Chapter 53：Free-For-All Rumble (4) (2/2)

Xu Miao was annoyed. He thought that Wei Yuan chased him away, paying back for what he had done to her.

'This little bitch, do you think you can threaten me?'

Wanting to teach the girl a lesson, Xu Miao tried to enter the lighted area.

*BOOM*

His body was bounced back by an unknown force. He couldn't enter the golden beam.

Xu Miao got frustrated and tried to get inside again. But when he noticed a moving magic array on the ground, he realized that Wei Yuan wasn't responsible for the previous attack.

'An array?'

Xu Miao gazed at the five people, who were shivering in fear, including Wei Yuan.

”Please don't be angry, young master Xu. There's an array here. When we got inside, we're also trapped in this small circle.”

Wei Yuan explained their circumstances. They also didn't want to stay here for too long, but they couldn't get out after walking into the light.

Xu Miao snorted and turned around, leaving without saying anything. He jumped up and climbed a tree to search for another nearby beacon or something interesting.

…

Wei Yuan was relieved that Xu Miao didn't pursue the matter or try to break the formation. She looked at her new friends, ”The danger is gone. We can continue cultivating.”

”Y-Yes, Sister Wei.”

”T-Thank you, Sister Wei!”

These people formed an alliance and worked together in this round of exams as they were the only girls in the starting safe zone. Female cultivators had it tough when they were out in a foreign land, so they formed a group to cover each other's weaknesses.

All of them shifted their seats, revealing hidden items that they were sitting on.

10 Small boxes were hidden under them. They were the items that they found when they had arrived here.

Inside those boxes, small knives, rare herbs, medicinal pills, water bottles, and food supplies were kept. They were the trophies for the early birds.

Unfortunately, the five girls were trapped inside the array, which forced them to cultivate here. They didn't know when the array would free them. Without a choice, they gave up hunting monster beasts and continued gathering Qi and increasing their scores.

Wei Yuan distributed these boxes evenly. Each of the girls obtained two boxes.

Since Xu Miao failed to break the array, these women treated it as another safe zone. They opened the boxes and inspected the supplies and other goodies.

Wei Yuan also checked her loot. She examined the rare herbs first since she might be able to consume it right away.

A minute later, one of the girls noticed a small note at the bottom of her box. She picked it up and read.

[The protection array will imprison everyone inside when there are five cultivators. To disable the trap, the number of cultivators inside the array must be less than five.]

The girl was shocked. She immediately checked another box if there was another note like this.

Inside the second box, there was the same note, giving her the same advice. Not only she received the sinister hint, Wei Yuan and others also got them. They nervously looked at each other.

Wei Yuan took an initiative first, ”Everyone, remember why we are here. We are here to pass the annual examination to become a disciple of either the Mountain Goose Sect or the Silver Phoenix Sect! We're not here to kill each other! When the 3 days are over, we can return home!”

Hearing Wei Yuan's reminder, everyone was relieved. Yet, they were still paranoid. The four of them kept a distance from each other and sat alone, fearing that one of them might change their mind.

Wei Yuan had a bitter smile on her face. She never planned to kill any of them. She was saddened that none of them truly trusted her.

This trial was cruel and heartless. Wei Yuan blamed Jia Shan and Xu Xiuying for coming up with such a trap.

'Nothing like this occurred in the previous exams. What are they thinking!? Why are humans so cruel to their kind!? Just why!?'

…

One hour later

Xu Miao's journey toward another beacon wasn't so peaceful as before. As he traveled further, stronger monster beasts appeared and got on his way.

He encountered monster ents, which were disguising as dead trees. These tree monsters uprooted themselves and swung their branches and roots at Xu Miao.

'Annoying fuckers!'

Xu Miao didn't hold back using his Qi after he had completely digested and converted Wei Yuan's demonic Qi into his energy. Flame bullets and fire spears were thrown toward the trees.

He used Yang Qi to create fire instead of using the orthodox ice manipulation skill of the Silver Phoenix Sect. Since his enemies were trees, it was a common sense that fire might be their weaknesses.

'Burn it! Burn it with fire! Hans, where are my fucking flamethrowers!?'

Like a kid, Xu Miao enjoyed burning the ents and the dead tree forest. He cackled while he was watching the monster trees slowly died one by one.

Unfortunately, he caused a forest fire. By the time he knew it, his fire already surrounded him, leaving no path to escape from the forest.

'Whoops.'