Great Xia Education Department.
"Director."
"What is it?"
"We've lost contact with the Patrol Examiner in the Xinmao region."
The Department Head froze for a moment. "Xinmao? What happened? I remember this year's Martial Exam was only open as far as the Dinghai region. And before the exam began, the areas from the Jiazi region to the Dinghai region were all cleared in advance. Why have we lost contact with a Patrol Examiner?"
Humanity had divided the part of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm under its control into sixty regions, named after the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. Normally, the Martial Exam was held in the four major regions Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding. The regions beyond those were reserved for higher-level martial artists or bounty hunters to train in.
His subordinate was sweating profusely and hurriedly said, "We only just discovered that the current region numbers don't match the numbers for the regions we cleared earlier."
The Department Head's expression darkened. "Which region was Xinmao before?"
"G-Guisi," his subordinate replied timidly.
"Guisi?!"
The Department Head shot to his feet, his voice rising several octaves.
"How could such a huge mistake happen? What the hell have you people been doing?"
The Department Head roared, "Do you know what the Guisi region represents?! The Martial Exam was only open as far as Dinghai. Do you know how many students this mistake could get killed?!"
"Director, I, we—"
Cold sweat ran down his subordinate's back. "You can't blame us! We really did clear the exam areas before it started, but afterward, there seemed to be an extremely subtle, large-scale geological shift in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm. The mountainside and the foot of the mountain seem to have switched places. By the time we noticed, the exam had already begun..."
"I don't want to hear that!" The Department Head's face flushed red. If this went badly, he could very well be stripped of his position.
And, more importantly, those children's lives were at stake!
"You discovered a problem and didn't do anything about it. Why are you reporting it to me? Send more people to Ten Thousand Beast Mountain right away! Bring the students back and call off the Martial Exam!"
"But..."
His subordinate hesitated. "There are so many examinees..."
It was true.
Every Martial Exam had tens or even hundreds of thousands of examinees. Getting them all out in a short time wasn't realistic.
It was true that they entered through the Secret Realm Teleportation Device. Under normal circumstances, they only had to reactivate it to pull all the examinees back at once.
But the Secret Realm Teleportation Device involved space and time. There had to be at least seven days between activations, or they would suffer severe temporal damage.
Powerful martial artists might be able to handle it, but Martial Exam students...
"When the hell is it, and you're still worrying about that?! The students' lives come first!" The Department Head was so furious he started swearing. "Send more people immediately! Borrow every martial artist at the Qi Pulse Realm or above from the other departments. I want you to gather all the students as quickly as possible. No, forget it, I'll go myself! Issue an announcement to all the schools, then take every martial artist in the department at the Qi Pulse Realm or above into Ten Thousand Beast Mountain!"
As he spoke, the Department Head didn't even have time to grab his coat. He smashed through the large floor-to-ceiling window in his office and leaped down from the eighteenth floor. Though he worked in education, at his core, he was still a powerful martial artist.
"I hope we can make it in time to fix this. Otherwise, I'll be a sinner for the ages."
The Department Head sprinted off, weighed down with worry. At his level, he could run faster than most ordinary vehicles.
More importantly, there was no time to arrange transportation now.
Though the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm was under human control, it was actually vast beyond measure. The area humanity controlled was only three million square kilometers, from the foot of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain to its mountainside.
The four major regions Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding had indeed been fully secured. But now the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm had undergone a geological shift, throwing every region into disarray. Many secret realms had their own rules. For instance, the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm could undergo geological shifts without creating any disturbances.
In the past, large-scale geological shifts in Ten Thousand Beast Mountain happened once every fifty years. Ordinary geological shifts only occurred around the summit and couldn't affect the regions under human control.
Only thirty-six years had passed since the last large-scale shift.
Nobody had seen this coming.
If they couldn't deal with it in time, the Martial Exam would most likely leave a trail of casualties.
The Director of the Education Department couldn't even be sure whether a rescue operation could be carried out normally.
That was because, starting from the Wuhai region, electronic signals couldn't fully cover the area due to the chaotic magnetic fields.
The farther out the region, the poorer the signal coverage.
The geological shift in Ten Thousand Beast Mountain hadn't just moved the forests around; it had altered the magnetic fields as well.
The emergency devices used for the Martial Exam were as good as useless.
"Ji Ruo, when did you learn Iron Sand Palm?"
While they waited, Liang Shixian asked curiously.
They had completely relaxed by now.
There were no Monster Beasts around, and Liu Neng and Zhang Quan had already activated their rescue devices. All they had to do was patiently wait for the Patrol Examiner to arrive.
"Last week."
Ji Ruo waved the Small Wooden Stick and answered honestly.
Liang Shixian looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just snorted. "If you don't want to tell me, fine. Who do you think you're kidding?"
He could tell Ji Ruo's Iron Sand Palm had to be more than just First Glimpse of the Path. But saying it had reached the level of Entering the Hall seemed a little far-fetched.
No matter what level it was, training until his palms were as red as iron must have taken a great deal of time. There was no rushing the process, either. Even with the accompanying medicinal solution, his hands couldn't withstand such intense training if he pushed too hard.
Train recklessly, and he'd only ruin his hands.
So when Ji Ruo said he'd only been practicing for a week, Liang Shixian didn't believe him at all.
But he didn't say anything more.
As class monitor, he knew Ji Ruo's family situation well.
He was curious how Ji Ruo could afford the medicinal solution needed to practice Iron Sand Palm, but he couldn't ask.
Because once he asked, it would inevitably lead to questions about his family situation, and Ji Ruo's family situation...
Having lived two lifetimes, Ji Ruo could naturally tell what Liang Shixian was worrying about. A faint warmth stirred in his heart.
They chatted off and on while waiting for the Patrol Examiner to arrive.
Ji Ruo had waved the Small Wooden Stick around for ages without triggering any achievements, so he tied it to his waist, sat on the ground, and started thinking.
Two hours passed.
The light gradually dimmed in the sunless Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm, and Liang Shixian and Ji Ruo finally realized something was wrong.
"Why is it taking so long?"
"Could something have happened?"
The two exchanged a glance, stood up at the same time, and said, "We have to go."
Zhang Quan and Liu Neng froze. "But the Patrol Examiner still hasn't arrived..."
Before you continue