Fire Energy Hunt Competition Begins, Enemies Cross Paths

"Qiu Shan, what's wrong? Were you scared stupid?"

Watching Bai Ge and Xiao Xun'er's figures disappear into the forest, one of the young men beside the tall, thin man patted him on the shoulder when he saw that he was still somewhat shaken, teasing him.

"Don't talk nonsense! When was I ever scared stupid? It's just that we stopped those two freshmen. If we delayed too long, I was afraid Elder Su Qian would notice!"

Hearing the young man's teasing, Qiu Shan snapped as if waking from a dream and immediately flew into a rage out of embarrassment.

"Oh~? So that was the reason?"

Seeing Qiu Shan's flushed face and how obviously he was lying, the group of young men burst into laughter.

"Are you done yet?!"

Hearing the laughter of the young men, Qiu Shan was overcome with shame and anger.

Damn it! I was actually frightened by a mere freshman!

Qiu Shan was not angry at his companions' mockery, but he could not help feeling deep resentment over being scared by Bai Ge's gaze.

He felt that he had utterly disgraced himself just now, and Bai Ge was the cause of it all!

"The ten minutes are up. You may enter the forest now."

As the group continued teasing Qiu Shan, Su Qian's indifferent voice came from nearby.

"Haha, we can finally go in!"

Upon hearing Su Qian's words, not only the young men around Qiu Shan but several other groups of young men all lit up with excitement. They shouted eagerly, leaping into the air and darting into the dense forest.

Although Bai Ge's group had been given a ten-minute head start, crossing this forest and reaching the Inner Academy would take quite some time.

Even for them, who were extremely familiar with the forest and knew