Lillie's group did not make their presence known immediately. Experts in the arts of stealth and qinggong [1], not even a single crunch of the moist soil under their soles created a sound.

Each pair silently maneuvered behind separate tree trunks while the fifth wheel—Death—was on solo. Cautiously, they peered their eyes towards the cause of the faint cry. ​​

Ahead, was a girl lying vulnerably supine on a tree's roots. Her face was sickly pale as if blood was sucked out of her.

She was sweating profusely, yet her body was quivering from chills.

Her eyes and teeth were clenched shut, letting out pained moans ever so often, thinking that it would help palliate the antagonizing pain she was suffering from.

Lillie, no longer worried she'd be seen, poked her head out completely to take a closer look.

On the girl's right foot were two punctured holes seeping out blood and a strange, yellow substance.

Grotesque black veins surfaced from the skin surrounding the wound, half of her legs up until her knee was already swelling.

"Snake bite." She quietly clarified to the others. "A poisonous one at that."

"Can we help her?" Han Taiyi asked in concern as she eyed the poor girl.

"This is their final exam." Death recognized the girl as one of the enrollees from before.

The girl who was simply curious enough to question their identity and had accidentally incited her co-enrollees' chagrin.

"We can't just leave her like that. Who knows what kind of suffering she's experiencing right now, or how long she still have left to live."

About to charge out to aid the poor girl, Han Taiyi skid a halt when a hand grabbed her shoulder.

"You might not be aware, but during the final exam, teachers are spread out in the forest to supervise everyone secretly. If someone is at near-death situation, then that'll be the time they show up." All humor and mirth left Death's face, his hand firmly holding Han Taiyi in place.

Lillie draw back from peering, her expression mirroring her Senior Brother's. "But as the rule stated, if they don't arrive by the Academy's gates after 24 hours, then they'll fail."

Meaning to say, when a supervisor appeared and deemed your situation to be in peril, then that's the white flag for you.

However, Lillie had heard of stories about brave students who were close of crossing the bridge of the afterlife but still manage to have their hands touch the Academy's gate before their time runs out.

She had actually acquainted one of the few who survived near-death situations and passed the final exam.

Her old acquaintance told her of his final exam story; how one of the tigers in the forest had harshly bitten his thigh and was dragged off to their cave.

He somehow managed to play dead and waited for the tigers to go out and hunt more food before making a run for it with only one, fully functioning leg.

How they didn't eat him right then and there was a mystery.

Thankfully, his allotted time hadn't run out yet. When he reached the Academy's gate, he was quickly given medical attention and was saved from dying due to blood loss.

Lillie was skeptical in believing him at first, but when he showed her the horrifying yet perfectly engraved bite marks of the tiger's maw, marring his lower thigh, she didn't doubt him anymore.

And the mystery surrounding why the tigers didn't kill or ate him, was answered by Grandmaster Wei, who admitted that the tigers were actually trained.

They may attack you, scratch you, bite you, and leave you in the pool of your own blood, but they won't kill you nor let you die—at least, the supervisors won't let you die.

"But that's..." Han Taiyi stopped herself, the word 'unfair' was left unspoken.

"This is called the final exam for a reason, so don't expect it to be easy." Death was only stating facts, but his nonchalance can be misinterpreted as unsympathetic—which was not truly the case.

He knew that the Academy wouldn't let anyone die. As many might be unaware, right now, there are presence lurking in the shadows, ready to interfere at any time the girl would lose consciousness.

"It's also the most effective way to extract the weak ones." Brutal as it may sound, but this is the Academy's method to sought the best of the best.

Han Taiyi and Chu Lizheng took a trip down their memory lane and sighed in utter relief that they didn't encounter such impediments in their final exam.

"But if you truly wish to help, there's no rule that says we, the official students, can't interfere." At his suggestion, the playfulness etched back in Death's face. "The girl must be favored by the gods for them to lead us towards her."

Death's arrogance wasn't considerably undeserving. The girl was indeed lucky for them to stumble upon her withering body.

Among every student in the Academy, no one would venture through the forest as often as the Life and Death disciples; no one willing, of course.

Now, if the gods had truly woven their fate together, then this girl's future to enter the Academy lies within Lillie or Death's decision.

After minutes of contemplating, tentative steps were initiated from the white-haired man as he came out from his hiding spot and approach the girl.

There's clearly no more point hiding if the girl might already be seeing the golden gates of heaven, or the raging infernos of hell; a matter of perspective really.

Used to her Senior Brother's tendency to save any pretty, frail girl he come across with, Lillie sighed but nonetheless followed without complaints.