Meng Zibin was not acting alone; he was with Chen Xiaohan.
Meng Zibin currently held a strong opinion of Wang Teng, but he was self-aware. His cultivation started later than others, so he couldn't compare to Li Qingyun, whose cultivation speed was monstrous, nor could he match Bai Nianchen, who had entered the Foundation Establishment realm in one go.
However, if there were to be a competition, he felt he could contend for third place. He believed Wang Teng wasn't very smart, and even at the early stage of Muscle Tendon Transformation, he wouldn't be much better than himself.
But Chen Xiaohan was different; she was the one who most wished for Li Qingyun's death.
She intended to team up with Meng Zibin, put all the demon cores they hunted together onto Meng Zibin, and propel her man to the top of the rankings!
That way, Li Qingyun, the highly anticipated Son of the Great Dao, the genius with the highest cultivation, wouldn't even be able to hold onto the first place and would undoubtedly become a laughingstock for everyone!
The thought made Chen Xiaohan tremble with excitement.
Meng Zibin looked at the sinisterly smiling Chen Xiaohan, a question mark slowly forming above his head.
Ever since her aptitude was assessed that day, Chen Xiaohan had changed, her face always shrouded in a gloom.
He knew it was because of Li Qingyun, but the problem was, that person had never even acknowledged her!
"What are you smiling about?"
Chen Xiaohan put on an exceptionally gentle smile, clutching Meng Zibin's arm and saying softly, "Zibin, let's aim for first place. All the demon cores we acquire will be yours. Let's pull the aloof Son of the Great Dao down from his pedestal..."
Meng Zibin blinked, his heart stirred, but he instinctively felt that doing so was wrong.
Just as he was about to say something, a killing intent flashed in his eyes. He pulled Chen Xiaohan behind him, swung a small sun in his hand, and directly hurled it forward!
The intense heat distorted the air, and before him were two Tier 1 demon beasts, Snow Ravens, attempting a sneak attack!
"ya!!"
Snow Ravens were demon beasts that normally inhabited snow mountains, about the size of a person.
They could create simple hailstorm attacks and possessed sharp claws.
These two were both at the late stage of Tier 1, about to break through to Tier 2.
Meng Zibin was at the late stage of Qi Refining, and Chen Xiaohan was at the middle stage. The two Snow Ravens conferred, deeming this encounter winnable!
However, they hadn't expected that, unlike other humans, this Meng Zibin was ruthless, directly hurling fireballs at them!
With a shrill cry, one Snow Raven was struck by the flames, erupting in unquenchable fire!
The cultivation technique Meng Zibin practiced was "Falling Sun Fire Diagram," and the flames were true solar fire!
Then, Meng Zibin reached out, grabbed a Snow Raven's wing, and viciously tore it off.
The other Snow Raven, sensing the unfavorable situation, flapped its wings, intending to betray its companion and flee.
But at this moment, Chen Xiaohan, who had been hiding nearby, lunged forward, tackling the large Snow Raven to the ground. The Snow Raven struggled fiercely, its sharp claws tearing numerous marks on Chen Xiaohan's skin.
Chen Xiaohan gritted her teeth, forcefully kicked it away, and then scrambled to her feet, disheveled.
The Snow Raven, believing it had escaped danger, was overjoyed. It frantically beat its wings and soared into the sky!
"ya!!!"
However, as soon as it flew into the air, its entire body seemed to suffer a severe blow. It let out a terrified wail and fell straight down.
It twitched on the ground, purple smoke emanating from its beak, instantly meeting its demise.
Chen Xiaohan panted nervously, a small knife clutched in her hand, on which a purple light, symbolizing potent poison, faintly flickered, along with the Snow Raven's blood.
"Bone Corroding Heart-Eating Poison! Haha!"
She laughed with a hint of exhilaration. Under her poison technique, this Snow Raven hadn't survived for ten seconds!
Meng Zibin had already extracted the demon beast core from the Snow Raven he had killed. Seeing Chen Xiaohan's state, he frowned deeply.
He was becoming concerned about his girlfriend's mental condition.
But Chen Xiaohan quickly reverted to her familiar, girl-next-door demeanor, handing the demon core she had just obtained to Meng Zibin, her face filled with eagerness. "Zibin, take this and crush that damned Li Qingyun under your heel!"
Meng Zibin: "..."
Chen Xiaohan's expression implied that if he didn't take it, she would die for him to see.
Meng Zibin sighed, took the demon core from her hand, and said, "I'll keep it safe for you..."
Based on the recent battle, Chen Xiaohan's combat effectiveness was decent; she was definitely not a burden.
Their combined efforts would certainly increase the rate of acquiring demon cores, but he felt there was no point in this approach.
There would be plenty of opportunities to surpass Li Qingyun in the future!
This time, his goal was third place. Worried about Chen Xiaohan's mental state, he decided to hold onto it for her first.
Compared to the top three, these two attracted much less attention. People were instead more amazed by Chen Xiaohan's poison techniques.
"Isn't this Chen Xiaohan Li Qingyun's ex-girlfriend? She actually dumped the Son of the Great Dao!"
"I feel like there's something wrong with her eyes and expression. She's like a poisonous snake, smiling sinisterly!"
"Damn! A mad beauty? I'm in love, I'm in love!"
"I love her too... never mind, I don't. She'll poison me..."
"..."
Not bad, this was Chu Yang's evaluation of the two of them.
After all, their cultivation started about half a month later than Li Qingyun's, so they definitely couldn't provoke Tier 3 demon beasts, at most Tier 2.
Seeing Meng Zibin's calm demeanor, he didn't seem like someone who would court disaster, so this guy should be fine.
Among the geniuses in the Pioneer's small group, the ones Chu Yang worried about the most were Luo Xiaowei and Qin Xiaoxiao.
Luo Xiaowei's talent was simply not up to par, and his cultivation speed was slow. Despite absorbing so many spirit stones, he was still only at the late stage of Qi Refining.
As for Qin Xiaoxiao, she was somewhat weak in personality and was only at the middle stage of Qi Refining. She also didn't seem very intelligent... well, he wouldn't speak ill of her.
At least she was quite cute.
Qin Xiaoxiao had been a fan of Li Qingyun before. She had finally entered the same group, but no sparks had flown.
After entering the trial, she became very scared and wanted to find Li Qingyun to guide her.
But that guy had seriously said, "Didn't you say you were going to compete for first place?"
"Ah? I..."
"Then we are rivals! It's not appropriate for rivals to team up, and resource allocation would be unreasonable, so I can't take you!"
Qin Xiaoxiao was speechless. She suspected Li Qingyun was doing it on purpose; anyone could see she was just bluffing back then, right?