Wait a Moment, I'll Fry It for You

~

"What a shame. All those perfectly good points, wasted."

In a mountain hollow, Ji Ruo said regretfully.

The Spider Queen's venom was corrosive enough to eat through stone. The burning spider silk sent poisonous smoke billowing into the air. Whether or not the Spider Queen died, the woodland around her would be soaked in potent toxins. Ji Ruo wasn't in the Qi Pulse Realm, so he didn't have that kind of poison resistance.

Those points in the wild were beyond retrieving.

The others fell silent.

Liang Shixian couldn't help saying, "Ji Ruo, could you please stop acting so impulsively from now on? Do you know how dangerous that was? If your Iron Sand Palm hadn't ignited the spider silk, going back there would've been suicide! That Spider Queen was badly wounded, but you still wouldn't have stood a chance against her!"

Ji Ruo grinned, unconcerned. "Aw, but I'm fine, aren't I? Don't worry. I had everything under control!"

Had he acted on impulse? Of course not.

Liang Shixian might have been a good student, but in the end, he was just an ordinary high schooler.

He'd only thought of lying motionless in the mud and waiting for the Spider Queen to leave with her prey. Then they'd be safe.

Ji Ruo had lived two lifetimes. He saw things more deeply than Liang Shixian did.

When Demonic Beasts advanced, they did go through a period of weakness, but low-tier ones didn't take long to evolve.

The Martial Exam wouldn't end for another five days, and Ji Ruo and the others still had to remain in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain for all five.

That was more than enough time for the Spider Queen to devour the Six-Whiskered Catfish and complete her advancement.

When that happened, if the evolved Spider Queen decided to hunt them down, they'd be facing a spider-type Demonic Beast at full strength, beyond the Qi Pulse Realm.

Of course, that was only a possibility. Even if it came to that, they couldn't be sure the Spider Queen would find them.

But if it was possible, Ji Ruo didn't want to gamble.

A cautious man could sail a ship for ten thousand years. In the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, there was no such thing as being too careful.

"By the way, teacher, what did you mean when you said the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm had undergone some unknown changes?" Ji Ruo asked suddenly.

He'd noticed something was wrong long ago. Everything they'd encountered in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm had been different from what the school taught them.

At the very least, none of their teachers had ever said Goblins could speak human language or grow Blood Rice.

Even the Patrol Examiner had nearly become a Demonic Beast's meal!

Li Nannan thought for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure. The areas we'd mapped out suddenly became chaotic. Then the network connection went down, and Demonic Beasts and Monster Beasts that clearly exceeded the Martial Exam's standards appeared in the area under my supervision..."

"The designated Martial Exam areas got mixed up?" Ji Ruo paused. "Then what area are we in now?"

In the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm, the only part under human control was the "foothills" of the mountain. It had been divided into sixty areas. The higher an area's number, the more dangerous it was—this was common knowledge taught in high school textbooks.

"I don't know." Li Nannan shook her head slightly. "My wristwatch was damaged during the fight with the Spider Queen, so I can't check the electronic map. I don't know what area we're in either."

Ji Ruo furrowed his brow. If they weren't in one of the areas permitted for the Martial Exam, it was far too dangerous for him as things stood.

Absolute Sense of Direction could help him avoid danger to some extent, but it wasn't all-powerful. Its margin for correction was too small. The slightest mistake could doom them all.

The other three also knew what it meant to be outside the permitted exam area. Worry spread across their faces.

Seeing this, Li Nannan realized she'd said the wrong thing. It was the truth, but sometimes the truth was better left unsaid.

She reassured them, "Don't worry. Your teacher will protect you. The Martial Exam has gone wrong, so we can't keep following the old rules. Our top priority now is to stay alive."

At that, Liu Neng couldn't help saying, "But teacher, you were captured by the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider yourself. It was Ji Ruo who rescued you. How can you protect—"

"Shut up!"

Ji Ruo snapped, "Do you know how to talk? If teacher says she'll protect us, then she'll protect us. Why would you say something like that?"

Liang Shixian also glared at Liu Neng.

That guy really didn't know when to keep his mouth shut!

Liu Neng opened his mouth uncertainly but didn't argue. He sheepishly sat back down beside Zhang Quan.

Li Nannan looked a little embarrassed and turned to Ji Ruo. "You're Ji Ruo, right? What that student said is true. I really do owe you for this. I'd already been planning to—"

"Rumble~"

Before she could finish, Li Nannan's stomach suddenly rumbled, and her face flushed red with embarrassment.

Fortunately, her face was still caked in thick mud, so no one could tell.

During the Martial Exam, Patrol Examiners had to enter the Examination Ground a day in advance.

They needed to familiarize themselves with the test environment and check once more that no Monster Beasts or Demonic Beasts beyond the examinees' ability had entered the exam area.

On Li Nannan's first day inside, everything had been normal. But after she'd familiarized herself with and patrolled her assigned area, she'd been attacked by the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider.

Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders usually lived in colonies, and the Spider Queen, whose strength was equivalent to the peak of the Qi Pulse Realm, led them. The Slow Demon Eye could even affect Qi Pulse Realm martial artists. After a hard fight, Li Nannan had been defeated.

For the next several days, she'd been trapped in the Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders' Nest. Countless spiders had injected her with venom without pause, leaving her paralyzed and dazed, until Ji Ruo rescued her.

By her count, she hadn't eaten in nearly three days. She'd also fought a major battle, and after escaping, she'd kept using her internal qi and blood to dilute the poison. She was already utterly exhausted.

Seeing this, Ji Ruo stood up, unzipped the pockets of his school pants, and pulled out two handfuls of Blood Rice caked in mud. During their escape, they'd lost most of it. All that remained was the little bit that had been kept inside his pockets behind the zippers.

"It's about time. Let's eat. Teacher, you eat first."

Ji Ruo handed the Blood Rice to Li Nannan. "We're short on supplies, so please don't mind."

This time, Ji Ruo didn't use Iron Sand Palm to fry rice. He'd packed his pockets to the brim, but they were only so big. Even full, there wasn't enough rice to cover his palms and trigger the "Fried Rice" effect.

"Is this... Blood Rice?"

Li Nannan paused. The Blood Rice hadn't even been husked, so they definitely hadn't brought it in from outside the Examination Ground. The students must have stumbled upon it inside the "examination site."

"You should eat it instead. I'm not hungry..." Li Nannan instinctively tried to refuse.

"Teacher, just eat. You're a Patrol Examiner. You need to eat your fill so you'll have the strength to protect us, don't you?"

Liang Shixian backed him up. "That's right, teacher. It'll do us a lot more good if you eat your fill than if we do. Go ahead. If it's not enough, I've got some too."

As he spoke, Liang Shixian unzipped his own pocket and took out the Blood Rice inside.

Ji Ruo raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't expected the class monitor to have had the same idea as him. He hadn't put all the Blood Rice into the makeshift bundle made from his school uniform jacket, so he had some left over too.

Li Nannan hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. "All right. I'll eat first, and afterward I'll take you to look for more food..."

But Ji Ruo suddenly said, "Wait!"

Li Nannan had already opened her mouth to eat the rice raw. When Ji Ruo stopped her, she thought he'd changed his mind.

But Ji Ruo took the Blood Rice from Liang Shixian and Li Nannan, mixed it together, and put it on the ground. He raised both palms and made a few gestures.

"Teacher, raw food isn't easy to digest," Ji Ruo said earnestly.

Li Nannan replied, "It's fine, I—"

Before she could finish, she froze.

She watched as Ji Ruo plunged his hands into the Blood Rice. His palms turned bright red as he stirred and fried it over and over.

"Just a moment, teacher. I'll fry it for you before you eat."

Li Nannan stared at him, dumbfounded.

"You can use Iron Sand Palm like that?!"