehicles waiting outside."

Lin Yi followed the crowd out of the Martial Arts Association, where five large green military trucks were parked.

At the sight of the vehicles, the expressions of many geniuses immediately turned green.

Regardless of anything else, they were representatives of major forces who usually traveled only in luxury cars worth millions. Asking them to ride in green military trucks felt as humiliating as an emperor riding in a donkey cart, leaving them deeply resentful.

"You expect us to ride in these?" a young woman pouted, speaking with obvious dissatisfaction.

"Is there a problem?" Dong Chenyi's gaze locked onto her.

"Of course there's a problem! I refuse to ride in this piece of junk. I'll drive my own car there," the woman declared.

Others quickly voiced their agreement. How could they possibly accept being crammed into such vehicles like cattle?

Dong Chenyi said nothing, his gaze merely sweeping coldly over the rebellious crowd.

Seeing that he remained silent, the group assumed he was afraid of provoking public outrage, which only made their protests even more raucous.

After a full minute, Dong Chenyi finally broke into a grin. "You all want to drive your own cars?"

"That's right! We wouldn't even spare a glance at trash like this, even if someone gave it to us for free," the woman who had spoken earlier said, looking at Dong Chenyi with a smug expression.

"What is your name?" Dong Chenyi asked, staring at her.

"Jiang Xin," the woman replied, puffing out her chest proudly.

"Very well. You have just been expelled from this training session," Dong Chenyi said with a gentle smile.

"On what grounds?" Jiang Xin widened her eyes, blazing with indignation.

She had gone through immense trouble and effort to secure this training quota, managing to stand out among the numerous talents within her family. To be kicked out before the journey had even begun was something she simply could not stomach.

"What did I say earlier in the hall? I told you not to stir up trouble. We haven't even departed yet, and you're already creating problems for me," Dong Chenyi said coldly.

"You—what right do you have to expel me?" Jiang Xin shrieked in anger.

"I apologize, but until we reach the training location, I indeed have the absolute authority to decide," Dong Chenyi replied smoothly.

With that, he cast a sharp glance over the rest of the crowd and challenged, "Does anyone else have an objection?"

"N-No objections," everyone stammered, frantically shaking their heads.

No one was stupid enough to stick their neck out now; doing so would clearly mean ruining their own future.

"Very well. Get on the trucks immediately," Dong Chenyi commanded. From beginning to end, he didn't spare Jiang Xin another glance.

Reluctantly and with heavy steps, the group of geniuses made their way toward the military trucks.

"Mr. Lin, let's head over as well," Die Nianshang said.

She didn't seem particularly bothered, having experienced this before and knowing what to expect.

"Mm." Lin Yi nodded.

Die Nianshang chose a truck that had a higher ratio of female passengers. If any other man had been in this carriage, his heart would have been fluttering with excitement, but for Lin Yi, the only notable thing was the overpowering scent of various perfumes.

After more than three hours of driving, the convoy finally came to a halt at the foot of a towering mountain.

Once they disembarked, the crowd still harbored a bellyful of grievances.

Dong Chenyi introduced the location, "This is the training site for this session. It is known as the Spirit Mountain, and there are a total of one hundred and eight grand formations laid out across it. Therefore, I strongly advise everyone to stick close together. Once you fall behind, your qualification for this training will be instantly revoked."

Cai Jingjing, too, was bursting with questions. "Senior Sister, was it here that you underwent your training last time?"

"That's right," Die Nianshang nodded.

"Is there really one hundred and eight arrays here?" Cai Jingjing asked, finding it hard to believe.

The Butterfly Valley only possessed three arrays in total, so the thought of one hundred and eight was simply unimaginable.

"I'm not sure," Die Nianshang shook her head, as she herself had little understanding of arrays.

Cai Jingjing turned her gaze toward Lin Yi.

After observing the mountain for a moment, Lin Yi said, "There are indeed one hundred and eight arrays here, but they are all minor formations, nothing to fear."

Of course, that was only from Lin Yi's perspective. Anyone else would likely perish without ever knowing how they died. These one hundred and eight minor formations complemented one another, fusing into a single colossal array. Even if a Spirit Sovereign forced their way in without knowing the method to break it, they would fall right where they stood.

The group of over two hundred people marched into the mountain. The moment they stepped into the array, many of them gasped in astonishment.

The spiritual Qi here was at least ten times denser than the outside world, and countless precious medicinal herbs grew in abundance.

"Senior Sister, look! That vast patch of land over there is actually spiritual soil!" Cai Jingjing exclaimed in excitement.

Since the Butterfly Valley specialized in alchemy, spiritual soil was considered sacred ground for cultivating medicinal herbs.

"Mm," Die Nianshang chuckled softly. When she first arrived here, she had been just as shocked. Later on, as she saw more of it, she simply grew accustomed to it.

Lin Yi scooped up a handful of spiritual soil from the ground and gently sniffed it.

"Such a vast expanse of naturally occurring spiritual soil... It seems there is a spirit stone vein hidden somewhere within this mountain."

Lin Yi extended his divine sense to cover the entire Spirit Mountain. Sure enough, five hundred meters beneath the earth, he detected a rich vein of spirit stones.

However, Lin Yi was no brigand; he had no intention of forcibly seizing the spirit stone vein.

"Mr. Lin, we should get moving. We've already fallen a bit behind," Die Nianshang reminded him at that moment.

"Right," Lin Yi withdrew his divine sense and nodded.

The group pressed on until they reached the middle of the mountainside before halting.

Such a mountain path was nothing to martial artists; the real challenge lay within the arrays.

Along the way, over twenty people had already been eliminated, swept out of the Spirit Mountain by the formations.

At first, many had assumed Dong Chenyi was merely joking, but the further they went, the less funny it seemed. A friend walking right beside them one second would suddenly vanish into thin air the next.

This lingering sense of inexplicable crisis forced everyone to heighten their vigilance by a hundred and twenty percent.

Only now did they realize that from the very second they stepped into the Spirit Mountain, the competition among the geniuses had already quietly begun.

Reaching the halfway point, the geniuses took a collective, heavy breath, finally feeling a temporary sense of relief.

At that moment, a massive shadow cast a pall over the ground.

Lifting their heads, the crowd saw a gigantic hawk circling relentlessly in the sky above them.

Its wingspan stretched a full twenty meters, and every downward beat of its wings whipped up fierce, howling gales.

"Screeech!"

With a piercing cry, the giant hawk plunged headfirst from the sky.

Bursting with suppressed frustration and anger, the crowd was eager to vent. In an instant, a barrage of various cultivation techniques and martial arts skills were unleashed toward the hawk.

However, the creature possessed terrifying speed, effortlessly evading nearly ninety percent of the attacks. The remaining ten percent that actually connected were completely absorbed by a protective barrier of Qi enveloping its body.

This was a spirit beast!

Realization dawned upon the crowd, but it was already too late as the hawk descended.

With a single dive, half of the group was injured. Fortunately, the hawk had no intention of taking their lives; otherwise, instead of just injuries, half of them would have been killed outright.

Having successfully executed its first strike, the hawk soared back into the midair.

Its sharp, predatory eyes locked onto a specific direction, and it dove again instantly, refusing to give the crowd any time to recover.

With razor-sharp wings, it wounded dozens more before changing its trajectory and charging directly toward Die Nianshang's group.

"Senior Sister, that hawk is flying toward us!" Cai Jingjing turned pale with fright.

There were plenty of Grandmasters present, yet they had been instantly overwhelmed by the hawk in a single exchange. With her meager strength, she would undoubtedly be crushed into dust in a fraction of a second.

Die Nianshang felt a wave of terror as well. During her previous training session, this very hawk had "slaughtered" everyone within a few encounters.

The purpose was glaringly obvious: to suppress these so-called geniuses.

Dong Chenyi watched the unfolding scene with cold indifference, thinking to himself, "Each generation is truly worse than the last. At least the previous batch managed to wound the hawk; this lot is so terrified they can't even stand steadily. Oh? Wait, there's actually one who dares to fight back."

"Screeech!"

The hawk shrieked, accelerating even further.

Die Nianshang tensed every muscle in her body, drawing a bright blue treasured sword from her storage pouch. Just as the hawk closed in, the sword suddenly burst forth with dazzling blue radiance.

"Rain-Covering Sword Technique!"

In the span of a single breath, Die Nianshang unleashed over a dozen strikes.

Yet, it was completely futile. The blue light striking the hawk left nothing more than superficial scratches—virtually negligible against its massive frame.

However, Die Nianshang's counterattack thoroughly infuriated the beast.

It slammed its head directly into her chest. Die Nianshang tried to dodge, but she was a fraction too slow.

With a sickening *crack*, her ribs fractured, and her body flew backward like a cannonball.

"Senior Sister!" Cai Jingjing cried out in alarm.

With a flick of its wing, the hawk batted Cai Jingjing away with a gust of kinetic force, sending her tumbling through the air.

Immediately afterward, the hawk fixed its merciless gaze on Lin Yi, who stood nearby.

Yet, it was abundantly clear this time that it had chosen the wrong opponent.

"What a nuisance," Lin Yi muttered under his breath.

His original intention was simply to quietly acquire the top-grade spirit stones prepared by the Martial Arts Association and leave. But given how things had escalated, he had no choice but to intervene.

The hawk's obvious objective was to knock down everyone present.

"Screeech!"

With a powerful flap of its wings, the hawk unleashed a gale so fierce that standing upright became nearly impossible.

Maintaining a completely expressionless face, the moment the hawk lunged within striking distance, Lin Yi formed his hand into a claw, slammed his fingers directly onto the hawk's beak, and forced it sharply downward.

*Boom!*

Before anyone could process what had happened, the entire head of the seemingly unstoppable hawk was smashed straight into the earth.