The Attack of the Wastrel

The first night at the Valley of Beasts passed. As the first streak of light shone into the cave where Gu Lingzhi was sleeping, she awoke. After washing up briefly, she headed deeper into the Valley of Beasts.

In order for the examination to be fair, every student had to carry a Recording Crystal with them. They had to record every beast that they killed in order for it to be counted.

After killing a second-order high grade demon beast that attempted to eat her yesterday, Gu Lingzhi took out the Recording Crystal and tied it tightly onto her left arm.

Given that the beast was a second-order high grade one, it meant that the third-order beasts were not far away. This meant that Gu Lingzhi was about to enter the examination grounds.

Taking out her newly remodeled Fengwu Sword, Gu Lingzhi cautiously made her way into the Valley of Beasts. Compared to the ease of which she navigated earlier, she was now a lot more careful.

At one of the entrances of the Valley of the Beasts, a group of ten people stood assessing. After a while, the leader of the group waved his big hand as he asked someone behind him, “Are you sure she entered from here?”

The person hurriedly replied, “Yes. I dusted the flying wildebeest that carried Gu Lingzhi with some medicinal powder. Do you see the ants that are circling here? It is because the flying wildebeest had stopped here for a while and the medicinal scent is still lingering about, causing the ants to circle the area.”

“I hope you are right.” The leader acknowledged slightly before heading deeper into the forest. His men followed behind him without saying anything.

If Gu Lingzhi or Lang Jingchen were around, they would have realised that the person that replied to the leader was Tianfeng Wei.

Not realizing that her location had been exposed, Gu Lingzhi was extremely excited as she anticipated her first fight with a third-order demon beast.

It was no wonder that the Valley of Beasts was known as the place with the highest number of beasts. In just two days, she had met tens of beasts. Thankfully, Gu Lingzhi was prepared and she had sprayed Beast Expelling Powder on herself. The powder was helpful in repelling lower-order beasts. The beasts could sense the powder from afar and would stay far away from her. It saved her a lot of trouble.

As the sun set on the second day, Gu Lingzhi finally saw her first third-order beast in the Valley of Beasts.

It was a small sized but extremely agile capuchin monkey. It was only one foot long, but its furry tail was two feet long. It was known for its speed and any Martial Teacher would have a headache if they were to meet it.

When Gu Lingzhi stepped into its territory, it dashed to her in the quickest speed possible. Its long tail allowed it to hang from the branch as it swiped its sharp claws at Gu Lingzhi’s neck.

Gu Lingzhi froze and immediately activated her Sparrow Wings movement technique and dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack. She unsheathed her sword at the same time, as a brilliant red light cut at the capuchin monkey’s tail.

The capuchin monkey’s long tail was the reason why it was able to move so quickly and agilely in the forest, as long as it was cut off, this Capuchin monkey would no longer be a problem.

The capuchin monkey seemed to have expected Gu Lingzhi’s actions and just before her sword could cut it, it pushed off with its tail and hooked onto another tree branch. All four of its limbs grabbed the tree branch as it bared its teeth at Gu Lingzhi. It was clearly annoyed that it did not successfully hit Gu Lingzhi in one try.

“Pretty smart.” Gu Lingzhi laughed lightly. Remaining completely still, she activated her wood spiritual energy causing the branch that the monkey was hanging on to grow. In a blink of an eye, the branch had grown double its size and under Gu Lingzhi’s control, it started to coil itself around the monkey.

“Eee—” With two of its limbs trapped, the capuchin monkey shrieked in anger. Using its arms, it started to claw at the branch that was entangling its legs. Not only did the branch not tear off, it wounded even tighter. The remaining branches started to grow and bind the monkey legs even more, tightly ‘holding’ it on the tree.

“Little brat, let’s see where you can run to,” Gu Lingzhi chuckled as she wanted to turn and leave.

To her, it was extremely easy to deal with a low grade third-order beast like the capuchin monkey. Her task for her final examination was to kill beasts that were the same level as her, peak grade third-order beasts.

Obviously, the capuchin monkey was angered by her leaving and let out a piercing shriek. Gu Lingzhi frowned thinking it was just the monkey shouting out of anger and did not stop as she continued heading forwards.

Ten seconds later, she froze. She felt as if she was being watched by numerous vicious eyes.

But there was only her and that capuchin monkey in the area, why was there this frightening feeling?

Slightly confused and hesitant, Gu Lingzhi took a cautious glance backwards. That simple glance caused her breathing to hitch as if her blood had frozen in her body.

Ten or even more capuchin monkeys were hanging behind her in the forest. Their tan-coloured eyes were staring straight at her as if they wanted to devour her.

Damn it, how could she have forgotten that beasts like the capuchin monkey travelled in groups!

With no time to reprimand herself for being careless, Gu Lingzhi immediately started to run.

What a joke! If it was only seven or eight of them, she could deal with them. But this was an entire forest of capuchin monkeys, she would not even be able to deal with ten!

If someone were to look down from above right now, they would see a girl in turquoise running for her life in this dense forest. Behind her, there would be a black swarm of capuchin monkeys shrieking as they chased her down.

“Why are there so many capuchin monkeys?” Gu Lingzhi cried out. This was the biggest group of beasts that she had come across since she entered the Valley of Beasts. It was no wonder that everyone’s mood changed when they spoke about the Valley of Beasts. Even if one were powerful, but with an entire swarm chasing you down, even a Martial Sage would find it difficult to deal with them!

Gu Lingzhi swerved left and right as she ran for a few kilometres. The number of capuchin monkeys chasing her slowly lessened. She was finally able to breathe as she wiped the sweat rolling down her forehead. She accidentally wiped her sweat onto a black shadow.

The black shadow looked extremely flexible and smooth as when it ran on the ground, all four limbs looking to be very powerful. Its gold eyes were trained on Gu Lingzhi. Together with the capuchin monkeys, it surrounded Gu Lingzhi.

It was a middle grade third-order Storm Panther!

Cold sweat rolled off Gu Lingzhi’s forehead, if she did not tilt her head as she wiped her sweat, she would not even have realised the Storm Panther until it was in front of her. This Valley of Beasts had no room for carelessness.

Knowing that it had been found out, the Storm Panther did not bother to hide any longer as it burst forward, causing quite a flurry. It seemed to want to put pressure on Gu Lingzhi as it let out a low growl and moved even faster.

Gu Lingzhi increased her own speed as her Sparrow Wings movement technique increased in intensity like a sparrow jumping skillfully and nimbly from tree to tree.

This could not go on! The further she went into the Valley of Beasts, the higher the order of beasts she would meet. If she were to attract another group of third-order beasts, she would have no choice but to give up on the final examination this time. She would have to smash the Recording Crystal to pieces to signal to one of the Royal School teachers stationed outside to save her. She would not even know if the teacher would be able to reach her in time.

Her mind spun as she suddenly turned as she changed the direction she was heading towards. She headed towards her left as she ran, not forgetting to create all sorts of obstacles using her earth and wood Spiritual Roots for the beasts chasing after her.

In this manner, Gu Lingzhi slowly strayed from the original path she was on as she headed into a different direction. Without meaning to, she had avoided the group with Tianfeng Wei. Was she lucky or unlucky?

As the chase continued, before Gu Lingzhi completely depleted all her spiritual energy, she finally managed to get rid of the demon beasts chasing after her. Breathing out deeply, she leaned on a large tree. The hair at her temples were completely soaked in sweat as she looked extremely exhausted.

“I don’t want to…ever step into the Valley of Beasts ever again!” Gu Lingzhi cried out as she quickly took out a medicinal pill from her Storage Ring to quickly help her regain back her spiritual energy. She ran until her legs felt like jelly as she wanted to slide down the tree into a sitting position. Just as the thought crossed her mind, she suddenly jumped to the side. Something had brushed her shoulders. Without thinking, she immediately brandished her Fengwu Sword.

With a hoot, her Fengwu Sword produced a flash that sliced the air in front of her, coming into contact with whatever that was on the tree.

It was only then that Gu Lingzhi saw what had attacked her.

It was a three-meter-long Demon Snake that had the same green colour as the leaves on the tree. Its red beady eyes looked at Gu Lingzhi as its tongue slithered in and out of its mouth.

At this moment, Gu Lingzhi finally realised why the death rate was the highest for the final graduation examination. This was why it was the pride of students to have their blood-stained cloth used to make the school flag.

Not even considering the fact that they used the blood of beasts to stain their cloth, it was a feat to even survive such a dense concentration of beasts!

The name of the type of snake that attacked Gu Lingzhi was called Green Waist. It had a beautiful name, but its origin was a very cruel story. A Demon Snake like this one loved to strangle the waist of its prey. Its emerald green body would look like a green belt around their prey’s body before it was strangled and that was how it got its name.

Recognising what kind of snake it was, Gu Lingzhi directed spiritual energy into the Recording Crystal on her arm. When the Green Waist first came out its shell as an immature snake, it was already a second-order demon beast. A mature Green Waist was a peak level third-order beast. The snake in front of her was clearly matured and exactly the beast she needed to kill.

But now, Gu Lingzhi no longer contained the excitement she had when she first thought about hunting similar level beasts. Of all times? Why did she have to face it when her spiritual energy was about to deplete? It was going to be a tough fight.

When Gu Lingzhi was assessing the Green Waist, this snake was similarly assessing her. Its long tail brushed over the ground behind it as it searched for the best angle to kill this human.

As the eyes of the snake met the human, a heavy atmosphere settled over. The snake which was as thick as a thigh suddenly shot towards Gu Lingzhi. The speed at which the snake’s tail moved caused a slight wind.