"I...swear....that...I.....w-wanna...kill you...right...now!!"

Li Ming said through her gritted teeth as she tightened her hold around the rope which was attached to the dead body of the huge sea monster that had attacked them a few hours ago.

However it had not come alone, rather, it bought an entire army of monsters with it to attack the poor ship and its little passengers.

It took them over four hours to fight off the monsters and save their ship from sinking into the depths of the sea.

Currently, a group of seven children was busy fixing the broken parts of the ship.

Another group of four children was taking care of those who got injured badly.

Some were busy cleaning the ship while Li Ming and a group of five others were trying to get rid of the huge monster, that looked like a giant octopus, who was still clutching the ship in its tentacles even though it had been dead for past an hour.

Not only this but currently there were three people, a young lady from one of the noble families of the Jin Empire and two young boys, who were missing from the ship.

Li Ming was barely using her energy at the moment since she already ended up using twenty percent of it while fighting with the group of sea monsters that suddenly attacked them out of the blue.

She was completely drenched from head to toe and the chilly wind was making her shiver as her wet clothes got stuck to her body.

Her long wet hair was currently a mess as seaweed and only God knew what other things were tangled into them.

She smelled even worse than how she looked and the headache that was slowly growing only made her situation worse.

"Miss, it was....not....intentional. I....was...not..."

The Young Master of Chong Ming Clan did not get the chance of defending himself properly as right at that moment, the huge rope slipped from their hands and the body of the sea monsters dropped into the deep sea.

"Finally!"

----

Four Hours Ago -

"There's something wrong with the sea!"

The loud shout of a young boy and the panicked squeals that followed his words, disturbed Li Ming as she sat inside her cabin.

It was like she was not going to get a break anytime soon. Whenever she somehow succeeded in getting out of one problem, the second one would appear soon enough to disturb her cultivation process.

With a soft sigh she stood up and walked out on the deck to look at whatever was the source of the panic that had taken over the others.

"What's wrong?" She asked the very first person who came into her view and due to some sick coincidence, it was none other than Luo Ying.

"We are not sure. But something is definitely wrong. The waves are ten times more powerful than before and there's something strange going on over there." The boy answered as he pointed at something.

Li Ming followed the direction of his hand and watched the sudden dark clouds that had started to cover the sky.

She could clearly see the huge waves that were aiming towards the ship.

"Ask them to immediately turn the ship towards the south. We need to get as far as possible from here and that too real quick!" She ordered Luo Ying as she let a single stream of her spiritual qi to investigate the danger that was moving towards them.

Luo Ying nodded his head as he hurriedly moved towards the three young guys who were given the task of sailors.

However, in the next few seconds, Li Ming received two bad news.

The first one was that they could no longer revert the direction of the ship since an invisible barrier was stopping them.

Second, the dark clouds and the huge waves were bringing chaos with them.

Everyone knew that everything happening around them was a part of the illusion array set by the Academy.

Li Ming too was aware of this fact. Even if someone died in the illusion, after the twenty-four hours time limit of the exam would be over, everyone would safely return to the shore.

If she remained on the ship and decided to help the others, she would definitely have lost a great amount of her spiritual qi which was not a good plan.

But before she could disappear from the ship, she was once again facing the Young Master of the Chong Ming Clan.

"You can't leave them like this. They will die!" The boy whispered shouted in alarm as he looked at her with panicked eyes.

Li Ming was getting irritated by his constant nagging. It was like he purposely was trying to involve her in unnecessary matters.

However, since she could not feel any bad intentions coming from the young boy, she decided to give him the benefit of doubt.

"We both are very well aware that nothing is going to happen to any of them. The worst that can happen is that they will fail the exam. Even though I want to help them but for that, I'm not going to ruin my own chances of entering the Academy." Li Ming replied as she started walking away from the crowd of children standing on the deck.

But once again she found her arm locked in the tight grasp of Luo Ying's hand as he tried to stop her from walking away.

"Please! This is the last time. I promise that I'll make it up to you. Just one more time, please!"

The young boy was almost looked like he was going to cry at any moment ss he looked at Li Ming with begging eyes.

"You...!"

Li Ming felt like she was about to go insane. Even though she knew that she was being a complete fool but she still found herself nodding her head.

This gifted her with a quick hug from the Young Master Chong. However, before she could dump him into the child water of the sea, he already disappeared in the crowd.

That was how Li Ming found herself directing a bunch of panicked teenagers as they prepared for the upcoming battle.

The moment the first huge wave hit the ship and almost succeeded in sinking it, Li Ming knew that she was done for.

Storm, lightning, hail, whatever suited the situation, it was like the nature was trying to erase their entire existence as it poured its anger on them.

First appeared vines like monstrous creepers out of the sea as it tried to pull either the children or the ship into the depth of the sea.

Then appeared weird creatures of the sea that attacked their ship and the final was the huge monster octopus that left them wrecked.

By the time they found their way out of the storm and the illusion array that was set by the Academy, they were nothing more than a complete mess.

---

"Are we going to leave the three of those..."

The next second, the Young Master Chong found himself pinned to the railing of the deck as Li Ming tightened her fingers around his throat.

"Young Miss...!"

"Please stop!"

"What's happening?"

Panicked shouts emerged around her as everyone was left shocked to their core by the sight in front of their eyes.

"Shut up!"

The loud booming voice of Li Ming silenced everyone within a second. No one dared to even breathe loudly.

"Other than shouting and crying out in misery, can you all do anything productive at all? If not then make sure to stay completely silent around me!" She did not even turn to look at the group of teenagers around her as she threw those words at them.

When no one spoke for the next several moments, Li Ming finally turned her attention back to the Young Master Chong.

Her hold around his throat was making it hard for him to breathe and his face was looking a little pale as he tried his best to get her hand off his neck.

What shocked her was that he did not attack her to save himself.

The young boy was confusing her more and more by his behavior but she was not interested in his game.

"Make sure to stay away from me as far as possible. If you want to go around helping others then be my guest. Just stop begging others to do that for you. Even though you look like a hero to others, in my eyes you are nothing more than a sore loser who just wants to grab attention and praise."

She threw him on the floor as she let go of his throat.

Luo Ying landed with a loud thud as he started rubbing his throat and inhale long deep breathes.

Li Ming did not wait for a single more second before she teleported away from the ship.

As she landed on the shore of the main island of Guixian Islands, she prayed that her harsh words would keep the boy away from her.