The two student groups kept a 30-meter distance from each other and entered the Human-faced Canyon.
The cold autumn breeze blew, bringing along a harsh chill that made others feel like being licked by the tongue of a cold-blooded animal. It made one’s hair stand. “Everyone, be on alert!”
Zhang Yanzong reminded them softly.
The widest spot in the Human-faced Canyon was over 30 meters and the narrowest was only about a few meters. It was like a big snake lying on the ground. Due to its meander, everyone’s view into the far distance was obstructed.
Xu Dingjiang grabbed tightly onto the longbow and looked up, seeing the sky.
Rumble!
The canyon’s terrain wasn’t flat and there’d occasionally be rocks that came rolling down the cliffs from both sides.
“I feel that something is staring at us!”
Lu Zhiruo looked around nervously and reminded them. “They are spiders!” Zhang Yanzong had seen those big spiders. In the Darkness Continent where spirit qi was in abundance, they mustn’t use the common knowledge that applied to Middle-Earth’s Nine Provinces’ living beings. Li Ziqi saw that the canyon ahead was a narrow path, and she suggested to Zhang Yanzong, “We mustn’t let the people from Chongde take advantage of us.”
“That’s right!”
Zhang Yanzong told everyone to come to a stop. If they continued like this and encountered an attack, they’d be the first to get a beating. They’d end up being a meat shield for them.
“You guys hold on!”
Zhang Yanzong went to negotiate.
“Do you think that they’ll agree to this?”
Li Fen was worried.
“Difficult!”
Xu Jialiang shook his head.
As expected, a few minutes later, Zhang Yanzong came back, wearing a furious expression. “They don’t agree.” “Then what should we do?”
Li Fen felt anxious.
“Nothing!”
Zhang Yanzong urged, “We’ll continue to advance. Everyone, get your spirits together!” “Hold on!” Li Ziqi called out, “Why are we still the ones to walk first?”
“Chongde has no plan to take advantage of us either. Li Rongguang said that if we’re scared, then they can just walk in front.”
A young man like Zhang Yanzong was confident and arrogant, so how could he possibly be able to withstand such humiliation? He rejected it outright.
“I’ll go have a talk with them!”
Li Ziqi frowned.
Ying Baiwu and Lu Zhiruo were worried that she’d be put in a disadvantageous position and quickly followed after her.
“Why did another one come? Didn’t we make things clear earlier?
Chai Yong furrowed his thick brows.
“It’s advantageous for everyone to form temporary groups!”
Li Ziqi wore a smiling face and said calmly, “I believe that you guys have also seen the horrible state the other student group had been in earlier.”
“A temporary group is indeed a good idea, but not with you guys!”
A girl spoke up, assessing Li Ziqi. (Hmph, couldn’t even withstand a single blow.)
“What do you mean by that?”
Ying Baiwu was displeased.
“What was the ranking of the Central Province Academy’s new student group last year?”
Wu Ran, the girl who looked down on the flat-chested Li Ziqi, turned and asked.
“Several tens into the ranking? I don’t remember!”
Chai Yong couldn’t remember it.
“20th place is also in the several tens, 99th place is also in the several tens. How can they be the same?”
Wu Ran rolled her eyes.
“If it wasn’t in the nineties, then it was in the eighties. They aren’t that far off from the back. Aiyah, what are you concerned about this?”
Chai Yong scratched his head. Most people wouldn’t intentionally find out about the groups that were ranked at the very bottom. However, the Central Province Academy was too well-known. After all, they had once been one of the Nine Greats.
“Then what about our ranking?”
Wu Ran continued to ask.
Lu Zhiruo was unsure what she meant by this and perked her ears up to listen. However, both Li Ziqi and Ying Baiwu’s faces had sunk. They knew that this girl was humiliating their school.
“29th!”
When Chai Yong said this, his face was filled with pride. When the other students looked at Li Ziqi’s group, their faces also had a strong sense of superiority.
“Tsk, so it’s 29th. Looking at your expressions, I’d think it was 9th!”
Li Ziqi’s lips twitched.
“What do you mean by that?”
A tall and muscular-looking guy who had eyes as big as a cow’s glared toward Li Ziqi.
“Are you stupid? You can’t even understand this?”
Ying Baiwu went up one step, protecting Li Ziqi and Lu Zhiruo behind her, and then retorted.
“Are you courting death?”
The cow-eyed guy bellowed.
“Liu Yu, that’s enough!”
Li Rongguang stopped his companion. “This student, I’m sorry, but I think we should all rely on our own capabilities.”
Li Rongguang was the leader of Chongde’s new student group.
To speak the truth, he was extremely tempted by the other party’s proposal. He had even thought of this before they entered the Human-faced Canyon. However, being the one to initiate this proposal would not only affect their school’s reputation, but it could also make everyone think that he, as the leader, was cowardly.
When the other student group proposed this, Li Rongguang wanted to agree to it. However, before he could speak up, Wu Ran, Chai Yong, and the others started to speak up and refuse. Moreover, they even used sneering tones.
What could Li Rongguang do?
He felt great despair as well!
It hadn’t been easy for him to gain a bit of authority as the leader. If he were to act too forcefully, the chemistry of the group would be affected.
“Sigh, a person starts from learning to give in to eventually becoming more mature. Why do you guys not understand that?”
Li Rongguang was born into a big clan, and he was educated well since young. Hence, he knew that interests should be placed above everything else. What was the use of taunting others to satisfy one’s own pathetic sense of superiority?
They might as well form a group and quickly go through the Human-faced Canyon, clinching a higher ranking.
They’d only be able to look down on others after being able to get the top ten positions.
“I was too presumptuous!”
Li Ziqi nodded then turned to leave.
“Eldest Martial Sister, I feel that the guy is a little amazing!”
Lu Zhiruo walked while turning to assess Li Rongguang. Although his looks were mediocre and couldn’t compare to Sun Mo’s, he seemed like an intelligent person.
“It’s not easy for everyone!”
Li Ziqi sighed. Unless you had great fame and extraordinary talent from a young age, you would have to face such a situation where no one would accept you as the leader.
Everyone felt that their opinions were right, so there’d definitely be contradictions
“Those people are really arrogant!”
After Lu Zhiruo returned, she complained, “They look down on us!”
“Don’t talk so much. No matter who we lose to this time around, we mustn’t lose to Chongde!”
Zhang Yanzong urged everyone to go on their way.
“Hold on!”
Li Ziqi called out to them.
“What?”
Zhang Yanzong frowned. He was also a proud person. He couldn’t let Chongde go on first while they followed behind. It was too embarrassing.
Li Ziqi looked around and her gaze landed on Tantai Yutang’s face.
(Sickly guy, it’s your turn to make a move!)
Tantai Yutang instantly got her meaning and fell to the ground.
“Martial Junior!”
Lu Zhiruo was given a fright and immediately darted over to help him up.
Tantai Yutang somehow managed to dodge the papaya girl and fell to the ground.
“Cough cough! Cough cough!”
The sickly guy coughed, wearing a painful expression.
“Taitai, what’s the matter? Quick, get the first aid bag!”
Li Ziqi shouted, her expression looking nervous.
Zhang Yanzong was speechless. (Your acting skills are too amazing. What should I do now? To act? Or to put on an act?)
Zhang Yanzong knew that he should put on an act, but he really couldn’t get himself to do it. Therefore, he squatted down next to Tantai Yutang.
Chongde’s student group that was over 20 meters behind them had their eyes and mouth agape when they saw this scene.
“Seriously? How can they be so shameless?”
Wu Ran was stunned. (You guys can even resort to something like feigning illness?)
“It’s no wonder the Central Province Academy has gone into decline. They don’t even have this bit of resolution!”
“Ignore them! Let’s go first!”
“But it’s really dangerous in front!” The students started talking amongst themselves.
Under this situation, who didn’t know that the people taking the lead would be in more danger?
Before this, Chongde’s students could still speak sarcastically, but when they had to take the lead, the anxiety they felt was completely different.
When they were at the back, if they were attacked, the Central Province Academy would be the first to suffer. They’d be able to react in time as well. But now…
“You guys are scared now?”
Looking at his group members’ changing expressions, Li Rongguang sighed. But there was nothing else they could do. They couldn’t possibly get someone from their side to feign sickness and fell as well, could they?
The two groups passed each other.
“Wow, look at that girl with big breasts! Her acting is so good! I feel that it’s really a waste for her to go to school. She should join an acting troupe. She’d definitely become famous!” “It doesn’t look like acting. The guy who fell seems to really be spurting blood!” “Did we really malign them?”
When they got closer, Chongde’s students managed to get a clearer look. Tantai Yutang’s countenance was bad and he kept on coughing up blood. It did look like he was putting up an act.
Hearing this, Zhang Yanzong felt that there were benefits in bringing this sickly guy along.
After the Chongde’s students had walked out over 60 meters away, Li Ziqi patted Tantai Yutang. “That’s enough!”
“Cough cough!”
Tantai Yutang took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth. He then stood up.
“Martial Junior, are you sure that you’re alright? You don’t need to take a rest?”
Lu Zhiruo took the water bag, looking concerned.
Ying Baiwu was speechless and rubbed Lu Zhiruo’s head. (Is it really good for you to be so naive? Be careful that you’ll end up getting cheated on everything you have in the future!)
Tantai Yutang, who was usually very thick-skinned, felt a little awkward for the first time in his life when he heard the papaya girl’s words and saw her worried gaze.
The observer who was following behind saw the entire scene. He couldn’t help but look toward Sun Mo and the other three, his meaning clear, (Is the Central Province Academy really so shameless?)
“Hehe!”
Fan Yao’s smile was a little stiff. Although it wasn’t good to be doing this, it was the right choice. Li Ziqi was good at assessing the situation and wasn’t a stubborn person.
“Is there a problem?”
Sun Mo didn’t avoid the observer’s gaze. Between the students’ safety and face, Sun Mo would rather have the former.
Half an hour later, as they continued to delve deeper into the Human-faced Canyon, big spiders started to appear in small numbers. The effect of Li Ziqi’s tricks finally stood out.
These spiders didn’t have much intelligence and were purely moving out of their instincts. Therefore, when they saw Chongde’s students, they charged up.
“Ziqi, it’s all thanks to you.”
Watching as Chongde’s students went into battle, Li Fen patted her chest softly. If it wasn’t for Li Ziqi’s scheme, they’d be the ones to be attacked now.
Li Rongguang felt a little regretful. He should have looked for someone to feign illness earlier. Although these big spiders’ killing prowess wasn’t high, it was still a tremendous mental depletion to their members. They had to keep on being fully-focused and remain wary of their surroundings.
“No, we must think of a solution!”
Just as Li Rongguang was racking his brains out, a tremendous number of human-faced spiders suddenly gushed out from a few cracks of the higher area of the canyon.
