In the gloomy forest, Li Chen had lost his bearings. White light flickered in his eyes as he appeared to be observing his surroundings.
Suddenly, a leafy tree trunk above him patted him on the head and offered him a few bright red fruits.
"These trees can actually move?" Li Chen took a fruit from the tree, a little bewildered. He had heard Su Zhe shout earlier that the trees could move, and it was actually true. It had even offered him fruit?
Li Chen squeezed the fruit in his hand but did not eat it. Instead, he looked at the tree, which was still swaying.
These trees were unwittingly showing him goodwill. Why? He had felt this way ever since entering the island. The entire forest seemed to be showing him goodwill. Could he be a child of the forest?
Li Chen looked at the bright red fruit in his hand, his thoughts unknown. He knew whether the fruit was poisonous, and naturally would not eat it rashly.
But looking at the tree still swaying before him, he merely tucked the fruit into his clothes. Perhaps the tree really was just playing with him?
While Li Chen was still questioning himself, a five-person team elsewhere had also entered the gloomy forest.
"Lin Hua, if you used your growth acceleration ability on these trees, would it speed up their growth?" The speaker was a girl whose pretty face was icy as she asked the question.
Lin Hua was her teammate, following beside her. He seemed a little timid, as though he were afraid of her. He said, "Di Li, my ability accelerates growth, but I can only use it on a small range of things. As for the trees in this secret realm, why would they need me to make them grow? The energy contained in them already exceeds mine."
"Oh? So you can sense the energy in these trees? Then pick out a few for me. I'll see if I can control them." Di Li's expression changed as she looked at the dense forest.
Her ability allowed her to control unconscious plants, and these energy-filled plants were definitely a very good choice.
Suddenly, another boy spoke up. "Di Li, stop wasting time. Have you forgotten what we came here for?"
"We didn't come here to play house. If you want to find trees to use as puppets, go find them yourself."
As the group was talking, a series of bangs rang out beside them, followed by ghostly wails and howls echoing everywhere.
"Jianping, look what you did! You had nothing better to do, so why did you have to slash that Tree Demon?!" It was Su Zhe who spoke. He and Jianping were running swiftly through the forest, the flesh on his fat face jiggling constantly as he glanced behind them from time to time.
Jianping followed Su Zhe with a case on his back. A trace of disdain flashed across his face, and he muttered, "Ganging up on the few with superior numbers—what kind of heroes are you?"
But the only response was a series of howls. Behind them, several towering Tree Demons were chasing the pair, their branches striking the ground with considerable force.
"Run! You students up ahead!!" Su Zhe's face had turned pale with fright. Seeing several students who had just entered the forest not far away, he kindly shouted a warning.
But the group ignored him. At that moment, Jianping spoke up in a quiet voice. "How about we draw those Tree Demons' aggro onto those people? I think it's a pretty good idea. At least, it looks to me like they really aren't afraid."
Su Zhe: "..."
Soon, one agonized howl after another rang out through the forest.
"That fatty deserves to die!!" It was Di Li who spoke. She was covered in wounds now. Evidently, she had fought the Tree Demons, but it seemed her team had lost.
Before she could continue giving Su Zhe a piece of her mind, a leafy branch reached in and swayed beside her pretty face, seemingly teasing her.
Di Li immediately shouted, "Run!"
Elsewhere, Jianping and Su Zhe were sitting on a large rock, resting.
"Brother Ping, Brother Ping, what were you trying to do?! That Tree Demon was resting, and you went and slashed it." Su Zhe looked at Jianping in frustration and spoke bitterly.
He had thought that after getting separated from Li Chen and the others, he had suddenly heard a noise and felt his way over, only to see Jianping fighting a Tree Demon alone. The outcome was easy to imagine.
He had been dragged into the fight as well, and Su Zhe, who had not a shred of combat awareness, had managed to bring Jianping safely out.
"Those Tree Demons aren't very strong. Their bark is just extremely hard. I can charge up a strike and cut one down," Jianping said calmly.
Listening to him, Su Zhe looked at the gloomy forest and missed his Brother Chen. He preferred staying by Li Chen's side to staying beside Jianping. At least it wasn't so frightening, suddenly being chased by Tree Demons.
They had no idea what was going on in this secret realm either. How could Tree Demons be roaming around? Wasn't it supposed to be devoid of living creatures?
In the secret realm, a pair of eyes watched the students on the eight islands, with a hint of a smile.
"Yu Qingnian, aren't you afraid something will happen to them in there if you do this?" The speaker was a burly man, who looked gravely at the frail figure.
Yu Qingnian did not argue. Instead, he looked at the projections and said slowly, "How can they improve without danger? You should know that back when I was in the Strange Pavilion, I faced those man-eating monsters every day. If monsters invaded Shenzhou now, wouldn't our Canglan Academy be standing at the very front?"
"If they can't even face these weak monstrous creatures in the secret realm, what makes them worthy of the title of special class? How could they face those heroes who secured a sliver of hope for humanity?"
"Danger is frightening, of course, but if they don't dare face these things, they should leave the special class."
His words left no room for rebuttal, and that was indeed how things stood. As some of Canglan Academy's strongest students, they had been given the best environment in which to cultivate, as well as the best innate talent. If they could not face even this much, then naturally they could not grow. Besides, this was only the first day. They would need to come here every day from now on, and time would slowly change them.
Yu Qingnian was cultivating their combat awareness. Only improving themselves in battle counted as improvement; cultivation merely improved some aspect of themselves that they wanted to improve.
Yu Qingnian's expression was somewhat calm, his face very pale under the dim light. "They may be students, but I'll treat them all the same. Weakness and incompetence can't solve anything. When my comrades died in front of me, I felt remorse, and on countless nights I wondered why I had backed down."
"And why was I fighting? But every time, I was left lost."
"I don't want these children to face the same choices I did in the future. I would rather they seize and take control of their own choices, and break the shackles binding their bodies."
His words left the burly man silent, lost in thought.