Escape from the Wailing Tide?
The entire mountain was shrouded in a bloody mist.
How could they escape?
Where could they run?
—Well, this did seem like a standard exam task.
“You two protected us earlier. Now, let us help you.” Zhang Xiaoyi said.
“You have a way to escape this place?” Shen Ye asked.
“Dogzi does!” Zhang Xiaoyi replied.
Both of them turned to look at Dogzi.
Dogzi proudly lifted its head.
“Today, it’s a police dog, an expert at finding clues from the slightest traces.”
As Zhang Xiaoyi spoke, he crouched in front of Dogzi, took out a bag of dog food, and said:
“Please, we need to get out of the Wailing Tide’s range. Help us find a way.”
Rustle.
The dog food spilled onto the ground.
Dogzi happily ate it all, finishing in no time.
“Is it ready?”
Shen Ye asked.
“Woof!” Dogzi barked once and sprinted off in a certain direction.
The group hurried to follow.
At that moment, the massive sword, the wooden figure, and the statues of Zhang Xiaoyi and Dogzi all flew over and once again floated beside them.
Ten minutes later.
They arrived at a vast, mist-covered plain.
“Are we there yet?”
Shen Ye asked.
“Almost—huh? What’s that?” Zhang Xiaoyi pointed ahead.
Everyone looked in the direction he indicated.
Deep in the mist, a small fire was burning.
The Flame Candle.
Strange.
There was no need for the Candle’s Flame anymore.
“Who’s there?”
Xiao Mengyu shouted.
Several figures silently emerged.
At the front, a young man held the Candle’s Flame while the others all looked toward Shen Ye.
“We’re here to return something.”
The leading young man spoke.
Another young man added, “That’s right, this was originally Shen Ye’s Candle’s Flame, but I accidentally kept it with me. Now, we’re here to return it.”
He grinned and spread his hands. “I’m Li Yinghuai, ranked sixth on the newcomer leaderboard.”
The leading young man turned to Xiao Mengyu. “Yinghuai and I are here specifically to wait for Shen Ye. Miss Xiao, step aside. This has nothing to do with you.”
“Wang Dingzhou… What do you mean by that?” Xiao Mengyu asked.
“If you don’t leave, you’ll have to die too,” Li Yinghuai said with a smirk.
Xiao Mengyu let out a cold laugh, slowly placing her hand on the hilt of her sword, then turned to Shen Ye. “Wang Dingzhou is ranked second among newcomers, and Li Yinghuai is sixth.”
Shen Ye glanced at Zhang Xiaoyi and quickly said, “Run!”
Zhang Xiaoyi made his decision instantly.
He had no chance of fighting against noble heirs.
Neither did Dogzi.
—Rather than staying behind and becoming a burden, it was better to run!
As long as they didn’t drag Shen Ye and Xiao Mengyu down, that would already be a success!
Zhang Xiaoyi bent down, scooped up Dogzi, and immediately sprinted in the opposite direction.
“Woof woof woof!”
Dogzi barked furiously, clearly unwilling, but it had already been carried away.
“Don’t leave any witnesses. Go, kill him.”
Wang Dingzhou ordered.
Two young men instantly gave chase.
Wang Dingzhou, Li Yinghuai, and five other young men remained.
“Shen Ye.” Xiao Mengyu called.
“Hmm?”
“I’ll hold them off. You run first.”
“Are you kidding me? You—” Shen Ye started, but suddenly, he felt a chill in his heart.
He looked at Xiao Mengyu and noticed that she seemed different from usual.
An incredibly fine yet razor-sharp sword aura had silently gathered around her, suspended in place without dispersing.
Because of this, the other examinees felt nothing.
But this wasn’t enough.
—How could she take on so many opponents alone?
She’d be lucky to survive, let alone hold them off!
And if they wanted to chase him, all they needed to do was have two people hold her back while the rest circled around. They’d catch up to him in no time.
“Don’t talk nonsense. We fight together.” Shen Ye said in a low voice.
The opposing youths had also heard Xiao Mengyu’s words and chuckled in amusement.
Wang Dingzhou shook his head. “My family also has artifacts, but we follow strict traditions. We don’t have people like you who disrespect their elders—”
“If I had an artifact, I’d rank higher than you!”
“You think artifacts will recognize just anyone? Do you deserve it?” Xiao Mengyu sneered.
Wang Dingzhou was furious.
“Should I kill her?” Li Yinghuai asked quietly.
“No. Just to be safe, we all attack together. Everyone, go all out,” Wang Dingzhou commanded.
“Hah, and here I thought this would be fun—” Li Yinghuai crossed his arms. “I haven’t been active in a while, which is why I dropped to sixth. Otherwise, what is she even worth?”
The two stood side by side, acting indifferent, but they were already in combat stances.
The surrounding youths were the same.
Xiao Mengyu placed her hand on the Remnant Snow Sword, hesitated for a moment, then moved it behind her and instead raised the Luoshui Sword in front.
The sword.
Moved.
A flash of sword light shot out, instantly transforming into a crescent-shaped arc—
Clang!
The sword was withdrawn.
Only then did Xiao Mengyu speak. “Some people think artifacts just recognize masters at random.”
“Do they take the head of the Luo family for a fool? Do they think my grandfather would let me obtain the divine sword without any prior planning, leading to the family’s downfall?”
She couldn’t help but complain.
“That’s called arrogance and prejudice,” Shen Ye remarked.
“Right on point!” Xiao Mengyu chuckled and continued,
“This is one of the rarest sword artifacts in the world. Its sword aura can strike as if wielded directly. And I’ve inherited my grandfather’s true teachings, just enough to perform the first move of the Luo Divine Sword Technique.”
“If the sword is this powerful, the technique must be impressive too,” Shen Ye said.
He couldn’t help but admire.
The title of Sword Saint, combined with the might of a divine sword, meant she could obliterate her peers with ease.
Who could even fight her?
Nangong Sirui?
Unless he also possessed such a divine weapon!
“This move is far too powerful. With my current ability, I have to exhaust all my strength and mental energy just to barely execute it,” Xiao Mengyu admitted.
“Isn’t that too risky?” Shen Ye asked.
“It is,” Xiao Mengyu agreed. “If I miss, I’ll be completely drained and left at their mercy.”
“But you still used it,” Shen Ye pointed out.
“They were standing too close together. I couldn’t resist taking the gamble. And since you were here, I went all in,” Xiao Mengyu said.
She swayed slightly before continuing,
“I might sleep for a bit. You have to protect me.”
“Alright,” Shen Ye replied.
Xiao Mengyu nodded, knelt lightly on the ground, closed her eyes, and stopped moving.
A few short seconds passed.
Her breathing grew slightly heavier, her breaths slow and rhythmic.
—She actually fell asleep.
Across from her,
Where those youths had stood,
—Not a single one remained alive.
All their bodies had been severed in two by that one strike.
Headless corpses lay scattered across the ground.
Under the Luo Divine Sword Technique and Luoshui sword, they hadn’t even had the chance to fight back before dying.
Shen Ye let out a sigh.
—So this is the power of a Sword Saint?
And that sword strike just now was no ordinary attack—it must have been of the purple-grade level.
That aside—
How did these people manage to find me?
Shen Ye wanted to step forward and question them but hesitated, disgusted by the blood and entrails covering the ground.
“Hey!”
He called out from a distance, “How did you know where we were?”
From among the many corpses, one of the fallen youths responded,
“There’s someone specifically tracking your location. He must have received a special enhancement from the newbie deck, allowing him to search for a designated target.”
“—So the moment we got word, we came to ambush you.”
Shen Ye nodded.
So that’s how it was.
He had received the “Flesh” enhancement, Xiao Mengyu was the “Team Leader,” and someone on the opposing side had gained some kind of tracking enhancement.
But—
“Why are you trying to kill me? I don’t even know you,” Shen Ye asked.
Wang Dingzhou’s voice rang out,
“The original plan was just to get you eliminated from the exam.”
“I was first ordered to help surround and subdue you, making you lose the ability to fight and continue the test.”
“Who gave that order?” Shen Ye shouted.
“You should already know,” Li Yinghuai answered. “The direct descendants of the great families—they’re all senior students. They orchestrated this together.”
His body had been cleaved in half by the sword, yet his soul was forced back into his corpse, compelled to answer Shen Ye’s questions.
“Who exactly?” Shen Ye asked.
“I don’t know the specifics. I just received a mark and a secret phrase, assigning me to this task,” Li Yinghuai said.
“You didn’t even know who was behind it, and you still went along with it?” Shen Ye was speechless.
“The mark is never wrong. And if I killed you, I could join their circle and become one of them,” Li Yinghuai said.
“Go to hell!” Shen Ye shouted.
Li Yinghuai immediately died again.
Shen Ye pondered for a moment before asking, “Is there anyone who knows more than he did?”
“The original plan was simply to have you fail,” Wang Dingzhou’s voice came again. “But then, you suddenly entered the 54-card newbie deck and secured an automatic qualification.”
“So the plan was changed at the last minute.”
“The only sure way left was to kill you.”
“Tell me the names of those involved,” Shen Ye demanded.
“I wasn’t qualified to join their circle. Only by killing you would a ‘Guide’ come to take me,” Wang Dingzhou explained.
“A Guide?” Shen Ye asked.
“Yes, he oversees the entire operation. He’s currently somewhere on the island,” Wang Dingzhou replied.
“A candidate as well?” Shen Ye pressed for details.
“His voice sounds old—not like a candidate,” Wang Dingzhou said.
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