The Most Dangerous Way to School

"Starting from the dorm, you go this way."

Logean Wuji granted his students no time to process. Instead, he smilingly led the way around the house and toward a rickety old bridge. The green mist spilled out of the chasm over which the bridge hung, preventing them from seeing anything other than the old planks that made up the floor of the rope bridge.

"You cross this first."

Logean Wuji stood aside and motioned for them to cross. Pixie regretted having come forward earlier, because that had now placed her at the front of the group. She was up first to cross, and Logean Wuji was looking right at her. With a gulp, she walked up to the bridge and stretched her foot forward, leaving it hovering over the first of the wooden boards.

Lightly tapping it to make sure it was sturdy, she then placed her entire foot on it and transferred her weight. There was a creak, but besides that all was well. Ye Zhiyuan was nervously biting her nails, not wanting to see the worst case scenario come to pass.

Pixie carefully crossed, then Logean Wuji looked toward who was next in line: Zhou Hua. Ji Tianshan was just behind her, so she laughed nervously and tried to slip further back, but the others caught on and started to contend for last place.

Zhou Hua, the fire in her eyes long having been snuffed, was terrified as she stepped toward the bridge. Luckily, she had been able to see Pixie walk across just fine so she was also able to cross. Soon enough, everyone had gone over but Ling Jian'er.

"You know," Logean Wuji smirked, "it's good that you're last." Waving his hand, he forced away the thick clouds of green miasma, allowing everyone to see just how deep the chasm really was. Ling Jian'er's chest started to rise and fall rather quickly; she looked down at the bottomless pit before her and felt an urge to pass out.

"Now, Whirlwind Monkey, cross the bridge."

Ling Jian'er took a full minute to build up the willpower to step onto the bridge, then she took her first step almost five minutes after. Cyrus was made of laughter at that point, clutching his stomach and roaring hysterically.

"Scared of heights, Ling Jian'er? How fitting! It shows you don't have what it takes to rise- Aiya!" He had been so carried away that he did not even notice Ling Jian'er had sprinted across the bridge and arrived on the other side, a kick already aimed at his shin.

Logean Wuji shook his head and he walked over the bridge as well, then he went past them. Following him, they saw yet another bridge leading to another mass of land, then yet another and another.

By the time they got out of the splintered grassland, they had crossed a total of fifty-three bridges. Looking back at the fractured region they had finally escaped from, Cyrus whistled in relief.

They had crossed the final bridge and were now standing on a plateau that overlooked the grasslands, seeing the dorm afar off. There was a bamboo forest were they were now, a single path leading into it.

"Come now," Logean Wuji, who was already walking, said.

This forest was filled with living bamboo which attacked them all at random intervals behind Logean Wuji's back. It was impossible to see it coming, as the bamboo was motionless right up until the final millisecond where it whipped toward them and struck them on the back. Worse, each time they were struck and cried out in pain, Logean Wuji would turn around and act clueless.

They would try to explain what was going on, but the bamboo did not attack as long as Logean Wuji was looking.

"Tianshan, do you think Master is actually the one behind thi- AIEE!!!" Ye Zuliao was struck by a bamboo on his back before he could finish his question.

"Actually, Zuliao, I think you might be onto something ther- OUCHIE!" Ji Tianshan was struck as well, before she could finish her response.

"He's having a laugh, this Master of ours," Cyrus added, looking around for more attacks. Seeing that they were not coming, he let out a breath in relief and continued, "I can't wait to get strong enough to give a good whippin- AAHH!!!"

No one but Logean Wuji was safe from the whipping bamboo. This persisted for twenty minutes before they finally made it out of the bamboo forest, arriving at a river and a waterfall. At the side of the waterfall was an area cut out of the rock, on which was built a steep set of steps. Logean Wuji, with all the ease of a mountain monk, ascended the steps step after step and waited for them at the top.

Every now and again, some of the gushing water from the waterfall would splash onto the stone steps, causing them to become smoother over time. As a result, everyone but Cyrus took several tumbles before they made it up to the top.

As they kept on going, Logean Wuji brought them to a huge lake that was covered in algae the size of a large bush. There were also giant lily pads on the lake, which Logean Wuji expected them to jump onto in order to get across. On the other side was a tall willow, and under it was a more standard stairwell, wide and long. It led to the top of a mountain that breached the immortal clouds in the sky.

They were all taken aback by the sight of this mountain and the clouds that it pierced. Something told them that that was where their journey would end. The group of students all took the obstacle at their own speed.

Ling Jian'er and Cyrus were competing to see who could cross first, and thus were quickly leaping from lily pad to lily pad. Ji Tianshan wanted to join in on the fun, but her brother was holding onto her hand tightly and would not let go. They continued together, at a slow pace. Bi Xue was gracefully gliding her way from lily pad to lily pad, but at some point she dove into the water and disappeared.

Pixie had joined Ye Zhiyuan and Ye Zuliao and together they were making good time. As for Zhou Hua, she was doing her very best to make it. As the oldest of them all, she had a harder time without the added power of her cultivation base. Even so, Logean Wuji remained impartial and watched them all struggle, mumbling different things as he contemplated.

Before too long, Ling Jian'er and Cyrus had passed the halfway mark and were now even closer to the other side. Suddenly, Ling Jian'er jumped onto a rather peculiar looking lily pad. The minute it felt her land on it, the 'lily pad' snapped close like a beast's unforgiving jaw.

Gel like secretions had already lined the 'mouth' and were making it even harder to pry open. Ling Jian'er struggled and Cyrus, who was still close, also tried to force the carnivorous plant to open up.

"Monkey! Monkey, can you hear me?"

"I hear you Cyrus! Where's Master?"

Cyrus had his hands deep in that gel, trying to remove as much of it as he could to see if it would help him get the plant to open up. When he looked back, Logean Wuji was looking on, seeming to not care at all.

"I don't think he'll be coming to your rescue."

All of a sudden, Cyrus felt his lily pad shake and tilt to the other side. Pixie, Ye Zhiyuan and Ye Zuliao had arrived, all of them rushing over to the monster lily pad. While Ye Zhiyuan and Ye Zuliao tried to help remove more and more gel, Pixie suddenly had a thought. Looking down at her hand, she saw a shimmering ring on one of her fingers.

"Everyone check their rings! See if you have anything that can cut into the plant!"

Now remembering the spatial rings that Logean Wuji had given them, the four cast their senses into their rings and looked around at the items that Logean Wuji had given them.

"Nothing," Ye Zhiyuan shook her head.

"Me neither, I just have some books and a gourd," Ye Zuliao sighed, going back to scooping up fistfuls of gel. Cyrus and Pixie had also found nothing they could use, so they all started to bury their hands into the gel and attempt to pull the mouth open.

"I have a knife!" Zhou Hua then arrived, her knife in hand. They made way for her to get to work, which she immediately did.

"Look out, Jian'er! I'm going to stab into it!"

"Okay!"

With both hands, Zhou Hua buried her knife into the plant and started to cut. Despite the fact that it was a plant, it was incredibly tough. She simply cut downward in a straight line but was soon unable to go any further.

Noticing her struggle, Cyrus came forward and offered to help.

"But... You don't have your cultivation...."

"Don't worry, Zhou Hua. I might not have any cultivation, but I still have my body!" Cyrus grabbed the knife and let out a roar, his arm moving like a well-oiled machine. He finished the line, then he turned the blade and cut across, back up and and then back across. After that, Ling Jian'er pushed her way through the hole in the plant's mouth and was finally free.

Ji Tianshan and Ji Haogui had just arrived to see her be freed. Cyrus used the opportunity to rush across the lake and arrive on the other side, announcing his victory to a disgruntled Ling Jian'er.

Once everyone was across, Logean Wuji arrived at the other side with them. Ling Jian'er saw him and she swallowed the fresh batch of snide remarks that she had cooked up.

"Master, why didn't you save me?" The others didn't expect her to ask, but they looked toward Logean Wuji and awaited his response.

"Are you not saved?" With that, he turned to face the stairs and left Ling Jian'er and the others speechless.

At that moment, Bi Xue also came flying out of the water like a trout, sending splashes of water here and there. Her clothes were soaked, but she did not seem to mind. As a matter of fact, her skin was a bit more on the pale blue side and a number of slits had appeared on the skin at either side of her neck.

The others cast weird glances toward her, but she paid them no mind.

"Now that you are all here, we can go on up." Logean Wuji, once again, stepped off to the side and motioned for them to go ahead. Thinking little of the stairs before them, they all went on ahead.

At first, Ji Tianshan, Ji Haogui and Cyrus had stepped onto them. However, as their feet landed on the first step, they froze. Ling Jian'er and the others were a bit confused by this so they looked to Logean Wuji, seeing him completely nonchalant. They looked to each other, then found the strength to step onto the first step as well.

They too, froze in place. This was due to the fact that the moment they landed on that first step, a wave of negative emotions forced its way into their minds, hearts and souls.

"This is the final obstacle in your daily commute. These stairs are imbued with the lingering emotions of savage hellions- or dead things, if you will. I have them set at the lowest difficulty, however that will increase as the days pass."

"Don't worry though. The difficulty is an individual thing. Those of you that manage to make it up will face a harder challenge the next day, those of you that can't will remain on the stairs until you can."

After that, Logean Wuji also started to walk up the stairs, except he didn't freeze. His students could move nothing but their eyes, so they watched as he easily ascended and left them behind.

"Oh, right. Class starts in five minutes, so in the future you'll want to get here much faster than you did today. See you."

He said nothing else as he walked.

As for his students, they were covered in sweat and breathing rapidly. It was clear that they were all struggling in the face of that malevolent energy and that it was forcing them to remain where they were. They could not even make a sound as they watched Logean Wuji make light of their challenge, taunting them forward.

As that feeling grew in all their hearts, two children were finally able to move their feet and take another step. They were, of course, Cyrus and Ling Jian'er.