Chapter 10

Dragging along the noisy and uncooperative Song XiaoHu really irritated Miss High-and-Mighty Cui Yu, so without much thought, she tied him up and threw him into one of ShaoYang Sect's firewood storehouses. Song XiaoHu struggled to break free from the ropes by himself, but he couldn't break down the locked metal door. As he continuously shouted for help, by a stroke of luck, that young girl heard him while passing by. After she clearly understood his circumstances and why he was there, she immediately brought him to the examination grounds.

Listening to Song XiaoHu's simple explanation, Ling Xia carefully observed the young girl, who donned emerald green clothes. With curved eyebrows and porcelain skin, you could tell with one look that she would grow into a beauty in the future. Moreover, being able to boldly and openly bring Song XiaoHu into this restricted area, her identity definitely wasn't ordinary.

The young girl, contrary to what one might expect, naturally and unreservedly introduced herself, saying that her name was Feng Luo.

Ling Xia instantly recognized her; she was the first member of the protagonist's future harem! The most beloved treasure of the leader of ShaoYang Sect, the daughter of the governor of ChongMing City. He couldn't resist inwardly retorting: Why did all the sect leaders have to have an eligible and unwed daughter?

Song XiaoHu looked at the surroundings a bit dejectedly and lamented, "Is the first round already over? I still came too late."

Feng Luo grinned. "That's not a problem. I can bring you over to take the test right now. I'll explain things to my senior brother; no worries."

Song XiaoHu's mouth promptly split into a wide smile as he exclaimed, "Thank you so much!"

Standing to the side, Ling Xiao was full of interest as he regarded this lad-and-lass pair's sincere conversation, sighing in his heart: Sure enough, this is what youth is…

Looking at Feng Luo leading Song XiaoHu away, Ling Xia said to Yu ZhiJue with a smile, "Yep, this Feng Luo is pretty nice; perhaps you can all become good friends."

The great sir villain's warped views on love originated from his love-hate, mutually destructive parents, but if he interacted and came into more contact with enthusiastic, cheerful girls like Feng Luo, it's possible that those views could be corrected after a short period of time.

However, Yu ZhiJue's reaction was only to frown and wrinkle his brows, directly turning his head away. His entire body language could be summed up in two words: No way.

"…"

Song XiaoHu finally came back before the start of the second round, naturally having passed the first round of tests. In addition to that, he said that Feng Luo had promised him that he'd definitely be able to join ShaoYang Sect.

Ling Xia silently sighed in his heart: Ahh, the protagonist really was impressive—to win over a girl this quickly!

The second round of exams was devised to test an applicant's comprehensive abilities, requiring all of them to pass through ShaoYang Sect's treasured Thousands of Beasts Forest within the 10-hour time limit and to either capture a level-3 or above magical beast, find a level-2 or above energy stone, or gather a level-3 or above spiritual plant.

As the name implies, Thousands of Beasts Forest has all sorts of dangerous creatures, as well as containing countless rare and precious energy stones and spiritual plants. In consideration of the levels of the applicants, the seniors of ShaoYang Sect set up a boundary barrier within Thousands of Beasts Forest so the examination grounds would only cover zones without high-level magical beasts.

Despite these safety measures, passing through almost 30 kilometres of Thousands of Beasts Forest wasn't without its many dangers.

Ling Xia was worried about the assigned tasks the most because he did not have a clue on how to recognize any of those so-called spiritual plants or magical beasts, alright? Having grown up in spiritually barren and ordinary mountainous woods, Song XiaoHu wouldn't know either…

As if noticing the subject of his worry, Yu ZhiJue calmly said, "I know what they look like."

He never forgot anything he saw; even though the women of YuNü Sect guarded against him in all sorts of ways during his time there, he still saw the spiritual plants they cultivated in the physic gardens and had secretly read some books about energy stones and magical beasts. Of course, he had only the most basic knowledge of them since there was no way he could come in contact with any of the precious or ancient books collected on Holy Maiden Peak, but it should still be enough to help.

Ling Xia rejoiced immediately, and Song XiaoHu looked at Yu ZhiJue with admiration as he praised, "Ah'Jue, you're so amazing."

Under the other two's gazes, Yu ZhiJue suddenly felt awkward and twisted his head to one side, saying, "This isn't anything to be amazed about; the other people here probably know it too."

Before going into the forest, everyone received a mid-level transfer talisman, so if someone ran across a dangerous situation they couldn't handle, they could choose to give up. Once the transfer talisman was ripped, one would be able to leave and be teleported back to the starting point.

This was considered a fairly humane procedure since, during the course of the exam, it was very likely to encounter life-threatening situations. After all, this world certainly didn't have anything like law enforcement, and all the rules were set by the largest sect in charge of the area.

That is what this world is like: power and survival of the fittest are the law, and one's strength determines everything.

Ling Xia very carefully put his transfer talisman into the inner pocket of his sleeve, while Song XiaoHu and Yu ZhiJue both thoughtlessly stuffed theirs into their lapels. Shaking his head at this scene, Ling Xia hastily helped Song XiaoHu place his talisman safely inside a pocket.

However, Yu ZhiJue subsequently flicked his transfer talisman to the ground, then declared, "In any case, I won't be using this."

Song XiaoHu's eyes widened, and with determination, he also announced, "l won't use it either. If I back down in the face of danger, I might as well not go in at all."

"…" Ling Xia really didn't expect that the almighty protagonist and the great sir villain would unexpectedly share the exact same mindset when it came to this matter. Looks like the people of this realm's world view had quite a large discrepancy compared to that of earthlings…

Under Yu ZhiJue's gaze of disdain and scorn, Ling Xia still hurriedly picked up the transfer talisman the other threw away, gently and diligently putting it away. If they really do end up in mortal danger, their lives are obviously more important, so this was a critical, life-saving talisman!

As they were setting off, Yu ZhiJue's movements suddenly jerked to a stop. Confused, Ling Xia asked, "What's wrong?"

Yu ZhiJue slowly shook his head before replying, "It's nothing."

His extremely keen senses had picked up on someone's gaze from behind, but when he started to focus his attention, that feeling of being spied on had already vanished.

Three hundred people entered the forest from various small paths. In the beginning, there were still groups of people clustered together on the roads, but gradually, the numbers grew less and less. After all, the more people there were, the harder it was to accomplish the tasks they were assigned.

As for their position in the group, Ling Xia estimated that they were part of the latter half, which was closer to the end. However, they still had a long way to go, and to start off running fast at the very beginning wasn't necessarily a good course of action.

After two hours, besides the three of them, their surroundings only contained the cries of insects and the whistling of leaves.

With swift arms and legs, Song XiaoHu quickly climbed a large tree that was a dozen-some metres high and looked around in all directions into the distance. Yu ZhiJue meticulously recalled the information written in the books about the potential whereabouts of their objective and commanded Song XiaoHu from below to search for a nearby stream.

The novel also writes about ShaoYang Sect's Thousands of Beasts Forest. Although it falls short in terms of abundance in natural resources compared to the world's five largest sect's spiritual grounds, it has its own distinguishing characteristics and is famous for having a wealth of the healing panacea Golden Star Grass, in addition to being blessed with bodies of water that produce water-attribute energy stones. Therefore, searching along a stream is currently the easiest way to achieve their goal.

Growing up alone in the wilderness of mountains, Song XiaoHu's eyesight and keen senses were on a cheat-like level, and very quickly, he perceived a speck of shimmering, golden light reflected about two kilometres away. Without further delay, the three of them headed in that direction.

The river they found was so clear that you could see the bottom; it was filled to the brim with spiritual energy, and the fish in the water were also a lot larger than those found in other mountain streams. Seeing this, Song XiaoHu's stomach growled a few times, though Ling Xia and Yu ZhiJue's conditions weren't much better. They had come to this exam without eating a thing, and after this much time had passed, they'd all long been starving.

Abiding by the saying of sharpening one's axe before chopping down a tree, Ling Xia suggested at once, "Let's catch some fish to eat first. Only on a full stomach will we have energy and strength." Yu ZhiJue and Song XiaoHu did not protest, so the three of them immediately moved to catch their meal.

Only, right when they had lit the fire, sudden gales of wind blew by, so strong that one almost couldn't even stay standing without wobbling. The sky started turning as dark as night, and countless thunderclaps boomed near and far, splitting through the thick layers of clouds and making one's heart tremble in fear.

"Looks like it'll rain soon! We should find a place to take shelter from the rain!" Ling Xia called out to the other two. He could barely open his eyes in these fierce winds; after all, he's used to living in a city built with reinforced concrete. Even if he wandered in the wild with these two kids for a few days, he had yet to experience this kind of terrifying mountain weather.

Neither Song XiaoHu nor Yu ZhiJue expressed any sort of fear or worry. Despite this kind of nasty weather descending without prior warning, they had long gotten used to seeing this kind of unforeseen change. In no time at all, they found a cavern capable of sheltering them from the rain; by the time they gathered some enormous plant leaves to block off the entrance, the downpour outside had already begun to fall.

Ling Xia wiped off the water droplets on his face, carefully taking a look at this narrow cavern. The inside was an expanse of murky black, so he couldn't see things clearly, but unexpectedly, it seemed to be very deep. His thoughts turned to bears, snakes, and other such animals, and he suddenly felt somewhat scared in his heart. The claps of thunder outside still continued one after another, and the torrent of rain did not lessen either.

There were some withered plants inside the cave, so the three of them groped around and found some dry tinder, promptly using the flint they carried to light it up. After seeing the light, Ling Xia finally let out a sigh of relief, gradually feeling more at ease. Despite the confusion moments prior, they were still holding on to the fish they had strung together, so the three of them surrounded the fire and continued their cooking.

The leaves blocking the entrance suddenly shifted with a noise. Yu ZhiJue vigilantly stood up and snarled, "Who's there?"

"Oh, is someone there? I'm also here to take shelter from the rain." A dark silhouette slowly walked inside—not that tall in height—and by the light from the fire, a very ordinary-looking twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy who didn't seem to be carrying any weapons appeared.

Ling Xia exhaled the breath he held; turns out it's just a kid… He nudged over a bit to yield some room and nodded with a smile. "Please have a seat."

That young boy wasn't polite in the least, immediately withdrawing to a corner and sitting down near the shadows, no longer saying another word.

Song XiaoHu couldn't resist asking, "Are you taking this exam by yourself?"

That young boy grunted indifferently and gave Song XiaoHu a glance, as if he couldn't care less. He slowly looked around, yet when he saw Yu ZhiJue, it was as if his gaze lingered for a beat. Ling Xia only thought this youngster appeared to be one of those rare but oddly eccentric types and didn't pay him much mind. When all was said and done, they were currently rival competitors.

The fragrance of roasted fish was already wafting out, and Ling Xia's stomach gave a hungry growl. After handing over fish to both Song XiaoHu and Yu ZhiJue, he asked the other young boy, as a passing courtesy, "Do you want to eat one?" Who would have thought that that youngster would actually extend out his hand in expectation? Hence, Ling Xia could only hand over the fish he held with some traces of regret.

Except, before that young boy's hand had yet to reach his, Yu ZhiJue abruptly stretched out his leg and heavily kicked a burning cinder at the boy, rapidly grabbing and pulling back Ling Xia's hand at the same time.

Ling Xia was a bit dazed, but Song XiaoHu was already on guard as well. He questioned, "What are you holding in your hand?" Ever since he was small, he had been able to detect the changes in a person's aura, so when this person's murderous intent leaked out, he was able to sense it in a heartbeat.

That young boy laughed sinisterly and said, "To think that your perception isn't half bad." He flipped his wrist, and a gleam of cold light flashed, faintly revealing the shape of a dagger.

Ling Xia gave a start, instantly feeling his back tremble with chills, and with great effort, forced himself to appear calm and collected as he demanded, "What are you planning to do?"

Fuck, is the protagonist's Conan aura finally manifesting itself?