Where does that wicked woman get her conscience?

As the sun gradually disappeared in the west, golden light spread across the dense forest.

In the quiet forest, the leaves suddenly trembled slightly, and two figures appeared out of nowhere.

"Stop." The leader raised his hand and then turned his gaze to the tall trees in front of him.

A girl dressed in white was sitting on a tree trunk, her flowing skirt swaying from side to side as her feet swung back and forth.

A small, bluish-green snake was coiled around her fair wrist, and between her hands she clutched a snow-white rabbit, trembling and afraid to move.

The man with his hair tied up looked rather grim, and he kicked the demon wolf at his feet hard.

The demon wolf sensed the presence of crystal cores here, which is why it brought them here. It must be the white rabbit, right? But it turns out she's already taken. What a waste of its time.

The pockmarked man next to him didn't seem to care much. Instead, he was quite interested in the woman in white. Although she was wearing a mask and his face was obscured, she was definitely a beauty based on her figure.

With such a beautiful woman before him, he wouldn't be like the man with his hair tied up, disregarding his image, patting his robes, and performing a deep bow in what he considered the most elegant manner.

"May I ask which college you belong to, young lady? And why are you sitting here alone?"

"Me? I'm waiting for the crystal core." Guan Xun gently patted the rabbit's head, his gaze sweeping over the two people below, whose strength was average.

The two men frowned simultaneously, their expressions strange. Waiting for crystal cores? That makes no sense.

"Have you ever heard of waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump?" Guan Xun said with a smile.

The two men looked at each other and then nodded.

Immediately, they felt dizzy and their consciousness became somewhat hazy. Before they could react, the man with his hair tied up was kicked hard from behind, and he fell straight into the haystack.

Upon seeing this, the pockmarked man immediately woke up, but it was too late. His neck was struck hard, and he lost consciousness.

The man with his hair tied up was quite frightened and struggled to get up, but his back was stepped on. A flash of white caught his eye—it was the rabbit that Guan Xun had just caught.

Anger welled up in his eyes; he finally understood what "waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump" meant.

"Hand over all the crystal cores!" Ling Moyan deliberately lowered his voice, pretending to be extremely fierce.

"This is outrageous! You're violating the rules!"

"May I ask which rule it is? If you can tell us, we'll let you go," Guan Xun said lazily.

"You!" The man's face flushed red and then darkened with rage, unable to refute, "After the competition, you can expect to be disqualified!"

Ling Moyan increased the pressure on his foot, unleashing all his spiritual energy upon the man. He then slapped the back of the man's head, saying, "I'm going to beat you up right now. Still want to complain?"

Given the obvious disparity in strength, the man with his hair tied up dared not utter another word, fearing that the other party might displease him and beat him black and blue.

He reached into his waist and fiddled around for a bit, taking out all the crystal cores he had acquired over the past few days. As soon as the crystal cores left his hand, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck and was knocked unconscious.

"Got it." Ling Moyan chuckled twice, but didn't take all the crystal cores. He kept two and put them back into the collar of his hair-tied clothes.

This wasn't because he was kind-hearted; according to Guan Xun, it was called leaving himself a backup plan.

Even if someone recognizes you later, you can at least offer a better explanation.

"Seven in total."

Ling Moyan wiped the sweat from his forehead. This was the first time he had ever done something so unethical, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

For a fleeting moment, he even felt that he was no different from the Li family members who had previously stolen the demonic beast...

Guan Xun waved her hand, gesturing for the other party to hand over the crystal core: "Give it to me."

"Assign them now?" Ling Moyan asked doubtfully.

Guan Xun chuckled but didn't answer. Instead, he reached out and took all the crystal cores, naturally storing them in his storage ring.

"You've worked hard." She said, and as she turned around, she patted the other person's chest a few times with the back of her hand: "Anything you get by doing it yourself is a skill."

Ling Moyan: ...

It seemed he wouldn't get any of the crystal cores, but he wasn't annoyed. He smiled and leaned closer, saying, "Junior, do you often do this kind of thing?"

Guan Xun waved her hand casually, then suddenly stopped and glanced to the left at the dense forest.

"What's wrong?" Ling Moyan glanced around but didn't see anything, so he asked in a low voice with some confusion.

"Someone's there, hide first."

No sooner had they finished speaking than they heard footsteps approaching from behind. It was Qiu Chuan, who had been keeping watch for them.

He looked extremely cautious, and before he could even inquire about the current situation, Guan Xun grabbed him by the collar and leaped up into a tree.

Her keen senses told her that there was more than one person approaching, and that they were all quite powerful.

Guan Xun lowered his eyes slightly, and his divine sense quickly probed in that direction.

A small, brown-furred hopping monkey was seen rapidly approaching, followed closely by five figures: four men and one woman, none other than Mu Qing and the others from Lei Yin Academy, who had a grudge against Ling Moyan.

It seems that she had too many crystal cores and the energy was too concentrated, which the jumping monkey sensed.

This is really bad timing. She didn't plan to make a move against these people so soon. After all, the sheep need to be fattened up before they are slaughtered.

"Come on!"

Although Ling Moyan didn't sense anyone approaching, upon hearing Guan Xun's low shout, he didn't hesitate, grabbed the still bewildered Qiu Chuan, and rushed off in the opposite direction.

Not long after the others left, Mu Qing and the others appeared in a series of unexpected movements.

The energy fluctuations of the crystal core had long since disappeared when Guan Xun put it into his storage ring. At this moment, the jumping monkey scratched its head in confusion, jumping around on the trees, but could not find the slightest energy fluctuation.

Seeing two more people lying on the ground, everyone became alert and looked around.

"What happened?" Mu Qing asked in a low voice. "Could it be an attack by a demonic beast?"

The woman strode forward to examine it, then shook her head: "No, there are no wounds, it looks like it was done by someone."

"Human?! Who has the audacity to do this?!" someone exclaimed in surprise. The teachers were all outside, and it was still during the competition. How dare they attack the students without fear of being discovered?

The woman frowned as she looked at the two crystal cores that had slipped out of the man's clothes: "This is not a personal dispute."

"Someone... is stealing the crystal core."

……

The Enchanted Forest, at the boundary between the inner and outer perimeters.

"Twenty-seven, barely enough." Ling Moyan lightly tapped the crystal cores he had just received, then handed them to Guan Xun.

Ten days have passed since they decided to seize the crystals, and the competition will end in less than two days. During this time, the group has discussed that all the crystal cores they have obtained will be kept by Guan Xun for safekeeping before being distributed.

"Aren't you leaving?" Qiu Chuan looked around, afraid of being discovered. After all, the news that someone was stealing crystal cores had already spread to a small area, which led to them taking more than half of the students' crystal cores instead of keeping two at the beginning.

That's fine too. Too many crystal cores would actually make them easier to expose. They only need to stay in the top three. Even if someone recognizes them and reports them, there will be no evidence.

Guan Xun hesitated slightly, shook his head, then gave the two people beside him a sly smile and said, "Prepare to stop."

"It's time to fatten up the last flock of sheep."