Unexpected Incident

Between Peace Town and Jia Nan City, where Jia Nan Academy was located, lay a forest teeming with magical beasts. The instructors would lead the students through the forest, and the journey itself counted as a trial. Naturally, unless it was a matter of life and death, the instructors would not intervene.

In order to cultivate talent, the academy naturally did not intend to produce a group of useless people who possessed cultivation but did not know how to use it. These geniuses needed the tempering of real combat in order to grow, which was why this route, filled with numerous First-tier Magical Beasts, had been set as training before entering the academy.

As the rising sun climbed into the sky, the morning glow was gentle, warming those it touched. Xia Mo, who had been sitting cross-legged on his bed, suddenly opened his eyes. Two sharp glints flashed through them and vanished.

The new students gathered once more. Xia Mo met up with Xiao Yi Xian and the others, waiting for the instructors' arrangements. Before long, an old man flew over.

"Dou Qi Manifested Wings... a Dou Wang, or a Dou Emperor?" The new students began to stir noisily...

"I am Hu Gan, Vice President of Jia Nan Academy's Outer Academy. Welcome to Jia Nan Academy."

The powerful pressure radiating from the old man was like a mountain, crushing everyone until they could barely breathe. They lowered their heads involuntarily, not daring to meet his gaze.

"There will be danger during the assessment. While death should not occur, injuries are highly likely. Therefore, you must assess your own strength carefully and do not recklessly show off. If any accidents occur, Jia Nan Academy will bear no responsibility," Hu Gan said sternly.

Each instructor then handed a simple map to the students they had recruited.

"This is a simple map for crossing the forest and reaching Jia Nan Academy. You must keep it safe. If you get lost and leave the area marked on the map, it will be easy to encounter Third-tier or Fourth-tier Magical Beasts. If you are lucky enough, you might even run into a Fifth-tier Magical Beast." Hu Gan grinned as he narrowed his eyes at the students before him.

"Now, set off. I will be waiting for you at the Outer Academy. I hope that when I see you again, every one of you will still be in one piece." With that, Hu Gan turned and flew away.

Everyone studied the map and found that the area was quite large. There was more than one route to the academy, so it seemed the academy did not intend for the new students to swarm over in one group. Presumably, each team had been given a different route.

The new students from Wutan City all looked toward Xia Mo, Xiao Yi Xian, and Xiao Xun'er. After all, they knew how terrifying the talents of those three were. Following them would be much safer.

Xia Mo, Xiao Yi Xian, and Xiao Xun'er looked over the map. "Then let's take this route. It looks like the shortest one. Let's reach the academy as soon as possible," Xia Mo said. This sort of trial was meaningless to him.

"This time, Sister Xiao Yi Xian and Sister Xun'er will take charge. I won't be making a move. Once we reach the academy, opportunities for this kind of training will likely be rare, unless you join the Enforcement Team or head to the Black Corner Region alone for experience. So this is a very good opportunity," Xia Mo said to Xiao Yi Xian and Xiao Xun'er.

The group moved swiftly through the forest. The forest was deep and gloomy, with the roars of magical beasts occasionally echoing through it. The route only contained ordinary magical beasts, and Xia Mo did not care about them at all.

Everyone watched their surroundings nervously, while Xia Mo remained completely relaxed, free and unrestrained, looking every bit like someone whose great skill gave him great courage.

Before long, a sturdy Silver Wolf suddenly leaped out in front of the group, followed by more than a dozen other Silver Wolves. The beast looked incomparably vicious and was likely the wolf king of the pack. With the pack behind it, it charged toward the group with a roar.

"This wolf pack is fairly strong. One is at the peak of the First-tier, equivalent to a Nine-star Dou Zhe. Two are at the early First-tier, probably equivalent to One-star and Two-star Dou Zhes. The rest have not yet reached the First-tier, but they will still put a lot of pressure on you. Be careful," Xia Mo said to Xiao Yi Xian and Xiao Xun'er.

The two strongest Silver Wolves in the pack charged at Xiao Yi Xian and Xun'er with howls. Their sharp claws carried immense force as they slashed at the two girls, intending to rip open their bellies.

They had likely sensed that the two girls were the strongest when their Dou Qi surged earlier, and had decided to deal with them first. The others also clashed with the wolf pack.

The Silver Wolves were quite clever. One attacked head-on while the other supported it. Unfortunately, the second strongest wolf in the pack was still weaker than the two girls. Xiao Yi Xian seized an opening and struck it with her palm, poisoning it to death on the spot.

After one Silver Wolf died, the wolf king could no longer hold on alone. Faced with the young lady of the Ancient Clan, who possessed countless high-level Dou Techniques, and the Poison Body of Calamity, whose poison was incomparably lethal, serving as support, it soon followed in the former's footsteps.

After the wolf king died, the remaining First-tier Silver Wolf immediately retreated with the pack and fled.

"Looks like there was no pressure at all. Unless we encounter particularly strong First-tier Magical Beasts, Xiao Yi Xian and Xiao Xun'er will not be taking action from now on. Otherwise, this training will be pointless. But if there is danger, we will intervene," Xia Mo said to the new students.

"Understood, Senior Xia Mo, Senior Xiao Yi Xian, Senior Xun'er"...

Seeing a group of people older than himself calling him senior looked strange no matter how he viewed it. However, strength was revered in this world, so Xia Mo did not say anything.

"Alright, clean up and let's continue. Otherwise, the smell of blood will soon attract quite a few magical beasts," Xia Mo said.

More than ten minutes later, everyone had collected the valuable items—the Monster Cores, beast hides, Wolf Fangs, and so on—and continued onward. They did not encounter another pack of magical beasts along the way, only solitary ones. Their strength was nothing special. Aside from a few people suffering minor injuries, no major problems arose. However, the new students worked together better and better, and their expressions grew increasingly resolute.

"Stop here. Let's find a place to rest. According to the map, we can leave the forest tomorrow. Your strength is too low, and traveling at night would be too dangerous," Xia Mo said.

Naturally, no one objected to Xia Mo's words, and they began setting up camp on the spot.

Night fell, and the land was instantly swallowed by darkness. Stars dotted the sky, while the bonfire on the ground continued to burn, casting faint red light around them.

The group sat around the bonfire, exchanging what they had gained that day. The atmosphere was pleasant as they looked forward to giving it their all tomorrow. Xia Mo lay to one side, resting.

Suddenly, muffled sounds came from the forest. Black figures emerged one after another from the dense woods, radiating chilling killing intent.

"Go!" The leader lightly waved his hand. Using the dim moonlight as cover, the black-clothed figures quietly crept toward Xia Mo's group.

Tap, tap, tap! Extremely faint footsteps reached Xia Mo's ears. The strange sensation immediately jolted him awake.

His eyes snapped open, and Xia Mo flipped to his feet. "Who's there? Come out!"

When no one answered, light flashed in his hand and the Heavy Saber flew from his grasp. With a sharp metallic ring, a streak of cold light flashed through the night as it shot to one side.

Hearing Xia Mo's shout, everyone reacted as well and immediately gathered around him. Before long, they had formed up together, weapons in hand as they vigilantly watched their surroundings.

A loud clang rang out. It seemed the saber had been blocked, and a large group of people rushed forward.

"Work together. Don't fight them head-on. I believe the instructors have already noticed something is wrong. They will come to support us shortly," Xia Mo said.

After speaking, Xia Mo rushed to Xiao Yi Xian and Xiao Xun'er's side. Someone had just managed to block his Heavy Saber, which carried powerful force, meaning there was at least an opponent as strong as him—or perhaps even stronger. Since that person had not appeared, they had likely been held back. Xia Mo came to Xiao Yi Xian's side and joined the new students in resisting the charging enemies.

As Xia Mo made his move, the black-clothed men were killed one after another. Suddenly, bang! A brilliant firework streaked across the sky, blooming with dazzling light against the black night.

Before long, the instructors and guards who had been lurking in the shadows arrived beside them. Instructor Ruo Lin also rushed over, lashing out with her whip and sending a black-clothed man in front of her flying. He coughed blood, his bones and tendons shattered, and died.

"Xiao Mo, Xun'er, Xiao Yi Xian, are you alright?" Instructor Ruo Lin turned her gaze and saw the few of them alive and well, the worry in her eyes immediately easing somewhat.

As the instructors continued to attack, every black-clothed man on their side was killed. Fortunately, because Xia Mo, Xiao Yi Xian, and Xiao Xun'er had held them off earlier, there were no casualties among their group.

"I never expected someone to cross Peace Town to kill you," Instructor Ruo Lin said sorrowfully. Quite a few new students had lost their lives before even entering the academy today. Their group had been among the fortunate ones.

"I don't know where these people came from, but tonight's ambush was clearly premeditated. They simply wanted our lives—they wanted to wipe us all out," Xia Mo said.

"They are probably some of Jia Nan Academy's hostile forces. Unable to do anything to the academy itself, they resort to ways of disgusting it, and you became their targets. I just didn't expect them to be so desperate this time that they would cross Peace Town to ambush new students," Instructor Ruo Lin said angrily.

After something like this happened, there was no need for further training. This had been far more intense than any ordinary trial—truly harrowing—and every new student had seen blood.

What followed had nothing to do with the students. The academy's experts would handle it, so the new students headed directly for the Outer Academy under the instructors' escort...