"What are you doing? Why are you beating him?"
Ling Xueru, who had finally gotten rid of the beggar, saw that Shen Zhe pressed Ling Xueru to the ground and exclaimed in rage.
Why were they fighting again?
"I'm not beating anyone. Lu Zihan said that he couldn't bend, and I gave him a hand!"
Not expecting that the monitor had followed him, Shen Zhe stepped back and said, "I'm doing a good thing!"
"A hand? A good thing?"
Lu Zihan wept.
"How could any hand be given this way?"
"Was this a good thing at all?"
"When I said that I couldn't bend, I meant that you could pick up the herbs yourself and lower your head before me…"
"But you pressed me to the ground. Was it help and a good thing?"
Lu Zihan felt a heartache and had trouble breathing.
The physical discomfort was incomparable to the pain of knowing that Ling Xueru had seen everything…
He wished that there were a hole on the ground that he could hide in.
"Good things?"
Ling Xueru frowned. "Whatever you're doing, beating is not a good thing!"
"Okay!" Shen Zhe opened his hands and did not explain.
Pressing Lu Zihan down was just a spur-of-the-moment thing because he hated Lu Zihan's look. It was certainly not a good thing, so he didn't intend to explain.
"Are you alright?"
Ling Xueru approached and helped Lu Zihan back to his feet.
Lu Zihan turned his head in embarrassment and replied hoarsely, "I'm fine! I'm fine! I can't stand up just yet because of the knee injuries…"
"You're hurt that badly?"
Ling Xueru glared at Shen Zhe and demanded, "How can he go to school with such heavy wounds?"
"Well…"
Shen Zhe chuckled and replied, "Rest assured. I'll be responsible for what I did. Starting from today, I'll carry him to school!"
His cheeks shivering, Lu Zihan struggled to stand up. "No… I'm fine. See? I can stand up now…"
He would rather die than let Shen Zhe carry him to school…
"You're fine?"
Lu Zihan secretly wept, but he nodded his head crazily, fearing that Ling Xueru would notice his discomfort…
Ling Xueru was not entirely convinced, but she didn't pursue the matter any further.
…
While Shen Zhe was doing good things, Ms. Bai Yu reached the mountain where purple iron-toothed wolves lived after an arduous trip.
It was impossible to go there on foot in three days, even without any gear. For the verification, Bai Yu rode the best horses and reached the mountain after only one day.
She knew that her answer was correct, but the answer on the guidance book couldn't be disproved without verification.
"This isn't far away from the school in a straight line, but with Mount Thorn in between, I have to cross three mountains and one river, which will take a day and a night even on horseback. Taking an unconscious iron-toothed wolf back in four hours… It must be wrong!"
It was certainly impossible to return to the school in four hours with a wolf more than two meters long!
The answer couldn't be true!
Releasing the horse, Bai Yu took a deep breath and sneaked to the habitat of the purple iron-toothed wolves.
Such wolves were regular beasts that weren't too strong nor dangerous. She could take care of them easily.
Besides, as a teacher, she had many last resorts, and she had been there many times. She was not scared although she was alone.
Hu!
Soon, after a howl, a purple iron-toothed wolf emerged from the bushes and pranced at her.
Prepared for that, Bai Yu dodged the attack and stabbed her longsword at the beast.
Sensing the pressure of the sword, the iron-toothed wolf turned around and fled.
Bai Yu chased it quickly.
Wu! Wu! Wu!
Her sword hit an acupuncture point at the center of the wolf's brow.
Putong!
The iron-toothed wolf fell and passed out.
"Forty-one seconds!"
Bai Yu secretly nodded as she checked the clock.
It was exactly Ling Xueru's answer in class the day before.
It was also the same as her own conclusion.
Confirming again that the guidance book was wrong, she carried the purple iron-toothed wolf and rushed toward the school.
But very soon, Bai Yu heard howls in the wind again. Shocked, she turned around, only to see glistening eyes gathering in the darkness like lanterns.
"A pack of iron-toothed wolves…"
Stiffened, Bai Yu felt cold.
She had hunted iron-toothed wolves before, but she had never seen a pack of them… Why had they congregated?
She could knock out or slay an individual wolf easily, but a pack of wolves were too much for her. She could only retreat.
"Wait… Is that a wolf king?"
She was anxiously considering if she should abandon the unconscious wolf on her back, when she saw a gigantic wolf with white hair on its forehead in the wolf pack.
A purple iron-toothed wolf king!
The wolves on that mountain were usually the lone kind, but a wolf king had appeared at some point and united them!
No wonder so many wolves had appeared after she hunted one!
One wolf was nothing for a level-one Martial Artist, but even level-two Martial Artists would not dare confront a pack of wolves!
"Run!"
Knowing that the wolf king was as strong as herself, and that she might be killed since there were so many other iron-toothed wolves present, Bai Yu left without any hesitation.
She thought of throwing away the iron-toothed wolf on his back, but it would've rendered her trip useless. So, she gritted her teeth and retreated in haste.
The wolves certainly wouldn't let her go so easily. They chased after her, with even more wolves joining the pack.
"Crap… I can't return to the main road…"
More and more wolves were gathering, and the main road had been blocked by the wolf king. Bai Yu, daring not to break through them, changed her target and ran to the top of Mount Thorn.
She had been blocked in other directions, and it was the only path she could walk on. Although vines and bushes were everywhere, she was strong and had a longsword, so she wasn't slow.
She ran fast, but the wolves chased after her, unwilling to let go.
Bai Yu climbed higher and higher.
After a long time, it finally occurred to Bai Yu that she had been pushed to reach the mountaintop.
Cold wind and flying snowflakes embraced her.
Mount Thorn was more than five thousand meters high. If she were less strong, she couldn't have reached the mountaintop at all.
Hooooooo!
The wolves didn't stop. The wolf king approached her one step after another.
As if they knew she had nowhere to go, the wolves took their time to enjoy the delicious meal.
"I'm going to try my luck…"
Behind her was an enormous cliff that would kill her if she fell. So, Bai Yu gritted her teeth and slashed.
The wolf king waved its enormous paw.
BAM!
After the collision, Bai Yu sensed a tremendous force and lost her balance. She fell from the cliff.
"I'm doomed…"
Bai Yu smiled bitterly.
She did not expect to die there…
BAM!
She hit something earlier than she thought. Then, she realized that she had fallen into a hole.
The cliff was covered in snow. She thought that she would fall straight to the bottom, but the cliff was actually not smooth.
She struggled out of the snow and found herself in an enormous cave that stretched down as if it were a crack of the mountain.
She pressed forward in the cave for almost an hour and finally saw light. She raised her head, only to be shocked.
Outside of the cave was a spacious plain. The enormous city of Green Abyss was on the horizon.
"Well…"
Bai Yu shivered.
Mount Thorn was an obstacle between Green Abyss and the purple iron-toothed wolves. The journey was longer than four days if one took a detour. Bai Yu thought it was the only way, but there turned out to be a crack within the mountain that led straight to Green Abyss.
Seeing that the iron-toothed wolf was still on her back, she took a deep breath and rushed back to the school.
She returned to the school an hour later. She felt exhausted the moment she entered the gate.
"Let's check the time…"
She lowered her head and read the clock, only to be stiffened by the shock.
The timing stopped when she stepped into the school.
It had taken four hours, forty-four minutes, forty-four seconds and forty-four milliseconds!
Shen Zhe's answer was exactly correct!