Countryman, Hold On!

That night, none of them slept well.

The sounds of battle and screams from over there continued without pause, and seemed to be drawing closer, leaving everyone, including Ji Ruo, on edge.

This campsite had excellent conditions in many ways, but the open terrain was both an advantage and a disadvantage.

When there was no danger, they could use the slight elevation of this small hill to survey their surroundings.

But once danger came, the hilltop offered no cover at all. If they were exposed, they'd have nowhere to run and could only serve as live targets.

Fortunately, though the chaotic noise grew nearer, it didn't reach the few of them on the hilltop.

On tenterhooks, the chaos dragged on until dawn.

"It seems to have stopped," Ji Ruo whispered. "Should we sneak a look?"

This idea was still somewhat risky, but even without going to look, the thick stench of blood from the chaos had already drifted up with the mountain wind.

If they stayed here, they might be discovered by other monster beasts or demonic beasts coming to search for food.

If the number of beasts was small, it might be fine, but if a large group showed up, staying here would be waiting for death.

Liang Shixian understood this logic, but he still hesitated. "How about we go down the other side of the mountain? Forget about picking up points—if something goes wrong..."

Before the Martial Exam began, every examinee had been repeatedly warned by school teachers or parents: safety first!

Ji Ruo thought for a moment, then said, "Just a quick peek. Those demonic beasts have fought their way to our doorstep. One look, and if things seem off, we'll run."

This wasn't Ji Ruo being careless. He had spent the entire night using [Absolute Sense of Direction] to search for a safe direction.

While the chaos lasted, the 'safe' direction was extremely vague, and the five percent direction correction effect of [Absolute Sense of Direction] was almost useless.

But now, [Absolute Sense of Direction] was faintly pointing Ji Ruo toward the direction of the chaos.

In other words, going that way should theoretically be safe.

Of course, they still needed to be careful, since the direction correction effect was only five percent for now.

"But—"

"Class monitor, those are wild Martial Exam points!"

Liang Shixian's mouth twitched.

What the hell—wild Martial Exam points?

After a moment of struggle, Liang Shixian finally gritted his teeth. "Fine. Just one look."

Ji Ruo figured this was probably the effect of the [Diplomatic Spokesperson] title kicking in.

The group bundled the remaining Blood Rice into their school uniforms, slung them over their backs, and carefully made their way down the hill.

This small hill was only about a hundred meters high, and the slope wasn't steep. Normally, with their strength as sixth-level Martial Apprentices, they could sprint from top to bottom in a few seconds. But now they couldn't do that—they had to be safe.

So, covering that short hundred meters took them nearly an hour.

When they reached the foot of the hill, Zhang Quan and Liu Neng saw the hellish scene before them and immediately threw up.

Though the standard education system meant these Martial Apprentice-level examinees weren't exactly hothouse flowers—everyone had seen blood—

Before the Martial Exam started, the most they'd done was personally slaughter some chickens, ducks, fish, or pigs. And since they'd used knives themselves, the wounds were neat and tidy, not enough to turn their stomachs.

But now.

The battles between demonic beasts and monster beasts had no rules to speak of.

Their weapons were bizarre—crude stone tools, or simply hard rocks.

More often than not, they preferred to attack with their own body parts.

Sharp teeth, claws, beaks, hard horns.

In short, a rough count showed nearly two hundred dead monster beasts and demonic beasts here, with the largest share being green-skinned Goblins.

Most of the dead beasts were missing limbs, or had their entrails scattered everywhere.

The thick stench of blood mixed with a host of strange odors, stinging the eyes and overwhelming the senses. Combined with the visual impact, Zhang Quan and Liu Neng immediately vomited.

Liang Shixian and Ji Ruo didn't throw up, but they weren't much better off—their faces were pale.

Ji Ruo didn't know why Liang Shixian hadn't vomited, but as for himself, he had been about to. He just thought it would be a waste to throw up his first meal of Blood Rice, a premium ingredient, so he forcibly suppressed the urge.

"Looks like they're all dead," Ji Ruo said quietly. Then, not minding the filth, he picked up a mole-like monster beast corpse at his feet and began collecting evidence to upload and record exam points.

The others were still dazed. Ji Ruo frowned. "What are you standing around for? Get to work! You want me to get into a top martial school all by myself? Hurry up, record everything and then we run. Otherwise, the smell of blood will draw more beasts, and we won't be able to escape!"

"Huh? Oh, right."

They finally snapped into action.

Each corpse could only be uploaded once. With no signal on their wristbands, they only had storage capability, so they could record repeatedly.

But once the Martial Exam ended and all data was uploaded, if the smart exam system detected that a single beast corpse had been uploaded multiple times, it would be flagged as cheating.

The Martial Exam did not forbid teamwork, but it strictly prohibited multiple people from uploading the same Monster Beast or Demonic Beast corpse. That kind of behavior did not fall within the scope of normal cooperation.

Fortunately, there were plenty of corpses here. The group roughly divided the area into four sections, with each person recording one section.

Although Zhang Quan and Liu Neng had already activated the distress function on their wristwatches, the Patrol Examiner had not arrived yet, so they were still technically within the exam. These points could still be counted toward their total. By the time the Martial Exam ended, if they were still alive, they would all be able to enter university.

Just as Ji Ruo had said, these 'points' were like wild game—disgusting, sure, but picking them up was pure joy!

But Ji Ruo gradually furrowed his brow. Amidst the sea of blood-red, he spotted something familiar.

Blood Rice Stalks!

Who would pick up rice stalks to fight in a melee?

Could this be the original location of that Blood Rice paddy?

But that spot was clearly nearly eight hundred meters away from the small hill where they had been hiding!

Could the ground have moved?

As Ji Ruo kept picking, he was suddenly startled by his own thought. If that were really the case, then their situation...

"Who... who's there?"

Suddenly, a faint cry made Ji Ruo jolt. He followed the sound and saw a burly Goblin lying in a pool of blood. One of its legs was missing entirely, and the other was twisted at an unnatural angle. A massive wound gaped in its abdomen, through which its internal organs could be seen sluggishly shifting. It was on its last breath.

"Save... save me... I don't want to die..."

The Goblin said weakly. It didn't even have the strength to lift its head, so it had no idea that the voice it heard belonged to a human.

Ji Ruo raised an eyebrow. This Goblin was wounded so badly it was surely about to die. In theory, humans and Demonic Beasts shared a blood feud, so Ji Ruo shouldn't have intervened. But Ji Ruo was a good kid! How could a good kid stand by and watch someone die?

So Ji Ruo ran over to the burly Goblin's side and put on an anxious expression. "Brother! Brother, are you alright! My name is Ji Ruo, a Martial Dao Trainee with two and a half years of practice!"

The Goblin's eyes were already glazing over, but its strong will to live made it weakly reach a hand toward Ji Ruo. "Please... save... save me..."

"Don't worry, brother! I've learned first aid, I can definitely save you!"

Ji Ruo said seriously, then crouched beside the Goblin, pressing both hands against its chest. "Brother, this first aid technique is called 'Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.' I've seen people do it on TV when someone's hurt. Don't be afraid, I'm here!"

As he spoke, Ji Ruo's palms turned crimson—clearly using the Iron Sand Palm. Then, he pressed down hard!

The Goblin's eyes shot wide open. Its chest was crushed by immense force, and from the massive wound in its abdomen, a torrent of unwilling tissue sprayed out.

"You... you... you..."

The Goblin couldn't finish whatever it was trying to say. Before the words were out, it breathed its last.

Ji Ruo looked a little regretful. "What a shame. My skills aren't refined enough—couldn't save you. But don't worry, brother. You'll become my Martial Exam points and return in triumph with me!"

With that, Ji Ruo raised his wristwatch to scan, turning the Goblin into his Martial Exam points.

"Beep~ Congratulations, student, on defeating a Goblin Lord."

Ji Ruo froze for a moment. A voice prompt? Lucky break!

New book period, please don't put it on hold~