Ninth In the World

Despite the fact that Wu Cheng was carving a path at the front and the students were all members of the elite class, running in that primitive, path-less forest caused everyone to end up covered in injuries.

Two hours later, when the roars of the beast could no longer be heard, Wu Cheng slowed down his pace. By now, the team had reached a slightly open-spaced area.

When he noticed that the team members behind him were not able to stand straight, Wu Cheng stopped. “Let’s rest here for a short while. I will tell you about the trial method later.”

After running for a few hours in a forest filled with viney thorns, almost everyone’s clothes were torn and tattered. Although the cultivation levels of the students were not low, they had all lost their composure when faced with this unexpected, dangerous situation.

Fortunately, the materials their bags were made of were sturdy, so despite being heavily scratched, none of their bags had been torn open.

“How come your clothes are intact, Di Jiu?” Pang Fan said when he calmed down. Only then did he realize that Di Jiu’s attire had not undergone many changes. It actually still looked the same.

“I learned a lightweight movement technique and followed the path you guys carved, so I did not have to come into contact with those thorns,” said Di Jiu carelessly.

A female student standing in front of Pang Fan heard what he said and looked at Pang Fan in disdain. In her opinion, Di Jiu was someone that only knew how to pull tricks and take advantage of a situation.

Di Jiu did not take this to heart. Most members of the elite class were talented individuals close to the late-stage Yellow Grade Cultivation Level despite the fact that they had not even turned 20. The girl looking at him in disdain was one of them. She looked not a day older than 20 years old, so she had not even considered that walking behind the others, like Di Jiu had done, would indeed allow one to avoid touching the thorns.

“Director Wu, I’m afraid that He Tai won’t be able to make it.” Wang Chuangtian placed He Tai down on the ground. Everyone could see that Wang Chuangtian was not lying. He Tai had long lost consciousness, yet his pale face had now started turning a blue-gray color.

Wu Cheng sighed. “I know that there is no way to cure this bite. We only removed the snake to prevent immediate death when the poisonous Qi entered his heart. He will inevitably die at some point. Based on what I know, the number of people who have died this way on the Fairy Planet is more than 10.”

Wu Cheng turned to the elite class students, who no longer looked excited. He tried his best to sound relaxed as he said, “We have yet to reach the first garrison, but many migration conflicts between powerful demon beasts have already broken out. One of us has also died. The dangers of the Fairy Planet have obviously increased once again.”

Wu Cheng, who was a pessimistic person, had always believed that the demon beasts on the Fairy Planet would pose a threat to Earth one day. Now, he was even more certain that he was right. The demon beasts had started to migrate towards the borders, a location on the Fairy Square that all the Earthlings who came to the Fairy Planet considered a safe zone.

“He Tai was bitten by a Rainbow Spot, so he will survive for seven hours at best. Even if he was taken to the Fairy Square, no medicine would be able to cure him. The Institute of Martial Arts once had another student like He Tai. His name was Ji Xiaoting. It has been a few years since he was poisoned on the Fairy Planet, yet he still remains unconscious,” Wu Cheng said helplessly.

As the leader of this trial, if he could have saved He Tai, he would have done so without hesitation. Unfortunately, he did not possess the ability to do so.

“What should we do now, Director Wu?” Yu Jie asked.

Wu Cheng’s gaze swept across the group of disorderly students before he said, “The demon beasts of the Fairy Planet have a fixed range of activity. Only extremely few species of demon beasts are able to move about. This habit strongly resembles a pride of lions. The moment a demon beast leaves its territory in search of a new one, a fight will break out between the beasts. This type of fight is what we call a migration conflict.”

“The howling sound we heard earlier came from a migration conflict. Once such a conflict occurs, we need to distance ourselves from the area as soon as possible, unless of course you possess the strength to kill that demon beast. The truth is that even I don’t have the ability to kill those beasts when they are fighting. I originally intended to lead everyone to the first garrison, but I’ve changed my mind. We will go our separate ways right now…”

Yu Jie and Wang Chuangtian were surprised by Wu Cheng’s decision to split up. During most trials, everyone would stick to the areas around the garrison and return to the garrison at night. After staying at the first garrison for 10 days, they would then move to the second garrison.

Going their separate ways was unprecedented.

Wu Cheng sighed, his tone becoming even more serious. “Everyone is aware that I’ve always insisted that the Fairy Planet is a very dangerous place. One day, the demon beasts of the Fairy Planet will threaten the very existence of humans. The previous trials were nothing. We call this sort of thing a trial, yet all the teachers do is babysit you for a month. It is hard to cultivate really powerful warriors considering the nature of these trials.”

“Now that He Tai has been bitten and powerful demon beasts have migrated to the borders, the trial will have to be self-conducted. Everyone will form their own groups consisting of two to five members. Just remember not to cross the red line. All activities must take place in the area inside the red line. Everyone can head to the first garrison. We’ll be gathering there in 10 days. I will be waiting for you there. I would also like to remind you again that any danger you face during this trial has to be resolved personally by you. If you cannot deal with it, then you will have to remain on this land forever, just like your classmate He Tai. Do you understand?”

Di Jiu wanted to know what the red line meant. He did not really care to ask about the first garrison. He had no intention of following these people back to the Fairy Square anyway. When he realized that everyone seemed to know about the red line, he decided to ask Pang Fan about it.

Wu Cheng put the backpack he was carrying on the ground, opened it and said, “Inside here are locators. Everyone has to take one. This locator uses light energy to operate, so as long as there is light, it will be able to work. Yu Jie, help me give these out.”

Di Jiu received a locator, which was in fact a screen the size of a palm. When he turned it on, he saw a red ring on it. There were a few dozens of slightly wobbly blue dots at his current location. Other than that, there was also a larger green dot and three yellow dots.

Di Jiu quickly realized that the big green dot represented the Fairy Square and the blue dots represented the students. The blue dots would move along with them, while the three yellow dots represented the locations of the three garrisons.

Yu Jie believed that Wu Cheng’s decision was wrong. However, her position was too low, so she was unable to rebut him. She immediately understood that Director Wu Cheng was doing this to cultivate some truly elite students.

Director Wu Cheng had said more than once that if the Fairy Planet failed to cultivate a batch of truly elite students, when the demon beasts of the Fairy Planet rioted in the future, the humans would lose the battle. It would be impossible to rely solely upon the Fairy Planet’s laser wall to defend against those powerful beasts.

As soon as this decision was made, Wang Chuangtian, who could be considered Wu Cheng’s disciple, said, “You should form groups as soon as possible. There are too many of us gathered here, so we could attract the attention of the migrating demon beasts. Everyone start grouping right now. Form groups of three to five people. Complete groups can leave immediately. We will meet at the first garrison in 10 days.”

The majority of the elite class students believed that Wu Cheng’s decision was not problematic. He Tai was in this condition because he had been bitten by a poisonous snake. Although the howls of the demon beast earlier had been really scary, who knew just how scary the beast really was when they had not fought against it?

The students began to group up. Most groups contained three people, while some were made up of four. Only select groups included five people.

Di Jiu did not attempt to form a group. Meanwhile, Pang Fan walked with a smile towards an early-stage Black Tier student who was in the midst of grouping up. “Brother Cao Quan, take me and Di Jiu with you. Di Jiu can use a lightweight body technique, and my father asked Chinese Blacksmith Master Ye to refine and forge this saber especially for me.”

Di Jiu’s gaze landed on Cao Quan. Although he was not tall, he looked capable and vigorous. In Di Jiu’s opinion, Cao Quan was at best as strong as Sang Sha, so he had to be at an early-stage Black Tier Cultivation Level.

“There are already three people in my group, so only one more person can join us. If you want to come with us, your mission will be to help us carry our bags while we deal with any demon beasts that may appear,” Cao Quan said with a shake of his head after taking a quick look at Di Jiu.

It would not be possible to take him along. Although Pang Fan was weaker, at least he was more obedient. Who was Di Jiu, anyway? Cao Quan did not recognize him. Plus, while Pang Fan had come over to beg, that newcomer called Di Jiu had just stood there unmovingly. Who did he think he was?

Pang Fan looked slightly disappointed as he thanked Cao Quan and returned. He believed that Di Jiu was too weak. He only knew a lightweight technique, so he would be in danger if he did not group up with more powerful people.

In the blink of an eye, the majority of the elite class students had formed their own groups and left one by one. Only Di Jiu, Pang Fan and the two teachers, Yu Jie and Wang Chuangtian, were left behind. Wu Cheng had said that he would head to the garrison first and left.

“Pang Fan, Di Jiu, you don’t have to participate in the trial. Just go to the garrison ahead of us and meet up with Director Wu.” Yu Jie knew that Pang Fan was weak, so no one would group up with him. As for Di Jiu, she had not treated him like her students from the very start.

Wang Chuangtian nodded his head and added, “That would be for the best. The distance to the first garrison is still considered safe.”

He was planning on grouping up with Yu Jie. Given his current strength, he would still need many opportunities before his strength could improve. Director Wu Cheng’s strength motivated him, so what he desired the most now was to enter the Connate Level.

“Alright then. He Tai is still here, though.” Pang Fan pointed at He Tai, who was on the ground.

Wang Chuangtian sighed and said, “The two of you could take him to the garrison so he can be buried…”

“Alright then,” Pang Fan answered reluctantly.

After the two teachers left, Di Jiu looked at Pang Fan speechlessly. This fella had not tried to find some powerful team members. Instead, he had chosen to take along some extra baggage to the garrison. Di Jiu started to wonder whether Pang Fan had really gone there to participate in the trial. It seemed like anyone could order him around and ask him to do stuff for them.