Chapter 144: Pursuit

Wang Doushan didn’t know why, but his ears suddenly felt warm.

“What bastard is talking about me behind my back?” he grumbled as he swung his large hands through the air. His palm slammed into the Inky Dan Cloud Beast in front of him. Even though the beast had quite an artistic, elegant name, it was really quite thickheaded. It loudly howled and bit Wang Doushan’s arm.

Wang Doushan’s thick elbow locked the beast’s mouth in place. Its razor-sharp teeth were lodged in a thick layer of fat and muscle, unable to extricate itself.

Wang Doushan grabbed its neck and gave it a twist.

Crack! The neck broke.

“Great, time for another yummy meal,” Wang Doushan laughed heartily.

He turned around and yelled, “Little Forty, c’mere, it’s time to eat!”

A skinny, elegant youth came running in his direction, his large eyes dancing around animatedly.

As he ran, he yelled, “Time to eat again? We’ve already eaten four meals today. Are we still trying to link up with the other students to complete the task that the Institute gave us?”

This was Ji Ruoyu, the person that Su Chen was so concerned about.

Ji Ruoyu was pretty lucky. He encountered only two Ferocious Race youths upon entering the ruins, so he had used his life-saving treasures to escape. After that, he ran into Wang Doushan.

With Wang Doushan’s protection, his safety was much more secure.

However, Wang Doushan’s habit of constantly eating was giving him quite the headache.

Wang Doushan laughed, “Where are you going to get your energy from if you don’t eat? How are you going to fight if you don’t have energy? And where are you going to get food from if you don’t kill these beasts...... Hey, how can you fight against the Ferocious Race if you don’t have any strength? As for our mission...... the herbs and grasses we have been collecting this entire time can be considered to be completing a part of the Institute's mission. The main reason we were sent here by the Institute is to collect these medicinal ingredients. Killing the Ferocious Race is just an additional task. It’s important to keep your eyes on the prize. Ai, you’re still too young, so it’s no wonder that you don’t understand.”

As he spoke, Wang Doushan skillfully skinned and cut open the animal, removed its inner organs, and was about to begin cooking it.

The handsome young man crossed his arms. “You make it sound so good, but I haven’t seen you deal with any Ferocious Race youths yet either. Why didn’t you fight the Ferocious Race youth we just ran into instead of dragging me off to hide?”

“Hey!” Wang Doushan slammed the ground with his palm, causing a slight tremor. “I’m doing this to protect you! If it weren’t for you, I would have gone to take care of that guy already.”

“Hmph!” Ji Ruoyu disdainfully snorted. “You just don’t think you can win.”

“I’m putting your safety first!” Wang Doushan said. “If it weren’t for the fact that Su Chen had told me again and again to not let anything happen to you no matter what, I wouldn’t be afraid of that guy in the slightest.”

Ji Ruoyu curled his lips and spun around arrogantly.

“I wonder how Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, and the others are all doing,” Wang Doushan sighed.

——————————————

“We go left!”

“We go right!”

“Left!”

“Right!”

Cloud Leopard and Ji Hanyan glared at each other, neither of them willing to back down an inch.

“Please, let’s not fight about this. Why don’t one of you just back down a little? What good does this argument do you?” Gan Haoli said, smacking his forehead repeatedly.

Cloud Leopard and Ji Hanyan probably got along the worst. They competed over every little thing, and this was from the training period until now.

Cloud Leopard said, “It’s not that I want to argue with her; it’s just that her choice is the wrong one. The direction I picked is the right one.”

Ji Hanyan coldly laughed. “Both directions have paths that we can take. Why do we need to go with your choice?”

“Because there are Vicious Beasts along the path that I have chosen!” Cloud Leopard replied.

“Then there’s even less reason for us to go down that route. We need to preserve our strength to fight the Ferocious Race youths. Since there are Vicious Beasts that way and there aren’t any commotions, that means there aren’t any Ferocious Race youths there. We are much more likely to run into them if we take my path.”

Cloud Leopard said angrily, “Our main mission is to collect ingredients. Su Chen also needs us to help him find more herbs before he can help us concoct medicines.”

“We don’t know when we will run into him. Why are you in such a hurry?”

“It will be too late to start searching once we find him.”

“You’ve really gotten good at playing the role of a little brother.”

“And you don’t know what it means to follow orders. I am Number 12, while you are Number 17. You should be listening to me,” Cloud Leopard yelled.

Ji Hanyan did not like the fact that she had been assigned the number 17 one bit.

Student numbers were not assigned purely on strength; they were also based on temperament and intelligence.

Ji Hanyan was not weak, and she wasn’t stupid either. However, her personality was like Cloud Leopard’s - nothing to compliment about.

Unlike her, however, Cloud Leopard had a unique survival instinct within a forest that Ji Hanyan didn’t have at all.

This was why she was only Number 17, while Cloud Leopard was Number 12.

But this absolutely did not mean that she would obediently bow her head so easily.

Upon hearing Cloud Leopard’s words, Ji Hanyan’s expression chilled. “If you try to threaten me with those numbers one more time, I’ll beat some sense into you!”

“Come at me! Do you think I’m scared?” Cloud Leopard screeched.

Gan Haoli cradled his head in his arms. He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. How come he had to run into these two insufferable personalities?

Heavens, please send a Ferocious Race youth our way!

At this point, only a Ferocious Race youth could convince them to stop fighting with each other.

————————————

“Pu!” Yue Longsha spit out a mouthful of blood. Her already pale face grew a few shades whiter.

“Are you okay?” Gu Qingluo supported her.

“I’m alright. My flow of blood still feels a little stifled, and the flow of Origin Energy in my body is not smooth. That guy really is scary!” Yue Longsha said with some fear. “Thankfully, you were here; otherwise, I really might have died to him.”

“We’re all on the same team. Let’s not say things like that,” Gu Qingluo laughed.

“Yes, we’re all in this together. There’s no need to be so polite around us,” another pretty voice said. A young maiden holding a bowl of jade-green medicinal porridge appeared and said, “Miss Yue, drink this Five Poisons Heartbreak Porridge. It will do your body wonders.”

Yue Longsha helplessly took it. “It’s meant to cure wounds, so why call it Heartbreak Porridge and make it this color? It makes people scared to try it.”

The maiden covered her mouth and giggled. “It’s made from poisonous herbs in the first place, so of course it had to be named that. Not bad, right? I’m pretty good at coming up with names.”

The maiden’s name was Han Linxia, one of the four seventh-year students here, and she was ranked 39th. Her Bloodline Talent was quite unique. She could activate a herb’s medicinal power so that it would become extremely effective. She could even convert some of her Bloodline Energy to medicinal power. Of course, the medicinal efficacy of this conversion was much lower in comparison.

The Hidden Dragon Institute had selected her because her ability was useful on its own and could be paired with Su Chen’s. Part of the reason why Su Chen had dared to only bring enough ingredients for two batches of improved medicine was because of Han Linxia.

All Han Linxia had done was harvest a few poisonous herbs and turn them into a medicine for Yue Longsha to ingest.

Even though it looked extremely poisonous, it was incredibly effective.

Yue Longsha downed it and said, “I am quite envious of Junior Sister Han’s unique Bloodline Talent. I’m not sure how I feel about your naming ability, though.”

At that moment, a person came flying out of a nearby thicket.

He was called Li Yun. He was one of the tenth-year students, and his student number was 22.

This oldest student, who was quite powerful in his own right, said with a heavy expression, “We need to leave this place now. He’s about to catch up to us!”

Upon hearing this, Yue Longsha, Gu Qingluo, and Han Linxia all became much more serious.

Gu Qingluo grabbed Yue Longsha’s arm and said, “Let’s go!”

The four of them sprinted away.

Not long after they left, a young Ferocious Race youth arrived at the site they had been at.

The Ferocious Race youth seemed a bit smaller in stature than the other members of his race, and he also didn’t have the characteristic battleaxe slung over his back. However, his body was covered in brilliant azure totemic inscriptions. He had a nose ring as well, and even his whole face was covered with inscriptions.

He looked at the medicinal dregs on the ground and then sniffed the air to catch the residual scent. The Ferocious Race youth tilted his head slightly, then continued his pursuit.

He was recklessly chasing after four people on his own!

Meanwhile, in another corner of the ruins.

“AHH!!!”

Followed by this tragic yell, a Ferocious Race youth expressionlessly squashed his opponent’s head.

Beneath his feet lay two beheaded corpses.

“AWOO!”

The Ferocious Race youth, who had killed three people on his own, tilted his head back and howled.