Chapter 293 – An Unlucky Encounter

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

It was actually not Gu Lingzhi’s looks that scared the Howling Lion Beast away. The Howling Lion Beast was the one that ate the Green Waist snake that Gu Lingzhi electrified the previous afternoon. Having eaten the Green Waist snake, the Howling Lion Beast naturally remembered the aura of the Fengwu Sword that killed the snake.

The speed at which the Howling Lion Beast ran away was so fast that the Rock Hog chased for a while before giving up. It turned back around, returning to the tree that Gu Lingzhi had been hiding in.

Gu Lingzhi had planned to secretly escape while the Rock Hog was busy but was now trapped by it again. Facing the hog, she had no choice but to return back to the tree. An earth-shaking vibration was then felt. The tree looked like it was about to topple anytime.

Grabbing a branch with one hand, she narrowed her eyes as she assessed the Rock Hog that was knocking the tree. The skin of the Rock Hog was extremely solid and made of rock. It would not be smart to attack it directly. When facing this kind of beast, the best way would be to attack its weakest point, which was their eyes. But the Rock Hog lowered its head while knocking the tree and there was no way to aim directly at its eyes.

Gu Lingzhi turned her attention to the next weakest point of the Rock Hog – its butt.

More accurately put, it was the butthole.

Although it was slightly gross, the area was really the next best part to hurt the Rock Hog.

Taking a deep breath, when the Rock Hog once again crashed into the tree. Gu Lingzhi quickly gathered her wood spiritual energy to create a wooden arrow. Jumping off the tree, she landed on the ground behind the Rock Hog. The arrow immediately flew out of her hand, aimed for the weakest point of the Rock Hog.

“Ahh—” The Rock Hog let out a pitiful cry as a spout of blood flowed from its butthole. It cried out as it turned on the spot. Its tail was flying about as if trying to get something that was hurting it out.

Gu Lingzhi was not going to let it succeed. She did not give up control of the wooden arrow even after it had gone into the Rock Hog. Just as the Rock Hog had bitten on the end of the arrow and was about to pull it out, Gu Lingzhi changed the shape of the arrow. The tip of the arrow expanded, forming a round of eight hooks. When the Rock Hog pulled on the arrow, it inflicted harm upon itself. The eight hooks had clung onto the Rock Hogs intestines and pulled it out along with it. The Rock Hog’s intestines were now dangling out of its butt.

Gu Lingzhi could not bear to look as she closed her eyes. Directing fire spiritual energy over her Fengwu Sword, she aimed for the Rock Hog’s neck.

At this point, the Rock Hog was already half defeated by the wooden arrow and it could only stare as Gu Lingzhi’s sword descended on it.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes...

After seven strikes, Gu Lingzhi finally managed to chop off the Rock Hog’s head.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Gu Lingzhi kept her Fengwu Sword back into her Storage Ring. Standing in front of the Rock Hog’s body, she avoided looking at the sight that would make her lose her appetite for three days. She jabbed the neck of the hog sharply and a burst of fresh blood burst forth, staining Gu Lingzhi’s white cloth.

Seeing that the blood did not even cover five percent of the cloth, Gu Lingzhi frowned. She then balled up the cloth and kept it. She retrieved a grey coloured bead from the Rock Hog’s head and quickly left the area.

Every beast had one of such beads called the Bestial Bead. The bead consisted of the entire spiritual energy of the beast and existed in the brain of the beasts. Bestial Beads of beasts above the third-order could be used in Alchemy or Weapon Forging. Gu Lingzhi was not going to let it go to waste.

For the next few days, Gu Lingzhi was either killing a beast or getting chased by one.

Ten days passed by in a flash and she had completed the examination task of killing ten beasts. The only thing left was the small corner of her school flag that was still white.

“I heard that when Rong Yuan graduated, he took only ten days to completely stain this entire cloth and finish the examination. I really don’t know how he does it.”

Before she came, Gu Lingzhi did not think much of killing ten beasts of similar level to her. But now, she finally knew how difficult it was.

It was nothing to meet one head to head, what was difficult was that most beasts travelled in groups. One would never know if the beast one came across was alone or with a group. More often than not, when she was fighting with a beast, a group of similar beasts would suddenly appear from the side. They would then chase her down until she was extremely exhausted and she might even get attacked by other beasts when her spiritual energy was almost depleted.

In all, the ten days were extremely ‘exciting’ for Gu Lingzhi and she rubbed shoulders with the God of Death numerous times.

On the other side, after not being able to find Gu Lingzhi despite spending ten days in the Valley of the Beasts, Tianfeng Wei was no longer able to contain her anger.

There were only fifteen days for the final examination. If they did not find her in the next two days, they would have no choice but to attempt to catch Gu Lingzhi when she left the forest. They would then risk being found out by the Royal school.

“How long more do we need before we find Gu Lingzhi? Did you give us the wrong direction?” Shao Weiming who was in charge of catching Gu Lingzhi asked Tianfeng Wei gloomily.

Tianfeng Wei had solemnly vowed to them that Gu Lingzhi entered from this entrance and that was why they had started heading deeper into the forest. In a blink of an eye, ten days had passed and they had yet to see anyone. Even if Gu Lingzhi strayed from the path, she would not have gone so far right?

“This...I don’t know what is going on. She definitely came in from this entrance. As long as she does not stray too much, we will definitely meet her.” Tianfeng Wei was also puzzled.

Logically, for anyone who entered the Valley of Beasts, as long as nothing happened to them, they would walk in a straight line into the valley. In order to make sure that Gu Lingzhi did not stray too much, they had intentionally surveyed a slightly wider area. Who knew that even after ten days, they still could not find her. Did she not walk in a straight line?

But why would she waste time taking another path, what was she planning?

“Useless brat!” Shao Weiming scolded, “No wonder you can’t even keep your man.”

His words struck Tianfeng Wei’s cord, causing her face to harden. Biting her lip, she did not dare to say anything as she stared at the ground.

The group with Shao Weiming was sent by Empress Wei Shenglan. Although she had rescued the Empress and the First Prince obtained great merit, it was still difficult for her to do anything alone. Not long later, she who rescued the Empress had become the target of others. Thankfully, she still had some helpers in the Royal School or she would have been banished.

After her father gave up on her and Lang Jingchen ignored her, she had nothing left to lose. The only thing left for her was to catch Gu Lingzhi so Rong Yuan would have a taste of what she went through. She did not care if others made use of her!

Another two days passed. In those two days, Gu Lingzhi had stained her entire cloth with beasts’ blood. After the clean cloth had been completely stained, it slowly turned into a dark red colour.

Carefully, Gu Lingzhi kept the cloth. After determining her directions, she headed out of the Valley of Beasts.

On the last two days of the final examination, there would be teachers from the Royal School standing at the peripheral of the Valley of Beasts. They need not worry about not being able to find the way back to school after they went out.

With her heart set out returning back, Gu Lingzhi did not expect that she would run into a group of people expecting her on the way back.

After four hours, Gu Lingzhi slowed down as she left the area with peak grade third-order beasts in order to save energy. In front of her, she saw a group of people heading towards her.

“Why are there so many adventure groups in the Valley of Beasts that still have not left?” Gu Lingzhi muttered as she wanted to change direction.

The Valley of Beasts was huge and the Royal School would not be able to clear the entire area. Occasionally, there would be small adventure groups coming in to try and catch beasts in order to obtain materials.

In the previous twelve days, she had met another group of four men. They had made small talk. Little did she know that her location was exposed by the small group of four. The group that had been looking for her around the area was finally able to locate her and stop her as she was rushing back.

“That’s weird, I took another way, why would they follow me? Could it be that they have something to ask me?” Seeing the group change their direction along with her, Gu Lingzhi talked to herself curiously. She stopped to see what they wanted.

Shao Weiming who was chasing her furiously paused for a moment before delight filled him.

He was worried that Gu Lingzhi had realised they were following her and would run away. Who knew that she would stop? No one could blame him for treating her viciously now. A huge reward would be awaiting him if he were to catch her alive for the Empress.

A similar look of delight filled Tianfeng Wei’s eyes as she saw her stop.

She was really stupid. How could Rong Yuan like someone so dumb?

Gu Lingzhi stared at them as the group neared her. Just as they were about to reach her, they suddenly split and all ten of them surrounded her. It was only then did Gu Lingzhi have a clear view of the only girl in the group – wasn’t that Tianfeng Wei?

Gu Lingzhi realised that they were trying to catch her silently scolded herself for being stupid. She quickly rushed towards the direction that they had yet to block.

It was the direction deeper into the Valley of the Beasts. She did not care that she might meet other troublesome beasts on the way. It would be more problematic to be caught by them.

“Damn it! Who asked you to show your face?” Shao Weiming cursed at Tianfeng Wei.

He saw clearly how Gu Lingzhi recognised Tianfeng Wei and immediately ran. When she was planning on doing something bad, couldn’t she cover her face first?