"Buddy, use Forest's Rhythm to sense how many people are nearby."
Su Bai stopped after walking a short distance.
"Howl!"
Purple Jade nodded and activated Forest's Rhythm with its spiritual power. Rippling green halo spread from its body.
"Howl…"
Ten seconds later, the cub retracted the skill and reported to its owner.
"Six people means three teams. Chen Bigsa, hide us first; we'll go find Zhang San and start from him. You've let your pet remember his scent, haven't you?"
He glanced at his teammate.
"Of course." Nodding, Chen Rouxue looked at Little Devil. "Use your Concealment skill."
"Hehe!"
The ghost flew above them and exuded a cloud of dark spiritual power, which enveloped everyone.
Little Devil's Concealment skill had been prepared for this competition. Her pet could hide them with its breath. Unless the level was too high or their opponent had a special ghost detection skill, they would not find them easily.
"Tell your pet to lead the way. Buddy, you're responsible for avoiding other people. Use Vegetation Sensing to set up fixed-point markers on the path we walk through. If someone is following us, let me know as soon as possible."
After he assigned the tasks, their group set off, wandering around the entrance as they tracked Zhang San's scent.
Although Nangong Mountain was a tourist attraction, the road in the forest was not easy to walk on and was very slippery.
From time to time, some branches and thorns would block their paths. The cub could remove them if they were alive, but it was more troublesome if they were dead, for the cub either had to use spiritual power or Su Bai and Chen Rouxue had to remove them manually.
Thankfully, the two often exercised with their pets and had good stamina, so it was not too difficult a task.
"Give me a hand. Xiao Bai said that that pompous boy's breath is nearby."
Chen Rouxue quickly reported.
"Okay. Buddy, pay attention to the surroundings."
Su Bai pulled the girl up. The forest was full of stone ridges, and some of them needed the pair to pull each other across.
Although pet training and advancement had also given back to the Pet Tamers by enhancing their physical fitness and life span, their initial physiques were still too weak.
"Howl!"
The cub called suddenly, raised its paw, and pointed in one direction to indicate that there were people not far away.
"It's probably Zhang San and the others. The scent that my pet has been tracking is also coming from that direction. These traces on the ground should've been left by their Flower Pool Devil."
Chen Rouxue whispered.
The Flower Pool Devil, which looked like a muddy baby fish, was a soil-water attribute monster. When it walked, it would leave a trail of wet and smelly slime behind.
"Buddy, let's catch up with Zhang San's team and stop fifty meters away. We'll hang far behind them."
He instructed.
"Howl!"
Nodding, the cub led the way in front. Soon, they caught up with their enemy group and hung far behind them.
"Now, start to detect if there are other teams or monsters nearby. Tell me if there's any."
He instructed his pet again after confirming that they had not been noticed by the ones in front.
Besides the contestants, there were many monsters and spiritual plants in this mountain forest.
At this moment, a bright, golden firework flew up in the sky. The broadcasting equipment, carried by the many hovering electromagnetic satellite monsters, then beeped loudly. "The game officially starts now. Good luck."
Su Bai glanced at the sky and continued. "Don't worry, buddy. Just do your own thing."
"Howl!"
After a while, the cub pointed in two directions, indicating that there was something in both locations.
"A monster and a team of contestants?"
He nodded in acknowledgment. His pet's Forest's Rhythm detection skill could not see the situation but could sense lifeforms within 300 meters.
Based on the situation, it was easy to figure out whether it was a wild monster or a human contestant.
"Hey, it's up to you now. As per our plan, let your pet lead the monster and the participating team to Zhang San and the others. Just make some small movements and don't be too obvious."
"Okay, don't worry; Xiao Bai is the best at this."
Chen Rouxue gave her pet some instructions and then let it go ahead.
"Hehehe!"
Little Devil laughed savagely. It was already an expert at such things.
After it left, the cub covered them with its wood spiritual power. Although this concealment was not as good as the ghost's, it could still help their group hide.
After about ten minutes, Su Bai and the others sensed that Zhang San and the monster had met and were now in battle. The electromagnetic satellite monster in the sky also sensed this and flew down.
The ghost went back to them with a savage grin on its face, indicating that it had accomplished the task.
"Let's get closer and see the situation." With Little Devil around and the fact that their targets were in a serious fight, the others were unlikely to discover their team prying.
On the battlefield, Zhang San and his partner, Li Si, were originally progressing well, monitoring the surrounding situation as they looked for targets.
Suddenly, they sensed the presence of a monster in the distance.
"Let's go over and take a look."
Zhang San quickly took the lead. Although he was wearing peasy shoes, he was not slow due to having good physical fitness.
"It's a mid-level slave, Bone-clawed Rat. I'll attract the monster, then you control it, and I'll kill it with three moves. Let's not delay ourselves."
"Okay."
After quickly discussing some good tactics with his teammate, Zhang San confidently instructed his pet. "Snake Lizard, Fireball attack!"
"Hiss!"
The dark-red Snake Lizard got up and shot a basketball-size fireball as it swayed its head, sending it flying straight at the monster.
"Hiss!"
The Bone-clawed Rat monster felt the aura of a high-level servant and deftly avoided the incoming fireball as it fled. This was not its target at all.
"Flower Pool Devil, Swamp attack!"
Just as the monster dodged the fireball, the ground suddenly turned into a swamp and sucked it in at once.
Panicking, the monster burst forth with violent spiritual power to break free, but it was already doomed.
With a puff, Snake Lizard's black claws cut off its head, sending its blood gushing.
"D*mn! That high-level servant is good. We can't beat it; let's run!"
The other two people, who had followed the Bone-clawed Rat monster, saw Zhang San's pet's moves and cursed before fleeing.
"Chase them! Snake Lizard, give up the crystal nucleus and let's chase after those two!"
Zhang San was very decisive. When he spotted the other contestants, he decided to give up the crystal nucleus and directly chased after them.
"What the f*ck! We have no existing grievances or grudges between us. Brother, don't do this!"
The two escaping brothers were only a hundred meters away when they were overtaken by the poison-fire breed Snake Lizard. They watched as both it and Flower Pool Devil trapped them in a circle.
"Will you surrender yourselves and hand over your number tags, or do we have to take you out first?" asked Zhang San indifferently.
"F*ck! You're so arrogant. Little Fire Monkey, use Fireball!"
"Unicorn Fowl, use Wood Thorn!"
Following their orders, Fire Monkey rubbed its hands together to form a huge fireball, which it threw at Snake Lizard.
Unicorn Fowl summoned many thorns and flew to Flower Pool Devil.
"Showing off in front of a master? Snake Lizard, use Poison Fire and get rid of them in one move!"
Zhang San's pet opened its mouth and sprayed out purple-black flames, directly devouring the Fire Monkey's fireball. It burned the opponent to the ground and made it suffer serious injuries.
On the other side, Flower Pool Devil had also defeated the Unicorn Fowl because of its attribute restraint.
"F*ck! You're using big moves as soon as you come up? Isn't it too ruthless?"
"Hehe! This is a competition, so who cares!"
Sneering, Zhang San instructed his pet to finish the Unicorn Fowl with one move. The two then took away their opponents' number tags mercilessly and left them without looking back.
As for the two people and their injured pets, there would naturally be a professional coming to pick them up and treat them.
"No wonder those two are so arrogant; they're strong. The most important thing is that Zhang San is very experienced in combat."
Su Bai sighed and said, "Let's follow them."