The one who had arrived was none other than the Director of the Education Bureau, who had searched his way to the area.
He had sensed the presence of humans and come racing over.
As soon as he arrived, he saw a white cat sitting in front of a dead Patrol Examiner. The examiner's body was mangled beyond recognition. With the Director's keen eyesight, he could see the irregular bite marks on the corpse even from far away.
The white cat was curiously fiddling with the wristwatch the examiner had given it before he died. It had never seen this kind of technological gadget before.
The white cat had its back to the Director. Seeing its body moving, the Director thought it was eating a person, and immediately flew into a rage.
"Daring to eat people? Die!"
The Director struck in fury, sending a Heavenly Stele Palm hurtling through the air.
"I didn't—"
The white cat was horrified and hurriedly dodged.
But a powerful suction suddenly erupted from the center of the palm of qi and blood. The white cat couldn't dodge in time and was struck squarely.
Fortunately, demonkind were thick-skinned and tough, and this white cat wasn't some ordinary monster. It wasn't killed by the blow.
It was simply sent hurtling backward, crashing into the ground in the distance and coughing up blood.
"I made a deal with him! I didn't kill him!"
The white cat roared furiously.
The Director sneered. "You can take a beating, I'll give you that. You think I'll believe your nonsense? Die!"
He had already sensed that this cat demon was no simple creature, so he brought out the full force of his power, determined to kill it with one blow.
"I never lie!"
The white cat was furious. What enraged it wasn't even that the Director had suddenly attacked it.
However, the white cat was already injured, and the Director's attack had only made its wounds worse.
"How dare you accuse this cat of smearing its good name!"
The white cat angrily tried to say more, but the Director was already striking again, and this palm was even more terrifying than the last. It didn't dare say another word. The earthy-yellow pearl above its head shone brilliantly, shrinking by nearly a third.
The earth shook, and the mountains shifted!
"Monster, you won't escape!"
The Director transformed into a streak of light and arrived in an instant, bringing his peerlessly powerful palm crashing down.
The white cat couldn't dodge in time. The palm struck it squarely on the head. It let out a shriek and was carried away by the drastically shifting Earth Vein.
"So the disturbance in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm was your doing!"
The Director wanted to give chase, but the white cat's trail had already vanished.
He furrowed his brows. The Earth Vein had shifted so violently that even he no longer knew where he was.
The young martial artist's body from earlier had naturally vanished with the surging Earth Vein as well.
The Director muttered a curse. "Damn cat demon!"
The white cat had been struck head-on. At the critical moment, it had used the Earth Dragon Pearl without regard for the cost, forcibly altering the Earth Vein so it could escape.
But it hadn't come away unscathed.
It had already been gravely injured. After encountering the Director, its injuries had worsened; then it had forced the Earth Dragon Pearl into action at any cost, and its skull had been damaged as well. Now it lay among the trees somewhere, blood streaming from its seven orifices as it hovered on the brink of death.
"Damn humans! If I get the chance, I'll go to the human world and eat every last one of your fish!"
It muttered threats no one could hear, its consciousness growing increasingly hazy.
"Pant, pant... There's no other way, little sister. You have to survive. Big sister's going to sleep now..."
And with that, the white cat's consciousness sank into endless darkness.
As its awareness faded, the snow-white fur covering its body somehow began rapidly turning black!
The white cat became a black cat.
The black cat opened its eyes, which were lively but slightly bewildered.
"Meow~"
"Ji Ruo, where are we?"
Liang Shixian asked in a low voice.
Ji Ruo raised an eyebrow. "Is this your first time taking the Martial Exam?"
Liang Shixian froze for a moment. "Yeah."
Ji Ruo rolled his eyes. "What a coincidence. It's my first time too."
Liang Shixian: "..."
The Earth Vein had suddenly surged, shifting the mountains. At their current level, they could barely make out the changes in the scenery around them.
The violent quake had nearly made them throw up.
Luckily, neither of them was seriously hurt. They had only gotten lost.
They were on a hillside, with not a single familiar landmark around. Ji Ruo kept using [Absolute Sense of Direction] to search for a safe route.
But perhaps because Ji Ruo was too weak, even [Absolute Sense of Direction] couldn't point him toward anything "safe."
Every direction was extremely dangerous!
"Roar!"
A thunderous roar came from the distance. They looked toward it and saw a white giant ape dozens of meters tall, its head rising above the treetops as it bellowed at the sky.
"Caw~ caw~"
A huge black bird flew in from another direction. Its wingspan was impossible to gauge, and it looked like a massive dark cloud.
A Kui Ox bounding on one leg, a giant fish swimming through the heavens...
Liang Shixian trembled, his voice quavering. "J-Ji Ruo, what do we do now?"
Liang Shixian was completely at a loss, panicking like crazy. Wherever they looked, they might see a monster beast that had existed only in high school legends. There was no way he wasn't scared.
Having the courage to face death didn't mean he wasn't afraid to die.
To be honest, Ji Ruo was panicking too.
But he still analyzed the situation calmly. "We've probably wandered into a high-level map as newbies. We can't win a fight, and we can't run away. Right now, there's only one thing we can do!"
"What?"
Ji Ruo pointed at the ground. "The feng shui here looks pretty good. How about we dig our graves first?"
Liang Shixian: "???"
What the hell did he mean, the feng shui looked good?!
Liang Shixian was about to say something when he saw Ji Ruo already bending down to dig.
"...Ji Ruo, can you act a little more seriously?"
"Have you forgotten how we got away from the Spider Queen before? The Martial Exam ends in four days. Then we'll be teleported out. We're Level Six Martial Apprentices. We won't die if we lie here for a few days without food or water. We hide and hold out for four days. That's the only plan I can think of."
"Uh..."
"Stop talking and dig!" Ji Ruo said solemnly.
This map was way too high-level. Even Dual Mastery of Blade and Sword couldn't handle it!
Every direction held deadly danger. Ji Ruo didn't even dare run around blindly.
All he could do was dig a hole, bury himself, activate [Camouflage], and wait for the Martial Exam to end...
Liang Shixian opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but another roar from a powerful monster beast came from the distance. He shuddered and didn't dare argue. He bent down and began digging with Ji Ruo.
Ji Ruo said, "Let's dig the graves first and lie down in them. If something goes wrong, at least we won't die without a proper burial, right?"
Liang Shixian: "..."
Cloud City, Grade 12 Class 4.
The Martial Exam had reached its third day.
The mood in class remained heavy.
The two students still hadn't returned.
Their chances of survival were already vanishingly small.
"Class," the homeroom teacher, Li Bindao, said gravely, "Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian still haven't returned. You all know what that means. I don't want to accept this outcome either, but the Department of Education has sent word that they've found some Patrol Examiners.
"The Patrol Examiners suffered heavy casualties."
In other words, two students who were only Level Six Martial Apprentices were likely doomed as well.
"Four days from now, our school will hold a memorial service at Flag Raising Square. I hope you'll all attend." Li Bindao's expression was downcast. "The dead are beyond our reach. Don't grieve too much; you still have a long road ahead. The authorities have decided to abolish the Secret Realm Martial Exam system. They're still discussing a new system. You'll all have to take the Martial Exam again, but this time it'll be safe. Please pull yourselves together and prepare for the new exam."
"Teacher, I... I want to drop out. I won't take the exam..."
A girl spoke softly, her voice catching with tears. "I don't want to take the Martial Exam..."
Li Bindao froze, then instinctively tried to persuade her. "Zhang Miaoyi, I hope you'll hold on a little longer. You have excellent talent. Once you open your Qi Vessel, you'll surely become a powerful martial artist."
"But, teacher, didn't the Patrol Examiners die too?" Zhang Miaoyi suddenly burst into tears. "Teacher, I'm scared. I don't want to die. I want to go home. I don't want to take the Martial Exam. Waaaaah..."
"Zhang—"
Li Bindao was about to say something more.
Suddenly, Zhang Miaoyi's sobs seemed to act as a signal, and more than half the class started crying.
"Teacher, I'm afraid of dying!"
"I don't want to be a martial artist anymore!"
"I'm not taking the exam either!"
They were only children. They hadn't even fully left school behind, yet they had already faced life and death. Being afraid to die was only human nature.
Although everyone in Great Xia practiced martial arts, and every student received martial arts education from childhood,
these children had only ever killed chickens, ducks, and other domestic fowl!
Some students had personally witnessed their peers being torn apart and devoured by monster beasts and demonic beasts during the Martial Exam. Those terrifying scenes had left indelible psychological scars.
They were already afraid. A shadow had fallen over their Martial Dao, and they had lost the courage to charge forward without hesitation.
"Everyone, think it over a little longer. This is, after all, a major decision in your lives..."
Li Bindao suddenly sighed, his spirits flagging. "I understand. I'll report this to the school. Anyone who doesn't want to take the Martial Exam again or continue studying the Martial Dao can prepare a list of names for me. The Martial Dao is about pressing forward without hesitation, about having the courage to do what you know you cannot. I won't force you. If you want to give up, then give up."
The students began signing their names.
Grade 12 Class 4 had forty-six students in total. Two hadn't returned, and thirty-six withdrew from the exam. In the end, only eight students were still hesitating.
Li Bindao sighed once more and said only, "Four days from now, the whole school will hold a memorial service. Remember to come. Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian..."
He slowly walked out of the classroom, as if he had aged by decades all at once. Even as a martial artist, his back was no longer straight.
Before you continue