Strongest Replication

Chu Zhongtian had a peak Level-8 cultivation talent, so he was considered a peerless genius the likes of which were rarely seen in the Qi Country.    

Although his cultivation was a year behind his peers, with his outstanding talent and amazing comprehension ability, he could easily catch up to or even surpass Chu Zhongba within a few years.    

Furthermore, the elders of the family attached great importance to him. They had rewarded him the Tranquil Elegant Courtyard so that he could use that cultivation heaven as his private residence. Just the strength of the guards stationed outside his courtyard was a testament to how much importance the family attached to him.    

As theonly son of the patriarch and the Chu Family's youngergeneration leader, Chu Zhongba only had three guards with him.The strongest out of the trio was a measly Level-10 Qi Refiner.    

On the other hand, Chu Zhongtian had five guards protecting him at all times. Their leader, the strongest one in the group, was actually a Body Refining cultivator. How could Chu Zhongba not be envious?    

Since Chu Zhongtian was also a member of the Chu Family, Chu Zhongba understood that Chu Zhongtian's strength was the family's strength. So, Chu Zhongba could've borne it had it just been a difference in treatment. What he couldn't stomach was the fact that Chu Zhongtian was in the way of the only dream he ever had.    

Look at it like this. Chu Tianyun had been the Chu Family's patriarch for 19 years.    

According to the rules of the Chu Family, as long as there were no accidents or calamitous mistakes made during the tenure, a patriarch could hold its position for 30 years.    

So, Chu Tianyun still had 11 years left. Chu Zhongba was confident that he could break through to the Body Refining realm and become an intermediate Body Refiner by then. At that time, with his strength and influence, he could easily become the next patriarch.    

However, Chu Zhongtian's unexpected return had thrown a wrench in his sweet dreams. Consequently, he was filled with killing intent toward Chu Zhongtian right now.    

Chu Tianyun's admiration for Chu Zhongtian had strengthened Chu Zhongba's killing intent. He retracted his gaze from Chu Zhongtian and murmured, "Chu Zhongtian, had you just holed up in the Tranquil Elegant Courtyard, I would've had no way to deal with you. But you are so bold that you aren't even afraid of death. You actually dare to participate in the Hunting Contest? This is a chance given to me by the Heavens!"    

"Chu Zhongtian, you'll die by my hands. This is your fate!"    

Chu Zhongtian did not know that his return had aroused Chu Zhongba's killing intent. Right now, his attention was focused on the new group of people; it was the royal family's group.    

The Qi Family was the representative of the royal family. The three great families could renounce the fact all they wanted, but the Qi Family was still the ruler of the Qi Country. They all still had to give the Qi Family basic respect and etiquette. So even though the royal family was the last to arrive, no one dared to word their dissatisfaction.    

At the same time, after the royal family members arrived, those with low statuses knelt on both knees. Some people with slightly better statuses knelt on one knee. As for the members of the three great families, they just bowed slightly to show their courtesy.    

Thistime, not many people from the royal family participated in the HuntingContest. There were only 20 of them. However, every one of them was in highspirits, and they were all powerful experts. Besides Qi Yiloong, twoother people gave Chu Zhongtian a bad feeling.    

As the patriarch of the royal family, although Qi Heng's comprehension ability and cultivation level were ordinary, he was still the ruler of the Qi Country. Also, he was the annual Hunting Contest's host.    

Chu Zhongtian ignoredwhat Qi Heng was saying on the high platform.    

As someone from modern Earth, he had been a part of many boring meetings, so he knew that its content was normally 90% useless stuff. Furthermore, his attention was now on the royal family; he was focused completely on the guy standing at the front.    

'Qi Yiloong!'    

Chu Zhongtian's feelings towards Qi Yiloong were very complicated.    

Chu Zhongtian was thankful to Qi Yiloong because if it weren't for him, Chu Zhongtian would've never been forced into returning to the cave, healing his meridians, and taking the first step toward cultivation.    

He hated Qi Yiloong because if Qi Yiloong hadn't been chasing him, he wouldn't have suffered in the Endless Forest's cave for more than a month.    

If he put both his feelings on a scale, his hatred always came out heavier. After all, the feeling of being chased by something deadly wasn't pleasant.    

Furthermore, the hatred between their families had long been accumulated. It was only a matter of time before a life and death battle broke out.    

Meanwhile, Qi Heng, too, knew that his words did not have much meaning. The people below did not want to listen to his nonsense, so he tactfully said a few simple words and left the platform.    

After that, a person who looked like a eunuch appeared on the platform. His sharp and high-pitched voice flew out, immediately attracting everyone's attention.    

This eunuch was head steward of the royal family. He was an intermediate Body Refiner and could be considered a pretty strong expert. This time, he was in charge of announcing the rules of the Hunting Contest and the final reward.    

The rules were simple, but they were extremely bloody.    

Thirty miles away from Lu City, there was a hunting ground specially built for the contest.    

This hunting ground was created five centuries ago by the strongest of the royal family and three great families. They first chose a natural forest as their hunting ground; then, they captured various monsters from the Endless Forest to act as the hunted.    

The strongest of them being an advanced Level-9 strange beast; the weakest being a low Level-10 beast. Mixed among the leveled beasts were also ordinary, un-leveled beasts. After placing these strange beasts in the forest, they used a special method to separate them into different zones. Just like the Endless Forest, strange beats with similar strength lived in their zone without leaving.    

Those oldexperts did all this to give the future generation a deadly yet somewhat safeplace to cultivate. Because the Endless Forest was too far away from LuCity and was filled with danger, they were afraid that their juniors wouldsuffer heavy losses there. So, they simply built a nerfed version of EndlessForest near them.    

As the years passed, the three great families' strength gradually increased, and despite being their ruler, the royal family's strength decreased. Consequently, their battles became increasingly intense.    

Afterthey wasted years fighting each other, they discovered that everyone came outthe loser: all of them had lost a part of their strength. Therefore, to preventothers from benefiting from their decline in strength, the four great forcescame to a unanimous decision. On the surface, they stopped fighting and dividedthe hunting grounds. They would maintain their portion of the hunting groundand use it to test their younger generation annually. The achievements of theyoung generation would determine the rankings of the forces. And according tothat ranking, every family would get a different portion of Qi Country'sannual profits.    

Over thelast few years, the strongest to participate in the Hunting Contest hadalways been Level-7 Qi Refiners at most. Everyone would die inside ifthey encountered a Level-9 strange beast, even if it were just a low Level-9.So, the contest had always been an event with stringent supervision.    

In the last ten years, the Liu Family's might had increased by leaps and bounds; their strength was now even threatening to the royal family. The hunting contest was the sole reason behind this growth. The Liu Family had consistently won the last ten contests. This allowed them to gain more and more benefits in the Qi Country, and their strength skyrocketed consequently.    

Chu Zhongtian already knew this, and the only thing he cared about was the contest's reward.    

The reward for the Hunting Contest had always been extremely generous. Since the winning team had fought with all their might just to help their family get a bigger share of the profits, apart from the contest reward, they would also be rewarded by their family after the contest.    

Manypeople would die every year in the Hunting Contest, but many stillparticipated in it. Apart from bringing glory to their families, the rewardswere what they looked forward to most.