According to the trial rules, Ding Hao’s team could not linger in one place.
Thus, after a brief breakfast the next morning, they collected their tents and wore their armors. Then, they stepped down the hill and walked into the deeper wilderness.
To make up for their falling asleep during the watch last night, the two disciples offered to carry the most Foxy Wolf Beast’s flesh and fur. They were eager to make others forgive them.
“If only we had inner core disciples’ Storage Rings! We can hold so many things so easily.” Fang Tianyi sighed.
Other disciples all followed him.
Only people who had adventured in the wild knew how precious a storage tool was. It could definitely save you a lot of trouble. For example, they could have carried all of the five Foxy Wolf Beasts. Instead, now they could only keep the premium parts of them and threw the remains in the wild.
Ding Hao slightly nodded and was planning to get a Storage Ring once he had the chance.
“Kid, it’s easy to have one. Think again!” Sword Master’s voice suddenly ran in his head for no reason.
Ding Hao was dazed for a while and soon realized what he meant. He answered in surprise, “You mean…”
“He means that you can make one for yourself since you’ve got the materials and the skills. You don’t have to ask for anyone.” Saber Master snickered and explained. “After the five academies competition, the little kid Cheng Fei gave you something called ‘Void Boundary Stone’, remember?”
Ding Hao nodded in his head. “Yes, I do.” Then, he added, “Can the ‘Void Boundary Stone’…?”
“Exactly.” For fear of Saber Master’s stealing the show, Sword Master hurriedly added, “Though not ranked in the Fantastic Treasures List, it’s famous in the cultivation world. One of its functions is to refine space tools. The one you received is not highly-ranked, however, you could totally refine a few Storage Rings out of it.”
“If that’s so.” Ding Hao finally realized. However, he soon shook his head. “But I’m no Inscriptionist. Even if I have the materials, I don’t know how to refine it.”
“Tsk, when does an Inscriptionist become so great? When I was… well, forget it. I can teach you and I can guarantee success.” Sword Master recalled some of his glory days and almost blurt out his past lives. However, he managed to shut his mouth.
Ding Hao knew that the Sword Master wanted to protect him, thus he buried his stories in the past. Hence, Ding Hao did not ask anything out of curiosity. Instead, he picked up on the current topic and said, “Please teach me, Sword Master.”
“OK. Little Chap Ding, you have the Saintly Being of Saber and Sword and master dual Qi in ice and fire. The burning flame Qi of the middle dantian in your chest is one of the 10 divine fires to refine magical weapons. Though you’re only in the two-apertured Martial Disciple Realm, you can give it a try.” Sword Master considered for a moment and continued, “Give me some time. I’ll prepare a refining incantation suitable for you. Tonight, I’ll teach you.”
Ding Hao was glad. “Thank you, Senior.”
Then, Ding Hao remembered something and exclaimed in his heart. “Gee, why is Saber Master not talking? I’m really not used to her being so quiet.”
“Hahaha, that crazy woman can’t refine weapons. She didn’t know what to say. Do you really think she wanted to be quiet?” Sword Master laughed out loud, proud of himself.
Saber Master could not stand it anymore and hysterically snapped. “You filthy old man, talk to me about spiritual grass and elixir if you’re still a man! Do you know how many yang herbs are in the Divine Land Herbs List? And how many yin herbs are there? Do you know the difference between 10 Magical Fires, 10 True Fires, and 10 Yin Fires in elixir refining? Do you know…?”
“Ahem…” Sword Master slightly coughed to stop Saber Master’s speech and seriously answered, “Will this lady be quiet, please? Be serious and don’t go off the topic. We’re talking about refining weapons.”
Now Sword Master stood there in silence.
Ding Hao could not come up with anything to say either.
…
Sunshine encouraged countless people.
Soaked in the warm sunshine, the nominal disciples regained their confidence.
They walked along the river banks, talked and laughed. Their laughter could be heard miles away.
“By the way, I think our team should have a badass name.” Wang Xiaoqi snickered and suggested.
“Cool. How about the War God Team?” Another one suggested.
“Yuck, that sounds cheesy. I say we should call ourselves the Amazing Sword Team. Haha!”
“Go away, that’s cheesier!”
“Will Senior Brother Ding suggest one?” Someone urged.
Everyone agreed on this idea.
Wang Xiaoqi approached Ding Hao to ask and everybody’s eyes fixed upon Ding Hao.
However, at that moment, Ding Hao was talking with Sword Master in his head. He did not pay too much attention and simply blurted out. “Let’s go with the name Young Pioneers!” He realized something wrong after he blurted it out. However, it was too late to take it back.
The name was highly acclaimed by the team.
“Yeah, Young Pioneers. Haha, the pioneering team. It’s a good one.” Wang Xiaoqi laughed with others. “It’ll be our team name!”
Just when they were talking, suddenly—
Whoosh—!
An ear-piercing swoosh rang in the southwestern sky.
Everyone turned their heads, only to see a streak of crimson light surge up high in the sky. Then, the light exploded into grand fireworks. The light formed into an ancient sword pattern in the sky. The pattern was grand and could be seen thousands of miles away.
“It’s other disciples’ signal. Someone gave up the trial.”
“A red sword. They’re the Western Academy of red shirts disciples. It looks like they’ve got into real trouble and had to give up on this.”
“Well, what a bunch of cowards they are! They only lasted for one day. Such a shame!”
The other disciples were all talking at once.
The red sword pattern in the sky was a signal the disciples sent when they were in big trouble. Once they found themselves unable to get out of the trouble, they could send a signal to call for help. Then, the hidden experts would come to rescue them out of a life-threatening crisis.
However, in the meantime, it meant that they had given up on the trial. They would receive zero rewards from the set and would even be despised by other disciples.
In general, few disciples would choose to send a signal unless they were really at their wit’s end.
Ding Hao looked into the distance in the southwest. It seemed that a group of Western Academy of red shirts disciples were really in danger. He wondered if his old friends, Xiao Chengxuan, Li Canyang, and Li Yiruo were in the desperate team.
Just then—
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Farther than the previous place in the southwest, other streaks of crimson light surged up to the sky and took the shape of a gigantic ancient sword in the sky.
