Gold Medal Tour Guide Who Threw Shoes to Ask the Way

"We can't wait any longer." Liang Shixian said seriously. "If we keep waiting, we'll be in danger."

"But... it's clearly safe here." Liu Neng hesitated.

Hearing this, Ji Ruo shook his head slightly.

These two must have been sleeping through class, right? How could they not know anything?

Even he, a transmigrator, understood the difference between day and night!

Liang Shixian patiently explained, "Safe might only mean safe during the day. Generally speaking, Monster Beasts are divided into diurnal and nocturnal types. Normally, nocturnal beasts are more aggressive and ferocious than diurnal ones."

Ji Ruo added at the right moment, "Besides, we don't know why those Emerald Snakes suddenly stopped chasing us. Even if they got tired, after resting this long, they should have recovered. We have to leave and find a new place to camp. Otherwise, once night falls, none of us knows what will happen."

Zhang Quan and Liu Neng exchanged a glance, seeming hesitant.

"We've already waited this long..."

Ji Ruo said seriously, "Precisely because we've waited so long, we need to leave. As far as I know, in past Martial Exams, the Patrol Examiner's rescue time never exceeds half an hour. Look, how long have we been waiting now?"

"Well... alright."

The group decided to leave.

But they faced a serious problem. The Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm seemed to have changed somehow. The direction-finding methods taught at school were useless now. So the tough question of which way to go stopped them shortly after they started moving.

"Uh... which way do we go?"

Liu Neng asked weakly.

He'd realized that Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian were both the studious type—at the very least, their theoretical knowledge was solid.

What he didn't know was that this question had stumped Liang Shixian too.

Honestly, he had no idea where to go either.

Ji Ruo thought for a moment, then took off one shoe and tossed it into the air.

Under the slightly dazed gazes of the others, Ji Ruo followed the shoe's direction and said, "This way."

Liang Shixian winced. "Ji Ruo... are you serious?"

"Of course. Throwing a shoe to ask the way—leave it to fate. This is heaven's arrangement!" Ji Ruo lifted his chin. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Uh..."

They all looked at each other. Liang Shixian sighed. "Fine. We'll do it your way."

At the same time—

[Congratulations, host kid, on successfully giving directions! Unlocked achievement: Gold Medal Tour Guide!]

[Acquired Trait: Absolute Sense of Direction!]

[Absolute Sense of Direction: When facing a directional choice, gain a certain percentage of correct correction (Current correction: 5%. Can be increased by repeatedly giving directions. Max value: 100%).]

[Note: Go explore, go witness, go possess!]

Ji Ruo's eyes lit up.

Nice!

He's a tour guide now!

"Class monitor, we're heading east, right?"

Liang Shixian's expression soured. "We're heading where the shoe's toe pointed."

"Ahem."

Ji Ruo coughed. "Then follow me."

With that, he picked up his shoe, put it on, and walked in a direction slightly to the right of where the shoe's toe had originally pointed.

"A little to the right. This is east."

"???"

You call that 'a little to the right'? It's almost pointing at the heel! Where's the 'little'?!

But Ji Ruo had no choice. The newly acquired [Absolute Sense of Direction] gave him a small correction when guiding, and while it wasn't precise, it at least let him know the general orientation.

"Ahem," Ji Ruo said awkwardly, "Anyway, we didn't know which way to go, right? I just think throwing a shoe to ask the way seems a bit unreliable."

"..."

You know it's unreliable too!

The group was speechless.

But as Ji Ruo said, they really didn't know which direction to take.

"Then let's go. Stop dawdling, or it'll get dark." Liang Shixian sighed and said.

Ji Ruo patted his chest confidently. "Don't worry. Trust me—it'll be fine!"

After all, it was a trait rewarded by the system! The general direction had to be right!

That was how Ji Ruo saw it, so he was very confident.

But he overlooked one thing—the current trait only had a 5% correction effect. So if the direction Ji Ruo pointed was wrong, the correct bearing feedback he received was actually only five percent of the true direction.

Ji Ruo and the others left. No one knew that this direction was indeed east, but it was southeast-south, and extremely south at that. Strictly speaking, if a direction were divided into ninety degrees, then the four cardinal directions would form four right-angle coordinate systems.

And this direction was actually only 5° away from the coordinate system where south lay.

"Everyone, stay close to me. Don't get lost." Ji Ruo took the lead, walking ahead, and didn't forget to remind the others.

"Got it." Liang Shixian only felt a wave of exhaustion. He had a feeling Ji Ruo was unreliable, but at this moment, someone had to take charge.

Even though he was the class monitor, he didn't know the right direction either, and since Ji Ruo had already chosen a path, changing it back and forth would only leave them stuck in place or completely lost.

Since they were already lost anyway, they might as well grit their teeth and follow one direction.

As the model student and class monitor, Liang Shixian knew that although the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm was under human control, the dangers in the area opened for the Martial Exam theoretically wouldn't exceed what a sixth-rank Martial Apprentice could handle.

There were four of them now. Ji Ruo knew Iron Sand Palm, and Liang Shixian himself wasn't weak—at least within the range of sixth-rank Martial Apprentices, he considered himself decent.

In short, as long as they didn't run into a group of monster beasts like the Emerald Snakes earlier, they wouldn't be in too much danger.

Not to mention, there were still two people who had activated their Rescue Devices.

The Patrol Examiner would arrive anytime, so even if they just picked a random direction to walk, there wasn't much to worry about.

So Liang Shixian had no objections to Ji Ruo leading the way.

His reasoning was actually sound, but what he didn't know was that the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm was no longer the same as it had been for the past thirty-six years.

They walked for a few more hours until their waists and knees ached and stars swam before their eyes.

After being chased by the Emerald Snake swarm for so long earlier, nearly a full day had passed since the Martial Exam began.

In that entire day, none of them had eaten anything, and they were already starving.

Ji Ruo rubbed his stomach and muttered, "I shouldn't have thrown away those Emerald Snakes earlier. We could've had some wild game."

The Martial Exam was a comprehensive test. While candidates were allowed to bring weapons, they weren't permitted to carry living supplies like food.

Surviving in the wild was also an important part of the exam.

Candidates had to rely on themselves to survive in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, which was like a primeval forest, until the exam ended—meaning surviving for seven days.

Over the years, quite a few candidates had starved to death during the Martial Exam. The Rescue Device could make some simple judgments, but mere hunger alone couldn't activate it—at least, that's what the teachers said, though Ji Ruo always felt it was a load of crap.

Once the Martial Exam started, there was no turning back.

A martial artist must have the courage to charge forward without hesitation!

"I'm so hungry!"

Ji Ruo couldn't help complaining.

Since he got the system, he had triggered three achievements, and the conditions were all ridiculously trivial, which had changed Ji Ruo's style.

He treated himself like a child, and a child would say when they were hungry.

Even younger ones would cry.

"Bear with it. If it gets really bad, we can eat grass." Liang Shixian said. "Don't just eat mushrooms or monster beasts—they could be poisonous. Let's find a place to camp first."

"Sigh."

Ji Ruo sighed, but maybe it was because his desire to eat was too strong. Ten minutes later, a field of blood-red rice paddies appeared before them.