However, Xi Nan’s suggestion did make sense regarding where to put the cards.
There was simply no place on their persons to carry so many cards, and carrying them at night was extremely risky.
Li ZouXing observed his surroundings and spotted an ordinary-looking tree. He walked over, bent down to inspect the soil, and said, “How about burying them here?”
The others’ eyes lit up, and someone suggested, “We can also layer our mental protection and positioning on top!”
“That’s a great idea!” Several of them gathered around Li ZouXing, patting his shoulders and arms, and playfully trying to pat his buttocks. Li ZouXing grabbed the hand attempting to pat his buttocks, glaring at them, while Xi Nan chuckled, “My bad, my bad!”
Gu WenCheng watched this scene thoughtfully, then suddenly had an epiphany.
So, among boys, patting each other’s buttocks is normal?
They quickly dug a hole under the tree and buried the cards. As a precaution, they layered their mental protections on top, with Gu WenCheng providing the final layer. With all these safeguards in place, any problems would indeed be quite strange.
They only kept five cards on their persons. To lower the suspicions of their opponents, Si Wo Lin, who appeared the weakest among them, also buried his cards underground.
After dispersing from the seniors, there was no need to backtrack to find them. They continued along the nearest path, and halfway there, they suddenly smelled the aroma of food.
Accompanying the scent of food were lively laughter and chatter.
They exchanged glances and continued walking. The dense foliage revealed the scene they had been hiding—a group of young men and women were joyfully roasting food. Nearby, a massive beast lay on its back, its belly sliced open, and the juiciest meat had been taken by this group for grilling.
“They are quite formidable,” Ji Yu whispered, “They’re from the Royal Academy.”
The Royal Academy was one of the Empire’s top schools, with all the children of high-ranking nobility attending. The Emperor’s two sons, Prince Nico, who had already graduated, and Prince Yin Sa, who had just enrolled, were also from the Royal Academy.
Li ZouXing nodded, “That meat smells delicious.”
“Shall we hunt one too?” Xi Nan eagerly suggested, “It looks so appetizing!”
Before the others could respond, a female voice came from ahead, “Hmph, a bunch of trash thinks they can hunt a Highspear Beast.”
The Dream Team turned to look, and they saw a girl with long, thick hair, smirking as she approached. Her expression was full of disdain and mockery, “Daydreaming fools. Didn’t your teacher teach you to plan before bragging?”
A burst of laughter came from two girls of similar age who joined her side, covering their mouths, “Qingying, you’d better stop. You don’t want them clinging to you.”
Ren Qingying stood there with folded arms, suppressing her annoyance at the thought that Li ZouXing’s group might actually cling to her, “Hurry up and leave! Are you planning to stay here and eat what’s left of our catch?”
Xi Nan clenched his fists, about to step forward, but two hands grabbed him, one from the left and one from the right.
Due to this movement, they stepped out from the concealed area of lush foliage, exposing themselves to the eyes of the three girls.
Li ZouXing and Gu WenCheng each held one of Xi Nan’s arms.
Gu WenCheng smiled and said, “Xi Nan, don’t bother with these immature girls.”
His peripheral vision swept past the three girls, his demeanor indifferent as if this place had no one.
Previously, the jungle had concealed them, and the girls could only see vague outlines of six figures, five of which were holding illuminated cards. In their eyes, this was the appearance of the weak.
Although they might be a bit weaker, they did indeed have attractive looks.
“Qingying,” one of the girls whispered, “they’re from the Chengyang Military Academy. They may be a bit weak, but they’re quite good-looking. Do you want to pick one as your new boyfriend?”
Ling Nian, Ji Yu, and Si Wo Lin also took a step forward, standing beside their teammates. When this suggestion was made, the faces of the people who heard it turned rather peculiar.
Did they overdo the display of weakness?
Ren Qingying nodded, her gaze fixed on Gu WenCheng. That sidelong glance he gave her earlier still made her heart pound.
“Hey, you,” she called out, raising her chin towards Gu WenCheng, “What’s your name?”
Her demeanor clearly showed her interest in Gu WenCheng.
The group of people had no interest in dealing with a fiery-tempered young lady like her. They ignored her and turned to walk away.
Not far ahead, they were blocked by a group of guys, and the leader among them projected his mental power threateningly, using it as a weapon. “Brothers, don’t make it difficult for us. Miss Ren won’t let you go, and we can’t help it.”
The Dream Team was infuriated, and Li ZouXing asked, “Why did your Miss stop us?”
“I just want him to stay here,” Ren Qingying walked over, looking determinedly at Gu WenCheng. “Hey, I want you to be my boyfriend. Don’t worry, even if you’re weak, I’ll make sure you get to the finals. Being my boyfriend has many benefits, and I can help you replace these trashy teammates of yours. People should climb higher, and smart people know how to choose.”
Gu WenCheng’s eyebrows furrowed impatiently. Li ZouXing stood in front of him, blocking Ren Qingying’s view of Gu WenCheng. “Miss, we’d appreciate it if you could let us go. We want to have a barbecue and don’t have time to waste here.”
His intervention improved Gu WenCheng’s mood once again.
Li ZouXing smiled and appeared completely without a temper. Ren Qingying hated men without any personality, and her face immediately turned cold. “You can take your trash and leave. Just leave him behind.”
“Or are you suggesting I give you some food?” Ren Qingying sneered. “Alright, Yingying, give them some meat so they can leave with it.”
Why was this person so unreasonable?
Ji Yu furrowed his brow. “We don’t need your food, and we don’t want to fight with you.”
At this, even the guys who had blocked them and were preparing to prevent their escape began to laugh. “Brothers, let’s not talk about whether they’re strong or not. Have they even manifested their mental powers? Fight us? What are they going to use to fight?”
Li ZouXing’s group remained calm in the face of mockery. “What’s this?” Xi Nan said. “Making a false promise and then having it fulfilled by us?”
“This is called underestimating others,” Li ZouXing said with a smile, and the mental power in his hand formed a long blade, its silver light brighter than any of their mental powers. It flowed continuously, making a startling sound. “Of course, we’ll use our mental powers to fight.”
Xi Nan’s fists were enveloped in fiery mental power, while Ling Nian formed a gun with his mental power. Ji Yu had an energy sword, Si Wo Lin had a dagger, and a dazzling spiritual power suddenly burst forth in Gu WenCheng’s hand.
The six people’s mental powers illuminated their faces and the anger hidden in their eyes, as they faced their opponents head-on.
“…,” the people who had just been mocking them suddenly fell silent, horrified by the scene before them.
When they compared their mental powers to those of the others, the difference was clear.
A group of people gritted their teeth, their faces becoming incredibly ugly. The ones they had just looked down on had now transformed, making them feel incredibly embarrassed.
“Fight?” Li ZouXing led with his long blade, still smiling, but the light of his spiritual power made his eyes look icy cold. “If you don’t want to fight, then step aside.”
The people surrounding them fell silent, then slowly made way for them.
Ling Nian extended his hand toward them, his face stern. “The cards.”
The other side reluctantly handed over their cards with dark expressions.
“Do you dare to let him go?” Ren Qingying frowned tightly. “Useless! All of you are useless!”
The people she was scolding held back their anger. “They are stronger than us, we wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight.”
“Trash,” Ren Qingying shot them a glare before running over herself, attempting to get closer to Gu WenCheng. “Hey! Am I not pretty? Having me as your girlfriend will make you look good.”
She continued without stopping, “You’re even stronger than I imagined, which makes me like you even more. Do you know about the Ren family in the Imperial Capital? As long as you’re with me, the entire Ren family will be part of my dowry.”
“Okay, I apologize to you all, but why didn’t you explain earlier? You share some of the blame for this situation.”
As they listened, they began to regain their composure and even found it somewhat amusing.
As grown men, they didn’t need to argue with an immature young girl. They didn’t lay a hand on her, but they also didn’t let her follow them.
Gu WenCheng left behind a barrier of mental power to block her from approaching further, and Ren Qingying stared at his retreating back with an even more intense expression.
When Ren Qingying wanted something, no one could stop her.
She was determined to make this person her boyfriend, and she would use any means necessary!
…
Finally free from trouble, the group of them felt a bit resentful, looking at each other and then gathering to comfort Gu WenCheng.
“Don’t worry, WenCheng. This just shows your charm.”
“Ignore that kind of rich girl; she’s just capricious.”
“What do you want to eat? We’ll go hunt it. Seriously, forget about just one Highspear Beast, we can bring you ten!”
Everyone was enthusiastic and eager to comfort Gu WenCheng, who had been startled by the rich girl.
“This is making me doubt relationships altogether,” Gu WenCheng went along with it. “What if my future girlfriend turns out to be like her?”
This question stumped his teammates.
They were all a group of inexperienced individuals who had previously looked forward to love. Now, they were starting to doubt how challenging and troublesome relationships might be if they were anything like this.
“She scared me so much that I don’t even want to date anymore,” Li ZouXing played along, saying, “No rush, let’s go with the flow.”
Gu WenCheng was in a great mood. “We said we wanted to eat barbecue, so you guys go hunt a small animal. ZouXing and I will go check out the waterfront.”
They split up into groups, finally creating some alone time for the two of them.
As they headed toward the sound of water, Gu WenCheng kept testing Li ZouXing’s reactions to girls. To his satisfaction, it seemed like Li ZouXing had temporarily lost interest in them.
Gu WenCheng began to appreciate the rich girl more and more.
By the water’s edge, with no one around, they crouched down to test how deep the water was. Just then, they heard a commotion from behind.
Dozens of massive beasts rushed out of the forest and headed straight for the water’s edge.
The expressions of the two of them changed slightly. They had just arrived, and now they were facing a multitude of beasts coming to drink water. Their luck was truly incredible!
Without much hesitation, they made a quick decision and jumped into the water before the beasts reached the shore. Before the beasts reached the water’s edge, Li ZouXing and Gu WenCheng had already found a gap where two rocks intersected. Li ZouXing pulled Gu WenCheng into the crevice.
As the beasts approached the water’s edge, the entire ground trembled with their footsteps, and the water’s surface began to ripple. The river was not deep, and underwater, both Li ZouXing and Gu WenCheng could feel the changes in the water.
With each tremor from above, the water surged below, pushing Li ZouXing. Every time, he had to press against Gu WenCheng’s body.
The crevice in the rocks barely accommodated both of them. They faced each other, and every push brought them awkwardly close together.
The footsteps of the beasts above became increasingly chaotic, and they drew nearer. The water’s surface rippled faster.
Underwater, unable to control their bodies, Li ZouXing could only move forward with the force of the water, repeatedly bumping into Gu WenCheng.
Each time they came close, they tried to keep some distance between their faces.
Gradually, they ran out of oxygen. Li ZouXing furrowed his brow. Above them, the water’s surface was filled with the fierce teeth of the beasts, and they were drinking water voraciously, making it impossible to surface for air.
Gu WenCheng knew how to use his mental power to absorb oxygen. He quickly released his mental power and, when Li ZouXing was pushed close to him by the water again, he held his head to prevent him from being carried away by the water. Gu WenCheng then transferred oxygen to him mouth-to-mouth.
Desperately absorbing the oxygen, Li ZouXing felt exhilarated, and Gu WenCheng’s back pressed against the rock. They had to go with the flow, kissing while being pushed by the water, trying to control their body movements as much as possible.
Their hair floated around them, and in the backdrop of the fierce beasts and the dangerous teeth, this scene strangely took on a romantic quality.
