451, 452

451: Return to Zhongyang

Alante’s voice was hoarse and her face was heavily lined, so her crazy laugh made her seem even more creepy. Her love had left her and she wondered if she regretted the manner she had received it. In any case, she was not reconciled. But it didn’t matter if she regretted it or not, she couldn’t say anything about it anyway.

Nigusu, the only man she had ever loved, looked at her with cold, indifferent eyes. Whatever she was searching for from him, she didn’t find it. She took one final gaze at him before closing her eyes forever.

In the distance, a woman wearing a gorgeous blue gown angrily broke the globe in her hand causing the picture it displayed to instantly disappear without a trace.

“What a mistake! Useless thing! She couldn’t even do such a simple task.”

“I told you not to pick her. I said earlier that that woman wouldn’t be able to do it, but you didn’t listen.” A noble bearing and handsome man stared at the chess piece in his hand as he spoke.

“Oh that’s enough, giving me advice after hindsight. Our plan to infiltrate Rain city failed and now Star Marshall hall has even taken notice. We can’t stay here anymore.” The woman glared at the man.

He nodded. “It’s time to go.” Both figures turned into bats and flew off into the night, disappearing without a trace.

Feng Wu sensed something so she glanced out into the distance, but she didn’t see anything. Was it just an illusion?

Count Nigusu was successfully rescued. Though specifically it was Scarlet who rescued him, the guys on the Masters team contributed a lot and had successfully dealt with Alante, so the old lady was satisfied.

They had no interest in staying, so after happily splitting the bonus money amongst themselves, Feng Wu and the rest of the Masters team left the city.

Scarlet tagged along with them. Unlike the Masters team, she had not completed her mission. She failed to find any trace of the mastermind behind the gu worms, so on the trip back, she was silent and distracted trying to think of possible candidates.

Rain and Wind exchanged glances. They were both very excited about Scarlet. Eventually Rain took the opportunity to go up and chat with her.

“Scarlet, can you tell me how you rescued Count Nigusu? His qi was so depleted, I didn’t think he would live for more than three days. I never expected you to be able to save him. How did you do it?”

Rain was really curious about it. She clearly saw the count had lost nearly all his qi vitality and wouldn’t have much longer to live, so that was why she had originally agreed to leave the count with her.

Who knew Scarlet would be successful? She learned later that Scarlet was one of the four holy envoys, but still, it was an amazing feat.

“Oh, all I did was inject spring’s vitality into his body. Then I used the divine weapon to kill the male worm. That was all.” Thinking about it, Scarlet didn’t think she’d done much.

She was the successor to the Seal of Spring and her weapon was the Hundred Flower Staff so she had access to Spring’s vitality. It was fortunate for Nigusu. His ailment was easy for Scarlet to fix, but had it been any other envoy, the skills would not have been a good match and he would have probably died.

It turned out Scarlet had used Spring’s vitality to save the count. She really deserved to be the successor to the seal. Truly amazing! thought Rain.

The siblings continued chatting with Scarlet some more after marveling at her amazing feat.

Wind, Rain, Pei Qing, and Feng Wu returned to Zhongyang while Scarlet continued on toward a nearby city to investigate further and try to find a clue.

Back in Zhongyang, the four guys went to the Adventurer’s guild to report the completion of their task. Once done, Wind, Rain, and Pei Qing went to the house they were renting to catch up on the sleep they lost while working hard at the count’s castle. They had been up from dawn to after dark so it was time to catch up on some sleep!

Feng Wu decided to fill her belly. She hadn’t had a single good meal while in Rain city. She had to get up early every day to work and ate all the same foods the other servants ate. The free meal at Xingguang Holy academy was better than the food at the castle for the servants.

Feng Wu needed to console herself with a good meal at a delicious shop so she headed towards the streets.

Ming Xi frowned as he watched the figure of the women walking past him. It was Yifu and Ann[notes] He didn’t know what was going on with them, but they had been pestering him every day and it was getting tiresome.

He couldn’t go to the normal places he liked to go to on the weekends because they always showed up. He had even stopped going to the school cafeteria just to avoid running into them. Most days now he just stayed in his dorm.

He wanted to rest a bit and prepare for the individual portion of the extreme challenge, but time alone was turning into a luxury.

Today, he wanted to go out and purchase some blank magic scrolls. He thought he could avoid them, but it seemed he failed. If it weren’t for his quick reaction, they would have spotted him.

He was used to boys and girls pursuing him equally, but this kind of stalking was super annoying. He stepped out of his hiding spot and switched streets. Fortunately there was a shop that sold scrolls here as well. He wouldn’t need to backtrack onto the original street which the girls were stalking him on.

It was a busy street, so it was inevitable he would get stares from the passersby. He was used to it so he wasn’t bothered.

Soon enough he came upon a pastry shop. The shop had delicious pastries that he knew Elena liked a lot. He was known to eat a few on occasion as well. Today was strange though. The shop did good business, but the crowd in front of it today was unusually large. Was something wrong?

It was a fleeting thought and Ming Xi had no intentions on interfering. It was Zhongyang and Star Marshall’s headquarters. No one would dare make trouble here.

Ming Xi was about to turn around and leave when an all too familiar petite figure caught his eye.

He walked through the crowd and finally saw a banner that proclaimed the shop was celebrating its 40th anniversary. Below it were instructions for an eating contest.

Eat 70 cakes in an hour and the cakes will be free PLUS get free cakes for a year PLUS receive a bonus free gift.

452: Eat Cake

There was an additional line that said if everyone forfeited then the one who stays to the end will be declared the winner as long as that person eats one more cake than the runner up.

After reading the text, Ming Xi understood why he saw Feng Wu.

Yep, the person he saw had been Feng Wu. She was sitting at a long table in front of the shop entrance along with another contestant.

“Come on! Come on! You can’t lose to a girl!”

“Brother! You have to fight for our male reputation!”

“All our manly hopes are pinned on you!”

“We are totally gonna beat you up if you lose! So, don’t lose!”

“Come on little girl we’ve got our hopes on you!”

“Little girl, you can out eat that guy!”

The man sitting next to Feng Wu mentally complained. How can they pin all their manly hopes on him? Have him not lose? Horseshit! If they had the ability, then they could come up and eat! He was crammed to the limit; even his back hurt!

He rubbed his belly which was looking four months pregnant at this point. The girl next to him didn’t have a reaction at all. Her belly was totally flat! Did this girl have a dimensional space in her tummy or something?!

He was sweating profusely from trying to eat so much. His face was pale and he wanted to vomit.

The girl next to him was completely calm after all she ate. She didn’t have a single drop of sweat on her skin. And talking about her skin, her face was still nice and prettily flushed. Why was her complexion so good?!

“Urgh!” The guy couldn’t hold it in anymore and rushed to the side to vomit.

“OK! We have a winner! This cute girl is our winner!” The shop boss pointed excitedly at Feng Wu as he announced.

That was the cue to stop, but Feng Wu kept eating at the same pace. The fact that she kept going was greatly distressing to the boss. The contestants who didn’t win would get 30% off their total bill, while the winner would not have to pay anything. Feng Wu had already won, having eaten more than 70 cakes, but she kept going.

This was too much for the boss and he really regretted doing the contest. He didn’t expect anyone to actually eat 70 cakes, after all their cakes were very filling. Even if a very hungry swordsman came in to eat cakes after an intensive bout of practice, they would, at most, eat 50 before being stuffed. That was why he chose 70 cakes, and although he said 70, he didn’t think anyone would actually be able to eat that much. Which was why he would call whoever ate one more than the other contestants the winner.

Unexpectedly a little monster named Feng Wu came to his store. She didn’t just win, she really ate 70 cakes.

It was over. It was over. If she really came to eat 70 cakes every day, their shop would go bankrupt.

“Xiao Wu!” Ming Xi couldn’t watch anymore so he called out. If she kept eating like that, what would happen to her stomach?

Feng Wu looked up to see Ming Xi. Immediately her eyes lit up. The boss’s eyes also lit up even more brightly.

“Young man, you know this girl?!” The boss was excited.

“Yes.” The corner of Ming Xi’s mouth twitched invisibly.

“That’s great! That’s great! Come on over! Your girlfriend just won the cake eating contest! She can come and eat cake anytime she wants for a year. Here is a free coupon and gift. Come on over and hug your girlfriend!” The boss couldn’t wait to hand the items over.

He immediately reached for Feng Wu’s hand to pull her up. “Everyone, give this young lady a hand of applause!”

Thunderous applause sounded as the boss pulled her up and nudged her into Ming Xi’s arms.

“Wow! What a match. That cute girl and boy are such a natural pair!”

“It’s ridiculous how handsome that guy is!”

“I agree! I’ve never seen such a good-looking guy in my life!”

“That girl must be so happy to have such a wonderful boyfriend! Even if she stuffs herself, he’ll still like her!”

“What are you talking about! Isn’t it good to eat? What’s there to dislike?!”

Ming Xi pulled Feng Wu out of the crowd amidst the sound of people gossiping about them. He found she was furrowing her brow after they had walked for awhile.

“What’s the matter? Is this pace too fast? Is your stomach uncomfortable?”

Ming Xi was a little upset he’d forgotten how moving too much was hard after eating a large meal.

“Yes, my stomach is really full.” Feng Wu said a little aggrieved at her stomach.

“If you were full, why did you keep eating?” Ming Xi patted her head dotingly.

Feng Wu was confused. “I didn’t have to eat? I thought I had to eat all the cakes on the plate!” In order to get the free coupon, she kept eating even though she was full.

“Fool. Didn’t you hear the boss announcing you had won? You didn’t read the rules carefully.” Ming Xi gently knocked Feng Wu’s forehead.

Feng Wu blinked adorably. “I didn’t see it.” She’d only heard there was free cake and if she won, she could visit the shop and eat free cakes for a year.

“Let’s go; we’ll walk around to help you digest all that food.”

Ming Xi took Feng Wu’s hand and walked forward but this time his pace was much slower.

They walked around for half an hour. Ming Xi bought his scroll and Feng Wu's stomach stopped being so bloated. She felt much better so she took Ming Xi’s hand and led him to a small ice cream shop for some ice cream.

Zi Cheng was the one who introduced the world to ice cream. Later on other people also mastered the French way of making ice cream using custard, but these were not as delicious as the ones Zi Cheng made.

The owner of the shop Feng Wu went to was a guy who figured out how to make ice cream on his own.

“I want what they have.” Feng Wu pointed to a young couple who was in front of her.

“OK, taro ice cream it is then.” The boss accepted the money and handed Feng Wu a big taro ice cream. It was purple and had a lump of soft taro on top.

Feng Wu held the ice cream in one hand and took small nibbles while Ming Xi held her other hand as they continued walking behind the young couple.

The couple was also holding hands and looked really close.

Feng Wu looked at them sharing an ice cream. Did eating it that way make it tastier? She looked suspiciously at the ice cream they were holding, then she looked at the one in her hand.

“You have some too!” She suddenly turned to Ming Xi and commanded as she held the cone out to him.

Ming Xi wasn’t sure how to react to the already clearly bitten into ice cream being held out to him.

“Young man, eat quickly! Your girlfriend is taking the initiative!” said the man selling meat skewers.

“Don’t be shy young man!” said the old lady selling sweet juice.

453, 454

453: Love Quandrangle!

Those passing by who heard Feng Wu’s words all turned to look at Ming Xi and Feng Wu with an ambiguous eye. Feng Wu wasn’t bothered; she wasn’t the type to notice these things. On the other hand, Ming Xi was much more affected.

He wasn’t bothered by people staring at him or at being the center of attention; he had been accustomed to these things since he was little, but being teased by so many people at the same time was different. This was the first time he was being forced to show affection. It was very new and he was overwhelmed.

“Have some.” Feng Wu encouraged as she looked at him seriously.

The crowd watched on with expectant smiles. They had seen plenty of young couples, but it was rare to see such a good looking one, especially the boy; he was really good looking! They could say for certain they had never seen a more beautiful boy in their lives.

Ming Xi ducked his head down in embarrassment, then took a really small bite from the ice cream being offered from Feng Wu’s hand.

It was milky and sweet but he hurriedly swallowed it without the chance to savor the flavor.

Feng Wu pulled the ice cream back and took a big bite where Ming Xi had bitten. Her delicate brows wrinkled slightly. “It didn’t get tastier!” The taste wasn’t any different. Why did those two people eat it so happily before? She was so confused.

Ming Xi grabbed Feng Wu’s hand, took a few large steps and managed to leave the street they were on. He didn’t think he could return to that particular street for a while. He breathed a sigh of relief once he was clear, but it was short lived. Having left the street, he ran into the two people he was trying to avoid earlier.

“Senior Ming Xi!” Yifu and Ann looked at Ming Xi in surprise.

Ming Xi sighed. He was having really bad luck today.

Yifu glared at Ann angrily. She didn’t know what the girl wanted, but she had been following her like a shadow all day.

Ann blinked with hurt showing in her eyes. She was usually a ditz, but she could recognize when someone was showing malice toward her. She knew Yifu didn’t like being followed, but she couldn’t change how she was. If she didn’t follow Yifu out, she would get completely lost! She’d had a horrible sense of direction since she was little.

“Senior Ming Xi, where have you been? I was looking for you for such a long time.” Ann sniffed. Her eyes were red and she wanted to rush into Ming Xi’s arms.

Ann had been a little princess in her family since she was born. When had she ever been scorned by someone? But she was just scorned by Yifu just now. If she hadn’t been bent on finding Ming Xi, she would have gone crying back home to find her sister already.

Damn bitch! Yifu was not going to let Ann monopolize Ming Xi. She wasn’t going to get left behind so she rushed up too.

The corner of Ming Xi’s mouth twitched. He and Ann had grown up together because she was a daughter of one of the nobles in the ancient Silver Moon kingdom. He had no romantic feelings for her and had only thought of her as a younger sister, but Ann didn’t seem to understand.

Yifu was a junior fellow student who he had gone through a few shared experiences with. He didn’t have a good impression of her at all, but he was used to being polite, so he couldn’t be rude and directly say he wasn’t interested. All he could do was strongly hint.

A pity she didn’t seem to understand. She hadn’t picked up on any of his hints, obvious as they were. It was annoying how every day she tried to get involved with him.

This was the first time he’d met such a persistently brazen girl. As he looked at the two of them running toward him, he wondered if he should just grab Feng Wu and run away.

Before Ming Xi could think of a path, two figures, one white and one red, flew out with a scream. They fell to the ground 16 feet away (3meters).

Ming Xi:. . . 

Feng Wu pulled her leg back from having just kicked both girls. “Senior Ming Xi,” she pointed to Ming Xi then to herself before finishing her sentence, “is mine.” Her meaning was obvious.

The audience was dazed at the intense public display, especially the men.

They were thinking how they could compete with a guy that was even prettier than most girls. I mean really, this guy had three girls chasing after him. What was the point of a loser single dog like them even existing?!

Ming Xi silently closed his mouth and wiped at the sweat that didn’t exist on his brow. Great. He was certain the entire school would know about their love quadrangle before tomorrow’s end.

Don’t think he missed those two gossipy sisters in the crowd. Their excited faces left him feeling helpless. If they weren’t afraid to be spotted, they would have probably screamed already at the juicy show.

The scream from the Yifu and Ann were hard to bear; you could feel the pain just from the sound. The men wondered why the beauties were fighting over the guy. He looked so pretty; he was surely a sissy! It was better if the girls picked one of them instead! They would surely never stray and give the girls rivals!

A few big, beefy men thought sourly in their hearts.

“Feng Wu! You dare lay your hands on us?!” Yifu shouted angrily the moment she got up off the ground.

Ann stood up looking aggrieved. She turned to Ming Xi, her eyes nearly overflowing with tears.

Ming Xi calmly looked away without saying anything.

“Brother Ming Xi~,” Ann was so hurt she slipped and called Ming Xi informally. She had always addressed him as brother for as long as she could remember, but since entering Xingguang Holy academy, because of school regulations, she took to addressing him with the senior title. She was still unused to it.

But now she was wronged, and in her current state, she really didn’t are about proper etiquette.

“I didn’t use my hands, I used my feet.” Yifu couldn’t tell the difference between hands and feet. She was so dumb, thought Feng Wu.

Yifu nearly had an apoplexy when she heard this. Little did she know, Feng Wu had labeled her an idiot. But even if she did, she wouldn’t have been able to fight Feng Wu.

This woman! This woman! She was doing it on purpose?! thought Yifu. “Why did you kick us?!” She wisely changed the topic.

“Are you Feng Wu?” Ann was slow on the uptake, but she finally reacted. So, this was her rival in love. Ann was extremely threatened. Her sister had said Ming Xi treated Feng Wu differently. Though she didn’t know what the difference was, Ann believed her sister unconditionally. Feng Wu was her most serious rival!

“You wanted to hug Senior Ming Xi.” Feng Wu replied automatically.

Ming Xi was going to be Xiao Ye’s father, so Feng Wu was not going to let anyone hug him.

454: Scumbag!

“You. . .  Senior Ming Xi, look at Feng Wu!” Yifu was so angry that she stomped her feet and shouted out in anger as she complained to Ming Xi.

“Cough, cough.” Ming Xi uncomfortably faked a cough as he turned his head away pretending to be blind and deaf. He couldn’t take sides and fight with the girls. He was a guy!

Feng Wu turned to Ming Xi and grabbed his face between her hands, forcing him to look at her. “She said to look at me.”

OK, now what? What are you trying to do with what you’re trying to say with that serious face of yours? Ming Xi wondered in his head.

“Do you see me?” Feng Wu asked.

“Yes!” Ming Xi replied promptly.

“OK, he’s done it.” Feng Wu turned to Yifu and reported. As soon as she said it, the crowd of movie watchers coughed a storm.

This girl. . .  was she being intentional? Her face was so serious, she had to be serious, otherwise that was some great acting!

“You. . . you. . . ” Yifu was shaking with anger. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought she’d gone crazy.

“Are you making me mad on purpose?! You’re a vicious woman! Senior Ming Xi, don’t be deceived by her!” Yifu couldn’t best Feng Wu so she turned to Ming Xi.

“She’s a good person.” Ming Xi imitated Feng Wu and kept his face serious.

His words shocked Yifu so much that she ran away crying.

Feng Wu looked at Ming Xi with bright eyes. Senior Ming Xi had praised her! So happy~!

Ann stared blankly at Ming Xi as though he was a heartless scoundrel. “Brother Ming Xi, you’ve changed. Don’t you like me anymore?” Ann asked sadly.

“I’ve always thought of you as a sister. I thought you knew.” Ming Xi secretly wiped away a cold sweat. He had no romantic affections for Ann and he wished the audience would stop looking at him like he was the worse scumbag in the world.

To make such a beautiful girl cry: you’re a scumbag!

Sure enough good-looking men are scumbags!

Scumbag! You should let that sister go. I’ll swap places!

The single dogs watching were super jealous as they mentally talked smack about Ming Xi.

Ming Xi: I don’t know anything.

“What? You clearly said you would marry me once I grew up!” Ann was so distraught that she burst into tears.

“When did I say such a thing?!” Ming Xi couldn’t recall having dug such a pit for himself.

“You did; when I was three you visited me and we played house.” Ann said with conviction.

Three?! Ming Xi did remember playing house with her, but it was only because her sister, Grace, hadn’t been there and the other children didn’t want to play with her because she cried too much. Ming Xi was older, so it was normal for him to look out for the younger ones the other kids didn’t like. He never expected Ann to remember their game.

“It was just a game.” Ming Xi was afraid Ann wouldn’t understand so he made his face as serious as possible.

“Wa! Brother Ming Xi is heartless and disloyal!” Ann ran away crying.

Scumbag!

Scumbag!

Scumbag!

How could you treat a girl who’s had a crush on you since she was three so heartlessly? Why are no girls like that with me?!

Truly casting pearls before swine.

The barrage of insults grew in the audience’s mind.

The corner of Ming Xi’s mouth twitched. He took Feng Wu’s side and moved away from the crowd. He was not going to go shopping for a while.

As for Feng Wu, she was sad her ice cream had melted.

“Hello everyone, your beautiful senior sister here. Today is the day you’ve all been waiting for: the individual segment of the extreme survival challenge! But before we start the competition, I would like to introduce today’s guest commentator. The person next to me is none other than our very own vice principal! A hand of applause for the vice principal everyone!”

Applause came from all over. Some, afraid they weren’t clapping hard enough, clapped extra hard.

Don’t you know these guys were the ones who were talking about the vice principal before? Another reckoning was possible if the old man thought they were clapping too slow. They were still suffering from the last bout.

The vice principal was suitably pleased with the warm welcome. He really was the most respected person in the entire school, well just below the principal anyway. Yes, very appropriate.

“Will the vice principal reveal some of the competition’s details to us? The competition has been under such tight wraps no one’s been able to get any hints. None of us even know what form the individual challenge will take. Can you tell us the inside story?” Tamansha turned her head and asked the vice principal.

“Of course. . . not. If I say it now, it won’t be a surprise.” The vice principal was clear.

Sighs of disappointment came from below. And here they thought they would get the scoop at last.

Feng Wu and a few others were waiting in the preparation room, so they weren’t aware what was going on in the outside world. It was a big room, large enough to accommodate many people. The battle in the individual challenge would be brutal.

The requirements for the individual challenge were different from those of the team challenge. Everyone was given a chance to participate in the individual challenge despite most people doing poorly in the team segment.

In the team segment, the lord of the virtual world monitored their progress and gave each person a personal score based on their performance. Anyone who scored 60 or higher had their score recorded as a part of their overall ranking and was as also given the opportunity to participate in the individual challenge.

It was good news for everyone. Feng Wu scored 85, which was relatively high. Those who dragged their team down were given accordingly lower scores. This was very satisfying for those watching the challenge on screen.

Feng Wu didn’t know the contestants were being observed and scored in the team challenge. She had thought she would participate as long as she signed up. It was only after she returned that she found out it wasn’t the case.[notes]

“Hello contestants, I will now explain the rules. In the individual challenge, you will not be given any additional supplies. The only things you can bring in with you are those items you had from the team portion of the challenge.

Everyone will receive a map once the challenge starts. It is the same map for everyone. Whoever gets the item at the end of the map first will be the winner of the individual challenge.

And as usual, the lord of the virtual world will give out scores based on performance. I hope you all perform well and strive for good results.”

455, 456

455: Lucky Girl

The teacher’s figure disappeared, leaving the contestants to look at each other in dismay. Most found it troublesome to only have access to what they used in the team challenge. At the time, they had chosen things that weren’t suitable because of inexperience, but now they knew better and were looking forward to picking better items. Unexpectedly, they wouldn’t have the chance.

Feng Wu was not hit hard by it though. She had chosen things that were useful to her and she would have picked the same items again if given the choice.

She and the others were teleported to the arena. It was a cold location filled with ice and snow. The contestants would freeze like popsicles.

“As you can see, our challengers have landed on the challenge field. The temperature is very low and our contestants have had their magic an qi sealed so they are just ordinary people now. Can they withstand such a terrible place and survive the challenge in a place that is 10 degrees below 0?”

Tamansha looked at the black people specks on the screen. Her voice was filled with excitement and worry.

“Possibly, but wait! What was that that just flew down?”

Keys and large iron chests suddenly appeared on the viewing screen, falling from the sky.

“Vice Principal, can you explain to everyone if those chests and keys will be useful to our contestants?” Tamansha turned to the vice principal and asked.

“Of course. Within those chests are thermal supplies and other daily necessities. They can only be opened with the keys.

Contestants who want warmer clothes will have to use the keys to open the chests in order to get the items they want. Not all the chests are filled with supplies however; it is possible to find nothing at all or just useless junk.”

The audience understood what the chests were for after the vice principal’s explanation. If they understood it correctly, there were more participants than chests, so a war would likely break out as participants fought for limited resources.

At the time, Feng Wu was standing on top of a frozen lake. She had hard ice beneath her feet and an endless field of white around her.

“It’s so cold.” Feng Wu frowned. She had no inner qi to protect herself from the cold but her physique was better than ordinary people, so the cold was bearable.

She took out the map and puzzled over it for several minutes. It was a clearly drawn map, but Feng Wu didn’t know how to read it.

She bit her lip before muttering. “I don’t understand.”

After looking at the map, she chose a direction and started walking. As soon as she did, an iron chest and key landed directly in front of her.

Feng Wu stupidly looked at the key then at the chest. She clumsily grabbed the key and walked around the chest. . .  and kept walking. . . 

The audience nearly fell over at the sight.

Sister! Don’t you want to open the chest and check out if it has any supplies inside? There might be clothes in there! If there’s a chest, and you have the key, why wouldn’t you open it?!

Feng Wu kept walking in the direction she picked and came upon another chest not long after. She glanced at the chest, then at the key, then back at the chest again. “It turns out the chest can be opened!” Feng Wu said suddenly.

Girl, can you be any more dense, muttered the audience. They watched as she used her key to open the chest. Inside was a thick cloak made from fire fox fur. It promised to be a very warm accessory!

The corner of Feng Wu’s mouth bent just a little bit. Her lips were a little purple from the cold, but the image was still cute.

She wrapped the cloak around her and put the hood up and immediately felt warmer. She walked away with lips still slightly bent in a smile.

Shortly after she left the area, a tall man walked to the spot she had first landed.

“Shit! A chest!” exclaimed the man excitedly. His face was full of happiness as he held the key up, ready to open the chest. “My luck is good to have found a chest so soon. There must be something good inside!”

The audience gathered to watch were also very curious. What good things did the sister leave behind?

The box opened to reveal, shocking to every one there, a zombie, the kind encountered during the team challenge! The tall guy had his throat bit before he could even react.

It was tragic; it had only been ten minutes into the challenge, and he was the first person to get knocked out.

“What kind of luck was that!” The audience sighed in shock.

“Luck is also a kind of strength.” Someone else said.

“That girl was lucky.”

So, unbeknownst to Feng Wu, she became a lucky girl in the eyes of the audience.

But what was the lucky girl currently doing? She was going in the wrong direction. . . 

The person who drew the map made it too complicated so it was beyond Feng Wu’s understanding.

She encountered two more chests ten minutes later. One had a large box of jerky and bread; it was the kind of thing contestants were desperate for. Feng Wu wanted to open the other box, but her key didn’t fit, so she regretfully left.

Another girl came by soon after Feng Wu left and she opened the remaining chest. Inside was a cotton coat, though it wasn’t near as warm as the fire fox cape Feng Wu found, it was still a welcome addition.

Because the key didn’t open both chests earlier, Feng Wu knew her key wouldn’t be able to open every chest. She didn’t come across any other chests after an hour of walking.

This made her a little sad. She found that she liked this game of opening chests. There were many people playing the game, and a chest disappeared soon after it was opened.

Feng Wu had seen several people near her opening chests. She would turn around and leave, but had it been anyone else, a fight for possession would have ensued.

456: Treasure Chest

The chests fell from the sky with much needed supplies, but it wasn’t without risks. The possibility of death, though small, was very real.

So far, five people had died from opening the chests. Each of the five had carelessly opened the chests and were subsequently bitten to death by the zombies that erupted out.

Feng Wu didn’t know about the zombies, no one did really, except for a few people who witnessed one of the five dying. They knew it was a risk and that they could die opening one of those chests.

Some people were lucky and found warm clothes while others found food. They wouldn’t have to worry about freezing to death or dying of starvation.

It was hard to get a bearing in all the snow and ice. Food was also scarce because there were no wild plants to harvest or animals to hunt. It was freezing and most of the animals were sleeping in their burrows. Which of them would want to come out and be food for humans?

It began to snow, and as the storm intensified, visibility dropped. The contestants had no magic or qi so it became difficult for them to continue.

Feng Wu found a place and set her tent up. The inside was nice and cozy when compared to the outside storm. Feng Wu had lots of pillows and quilts to keep warm while she chewed on her jerky.

She was lucky she could use her equipment to escape the snow; unfortunately, Ming Xi was not as lucky. Although he didn’t have a tent, he did have food and clothing appropriate for the climate, having found a set of warm fur clothes and a bag of dried biscuits and water inside two different chests. For housing, he built a thick igloo out of snow cubes. He successfully kept himself insulated from the snow and cold outside.

Most people weren’t as lucky as Feng Wu or as smart as Ming Xi. The rest of the people found holes and caves to shelter away from the wind and cold, otherwise if they stay exposed to the elements, they would surely become human popsicles.

It snowed all night but Feng Wu slept restfully and awoke refreshed.

When some of the audience members saw how their seniors were abused by the weather, turning into popsicles, an interesting feeling arose in their hearts, but they were smart and didn’t voice anything out loud. After all, they didn’t know if anyone around them were fans of some of those very same senior competitors. It was best to be careful. The lesson learned from the vice president was still fresh in their minds.

“Look everyone, chests are falling from the sky again! Vice Principal, we want to know, will chests fall from the sky every day or will they only fall at certain times?” Tamansha asked a question everyone wanted to know.

There were too many unknown variables in the individual challenge. The participants had to explore and discover on their own. Though the secrecy made the challenge more interesting, it also made those watching hunger for more inside intel. Or at the very least know a little more than those participating.

How could the audience feel superior if they only knew as much as the participants?

The vice president laughed. “The chests are benefits we gave to all participants and will be available for the first three days. In those days, chests randomly drop. There will be no more chests beyond the third day.”

The audience was satisfied with his explanation. It turned out the chests would only drop once a day for three days. That was good. If the chests dropped every day, then they would have signed up!

The contestants did not know the chest drops were a limited time event that would stop after the third day. But there were some smart people in the group who suspected it wouldn’t last indefinitely.

Whether they suspected or not, the contestants were enthusiastic when it came to opening the chests. Often times this would lead to fights between contestants.

Feng Wu had kept her chest and taken cared of two big guys who thought she would be an easy target to bully.

The situation with the chests became more pronounced on the second day. Yesterday, everyone was still getting accustomed to the arena, but now that they knew about the contents of the chest, they were eager to get their hands on as many as they could.

The chest drops weren’t limited to a specific location; they fell all over the arena, so if you wanted to get them you had to have the strength and stamina to do so.

Feng Wu opened one of the three chests in front of her. The other two would not open with the key she had.

Fortunately though, the chest she opened had snow boots inside. She immediately swapped her leather shoes for the snow boots. Her old shoes were doing OK in the cold, but they weren’t near as cozy as the new boots. Both her feet felt like they were encased in warmth as soon as she put them on and it was wonderful walking in them.

Feng Wu was satisfied even though she couldn’t open the other two chests. She was putting her old shoes away in her dimensional storage space when she felt murderous aura behind her. She jumped to the side and neatly dodged.

She looked down after dodging to find an arrow lodged in the ice where she had originally stood. She would have been knocked out of the challenge if the arrow had hit her.

“You dodged!” said a voice from behind.

Feng Wu turned around to see a girl and two guys, one of which had a bow, walking to her. It was obvious he was the one that shot.

“What are you staring for? Hurry up and hand over your keys. Do we need to shoot at you again?” The woman ordered Feng Wu.

All three had on leather jackets, but the woman had a leather hat as well. Based on how the two guys were looking at the woman, it was obvious she was the leader.

Feng Wu blinked, then ignoring them altogether, raised one foot in front of the other to keep walking.

“Stop! Who said you could leave?! Hand over your keys right now. And all the things you got from the chests too, otherwise we are going to send you out of the arena.” This came from the man standing next to the woman. He was holding a sword.

457, 458

457: Lost

The method of delivery was obviously murder.

Feng Wu turned back and replied with, “These are mine," when she heard them.

It was clear she didn’t intend to hand anything over.

“It doesn’t seem like we’re going to get anywhere talking to you.” He suddenly notched an arrow and aimed it at Feng Wu as he looked at her contemptuously, certain her dodge earlier was luck and not skill.

“Do you want to fight me?” Feng Wu was a little excited. She had recently broken through a new level and was looking for someone to practice her skills with. Now here was someone right at her door. She squinted her eyes in happiness, feeling pretty good.

Was he seeing things? Why did the expressionless girl in front of him suddenly look happy? He shook his head. It had to be an illusion. Yes, definitely. There was nothing to be afraid of.

The man with the sword was disdainful. “Fight? As if you are worthy of fighting us. This is just us unilaterally killing you!”

The woman in the middle giggled so hard she had a difficult time talking. “Hahaha, oh my god, I’m gonna laugh to death. Who does this girl think she is? Actually wants to fight. Hahaha. What nerve!”

Feng Wu wasn’t annoyed at the ridicule; she was just distressed at their ambiguity. Did they want to fight or not?

“Since you don’t want to fight, I’m going to leave.” Feng Wu cherished her time. Now she wanted to get first place. Master had said she could try hard and do well so she wasn’t going to let her master down.

Thinking of this, she realized she was wasting time. Other people may have already passed her! She turned around and ran in the direction she picked earlier.

The robbing trio didn’t expect someone to run away right under their noses. Of the three, the two men were in the Sword division while the woman was in the Pharmacy division. After they formed a party, they were able to target a lot of other competitors using their bow. It worked to intimidate and steal because everyone had their abilities sealed.

They didn’t steal from just anyone; they picked their targets carefully and made sure to avoid any well-known figures or masters in the school. Though it was easy to steal while inside the arena, they had to consider the possibility they would suffer retaliation once they left the arena.

After observing Feng Wu for a while, they were certain she was a lone contestant with weak strength; at most she was a second or third year, so their robbery would be a surefire success. What they never expected was for her to be uncooperative and immediately leave.

“Go after her or not?” The man with the bow asked the woman calling the shots.

She gritted her teeth. “After her!”

The three of them immediately gave chase, but after travelling a certain distance, they realized they were lost.

“Look for her footprints. It’s only been a little bit so they should still be visible.” The woman spoke through gritted teeth.

They looked all around but failed to find any. Their faces were a little ugly when they proclaimed, “Can’t find any!”

The woman screamed, “How is that possible?!”

How could the girl have left no footprints in such thick snow? Looking around, it was clear the only footprints around were their own. None of the prints were from the girl they were chasing.

How absolutely absurd and ridiculous!

The trio had to give up.

“Quit searching. We go back!” The woman hated to give up but they had to.

“Go back... go back...” the bow guy had an odd look on his face.

Without noticing, they had somehow gotten lost.

“What’s wrong?” asked the woman when she noticed his strange look.

“We seem to be lost...”

Feng Wu had no idea three fools got lost because they were chasing after her. She was, herself, running farther and farther down the wrong direction. Without someone giving her directions, she would have gotten lost all the way to the other end of the world.

A group of people watching her on the screen wondered about her.

“If I’m not mistaken, that junior sister has circled the same place three times already.” A fourth-year boy said incredulously as he pointed to her on screen.

“You just figured that out? I realized she had a lousy sense of direction a while ago.” Another brother boasted pridefully.

What was there to be proud of? Tamansha was speechless as she silently listened to the conversation between the two guys. But the little girl, Feng Wu, was really interesting.

As a broadcaster, it was impossible for Tamansha to focus on only one person, but when another scene appeared a moment later, she took the opportunity presented to narrate with charm and mystery, broadcasting the challenge with lively flair.

Feng Wu didn’t actually have a bad sense of direction. She had grown up in the mountains and had never gotten lost before; it was just that the map was too abstract for her. She studied it for a long time, but still couldn’t understand it, so she gave up and picked a random direction to go in. That was why she was lost.

She did realize she was walking in circles. Once she noticed, she stopped by the edge of a frozen river. Her eyes lit up because if there was a river, then there was food.

She knocked a hole in the ice then stood happily watching the water through the hole as it flowed.

How to catch fish. Feng Wu thought about the usual ways.

Method One: Catch them in the water. However, this method involved taking her clothes off and getting into the water. With qi, she wouldn’t have cared and would have jumped right in, but right now even if she did have a really fit physique, she was still just an ordinary girl. She had enough self-awareness to know it would be a bad idea to go in the water.

Method Two: Fishing. It wasn’t a bad method, but the sad news was she had no fishing rod.

Feng Wu lowered her head and bit her lip. After thinking about it, she came to a solution and ten minutes later she managed to fill her dimensional storage with lots of fish.[notes]

458: The Reappearance of the Robbery Trio

Feng Wu had warm clothes on her body, warm boots on her feet, and plenty of food in storage, so being lost didn’t make her feel any panic.

She walked for two more hours before finally breaking free of her endless circle. Three hours after that she was sitting atop an alpaca and relaxing her feet. Another hour later and she was finally on the right path, but now she was far behind everyone else.

“Xiao Wu, the place you want to go to is very far away. You have to climb over the Great Snowy mountain in front of us. I don’t know what’s beyond it so, once you get to that point, I’m afraid you’ll have to find someone else to ask for directions.” The little alpaca beast spoke to Feng Wu.

To everyone else it just sounded like the little beast was making some trumpeting sounds. They would not have understood what the little beast was saying.

“Thank you, Flower.” Flower was the name of the little alpaca sister. She had been thrown there by the virtual god; it would not have been easy for the her to go to a land of snow and ice otherwise.

Luckily she made friends with Xiao Wu. A lost Feng Wu and a lonely confused alpaca unexpectedly met each other. One human and one beast quickly bridged the divide between species and became good friends.

Feng Wu happily enjoyed some jerky and bread as she sat atop Flower. It felt good not having to walk alone. Feng Wu nodded earnestly at the sentiment.

Other contestants did not have it as easy. They didn’t find a magical beast to travel with so they had to walk on their own two feet. Wading through deep snow took a lot of time and energy. It was tiring!

Somewhere nearby, the trio of robbers was at it again. They picked a girl who was clearly traveling solo. The girl was a third-year water magician with low offensive powers but she made up for it with excellent potion refinement abilities.

In fact, her refinement abilities were so good, they were on par with serious third-year pharmacy students. She had quite a reputation amongst the third-years because of it.

It was just a pity that she came from a family with little consequence. They were a small noble clan with no power or influence, so they were no better than an ordinary family when compared to other aristocrats.

She had been on a mission and single-mindedly focused since she entered the academy. She, like other people, entered the academy for a chance to make it. In order to achieve her goal, she put in tremendous effort toward her studies and work. It was not in vain as she was relatively successful.

Though she claimed to be as skilled as a third-year pharmacy student when it came to refining potions, her family knew better. Her strength wasn’t as strong as she pretended them to be.

Pharmacy was an expensive endeavor in the early stages, so she had been refining potions with simple methods and formulas using inexpensive materials. Those more costly, high-valued herbs? She had never touched them, never mind practiced with them. It was just too expensive and impossible for her to do without support from someone with more resources.

She was rushing so she could be a part of the quota for entering Star Marshall hall. She was being really sneaky as she moved about the arena because she knew her combat strength was weaker than a chicken. She still entered the challenge despite knowing full well her water magic abilities would be useless in a cutthroat arena like this. She entered because it was a one in a million opportunity; getting into Star Marshall hall would open up so many more doors for her.

She never expected to be blocked by bad-intentioned people on the second day.

“What do you want to do?!” She screamed; her voice sharp with panic.

“Stop talking nonsense. Hand over the keys and everything you got from the chest.” The guy with the bow said impatiently as he notched his arrow.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “You guys want to steal?! You’re not afraid of being disqualified?!”

“Disqualified! Hahaha!”

“She’s funny, hahaha!”

“She’s an idiot. What a stupid question.”

The robbers were laughing so hard they nearly had to hug their stomachs. Was this girl sent to be funny?

She glared angrily at them with her beautiful apricot eyes. It was true she couldn’t compare to the dazzling geniuses at school, but she was still an ordinary genius in her own right. She wasn’t that famous, but she would never be lost in a crowd.

The little beauty who had always been loved by her classmates and teachers, suddenly felt that the world was thick with malice.

Once they trio finished laughing, they got back to business; thieves had to thief after all. If they were determined enough, they would definitely get their loot.

“All right, we’re done playing. Hand everything over!” The bow guy was getting impatient.

“Stop wasting time and just get to it already.” The woman in the middle was worried about encountering another runaway like last time. It was only a few hours ago, so the feeling of loss was still fresh in her heart.

Anxiety flashed in the girl’s eyes as soon as she heard this. She promptly turned around and ran away.

“Running away?! Do you think a magician can outrun a swordsman?!”

The sword and bow guy both chased after her. Their last robbery failed so they couldn’t let another target escape and lose any more face in front of their goddess!

The girl ran desperately ahead as the two guys chased her from behind. Her face dripped with sweat and her breathing became labored from running in the thick snow. Luckily, her body was light, so she didn’t get bogged down, unlike the two guys chasing after her; however their strength more than made up for any disadvantage. They certainly had more stamina than a magician and would be able to outlast her.

A gust of cold wind blew and she shivered.

She was running out of strength but she knew she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t let herself be defeated here if she wanted to get into Star Marshall hall.

She could not lose. . . 

459, 460

459: I’d Suffer If I Formed an Alliance with You

Her conviction was the only thing keeping her up. Though it propelled her forward, her pursuers were closing in and the distance between them shortened and shortened to the point she could hear the sounds of their heavy breathing behind her. They were only a few steps away and she was expecting them to close in on her any moment. No, she didn’t want to be eliminated!

Just when her desperation reached a peak, a girl riding an alpaca came into view.

Her eyes lit up like a drowning person who was tossed a life jacket.

“Help! Help! Save me!” She screamed desperately, hoping to grab the person’s attention and be saved.

Even if the stranger couldn’t save her, it would be helpful if it meant her pursuers would be stalled for a few moments. They could all see the stranger had warm clothes, food on her body, and a mount under her. Everything the stranger had, must be more valuable than anything she had on her. Since a more lucrative target appeared, maybe the three villains will switch targets and give her a chance to escape.

Feng Wu turned to look when she heard the screams, but she quickly turned back around after a glance and continued on her way.

Before she started the challenge, Jier had told her it was an individual competition where the scores were based on personal results, so she should not pay attention to anyone she wasn’t familiar with. And even if she did meet an acquaintance, because everyone was an opponent in the arena, she shouldn’t think about helping them. Helping opponents would do her no good.

Feng Wu had always been an obedient girl.

The girl is an opponent so I won’t help her, Feng Wu thought. She nodded her head and decisively made her decision to ignore the other party.

What?! The stranger pretended not to hear! The girl was so furious! But maybe there was still hope, since the ones chasing her had seen the new arrival as well.

“Hey, look! Isn’t that the girl who got away from us this morning?!” The guy with the bow exclaimed when he saw Feng Wu. His eyes lit up and he looked like an eagle just spotting its prey.

“It’s that girl that ran away last time! It’s definitely her!” The woman glared fiercely at Feng Wu with eyes filled with resentment.

They were angry with Feng Wu for giving them their first taste of failure. They had had to wander around the area for three hours before finally finding their way back on the correct course. Feng Wu, the person who made them suffer, was of course the person they hated the most.

With Feng Wu in the picture, the three of them lost interest in the other magician girl.

The girl’s mouth dropped when she realized they weren’t chasing her anymore. She really was going to escape disaster! She immediately fled in the opposite direction. It didn’t matter if she had the strength or not, she had to run as fast as she could. Luckily, her pursuers were already focused on Feng Wu and were completely ignoring her.

It wasn’t like she was a Madonna. If she was, she would never have considered using Feng Wu as bait for an escape. After running a sufficient distance, she glanced back with a pitying look in Feng Wu’s direction. Then she left without another backward glance.

“You little trickster! Stop right now!” The woman yelled at Feng Wu’s back.

“Don’t even think of escaping again!”

“Don’t think you can escape! Last time we were careless so you got away!”

All three yelled at Feng Wu.

Feng Wu, sitting atop her alpaca, turned around to see three people running toward her. After staring for three seconds, she came to the conclusion she didn’t know them, so she signaled the alpaca and together they jogged through the now.

The four-legged alpaca ran light and fast, barely leaving an indentation at all.

Before the thieves could reach Feng Wu, the alpaca had already whisked her far away. The thieves stood in the snow empty-handed once more.

“She got away again!” They shook their heads in anger and regret.

They looked back, trying to find the other girl they were chasing. Since they couldn’t get the main course, might as well try to get the appetizer. Unfortunately, they had completely lost sight of her as well.

They stood in the snow cold and annoyed. The day was a disaster with three failures in a row!

Feng Wu, having left in her usual oblivious style, had no idea what was happening behind her. She rode Flower happily toward the finish line.

After another half an hour, Feng Wu ran into two other girls who were in the class next to her. She couldn’t remember their names but she did remember seeing them when the classes combined for practicals.

Their eyes lit up when they saw Feng Wu, but lit up even more when they saw the beast she was riding.

“Xiao Wu, I didn’t expect to see you here. It must be fate that we met. Why don’t we form an alliance to work together?” They stared at Feng Wu enthusiastically. . .  it would be so good to ride on an alpaca!

“No.” Feng Wu shook her head and refused without giving them any face.

“What?! Are you looking down on us?!” They stared at Feng Wu angrily. It looked like they were offended.

“You’re too weak. It won’t do me any good to form an alliance with you.” Feng Wu said seriously as she looked down on them from her alpaca.

Feng Wu wasn’t stupid. Both Jier and her master had told her that if she needed to find someone to form an alliance, then she should find someone as strong or stronger than her. Forming an alliance with people weaker than her wouldn’t do her any good.

Feng Wu was an obedient girl so of course she followed their advice.

The two girls were so angry they nearly saw red. They knew they weren’t as strong as Feng Wu, but it wasn’t like anyone in the challenge could use magic or qi. Everyone had to fight using their physical strength and stamina. With that in mind, it was possible they were stronger than Feng Wu in the arena.

The two girls couldn’t accept the fact that they weren’t performing well in the Sword division. They had always been treated as unique, young geniuses in their families, but the academy was a different world and it was full of geniuses. So it didn’t matter if they didn’t accept their ranking at school.

Honestly, if it weren’t for Feng Wu being top ten in their grade, they wouldn’t have cared at all for someone with such a bad reputation.

Because of everything that happened last year, a lot of people at school had a poor impression of Feng Wu. She had been the center of so many rumors. Even if the school clarified the issue with her baby, there was still the matter of her public proposal to Ming Xi, and the stories of her bullying other students.

It was no secret that Jasmine’s[notes] nudity ordeal in the girl’s dorm was related to Feng Wu, so many of the girls had a bad impression of Feng Wu.

Certainly, there were people who didn’t believe Jasmine’s story about the whole affair, but those people were in the minority. Of those that did believe, few actually had a bona fide hatred for Feng Wu. Most just had a bad impression of her. They were too busy with their own lives to bother with other people’s trivial affairs that didn’t involve them directly.

Though most people were either envious or jealous of those in the top ten, none of the top ten were connected to any bad rumors except for Feng Wu. Her reputation was a huge flaw in people's eyes.

460: Ai Lin in the Challenge

Anyone dissatisfied with the tenth position holder could issue a challenge. There were plenty who had challenged Feng Wu, but they all failed, and she remained unseated.

If it weren’t for her abysmal grades, some people thought, based on her strength, she would have ranked in the top three of their class. Other people disagreed with the assessment. The two girls in front of her now were of the latter group.

“What do you mean? Apparently good intentions aren’t rewarded. If it weren’t for the fact that we pitied you, we wouldn’t have gone to the effort of inviting such an antisocial person like you!”

With a completely straight face Feng Wu said, “Oh, I don’t need your pity. You’re too weak so you should pity yourself first.”

Damn it! Don’t cut people down so fiercely!

How can you be so strong? No matter how strong you think you are, you only just moved into your second year. There are five other grades above you. The strong people in those grades are gathered here as well you know! You’re just a top ten in the second-years! The girls complained furiously in their minds.

They wanted to say something, but Feng Wu didn’t give them a chance. She was already riding off on her alpaca.

“She just left!” One of the girls was so shocked she nearly fell on her butt.

Sister Alpaca was much more familiar with the terrain than Feng Wu. She took Feng Wu all the way up to the mountain. They would be able to leave the region as soon as they crossed over.

The tree branches on the snow-capped mountain were laden with snow and there wasn’t a single bit of green in sight.

After rushing for an entire day, Feng Wu found a spot to start a fire and settle down for the night.

It was the end of the second day. The map the school gave covered a huge area.

After contestants passed through the snow-capped mountains, they would have to travel through a desert, then grassland, before finally reaching the final destination in a volcanic region.

Feng Wu was troubled about what to do with the fish she had in storage. Jier had specifically told her she wasn’t allowed to cook for herself.

He was afraid she would poison herself and be ejected from the challenge. It would certainly be a strange story, one remembered and used as a cautionary tale to all the students that would come after.

Feng Wu didn’t know about Jier’s thinking. She only knew what was promised had to be kept. Master had said it was part of being a decent human being.

But what was she supposed to do with all her fish? She went to sleep without coming up with a solution. The matter with the fish was still on her mind as she rode Flower up the mountain the next day.

Shortly after lunch, more treasure chests dropped from the sky. Of course this immediately caught the attention of all the powerhouses who were already on the mountain.

Feng Wu got a chest with ten water bags filled with purified spiritual water. It was the most common, ordinary type, but drinking it would alleviate physical weariness and restore stamina. She carefully collected and stored them away but didn’t find any more chests after that.

A couple of screams rent through the air. Apparently, someone found a zombie chest. Who knew if the person fell to the zombie or not.

Ai Lin[notes] killed her zombies without even blinking an eye. She walked alone; there was no need to team up with people who would just hold her back. She was intent on going on the special mission.

She was top five in her class, but if she had wanted to, she could have definitely tried for first place. It was only because she didn’t want to attract the heroine’s attention too early that she laid low.

The heroine was in the top three because of Jier. He was a complete surprise and so powerful, he forced the heroine into the second position.

Seeing Zi Cheng miss first place made Ai Lin so happy. She knew Zi Cheng wasn’t the kind of person who tolerated being subservient well. Zi Cheng could bend and stretch to fit the situation, but ultimately, she disliked being pressed down by anyone.

In the original story, Jier didn’t participate in the rankings. Ai Lin didn’t know what made him try for it this time, but she was delighted to see Zi Cheng deflated.

So far Ai Lin had opened five chests, four of which were quite useful, while the last one was the zombie one.

She cursed Longzi’s bad taste. She was now more certain than ever he was another transmigrator, who before transmigrating, had read a lot of fiction. Just look at what he made. Wasn’t this exactly like a virtual world in a holographic online game? There were even zombies!

Fortunately thousands of years had passed since he was in the current world. If he was here now, she was afraid things would get too lively. There was already two female transmigrators and a reborn man. How was a cannon fodder girl like her supposed to survive if a guy like Longzi was added to the mix?

Ai Lin moved ahead after taking care of the zombies. She’d only taken a few steps when she saw someone riding a ___.[notes] Was she seeing right? Was that the legendary divine beast ___?

She was so startled! Damn it! Seriously what badass managed to do that? Was it from a chest? If it was, then that was some serious luck. Ai Lin was in awe.

She thought she was lucky, having opened five chests in three days. With the exception of the last one, all her chests had been filled with necessities: food, shelter, clothing, shoes, and weapons. She never expected someone to get a legendary divine beast from a chest.

Was it that someone managed to steal the heroine’s halo and open a chest that belonged Zi Cheng? Haha! How absolutely fantastic!

Ai Lin didn’t know who the rider was, but she knew it wasn’t Zi Cheng! She had been focused on the beast___ before, but now that they were closer, Ai Lin was able to get a better look at the rider.

The person was actually someone she knew! It was Feng Wu, the girl who was close to Jier.

Ai Lin knew Jier was one of the four divine seal holders so she had tried to get close to him, but he was simply too hard to approach. She heard Zi Cheng had also tried with similarly poor results.

461, 462

461: Trade Your Alpaca with Me

Ai Lin, who had been frustrated with all the setbacks she experienced, had been feeling better when she saw even Zi Cheng could fail. She wasn’t as worked up about things anymore and she didn’t try to cozy up to Jier either. She and Jier could be considered passing acquaintances in the magic division.

Ai Lin had lived in the world long enough that she lost some of her initial foolishness. She used to think about how to change her fate every day so she wouldn’t be used and destroyed by the heroine. As a result, most of her interactions with people involved how best she could use them for her purpose. When she sat down and really thought about it, she realized what she was doing wasn’t right.

It was the old “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” sentiment. Other people may not appreciate your heartfelt sincerity if they couldn't tell where you stood because you were too secretive. Whether you had a hidden motive or not for befriending someone didn't matter.

It was easy for Zi Cheng to make friends using a favorability rating system that allowed her to hide her true feelings from those she interacted with. The system helped people believe in her sincerity. Ai Lin didn’t have the advantage of such a cheat system, so if she wanted to make real friends, she couldn’t be a fraud and a cheat.

After some self-introspection, Ai Lin changed a lot and became less utilitarian in her way of thinking. It was a good change.

She knew Jier wasn’t an easy person to get close to, so that Feng Wu was on such good terms with him meant she couldn’t be an ordinary or simple person, after all, what kind of ordinary, simple person would be able to handle Jier?

As she watched Feng Wu approach, she wondered if she should say hello. Well whatever, Feng Wu was someone she knew. She should speak up.

“Xiao Wu, what a surprise to see you.” Ai Lin took the initiative to say hello after thinking about it.

“Oh, hello.” Someone she knew. This person was strong too.

“Your ___ is really good. Did you get it from a chest?” Ai Lin was very taken by the ___.

“This is an alpaca beast.” Feng Wu looked at Ai Lin seriously as she corrected the mistake.

The corners of Ai Lin’s mouth twitched. Wasn’t a ___ an alpaca? What was the difference?

“Well an alpaca is an alpaca. They’re all the same anyway.” Ai Lin wasn’t going to bother quibbling over the minor detail. “Was this what you got from a chest? I’m jealous.”

Ai Lin wasn’t being polite, she really was jealous. How much less troublesome would it be to have a mount to ride? And it was a ___ to boot. It barely left any imprints in the snow even. It truly was a divine beast!

“No, I met Flower on the rode.” Feng Wu didn’t hide the matter, but she didn’t give any details either.

“You met on the rode?!” Ai Lin exclaimed in surprise. Meeting one on the rode. What kind of ridiculous luck was this? Wasn’t this what a female protagonist would get?

Feng Wu nodded.

“You are so lucky.” Ai Lin could only say it enviously. How was she not as lucky as Feng Wu?

A voice interrupted them. Not too far away, a man and a woman were walking toward them. The man was tall and had an extraordinary appearance. The woman was delicate and an exquisite beauty with a face that others could only envy. She looked weak but had a sweet temperament that made you want to take care of her.

Ai Lin only needed a glance to see the girl was a green tea white lotus.[notes]

Feng Wu didn’t feel anything particular. Jier had told her it didn’t matter what anyone else did, she just needed to mind her own business.

Once the two newcomers reached them, the woman looked enviously at the alpaca Feng Wu was sitting on. Love nearly flowed out of her eyes.

She would use a very familiar tactic: force a low sale which she would then turn around and sell at huge profit.

“Hey you two, hand the alpaca over right now, otherwise don’t blame this senior for being rude.”

The guy was obviously one of the woman’s suitors. It looked like they were both fifth years.

Feng Wu didn’t know them. Ai Lin knew about them, but had never dealt with them personally.

The guy was a well-known powerhouse in the upper grades and though he didn’t make the cut into the top ten, he was eleventh in his class. The woman was even more famous. Considered the flower of the fifth year, she was sought after by many suitors. Her weak appearance and mysterious eyes captivated many of the tough guys.

This guy in particular had to be the flower’s top person, and as the eleventh seat in the fifth year, he was going to grab what the flower wanted.

Feng Wu’s things shouldn’t be easy to steal though. Ai Lin had been with Feng Wu on a few different occasions, and she knew Feng Wu was a puzzle. If all the bites she sent Feng Wu’s way about transmigration and reborning into a world hadn’t been ignored, she really would have thought Feng Wu was a transmigrated person like she was.

“Flower is my friend and I won’t give her to you.” Feng Wu refused with a serious face.

Those who wanted to steal her friend were all bad people. In the past, the hunters under the mountain had nearly killed her good friend, Méi. Méi was lucky and managed to run away. She had said the people under the mountain were terrible and had wanted to eat them.

Feng Wu felt the two people in front of her were the kind of bad people that would eat Méi and her friends, so she looked at them with a weary eye. If they dared grab Flower, she would hit them. As her master said, always hit back hard.

“Junior classmate, I like this alpaca very much. Can I trade a bag of water for it? Please trade with me. I will definitely treat it well,” pleaded the flower of the fifth year pitifully.

That pitiful look, it was designed to make Feng Wu look like a villain if Feng Wu didn’t agree with her.

A bag of water?! Ai Lin complained so much in her heart. This girl wanted to trade a bag of water for an alpaca? Where did she think they were, in a desert?! The least scarce thing on the snow mountain was water. The fifth-year flower had to know this. To use water as a trade. . .  What a black hearted white lotus. And her skill of pretending to be weak and kind was almost on par with the heroine.

“No, I won’t trade. Flower is a friend. I won’t trade a friend.” Feng Wu’s small brow wrinkled. She already said she wouldn’t trade; these two people were annoying.

The guy shouted. “How dare you not cherish the blessing given you! Instead of doing things the easy way, you want to do things the hard way. Even if you are a member of our Sword division, I can’t allow it to pass!” How dare a mole insult his goddess!

“Wû Xiu, don’t be like that. This junior just can’t bear to part with her pet is all. Don’t scare her.” The fifth-year flower said with an expression like she was pretending to be strong even though she was being wronged.

462: I’ll Teach You to Be Decent

What the hell?! This girl had the audacity to take that kind of expression in front of two second-year juniors?! Ai Lin looked at the white lotus closely. There were a lot of skilled people!

“Shamei, don’t bother talking to them. These two guys clearly don’t know how to behave. Let me, a senior, teach them.” Wû Xiu said as he smiled at them threateningly with his sword raised.

When he rushed at Feng Wu, the little white lotus named Shamei actually gave a panicked cry of surprise before giving the guy named Wû Xiu a worried look, then she looked to Feng Wu with an overwhelmed expression. She appeared completely at a loss.

But Ai Lin didn’t have time to watch her act. She and Feng Wu were together in their eyes, so she would be next to suffer if anything happened to Feng Wu.

She couldn’t act alone anymore and had to firmly stand with Feng Wu. Together, they would teach the pair of scumbags a lesson.

Ai Lin was fast to respond. She pulled her sword out of her space storage, intending to help Feng Wu.

The scene that unfolded told her she was overthinking. No one needed her help.

All she saw was Feng Wu lightly jumping off her mount onto the snow. But here was the thing, there were no footprints!

Everyone else was intent on watching to see if Feng Wu would be killed soon so no one else noticed this incredible feat other than Ai Lin.

The guy’s sword was so threatening, Ai Lin could feel the weapon’s qi across her face. [notes]

Feng Wu didn’t block his attack; she just kicked him right in the stomach. Wû Xiu saw her aim, but he didn’t care. How much force could a little girl’s kick have? It looked like it was just for show. The girl couldn’t use any magic or qi, so he wasn’t scared at all. With all this flashing in his mind, he didn’t even bother blocking.

But the moment the kick made impact, Wû Xiu slid out in the snow a full 6.5 feet (2meters) before stopping.[notes]

“Ah!” Shamei screamed in fright. Even a blind man could see the shock in her eyes. She never dreamed a powerful person like Wû Xiu would be kicked so far out by a little girl from a junior class. It was unbelievable. She was so surprised, she forgot to check on Wû Xiu.

Feng Wu calmly pulled her foot back and looked at Wû Xiu, who was lying on the ground moaning. “Weren’t you going to teach me how to a be a decent human being?”

She was puzzled. Why did he attack her in order to teach her? Could his sword art have held the answers to being decent?

She had grown up learning the truth of being a decent human being from her master. This guy didn’t have any rules and he wasn’t even a master; he was not qualified to teach her! He was a bad guy that would definitely not be able to find anyone willing to be his disciple and learn the art of being a decent human being from him.

Wû Xiu was so angry, he nearly coughed up blood. Was this girl mocking him?!

He never dreamed a girl in the lower classes could be so strong. The power of her kick nearly shattered his organs. What kind of crazy strength was this?!

Ai Lin’s mouth had dropped wide at the scene. So much power. A guy over a hundred pounds was sent flying by a kick from a little girl. Girl, do you have the strength of a bull or something?!

“Stinking girl! I was careless just now. Come at me again!” Wû Xiu got up from the ground and dusted the snow of his body. He looked at Feng Wu with angry and unwilling eyes.

Feng Wu tilted her head, confusion tinted her eyes. “I already have a master. You can’t teach me how to be a decent human being. You should find your own disciple.”

She said it so seriously, it was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic. Her face was blank and hard to read.

Wû Xiu nearly vomited blood again. Damn girl! Wasn’t it just that I accidentally let you kick me? What are you so proud of? Just wait, once we go back outside, it’ll only take me a few minutes to teach you a lesson!

He was about to say some words, but didn’t get a chance. He never expected Feng Wu, this stinking girl, wouldn’t play according to the rules. She had gotten on her alpaca beast and left! What the hell was she doing running off so fast! He wasn’t done talking to her yet!

Chase an alpaca with human legs? It would be impossible!

Ai Lin wasn’t stupid. She scampered out of there before Shamei and Wû Xiu came to their senses.

Shamei felt bad about the alpaca she lost. She must get it next time. . . 

Feng Wu didn’t know what the two people thrown off by her behavior were thinking. She kept on riding her alpaca beast freely and easily through of the mountain and accidentally made it through to the front of the pack.

She had moved, passing one person after another, until she ended up in the lead. A few tried to take her alpaca from her, but after seeing her terrifying speed and strange powers, most backed away from the idea.

Little Sister, you are too savage!

Feng Wu didn’t see too many people. The mountain was vast and there were many routes to the top, so there were plenty of people who did not cross paths with Feng Wu.

As night fell, Feng Wu met another friend.

“Xiao Wu!” What kind of coincidence was this? Ink couldn’t believe they were meeting so soon on such a large arena map.

“Ink!” Feng Wu blinked twice upon meeting a friend.

Images flashed from time to time on the halo screen. Some showed people competing for chests while others showed people forming temporary alliances. It was the third day into the challenge and those lucky enough to meet friends had already met and formed alliances. Some unlucky ones had to fight alone, having not encountered any friends.

Shamei had no idea the screen had displayed their confrontation. The boys watching the show were ashamed of the whole affair.

“Going ahead and trying to steal someone other people's stuff is normal, but to try and fail, aren’t you losing face for the fifth years?” lamented a boy in the fifth year.

“Yeah, I know. Wû Xiu usually just does what he wants, but today he actually lost to a second year. Seriously, can’t even beat a second-year girl. I’m embarrassed to say he’s our eleventh seat. Now let’s see what he can crow about in the future.”

“Yeah, he’s usually so arrogant, but in the end, he couldn’t even beat a second year, and he has the nerve to claim the eleventh seat.”

463, 464

463: Two People Who Have Very Bad Relations with Others

Who knew if it was because Wû Xiu, was a jerk or not, but seeing him lose to Feng Wu made many of the students, who were often on the receiving end of his anger, look at the scene with a happy expression.

There were some criticisms of his martial art skills, about his domineering and unreasonable personality, and the fact that he often resorted to using his fists whenever he had a disagreement with someone. His fights often landed the other party in bed for days, months, or even longer. He was a shady and ruthless guy who often took his lackeys to teach anyone who disagreed with him a bitter lesson.

After considering it all, was it any wonder he was unpopular with the boys? The boys resented Wû Xiu and the girls resented Shamei.

“If I were to say it, Wû Xiu’s biggest fault isn’t his temper; it’s his eyes. He has lousy vision if he can’t see how fake Shamei is.”

Shamei was their fifth year’s class flower but she was a black hearted white lotus. Her interactions with the other girls did not highlight her beauty or kindness in anyway.

As much as Wû Xiu failed as a man amongst the boys, Shamei failed as a woman amongst the girls. Except for a few other brain-dead white lotuses who were attracted to Shamei, who was also a white lotus like them, none of the other girls liked Shamei. Their faces were never good when she was around.

“I really don’t see what you men see in Shamei. Other than her face and that attitude of her’s as though she’s being wronged at every turn, what the heck is so attractive about her?!” said a girl angrily. She and Shamei weren’t in the same class, but it didn’t stop Shamei from doing her wrong.

She had just begun to properly date her boyfriend at the time when Shamei entered the picture. Somehow or other, after becoming friends with her boyfriend, Shamei framed her and made her look like a jealous and intolerant woman who was trying to harm a fellow student.

She wasn’t the type to degrade herself for a guy, so several fights later, she broke it off with him.

Naturally she hated Shamei. The worst thing of all was how Shamei wasn’t even interested in her boyfriend. No, Shamei just enjoyed having men be obsessed with her and having them force their girlfriends to lose face for her.

Of course, Shamei would never say something like that out loud. These deductions were made by her victims. It was because of this understanding that the girls affected by Shamei hated her so much.

“Well said, well said. Men are so stupid. A few tears and a few aggrieved glances are all it takes to confuse them. Men really are beasts who only think with their lower parts!”

“Yeah, you say it girl.”

“Shamei, that type of girl, I can only wish her a good death!”

A group of boys silently retreated to the side. They didn’t feel Shamei had done anything wrong, and had in fact been very caring to her juniors and fellow classmates who were bullied by Wû Xiu. If not for her, Wû Xiu would have surely bullied people even harder.

A fourth-year boy couldn’t stand it and decided to speak up for Shamei. “You’re jealous of Miss Shamei. She is the kindest and most gentle girl I’ve ever met. She’s nothing like what you say!”

The boy was a magician with average strength in the fourth-year Magic division. He had the bad luck of meeting and being taught a bitter lessen by Wû Xiu once. Fortunately Shamei passed by and was kind enough to give him medicine and told Wû Xiu not to give him anymore trouble.

And though Wû Xiu still found him and beat him up every now and again, with each successive encounter more fierce than the last, Shamei always rushed to his aid each time. He had a lot of gratitude toward Shamei because of this.

“Another dope blinded by beauty.”

The girls stared at the fourth-year brother disdainfully. This kind of guy who was easily led by the nose was the worst.

“No, that’s not true. . . ” He shared his encounters with Shamei, hoping to cleanse her reputation from the vilification of the girls.

After telling his story, the boy came to the conclusion. “Miss Shamei is a good person. She came to save me every time!”

“That’s right. Miss Shamei helped me too! If it weren’t for her, I don’t know how I would have handled Wû Xiu!”

“Yeah, same here!”

“Me as well. . . ”

A chorus of support rose up from other boys eager to share their stories about being rescued. The other guys nearby sighed. Shamei truly was a kind and gentle soul.

The fourth-year magician looked to the girls, hoping they would apologize for slandering his goddess’s name, but he was in for a shock.

Never mind an apology, the girls couldn’t even contain their laughter.

“Ah my god, you’re such a fool. . . ”

“I’m laughing so hard, I’m crying here! These guy gets sold out and he’s actually grateful for it!”

“Ha, ha, I can’t even!”

The girls’ disdainful laugh angered the boys.

“What do you mean by that?! You’re all just jealous women! Jealous that Miss Shamei is such a wonderful person. How can you have the heart to destroy her reputation?!”

“All right, let’s think about this a bit then. Wasn’t it that after each time Shamei “helped” you, Wû Xiu would beat you up even more severely than the previous time? Every time she went to you, you were made even more miserable,” explained one of the girls who managed to stop laughing enough to talk.

Now that the boys thought about it, it did seem to be the case.

“That’s just a coincidence! Wû Xiu likes teaching people lessons, even Sister Shamei can’t stop him every time.” The retort came from a Shamei fan who was unconvinced by this reasoning.

“OK, let me say one more thing then. Wû Xiu likes to bully people, that’s a fact, but as long as you don’t do anything in particular to offend him, he won’t go after you tenaciously. Go ahead, ask other people who have been bullied by him. Would he go out of his way to find them and bully them like he with did you?”

The boy turned his head and looked to the other guys in the crowd who had also been victims of Wû Xiu’s bullying. It was true, Wû Xiu only bullied them if they accidently met up, but otherwise he wouldn’t go out of his way to track them down just to bully them.

Only the boys treated by Shamei got the special treatment.

Hearing this, the boys’ faces turned bad. They never expected the senior sister who they had so much gratitude towards was actually the one who made them into targets.

“If she was really kind and wanted to help you, she wouldn’t have gone about it in the way she did. She knows Wû Xiu’s temperament. How could she not know the kinder she was to you, the more Wû Xiu would target you?

The answer is she’s always known. She just really likes watching guys fight for her. She enjoys pretending to be a Madonna in front of outsiders who don’t know any better, so that brainless men like you guys will like her. It’s her MO. And you consider her a goddess, tch.”

The girls snorted coldly as they glanced at the guys standing stunned by the revelation. The girls flicked their sleeves, turned around, and left. It could be considered a good deed for the day if they made Shamei fans see her for what she really was.

464: Snowy Night

Back to Feng Wu. . . 

Feng Wu ended her days of eating dry food now that she found Ink. She was finally able to enjoy the grilled fish that weighed on her mind since she caught them.

Ink’s skills were good and the grilled fish came out great. Feng Wu stuffed a dozen fragrantly cooked fish in her tummy then washed it all down with a few bowls of fish soup. The two friends ate well. It was a wonderful feeling to feast on such warm food in the middle of the cold snow.

Feng Wu was very conscientious and gave half the fish to Ink, which in turn embarrassed him a little.

It was true, there were a lot of fish on the mountain, but they were really hard to catch. He knew because he had tried several times himself. He could swear the fish here swam faster than rabbits on land. More often than not, the fish disappeared before he could even make a move.

Seeing Feng Wu’s huge catch was already a shock to his heart. He didn’t expect to get half her inventory just for helping her cook them. There were a lot of fish OK. Catching fish was much more difficult than prepping and cooking them. He kept grilling and grilling and once done only took a third of the pile, returning the rest back to her.

Feng Wu gave him a strange look, as though she didn’t understand why he would return food, but she accepted and placed them back in her storage space.

Visibility dropped dramatically when snow suddenly began coming down. Their fire was snuffed out under the heavy pile of white that accumulated, so they decided to turn go to their respective tents and rest in order to prepare for the early dawn tomorrow.

They had climbed up the mountain but there was still the matter of climbing down the other side.

The snow was coming down really hard so they had to clear the roof of the tent every so often to prevent it from collapsing under the weight.

Not everyone was lucky to have a tent to shelter from the wind and snow.

A girl was frozen stiff as she walked through the night against the elements. There was no place for her to shelter and she was becoming desperate. What could she do? She didn’t want to freeze to death. She had gotten so far; she didn’t want to stop now.

She pepped herself back up and kept trudging forward. Finally, she saw a faint light ahead.

People!

She hurried forward toward the light. Under normal circumstances, she would never have rushed to a populated place, not after her ordeal with nearly being robbed. She had little faith in humanity and didn’t trust her seniors or fellow classmates anymore. But circumstances demanded she try to reach out. If she didn’t find help, she would die, and if she died, she would be disqualified. She didn’t want to get herself in that situation.

She rushed forward and finally reached the tents. . . 

Ink never expected to meet a contestant that would ask for help. If he remembered correctly, the current challenge was an individual challenge that didn’t rely on unity and friendship. They were all rivals. Asking a rival for help, was there something wrong with the girl’s brain?

But she looked so pitiful, Ink decided to ask if Feng Wu was willing to take her in. If Feng Wu wasn’t, then he would drive the girl away.

Feng Wu was buried deep in her comforter asleep when Ink called her out. She opened her tent and stepped out to find a pitiful girl standing around in the heavy snow.

She looked bad with lips that were nearly purple. If it weren’t for her warm clothes, she would have definitely frozen to death and been ejected from the challenge already.

“It’s you!” The girl spoke out in surprise when she saw who it was that walked out. If Feng Wu hadn’t appeared when she did, the girl would have lost all her things to the three thieves.

Puzzled by the exclamation, Feng Wu wondered if they knew each other. She searched her memory before a familiar picture finally came to mind. Yes, she remembered where she had seen the girl now.

“Xiao Wu, do you know her?” Ink was a little surprised. If it was someone Feng Wu knew, then they would have to take the person in for the night.

“I don’t know her. We only met.” Feng Wu said with a blank expression.

This made the girl think Feng Wu was angry at her for leading the robbers over and nearly getting Feng Wu robbed. But it wasn’t her fault. And besides, after walking away, she was certain she saw Feng Wu ride off on the alpaca. So, it wasn’t like the thieves succeeded.

Don’t know each other, but have met before. . . 

Ink wasn’t stupid. He figured out the girl must have met Feng Wu on the road, but other than that, they didn’t have a relationship. So if the two weren’t familiar with each other, should they save the stranger? Ink decided to leave the decision up to Feng Wu. He explained to her that the girl wanted to spend the night with them and left it at that.

The girl’s eyes were expectant and bright. Feng Wu would definitely agree. They were both girls after all!

“No, this is a competition.” Feng Wu shook her head firmly. Jier had said everyone on the field was an opponent and she should not agree to help other people.

Feng Wu had nodded her head at the time.

Therefore, when this girl entered the arena, she became an opponent. Feng Wu wouldn’t take the initiative to attack, but she wouldn’t take the initiative to assist either. It was a rule Jier had asked her to abide by.

Naturally Feng Wu wouldn’t break her promise in order to help a girl she had no relationship with.

“OK, I got it.” Ink thought the girl was pitiful, but this was a competition. You could certainly help each other out if you wanted to, but there was no obligation to do so. No one would fault anyone for it.

He wanted the girl to find someplace else to avoid the wind and snow, but before he could say a word, he noticed her looking at Feng Wu with such a look of resentment, as though Feng Wu had done something monstrous, that he was surprised.

Ink lost any sympathy he had for the girl. Who did she think she was, staring at Feng Wu like that? Like Feng Wu was some kind of hated enemy. Too unreasonable.

“How can you do this? We’re both girls. How can you bear to watch me freeze to death in this weather. This game is very important to me. Help me please! I know you hate me because of what happened last time with those robbers, but it wasn’t my fault! I was a victim too! Why would you do this to me?!”

465, 466

465: Zhu-en

The more she talked, the more her initial guilt faded and the more justified she felt. She really had nothing to do with the thieves. To retaliate against her like this was petty and malicious.

“Leave already. Xiao Wu said this is a competition and we have no obligation to help you.” Ink glanced at the girl who was now full of resentment. This kind of person who couldn’t handle things, it was better that they kept their distance. He didn’t want either of them to be entangled with her.

She shot daggers at Feng Wu as she was driven away. Too bad though, it was a waste. Feng Wu didn’t even notice.

The next day, Feng Wu and Ink packed up and started on the road together. Ink made a small sleigh out of wood and Sister Alpaca – she was indeed a monstrous beast – was able to pull both of them easily.

They only rode on the sleigh for a minute before running into people they knew.

Neither of them realized they had camped so close to another party. The people in that campground were also packing up for the morning. They had a mount as well, a fast and strong demon wolf, with a toboggan tethered behind it.

“Xiao Wu, Ink. It’s you guys. How lucky, you also found a mount? My demon wolf came from a chest too. I didn’t think mounts were available in other chests as well.” Zi Cheng greeted Ink and Feng Wu with a smile.

Seeing the alpaca made Zi Cheng wonder. Her system had clearly said there was only one mount in all the chests inside the arena, and that was the demon wolf in her possession. So where did this other one Feng Wu have come from?

The demon wolf raised its head and glanced at the alpaca. It had been unlucky and was chosen by the lord to be this woman’s here mount. On the other hand, the Sister Alpaca had voluntarily chosen to be mounted. Why did she do that?

The demon wolf never imagined there was a beast that stupid.

The Sister Alpaca gave the wolf a cold glance. I’m helping a friend. This is different. I’m doing this voluntarily. You were forced to let people ride you; it’s not the same.

Voluntarily. . .  what difference does that make? You’re still letting people ride you! The demon wolf couldn’t understand what the Sister Alpaca was thinking.

“I didn’t know we had camped so close to each other last night. You guys are really good to get here so fast.” Ink could see Zi Cheng wanted to ask about the alpaca. How was he going to let her get her way? He changed the conversation topic easily.

“Well we were also blessed with a mount, so of course we got here in good time; otherwise we’d still be at the base of the mountain.” Zi Cheng could see Ink wasn’t going to say anything else so she didn’t ask further and instead kept to his topic.

As they were talking, Yifu came out of the tent with another woman.

The woman glared at Feng Wu and Ink with hatred like they had killed her father. “Why are you here?”

“Zhu-en, what’s wrong? Do you know them?” Yifu asked curious, but in her heart she could already guess.

The girl named Zhu-en nodded fiercely. “They were the two who refused to help me and drove me away into the snow storm last night. If I hadn’t met you, I would have frozen to death and been forced out of the arena.” Zhu-en thought of how ruthless Feng Wu and Ink had been with her; the more she thought about it, the more resentful she became.

“These were the guys?!” The moment she learned this, Yifu looked at Zhu-en even more kindly. Anyone who hated Feng Wu was a friend of hers.

Yifu couldn’t wait to find fault with Feng Wu. “You were in the wrong Feng Wu. Do you even have any care at all for your fellow students? Senior Sister Zhu-en is a third year and you dared drive her away?! You’re too disrespectful towards your seniors!”

“Are you sick in the head, to talk like that? If, according to your statement, then don’t we all have to directly let the seventh-grade seniors win? As junior brothers and sisters, wouldn’t we be disrespectful if we accidentally won and caused them unhappiness?” Ink had been unhappy with Yifu for a long time so he clapped right back at her. He wasn’t worried about possibly offending any seniors with his words.

“What do you mean?! When did I even say that?!” Yifu glared angrily at Ink. “Feng Wu, do you always have to hide behind a man? Before it was Jier, who stuck around you all day, now it’s Ink all day long! It’s no wonder you became a mother at such a young age!” Yifu was vicious.

“Wah? That girl is too poisonous. What a vulgar thing to say,” said a guy watching the show on the screen. You really couldn’t judge people by their appearances. . . 

Yifu had no idea her every word and expression were being transmitted on screen for the audience to watch. It was transmitted in full 3D too.

“Wasn’t it?” Someone agreed readily.

“No. That Feng Wu really was too cruel. She threw that poor girl, Zhu-en, out in the snow. If someone hadn’t taken her in, I’m afraid that would have been the end of Zhu-en. She would have failed and been booted out of the challenge.” One of the girls felt pity for Zhu-en, who had been driven away into the cold.

“What the hell? Are you possessed by the Virgin Mary or something? This is a competition. Who would be fool enough to save their opponent? Feng Wu was right; a competition is a competition. You have no duty to save anyone.” This came from a much more sensible person.

Most of the students agreed with the statement, but a small minority felt Feng Wu didn’t care enough about her fellow students. Even if it was a competition, locking out a senior was too unsympathetic and cold-blooded a thing to do.

“You are jealous of me.” Feng Wu declared while looking at Yifu seriously.

Master said people who spoke ill of her were jealous of her and that she should pay them no mind. A person who was jealous and small minded would never learn and therefore would never become great.

“Jealous? Of you?! Dream on!” Yifu’s body was electric and about to explode; she was like a cat who’d just had her tail stepped on.

You’re a bitch who hook up with men and have children out of wedlock. Like hell I’d be jealous of you! Yifu raged furiously in her mind.

“Master says people who are jealous will not achieve great things. I suggest you clear your mind. If you continue like this, your strength will never reach the highest realm.” Feng Wu kindly shared some advice.

“You. . . ” Yifu was practically spasming. She suspected Feng Wu was sent to make her blood boil. The girl had to be doing it deliberately to make her mad!

“That’s enough Yifu!” Zi Cheng stopped Yifu, who was getting worked up by Feng Wu.

“Xiao Wu, I’m sorry. Yifu isn’t malicious. Please don’t take it to heart. But you know, what you did yesterday was wrong. I hope you can apologize to Senior Sister Zhu-en. . . 

466: Moving Towards the Desert

. . . even though it’s a competition, Senior Sister Zhu-en is still a senior. Why don’t you apologize and we’ll all move on. What do you think?”

Zi Cheng looked kindly at Feng Wu. Her proposal was a good one. It would increase her favorability score with Zhu-en while reconciling the two parties. Zhu-en wouldn’t bear a grudge against Feng Wu, so things wouldn’t be an issue for Feng Wu after they left the arena. It was good wasn’t it? And all Feng Wu had to do was apologize.

Neither parties would suffer a big loss and there wouldn’t be any hurt feelings. She never expected to encounter disagreement from Feng Wu though.

“I did nothing wrong; I won’t apologize. No one here is special and everyone is an opponent.” Feng Wu blinked and replied with a straight face.

“You’re right Xiao Wu. I support you!” Ink didn’t want Feng Wu to suffer under Zhu-en’s anger. It was obvious Feng Wu hadn’t done anything wrong, so there was no reason for her to apologize.

“Flower, let’s go.” Feng Wu ignored Zi Cheng’s group and called her friend to leave. Promptly enough, the Sister Alpaca pulled her and Ink away.

Zi Cheng looked on in disbelief as Feng Wu and Ink left. They actually left! Without so much as a by your leave!

It had been a long time since anyone treated Zi Cheng this way. She stood unbelieving for a moment. Why did Feng Wu reject her proposal? It was beneficial for everyone. Wasn’t Feng Wu afraid of offending a third year?

Did Feng Wu care? This girl didn’t consider things like that. The imaginary line between offending people and not offending them wasn’t something she could read.

“Xiao Cheng! Look at her! She didn’t give us any face at all!” Yifu notched another mark against Feng Wu in her mental book of grievances. One day she was going to collect.

Zhu-en looked gloomily at Feng Wu’s back. Who did that junior think she was? Acting so condescending toward her. Dared to not give her any face at all. Just wait until the challenge was over and they were all outside the arena. She would make sure Feng Wu understood the ramifications of offending a senior sister.

Zi Cheng was uncomfortable with the whole affair as well, but she still tried to comfort Zhu-en with some consoling words. Feng Wu just had a careless temperament and Zhu-en shouldn’t take it to heart. There was no real harm meant and so on and so forth.

Zi Cheng didn’t really care if Zhu-en believed her or not. It was Feng Wu’s decision to offend a senior sister; the girl would have to handle the consequences on her own. Zi Cheng was only a classmate, so all she could do was try to alleviate the situation with a few words.

Feng Wu and Ink ran to the front of the challengers, then sat down and grilled fish and drank fresh fish soup. Zhu-en had already faded from Feng Wu’s thoughts. Unimportant people were like passersby, and Feng Wu rarely spent energy to remember them.

“Xiao Wu, we should be able to reach the desert after today. But there won’t be much water there, so we should make sure we have enough food and water before entering.” Ink came to this conclusion after thinking about their situation.

It wasn’t a big deal to enter the desert one day later. The real difficulty lay in leaving the snowy mountain prepared for the next location.

“Catch fish!” Feng Wu’s eyes were bright when she spoke. She had been in love with eating grilled fish since yesterday.

“Yeah.” Ink replied absentmindedly.

After determining what to do, Feng Wu asked Sister Alpaca to find if there was a frozen lake or something similar nearby.

Sister Alpaca hadn’t been on the mountain long, but she already had a firm grasp of the layout. They found a frozen lake easily under her guidance.

They quickly broke through the frozen surface of the small lake and proceeded to fill their bags with water after catching a bunch of fish. They easily caught fish but it took them a long time to prepare their catch. Ink spent half the day roasting everything over the fire.

There was a lot of fish to cook but Feng Wu couldn’t help, so Ink was left to do all of it on his own. By the time he finished and they managed to pack everything away, it was already noon.

Sister Alpaca carried them down the mountain. From their vantage point, they could see the vast desert ahead. It was so unbelievable. The mountain was directly connected to the desert, truly worthy of being a virtual world.

While Feng Wu and Ink were gathering food, Zi Cheng’s group had rushed ahead. Zhu-en didn’t want to stay with Zi Cheng so they came to an agreement that she would part ways and each person would take a different path.

Zi Cheng didn’t object to the idea. She was not familiar with Zhu-en and didn’t want to risk someone stabbing her in the back.

On the other hand, Yifu was reluctant to let Zhu-en leave them. She and Zhu-en had bonded really well over shared commiseration about Feng Wu. As the saying went: an enemy of an enemy was a friend.

Other than Zi Cheng’s group, many others rushed from behind and entered the desert. This included Ming Xi, who had gone in along with Tian Ya.

Luis, Gerasi and Elena were approaching the base of the mountain as well. Feng Wu and Ink had fallen to the end of the pack.

Feng Wu didn’t know this, but even if she did, she wouldn’t have cared. She and Ink had already decided to enter the desert tomorrow anyway. They weren’t in a hurry and were slowly taking their time descending the mountain. It would be easy to get lost in the desert, so the first to enter wouldn’t necessarily be the first to leave. Other people also knew this, but the opportunity to enter early was too good to lose.

As more and more people poured into the desert, the number of those on the mountain dropped.

The next day, before dawn, Sister Alpaca took Ink and Feng Wu into the desert.

They put their thick clothes and heavy shoes away as these were inappropriate for the desert. The sled wasn’t usable anymore either without the snow. Feng Wu ended up riding on Sister Alpaca while Ink pulled them forward.

Ink was in charge of navigating and reading the large and complicated map. They couldn’t afford to make any mistakes; even a little error could mean being stuck in the desert. Ink felt better taking care of it himself; if left to Feng Wu, he was afraid they’d end up in a ditch or worse.

Unlike Feng Wu, Ink was able to quickly analyze the map and find the most efficient route for them to take.

The two people and one alpaca went deep into the desert.

467, 468

467: Day and Night in the Desert

The sun scorched painfully on a person’s body and left a tingling sensation all over.

Ink and Feng Wu walked slowly in the desert. It was a huge space and they walked for a long time without finding water or shelter. Eventually Ink made some shade using his cloak and some framing.

“The sun is too fierce.”

They drank some water as they sat together resting away from the blazing sun.

Ink wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked at the sun that could dry a person to a husk. Most of the things they got from the previous area were thick, heavy furs and cloaks, none of which were suitable for such desert heat and would result in heat stroke for anyone desperate enough to wear them. But not having proper cover meant getting sunburned. In fact, both Ink and Feng Wu had arms full of blisters from the heat. How much worse would things get?

“It hurts.” Feng Wu wet a kerchief with some water, then placed it on her face. The tingling immediately faded with the cool contact.

“We have to find something to cover our bodies. If we keep going like this, it’s only going to get worse.” Ink sighed in resignation.

Sunburn like this wouldn’t have bothered them normally, but now that they were ordinary people, it was incapacitating. Such a bright sun in their faces was incredibly uncomfortable.

“The clothes we have are too thick.”

They didn’t have anything suitable to wear as all their clothes were geared for cold weather.

“It’s OK. One of the chests I opened had two cotton filled coats. If we take out the cotton batting, we can use them like summer jackets.” They just needed something to block out the sun; it didn’t matter if it wasn’t pretty.

They immediately got to dismantling the heavy coats, peeling away all the heavy cotton batting and only leaving the outer shell fabric. Though it was still thicker than a summer coat, it was an improvement.

They covered their bodies from head to toe with clothes and dressed their burns with ointment.

Ink had been very lucky. Every chest he found had been filled with clothes, shoes, hats, medicine – all useful things. He had opened many chests and never encountered a single trap. Even Feng Wu wasn’t as lucky.

They were much more comfortable now that they were covered and protected from the sun. Sister Alpaca didn’t have any issues. She was a monster with thick flesh and skin.

It was hot, but Ink still recommended rationing their water. The desert was vast, and they didn’t know when they would come upon a water source to refill their water. He was afraid they’d die of dehydration if they didn’t start rationing.

Jier would definitely laugh to death at him. And that. . .  was definitely not something Ink was willing to take.

Ink planned a strict water consumption plan for them so they wouldn’t die of thirst.

The temperature reached between 102-122°F (30-40°C) in the day, but once night fell, the temperature dropped to 14°F (10°C). Fortunately they had kept their winter clothes, so they came in handy.

The temperature dip wasn’t the only danger at night; there was also danger from nocturnal beasts that came out once the sun set.

The contestants could hear the sounds of magical beasts running rampant across the desert. It made their heads numb and their hearts tremble. They were just ordinary people; how were they going to survive a night with beasts roaming wild?!

The participants secretly cursed out the instructors in their hearts. Why make things so difficult?!

Those planning to rush at night and rest during the day, had to rethink their plan. They would have to be foolish to try to rush out with so many wild beasts about.

Feng Wu and Ink didn’t dare take out their tents, and instead rested in between a pile of rocks. They wrapped up in fur cloaks to stay warm and took turns being on look out.

They heard many wolves howling, but managed to pass through their first night without incident.

In the morning, Ink and Feng Wu switched to their lighter clothes and went on their way. The temperature was once again high enough to roast.

It didn’t matter if it was roasted fish or dried food, on such a hot day, nothing had any taste. But not eating would mean not having energy to leave the desert.

Feng Wu and Ink ate a few random things, then after a short nap, they began moving again.

It was too dangerous at night, so they had to hurry on in the day even if the sun was bright and made things unbearably hot.

Feng Wu and Ink saw another group of people two hours later. It was a team of five that obviously knew each other, otherwise they wouldn’t have formed an alliance in an individual competition.

The five people looked wretched with their heavy winter clothes. Even though they were sweating profusely from the heat, they didn’t want to take their winter clothes off and bare their flesh to the sun. They were surprised for a moment when they saw Feng Wu and Ink.

One of the two girls in the group was very interested in Feng Wu’s Alpaca. Her eyes had not strayed from the alpaca since they met.

They bumped into each other walking the same path, but neither party wanted to start anything, so they kept to themselves.

Feng Wu and Ink weren’t going to start trouble; they were more interested in hurrying out of the desert.

Both teams rushed forward silently not communicating with each other at all, that was until the one girl eyeing the alpaca pulled the tall guy in her group aside and whispered something in his ear.

The guy looked thoughtful for a moment before approaching Ink and Feng Wu.

“I want to borrow your mount; can you lend it to us? My sister can’t walk anymore and really needs to rest. I’ll return it right after.”

The guy looked serious and quite imposing. It was obvious from a glance he was some kind of big shot at school.

“If your sister is tired, she should find a place to rest. We won’t lend our alpaca out.”

Ink knew how much Feng Wu loved her new alpaca friend, so naturally he refused.

468: Algernon and His Sister

Besides, Flower had an interesting temperament. It wouldn’t let anyone ride it other than Feng Wu.

“You guys, we’re all classmates. Our boss’s sister just wants to borrow your mount for a bit; we’ll give it back right after. Why be so stingy?” The other guys in the group called out after hearing what Ink said.

“Flower isn’t a mount; flower is a friend. You don’t lend out friends.” Feng Wu replied back seriously.

“It’s obviously just an alpaca; it’s not a friend! If you don’t want to lend it, just say it straight. Don’t give such outrageous excuses.” The boss’s younger sister spoke out in a weird tone.

Feng Wu did not like her tone and thought the girl was annoying. She turned her head away and ignored them after that.

The girl couldn’t find trouble even if she wanted to. She hummed indignantly but didn’t try to rush out and make trouble for Feng Wu.

“You two, if you’re willing to lend the alpaca today, once the game is over and we leave the arena, I’ll owe you a favor and if you have any difficulties in the future, you can come to me and I’ll help you.” Their boss was reasonable and didn’t start a fight just because he didn’t get his way.

As the seventh seat, his swordsmanship skills were excellent and only a few people in the fourth year could beat him. He was born into a big family and was well educated at an early age. At the same time, he wasn’t like those other aristocrats who used privilege to bully other people.

He was known as a good sort and was very popular at school. There were people who wanted to follow him, which was why there were two guys calling him boss now.

A favor?! Ink didn’t expect the fourth year, seventh seat to make such an offer. The guy was famous at school so Ink knew who he was. He had never heard anything bad about him.

Feng Wu didn’t know the boss, nor would she have recognized any other possible school celebrities even if they stood in front of her. The one person she knew was Ming Xi.

Though Ink was surprised at the offer, he stood his ground. This kind of favor would have been tempting to most other people. Having a senior look out for you made life a lot easier, and there wouldn’t be any fear of being bullied.

But Ink knew Feng Wu didn’t need such benefits. Ming Xi was a sixth year and on top of the student pyramid. Feng Wu, who was under Ming Xi’s care, certainly did not need the protection of a fourth year, tenth seat.[notes]

The guy was surprised to be rejected again, but he didn’t start a fight and rob two second-years.

His younger sister, Pamela, was still upset though. She wanted to say something, but kept her mouth closed when she saw her the look in her brother’s eyes.

She was normally stubborn and willful, but she knew proper order. Her brother had told her their performance in the game would be broadcast live for the school to see. She knew her brother would never forgive her if she dared to display her temper in front of the entire school.

Their family clan was really big. If it weren’t for her gift and her brother’s position as tenth seat, it would have been impossible for them to have the valued position they had in the family. She didn’t dare provoke her brother.

He normally appeared gentle and courteous in public, but he was no joke when provoked. Pamela thought about the consequences of his anger and obediently shut up. It was clear from her face she hadn’t given up though.

The only other girl in the group of five looked at Feng Wu. She opened her mouth a few times, but ultimately didn’t say anything.

They were strangers and Pamela wanted their mount; it was better not to say hello.

After rushing all day, both teams found a place to rest before the sun set. They weren’t as lucky this time and had to pitch their tents because they couldn’t find a ready made shelter.

Feng Wu and Ink set up one tent and took turns being on watch. Flower wanted to join Feng Wu when it was Feng Wu’s turn, but Feng Wu resisted the idea.

The Sister Alpaca had been walking with them all day and Feng Wu wanted her to get some rest.

“Melis, what did you get for us? It’s so unpalatable. Can’t you find something else?” Pamela spit out a few times to get rid of the dry, hard bread in her mouth. Then she drank half a bag of water to get rid of the dry feeling.

“I’m sorry Pamela, I got this out of a chest. Although it doesn’t taste good, it is still edible.” Melis was used to Pamela’s temper so she talked softly and gave her a look of regret.

“You can keep such a tasteless thing for yourself.” Pamela threw the brown bread at Melis’s face in disgust, before pulling some jerky out of storage and eating that with relish.

“I’m sorry, Pamela is still young and has been spoiled since she was little. Please don’t take it to heart.” Algernon apologized.

Melis clenched her fist discreetly then released them. She casually said, “It’s OK, Pamela is just impatient. I’m not offended.”

Pamela put the jerky back in her storage space after Melis left the tent. “Brother, why did you apologize to her? She didn’t deserve it!” Pamela didn’t hide her disdain for Melis at all.

Melis was a second-year sword division student. Her performance wasn’t bad, but she had a poor background. She always kept a low profile in the dorms. Of the four girls in their suite, two were in the same division and had known each other since they were children. They hugged and greeted each other warmly the moment they entered the dorm and worked to suppress both Pamela and Melis in an effort to take over the suite. Obviously, Pamela wouldn’t let them succeed. She reluctantly united with Melis and thwarted them at every turn.

If it weren’t for Melis’s usefulness, Pamela wouldn’t have bothered having her hang around.

“I told you a long time ago, don’t underestimate people. This Melis girl, even though she comes from low birth, success is within her grasp. She might prove useful in the future.” Algernon smiled slightly, his eyes distant.

469, 470

469: Melis

“She’s a commoner. What can she possibly help us with?” Pamela asked indifferently.

“Who knows when that day will come. And even if it doesn’t, what do we have to lose?” Algernon didn’t care about a mere commoner.

The two siblings knew conversations in the tent wouldn’t be recorded so they spoke freely. They never expected there to be a glitch in their assumption.

Unbeknownst to them, a tiny sapphire earring was hidden within the folds of one of the blankets.

Melis had the other earring in one ear as she talked to the other two guys following Algernon. They had no idea the shy and quiet girl in front of them was multitasking and eavesdropping on the siblings while holding a conversation with them.

The sapphires weren’t ordinary earrings, but were alchemically produced and had long-range capabilities.

Melis had chosen them during the team challenge because she thought they would be useful, unfortunately her team was weak and she didn’t get a chance to use them at all. Instead, the earrings were proving useful now in the individual challenge.

She was low-born daughter of a hunter. And in a place filled with nobles, her humble background was only marginally better than that of an orphan. When room assignments were made, she was assigned to a suite with three other noble girls.

All the girls were bossy and wanted to be in charge. Two of the girls knew each other, so they formed an alliance right away. The pressure forced Pamela to form an alliance with her, even though she was a low-born commoner. She had only agreed to team up because she knew it was impossible for her to stand alone; but the moment she did, Pamela started treating her like a servant and constantly vaunted her superiority, acting as though having Melis around was a form of charity. It was rich because it was Pamela who approached her for an alliance. She wasn’t the one who stuck to Pamela.

Pamela was willful and arrogant but also generous. Sometimes she would give Melis her discarded items, which were actually quite good.

Plus having Pamela as a supporter did make life a little easier for Melis.

Algernon, on the other hand, was a whole other story. She knew he wasn’t as kind and gentle as he presented himself to be. Pamela didn’t use her brain much, but Algernon did, and this made him the more terrifying of the two siblings. Algernon only associated with people he deemed useful.

She didn’t want to offend either of them, but she didn’t want to be their pawns either.

Overhearing their plan in the tent gave her some peace of mind. Growing up a commoner had taught her patience. Though it could take time, she would find a way to get out the of bondage the two siblings trapped her in.

Later that night, Feng Wu abruptly woke up from her dreams to the smell of blood in the wind. Something was wrong... She threw off her quilt, put on her clothes and rushed out of the tent to where Ink was standing on watch.

“Something is coming.”

Ink’s face sank. He didn’t doubt her words. As far as he was concerned, Feng Wu was a magical girl who rarely made mistakes. “How far away is it?”

“Not far,” replied Feng Wu expressionlessly.

“Pack and let’s get out of here.” Ink made an decisive decision instantly.

They put their tent away and warned Algernon’s people before leaving. They were not in conflict with each other and warning the other party could be considered an expression of school patriotism.

But unfortunately Ink’s kind intentions went unappreciated.

Though Algernon’s two subordinates didn’t take Ink’s warning to heart, they still reported it to Algernon.

When Algernon heard the news, he had to think about it for a moment. Should he listen to Ink? They were rivals and there was absolutely no reason for Ink to warn him of danger. Was it possible Ink was setting a trap?

Ink: . . .  You think too much.

That was the problem with smart people. The smarter they were, the more they thought about stuff. Their brains whirred with what-ifs. Algernon was undecided because there were too many possibilities to consider.

Pamela was a lot less ambiguous about the situation. “Brother, do you really believe what that guy said? What can he possibly know; he’s just a second year. I think he’s trying to trick us. We have to be careful!”

Pamela didn’t normally think much, but because Ink and Feng Wu refused to give her any face earlier, she was inclined to think badly of them.

While Algernon was waffling about what to do, Feng Wu and Ink had already hopped on Sister Alpaca’s back and were racing away from the area as fast as they could.

It was the first time Flower had let a guy ride on her back; she was a cute girl so how could she have a guy riding on top? But this was an emergency and time was of the essence, so Sister Alpaca made an exception and let the male, who she viewed as useless, ride on top. Without her help, it would have been hard for them to escape.

All the while, a large group of wolves moved closer to their camp site. The blood and murderous aura Feng Wu sensed came from them.

If it weren’t for Feng Wu’s childhood growing up in the mountains, she would not have been able to sense the change in the air.

Soon enough the wolf pack reached the camp site and surrounded Algernon’s group. Pamela was so frightened she nearly peed herself.

470: The Tragic Pamela

The siblings regretted not listening to Ink’s warning, but fortunately, though they didn’t leave, they had been on guard since, so when the wolves came, they noticed immediately.

At level one, the wolves would not have normally been a problem for Algernon. He could have killed them with a single slash of his sword. But he was currently an ordinary person with ordinary strength, and had no advantages over the wolves.

Wolves increased the difficulty of the arena as they appeared throughout the night hunting in groups and killing contestants from time to time.

“Hu... hu...” Melis gasped for air as she ran with her sword in hand.

She had been leading Pamela away in an escape just a moment ago when the other girl shoved her into the wolves. Luckily, the wolves weren’t as interested in her as they were in Pamela, who they converged on and devoured before the other girl could even take a step away.

Melis used a drug she picked from the team challenge to stun the wolves. It bought her just enough time to run away in the opposite direction. She didn’t dare stop. If it weren’t for the drug, she was sure she would have been bitten to death in the same way Pamela had been.

Melis felt relief at Pamela’s death. She had wanted to be rid of the siblings for a while, but was unable to do so because there was no way for her to defeat a tenth seat with her weak strength.

Pamela’s selfish act of shoving her into the wolves gave her a fair reason to part with them. So being pushed out as bait didn't end up being that bad. She had been careful to stay alive and had not suffered any losses yet.

She didn’t know how long she ran for, but she knew she succeeded when the first rays of light fell. She saw a cluster of large stones ahead. She needed a place to rest so she clenched her teeth and headed in.

Feng Wu and Ink, after escaping the wolves with the help of Sister Alpaca, were resting under a big rock.

Unexpectedly, a person arrived not long after they fell asleep.

Melis looked at Feng Wu and Ink, not sure what to say as she never expected to run into them again. She really wasn’t sure if Feng Wu would recognize her from having been on the same team for the entrance examinations.[notes]

She’d heard a lot of rumors about Feng Wu since starting school, most of which were negative. She would see Feng Wu walking around campus, usually with a friend or two, fearlessly facing head on those who pointed fingers at her, completely unaffected by everyone. Melis couldn’t help but admire her courage. She couldn’t imagine how she would bear it if she had been the one in Feng Wu’s situation.

There were times when she suffered regret and wished she was as strong.

They had been on a team together once, but other than that, she and Feng Wu weren’t familiar with each other, so there was no reason for her to approach Feng Wu and try to be friends.

She never expected to have anything to do with Feng Wu again, but here they were, face to face. She felt a little lost as it didn’t look like Feng We remembered her. It was to be expected; it had been a over a year after all. Yes, it was normal for Feng Wu to have forgotten. Melis understood, but she couldn’t help feeling disappointed anyway.

“Melis?” Feng Wu asked uncertainly.

Feng Wu thought the other girl looked familiar when she first saw her. After a night, Feng Wu finally remembered the girl was someone she had formed a team with in the virtual world.

It had been a while, so Feng Wu wasn’t sure she remembered correctly. In her memory, the Melis she knew was a restrained girl with low self-esteem. The girl standing in front of her now wasn’t bursting with confidence but she wasn’t carrying herself like she was inferior to everyone. She didn’t look perpetually ill at ease either. The change in temperament left Feng Wu uncertain.

“You remember me?!”

“We were in a team together.” Feng Wu nodded in the affirmative when asked.

Ink relaxed his guard since she wasn’t an enemy, but he was still on the alert. “You’re injured!” he said upon noticing the row of bite marks on Melis’s arm. It looked like the injury was from a beast, which reminded him of the wolves that had prowled around last night.

“It’s OK, just some skin damage.” Melis wasn’t a delicate girl and she didn’t give much thought to the superficial wound.

She dampened a kerchief with some water after finding a spot to sit down, then wiped her wounds clean before applying some medicine powder from her space storage. She didn’t make a sound despite breaking out in a cold sweat.

This kind of rare strength among women gave Ink a better impression of her.

While Melis escaped the wolves, Pamela was standing outside the arena in disbelief. She was depressed that she had failed and died. People were looking at her strangely as she stood in the resurrection area.

“It’s her. Yeah, she deserved it. To push a companion to the wolves like that, man. . .  Too vicious! Good thing she didn’t pass. Glad to see her fail.”

“Right?! She’s lucky she’s Algernon’s sister. Honestly, I don’t understand how such a kind person can have such a selfish and vicious sister.”

“I would cut off relations with her immediately if she was my sister, that way I can avoid being used by her in the future.”

“That’s Pamela all right. I don’t understand how such a black sheep could appear in our noble ranks.”

“I’ve seen that proud appearance of hers, and I always thought she had something good to brag about; never expected it would be this kind of thing. . . ”

“When I marry in the future, I will tell my family, I can not marry a woman like Pamela. I don’t want such a vicious wife. . . ”

Pamela’s face turned pale between all the talking and pointing people were doing. She knew the game was being transmitted live, but at the time she shoved Melis, she had forgotten.

471, 472

471: Three Modes

Algernon was still in the game and was unaware of Pamela’s situation. He had the good luck to escape disaster but his two followers weren’t as lucky and had died under the wolves’ claws.

Feng Wu and her group slept in the stone quarry. It was uncomfortable because it was stuffy and hot during the day, but it was safer to sleep during the day than at night.

Melis had a lot of energy and was like a whole new person after getting some rest.

Ink learned Melis could identify plants and refine medicine after chatting with her. In fact, Melis made most of the medicine she had on her. She was definitely a genius when it came to refining pharmaceutical components. But pharmacists needed a lot of money to start up and her family’s situation wasn’t optimal for learning a field that required so much funding.

Melis was a hunter’s daughter. It took her family ten years just to save for her tuition. Where would they have had money to spend on learning something as expensive as pharmacy?

But she really did have a natural talent for it. Just by using the knowledge she got from being a hunter, she was able to tweak basic prescriptions and make them better. She chose a pharmacy elective course when she entered Xingguang Holy academy and became stronger at drug refinement than most of her peers. Of course, there was also a lot of effort on her part, but raw talent helped tremendously.

She spent a lot of time practicing swordsmanship. Had she entered the Pharmacy division from the start, the division would have had another genius in their class.

Ink didn’t object to her joining their group because Melis was skilled at refining medicine. Besides, Feng Wu knew Melis, so it wasn’t an issue for her join them.

It was easier with her around.

Whenever Melis spotted a useful herb, she would grab it and process it into powder later that night for future use. She knew perfectly well why Ink had agreed to let her join the group.

She hadn’t refined any medicinal potions before because she didn’t have the special instruments needed for the process. This set of alchemical tools was a set she picked up at the beginning of the group challenge earlier.

Because she was in a lower grade, she had wanted to prove her value to the team and show she wouldn’t hold them back on the team challenge. It was a pity her team got wiped out before she got to use any of the items she picked.

The current Feng Wu alliance was a slow-moving group of three people. It was clear from the broadcast screen they were far behind the lead group.

The contestants didn’t know their three days of peace was about to be shattered with new challenges that would eliminate many.

“Vice Principal, may I ask if there is a significance to the vote we are about to take? Between Sandstorm mode, Great Escape mode, Quicksand Trap mode, is there a difference?”

Tamansha turned her head to look at the vice principal. Everyone was confused by the options that appeared in front of them in the large square. The options listed were: Sandstorm mode, Great Escape mode, Quicksand Trap mode.

The vice principal cleared his throat then plastered a smile on his face, but it was impossible to tell if it was a kind smile or not because of his fluffy, white beard that obscured parts of his face.

“The three modes are tests our contestants will encounter in the desert level. Going forward, they will encounter a new test at each new map, with each test being more difficult than the last.”

“So will they have to go through all three modes?”

The vice principal shook his head as a hint of joy tinted is voice. “Only one will be selected as the challenge mode. Those who fail will be eliminated immediately. The other two modes not selected will be discarded and won’t appear again.”

So Vice Principal, are you looking forward to the contestants’ bad luck?

How could the crowd not be excited to chose what challenge the contestants would go through?

Tamansha asked the vice principal to introduce the three modes, but unfortunately the vice principal was tightlipped and refused to share any information.

The audience had to chose based on their feelings. All three surely had their own levels of difficulties, so no matter which they picked, the challengers would face difficulties.

“OK, the numbers have been tallied and the final result is in, the mode the contestants must face is. . . ” Tamansha opened the envelope with the results. “Great Escape with 40% of the total votes!”

Tamansha’s excited announcement from on stage surprised the audience.

“What did you choose buddy?” asked someone from offstage.

“It goes without saying, of course I picked Quicksand Trap.”

“I chose Great Escape. Just the name alone sounds difficult.”

“Me too.”

“I chose Sandstorm. I didn’t understand what the other two were about, so I picked the one I understood.”

Of course the people who voted didn’t know. . . 

It was night time, the most dangerous time, in the arena. The temperature plummeted and all kinds of monsters came out to hunt. Any contestant not careful would be bitten to death.

The wound on Melis’s body healed after a few days rest in part because her medicine was effective and in part because wounds healed faster in the virtual world.

It was really strange how they hadn’t encountered anyone else on the road. Ink took out his map and studied it carefully for a long time. There were several routes they could take to get to the next area, and though the one they took was the shortest and fastest, he never expected it would be so untraveled. How could they be they only ones to use it?

If Ink had come from a different generation he may have called it out for being unrealistic!

472: Great Escape

Ink didn’t have time to wonder why they weren’t running into anyone else because an unfamiliar voice rang out from the sky.

“Attention all contestants! Great Escape mode will start in half an hour. Contestants need only survive until morning to pass to the next map area. The top ten will be entered into a lottery drawing.

The drawing is very important for the next area, so all students are encouraged to try their best to enter the top ten. Announcement end!”

The voice fell to silence.

Were all the contestants enemies now? Great Escape mode? What hell was that?!

“Pack up and prepare for battle!” Ink yelled out.

The challenge was crazy so this new mode wouldn’t be anything easy to deal with.

Everyone readied their weapons as soon as they finished packing away their tents.

Ink led the two girls to the remains of a large nearby beast. Who knew how long it had been there, but it was so old that only the skeletal remains where left. They quickly hid inside.

The giant white bones were huge and gave them adequate cover so they couldn’t be seen from the outside.

The half hour passed by quickly. Everyone wondered what the mode entailed when it finally activated.

“Kill. . . ”

“Roar!”

“Hoowooo!”

“Kill, kill, kill. . . ”

Fierce murderous aura filled the arena and the entire desert came alive with activity. A great number of zombies and low-level monsters rushed out from out of nowhere and ran rampant across the desert. Their eyes were red and their mouths looked ferocious.

It was terrifying!

“Crap!” Ink took a deep fortifying breath and stayed silent after that.

“That’s insane!” Melis was scared. She clapped her hands over her mouth and didn’t dare make another sound for fear they would be discovered.

“So many.” Feng Wu frowned. There were so many monsters. What should she do?

It was a good thing they thought ahead and found a good place to hide inside the skeleton. The original monster’s aura still clung to the carcass, so the advancing monsters outside wouldn’t be able to detect them for a while. They didn’t dare make a sound and risk discovery.

Feng Wu hid obediently with her mouth shut. She couldn’t feel any sentience from the monsters.

The monsters outside appeared in groups and acted on instincts alone so it didn’t look like they had any sense of self. Feng Wu was disappointed. If she could have talked to them, then they could have been friends and she wouldn’t be as afraid.

Virtual Space God: In your dreams! They’re specifically guarded against you!

Sister Alpaca stood beside Feng Wu and peeked out through the gaps in the bones at the scene in the desert.

So many monsters! Poor baby girl was going to be scared half to death! Terrifying! Terrifying! Woo. . .  woo! Baby girl was so scared she wedged her body tight into Feng Wu.

The display screen outside showed the entire desert area. The audience could see the contestants desperately running away from the large amount of monsters on the map, but it was no use. Those standing in the open were quickly chased and killed.

Had Feng Wu’s group been unlucky and not found a place to shelter, they would have been out there now, targeted by the siege and surely dying a horrible death!

Ming Xi and Tian Ya were among the few people at the forefront of the group. Without exception, everyone picked the more dangerous, narrow path.

Powerful monsters came out even in the day time to block their way. But unfortunately for the monsters, Ming Xi and Tian Ya were so ridiculously strong, the monsters faced a guaranteed death.

Both Ming Xi and Tian Ya hid in the desert before the Great Escape mode was activated. On top of that, Ming Xi sprinkled both of them with powder to cover their smell so they remained hidden from the first wave of monsters.

Ai Lin hid inside a box. The box was something she found in one of the chests she opened. It gave complete immunity to all dangers and could even hide a person’s smell.

It was a unique item, but Ai Lin had been disappointed at its uselessness. Such a box wasn’t for her. She would have appreciated something to increase her attack of magical abilities more. What was she supposed to use the box for? Hiding away when someone said mean things to her?

She had refused to hide in the box initially, but when the announcement about the Great Escape was made, she knew what was going to happen.

It was when she looked around and failed to find anything to hide in that she remembered the box. She took it out and went inside without hesitation.

She was certain the challenge mode would be terrifying so hiding was the safer action to take.

Zi Cheng and Yifu hid in between two large rocks and carefully eliminated their smell. The demon wolf was a magical beast, but for the sake safety, she used some on the beast as well.

Once the mode was activated and the two girls saw the scene outside, they were quite grateful for their quick wits and action. Had they been foolish enough to hold their weapons and wait to fight, they would have been completely overwhelmed.

Zhu En, the girl who recently held a grudge against Feng Wu, was wearing a red cloak. It was a unique item that made the user invisible, however, the stealth function ceased the moment the user attacked or suffered an attack. So unlike Ai Lin’s box that was immune to all attacks, the cloak made Zhu En invisible, but it did not protect her.

Zhu En was careful to not touch anything as she tried her best to avoid the monsters.

Those who didn’t get special items, couldn’t find a place to hide, or didn’t think to hide were in poor shape. The display screen showed a large number of contestants being killed. Only a few managed to escape. But even with a successful escape, they still had to be careful because they could still get killed by other romaing monsters.

473, 474

473: Killing Monsters

Screams filled the night. Countless contestants died under the claws and jaws of monsters that roamed night while bringing with them endless slaughter. From time to time, contestants would appear in the resurrection area with a bewildered expression.

Only half of the original contestants were active in the arena now. The number kept dwindling as more lost their lives and were booted out.

The same time the monsters appeared, a leaderboard also appeared next to the display screen for the audience. The names of contestants and the number of monsters each killed were tallied on the board.

The rankings changed throughout the night, but the gap between contestants was minimal. No one had managed to break out and dominate the board as the difference was generally less than ten kills between the contestants.

Feng Wu touched her belly; her eyes were a little aggrieved. She was hungry. . . 

Both Ink and Melis stood stock still next to Feng Wu as they stared at the enemies outside.

The monsters were no longer concentrated in certain areas, but had spread out all around the desert. There weren’t as many monsters guarding the demon skeleton as there was at the beginning. Most had wandered off to other places, but were still close enough to cause distress.

A leaderboard, eye-catchingly gold and sparkly, had also appeared inside the arena. Names and kills were listed in numerical order. The order constantly shifted because of the competitive players.

They understood that the top ten was calculated on the board. If they wanted to get into the top then, they would have to kill as many monsters as they could.

“Do we kill the monsters to get out?” Melis asked uncertainly.

She knew her strength. With so many seniors in front of her, there was no way she could break into the top ten. Her goal would be to live to the end of the challenge. And if she wanted to join Star Marshall hall, surviving to the end would be an achievement she could point to when making her case.

Ink thought for a few seconds before nodding.

He wanted to compete for top ten, but the possibility of him making it was so low, it was practically nonexistent. Feng Wu, on the other hand. . .  He knew how strong she was. Maybe she could do it?

Even if neither of them could break into the top ten, they could always retreat back to their shelter. There was no loss or danger in the action.

Ink turned to Feng Wu and asked, “Xiao Wu, do you want to kill some monsters?”

“I’m hungry. . . ”

“Er. . .  eat after killing the monsters?” Ink suggested uncertainly.

Feng Wu nodded her agreement. Then she took her sword, jumped out of her hiding spot, and began slashing at the zombies in her vicinity.

Even if her martial qi was gone, Feng Wu still had excellent swordsmanship, physical strength, and stamina. She dispatched two zombies easily.

The zombies in the arena were easier to deal with because their heads were a weak spot. All you had to do was cut off their heads and they were done for. Monsters, on the other hand, were more dexterous and had thick skin.

Feng Wu laid into the zombie group and easily dispatched them with a graceful and fluid sword art. This combined with her agility meant she killed many more than Ink did.

Though Ink managed to kill some monsters, he wasn’t as talented as Feng Wu, so it was only natural his kill count would be less than hers.

Ming Xi and Tian Ya were also making their move. They rushed in after choosing a group of monsters, which they quickly dispatched with their smooth swordsmanship. In a short period, dead monsters littered the sand.

Ai Lin gave her best because she knew how useful the rare lottery would be for the next part of the challenge.

Zi Cheng was the heroine, so it was natural she would take part and try to earn points.

Yifu didn’t dare move out from her hiding spot. The monsters were so scary that she was shaking in fear. Their mouths were open and the smell of blood and gore radiated off of them. She was far too frightened to dare compete for the top ten. Her only goal was to stay alive to the end.

However, because of her 100% rating with Zi Cheng, she watched in awe and amazement, completely forgetting about her own safety, as Zi Cheng killed one monster after another.

It was one of the benefits Zi Cheng had for reaching 100% with a person.

Yifu would always put Zi Cheng first even if she was scared to death herself. She would have gladly died for her friend and would have rushed out to save her without hesitation if she thought Zi Cheng was in danger.

Aside from these guys, other strong fifth and sixth years were also fighting to get into the top ten. How could they, as seniors, cower and hide away when their juniors were out there fighting. They’d be a laughingstock if they hid like that!

After observing the situation from their hidden positions, the seniors came out and began scoring points.

The battles became fierce as everyone was rushing to get into the top ten. Their martial qi and magic were sealed so it was a hard fight and even the fifth and sixth years suffered heavy casualties.

Despite it being a rare opportunity, few seventh years entered the challenge. The few that did, only did so out of boredom. They were the graduating class and didn’t need to prove their strength. The fact that they were graduating was proof enough. Most seventh years stayed behind to help the teachers or to watch the event from the sidelines.

In the arena, most people chose to fight, but there were plenty who chose to ride it out in their hiding spots. They wanted to continue on in the challenge, so they needed to survive until the morning. Their method of choice was hiding.

Feng Wu didn’t think about what anyone else was doing; she was immersed in fighting monsters and zombies. These creatures couldn’t talk and had no sentience so she didn’t feel bad about killing them one bit. She was a lolli who liked cute animals, and these guys did not fit the bill, so she was merciless in killing them.

The spring water she picked up from the chests also kept her energy level up. She had given some to Ink to use as well. Though he did not squeeze into the top ten, with her help, he did do well.

Half an hour before dawn, a silver light shot out from the sky and changed the earth. It caused all ground cover to disappear and effectively exposed everyone to the monsters and zombies.

Those who originally sought safety in hiding turned pale. They hurriedly picked up their weapons to fight.

474: The End of the Great Escape

Melis’s reaction was good. She drew her sword the moment the bones around her disappeared. Sister Alpaca was also on alert, scraping the ground with her hoof.

Fortunately, most of the monsters had been cleared away, but that wasn’t to say all danger was gone.

Yifu was unlucky. She thought she had hidden away very well so she took no precautions and thus was taken completely by surprise. Zi Cheng was surprised by the geography change as well. She was focused on killing monsters and never thought the ground cover would disappear so there was no way for her to protect Yifu.

She was too far away. As a result, Yifu barely got a scream out before she was scratched and then chomped on by the monsters.

The final part of the desert challenge had been activated. Everything that could be used as shelter or hiding spots were taken away. The contestants had to survive the last half hour on their own.

The delicate magicians in the Magic division wanted to cry. They were just little magicians with fragile skin and thin blood. Why did they have to use weapons to fight these monsters?!

Woo! So unfair! They protested in their hearts.

“So unfair! Our Magic division has poor physique but we’re expected to compete in killing those monsters by hand alongside the Sword division guys?! There’s no reason for this!”

“This is not fair! Why should our Magic division kill these monsters the same way as the Sword division?! Why can’t we use magic?! How can we kill anything?!”

The two magicians began complaining to their friends as soon as they left the resurrection area. They felt the school was biased in favor of the Sword division. Otherwise, how could the challenge be shaped the way it was shaped?

Putting sealed magicians in the same arena as sword users where they had to fight monsters was unfair. Even if Sword division students couldn’t use their martial qi, they still had their stupid, strong, bodies, so obviously, their odds of surviving would be greater than any of the magicians.

And yet the administrators expected Magic division students to do the same thing as Sword division students! The magic students were not satisfied!

A chorus of dissatisfied voices rose from amongst the crowd. The loudest came from the Magic division students. They normally felt superior to the Sword division, after all, having the ability to become a magician was practically godly.

The Sword division guys were just a bunch of guys with no latent magic talent who had to resort to curating martial qi.

Who didn’t know magicians were the most respected? Pharmacists and alchemist chose to learn magic and rarely did any chose to learn sword mastery.

Because they had been endowed with talents others didn’t have, students in the Magic division felt they were more noble, a fact they were quite proud of. Their future achievements would most assuredly be greater than other departments.

But now they were being trampled on and by the Sword division no less! Most contestants still on the field were sword users and the only magicians still left were the dual magic/sword users.

They were all geniuses who stood on top of the school as all the average people had been eliminated.

It was just the second map and so many people were already out. Things could only get worse.

The half hour passed quickly. At the end of it all, only one person managed to make it through without killing a single monster. She had managed to stay hidden the entire night.

Thanks to her invisibility cloak, Zhu-en was the most relaxed that night. It helped her a lot. The God of the virtual world took away all the ground cover but he did not touch any of the contestants’ personal items. The invisibility cloak was an item Zhu-en found inside a chest, so the god left it alone and allowed her to use it on the field.

Zhu-en was the only person still on the field who managed to do so with zero points. The zero didn’t look good, but as long as she could stay in the challenge, she didn’t care.

“That invisibility cloak is too overpowered! How can such a cheat object be allowed?!” Someone in the audience who noticed Zhu-en’s invisibility cloak called out.

“Isn’t it? She can survive to the end as long as she has her cloak. That’s unfair to the other contestants.”

“Yes! Unfair!”

Some people began questioning whether the cloak should have been counted as a personal object. It was too much of a cheat item and really unfair to everyone else in the challenge.

Others thought luck was a kind of strength. A lot of people got chests as well, but it was Zhu-en who managed to get the chest with the invisibility cloak. It was fair; she was lucky!

Wasn’t luck a criterion in the school’s entrance exams as well? Therefore Zhu-en’s invisibility cloak was fair.

People on both sides argued.

Tamansha also asked the same question.

“Vice Principal, many in the audience question whether the invisibility cloak should exist as a personal item. The cloak’s ability is too powerful within the challenge and they are concerned if the person can use it to go all the way to the end of the challenge by wearing it, after all with it on, the person won’t have to worry about dangers such as monsters..”

“Actually, although the invisibility cloak seems advantageous at the beginning, it won’t be useful in the subsequent parts of the challenge, so the students need not worry. Various possibilities have already been taken into consideration.

We would never let someone win just because they had a powerful item. This is a very serious challenge and no such possibility was allowed to exist,” said the vice principal as he stroked his beard solemnly. He was thinking what a dignified and solemn image he must present. The students must admire him so much.

The audience: . . .  Principal, we want to report the vice principal for posing again!

The audience was relieved to know the cloak wouldn’t be as useful in the later maps and that the challenge would be fair.

They believed what the vice principal said. He was often unreliable, but he wouldn’t cheat when it came to big events.

The smaller things though, you couldn’t be sure.

Those in the school who knew the vice principal were careful because they knew he liked to stab you with the trivial things. Anyone who offended him always suffered.

In the arena, the first rays of sunlight appeared in the sky and the contestants felt like they had survived a calamity when they saw it.

OMG! I thought I was going to expire! was a constant refrain from the contestants.

The guys nearly cried manly tears of relief. The girls were exhausted. Well, everyone was exhausted. They couldn’t remember how many monsters they killed or how many times they had been injured. It didn’t even feel like their bodies were their own anymore after everything they went through.

475, 476

475: Desert Wasteland

The battle actually caused seven or eight of the contestants to get booted out. The strong and the lucky survived. There were also those who survived by chance, but the numbers of those who did could be counted on one hand.

The leaderboard stabilized after one last refresh.

1st place was Tian Ya with 780pts.

2nd place was Ming Xi with 775pts.

3rd place was a seventh-year with 670pts . . . 

5th place was Feng Wu with 620pts . . . 

10th place was xxx with 560pts

Each monster was worth 5pts. Even the person who had the most points couldn’t kill two hundred monsters.

The top ten was finalized. And as was mentioned earlier, they were allowed to draw in a special lottery drawing. Those who didn’t make it to the top ten felt variations of envy, hate, and regret.

Interestingly enough, three of the girls who made it to the top ten of the challenge were second-year top ten rankers in the second years themselves – Feng Wu was first in her class; Zi Cheng was sixth in her class; and Ai Lin was seventh in her class.

Their scores were very close and it was a tight match between them.

That three second-year girls could get into the top ten of a challenge would have been inconceivable in the past. It was amazing to see one dark horse, but to see three dark horses?

Moreover, two of the dark horses were from the Magic division. The thin-skinned and brittle magicians were at a severe disadvantage in the beginning. Who would have thought two such girls would make it to the top ten? Those in the Magic division were so proud. It was unfortunate Jier didn’t join the challenge, otherwise they would have surely had three from the Magic division in the top ten.

The students in Feng Wu’s grade also expressed their surprise. None of them suspected their little second-year would be a black horse.

All the ground cover was returned to their original positions after that segment of the challenge ended.

Feng Wu and her group found a shaded spot to nap. They slept for several hours, and instead of using the daytime to travel, decided to rest.

Feng Wu squinted happily now that she could finally eat roasted fish and drink fish soup.

By the time Ink finally woke up and started eating, it was already dark. He’d slept all day. He was thinking about what to do when Feng Wu tossed somethings at his feet.

“This. . .  where did all this come from?!” He nearly spat out the fish soup he was drinking.

He stared at the bodies of the wolves in front of him. Weren’t these the wolves they’d killed earlier? Weren’t they taken away by the god here? Where did they come from? Ink was dumbfounded.

“Collected them.” Feng Wu looked expressionlessly as she answered.

“Collected. . . them. . . ”Yes, yes. The question was when did she pick them up and how had he missed it?!

“What are your expectations in giving these to me?” Forgive him for not being smart, but he could not for the life of him figure out what Feng Wu wanted.

“Barbeque.” Feng Wu’s eyes were sparkling and there was a suspicious glistening of water at the corners of her mouth when she answered.

Ink was speechless. Had he been starving her?

“I’ll roast it.” Melis covered the smile on her lips and took the meat from Feng Wu.

Melis came from a family of hunters, so she was great at barbequing. The wolf meat, which wasn’t delicious to start with, became mouthwatering after she roasted it.

It was a lot of meat though, and Ink felt bad having her do all of it alone, so he went over and helped. The entire night, all they did was roast meat.

All the dead bodies disappeared after the end of the battle, so how did Feng Wu get these? Ink didn’t understand so he asked.

Feng Wu tilted her head and answered. “You can pick them up after you kill them. There were too many to fit.”

Wait. Did she go and pick up and all the monsters so she could eat them later?! Ink tilted his head 45 degrees and looked at the sky.

Early the next morning, they left with space bags filled with wolf meat.

In a distant country, a young man walked through the entrance gate and went inside a magnificent, old mansion.

“Master Zo,[notes] you’ve returned!”

“Greetings Master Zo.”

“Greetings Master Zo!”

As soon as the young man entered, many people moved to greet him.

“That’s Master Zo! He looks so powerful! Just looking at him, it’s like he’s almost caught up to Master Caesar!” said a young man admiringly.

“Master Zo is young still. He became an ice magician and a peerless genius after returning from the sea god’s tomb![notes] Master Zo is the second most powerful next to Master Caesar!”

“I wonder if Master Zo needs any more servants. I want to sign up.”

“Me too!”

Zo had no interest in the goings-on of the front yard. He nodded cursorily then walked alone toward his own courtyard. Inside, Plum was directing the new maid on how to clean. Originally when Zo didn’t have any cultivation talent, none of the maids wanted to serve him, but now that his cultivation had improved, his courtyard was lively and full of people.

Who knew how many maids wanted to climb up the ladder by serving Zo. But though they wanted to, few were selected.

How could the butler let people with bad intentions serve Zo?

“Master Zo, you’re back!” Plum ran over happily when she saw him enter.

“Yes, I’m going to my room first so bring my lunch there,” said Zo as he rubbed her head.

Once in his room, Zo walked to the window and looked toward a specific direction as he muttered to himself. “It’s almost time for the Heart of Wood to form. I must prepare. . . ”

There were no plants in the water scarce desert. People didn’t normally go there, but recently people had been venturing into the wasteland.

All entrances to the wasteland, except for one, were hazardous with layers upon layers of poisonous miasma filling the air. Anyone caught inside it would surely catch their death.

The only safe way in was through an inconspicuous town with a population of 20,000-30,000 called Anle. It stood before the wasteland, so if anyone wanted to enter, they had to go through there.

476: Ten Names

Few people ever visited the town and most of the residents were natives, but lately traffic had been increasing and people were showing up asking questions about the wasteland.

“Auntie, can I ask if anything strange has happened in the wasteland recently? Why are there so many people here?”

Ten people, all wearing different styles, were on the streets.

The residents had gotten used to strangers appearing and weren’t as bothered as they used to be.

“I don’t know, but there have been a lot more strangers lately. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.” A plainly dressed auntie sighed.

People didn’t visit their out of the way town, so to have such an influx all of a sudden was worrying. Was something about to happen? It didn’t feel like they could do anything about it.

“There is nothing bad that will happen. Please be at ease Auntie.” A purple-haired girl gently reassured the auntie.

“I hope so.” She sighed one more time before stepping inside her house and closing the door.

“She didn’t tell us anything! Why did she just up and leave?!” A blue-haired girl muttered in dissatisfaction.

A gray-haired man who was walking in front turned his head and said, “Let’s find a place to stay first. We’ll talk afterwards.” The others had to keep up as he did not slow down.

A black-haired girl saw a puppy as she looked around. She wanted to play with it but was pulled away by the golden-haired guy beside her.

“I’m so sorry, but we only three rooms left. Will that work?”

“No way! I don’t want to share a room with these people! I refuse!” The blue-haired girl immediately was not OK with it.

“I will take the three rooms. Here is the fee.” The gray-haired man paid the boss without hesitating.

“No! Why don’t we go to another inn and see? Maybe they will have more rooms there?”

“There are only two hotels in the town and not that many rooms. These three were only available because the occupants entered the wasteland today. Another shop isn’t going to have any more vacant rooms than here.” Ai Lin was fed up with the seventh year. The woman complained so damn much! She had an opinion about everything. You’d think she was on a vacation!

“How would you know? You haven’t checked. And besides that, what qualifications do you have to dare talk to me this way?” The seventh-year, blue-haired girl looked at Ai Lin coldly with dissatisfaction on her face.

Ai Lin pretended not to see. She was done with this girl.

Zi Cheng looked at them worriedly, unsure how to persuade them to stop fighting. “Senior Sister Yaoyue, Ai Lin, please stop arguing.”

Yaoyue used her family background and status as a seventh-year student to complain about everything. If it weren’t for wanting to make a good impression, Zi Cheng wouldn’t have paid her any attention.

“It’s none of your business. What do you think you are? You’re just a drag. I simply do not understand why the school would let a bunch of second-year girls join the mission. You’re all just a hinderance!” The more Yaoyue talked, the more dissatisfied she became. She glared at Feng Wu and it made her feel better.

“You can leave anytime you want.” The guy with the gray hair was named Mogefei and his eyes were cold as ice.

Yaoyue shut her mouth. She dared be angry at Zi Cheng and the other girls because they were second-years, but Mogefei was a seventh-year top ten. He was far stronger than she was. In front of such strength, she could only shut her mouth.

The group looking for lodgings consisted of:

tenth year Mogefei,

seventh year Yaoyue,

seventh year Huozhuo,

sixth years Ming Xi and Tang,

fifth years Tian Ya and Geente,

and of course the second-year girls, Feng Wu, Zi Cheng, and Ai Lin.

They were the top ten rankers in the the extreme survival challenge. In that rank, Ming Xi was 1st while was Tian Ya 2nd. The three second-year girls ranked in 6th, 7th, and 8th with Zi Cheng in 6th, and Feng Wu in 8th.[notes]

In the original story line, Elena[notes] died in the realm battlegrounds inside the god’s tomb, so Ming Xi and his group did not participate in the challenge.

Without Ming Xi and Tian Ya, powerful players like Mogefei had no interest in joining, so in the original text, Zi Cheng created a shock by placing first.

There was an incredible amount of unexpected factors this time around, with many powerful players who should not have appeared, appearing.

Zi Cheng couldn’t use her cheat and could only place sixth. The results irked her, but with so many seniors in the challenge, she was completely eclipsed. It was difficult competing for first place, so she tried to get into the top ten instead.

Ai Lin had the same idea but her goal was to grab the Heart of Wood from the heroine. She was especially determined now that she knew the world would be destroyed because of Zi Cheng. She would try her best to limit Zi Cheng’s impact. If she couldn’t stop Zi Cheng before Zi Cheng ascended then that was it. Game over.

This, how could she let it be? She hadn’t even lived yet.

Yaoyue, the girl quarreling with them earlier, was an outstanding seventh year, who just barely scraped into the top ten. It rankled her to see juniors placed higher than her. And when she was in a bad mood, she liked making trouble.

Along the way she had tried to make trouble with Feng Wu and the other two girls. Her main target wasn’t Feng Wu, but Zi Cheng and Ai Lin. That wasn’t to say she didn’t try to make trouble with Feng Wu, it was just that she failed every time. Feng Wu didn’t get any of her insults or ridicule. Even when she said something blatantly bad, Feng Wu would just stare at her silently with a blank expression.

She couldn’t get a rise out of Feng Wu, so she focused on Zi Cheng and Ai Lin. If the two girls weren’t so emotionally strong, they would have already broken down and cried from all the bullying Yaoyue did.

477, 478

477: The Mission: Bring Back the Heart of Wood

Yaoyue could ignore everyone else, but Mogefei was a stronger seventh year and the team captain to boot; so, no matter how unwilling she was, she had to give him face. There were a lot of stronger people in her class and she knew how big a role luck had played in her being able to join the special mission. It was only because they had not joined the challenge that she was able to rank high enough to get into the top ten.

She didn’t dare offend Mogefei, who was a well-known seventh year.

Don’t let her harassment of Feng Wu and the other girls fool you; she only dared do so because they were second-years and weaker than she was.

There were ten people, but only three rooms. They ultimately divided the rooms up with six guys to two rooms and four girls to one room, which, considering there were more guys in the party, was a fair division.

Even though Yaoyue wanted a private room, she didn’t dare provoke Mogefei and could only agree unhappily to sharing a room.

The girl’s room wasn’t big, but it had two beds of adequate size to fit two per bed. The question was, who would share a bed with Yaoyue?

“I’ll take this one. You three take that one.” Yaoyue, having no intentions on sharing a bed with anyone, promptly declared ownership and laid down on her bed.

“Senior Sister Yaoyue, that’s going too far!” Ai Lin exclaimed.

“I am your senior sister. Do you listen to me or do I listen to you?!” Yaoyue said with a smirk. She couldn’t handle Mofegei, but she could certainly handle these girls.

“You...” Ai Lin wanted to keep arguing, but Yaoyue ignored the girls, pulled out a romance novel and began to casually read in bed.

Ai Lin was livid. What kind of person was this girl? Was she really a seventh-year senior? Weren’t seniors supposed to take care of their juniors? Why was a bed even something to fight over?!

Zi Cheng stopped Ai Lin and shook her head when she saw Ai Lin about to rush up to Yaoyue. “Forget it, listen to Senior Sister Yaoyue.” Zi Cheng also felt Yaoyue was excessive, but it wasn’t worth it to argue over such a trivial thing and possibly make things more difficult later.

Ai Lin understood fighting against a seventh year wouldn't be any good for them as second years, so she took a deep breath and resolved to get back at Yaoyue in the future. She asked, “What should we do now? It’s a little difficult for all three of us to sleep in one bed.”

Wasn’t it? The bed was a small and could barely fit two, never mind three. Even though the girls were slender, there was no way for all three to sleep in it.

Zi Cheng thought about it and offered a solution. “Why don’t I put a spread for Feng Wu and myself on the floor to sleep? You can take the bed Ai Lin.”

Ai Lin scoffed mentally. The heroine never forgot to show how caring and compassionate she was. Had Ai Lin not known better, she may have been moved. Realizing this, she turned to look at Feng Wu a little worried Feng Wu might be deceived. She had learned from their interactions that Feng Wu was a simple girl.

One glance was all it took for her to realize her worries were unfounded. It was clear Feng Wu had no idea what Zi Cheng was doing.

“You sleep in the bed; I have this.” Feng Wu said before producing a hammock from her space ring. It was something she had purchased a long time ago. Though she normally bought things to eat, she would occasionally buy things that caught her interest, so there were many miscellaneous items in her space ring other than food.

She secured the ends of the hammock to the sides the room and placed a blanket on top. The setup looked even more comfortable than the beds.

The beds were basic, just wooden planks on top of a base and a quilt covering over top. It was by no means a luxurious spread.

After Feng Wu made her hammock, took of her shoes and laid down, she squinted her eyes in satisfaction.

And just like that, the bed drama passed without further issues.

Ai Lin left the room to search for a secluded spot to message Zo. She breathed a sigh of relief upon learning he had already arrived.

The individual challenge ended and the final results came out fifteen days ago. A lot of people were in shock that a group of second-year girls triumphed over so many seniors. If it weren’t for the live broadcast, no would have believed it. The girls had somehow succeeded where many seniors failed.

After the challenge, they were brought to the vice principal’s office and personally assigned the mission.

The school wanted them to enter the desert wasteland and find the sealed Heart of Wood.

Legend had it, a thousand years ago the wasteland was a beautiful area filled with grass, but then something happened and the grassland turned into a desert.

The Heart of Wood was the most precious artifact for wood magicians. When it physically manifested in the world a thousand years ago, it had a weak consciousness, but that didn’t stop magicians from fighting over it. How many entered the lush grassland to get it? They fought to the point the land became barren and the once sprawling oasis became a desert, forcing the Almighty to seal the Heart away. No one had seen it since.

But the seal was soon to be lifted and the Heart would appear again. Who knew how many powerhouses would vie for it this time? Though both Star Marshall hall and Xingguang Holy academy knew a lot of powerful people would fight to the death for it, they didn’t know how to prevent it. They existed to protect humanity from external forces and were not good at protecting humanity from itself.

This was why the school chose to send students instead of their more powerful teachers. There were also several people from Star Marshall as well.

Ai Lin knew from having read the book that the school wanted to get the Heart, not for ambition or power, but to restore the desert and turn it back into the grassland it had once been.

478: Entering the Desert Wasteland

Though the process could be slow, it would benefit the people once complete. It was a pity the heroine contracted with the Heart of Wood in the original story. Once contracted, the Heart couldn’t return to the desert wasteland, so the school’s plan couldn’t be realized.

But with so many variables this time, Ai Lin no longer believed the heroine’s halo would be as all powerful.

The students had rested after a simple dinner and went out the next day to shop for supplies. They wouldn’t be able to replenish their daily necessities once they entered the desert so they had to buy everything they needed beforehand.

The people in town both hated and loved the sudden intrusion of outsiders. It was great for the local economy but it was horrible for public safety.

Several fights had broken out and the girls were being openly molested. The girls with higher status refused to go out and were hiding in their homes. Only the ordinary girls dared walk outside for chores and errands, but even they didn’t dare visit each other.

Though the adventurers wouldn’t kill ordinary people on a whim, they didn’t think twice about taking advantage of and bullying the residents. It was hard for the residents to think well of the adventurers.

The residents grew to quickly resent the visitors and were eager to be rid of them. They hoped the adventurers wouldn’t return after entering the desert.

Rumor had it, strange treasures would appear in the world soon. It was just speculation and no one could definitely confirm it, so though some adventurers had already entered the desert, most were just waiting and watching. They planned on waiting for several more days in the hopes that confirmation would come, before heading into the desert themselves.

It didn’t matter what the adventurers planned; there were a lot of them in town and they were troubling the residents. There was a certain amount of fear and dissatisfaction in the air.

This was why Feng Wu’s group asked if something had happened recently in town. They had wanted to ask further, but decided against it.

They entered the desert wasteland on the third day after they finished shopping.

There was no sign of life in sight. Anyone who wanted to enter the desert had to do so on foot as no living creature would set foot in the desert. It was a mystery why, but it seemed like there was something terrible inside.

A few days ago, a soldier had wanted to ride in with his horse, but his horse refused to move forward. It had a look of horror on its face. No matter how much it was beat, it refused to move. There were many such cases. In the end, everyone had to walk.

The desert was filled with endless yellow sand and scorching heat. There wasn’t a single monster anywhere.

The people in the group felt a suffocating pressure the moment they stepped into the desert. A disturbing panic set in, it was as though they were all facing a man-eating monster and the monster was waiting to swallowing them whole.

Feng Wu looked at the endless sand then touched the bag that held Rui Baby. A flicker of doubt flashed in her eyes.

“This place is strange. The moment I walked in, it felt like I was entering hell.” Tang said.

“Yeah, it doesn’t feel like a good place.” Huozhuo nodded in agreement.

“Be careful everyone. This place isn’t as it seems.” Mogefei warned expressionlessly.

Their hearts grew solemn as they became aware how difficult their mission would be. But upon reflection, the school created an extreme challenge just to pick who would go. It would have been strange if it wasn’t a difficult mission.

“This place is full of evil aura, so much so there are clouds of it. Everyone be careful not to disturb anything.” Yaoyue’s face was ugly as she looked off into the distance.

“Is it the undead?” Mogefei asked.

“It might be, or it might be something else. We won’t know until we see it.”

Both Ai Lin and Zi Cheng looked at Yaoyue in admiration. They thought she would only cause them trouble and put on airs as a senior. Turns out she was actually capable! Although they were students in the same division, they had different teachers guiding them.

Yaoyue was one of the rare necromancers at school. Necromancers were the most mysterious. Yaoyue’s character was bad, but she was the strongest in the group of necromancers. That was how she successfully got a spot amongst the top ten.

With Yaoyue’s reminder in mind, they all walked carefully toward the spot marked on the map they had been given before leaving campus. The spot marked was the location of the Heart of Water. All they had to do was get the Heart and bring it back to the vice principal.

It would take more than a couple or days to reach the sealed area with the Heart. It was hard to know how big the wasteland was without having been in it before. It was possible to not exit even after walking a couple of years. The sealed area was also hidden inside the desert and would take a minimum of three months of walking to reach.

They couldn’t risk getting lost and losing time.

Days were long and hot while the nights were cold with temperatures below 10. They felt like human popsicles when the wind blew on them. Fortunately they weren’t in the arena and their abilities weren’t sealed. Though they still needed heavy coats, it wasn’t unbearable because they had fighting qi and magic for protection.

They didn’t have to hunt or search for food because they brought plenty of provisions. At night they camped and rested because they couldn’t hurry in the cold.

479, 480

479: Ancient Mansion in the Rain

Their hearts were heavy and depressed from the deep sense of loneliness that permeated the atmosphere in the wasteland. They couldn’t rest well at all night night.

They set out early the next morning and quickly enough encountered other teams on the road, which really wasn’t a surprise considering the recent uptick in traffic to the wasteland.

The groups eyed each other warily and stayed on the alert for an attack. No one was in a mood to chit chat. The treasure hadn’t been spotted yet, but they were all there for the same thing. Fortunately, few people were stupid enough to start trouble so early on.

The wasteland was a massive area and the treasure’s location was unknown, but most headed toward the center because the popular guess was that it would somewhere in that area.

Two months later and they were most of the way there. Their otherwise normal day was upended when a dilapidated and clearly damaged mansion appeared out of nowhere in front of everyone.

“Why is a mansion here in the middle of nowhere?” Geente looked suspiciously at the mansion.

In the two months since they started their journey, they hadn’t come across a single creature, any buildings or even any kind of building debris. A mansion out of nowhere was naturally suspicious. It was a dilapidated mansion, but it was a substantial building.

“Should we go in and take a look?” Tang asked Mogefei.

To this Mogefei shook his head. “I have a bad feeling about it; it’s safer to not go in.”

As captain, Mogefei prioritized their safety above curiosity.

“There’s something not right about that building. We haven’t seen any kind of structure for two months and suddenly this mansion appears out of nowhere? It’s strange no matter how you look at it.” Ming Xi voiced his opinion.

“Yaoyue, what do you think?” Huozhuo turned to Yaoyue.

Instead of answering, Yaoyue took out her staff and chanted a spell. Brilliant white light rushed into the mansion. She frowned when the light failed to trigger anything.

The lack of reaction was odd. She for sure felt dense yin energy coming from the mansion.

“What’s the matter?” Mogefei asked.

“I don’t know. My magic didn’t sense anything.”

“Are we going in then?” Ai Lin asked. She remembered the heroine faced great danger from a mansion just like this one in the original story line. The heroine would reunite with her leading man inside and the shared experience would deepen their feelings for each other.

This time though, the team make up was different. Would they still go inside the mansion? She had wanted to complain when she read the original story. A mansion out of nowhere in such a dangerous place, it was just too weird. On top of that, the heroine and her group went inside to rest without even thinking about it? Did they have eggs brains or something?

“No, we leave.” Mogefei said.

Ai Lin breathed a sigh of relief at his words. It looked like they would escape disaster this time. It was too dangerous in the mansion, so as long as they didn’t go in, they would be fine.

They were about to leave, when without any warning, they sky turned dark and heavy rain poured down. It wasn’t ordinary rain. Whatever kind of rain it was, it was working through their shields made of magic and qi. They had to find shelter before their shields completely disintegrated. Who knew what would happen if the rain touched them!

They had no choice but to take shelter in the mansion they were trying to avoid.

The interior was in the same condition as the exterior – dilapidated and dusty from neglect. Clearly the mansion had been abandoned long ago.

Zi Cheng and Ai Lin used magic to tidy a spot for them to rest. The group sat down without a word. There was doubt in Feng Wu’s eyes as she swept her gaze around from time to time. She didn’t say a word though. Ming Xi silently took Feng Wu’s hand.

The sudden rain made them uncomfortable. It was like the rain was designed specifically to keep them in the mansion. But who was behind it?

“It’s raining so much! Luckily we ran fast, otherwise our shields would have melted!” A man, carrying a light sword and obviously flustered by the rain, rushed into the mansion. The people behind him cut sorry figures.

“This rain isn’t right,” said one of the men.

“No kidding! What kind of rain damages shields made from qi and magic?” The man in the front said disdainfully.

“You know what I mean. . . ” The guy frowned a little and was about to say something back when he noticed they weren’t alone inside the mansion.

Other people in his group also stopped talking when they noticed other people were there. They found an unoccupied corner and silently sat down as a group.

Mogefei ignored the newcomers. His group didn’t own the mansion, so they had no right to tell anyone to leave. His only concern was the people in his team; what anyone else did, didn’t matter to him.

Two minutes later another group rushed in.

Ai Lin immediately recognized the male protagonist.

“Zi Cheng!” Caesar found Zi Cheng easily.

Ai Lin touched her chin as she locked eyes with Zo. His face was neutral but his eyes were definitely disturbed.

Her eyes said: Look at that. Your brother is about to become the heroine’s puppet. Are you sure you can stop it?

I can only try my best, was Zo’s silent reply.

Zo wanted to get his big brother back. He wanted Caesar to forget about Zi Cheng and he wanted Caesar to treat his fiancée better, but unfortunately Caesar was stubborn. And he knew it would only backfire if he forced it.

480: Caesar and Zo

No one noticed the brief non-verbal communication between Zo and Ai Lin.

“Caesar!” Zi Cheng never expected to see Caesar there. There were a lot of guys who were impressed by her, but she wasn’t interested in any of them. Caesar was the one exception. She was really happy to see him there.

“What a coincidence! You’re here too!” Caesar stepped forward.

“Yes, what a coincidence.” Zi Cheng smiled.

“Miss Zi Cheng, how nice to see you.” Zo gave a tepid greeting.

There was no way Zo would be happy to see Zi Cheng. Ai Lin was willing to bet on that.

“Hello Master Zo.” Zi Cheng greeted Zo with a friendly attitude. The fact that she had zero favorability points with him made her wonder.

It was a real mystery! She was sure she had never offended him before, so she didn’t understand the extremely low score. Did Zo hate her?!

She didn’t know where the problem lay, so she was going to ask Caesar when she had the chance.

“Xiao Cheng, who are these people with you?” Caesar looked at Ming Xi and the others. Each individual was imposing and unlike ordinary adventurers. He had a guess where they were from.

“These are my classmates and seniors from school. I heard rumors about a treasure materializing in the desert, so I tagged along.” It was impossible for her tell him about their mission.

She couldn’t share that detail right away him no matter how big a crush she had on him. Besides, the mission was a secret. Aside from them, only a few other teachers even knew about it. Zi Cheng couldn’t share information about the mission in such a public place with so many people around. She wasn’t stupid.

“Then we have the same goal.”

All the major families knew about the Heart of Wood and the seal’s expiration. The Heart was set to reappear soon and many were interested in getting it. The Heart was equivalent to a saint level or god level item.

None of the families wanted their rivals to get it.

“Feng Wu!” Zo hadn’t seen Feng Wu since the sea god’s tomb. They had been separated and he never got the chance to repay her for her grace in saving him.

“Zo. . . ?” Feng Wu tilted her head a little puzzled. “You’ve become amazing.” She offered the praise after sizing him up for a few seconds.

Zo wondered what was up with her relieved expression. Did she feel like an elder? Zo was a little embarrassed. They hadn’t seen each other in a while, but she was still the same.

Feng Wu wondered why Zo wasn’t happy. Every time she got stronger, what she liked most was her master praising her. Didn’t Zo like being praised too?

Feng Wu lowered her eyes in disappointment.

Seeing Feng Wu unhappy, Zo didn’t dare remain silent. “Thank you, you’ve become even more powerful.”

Sure enough, her eyes lit up immediately.

Feng Wu: I’ve been complimented, so happy!

Feng Wu pursed her lips and a glow of happiness shone all around her.

“Zo, it’s been a while. Your strength has grown a lot.” Ming Zi had also met Zo and knew Zo was a friend Feng Wu had made while in the sea god’s tomb. If it weren’t for Feng Wu’s guardianship, it was unlikely the teenager would have survived the tomb.

He had learned that Zo couldn’t cultivate despite coming from a family of cultivators. The teen had to be under immense pressure even if his family cloth and fed him well.

In a world were force was respected, it was difficult for a young man like that to not become dark.

“Ming Xi, you are here too. I apologize, I hadn’t noticed until just now.” Zo said a little embarrassed. His attention had been focused on Zi Cheng and Ai Lin initially. After that he was distracted by the sight of Feng Wu, so he hadn’t noticed Ming Xi until Ming Xi spoke.

Apparently Zi Cheng could still rattle him. Even though he knew she wasn’t a major player on the continent yet, he was still unnerved by her presence.

“It’s no matter.” Ming Xi didn’t mind. “You’ve made a lot of progress. It’s hard to imagine how far you’ve come since we last saw each other.” Ming Xi remembered when he first met Zo. Back then, the teen wasn’t strong enough to defend himself and had to rely on others for protection.

Now there was a certain strength emanating from Zo. Ming Xi guessed Zo must have found an opportunity, but he didn’t ask for details. Who didn’t have secrets? As the prince of the Ancient Silver Moon kingdom, Ming Xi didn’t need to pry into other people’s business and be envious.

“I found some opportunities back when we were in the sea god’s tomb. It allowed me to have the strength I have now.” Zo left it vague and didn’t go into details. The Heart of Water was important and the fewer people who knew, the better it was.

The Heart of Water not only gave him affinity for water, it mutated his talent into ice magic. Unexpected, but welcome since ice was more powerful than water.

“So it was.” Ming Xi nodded with a smile.

Caesar brought more than a dozen people, all of whom were strong members. Amongst them were a few ladies who were romantically interested in the brothers. Daggers flew when the ladies saw Zi Cheng and Feng Wu interact with Caesar and Zo. If looks could kill, both girls would have already died a dozen times over.

“Master Caesar, Master Zo, we’ve cleaned a place for us to rest. Please go and rest for a while.” Two beautiful girls came over. The sweet shyness in their eyes when they looked at their masters disappeared the moment they looked at Zi Cheng and Feng Wu. It was replaced with a look of bitter hate, the kind reserved for enemies.

Zi Cheng:. . .  What did I do?

Feng Wu:. . .  Hm?

481, 482

481: Temperature

Caesar’s brows were furrowed when he looked back at the ladies. His reply held no emotion. “Understood, I will be there in a moment.”

Wow! So cold, thought Ai Lin as she stood behind Feng Wu.

“Master Caesar. . . ” The two women wanted to say more but stopped when they saw the impatient look in Caesar’s eyes. They shut up and moved away angrily, secretly holding a grudge against Zi Cheng and Feng Wu.

Caesar and the others didn’t stay long after the two women left. They only talked for a bit before returning to their rest area.

A while later, another party entered the mansion. In the lead was a chubby businessman dressed in expensive clothes but with no weapon in hand. Two people, a veiled and cloaked man and a woman, were behind him. Despite being wrapped from head to toe, a certain charm emanated from their bodies.

“Boss Hart!” Ming Xi never expected to see the businessman again. They had met on the trip from Sanye island to the Bilou islands. Ming Xi and his team had sailed on Hart’s ship. He still remembered the man who liked to take people on board.

“Ah! If it isn’t Ming Xi and Feng Wu!” Boss Hart took a step back as though surprised before stepping forward again with a grin. “I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon,” laughed Hart good-naturedly.

“Boss Hart is also interested in exotic treasures?” Hart appeared to be an ordinary businessman with ordinary strength so it was strange to Ming Xi that Hart would be in the desert wasteland.

“I was around when I heard rumors about of a strange treasure materializing soon, so of course I brought people in to see it. I’m a businessman. A treasure materializing is an opportunity for you strong people and a business opportunity for a businessman like me. Once I heard about it, of course I had to try to see it. . . ”

Ming Xi nodded. Feng Wu looked at Boss Hart without any feelings of comradery. They had not relation to each other except for a shared ship ride and the experience on Death island.

They had been preoccupied with staying alive on Death island, so at the time there had been no time to form bonds.

It wasn’t odd for Feng Wu to view Hart as a stranger.

Hart took his group to a corner, and after tidying the space up, settled down to rest.

There were no newcomers after that.

Silence settled in the hall, while outside, the rain continued to fall as lightning and thunder flashed and rumbled in the sky.

The rain kept getting worse with no end in sight. They would not be able to leave for a while. The people inside sat and stared at the rain as they mulled over their own concerns.

It was now pitch black with rain even though it had been bright and sunny just moments ago. The surrounding air even felt denser.

“It’s so cold!” Ai Lin couldn’t help but mutter. She took a cloak out from her space ring and quickly wrapped the fabric around her body. She let out a sigh of relief but was shocked to see her breath fog up. How was this possible?!

It was dark really fast too! But upon consideration, Ai Lin realized it was probably because the things in the mansion were making their move.

When she first read the novel, there wasn’t much information about the how’s of things. She only remembered people went missing in the mansion and that the heroine and her male lead found a way to escape. Then when they turned to look back at the building, they saw it was actually full of people!

The scene had been written so badly!

The author never explained how the mansion was formed, or explained how the heroine killed everything and destroyed the spirits. The author only said the heroine escaped and that was it.

The heroine’s skills weren’t any use inside the mansion because she couldn’t see the spirits. If she hadn’t used her system store and exchanged points for an escape item, it would not have been possible for her to leave alive. It was obvious how terribly dangerous the mansion was.

In the end, nearly everyone who entered died. The mortality rate was so high that less than half the people in Zi Cheng’s group managed to survive. Ai Lin knew she was no heroine, so she needed to stick close to Zi Cheng if she wanted even a glimmer of a chance to stay alive.

The weather turned cold abnormally that it made everyone uneasy. It was only ten minutes ago that they entered the mansion and here they were already bundled up in thick winter clothes to stay warm. Even with all the layers they were wearing, the chill still seeped through.

The cold continued even to the point a thin layer of frost covered the furniture.

“Yaoyue, have you discovered anything about this place?” Huozhuo couldn’t help but ask. As a fire magician, he was unafraid of the cold, but even he was disturbed by the severe, sudden drop in temperature.

Yaoyue shook her head. “The rain outside is abnormal. I feel a suffocating amount of vicious qi outside.”

Yaoyue’s face was not good. She never expected her first important mission from school would be something far beyond her abilities. Their current situation was incredibly dangerous. There was a powerful player involved with the rain, and who ever it was, was not someone she could handle.

She was a rare genius amongst necromancers, but that didn’t mean she could deal with every ghost. There were powerful ghost entities that, she didn’t know how long they had existed for, but their souls were incredibly powerful and probably on par with living humans.

Yaoyue suspected they were about to encounter an entity they wouldn’t be able to deal with. As a traditionally educated necromancer, she understood how dangerous their situation was.

She couldn’t see any ghosts despite the heavy yin all around. The ambiguous situation left her uneasy.

“Rain? Is that why the temperature dropped so much?” Tang was confused.

“Yes, does the recent drop have anything to do with the rain?” Geente pulled his collar up as the cold dug deeper into his bones.

“It may be because of the rain, or it may be something else.” Yaoyue wasn’t sure.

To this Mogefei did not look good. He was the captain and needed to ensure everyone’s safety on the team. The rain was getting heavier and the temperature was getting lower, and together the situation was making him entirely too nervous.

482: A Place of Extreme Yin

He wasn’t the only one who felt uneasy, everyone else there felt the same way too. Zo didn’t know much about the situation other than that Zi Cheng would get the Heart of Wood in the desert. He wanted to ask Ai Lin if she knew anything, if she could clarify the situation, but the timing wasn’t right.

The temperature continued to drop and some people even had fine bits of icicles in their hair. They would have frozen to death if it weren’t for their magic and martial qi.

“Wow! This place is so cold! Baby’s going to freeze to death!” Baby Rui’s[notes] wings nearly froze when he flew out from Feng Wu’s space ring. He hurried into Feng Wu’s arms and complained.

“Xiao Wu, I was only asleep for a while, why did you come to this place? There’s so much vicious qi in the rain outside, and there’s so much yin inside there’re even icicles! This place has an extremely high amount of yin! Where is this place? How many people died for this place to be so ominous?!”

Baby Rui shook his head as he looked around then he quickly ducked farther into Feng Wu’s arms so that only his head was left exposed.

“Baby! You woke up!” Ai Lin was happy. She knew this little guy was the rui beast. She knew just how much the rui beast had helped Zi Cheng in the original storyline. He was arguable one of Zi Cheng’s most vital cheat items.

But now the little guy was following Feng Wu. He was cocky and immature; however, his new personality should not have affected his wisdom and knowledge.

In the original story, the rui beast wasn’t supposed to appear until much later as he wouldn’t hatch yet. Though the two ruis should have been the same beast, this one was somehow different.

The one Zi Cheng hatched was simple-minded and had an indescribable attachment to her. This guy on the other hand was anything but simple. On the contrary, he was like a cocky middle schooler that thought all mortals needed to bow down and praise him, that all mortals were foolish and dumb.

He was so overbearing it made you itch to give him a good beating. Such a cocky child!

Ai Lin didn’t know the original rui beast had not wanted to form a contract with Zi Cheng, that Zi Cheng had forcefully obliterated its original consciousness and formed a new consciousness with an item from the system store. That rui didn’t a personality as because it had no spirit.

The new consciousness spawned by the system was naturally attached to the owner of the system, who was of course, Zi Cheng.

This rui beast, the one with Feng Wu, was the original rui beast. Rui beasts were the most intelligent and wise of all beasts, so of course he was very prideful and would never fall prey to human flattery.

“Well this baby just woke up.” Rui Baby rolled his eyes.

“That’s great. Baby, do you know where we are and how we can get out?” As the smartest beast in the world, he should know right? reasoned Ai Lin.

A faint light flashed in Rui Baby’s eyes. This human seemed to know his identity. Who was this human, and how did it know?

Zi Cheng, having missed her chance to get the rui beast, had no clue as to its identity. She glanced at Ai Lin confused that the other girl was asking a beast.

As for Rui Baby himself, he was wondering if there was connection for why three people misplaced in time and space were in the same location. Even Feng Wu, his current host, had time and place anomalies surrounding her body. On top of that, Feng Wu had four other entities inside her. Did the world consciousness not care?

Ai Lin had no idea her secret was nearly revealed.

“This baby doesn’t know.” Rui Baby rolled his eyes and buried his head deep in Feng Wu’s arms.

You don’t know? Like hell you don’t know!

She didn’t know why the rui wouldn’t explain, but she made up her mind to follow Feng Wu and Zi Cheng closely to maximize her chances to stay alive. Feng Wu was the rui beast’s owner, so he would definitely protect her. If she followed them, maybe she’d be able to get out as well.

Mental calculations clacked away in Ai Lin’s mind.

Zi Cheng felt the atmosphere was also bad. She heard what the baby beast said about the extreme yin. Even though she didn’t know what kind of beast he was, she instinctively knew he was a formidable one – and that he belonged to her. She had no idea where the thought came from, but it kept nagging at her. Why did Feng Wu contract with her magical beast?! Why?!

The more she thought about it, the more she felt Feng Wu had stolen something from her. She secretly hated Feng Wu.

Feeling something strange, Feng Wu turned to look in Zi Cheng’s direction, but all she saw was Zi Cheng’s gentle smile. She was suspicious but she turned back around without saying anything.

It made Zi Cheng wonder if Feng Wu had sensed something. She calmed her mind and quieted her heart.

“Baby, can you tell me what this place with extreme yin is?” Ming Xi pressed his finger on Rui Baby’s small head.

“Since you asked sincerely, this baby will be compassionate and tell you...”

What?! Seriously! Ai Lin groaned mentally.

“Lands of extreme yin are divided into congenital and acquired. Congenital yin in nature is extremely hard to find. When inauspicious qi converges in places with congenital yin, the place becomes an extremely beneficial place for spirit cultivators. It takes years and years of saturation to create however.

These kinds of places will attract similar yin, and in this case, it would be more malevolent yin types. These kinds of yin are extremely aggressive and will attack. Once humans enter a land of such extreme yin... that’s it for them."[notes]

483, 484

483: A Scream in the Night

Rui Baby explained in detail the difference between congenital yin and acquired yin and the reasons how an area with extreme yin could be formed.

At this point, Ming Xi and the others realized the kind of place they had mistakenly entered. Yaoyue’s eyes had changed as Baby Rui explained. She thought about all the beasts in the catalog, but couldn’t find a match for the baby. She couldn’t recall any beast with such deep knowledge of the dead that looked like him.

“Then according to you, wouldn’t those places where a lot of people die become places with high concentrations of yin?” Tang asked interestedly.

“Che, dumb mortal. Very particular criteria must be met for extreme yin areas to be formed. If it was just a bunch of people dying, then the entire world would already be covered in extreme yin and the undead would have occupied every space already.” Rui Baby rolled his eyes and sighed at the low IQ of human beings. Sure enough, a genius like him was hard to come by.

“Sister Yaoyue, is what this little guy said correct?”

Yaoyue nodded. “Yes, it is exactly as he said.”

Everyone heard the conversation. Their hearts weighed heavily at the revelation, and as a result, they were even more vigilant.

“What should we do now? How long will the rain go on for? We can’t stay for forever!” Geente was irritable.

“This rain is not something ordinary humans can withstand. Evil spirits will likely overcome anyone who rushes out. Their hearts will become dominated with killing intent.” Yaoyue warned.

In other words, if they rushed out, they would lose their minds and become a lunatic.

Eventually the temperature in the room stabilized but it was still cold enough to make people shiver.

Ai Lin shrugged. “It seems we won’t be able to leave until the rain stops.”

The same was true in the original story, but in that one, there was no necromancer like Yaoyue and no smarty pants baby to warn them. In that one, people had rushed out and suffered an unimaginable fate.

Everyone who rushed out died in the rain.

The rain outside the window now was so dense, they couldn’t see anything except flashes of lightning as the thunder boomed.The atmosphere put everyone on edge.

They sat to wait out the rain. Eventually they got bored enough to start chatting with each other.

A few people talked to Mogefei’s group. As for Yaoyue, though she had a bad temper, she wouldn’t randomly make enemies, so she didn’t alienate those who came to chat with her about the rain. She wasn’t friendly, but she didn’t put on airs either.

The rain continued unrelentingly, as minute by minute, time passed. It was nighttime, but since they couldn’t see outside, they could only assume the time based on how long they had already been inside the building. Some snacked and others slept.

Their sleep was disturbed when a scream suddenly rang out in the second half of the night.

Feng Wu awoke in a daze. Several other people were also awakened, having had fallen asleep earlier.

Somebody yelled, “What’s the matter?! What happened?!”

“Who’s screaming in the middle of the night?! Geeze!” said a person annoyed at being disturbed.

“What’s going on?” Caesar asked.

He hadn’t brought a lot of people on the trip, but his group was still the largest of the four in the building.

One of the two girls who interrupted Caesar’s conversation with Zi Cheng earlier yelled out, “Master Caesar! It’s bad! I think Regina is dead!”

“Lead the way.”

The girl nodded and hurriedly led Zo and Caesar to a small kitchen not far from the hall everyone was resting in. She explained the situation quickly.

Regina had her period and needed a private place to clean herself. But Caesar said the mansion was dangerous and everyone needed to stay close together as much as possible.

With this in mind, they didn’t intend to go far. After searching a bit, they came upon the kitchen. Regina would use it to wash up while she would stand watch outside the door.

If something happened to them, everyone outside would certainly hear it; so they didn’t think it would be dangerous. They never expected something to happen where they wouldn’t even have the chance to call for help.

When Regina didn’t come out after ten minutes, she got worried and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Immediately she knew something was wrong. She forced open the door only to be confronted with a cold, blue-faced corpse.

That was when she screamed and ran to get Caesar.

The scream had been so loud, it woke everyone up. Mogefei went over with Ming Xi and Feng Wu to check on the situation.

“Regina died so tragically! Woo. . .  woo. . .  Who in the world killed her?!” The girl cried sadly.

Both girls adored Caesar and Regina was even interested in Zo, but despite this they had a good relationship and weren’t at odds with each other. The current trip was just supposed to be an outing; instead Regina ended up losing her life.

“Xiao Ni, did you see anything when you came in?” Zo asked after looking around. He saw nothing strange other than the wet patch near the open window.

The rain outside was filled with such strong yin and suffocating qi that no human could have come through the window. That meant whatever killed Regina couldn’t be human. Interesting.

“Rui, go and check Regina’s body for cause of death.”

There was no obvious trauma on Regina’s body. Her clothes weren’t askew and her face was abnormally calm, so calm in fact it gave the people there the chills.

Rui was Caesar’s subordinate. He caught Caesar’s eye because he was a youth in his twenties with good talent.

484: People Frozen to Death

Ai Lin, following behind, was even more shocked. What happened? None of this was in the original story! Caesar did have people in his group die, but the first one wasn’t this Regina girl. The way she died wasn’t in the book either.

Ai Lin came of her own initiative and had secretly followed behind Mogefei out of curiosity.

Rui walked over and carefully examined Regina. It didn’t take him long to make a report. His face was expressionless as he said, “All the blood in Regina’s body is gone. Additionally, there are two tiny pin pricks on her neck. This way of dying, where the blood is drained, is similar to dying under the hands of someone from the blood race.”

“The blood race!” Caesar never expected the blood race would have anything to do with Regina’s death. How could a blood person be in the vicinity?

Zo was incredulous. Weren’t they supposed to encounter ghosts? Now all of a sudden it became the blood race?

Everyone who heard was horrified. The blood race! Monsters who killed without remorse and fed on human blood.

But the thing was, weren’t the people of the blood race notoriously afraid of the sun? For them to be in the desert wasteland where it was incredibly hot and bright, weren’t they afraid of being scorched to ashes?

“This is just one possibility. We don’t know for certain this was the work of a blood person. It’s possible something else caused Regina’s death.” Rui clarified.

Caesar nodded, pleased with Rui’s performance.

None of them could conclusively say it was the act of someone from the blood race. No one was going to be able to sleep with the shadow of Regina’s death so near.

“Captain, do you think the blood race did it?” Ai Lin leaned forward, completely unafraid of her cold-faced captain. Mogefei had nothing on Tian Ya. After comparing the two, Mogefei wasn’t that intimidating.

Mogefei glanced at Ai Lin calmly. The rest of the team were waiting for Mogefei to tell them what happened.

All they knew was that someone from Caesar’s side died. As for the who and how, they had no idea. They were all very curious.

Zi Cheng really wanted to go to Caesar’s side and ask, but knew it wasn’t the right time. Someone had just died on his side, so the atmosphere around his group was bad. It was better for her to get information from her captain.

Mogefei’s revelation stunned them. The desert wasteland was not an amicable place for anyone in the blood race. Even though the temperature was low at night, the temperature during the day was unbearable.

Except for Tian Ya, who didn’t care, everyone else began discussing who the culprit could have been. Could someone from the blood clan really have done it?

Baby Rui yawned and laid on top of Feng Wu’s chest. His eyes occasionally strayed to Hart’s group.

It was as they said; it was unbelievable for someone from the blood race to be there, but no matter how incredible it was, there were two right there in the room. As far as Baby Rui was concerned, it didn’t matter what the two blood members wanted to do, as long as they didn’t mess with Feng Wu, he wouldn’t bother with them.

The little guy waved a small fist in his heart and fell flat on Feng Wu’s chest as he happily snored asleep.

Feng Wu knew her little guy had seen through the disguises of the two with Hart, but she didn’t say anything.

Rui Baby wasn’t a kind-hearted thing; he only cared for the people he cared about who he cared about. Anyone else, he wasn’t going to bother with. Though every now and again, he was willing to make exceptions if he was in a good mood.

“Senior Yaoyue, you said there were sinister things here. Maybe Regina was killed by one of those things?” Tang hazarded a guess, and the more he thought about it, the more plausible the idea became.

Yaoyue shook her head. “I did not see the corpse so I can’t be sure.”

There was a difference between those killed by ghosts and those killed by the blood race. The aura left behind by a blood person was different from that left behind by a ghost. Until Yaoyue saw the body, she wouldn’t be able to tell.

“Are you going to take a look now?” Huozhou asked as he looked up.

“Yes.” Yaoyue’s speech wasn’t as annoying when she wasn’t being willful.

Mogefei nodded and took her to see the corpse.

It didn’t take them long to return.

Yaoyue easily determined Regina’s death had nothing to do with spirits. There was no lingering aura of resentment around Regina’s body. In fact, Yaoyue couldn’t even find Regina’s soul. There was no way she would have missed a new formed ghost spirit, so she wondered if perhaps Regina’s soul had deteriorated.

From that point on, anyone left alone was frozen to death. It was as though Regina’s death was a switch that set more deaths in motion.

Yes, both magicians and sword users were frozen to death. Being able to enter the desert wasteland proved they weren’t weak. They had fighting qi and magic to protect themselves, so it was impossible for their bodies to be disturbed this way, yet here they were, frozen to death.

After reading the corpses, Yaoyue stated they were all killed because of the immense amount of yin energy in their bodies.

There wasn’t a trace of a single ghost spirit despite the number of deaths. The rain showed no signs of relenting and the dark clouds left their hearts feeling heavy. The number of deaths kept building up.

By the second day, most many in Caesar’s group had fallen victim to a frost death. His group and the second group, the only group in the mansion without a connection to Ming Xi’s group, were the two with the highest casualty.

Ming Xi’s group and Hart’s group were the only ones without any deaths to report. However, their good fortune ended after the second day.

On the third day, Geente abruptly fell like a frozen lump to the ground in front of everyone and died without warning.

485, 487

485: Taking the Initiative to Attack

It was the first time a teammate died in front of them. The air became solemn and even more oppressive.

A man suddenly screamed out, “I want to leave this haunted place! I don’t want to die here! I don’t want to die here!”

He rushed into the rain right after. His teammates tried to call him back, but their cries went unheeded.

“I’ll go find him!” Another man rushed out into the rain.

Their friends waited for them to return, but hope faded as the seconds ticked by. It was likely they died outside in the rain. A group of them proposed they send someone out after the men, but no one else agreed with the plan. It was obvious the two men were dead.

“They’re dead.” Their team captain said sadly.

Every brother on the team left a trace of their essence with him through which their life and death could be known.

The blood essence from the two that left was gone, proving they were dead.

They had wanted to learn from the two men what the outside world was like beyond the curtain of rain, but after learning their fate, everyone gave up on the idea.

Inside the mansion people were dying, while outside the mansion the smell of death lingered and a sinister spirit lurked.

Who, other than those actively seeking death, would rush out?

Would they all die if they couldn’t leave?

A palpable sense of despair permeated the hall. The ancient mansion was like an island in the sea that they couldn’t leave and could only watch slowly sink.

Geente’s death dealt a tremendous blow to the party. His soul, like everyone else before him, didn’t appear. That not a single ghost spirit could be found anywhere made Yaoyue break out in a cold sweat. Being able to kill so many people in front of her proved the spirit was high level with strength that far exceeded hers. There was no way she would have failed to detect anything otherwise.

Yaoyue couldn’t keep calm in the face of such a powerful spirit. It was an unknown and could kill without anyone seeing a thing. Too scary!

Mogefei took a deep breath after putting Geente’s body away. He couldn’t do anything as a team member died in front of him. He was frustrated by his own helplessness and the feeling put him in a bad mood.

A solemn Caesar finally said, “Captain Mogefei, Mr. Hart, Captain Jie Ao, I don’t think we can go on like this any longer. If we are to leave here alive, we must combine our strength and seek a way out.”

Though everyone was under the same roof, they weren’t united. They were taking care of their own, but they couldn’t do that any longer with the current situation. Caesar stood up and called everyone together.

The other three men were silent but mentally they agreed with Caesar. They wouldn’t be able to only take care of their own anymore. If they didn’t unite, it was likely none of them would make it out alive.

“Master Caesar, what are your thoughts?” Jie Ao was the captain of the second team that had entered the mansion. His team wasn’t weak. A weak team would never have made it so far.

Despite the lack of communication, he still managed to get a good grasp of their identities.

Take Mogefei for example. Jie Ao knew Mogefei’s team came from Xingguang Holy academy and were there to gain practical experience.

Hart was a businessman who came seeking treasure, which he intended to sell for a tidy profit.

And Caesar was a powerful young master. He didn’t know what family, but he knew with certainty no nameless family would have such an imposing and extravagant entourage.

Jie Ao knew the big families had their own legacies. He was hoping, though he knew it was unlikely, that Caesar would have some useful knowledge about their situation.

Sure enough, Caesar didn’t have any extra information. Like the rest of them, he only knew it was a place of extreme yin that was acquired over time.

Though they were disappointed, everyone liked Caesar’s idea.

Instead of waiting to be killed by an unknown entity, it was better to find it and have everyone work together to kill it.

This wasn’t possible initially, but with a necromancer on their side, the success rate was raised considerably. Without a necromancer, even if the evil spirit stood right in front of them, there would have been no way for anyone to see. It was different with a necromancer. A necromancer could see things ordinary people couldn’t.

Though Yaoyue said she hadn’t seen anything, it could have been because the murderous spirit was hiding. Once they found the spirit, they could work together to take it down and finally be able to leave the mansion.

Even Yaoyue agreed to help with Caesar’s plan and try to find the murderous spirit. Yaoyue was certain the murders were committed by a ghost spirit and not another person or some other kind of beast. It had to be an undead – and one with a lot of resentment.

Only with a vast amount of resentment could people be frozen with so much yin energy.

No one disagreed with Yaoyue’s assessment. They were all professionals willing to listen to the opinion of another professional. People had died so abnormally; it wasn’t farfetched to think it was the work of an undead.

It was the first time the leaders of all four groups sat down together. Yaoyue was given a special spot because of her status as a necromancer.

Yaoyue cared about her image in front of outsiders, so fortunately, she didn’t put on any airs. After making up their minds to strike first, Yaoyue followed them to look for the ghost spirit.

The mansion was huge with many rooms. They searched methodically room by room, floor by floor, but failed to find anything. Once they reached the third floor, they found something different. One room in particular was filled with things that would delight a child. A cute princess dress hung in the closet while dolls laid all around the room.

486: Avoiding Disaster

The room wasn’t clean and the dresses were no longer in style, however the dolls, maybe because of the quality of the material used, were in fantastic condition. They weren’t damaged in any way, despite the grime of neglect on them.

“This doll is so cute!” Girls liked dolls and Shani was no exception. She carefully picked one up and removed the dust and grime on it with a cleaning spell.

She held a princess doll with blue eyes and golden hair wearing a beautiful tutu skirt. It was an exquisite doll to behold.

Zi Cheng and Ai Lin weren’t interested in the dolls, having passed the age of playing with dolls years ago. Even though their personalities were different, they shared the same goals – to improve their strength.

Yaoyue was also very interested in the dolls, not because of any childish innocence, but she recognized how precious and rare the dolls were.

The skin was similar to real skin and the facial features were exquisitely carved and held a remarkable resemblance to real features. These kinds of dolls were very popular a thousand years ago and were still popular amongst the noble girls even now. Unfortunately, the only person who knew how to craft them died without passing on the technique.

Many studied the manufacturing and process of the dolls, but no one could successfully replicate a single one; these already rare dolls became even rarer and easily demanded outrageous prices. Ladies, from nobles to royalty, would go in to a frenzy every time one came on the market.

And now several of them were here inside the dilapidated mansion. Yaoyue couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d only seen them at auction once. That same doll was later seen with a prince who presented it as gift to his five-year-old daughter.

If the dolls were taken out, they would be worth a lot of money!

Just because Yaoyue was from nobility didn’t mean she had unrestricted access to money. In fact it was harder for her to use family money. She received a monthly allowance every month, but family resources had to be evenly distributed, so anything beyond her allowance had to be earned.

Yaoyue was moved by the rare dolls in front of her and her eyes glinted with joy. She wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of future training supplies if she could sell them. She wasn’t worried about them being possessed by evil spirits because there wasn’t any evil aura surrounding them.

She had wanted to grab all the dolls by using the excuse that she liked dolls, but after witnessing Shani’s display, she knew she wouldn’t able hoard all of them. Clearly she wasn’t the only one who recognized the dolls’ value.

It wasn’t just the two girls either, Ming Xi knew as well, it was just that he chose to remain quiet, because for him, they weren’t much. He was the future king of the dignified Ancient Moon kingdom. There was no reason for him to fight girls over a few dolls.

Feng Wu recognized the dolls were made from a lost technique because she remembered reading about them in a book. This got her curious. She stepped forward to pick up a doll, intending to study it.

But before she could reach it, Shani stopped her.

“Don’t touch that. It’s mine.” Shani didn’t like Feng Wu at all. Who told her to have a good relationship with Zo? Caesar was likely to be the next patriarch of the family and was extremely talented. This put him out of her reach. She was just the first daughter of a branch family; there was no way she could marry him.

Zo, on the other hand, changed from being a waste to a genius. He had excellent talent but he would never be the next patriarch, so naturally, Shani wanted to ride his coattails.

When Shani saw she couldn’t get his attention, she assumed he was focused on getting stronger and simply didn’t have time for love, because though he didn’t accept her attention, he didn’t accept anyone else’s either. This gave her enough hope to not give up.

A pity though, this Zo had lived an entire life and saw things clearly now. He didn’t care about Shani’s special favor.

Shani noticed Zo acted differently in the mansion. The smile he gave Feng Wu was different from the polite and distant one he gave the rest of them. His smile toward Feng Wu was sincere and happy. Shani was very displeased with Feng Wu for having the ability to get Zo’s favor.

She didn’t have a chance to deal with Feng Wu before, but now she had an opportunity. How could she let it go?

Feng Wu was a sensitive girl and could always tell when someone liked or didn’t like her. On top of that, Shani didn’t bother hiding the maliciousness in her eyes either, so it was pretty obvious.

Despite this, Feng Wu was still uncertain. And her eyes reflected her doubt. Why was there so much hate?

What a strange person! Feng Wu’s method for dealing with nonsensical people was to ignore them. Feng Wu completely disregarded Shani’s words and picked up the doll then proceeded to stare at it.

“Stop! I said that’s mine! Don’t you understand?!”

Feng Wu was deliberately ignoring her! Shani reached over to slap Feng Wu’s hand, but Feng Wu avoided it by stepping to the side. The slap landed on Zi Cheng, the person standing behind Feng Wu.

Zi Cheng felt a sudden sharp pain on her shoulder.

“Xiao Cheng!” Caesar immediately stepped forward in concern when he saw that had happened.

Zi Cheng frowned a bit before settling her expression. It had smarted, but wasn’t that painful. At most there would be some redness and swelling on her shoulder.

This Shani girl slapped too hard! Zi Cheng was secretly displeased with both Shani and Feng Wu. At Shani because she was the instigator and at Feng Wu for dodging. If Feng Wu hadn’t dodged, she wouldn’t have been hit and suffer an injury.

487, 488

487: Finding Nothing

Zi Cheng didn’t show any dissatisfaction on her face even though she was unhappy. She looked innocently at Caesar without saying anything, not even a request to punish Shani.

Caesar breathed a sigh of relief once he saw she was fine, but he was very unhappy with Shani.

“Shani, what were you doing?!” Caesar looked at Shani unhappily with dissatisfaction clear in his eyes.

Shani’s expression changed. The person she wanted to hit was Feng Wu; she had no reason to be hostile towards Zi Cheng, who was obviously favored by Caesar!

“Master Caesar! It wasn’t my fault! She went and touched my things so casually! I wanted to teach her a lesson. How could I know this girl was so cunning? That’s why I ended up hurting Miss Zi Cheng.”

“Huh? What is yours? Speak up so everyone can here. I didn’t know this old, abandoned mansion was your private property. You’ve got some guts. Why don’t you just say your elders lived here? And all the things in the mansion are yours? That everything here belonged to you in a previous life, that you just forgot to bring them with you to your grave? No one here would be able to argue with you then.” Ai Lin said angrily.

“What. . .  what do you mean. . . ” Shani stammered. She blushed angrily as she cursed Ai Lin’s ancestors down to the eight generation.

Ai Lin stared back ferociously, completely unafraid. “What do I mean? I saw everything with my own eyes, bright as day. You were trying to turn black to white.”

“How could I change black for white? This was her fault! How could Miss Zi Cheng have been hit if Feng Wu hadn’t dodged?” The more Shani thought about it, the more she felt like the wronged party.

Caesar had a bad expression as he looked at the two people arguing in front of him. He secretly regretted bringing Shani out with him. If he’d known she would cause so much trouble, he wouldn’t have agreed to bring her along. Unfortunately it was too late for regrets.

“Enough, both of you are wrong. Apologize to Zi Cheng.” Caesar glanced at Shani then at Feng Wu.

The people in Feng Wu’s team had a subtle change in expression as soon as Caesar said those words. Feng Wu was not part of Caesar’s team. What qualifications did he have to make her apologize? Besides, anyone with eyes could see Shani was the one who hit Zi Cheng. It wasn’t Feng Wu’s fault. Even if he wanted to punish the culprit, it would not be Feng Wu.

Caesar also realized his error the moment the words slipped from his mouth. He could order Shani to apologize, but Feng Wu was not under his authority, so he had no say over her.

Unfortunately some things couldn’t be taken back once spoken.

“Did I do something wrong.” Feng Wu blinked her eyes and thought back to what had happened – no she hadn’t done anything wrong.

How strange. Why was this person trying to make her apologize to Zi Cheng?

“Who told you to dodge just now? You involved Zi Cheng, so it’s your fault! You have to apologize!”

“Why can’t I dodge?” Doubts filled Feng Wu’s eyes.

“It’s because you dodged that Zi Cheng got hit!” Shani yelled out confidently.

“It was you who hit her. It wasn’t my fault. You are so strange.” Feng Wu replied, her face serious. She walked back to Ming Xi with the doll in her hand, ignoring the other people.

Feng Wu didn’t understand Shani’s weird brain and she didn’t intend to try.

“I did nothing wrong.” Feng Wu said seriously as she looked at Ming Xi once she reached his side.

“You are correct. You didn’t do anything wrong. You don’t need to apologize to people you have nothing to do with.” Ming Xi, touched Feng Wu’s head lightly. He was unaware how gentle and soft his eyes were.

Feng Wu’s lips curved in a slight smile and her black jeweled eyes held a hint of satisfaction.

After getting Ming Xi’s confirmation, Feng Wu began to inspect the doll carefully in her hand. No one noticed the doubt that flashed in her eyes.

Shani had originally wanted to rush over and make trouble for Feng Wu, but unfortunately for her, Caesar had no intentions on getting further involved in the drama and possibly making trouble for Zi Cheng with her teammates. It was for her sake that he decided not to force an apology from Feng Wu.

“Be done with it already! We’re here for business, not to watch you settle your personal grudges! Nothing in this mansion is to be moved; put the dolls back.” Yaoyue said with a bad face.

“That’s right. You women are just trouble. We’re here to find the spirit. And we haven’t even done that,” someone else muttered.

Zi Cheng blushed under the gaze of dissatisfaction from those around her. She apologized in embarrassment to Shani before returning to her team.

“Even in the current situation you still have the mind to invite criticism and attract boys?” Yaoyue turned her head away from Zi Cheng and ignored her after that.

Feng Wu didn’t notice the noise around her as she was busy focusing all her energy on the doll in her hand.

The doll gave her a dangerous feeling and gave off an aura she didn’t like, as if it was rotted from the inside.

“That doll is no good. You’d better put it back.” Rui Baby whispered in Feng Wu’s ear as he sat perched on her shoulder with his feet dangling slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Feng Wu turned to look at the baby.

“That thing is dirty and stinky. This baby does not like it.”

“I don’t like it either; it smells bad.” Feng Wu put the doll back in its original location.

“Let’s go and look somewhere else.” Yaoyue found nothing suspicious after checking the room so she had everyone leave to look elsewhere.

They searched the entire mansion, but found nothing that harbored the evil spirit. Disappointed and tired from spending so much time and energy searching the room, everyone returned to the first-floor lobby to rest. Each team arranged for someone to keep guard while everyone else slept.

When Shani saw that everyone was resting, she took out a rare, antique doll. It was a valuable piece and she wanted to keep it. Yaoyue said the room was to be left undisturbed, but Shani didn’t think just the one doll would be a problem.

Besides Yaoyue looked incompetent. If she had any skills at all, wouldn’t she have already caught the evil spirit?

488: A Daring Shani

Shani examined the skin. It felt so much like real skin, she couldn’t put it down.

“Shani, you’re too daring. We were told not to remove anything from upstairs, but you still dared bring this doll down?” A guy who was on friendly terms with Shani was surprised when he saw the doll in Shani’s hand.

“Aye! What’s there to be afraid of?! Didn’t the girl say there weren’t any problems with the doll? Even if I move it, nothing will come of it. It’ll be fine.” Shani waved her hand dismissively.

“You’re not afraid Master Caesar will find out? He said we weren’t allowed to touch anything upstairs.”

“I’m not afraid. Master Caesar isn’t going to get angry over a doll. Even if he does, I’ll just apologize appropriately.” Shani was willing to risk being scolded by Caesar for the rare doll.

“All right. Do whatever you want to do but don’t ask me to intercede when Master Caesar punishes you.” He reminded her, but she didn’t care, so he wasn’t going to go on about it.

“I know, I know. Go and guard over there and don’t bother me.” Shani waved her hand impatiently to shoo him away.

He sighed then walked away. They had spoken in whispers so one else noticed their conversation.

Ai Lin had seen Shani take the doll, but she didn’t say anything. It wasn’t her business and she wasn’t going to meddle.

She didn’t remember any mention of the dolls in the original story so she assumed they weren’t a problem. She had given them a cursory glance and that was it. Ai Lin used her rest time to desperately recall what she could of the book. Zi Cheng managed to escape because she purchased a talisman capable of breaking through the boundary created by the excessive yin.

The rain had created a boundary before they had even realized it, so unless they had something that could break the boundary, they were stuck.

Ai Lin remembered the price was something ridiculous. Zi Cheng had waited on buying it because of its prohibitive cost. It took her so much effort to gather the points she had; if it hadn’t been absolutely necessary, she would never have nearly depleted her bank on it. It was why she had delayed for so long.

It seemed the only way to escape was to rely on Zi Cheng’s talisman.

Ai Lin sighed. Why couldn’t her cheat be a system? Instead, all she had was a living space cheat, which, other than for growing herbs, wasn’t useful for anything. Compared to Zi Cheng’s system cheat, it was a really unfair gap!

But then again Zi Cheng was the heroine and the heroine was the world consciousness’s darling, so it was only normal for her to have such a powerful cheat.

Ai Lin tossed and turned in a bad mood. What should she do now that she needed to pee?

“Feng Wu, Feng Wu, wake up!”

Feng Wu, who had fallen asleep, heard someone calling her name. She opened her eyes to find Ai Lin smiling at her.

“Do you want to go to the bathroom?” Ai Lin asked expectantly as she tugged on Feng Wu’s sleeve.

Feng Wu blinked. She didn’t need to go right then, but she could use the bathroom. Thinking of this, she nodded.

Great! Ai Lin was happy to not have to go to the bathroom alone. Don’t you know, in all the ghost stories, the bathroom is the most likely place for bad things to happen?

“I’ll go too.” Yaoyue spoke out in the dark. Turned out she wasn’t asleep either.

“Everyone, let’s all go together.” Zi Cheng poked her head out from her heavy fur coat and opened her eyes. She was a light sleeper and the sound of conversation had awoken her.

Ai Lin had only planned on going with Feng Wu but somehow it became a group of four.

The four girls walked to the back of the mansion. There was a bathroom on each floor and the one on the first floor was in the back next to a utility closet.

They hadn’t discovered anything amiss when they searched the rooms earlier. All that searching gave them a good familiarity of the mansion’s layout. There were several rooms on each floor and they knew exactly where the bathroom was on each. They were walking down the hall when they were stopped.

Shani hadn’t wanted to stop them, but there were only a few of them left. She needed to go use the bathroom but she was reluctant to go by herself.

Feng Wu saw Shani as a stranger so she didn’t have any particular feelings about her and didn’t care if Shani came along.

Zi Cheng always tried to project an image of gentle consideration and kindness so how could she say no?

Ai Lin rolled her eyes. Why did the girl offend so many people in the first place?

Yaoyue glanced impatiently at Shani but didn’t say anything.

Since no one had an opinion, Shani followed behind the group without making any trouble.

“You brought a doll out?” Yaoyue hadn’t been paying close attention to Shani earlier so she didn’t see the doll until she turned around.

Wasn’t that a doll from upstairs, the dolls she said weren’t to be disturbed?! She told them the dolls weren’t to be touched! This Shani didn’t listen to her and actually dared take one!

Yaoyue was in a bad mood to begin with and now she was even more unhappy. She clearly said no one was allowed to take anything from the rooms, but Shani was standing with the doll in her arms in front of her.

“I like this doll very much. Didn’t you say there was nothing wrong with them? Why can’t I take it?” Shani felt she was in the right. Leaving such a precious doll to collect dust was a crime. She could sell it and give it to a new owner.

“Now that you’ve already done it, I’m not going to say anything. But moving things around rashly like that, just be careful you don’t cause trouble.” Yaoyue was too lazy to bother. As a necromancer, she knew better than most there were certain things that shouldn’t be moved casually – at least not without mortal danger to the person doing it.

It depended on luck. If Shani was lucky, she would be fine, but if Shani was unlucky, well that was hard to say.

Anyway Yaoyue did her part by reminding Shani, so she couldn’t be blamed for anything that happened after.

489, 490

489: Dying With a Smile

The toilets in the ancient mansion sat disused for such a long time it was inevitable there would be a smell. A thick layer of dust coated everything and lots of tiny mosquitos buzzed around the room. The toilets on this floor, because they were made for servants, were in worse condition than all the toilets on the upper floors.

The girls made a face at the disgusting scene. Feng Wu frowned slightly while the other four girls looked considerably worse. They would have turned around and left if they weren’t in a hurry.

It wasn’t their first time in the bathroom, but the stench was so strong it was hard to ignore. How could they do what they needed to do in such a dirty and smelly place?

Ai Lin couldn’t do it!

If they didn’t use the stalls, then they would have to go to one of the other floors, but that would put them at greater risk. With so many people already dead, none of the girls dared go up.

Out of desperation, they used magic to clean up the toilets. Opening the windows drew out some of the stench. Magic fire burned away the little mosquitos while magic water cleared the toilets. The entire bathroom became cleaner and smelled much more tolerable.

It was a large bathroom with ten stalls, so a maximum of ten people could use it at a time.

Ai Lin remembered reading that tainted spirit things loved to hang around bathroom stalls, the last one being the most popular. She promptly took the middle one.

Zi Cheng was probably familiar with the same ghost stories. She took a stall close to the middle.

Feng Wu casually took the third one down.

Shani and Yaoyue didn’t give it much thought. They picked a stall, closed the door and squatted inside.

The roar of rain and thunder boomed outside. It was fine earlier when they were chatting, but now that they were quiet, the bathroom felt eerie.

Ai Lin swallowed. Even if she was in a world of magic and swords, she was still scared of ghosts!

Few girls could claim to be unafraid. Only Yaoyue and Feng Wu were unphased. The other girls felt their hearts thumping. Especially Ai Lin and Zi Cheng. Modern society was influenced by ghost movies – Mountain Village Old Corpse, Midnight Bell, Sadako, Hanako – and every other horror film they could remember flashed through their minds unbidden.

“Where’s Shani? She’s been inside so long and she’s still not done!” Yaoyue was the fourth person to come out. She didn’t expect anyone else to be slower than her.

“Shani, are you all right?” Zi Cheng directed her voice at the door of the Shani’s stall.

No response.

Ai Lin couldn’t help but call out too. Again, no response. Other than the rain, there wasn’t a single sound in the bathroom.

The girls exchanged troubled glances.

As the necromancer in the party, Yaoyue stepped forward. Ai Lin, Zi Cheng and Feng Wu followed behind her.

Yaoyue grabbed Shani’s stall handle with one hand while holding her staff in the other. She gulped. Just as she was about to yank the door open, the door swung open on its own.

The girls were so startled they screamed out, “Ah!” in unison.

“What are you doing?! Trying to scare people to death!” Yaoyue gave Shani an unhappy look.

“What were you doing in there?! We called out to you and you didn’t reply. We thought you were dead!” Ai Lin yelled out.

“Who said I had to reply right away just because you called out to me?! You don’t tell me what to do!”

The carefree look on Shani’s face made Ai Lin just want to slap her.

Yaoyue was so angry she wanted to hit Shani too. She was a seventh-year at Xingguang Holy academy. When had she ever been treated so rudely? If it weren’t for Zi Cheng grabbing her hand, she would have given Shani a hard slap to the face.

The girls parted on bad terms. Yaoyue took her party and left without a backward glance at Shani so they never noticed Shani’s expression change. A trace of pain shot through her eyes and she looked like she was struggling with something.

The flickers of expression passed quickly and her face regained its earlier carefree appearance.

No one paid special attention to Shani after the bathroom incident, so it came as a surprise when a day later, she suddenly died.

“How weird, she died laughing.”

“This place is getting more and more strange.”

“Yeah, too creepy.”

“I feel chills on my back just looking at her.”

What surprised everyone about Shani’s death was not that she died, but how she died – it was different from all the others. Everyone else was either froze to death to death without an expression on their face or died with a pained look. But Shani died with a big open smile on her face, almost like she was laughing. Such an expression on a dead person was unnerving.

Apart from her face, she died frozen to death like everyone else. There was a layer of frost on her, almost like she had been stored in a freezer overnight. She gripped the doll she took from upstairs in her hand even in death.

The whispers couldn’t be helped. Caesar’s people heard it, but they had other things to think about.

The desire to leave grew stronger as more people died. Everyone wanted to leave but the rain wouldn’t let up. They wanted to find the evil thing doing all the killing but they couldn’t find any clues.

Shani dying put a lot of psychological pressure on everyone. They felt helpless. They couldn’t find what was killing them nor could they leave. Were they really going to just wait and die?

“Is there a problem with that doll?” Zi Cheng asked suspiciously. She had hadn’t spoken to Shani much, but she could see how differently Shani treated the doll. It was one of the dolls from upstairs.

490: The Basement Mystery

Yaoyue suspected something could have been wrong with the doll, otherwise how could Shani die so soon after getting it. But she hadn’t found anything when she checked the dolls earlier. Though puzzled, she was glad she didn’t take any of the dolls. She originally had the same idea as Shani, but her vigilance as a necromancer changed her mind.

She left the dolls and had tried to convince Shani to do the same, but the other girl refused to listen.

Yaoyue shook her head. “I don’t see any problems, but everyone should take care in the future. Do not casually touch anything in the rooms.”

She didn’t think Shani’s death was connected to the dolls. It was more likely the evil spirit hated Shani and killed her because she had taken things from the house.

With the exception of the one girl from early, it had targeted males exclusively. Clearly, the spirit was more interested in men. It taking action against Shani was probably because she committed some kind of offense.

As Yaoyue made guesses about Shani’s death, Feng Wu was walking around the room.

“That Yaoyue’s ability is not good; you’ll die if you listen to her. I originally wanted you to practice with her, but it’s impossible now. If you don’t leave, you really will die here.” Rui Baby talked to Feng Wu telepathically.

Rui Baby had kept a low profile and didn’t talk again after explaining how their current location was a place of extreme yin. He didn’t want to be identified and bring danger to himself.

Unless the situation became serious, he wouldn’t take action.

“Baby, is there really a basement under the house?” Feng Wu had looked around at all the places Rui Baby told her to look, but she failed to find the basement, so she couldn’t help but frown and ask for confirmation.

“Of course. Don’t underestimate me. I don’t know what’s in the basement, but I know whatever is there will help you.” Rui Baby patted his chest.

Feng Wu listened to his promise. She kept her head down and continued looking. After lifting the side of a worn carpet, she finally found something promising – the color of the floor was different from the rest. She pressed it at Rui Baby’s urging.

A rumbling sound came from below. The floor opened and a dark staircase appeared.

This got everyone excited and they stopped bothering with the cause of Shani’s death.

They saw it as their ticket out, but Feng Wu knew better. She knew it wasn’t the way out because Rui Baby had already told her it led to the basement, and not a passage to the outside. Feng Wu believed Rui Baby was very smart, so there was nothing wrong with doing as he said.

Rui Baby was satisfied with how well Feng Wu listened to him. Those who came before, vying for a contract, never listened. They just did what they wanted. It was best to be obedient like Feng Wu. He liked Feng Wu very much, not because she was obedient, but because she was the way she was. She was much better than those other calculating masters.

Many thought, because Rui beasts were wise and intelligent beasts, that they would want their masters to also be wise and intelligent. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Rui beasts had no interest in so-called intelligent people. These kinds of people always thought too much and did too much. Rui beasts preferred to live peaceful and stable lives, so being contracted to overly ambitious masters was the worst.

People who didn’t think much or asked much of them were the best.

“Do you think that’s the exit?” asked someone expectantly.

“It’s possible. I feel like the exit must be below.” Someone replied with certainty.

“Let’s go down and have a look!”

After much talking, they all agreed to go down. They hoped it would be the exit out.

Unfortunately, they were destined to be disappointed.

Mogefei used his eyes to signal to everyone to be careful. There had to be unknown dangers. As team captain, he had already caused one member of his team to lose their life; he refused to let anyone else lose their life.

Boss Hart didn’t move but did exchange glances with the woman and man in his group.

Rui Baby stared, with a hint of interest, at the two people behind Hart.

The others were focused on the passage in front of them and didn’t notice.

Fire magicians took the lead, illuminating the space with fireballs as everyone else followed behind.

The clearly lit basement was a disappointment to everyone. It was an underground laboratory and not the way out at all.

The lab was there for a reason. But what was the reason?

Ten transparent containers filled with children bodies, they couldn’t have been more than five or six when they died, stood all around the lab. None of them had any skin because every inch had been peeled away. They were innocent and cute but died so horribly.

Who knew what was inside the containers, but whatever was inside preserved the bodies and kept them from decaying, so the image was that of freshly skinned bodies. It was a horrifying scene that hit everyone in the heart.

They were disgusted with the owner of the lab. It didn't matter who it was, to treat these lovely children like this was inhumane and cruel.

491, 492

491: Dolls with Human Skin

The lab was simple and could be taken in at a glance. Aside from a few instruments, and a thick black book in the center, there were several dolls in varying stages of completion atop a large table.

The people had a hunch when they saw the dolls, but they weren’t completely certain.

The notebook was heavy with dust and laid in the center of the table. Who knew how many years it had been there?

Someone picked up the book and flipped through it. There wasn’t much recorded on the first page, but it did say the owner of the notebook came to the mansion on the invitation of a specific nobleman, followed by a description of the mansion and the host and hostess.

The mansion was owned by a nobleman from a thousand years ago. He and his wife were affectionate and together spoiled their daughter greatly.

Their daughter liked dolls very much, and had dolls of all kinds, but she would only play with them for a day or two before losing interest and burning them. It was a common pattern: play with a doll a few days then burn and repeat.

The nobleman wanted to give his daughter a special gift on her fifth birthday, so he invited the most famous doll maker at the time.

The notebook was owned by that very craftsman. He had been invited with a lot of money to the mansion to create a doll that would satisfy the young lady before her fifth birthday.

He wouldn’t leave alive until he fulfilled the request. He was just an ordinary person who crafted for a living: there was no way for him to resist a noble, so he stayed in the mansion and tried to craft a doll that would meet the young lady’s requirements.

Unfortunately, the dolls he made were not real enough and therefore unacceptable. He kept trying out of desperation, trying and trying to create a doll that would please her so he could leave the beautiful cage and return to his home.

Despite working as hard as he could, nothing he did was satisfactory. He was imprisoned in the lab and forced to keep making more dolls.

He was mad to get out, to be free.

At this time, the servant sent to deliver his meals was a young girl of six or seven. She was very cute with eyes full of curiosity and just a smidge of shyness.

At that moment an idea came to him. He remembered a secret necromancer technique he accidentally obtained.

The little girl disappeared and a brand-new doll appeared. No one knew what the doll was made of, but the entire body felt like a real person. The young lady really liked it.

The disappearance of the little servant girl didn’t attract any attention in the mansion. Not even a ripple of concern appeared.

The young lady of the house made an appearance with the doll on her fifth birthday. The one-of-a-kind doll, that felt like a real person, aroused everyone’s interest.

A lot of people wanted to buy a similar doll for their wives or daughters, and they were willing to pay a great deal for one.

After years of excess, the nobleman’s finances were not as good as they had once been. He saw the doll as a business opportunity, something the family could get involved in.

The nobleman refused to let the master doll crafter go, and instead demanded the craftsman make more dolls for him to sell.

The master craftsman was forced to confess the primary material for the doll was human skin tissue. He had used the skin of the missing servant girl and a book of forbidden arts to create the doll. That was why it felt so realistic.

It was impossible to mass produce because the skin he got from the servant girl was only enough to make two dolls.

The craftsman thought he would be denounced and labeled a demon after revealing the truth, that his method was heinous.

The nobleman was unexpectedly silent. The initial surprise that showed on his face quickly faded and was replaced with a neutral expression.

Instead of being denounced, the craftsman was reassured he would get assistance with supplies, that he only needed to focus on making more of the same realistic dolls.

The craftsman couldn’t resist the nobleman. He knew full well his family would be in danger if he were to escape. He couldn’t imagine putting them in that kind of situation, so he stayed and endured, helping the nobleman make the wicked human-skinned dolls.

The dolls sold out and were well loved by all the noble ladies. Business was good, but because the primary material for making the dolls was so unique, it was impossible to produce them on a large scale, limited as they were to thirty dolls a month. The dolls were snapped up at each release.

The business helped the nobleman regain his wealth and establish connections with other families.

Perhaps because the necromancer book was high-level, but not a single person on the continent could discern the difference in the dolls. This meant the family could maintain the business forever. They were quite happy.

They began pressuring the craftsman to make more dolls. It was impossible though because it had to be made from human skin and tissue.

The pressure from the nobleman upset the craftsman greatly and his desire to escape grew and grew. He regretted having made the first doll.

If he hadn’t done such a wrong thing in the first place, he wouldn’t be in the current situation where he was forced to do all these hurtful things.

He couldn’t bear the pressure from the nobleman. He didn’t want to do such hurtful things to the children and just wanted it all to stop!

He and the nobleman were the only two people who knew the dolls were made from human skin. Those whose flesh were taken didn’t just die, their souls were sealed inside the dolls. And because two dolls could be made from each child, their souls were effectively split in half, with one part of the soul in each doll.

492: Destroying the Dolls

The incomplete souls were full of maliciousness and murderous intent. If released, the place would become hell on earth.

But by this point, the craftsman wasn’t afraid of death. In fact, death was a welcome release. Waking up to their countless corpses every day, he was going to go crazy if he didn’t die first, so he decided to avenge the innocent victims and take everything in the mansion to hell.

Before releasing the dolls, he did one final task: turn the nobleman’s daughter into an exquisite doll. Unlike all the other dolls where he split the skin between two dolls, he used all her skin on one doll. This meant her soul was wholly sealed inside the one doll container.

He kept her soul trapped inside the doll while he released all the other souls.

Sure enough, immediately upon releasing the souls, everyone in the mansion was killed. The craftsman sat in his laboratory waiting for them to come to him.

The last entry was messy and it was obvious his mind wasn’t calm. All it said was that they had come.

Though the notebook was thick, it was mostly filled with experiment notes. The story itself had been interspersed throughout the book, so the story revelation came out only after reading the entire book.

“The dolls upstairs are made from human skin and tissue?!”

“There’s a soul inside every one of them?!”

“I knew those dolls felt like real people. Didn’t I say that?! They were problematic on sight!”

Ming Xi looked around but saw no adult corpses.

Could the undead have swallowed everyone in the mansion? Even their bones? If not, how could they explain the absence of bones?

Ming Xi couldn’t figure it out and he still had a lot of questions.

They searched the entire lab, making sure not to miss a thing. Then they took the notebook, sealed the lab and left.

They hadn’t found any evil spirits, but now they knew the dolls were suspicious. The dolls were made from human skin and tissue. . . 

Yaoyue had said there was nothing strange about the dolls, but after reading the notebook it was clear the dolls were definitely suspicious.

After some discussion, everyone agreed the dolls should be destroyed.

Feng Wu followed everyone upstairs to where the dolls were and she watched as the fire magicians tried to burn the dolls.

But the dolls were still there after the flames burned out. Was it an illusion? It felt like the smiles on the dolls grew more hideous.

After reading the notebook, they had thought the dolls looked gloomy, but looking at them now, they changed their minds. These dolls looked. . .  not right, and everyone was afraid to get closer.

Zi Cheng stood up after all the various methods they used to destroy the dolls failed. She wanted to use Purple Yang, the fifth of the Heavenly Sun flames,[notes] to burn the dolls.

Few people knew Zi Cheng had the fifth flame. Though they were hot for the heavenly fire, now wasn’t the time to be greedy. In a life-or-death situation, life would always be more attractive than treasure.

“Miss Zi Cheng, it is up to you if we can leave or not. And if we can escape, rest assured, we will not forget your kindness.”

People expressed their gratitude as Zi Cheng brought out her flame.

Zi Cheng had a humble expression on her face she told everyone it was unnecessary. She scored some points with her modesty. It was a nice, unexpected gain.

Even Caesar, who was already very fond of her, looked at her tenderly.

His favorability for her had increased a little as well and was very close to being 100%.

But why did his little brother have 0% for her? What was wrong with him?

Zo stood silently as he watched people compliment Zi Cheng.

He wondered what their expression would be if they knew Zi Cheng would be responsible for destroying the world later.

Since coming to the castle, Zo had kept a low profile, not speaking much. It was like he was invisible as he stood next to Caesar, but despite this many people had paid attention to him.

No one knew Zo[notes] was actively observing the mansion and thinking of ways to break through the barrier.

Zo had been a well-known master of formations over a hundred years ago. Because he couldn’t cultivate, he had devoted his time to learning all kinds of things, such as formations and alchemy.

He was, in his own right, a master of sorts. This was why, despite being an ordinary person, his family was willing to use precious life-extending items and spiritual fruit on him.

He was useful to the family alive. That was they way the world was. Whether or not he could live well depended on his strength. With some strength, even an ordinary person like him could live well, even better than some magicians and sword masters even.

In addition to trying to find a way to break the barrier, Zo was also in contact with Ai Lin, trying to get more information about the storyline.

Unfortunately, even Ai Lin didn’t know much about the mansion. The basement lab didn’t exist in the original text, so naturally she wouldn’t know what was wrong with the dolls.

It was impossible for Zo to have a good impression of Zi Cheng. It was impossible for anyone have a good impression of a world destroyer.

Zi Cheng couldn’t understand why Zo didn’t like her and she had asked Caesar, but Caesar had only said Zo was indifferent to people. It wasn’t that he disliked her.

She couldn’t ask Caesar again and she couldn’t come up with a reason on her own. She never imagined a life-and-death situation where she revealed a personal secret was still not enough to earn favorability points with Zo. How could such a difficult to move person exist?

493, 494

493: The Other Half

Zi Cheng complained in her heart, and after saying a few humble things, proceeded to burn the dolls with her heavenly flame.

Magic flames had not worked, but the heavenly flame was very effective.

Screams erupted from the burned dolls as soon as the flames touched them.

“Ah!”

The voices were shrill like that of a small child. Their hiding places had just been destroyed, burned away by the fire.

The same time the screams sounded, the world in front of Yaoyue changed. Pale-faced little girls stood glaring in resentment at the group, screaming shrilly, but the only ones who saw them were Yaoyue and Feng Wu.

Everyone brought their guards up. They couldn’t see, but they could hear, and the instant they heard the harsh-as-breaking-glass screams, their expressions changed.

Yaoyue reacted quickly by casting a spell. Each spirit body was full of grievance and churned with miasma. It was easy to see from a glance that they had killed many people.

Yaoyue used magic to trap their little bodies. She had a hard time corralling them, but once she did, she tried to send them to reincarnate. Unfortunately she was unsuccessful.

“Yaoyue?” Mogefei looked at Yaoyue with questions in his eyes.

They had all seen her cast a necromancer spell just now. They thought she would subdue the spirits, but she stopped unexpectedly, so they were uneasy because of the sudden change.

They could see Yaoyue was afraid.

The only one amongst them who could see the spirits was Yaoyue. If she couldn’t deal with the spirits, then wouldn’t that mean the only thing the rest of them could do was wait for death?

“Take this and spray it in your eyes.” She tossed a bottle of psychic potion at Mogefei.

He caught it in one hand and promptly did as told. After that the bottle was passed around to everyone, and they could clearly see what Yaoyue saw.

The pale-faced little girls in white skirts had looks of intense hatred on their faces as they fought against Yaoyue. Yaoyue’s situation did not look good. In fact, it looked like she would be overwhelmed soon.

This startled everyone and they raised their weapons ready to cast magic and qi to assist. Ah, but it was a pity. Being able to see the spirits didn’t mean they had the ability to attack the spirits.

Spirits were incorporeal and the only magic that could influence them was special necromancer magic.

“These guys only have half their souls. It’s not possible to send them off to reincarnate.” Rui Baby had come out to watch the show and was sitting on top of Feng Wu’s hair. He communicated telepathically to Feng Wu so no one else heard him.

Feng Wu tilted her head. “Where is the other half?”

“I don’t know,” said Rui Baby.

“Sleep!” Yaoyue, unable to take it anymore, used a trap formation to trap all the spirits together so they wouldn’t be able to escape temporarily.

“Miss Yaoyue! Are you all right?!”

“Miss Yaoyue, what should we do?!”

“Can’t those things be killed?!”

“Yaoyue, come here and rest.” This last comment was made by Mogefei.

He was very concerned for his teammate.

A pale-faced Yaoyue nodded and sat down on a chair with Zi Cheng and Ai Lin’s assistance. She took out a potion from her space ring, and after drinking it down in one big gulp, managed to restore a lot of the color to her face.

Though everyone there was filled with questions, they couldn’t bear to pester her, seeing as tired as she was. They could only stand aside and worry.

“Do not be anxious everyone. Let me share the situation with you all,” Yaoyue said after resting a while.

“I believe you’ve seen what I saw. Originally, I wanted to send these spirits to be reincarnated, but unfortunately, they are incomplete souls; so I can not send them away, nor can they be destroyed. Whether we want to destroy them or send them away to be reincarnated, we must find their other halves, otherwise we may never be able to leave here.”

Yaoyue told them the worst of it without any sugarcoating. There was no way to hide it.

“But we don’t know where their other halves are!” Someone whispered loudly.

“It doesn’t matter, even if we have to dig three feet down, we must find them.” Someone else spoke with determination.

They were bursting with motivation to find the souls, so they searched everywhere for anything suspicious.

Considering how they found the souls in the dolls, the other halves were probably hidden in inconspicuous objects as well.

In order to find them, they took down everything suspicious and had Zi Cheng set it all aflame. They intended to cast a wide net because if they didn’t catch their fish, they would die.

Their method wasn’t bad. Burst of screams came from one of the piles they burned. Quickly following that, a group of children resembling the ones earlier appeared.

The spirits had come out of a painting.

“Stop! Stop hurting us! We didn’t do anything!” The little girls cried aggrieved at their treatment.

The girls had such tears and grief in their eyes, Yaoyue couldn’t bear to keep up her attack.

“Why were you sealed in the painting?” Feng Wu asked as she stepped toward them, utterly unafraid.

The little girls saw an expressionless girl suddenly step up to them. At first, they were a little scared, but Feng Wu’s comforting aura calmed them down.

They enthusiastically surrounded Feng Wu and answered her question in a fuss-free manner.

“We were locked up because we couldn’t beat them. If you guys hadn’t burned the painting, we would never have gotten out.” The little girls answered very aggrieved.

“They are so bad. Every time someone breaks in, they kill them. You have to be careful to not be killed.” One of the little girls was worried about Feng Wu’s safety.

“They’re very bad. They keep trying to force to us to fuse with them. They want to dominate our consciousness and make us disappear. . . ”

494: Still Another Doll

The children weren’t old but they clearly expressed themselves. Considering what they just said, it looked like their souls had been divided in two: one bad, one good. The good part were the ones in front of them, while the bad parts were the ones trapped in the other room.

The evil part of them carried all their negative emotions such as their unwillingness and resentment at being dead, while the other part carried their innocence and kindness as children.

Since ancient times, good and evil were one and the same coin. No one was pure good or pure evil. Only an extreme person who was likely to become a demon could ever be purely good or purely evil without any other emotion.

The children here were unlikely to become demons though; they were just ordinary spirits that had their natures forcefully separated. They had to endure endless pain and were unable to return to the path of reincarnation because their souls weren’t whole.

“Miss Yaoyue, what should we do now?”

“Do we kill all of them?”

“Should we let them fuse then kill them?”

Because the spirits had killed so many of their fellow adventurers, the people there were indignant and wanted to kill the spirits.

“Let’s send them to the underworld. Once there, they can atone for their crimes.” Yaoyue decided after thinking for a moment.

It was unrealistic to send them on the path to reincarnation in their current state. Their shoulders bore so many deaths, their chances of being reborn safely was extremely small. And even if they were lucky enough to be reborn, they would be born into a bad situation with wasted bodies and would surely die within a few years. They needed to pay their karmic debt first before being sent on to reincarnate.

Considering the situation, it was better to send them to the underworld to atone for their wrongs and afterwards reincarnate. Even if they couldn’t reincarnate as geniuses, they wouldn’t have to worry about reincarnating as trash and dying young.

There was just one problem with the decision – that of fusing the soul halves.

They needed Zi Cheng and her heavenly fire to make it work.

Zi Cheng burned the evil halves nearly to death with her heavenly flame before letting the good halves fuse together into a whole. Everything went smoothly.

After the souls were successfully fused back together, the little spirits were sent to the underworld. From there, they would pay the price for their crimes. They would not be allowed back on the path of reincarnation until they earned their redemption.

Feng Wu watched the little guys disappear; eventually her eyes strayed to the window. The rain was still falling down heavily.

Feng Wu wasn’t the only one who how wrong that was, other people noticed too.

It stood to reason, after purifying the evil spirits, the enchantment boundary should have disappeared. And yet the rain was still falling and the boundary was still active.

“Why is this happening?! Why hasn’t the barrier opened?!”

They sent all the evil spirits away didn’t they? Why were they still trapped inside? What in the world was going on?!

“Did we miss something?” Caesar wondered.

“Doll!” Both Ai Lin and Zi Cheng exclaimed in unison.

“Aren’t all the dolls burned? Where are there any other dolls?” Tang scratched his head.

“Not these guys here. The other doll, the one Shani was holding when she died!” Ai Lin remembered they had indeed missed a doll.

“Yes! That doll! We forgot all about it!” Zi Cheng said.

“Then what are we waiting for?! Let’s go burn it!” Someone shouted.

They raced to the place where Shani and the doll had been, but the doll was gone.

They looked at each other in dismay before promptly gathering themselves and searching for the doll.

Search as they might, they could not find it.

“Could someone have taken it!?” One of Caesar’s people whispered to him.

“Whoever has it better take it out right now! How dare you take anything. Do you want to die?!”

“Whoever took it must not want to live anymore!”

“Yea, Shani died because she moved that thing. Does this person want to die? Do they feel they’ve lived too long?!”

No one admitted to moving the doll. So, then where did it go? The doll couldn’t move by itself, could it?

“Are you looking for me?” A giggle, soft and cute, sounded from behind everyone.

They all turned around to see a small girl of about five or six with an adorable, chubby face coming down the stairs. In her hand was a doll.

A small girl appearing randomly wasn’t a big deal, but a small girl appearing here in the mansion holding the doll they were looking for was a very big problem.

Guards immediately went up. They could guess her identity – this little girl was probably the spirit from inside the doll.

She looked different from the other little girls they sent away. She didn’t look like an illusion but very much like a real flesh and blood girl.

“You are the daughter of the master of this house!” Yaoyue yelled out. The realization struck Yaoyue’s heart the moment she saw the little girl, and how her body was different from the other little girls.

“You know who I am!” The little girl’s eyes creased happily.

“As expected, no wonder she looks different from the other spirits.” Ai Lin nodded. She also had the same thought as Yaoyue.

Ming Xi took Feng Wu’s hand and immediately took a step back. The child gave off such a dangerous feeling; there was no way she was an ordinary spirit.

Feng Wu stood beside Ming Xi obediently and communicated with Rui Baby telepathically from time to time. They were in fact discussing the little girl right now.

“Wait for the fight to start, then run. This is a big boss and you won’t win.” Baby said worriedly. “Xiao Chun[notes] is currently in closed cultivation leveling up so he can’t protect you. I will return to the spiritual world immediately and get that seven-colored phoenix to help. Only that guy can help.”

“You said you couldn’t communicate with the outside world.” Feng Wu blinked at Rui Baby questioningly.

“Not with ordinary methods I wouldn’t be able to; but you forget, I’m a rui beast, and no one can best me when it comes to formations. It’s just a shame I can go out, but can’t bring anyone with me; otherwise, I would have already taken you out with me, and I wouldn’t have to go find that seven-colored phoenix bird to save you.”

495, 496

495: Can't Escape

Rui beasts had no offensive capabilities and had to rely on their skill for boundary formations to protect themselves. It was their strongest method of protection. Whenever danger presented itself, they simply used that power to block out the danger, or if they had to, they could pass through an enchantment set by others.

However, it was an ability limited to their personal use and couldn’t be transferred to anyone else. If Rui Baby could have taken Feng Wu out, he would have already done so.

He had been wrong earlier too. He never expected such a powerful spirit to form in the place. Everyone there together wouldn’t be able even scratch the spirit.

He passed through the boundary barrier and went to the spiritual world right after telling Feng Wu to take care of herself.

“Oh? Something broke through my barrier? What is this little thing?”

Though the little girl was called a big boss by Rui Baby, she was still just a child and didn’t know a whole lot. She died too young to have learned much about the world; so understandably, she didn’t know about the famous rui beasts.

The other people there didn’t know what she was talking about, but they didn’t dare underestimate her just because she was a little girl. They held up their weapons in front of them as if they were facing a big enemy.

The dangerous aura from the child was so strong that even Zi Cheng couldn’t ignore it. She went with her gut and took the plunge; but seeing the exchange cost nearly made her vomit blood. It didn’t matter though, she had to do it, so she grit her teeth and purchased the boundary breaker talisman, which cost so much it would have made anyone buying it cry.

Distressed though she was, Zi Cheng carefully put the talisman away. She would use it as soon as the preparations were done.

Ai Lin, who was secretly watching Zi Cheng, immediately saw the relieved look on Zi Cheng’s face. She suspected Zi Cheng had just purchased the talisman for self-defense.

It looked like the key to getting out was on Zi Cheng’s body.

Ai Lin secretly winked at Zo to tell him to pay attention to Zi Cheng so he wouldn’t miss his chance.

As for everyone else, it would depend on how lucky they were. She couldn’t very well run out and exclaim Zi Cheng had a way out. Let’s everyone keep an eye on her. People would think she was crazy!

Zo understood Ai Lin’s message and nodded slightly to show he would pay close attention to Zi Cheng.

“Can you play with me? I’ve lived here so long and no one ever plays with me. You can stay and play with me.” The little girl clapped her hands excitedly, as though she was really looking forward to playing with them.

Yaoyue shook her head and rejected the proposal. “No, we still have things to do. Can you let us leave? We’d be very grateful if you could.”

The little girl looked at the others after hearing Yaoyue’s answer. “What about the rest of you? Don’t you want to stay and play with me?” Her voice sounded so lost.

It seemed cruel to make a child so sad, but who there had time to be moved? Besides, it wasn’t like she was a child – she was a terrible spirit!

They all shook their heads, letting her know they did not want to stay.

Her little smile disappeared and her small face became gloomy and scary.

“If you don’t want to play with me, then you can all just die; then once you die, you can stay with me forever, just like everyone else.”

She gave a cute smile, but to everyone there, it looked quite sinister.

“Fuck you, you rotten girl! Let’s see if you have the ability to kill me!” A knife wielding adventurer rushed up to her.

She disappeared and reappeared behind him before he could even touch her with his knife.

“I caught you. Now you’ll have to stay with me.” She patted him on the shoulder, and within seconds, he turned into an ice sculpture.

He died. He died so easily.

She hadn’t even done anything other than tap him lightly with that tiny hand of hers that didn’t look menacing in anyway. And he died without a chance to even scream.

They shuddered. What kind of insane strength was this?! To be able to reach this kind of height.

The crowd took a collective step back, any idea of attacking vanished. The only thing on their mind was how to escape.

Yaoyue took several steps back as her heart went cold. Such strength was rare and it was her first time seeing a spirit so powerful. For an undead to have more strength than a human, that was hard to do and must have taken an unimaginable amount of time.

The fact she cultivated so much strength in only a thousand years meant she had to have been born with a body naturally inclined toward spiritual phenomena, the most suitable physique to become a spirit cultivator.

Getting a spirit like her would make anyone stronger. Yaoyue would have been so excited if she had met the girl when the girl was still weak. Unfortunately they met at the wrong time. This little spirit already had the strength to kill everyone present.

Never mind forming a contract, it was questionable if she could even escape.

Yaoyue smiled bitterly in her heart. She couldn’t encounter a spirit when she wanted to meet one, but now that she did, she wasn’t sure if she would live through the experience. How could she not be bitter?

She had a hunch none of them were going to make it. Even all of them together wouldn’t be a worthy adversary to the little girl.

“It’s your turn. Stay here with me too.” The little girl clapped her hands and turned around to look at everyone with a smile.

“Run!” Those who didn’t have the guts to fight her ran. They forgot though, it didn’t matter where they went, they wouldn’t be able to escape the ancient mansion which was like a huge cage locked in by the rain.

496: The Dollmaker

While some fled in all directions, others remained on guard, not daring to move from where they stood.

Those who ran never expected the little girl to be more interested in them than those who remained still. Would they have regretted running if they knew this earlier?

Caesar had remained by Zi Cheng’s side in order to protect her ever since they witnessed the little girl’s lethal abilities. Though his favorability rating was not quite 100%, it was over 95% and enough to qualify as sincere love.

Zo didn’t know how much Caesar liked Zi Cheng, but he could see his brother had a special spot for her in his heart. He had never seen Caesar so protective of another female before.

The butler had always protected Zo since Zo was a child. Even though Zo was no longer a waste, and was now a genius, the butler was still used to his role as protector.

On the other hand, Caesar’s first thought wasn’t to protect those in his entourage, but instead it was to protect Zi Cheng, an outsider.

No wonder Caesar would hurt his family and betray their interests for her. The signs had been there from early on. Zo was disappointed at his brother’s change in behavior, that he would ignore his family for a woman. Despite this, Zo still wanted to save him from Zi Cheng’s control.

Ai Lin kept a careful distance from Zi Cheng. She didn’t go too far, for fear she would miss her escape opportunity.

The Boundary Breaking talisman could break through any enchantment but it could only be opened for a few seconds. You wouldn’t make it if you were too slow.

Ai Lin knew this, so when everyone was guarding against the little girl, she was still focused on Zi Cheng.

“Be patient and don’t leave my side, got it?” Ming Xi was uneasy so he said this to Feng Wu.

Feng Wu nodded obediently and tightened her grip on his hand, indicating she would not leave.

Feng Wu was a little worried. She wondered if Baby would hurry back. It was only now that she realized how dangerous their situation was.

She didn’t want Ming Xi to die. He still hadn’t agreed to marry her yet and Little Bun still needed father. They needed to go back alive so they could see Little Bun.

In the meantime, Ming Xi had already drawn out his sword and raised it to his chest with one hand, while he used his other hand to guard Feng Wu. He was completely focused.

From time to time, they could hear screams from the people who had runaway earlier. They all knew the ones who screamed would not survive.

No one noticed how calm Boss Hart and his two companions were. His companions in particular weren’t nervous at all.

Only five minutes had passed, and yet it felt like a century.

“It’s your turn.” The little girl said upon returning with a happy smile on her face.

There was no need to ask about the welfare of those who ran away. There was no way they could have survived.

“What are you trying to do?! Don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again. You’ve killed so many. When you finally enter the underworld, you will enter the ninth floor and suffer immensely!” Yaoyue tried her best to convince the smiling little girl in front of her.

If she had been speaking to a spirit with an adult mind, she may have had a chance, but she was talking to a child. Everyone knew children were lovely angels, the loveliest of all, because they were not yet tainted by the world.

This was in part because they were so young and didn’t have a concept of good or evil in their hearts yet. They didn’t know what was acceptable to do and what was unacceptable to do.

They didn’t even know what death meant.

Surely enough, the little angel just blinked her eyes suspiciously. “I don’t care about the underworld. I just want you to stay and play with me. You sent all my playmates away, so you have to replace them and stay and accompany me.” She announced with a domineering attitude, not caring if her audience agreed or not.

This was her world and no on could leave without her say so.

Obviously, never try to reason with children. They won’t understand what you’re saying.

“No, you’re wrong. You can’t keep killing people. If you keep continuing like this, you won’t be able to reincarnate.” Yaoyue had no choice. She couldn’t fight the little girl, so her only option was to be diplomatic.

“I don’t understand you. Why can’t I kill people? Father said as long as I wanted to, I could do anything.”

The girl’s morals were obviously all wrong. But thinking about it, considering her father was OK with making dolls out from the skin and flesh of other little children, was it any wonder her world view was so unnatural?

“You can stop. This child will not listen.” A weak, white figure flew out of a painting in the hall.

The figure was obviously a spirit, a weak one at that. From the image, the entity must have been a middle-aged man before dying. He had a simple face and cowardly eyes.

“You dummy! You’re not hiding anymore huh?” The little girl snorted and looked very disgusted with the man in front of her.

They all wondered who he was. It couldn’t be the little girl’s father. She would never have spoken to him that way if he was. From what she just said earlier, she seemed to have a good relationship with her father. So then, who was he?

Ming Xi had a suspicion. “Are you the dollmaker?”

The man smiled bitterly. “Yes, you guessed it. I made these dolls. I am a sinner. Had I known things would turn out this way, I would never have agreed to make them.”

“Indeed, you are in the wrong. You were in the wrong from the very beginning. You couldn’t make the kind of doll the family asked for, so you couldn’t leave. And although that was a pity, you should not have hurt innocent people for your own selfishness, hurting innocent children to create these dolls.”

497, 498

497: Kill Her!

Ming Xi had been ashamed of the owner of the notebook when he saw it. The crime began with the nobleman who used his power to oppress the lower class. Although the dollmaker began as an innocent party in all of it, he became guilty when he used the skin and flesh of children to make the doll. No one forced him to do it so the moment he did, he could no longer be considered an innocent party.

Ming Xi had no sympathy for this kind of person; it didn’t matter how much regret the person had afterwards.

“A person like me doesn’t deserve sympathy. I should have resolved myself to my fate, but instead, in order to survive, I chose to commit a grave sin against the children.”

His eyes were filled with remorse and it was clear how much he regretted the harm he had done. Originally, he thought he could atone for his sins with his death. It wasn’t until after he died that he realized redemption wasn’t so easy to get.

The children hated him and kept him imprisoned in the mansion. He couldn’t leave, couldn’t reincarnate. He could only suffer endless torment every day.

For over a thousand years now, he had watched as countless people had their souls imprisoned in the mansion after being killed by the children.

At this point, he didn’t know how many souls were captive inside the mansion. The other souls thought about leaving everyday, however, they were stuck just like him.

The children had a strong hostility towards adults, especially men. The reason, the culprit, was of course him. He should never have been born. . . 

“What are you doing out?” The little girl was unhappy at having her game interrupted.

She didn’t just want to play with them; she wanted to put them into the dolls. That way they could stay with her forever.

“Miss, stop hurting people. Please let them go.” The man cautiously spoke up.

It wasn’t that he was being kindly and wanted the adventurers to escape; it was just that he had an ominous premonition from the group, especially the one with the golden hair. That guy gave him a terrifying feeling. If it didn’t come from personal power, then it definitely came from blood lineage.

He did not want to mess with a human with such strong bloodline. Plus, he did feel guilty about the young miss. He had turned a naïve, willful child into a devil and had caused her misfortune. In order to make up for it, he didn’t want her to provoke someone she shouldn’t provoke.

Letting the group go was for her own good. If the group wasn’t released, and if something happened to the golden-haired person, then the young miss would definitely suffer in the future.

Unfortunately, the little girl did not understand his kind intentions. She pouted unhappily. “Mind your own business you rotten scumbag.”

She waved her hand and the man’s spirit slammed into the wall.

Spirits were intangible and should not have been hurt from physical impact. But unexpectedly, when he slammed into the wall, he suffered a serious injury.

His already weak coloring dimmed even more to almost nothing. He looked even weaker now.

The little girl muttered, “Busybody,” before turning away and ignoring him. She looked at Ming Xi and the others with great interest. “Now it’s your turn. All of you have to stay and play with me.”

She hugged her doll with one arm and flapped her other happily. Her chubby face was indescribably cute. It was just that no one was in the mood to appreciate it. Her cute face was in fact as terrifying as a demon to them.

“Let’s play Ghost Catching People. Anyone caught by the ghost will become a ghost too.” The little girl giggled happily. “I’m going to be the ghost so you have to be careful now.”

She disappeared as soon as she said that. When she reappeared, it was in the middle of Caesar’s team as she tapped a young man.

“Ah!” He screamed in panic. It was too late to run and he quickly turned into an ice sculpture.

“Go and stay in the painting.” The little girl waved her hand and an icy, cold wind formed in the room. A shadow appeared in the air and then floated to the wall where a frame was slowly forming. As the shadow entered the frame, an image gradually took shape. It was the young man who had just been tapped by the little girl!

“Loufman!” Those familiar with the deceased cried out in sorrow. Their hearts were dominated with hatred and unwillingness at not being able to save their companion.

They did not want to die under the hands of a malicious spirit in a place like this.

Killing intent filled their hearts. Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!

If they didn’t kill her, they would die just like Loufman. They stopped passively dodging and instead raised their weapons high, intent on attacking her.

“Oh, how fun!” The little girl giggled at the sight and clapped her hands in delight. “I’m going to grab you!”

Their tragic mood went right over her head.

“Kill her! Kill that monster!”

“Kill her!”

The group rushed towards the little girl, who was smiling extraordinarily sweetly, with their swords and staffs.

Despair filled Yaoyue’s heart. It would be useless. Attacking with magic and physical strikes wouldn’t have any effect on the little girl’s spirit body. The only thing that would work were necromancer magic and light magic.

Yaoyue was the only one in the group with necromancer magic. As for light magic. . . 

She glanced over at Ming Xi. She knew he had talent for light, but he rarely used it, so she didn’t know what level his magic was or if he could control it well.

“Junior Ming Xi, join me.” Yaoyue cast necromancer magic as she said this.

“Of course.” Ming Xi replied. He rarely used magic, so between swordsmanship and magic, he was much better at the former. Nonetheless, he swapped the sword in his hand for a staff.

498: Two People As Canon Fodder

Feng Wu was worried as she stepped aside and looked at the scene in front of her. Rui Baby wasn’t back yet, what should she do?

Xiao Chun was in the process of leveling up from all the purification he did earlier, so he couldn’t come out to help her.

Without Xiao Chun’s help, no matter how fierce Feng Wu’s fighting spirit was, she couldn’t do anything to an undead, after all she wasn’t actually a necromancer.

Without Xiao Chun, there was nothing she could do.

Ming Xi’s light magic combined with Yaoyue’s necromancer magic would not be enough to defeat the little girl spirit. All it did was buy everyone some time.

They had to admit their attacks were useless after seeing how it didn’t damage the little girl in anyway.

The situation was desperate.

Right then, Zi Cheng made her move.

“Everyone, step back. There’s a way we can escape, probably.”

Zi Cheng had thought long and hard before taking out her Boundary Breaking talisman. She would gain a lot of favorability points if she could save them, which meant she could at least make up some of the points she spent to buy the talisman.

All around, people's eyes lit up as a glimmer of hope flared in their hearts.

There was no time to tell if her words were true or not. They wanted to live and this was an opportunity. Of course they would seize it!

“Miss Zi Cheng, what can you do. Please tell us.”

People spoke cautiously and they looked at Zi Cheng differently now.

Ai Lin was surprised. She didn’t expect Zi Cheng to take out the Boundary Breaker talisman. Wasn’t she afraid of exposing her system?

But then upon thinking about, as long as it wasn’t worn on the body, who, other than a fellow transmigrator, would imagine a something like a system was possible?

Other people were more likely to think what opportunities Zi Cheng had, and not so much if a system was possible or if one existed.

“This talisman is called the Boundary Breaking talisman and it can break through any enchantment. However, the enchantment we are in is so powerful that it can’t completely break it. It can only open a passage out. The passage will sustain for a very short period of time, three breaths only. So if you want to escape, you must do so within those three breaths.”

“Then what are we waiting for?! Miss Zi Cheng, hurry and open the passage we’ll leave now!”

Who would want to stay in such a terrifying place? Of course they wanted to leave as soon as they could. They didn’t want to wait around and be turned into ice sculptures!

Zi Cheng shook her head. “Not yet. Once the passage is opened, it must not be disturbed. If the spirit attacks, I’m afraid we won’t be able to escape in time and we will all die here.”

People looked at each other in dismay. This meant someone would have to stay to attract the spirit’s attention; in other words, they needed a sacrifice.

Who would be willing to do that?

One person looked at someone, another looked at someone else. Eyes shifted everywhere. No one wanted the job.

Then they turned to look at Ming Xi and Yaoyue fighting the little girl. Their eyes shone bright. Weren’t those two good candidates?! As long as those two kept the spirit busy, everyone else could escape!

In order to survive, the selfish side of human nature reared it ugly head.

Mogefei could see were their thoughts were headed. His face turned ugly. Both people were members of his team; plus Ming Xi’s identity was special.

When Mogefei left school, the teachers had taken care tell him to watch out for Ming Xi and ensure no accidents befell him.

He didn’t know why the teachers were so particular about Ming Xi, but it was clear Ming Xi’s background must have been so extraordinary that even the teachers didn’t want to offend the forces behind him.

Tian Ya, who had the best relationship with Ming Xi, frowned at the group. These guys actually wanted to use Ming Xi as some kind cannon fodder? The prince of the Ancient Moon kingdom? One of the four future emperors? Ha.

Ming Xi and Yaoyue were focused on dealing with the little girl and weren’t aware they had drawn the short straw.

From their perspective, the group didn’t think there was anything wrong with sacrificing two people for the good of the group. Besides they were the only two who could deal with the spirit. They had the ability, so why would they mind being sacrificed?!

This was of course because they themselves weren’t the ones being sacrificed, so naturally they didn’t feel any pressure. If they were the ones to be left behind, they wouldn’t be so openminded.

“Miss Yaoyue and Ming Xi are both students from Xingguang Holy academy, it must be in their bones to sacrifice themselves for others. It would be their honor. They would definitely agree to stay behind!” Someone said as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Mogefei and his group did not look good. It seemed these people were intent on leaving Yaoyue and Ming Xi behind in order to save their own butts.

“You dare?! If you think it’s so great why don’t you stay behind?!” Houzhuo looked at the speaker disdainfully.

“I would totally stay behind! But I’m not a necromancer. I couldn’t stop the spirit even if I wanted to.” The man who spoke up was even more assertive now.

“Then why should Ming Xi and Yaoyue stay?” Tian Ya’s voice was cold and flat.

Even in a life and death situation, his face remained placid and calm.

“If it means we all live, isn’t that a good enough reason?”

“Do you want us to die together?!”

“As long as the two of them are willing to make this small sacrifice, we’ll all live. Of course the two of them would agree to such a reasonable request.”

The gall. Ai Lin rolled her eyes at their ugliness.

Tang was silent throughout. He wanted to live, but the only way to do so was to sacrifice two of his teammates. Though he wasn’t particularly close to either of them, they did come from the same school. Everyone won the challenge and got into the top ten together. How could he watch the two of them get shafted when they started this together?

But if they didn’t leave Ming Xi and Yaoyue behind, everyone would die. He was torn. He didn’t have the words so he left it to the team captain to decide.

“You call dying a small sacrifice?!” Ai Lin was speechless. If death wasn’t considered a big sacrifice, then what was?

“They won’t necessarily die! You don’t know that. Maybe they’ll get lucky and survive?” Someone yelled out, but it was obvious they didn’t believe their own words.

499, 500

499: Stay or Leave

Ai Lin laughed in his face.

Feng Wu stood by and looked worriedly over at Ming Xi fighting the little girl spirit, then she turned back to look at the people who wanted to leave Ming Xi and runaway. They were bad people! Master said those who flee the battle field were bad people, so these guys were bad guys.

“If you want to go, then go.” Feng Wu said expressionlessly.

Ai Lin was stunned. This wasn’t the time to throw a fit! Did she really want her sweetheart to stay and be cannon fodder?!

“Feng Wu! Don’t make trouble!” Mogefei admonished.

He also thought Feng Wu was throwing a temper tantrum. It was the wrong time to be making a scene. Ming Xi and Yaoyue were about to be left behind. The two of them could really die if they were left in a place like this.

Tian Ya looked disapprovingly at Feng Wu. He didn’t think she should be angry at Ming Xi, not while his safety was at stake.

“You’re telling us to go? Xiao Wu, what you do mean by that?” Zi Cheng was dumbfounded.

“Don’t you want to go?” Feng Wu was puzzled. Didn’t they want to leave? Why were they mad now that she was letting them go?

“You also agree with the rest of us that we should leave those two behind?” Someone carefully probed her.

Everyone knew she and Ming Xi were close; most suspected they were a couple. But sure enough, the husband and wife, when faced with calamity flew away separately.

Look this isn’t as bad as it looks. Even his little lover is OK with us all leaving. When it came to life and death, it was every man for himself, thought the crowd.

“You can leave if you want. I’ll stay with Ming Xi.” Feng Wu said seriously.

Rui Baby would be back soon. He had said the seven-colored phoenix would be able to help. The only thing was to wait for their return so they could all leave together.

Oh my god! This girl wanted to stay behind with her man!

True love!

The group of men sighed. They felt embarrassed for having thought poorly of her earlier. Why couldn’t they find a woman like that, one who was willing to live and die with them? Such a beautiful charming beauty.

“I’m staying too.” Tian Ya couldn’t very well leave Ming Xi behind.

Everyone saw it. There was more consensus to leave Ming Xi and Yaoyue behind. It was reality, even if Mogefei and his group didn’t want to admit it.

They couldn’t let everyone stay and die together.

Tian Ya didn’t care what the others thought; he wasn’t going to leave a companion behind.

“Tian Ya, go with them!” Ming Xi suddenly turned around and shouted. He was doing his best against the little spirit, but he was still at a disadvantage.

The little girl had been practicing for over a thousand years. Plus, she had a natural psychic body. So although his light magic was good against spirits, it was little use against her.

Even Yaoyue’s necromancer magic barely had much effect. The little girl was simply at a higher level.

Ming Xi estimated that if they were to categorize her level using human standards, she would be at saint/holy level. It wouldn’t do any good to have more people around. The only ones who could do any damage at all were Yaoyue and him.

If Xiao Wu’s sword was with them, their odds of winning would have increased dramatically, but unfortunately, Xiao Wu’s sword was in the midst of leveling up.

Ming Xi smiled bitterly at this. He wouldn’t last long with his current strength. Instead of everyone staying together and dying, it would be better if everyone who could leave, left. There was no need to stay and die together.

“Senior Sister, you go too. I’ll hold on here.” Ming Xi said calmly.

What?! Ming Xi was planning on sacrificing himself for all of them! They were moved beyond words. They couldn’t help but admire him.

Yaoyue had not expected Ming Xi to let her go. Just now, Ming Xi wasn’t the only one paying attention to what Zi Cheng had said. She heard it too. It was just that she was busy fighting the spirit and couldn’t do anything about them. It wasn’t like she could run over to them.

She was unwilling when she heard them try to use her and Ming Xi as cannon fodder. She was no hero and certainly didn’t hold any sentiment like self-sacrifice.

How many people could give up their lives so that others could have a chance to live? Not many.

Seeing that Ming Xi was willing to let her go, a warm current went through her heart and admiration grew for her junior.

“Zi Cheng, do it.” Ming Xi said lightly. There wasn’t a trace of despair in his voice or resentment in his eyes. He was calm, as if he wasn’t staying to die, but staying as a guest.

“Ming Xi! Have you really decided?!” Mogefei shouted in disbelief.

Mogefei and Tian Yan had similar personalities. They were both calm and barely showed any expression.

This was the first time Mogefei shouted and displayed strong emotion.

“Take Xiao Wu away.” Ming Xi glanced at Feng Wu. He wanted to protect her, but he didn’t have the spare energy to do so if she stayed. He hoped that when they met again, she would be uninjured.

Mogefei sighed. “OK.”

It was Ming Xi’s decision. Mogefei knew the teachers would be disappointed, but Ming Xi had made his choice. It was either everyone dying together or sacrificing one person for everyone else. They were lousy options.

It was heart wrenching but most would have done the same. As a leader, he had to protect his team, but he was derelict in his duties. He’d already lost Geente and now he was going to lose Ming Xi.

Seeing Mogefei promise relieved Ming Xi’s heart.

Feng Wu looked at him stubbornly. Her eyes were firm and her intentions were clear. She didn’t say anything else, but she was not going to leave.

“You can’t leave!” The little girl was angry. Why did people always want to leave?! She only asked them to stay and play with her.

With that said, the ferocity of her attacks increased.

Ming Xi had an even harder time keeping up. He pushed Yaoyue out of the battle sphere the same time Zi Cheng activated her talisman.

The moment the passage appeared, people jumped in line to get in. Mogefei grabbed Feng Wu, intending to pull her through it to safety, but Feng Wu lightly touched his arm, making it numb, and pushed him through the passage instead.

Tian Ya didn’t intend to go in even though he was close to the passage. He was serious when he said he would stay. Unfortunately for him, just as the passage was about to disappear, Feng Wu went behind him and shoved him in.

500: Nearly Had a Heart Attack

By the time Tian Ya felt the shove, it was too late, and he was inside before he could react.

He only had time to hear Feng Wu say,” Ming Xi told you to leave,” before the passage closed behind him.

Tian Ya had a powerful urge to complain. Did this girl forget? Ming Xi had told her to leave too!

Indeed, Feng Wu did forget – selective memory. She forgot the parts she didn’t want to follow.

Ming Xi only realized Feng Wu was still there after the passage had closed. Several emotions hit him. He was shocked, happy, but also annoyed.

He clearly told her to leave. Did she not realize what she would face by staying behind?

He couldn’t stay angry though. His heart softened when confronted with the persistence in her eyes.

“Ming Xi, don’t be afraid. I am with you.” Feng Wu said seriously as she looked at him fighting.

“Why are you willing to stay with him?” The little girl stopped attacking for a moment, her eyes full of envy and curiosity. She wondered why the girl human was willing to stay with the golden-haired man. Was it because he was good looking?

Even a spirit like her could tell he was really, really fine. Well at least she had never seen anyone look as good as him in all her thousand years.

“He is the father of my son, of course I want to be with him.” Feng Wu answered the little girl seriously.

Master had said a wife and husband must not separate. And since Ming Xi was Little Bun’s father, she had to be Ming Xi’s wife and him and her husband. Therefore, obviously they had to remain together.

Besides all that, she was simply unwilling to leave him alone at this time.

“Is that so?” The little girl tilted her head in confusion.

“Yes.” Feng Wu nodded.

“Then are you willing to stay with me?” The little girl’s eyes were full of anticipation.

“I don’t want to.” Feng Wu shook her head and answered honestly. Xiao Ye[notes] was still with the vice principal and she was looking forward to seeing him again.

The little girl’s face sank and her face stopped looking cute. Now it was cold. “Even if you don’t want to, you’ll still stay in the painting and accompany me forever.

Without another word, she began attacking again, but this time she was focused on Feng Wu. Feng Wu’s refusal had apparently made her angry.

Ming Xi helped Feng Wu block most of the attacks. Even if Feng Wu couldn’t do anything to the little spirit girl, she could still dodge and evade.

The long-forgotten, middle-aged man stood to the side watching the scene anxiously. He knew nothing he said would matter.

Sweat dripped from Ming Xi’s forehead. He struggled to block her attacks. He wasn’t a necromancer, and it was hard for him to fight the little girl spirit.

Most of his attacks were actually defensive blocks.

The little girl sneered and increased the speed of her attacks. She took advantage of a gap in Ming Xi’s defense and patted Feng Wu.

Ming Xi’s heart nearly stopped. He knew the consequences of that little pat. He was heartbroken when he thought about Feng Wu turning into ice and her soul being sealed in a painting.

Just when he thought he was about to watch a tragedy unfold, an inexplicable thing happened.

The little spirit girl let out an ear-piercing scream filled with panic.

A bang and a scream later and she disappeared to the living room as a stream of light as though something terrifying was chasing after her and she had to escape as fast as she could.

What? Ming Xi was speechless. What just happened? Did Xiao Chun wake up?

Of course Xiao Chun was still asleep. How could he wake up so quickly? It was Pure Flame.[notes] As Xiao Chun’s good friend, she couldn’t let something happen to Feng Wu. She knew how much he liked Feng Wu. So naturally when she realized Feng Wu’s life was in danger, she didn’t hesitate to strike. The result was the moment the little spirit girl touched Feng Wu, Pure Flame was on her like a light and gave her a serious burn.

Who knew how many people the little girl had already killed. The sins on her body were deep, so the moment Pure Flame touched her, it felt like the fires of hell were burning her. No wonder she screamed like mad.

Feng Wu had thought she was a goner. The sensation of dying left her feeling cold. She had encountered death before, but it had never been as terrifying as this. Honestly, her heart nearly stopped.

“Pure Flame! Thank you!” Feng Wu knew who had rescued her so she thanked her savior wholeheartedly.

Pure Flame, who had materialized as a little guy, nodded before disappearing back into Xiao Chun’s body.[notes]

Pure Flame wasn’t like Xiao Chun. She did not recognize Feng Wu as her master, but remained by Feng Wu’s side because she was good friends with Xiao Chun.

Pure Flame would help if Feng Wu was in danger, but Feng Wu couldn’t tell Pure Flame what to do.

“Xiao Wu!” Ming Xi’s heart nearly stopped for a moment. He had been so scared. By the time he came back to his senses, his back had been soaked with sweat. He stepped forward and pulled Feng Wu into his arms. His heartbeat only slowed down after feeling the warmth from her body.

“Ming Xi. . .  it hurts.” Feng Wu pushed back at Ming Xi uncomfortably. So tight. It was hard to breathe. Feng Wu thought ignorantly in her heart, but her face was still as stiff as ever.

“I’m sorry. I hurt you.” Ming Xi coughed before releasing her slowly. That moment just now, his heart nearly stopping, he did not want to repeat it ever again.

The surrounding walls were icy cold so he pulled Feng Wu to his side. The little girl fled, but they didn’t know when she would return, so they had to stay on guard.

“Come here. I want to ask you something.” Ming Xi looked at the middle-aged man hiding in the corner.

“What. . .  what did you want to ask?” He didn’t have extraordinary talent like the young miss who had cultivated for over a thousand years. Spirits had a much harder time cultivating than their human counterparts.

Because he had been bullied by the young miss for so long, he never got the chance to improve his strength. He had survived for over a thousand years but was still so incredibly weak.

“The child, where are her parents? Why do we not see them here?” This had been puzzling Ming Xi. The dollmaker was there, so why weren’t her parents?”

“Oh them? The children ate them.” He had wanted the children to take revenge with their own hands when he released them all those years ago. He knew they would retaliate and kill him, so he had been ready to die.

He never expected the children to be so cruel as to not only tear apart everyone in the mansion but to also devour their souls as well.

After that, the young miss had wanted to keep him to play with, so that was why his soul was still around in the weak condition it was in.