Wu Jian raced through the forest at speeds that far surpassed anything even most Asura Realm cultivators could manage. He had been traveling in the direction that Yōuměi had pointed toward. It seemed that, wherever his destination was, it was quite far.

Xia Lin was unable to keep up with him, and thus he was carrying the woman piggyback. She had blushed when he told her to hop on and tried to tell him that wasn’t necessary. He was having none of it. They needed to travel fast.

As they burst past another set of nearly identical trees, they came upon an odd sight. A bunch of people were trapped by vines. The vines were jutting from the ground, all centered around one specific area. He’d never seen anything quite like this. However, he knew a magical beast when he saw one.

“That’s a Vine Creeper,” Xia Lin exclaimed.

“Vine Creeper? What’s that?” asked Wu Jian.

“It’s a plant-type magical beast that burrows deep underground. It waits for unsuspecting prey to come near it, then vines shoot up and latch onto its victims. Those vines have the power to suck the vitality from anything they grab. Look. Can’t you see how those people are withering?”

Now that she had said it, he could indeed see that the people trapped in the vines looked like they were aging. Their skin was becoming pallid and wrinkled. It was like all the nutrients were being drained out of them.

“Its main body is underground, right?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Wu Jian extended his senses into the ground. He could feel the Vine Creeper several dozen chih beneath the surface, far enough that the average cultivator would have trouble reaching it. No wonder these people hadn’t been able to escape.

He set Xia Lin down, then raced forward. He pumped chi into his feet and legs, strengthening them, and blasted into the air. Wu Jian soared high above the Vine Creeper and its victims. Then, on the spur of the moment, he hardened the space above him with his chi, flipped around, and used the platform to launch himself toward the ground. He reared his fist back and manipulated the space around it to create a powerful drill-like shape.

“Let’s see if this can reach you!!!”

Wu Jian slammed into the ground like a meteor, punching through the earth with his fist. The space around it had been manipulated to form a drill, which burrowed deep underground and struck the Vine Creeper’s body. The plant magical beast writhed and shrieked. It was a horrid sound. However, it was merely the death throes of a creature that was quickly withering into nothing.

The people who had been trapped within its grasp plummeted to the ground. They were too weak to correct their fall. Wu Jian and Xia Lin darted forward and caught the people as they fell. They set each person on the ground and looked them over.

“It looks like they haven’t suffered any life-threatening damage,” Xia Lin said. “But they are very weak. There’s no way they can continue taking part in this exam.”

Wu Jian briefly considered their options. They couldn’t leave these people here. Everyone was a member of the same academy.

He summoned several glass jars full of pills; one contained crimson Blood Replenishing Pellets and the other held white Restorative Pellets. They were smaller than the average alchemy pill. Pellets were the lowest class of medicine. However, they were good for restoring lost blood and nutrients.

“Help me feed everyone these pills,” he said to Xian Lin.

“Yeah. Okay.”

Wu Jian handed half the pills to Xia Lin, then went around to the people present and began pushing the pills into their mouths. Some of them had trouble swallowing, so he had to force them to chew and used water to make them swallow the pellets. A few almost choked. He massaged their throats to prevent the medicine from being regurgitated.

Two of the people he and Xia Lin first helped woke up while they were helping the others. One of them was a young man with brown hair and eyes the same color. The other young man had hair several shades darker.

“It looks like you two are recovering nicely,” said Wu Jian. “Can you tell us what happened here?”

The pair looked at each other as Wu Jian crouched before them. They still seemed a little disoriented, but the one with brown hair soon recovered enough to speak.

“We’re not really sure. One second, we were all standing around and planning our next move, and the next, we had been grabbed by those vines. We tried to break free, but they were too strong.”

It was just like Xia Lin had said. The Vine Creeper had been waiting until they were standing over it, then attacked before they could do anything. It had secreted some kind of fog as well, which created a smokescreen that prevented them from seeing anything. Before they even realized it, the vines had begun sucking out their chi and bodily fluids, weakening them to the point where they could do nothing.

They were basically sitting ducks.

Everyone else began waking up slowly after the man explained their situation. Xia Lin frowned as she studied them all.

“Weren’t you the ones who traveled with Yong Hai? I don’t see him here.”

The group looked at each other before shrugging. They couldn’t see what was happening to anyone else after they had been captured because of the fog, but it looked like Yong Hai had escaped and left them to die.

“I can’t believe that bastard just left us like that,” one of them pounded their fists together. “This is the last time I will ever work with someone surnamed Yong!”

“You’re lucky that you’re even alive to say that,” said Wu Jian. “Anyway, the medicine I gave you might have restored the nutrients in your body, but it won’t recover the mental and physical fatigue you guys have suffered. You should head out of this forest now.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It sucks that we won’t pass, but this test has made clear that we’re not ready to join the elites yet,” a young man said.

“You two need one Yin and one Yang token, right? Here, you can have mine.”

“I’ll also give you mine. Consider it my thanks for saving me.”

Two of the people handed him and Xia Lin their tokens, meaning they now had what they needed to pass the test. They could make their way to the stronghold now. Wu Jian was even going to suggest they do just that, but another roar shook the air. This was louder and more violent than the last one. The other cultivators screamed and covered their ears as Wu Jian turned in the direction the sound had come from.

He couldn’t see anything save the trees that were in the way, but he knew there was something dangerous over there. Something tapped on his leg. It was a black tail.

“Xia Lin, I’d like you to head to the stronghold without me,” he said.

Xia Lin looked at him like he was crazy. “Don’t tell me you plan on going that way. I don’t think I need to tell you how bad that idea is. That way leads to the area we were told is off limits.”

“I know, but it sounds like someone might have stumbled into that area already. If someone is there, we need to rescue them. What’s more, it sounds like the magical beast is enraged. It might decide to come this way. If that happens, everyone here could die.” He smiled when Xia Lin didn’t look convinced. “Don’t worry, I’ll run away if the situation becomes too dangerous.”

Xia Lin sighed. “You had better.”

It was good that she realized it was better not to argue with him. He wasn’t the type to budge once he had decided on something.

They quickly parted ways. Xia Lin went off in the direction of the stronghold, while Wu Jian raced through the trees, towards the source of the enraged roars.

The area around him soon shifted into older trees that were much bigger. Everything here looked ancient. This place seemed infused with the vicissitudes of life.

As he ran past a giant tree, his instincts warned him of danger, and he quickly ducked just as something flew over his head. The sound of shattering bark echoed around him as the tree he just passed exploded. He looked back to see the tree felled, but he couldn’t tell what caused it to fall. There wasn’t much time to think about it either, for a deep baritone rumble like thunder rang out.

“You damn humans! I agreed to leave you in peace in exchange for this forest! But now you have gone and broken the covenant! I will make you pay!!”

Wu Jian looked up to see a massive gorilla. It was definitely a magical beast of some kind, and it was talking, which meant it was at least at the Human Limit Realm. He couldn’t sense its cultivation, unfortunately. It was far stronger than him. This must have been the peak Human Limit Realm magical beast that YUu Qian had warned them lived in the forest.

As he wondered what happened, Wu Jian saw a terrified Yong Hai huddled before a tree. The young man’s face was covered in blood, dirt, tears, and snot. His pants were soiled. It was a wonder this man was alive given what he was up against, but perhaps the magical beast wanted him to suffer.

“I swear! I didn’t mean to come here! I got lost and couldn’t find my way! I promise I’ll leave! Just let me go! Please!” Yong Hai begged with the giant magical beast.

The gorilla snorted. “You think you can leave now that you’re in my territory? Tell me, human, would you let a trespasser in your territory leave unharmed? But if you really did come here by mistake, I shall give you a chance to redeem yourself. Cut off your arm and present it to me as an offering. Only then will I let you go free.”

“I…”

Yong Hai gritted his teeth. His entire body was shaking, so much so that Wu Jian could see it even from where he stood. He seemed to be struggling.

“Hmph. What’s the matter? Can’t do it? Fine. I’ll help you.”

Yong Hai screamed in panic and tried to scramble away when the gorilla leaned down, but he was far too slow. The gorilla picked him up in one hand and squeezed. Strangled gurgles came from Yong Hai’s throat. The gorilla then grabbed one of his arms as though prepared to yank it off.

That was when Wu Jian decided to act. He did not like Yong Hai, who had displayed envy toward him from the moment they met, but this man was a part of the Shang Kingdom. He was Hou Jingshu’s subject. Wu Jian could not leave him to suffer like this.

He manipulated the space around his hand, reared his fist back, then thrust it forward. Since this creature was so big, a simple punch wouldn’t do. What erupted from his hand was a massive force of distorted space. It moved forward faster than the eye could blink and slammed into the gorilla with enough force to knock him off balance.

The magical beast released Yong Hai from his grip, and the young man fell to the ground with a thud. Wu Jian stood in front of the man as he eyed the gorilla that had already recovered from his attack.

“Jian… Wu…?”

Wu Jian sighed. “How could you go into the one area you were told not to? Don’t answer that question. It was rhetorical.”

“Another human dares enter my domain! So you do intend to break the covenant! I should have known humans were not to be trusted!”

“No one broke any covenant,” Wu Jian said. “Yong Hai stumbled in here by accident, and I simply followed him to make sure he was okay. We’ll apologize and leave.”

“You think a simple apology is enough to get you out of this?! You have desecrated my forest with your filthy human hands and feet! The only apology I’ll accept now is if you sacrifice yourself to me! Die, and I’ll consider not attacking your kingdom!”

“I can see talking to you isn’t going to get me anywhere,” Wu Jian said with a sigh. “In that case, I suppose the only thing I can do is talk with my fists.” He looked behind him at Yong Hai. “Get going.”

Yong Hai didn’t need to be told twice. He raced away from what would soon become a battleground, leaving Wu Jian to fight a creature at the peak of the Human Limit Realm.