Strongest Replication

According to the map provided by Chu Fann, Chu Zhongtian continued to venture deeper. As he followed the marked path, the strange beasts he encountered grew increasingly stronger, and even the frequency at which he saw other contestants increased.    

Since thecontest was still in its early stages, all those contestants had little to nojade plates on them. So, the bloodbath for the plates had yet to start.    

Thenagain, if two contestants with a deep hatred for one another crossed paths,they would still fight to the death for those plates.    

Meanwhile, Chu Zhongtian had just gotten rid of an intermediate Level-10 strange beast that was close to an advance Level-10 beast in strength. It was a tough battle that consumed nearly 50% of his spiritual power and that was while he was using his basic saber technique. Anyway, he had just ended the battle when three contestants entered his line of sight.    

After noticing the trio's sudden approach, Chu Zhongtian realized that he didn't have enough time to harvest the intermediate Level-10 Flower Tail Fox's core. So, he quickly prepared for the oncoming battle, but his nerves calmed down after he realized the trio's strength.    

Still, he didn't bend down to take the Flower Tail Fox's core. Instead, he was on guard as he recovered his spent spiritual power.    

A lion would use all of its strength even when hunting a rabbit. Also, all three of the newcomers were intermediate Qi Refiners, so even though he could easily deal with them, he wasn't going to show it. He was confident, not arrogant.    

When he saw the faces of the three men, a trace of coldness flashed across Chu Zhongtian's eyes.    

The triowas from the Tian family. If families could be also dividedinto peak, middle, and lower class, the Tian Family was amiddle-class family developing in Qi Country for the past fewdecades.    

In the Qi Country, if a new family wanted to develop and strengthen, apart from mighty martial power and sufficient financial resources, they also needed a strong backer.    

In the Qi Country, there were only four forces that could become a powerful backer. They were the royal family and three great families. The Tian family's backer was the Wang Family.    

Although the four major families held grudges against each other, their grudges were also divided into different levels. For example, the Liu Family's hatred toward the royal family was far greater than their hatred toward the Chu and the Wang family.    

The Chu Family'shatred toward the Wang Family was far greater than their hatredtoward the royal family and the Liu Family. This hatred was accumulatedover ten generations, so it couldn’t be resolved with just a few words.    

As a subsidiary of the Wang Family, the Tian family was—in simple words—a lackey of the Wang Family. So, just like their owner, they also hated the Chu Family.    

The three disciples of the Tian family were trying their best to find a jade plate. When they saw Chu Zhongtian, their first reaction was to turn around and run away. That was because underneath Chu Zhongtian's feet lay the corpse of an intermediate Level-10 strange beast, Flower Tail Fox.    

Flower Tail foxes were the strongest predators among all the intermediate Level-10 strange beasts. They were strong to the point that they could even defeat ordinary Level-6 Qi Refiners. So, if a Chu Family disciple alone could kill a Flower Tail Fox, it meant that even the three of them together couldn't defeat this Chu disciple.    

After all, even the strongest among the trio was a mere Level-5 Qi Refiner. And since it was a recent break through, his cultivation level had yet to stabilize.    

"Wait. He's just a Level-3 Qi Refiner!" They had planned to turn around and escape. However, the strongest of the trio discovered Chu Zhongtian's cultivation level from his aura. From the aura, Chu Zhongtian was a Level-3 Qi Refiner; this puzzled the leader of the trio.    

Moreover, Chu Zhongtian acted as if he was facing a deadly opponent after seeing the trio; this further heightened the leader's suspicion. He suspected that Chu Zhongtian didn't kill the Flower Tail Fox and just happened to be standing next to its carcass.    

Thanks toall these "deductions," he called back his companions instead ofrunning away.    

"Kid, are you from the Chu Family? Hmm... Why haven't I seen you before?" The strongest youth asked in a disdainful tone.    

Every time before the Hunting Contest, every family would try their best to collect information regarding all the contestants. Although collecting complete info about each and every contestant was impossible, the families would at least have a clear record of all Level-4 and above Qi Refining contestants.    

Chu Zhongtian also had a copy of this information in his hand. Chu Fann had specially asked someone to give to him this info before he participated in the contest.    

Thanks to that info, he could put a name and a family to those three faces.    

However, thingswent a little different when it came to the royal family and the threegreat families. Since these four families had been passed down for decades,they all had numerous secret and strange techniques in their arsenal.Therefore, all the various other families tried their best to collectinformation about every single contestant of these families. Yes, even if thatcontestant was a mere Level-3 Qi Refiner.    

Chu Zhongtian was wearing the Chu Family's uniform, and they could see he was a Level-3 Qi Refiner. Their family should've had some information about Chu Zhongtian, yet the trio had no idea who was this Chu Family disciple.    

Actually,since Chu Zhongtian's return to the Chu Family was ahush-hush matter, he was a special case. And him spending all his days inthe cultivation room was of no help to all those smaller families. Inaddition, since he couldn’t cultivate due to his damaged meridians in the past,he completely disappeared from everyone's line of sight. Now, apart from a fewhigher-ups of the Chu Family and the select few who escorted himto the family, no one knew he was the trash from a year ago.    

"Hmph!"Facing the contempt of the trio, Chu Zhongtian coldlyharrumphed. He ignored their accusations and looked at the Tian family'strio with vigilance while trying his best to restore his spiritualpower.    

In fact, he could easily defeat the trio with his remaining spiritual power and the basic saber technique in which he had made massive improvements. However, for some reason, Chu Zhongtian could feel danger approaching him from all directions. Consequently, he had to remain battle-ready and in peak condition at all times    

"Kid, how dare you ignore us? I think you are courting death!" Seeing that Chu Zhongtian was clearly ignoring them, a peak Level-4 Qi Refiner form the trio roared furiously. Then he raised his sword and charged at Chu Zhongtian.    

As for his two companions, they were waiting for Chu Zhongtian to die under their companion's sword with ferocious smiles on their faces.    

Meanwhile, the strongest out of the trio was greedily eyeing the Flower Tail Fox's corpse under Chu Zhongtian's feet.    

Seconds before, because of this very corpse, they had mistakenly thought that Chu Zhongtian was very strong. However, from what they saw just now, they were very sure that Chu Zhongtian was indeed a mere Level-3 Qi Refiner.    

As for why they didn't know a Chu Family disciple... Well, they just chalked it as Chu Zhongtian being a branch disciple. They also thought that Chu Zhongtian's participation was a last-minute decision. Otherwise, it was impossible for the Tian family to not have any information about him.    

It was under such contemptuous attitude that not only did the Tian Family disciple not use his martial skill, but he had also used a mere one-third of his spiritual power.    

From his point of view, if not for the Chu Family uniform that Chu Zhongtian was wearing, he wouldn't have even used one-third of his spiritual power. That one-third was because he feared the Chu Family, not Chu Zhongtian.    

Chu Zhongtian'sexpression remained unchanged when he saw the sword piercing towards hisglabella. He mobilized one-tenth of his spiritual power into hissteel blade, dashed forward, and dodged to the left. He kept a firm grasp overthe handle as he thrust his blade tip from below. The blade piercedthe Tian Family disciple's crotch and exited from his head.