Teacher, Help!

Cloud City.

Grade 12 Class 4 classroom.

"Everyone, lunch is here."

Homeroom teacher Li Bindao walked into the classroom, looking a little haggard as he used his own qi and blood to carry forty-four meal boxes.

The Martial Exam was not over yet, and the rescue operation was still underway. None of the students who had been rescued had gone home; they were waiting in the classroom for their classmates who had yet to return.

After discussions between the Department of Education and Great Xia's senior officials, it was decided that the psychological trauma this incident had inflicted on the students had to be compensated for.

So, during the seven days before the Martial Exam ended, every city would specially provide meals for all the rescued students.

The meals were made with the highest-grade Monster Beast meat that Martial Apprentice students could handle, spirit vegetables, and nourishing medicines. Even the rice was blood rice!

It was downright extravagant.

This time, the Department of Education and Great Xia's senior officials spared no expense, hoping to make up for at least some of the damage—and to ease their own guilt a little.

The Martial Exam system had serious problems.

This sudden incident had not been a coincidence. Although the rescue operation was still ongoing and would continue until the Martial Exam ended, Great Xia's senior officials had already begun discussing reforms to the exam system.

The Martial Exam could no longer be held in Secret Realms!

Li Bindao looked at the students, none of whom had fully recovered, then glanced at the only two empty seats in the class and sighed softly.

"I wonder how Liang Shixian and Ji Ruo are doing. Have they been eating well? Have they gone hungry?"

"Run! Keep running!"

Ji Ruo roared as he led the way, sprinting through the forest.

Their luck couldn't stay good forever.

Not long after they finished eating, they ran into a horde of Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders.

These Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders were level-nine Martial Apprentice Demonic Beasts!

Their eight legs were razor-sharp, as hard as rock!

And the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider's ninth eye could release a special demonic ray that slowed its target's movements. Anyone who entered within ten meters would be attacked.

More importantly, these things lived in groups!

Why did all the Demonic Beasts in Ten Thousand Beast Mountain like to travel in packs? In less than two days, this was already the third horde Ji Ruo and the others had encountered!

"Ji Ruo! Drop that Small Wooden Stick! Look what you've done!" Liang Shixian roared.

"You can't blame me! Who knew those webs were spun by Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders? If I'd known earlier... I would've run halfway through messing with them!"

"Is that the point?" Liang Shixian bellowed.

Zhang Quan and Liu Neng said nothing. Their faces were twisted as they ran for their lives, too exhausted to speak.

They felt like they'd run all the miles they were supposed to cover this year in just the past two days.

They'd been jumping happily from tree to tree, with no danger in sight, when Ji Ruo spotted a patch of spiderwebs. He'd eagerly grabbed his Small Wooden Stick and gone over to wreak havoc on them.

Then the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider horde came swarming out. Each spider was as big as a watermelon, grotesque and terrifying, and they pursued them relentlessly.

"Then... a third of the blame?" Ji Ruo shouted tentatively.

Liang Shixian nearly spat blood. "You still don't know what you did wrong?"

"I get it! Next time, I'll use Iron Sand Palm and burn all those webs to a crisp!"

"Can't you just leave the webs alone?"

"But spiderwebs are dirty and unhygienic!"

"..."

Liang Shixian rolled his eyes and fell silent.

Ji Ruo kept using [Absolute Sense of Direction] to correct their course. Each adjustment only gave him a five-percent correction, but after making several adjustments and comparing them, the effect was still fairly noticeable.

Safe, safe, safe, safe.

Ji Ruo cried out in his heart.

"This way! Follow me!"

Fortunately, the Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders weren't particularly fast. The four of them kept more than ten meters ahead of the spiders behind them, avoiding the effects of Slow Demon Eye.

A moment later—

"There's a cave! It should be safe. Let's get inside!"

Ji Ruo shouted.

[Absolute Sense of Direction] was faintly pointing him toward the cave.

"What if it's a dead end—"

Liang Shixian hadn't finished speaking before Ji Ruo had already charged into the cave.

With a horde of spiders chasing them, going into a cave was clearly unwise. But Ji Ruo was already inside, so they had no choice.

Liang Shixian gritted his teeth. "After him!"

The others rushed in right behind him.

As soon as they entered, they saw spiderwebs of all sizes covering the cave. It was all too familiar—it looked just like the patch Ji Ruo had stirred up with his Small Wooden Stick.

Countless red eyes glared at them from the darkness.

Their hearts sank.

Liang Shixian thought in despair, This is the end for me!

Ji Ruo, who was leading the way, had already raised his crimson hand and slapped it hard against the largest spiderweb in the cave.

"Eat my Iron Sand Palm!"

Whoosh!

The intense heat of Iron Sand Palm instantly set the highly flammable web ablaze. The fire spread at incredible speed, and in the blink of an eye, the entire cave had become a sea of flames!

Ji Ruo shouted, "Stay behind me!"

At the same time, he took the knife and sword from his back, pressed their hilts together, and pointed them into the cave, spinning them rapidly (like Stephen Chow in From Beijing with Love).

"Behold, my Blower!"

The air swirled backward—but it didn't affect the flames at all. After all, Ji Ruo was only a level-six Martial Apprentice, nearly level seven. Just how fast could he spin?

In truth, the boy had wanted to trigger an achievement, but it didn't happen.

The Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders, however, didn't come any closer. Instead, they kept retreating.

Having inherited his original body's academic prowess, Ji Ruo knew very well that Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders were afraid of fire!

The deeper into the cave they went, the denser the webs became, so the fire was burning inward. When Ji Ruo told the others to stay behind him, it didn't really matter whether they did or not.

At that moment, a dozen or so Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders were behind them, a raging blaze blocked their way ahead, and beyond the flames was a horde of Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders whose numbers were unknown.

At first glance, it was a hopeless dead end.

The Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders behind them hadn't dared to approach because of the fire, but they hadn't left either.

They kept their distance from Ji Ruo and the others. As the flames spread deeper into the cave, Ji Ruo and his companions were forced farther in, while the Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders ahead fled in a panic.

The other three had no choice but to steel themselves and charge into the cave behind Ji Ruo.

The Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders behind them had already entered the cave, completely blocking their way out.

Once the webs had burned away, it didn't matter whether the Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders ahead were all dead or not. Ji Ruo and the others would still be doomed!

The strength and venom of level-nine Martial Apprentice Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders were far beyond what a group of Martial Exam candidates who were only level six could withstand.

But Ji Ruo wasn't panicking in the slightest. At least, he wasn't panicking completely.

Because this was the direction [Absolute Sense of Direction] had corrected for him!

After asking again and again, making correction after correction, and taking the average, this cave was, in theory, the way out!

"Thud!"

Suddenly, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground rang out, jarringly distinct amid the strange crackling of burning webs and the terrified hisses of the Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders.

Ji Ruo's eyes were sharp. He immediately spotted a large silk cocoon in the middle of the web overhead, which had just been burned away.

The heavy object had been the cocoon's contents—a "spider's meal"—falling to the ground after the silk burned through.

It was a human!

The person was unconscious. Judging by the hair and figure, it was a woman.

Ji Ruo rushed forward, grabbed her by the collar, and turned her over.

She had delicate features, but her face was tinged purple. She had clearly been poisoned.

A Patrol Examiner's badge was pinned to her chest.

A Patrol Examiner?!

Ji Ruo raised his hand and slapped the unconscious woman with delicate features hard across the face. One side of her face swelled up on the spot, and two of her teeth were knocked out.

"Teacher! Wake up! Don't sleep! Help!"

Gentlemanly chivalry? Not a chance. If this Patrol Examiner didn't wake up, they were all going to die here today!