A shifty-eyed man scoffed at her words and walked away, saying, "I think you're just pretending to know what you don't, trying to play the fool."
Ji Yuanchi stepped forward, wanting to argue with that person about right and wrong, but the next second Xu Yuehuai grabbed her hand and shook his head.
Not long after that person went up, the group that went up first suddenly started running down the steps.
"Get out of the way! Don't block the way!"
People running down from above shouted anxiously.
People were confused, but they still made way for each other.
After the group stopped, everyone had time to observe that some of them had wounds on their arms, with blood gushing out.
"What's going on? Are there wild animals up there? We didn't see any down there."
Everyone was puzzled. There was clearly nothing when looking up from below, so how could someone get hurt?
After Xu Yuehuai had someone come down and learned what was up there, she began to walk up. Seeing her start to walk at this time, Ji Yuanchi asked curiously, "Miss Xu, do you know what's up there?"
"I don't know, I just felt that the academy wouldn't set such a simple question," Xu Yuehuai explained.
From the moment Quan Cang finished speaking and laughed inexplicably, she sensed that something was amiss.
Everyone stopped at the 30th or 40th step, none daring to go forward.
Xu Yuehuai's move forward at this moment was quite eye-catching.
"Hey! You two girls, don't be reckless. We don't even know what the situation is up there. Going up now would be suicide!" a kind person warned.
The man who had just mocked Xu Yuehuai for pretending to know everything was among them. When Xu Yuehuai looked in that direction, he didn't even dare to lift his head.
"Let her go up there, she's practically asking for death!" There were quite a few people watching the show with schadenfreude.
Xu Yuehuai ignored everyone and continued walking forward. Ding He and the others were positioned at the back, but he recognized Xu Yuehuai at a glance. "Isn't that Miss Xu? Why is she walking forward alone? No, there's another girl next to her."
"Didn't everyone say it was dangerous? Why is she going up there now?" Ding He said with some worry in his eyes.
Everyone saw Xu Yuehuai at that moment, and Yu Er said sarcastically, "She's much better than us. She got here without even having to take the test. Why do you need to worry about her safety?"
Shi Zhiyu also saw her standing on the high place, and his eyes softened visibly.
Ignoring the people behind him, Shi Zhi used his spiritual power to fly over their heads and land directly beside Xu Yuehuai.
"We meet again." Shi Zhiyu's voice was very soft, but Xu Yuehuai heard it clearly.
She turned her head, and for a moment the sunlight shone on Shi Zhiyu, and Xu Yuehuai was stunned.
"Qi Guze?"
She called out the name instinctively, but the person in front of her was clearly stunned, which brought her back to her senses instantly.
"Sorry, I mistook you for someone else." Xu Yuehuai turned around in disappointment and continued walking forward.
Ji Yuanchi stood beside Xu Yuehuai, wanting to ask something, but felt that it was best for her not to speak at this moment.
She discreetly observed the atmosphere between the two.
“It’s okay. Um… who is Qi Guze? Does he look like me?” Shi Zhiyu asked.
Xu Yuehuai thought for a moment and replied, "No, you two don't look alike at all, but you're both good-looking."
Xu Yuehuai, unusually, showed interest and said a few more words.
As they chatted, they soon arrived at the place where the group of people had run down. Xu Yuehuai kept a close eye on her surroundings, ready to react correctly at the first sign of danger.
However, the very next second after they stepped onto the two hundredth step, two wild beasts suddenly appeared around them, each as tall as two adults.
The beast opened its blood-red maw, and disgusting saliva flowed from its mouth. Ji Yuanchi was shocked when she saw this scene. "My God, with two such huge beasts, those people only suffered minor injuries. They are incredibly lucky to have survived."
Ji Yuanchi showed no fear whatsoever. Her usual cultivation consisted of simple meditation. Old Master Pu was once a force to be reckoned with in Qingcheng. His method of raising his granddaughter was to throw her into a forest infested with monsters and have her fight against them so that she could grow stronger.
"How about one person solves one problem?" Xu Yuehuai looked at Shi Zhiyu beside him.
Seeing that she wasn't involved, Ji Yuanchi pointed to herself and said, "What about me? What about me? Miss Xu, what am I supposed to do?"
Ji Yuanchi really wants to show off in front of Xu Yuehuai and prove that what Xu Yuehuai said about her own strength was not a lie.
Xu Yuehuai looked at the adorable Ji Yuanchi, dressed in a pink dress and looking exquisite, and said, "You... just watch from the side, how about being a mascot?"
Xu Yuehuai's voice seemed to possess a strange magic. Ji Yuanchi had originally thought that she should do her best, but after being arranged by Xu Yuehuai, she nodded shyly.
Shi Zhiyu glanced at Ji Yuanchi with a displeased expression as he observed the way the two interacted. Every time he looked at Xu Yuehuai, his eyes were filled with possessiveness, but Xu Yuehuai, the person involved, simply didn't notice.
...
"Senior Brother Quan Cang, isn't this assessment a bit too difficult? The first stage is already this hard. Even though there are many people now, how many will actually make it to the end?" Ji Shi stood next to Quan Cang. She was a freshman from the previous year and was originally not qualified to participate in the assessment, but she used the points she earned to finally get this opportunity.
The haughty woman looked at Ji Shi with the eyes of someone looking at a fool when she heard her words.
"Actually, the official plan was to recruit 500 new students, but Dean Zhong said that there weren't any good prospects among the new students this time. So, this was specially designed to control the number of students and prevent the academy from losing its position as the number one power in Qingcheng." Quan Cang frowned as he said this, clearly dissatisfied with Dean Zhong's arrangement, but he didn't have the final say on this matter.
The academy is divided into five colleges, each with a dean, a vice dean, and five elders. Dean Zhong is the dean of the academy and also teaches ghost cultivation.
The other deans are Dean Fu Jia (Talismans), Dean Guo (Alchemy), Dean Duan (Martial Arts), and Dean Changsun (Weapon Forging). Among them, Dean Fu Jia has one disciple, and Dean Guo (Alchemy) has no disciples. The rest, including Dean Zhong, each have two disciples.
Today's recruitment was naturally handled by the dean's disciple and two elders.
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