"We can't wait any longer. After all, we'll be in danger if we wait any longer," Liang Shixian said seriously.
"But… it's very safe here," Liu Neng responded hesitantly.
Hearing this, Ji Ruo shook his head slightly and mused, "These two probably sleep in class. Why do they not understand anything? Even I, a transmigrator, know the difference between day and night."
Liang Shixian patiently explained, "Safety might only be during the day. In general, demonic beasts are divided into daytime and nighttime. Normally, nighttime demonic beasts are more aggressive and violent than daytime demonic beasts."
Ji Ruo added, "Besides, we do not know why those jade snakes suddenly stopped chasing us. Even if the jade snakes were tired of chasing, they should have recovered after such a long rest. We must leave and find a new place to camp. Otherwise, we don't know what will happen when night falls."
Zhang Quan and Liu Neng looked at each other and seemed slightly hesitant.
"We've waited so long…"
Ji Ruo replied seriously, "It is because we have waited for a long time that we have to go. As far as I know, the rescue time for the invigilating martial artists has never exceeded half an hour in the past martial examinations. Look. How long have we been waiting now?"
"That's... Alright then."
The group of them decided to leave.
However, they were facing a very serious problem. Currently, there seemed to be some changes in the secret realm of Myriad Beast Mountain. The methods of determining directions taught in school were no longer useful. Thus, the grim problem of which direction to head made them stop in their steps not long after walking for a short time.
"Um… Which way do we go?" Liu Neng asked weakly.
He realized that Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian were probably top students. Regardless, their theoretical knowledge was solid.
However, he did not know that Liang Shixian was also troubled by this question.
To be honest, Liang Shixian did not know where to go either.
Ji Ruo pondered for a while. Then, he took off one of his shoes and threw it into the sky.
Under their bewildered gazes, Ji Ruo walked in the direction of the shoe and said, "This way."
"Ji Ruo…" Liang Shixian gritted his teeth. "Are you serious?"
"Of course! We can leave it to fate by throwing a shoe and determining the direction. This is the arrangement by God. Do you have a better idea?" Ji Ruo raised his chin.
"This..."
The few of them looked at each other. Finally, Liang Shixian sighed. "All right, let's do as you say."
At the same time, Ji Ruo received several message prompt from the system.
[Congratulations for showing the way successfully. You have unlocked the functional achievement: A gold-class tour guide!]
[Acquired specialty: Absolute Directional Sense!]
[Absolute Directional Sense: When faced with a choice of direction, a certain percentage of correct correction will be granted.] (The current correction is 5%. It can be raised by repeatedly guiding direction. The maximum value is 100%.)
[Remarks: Explore, witness, and possess.]
Ji Ruo's eyes lit up, and he mused, "This is good! I have become a tour guide!"
"Class president, we need to head east, don't we?"
Liang Shixian's expression was not good. "Walk in the direction of the tip of the shoe."
"Ahem." Ji Ruo cleared his throat. "Follow me."
Ji Ruo picked up his shoes and put them on. He walked in the direction of the tip of the shoe, which was pointing to the right.
"Turn a little to the right. This side is east."
The rest of the party thought, "He calls this turning a little to the right? It's almost to the f*cking heel. How is that turning a little?"
However, Ji Ruo had no choice. The [Absolute Directional Sense] he had just obtained made a minor correction when he pointed the direction. Although it was not very accurate, it gave Ji Ruo a rough idea of the direction.
Ji Ruo cleared his throat awkwardly. "We don't know where to go anyway, don't we? I feel that throwing a shoe for directions doesn't seem very reliable…"
The rest of the group was rendered speechless, and they thought helplessly, "I guess he also knows that this is unreliable?!"
However, as Ji Ruo had mentioned, they did not know which direction to go.
"Then, let's go! Don't dawdle. It'll be dark if we dawdle any longer." Liang Shixian sighed and said.
"Don't worry!" Ji Ruo patted his chest and said confidently, "Listen to me. You won't go wrong listening to me!"
After all, Absolute Directional Sense was a special feature of the system's reward. The general direction would be generally correct.
This was what Ji Ruo thought, so he was very confident.
However, he had overlooked one thing. The current feature only had a 5% correction effect. Therefore, if the direction that Ji Ruo pointed was wrong, the correct direction feedback he received would only be 5% of the correct direction.
Ji Ruo and the others began making their way. In fact, no one knew that they were heading south instead of east. They were moving south-southeast, and extremely south. Strictly speaking, if one divided a direction into 90 degrees, then the four directions, north, south, east, and west, would be four right-angled coordinate systems.
This direction was 5 degrees away from the 'coordinate system' of the south.
"Everyone, follow me closely. Don't get lost." Ji Ruo took the lead, not forgetting to remind them.
"Got it." Liang Shixian felt mentally exhausted. He felt that Ji Ruo was unreliable, but someone had to lead the team.
Although Liang Shixian was the class president, he did not know the right direction. Ji Ruo had already chosen the direction, so if Liang Shixian changed it again, he would only make them stay in the same place or completely lose their way.
Since Liang Shixian was already lost, he might as well walk in one direction.
As a class president with excellent character and academic performance, Liang Shixian knew that although humans controlled the secret realm of Myriad Beast Mountain, the danger that could be encountered in the area opened for the martial arts examination would not exceed the limit that a sixth-grade apprentice could withstand.
There were four of them now. Ji Ruo had Iron Sand Palm, and Liang Shixian was not weak either. He was at least a level six Martial Apprentice and believed he was not weak.
In short, as long as they did not encounter a swarm of demonic beasts like the jade snakes from before, they would not be in much danger.
Not to mention, there were two guys who had activated their rescue devices.
The examination patrollers could arrive any time, so he did not have to worry too much, even if he chose a random direction.
Therefore, Liang Shixian did not have any objections to Ji Ruo leading the team.
In fact, his thinking was actually correct. However, he did not know that the current Myriad Beast Mountain's secret realm was already different from the past thirty-six years.
They walked for a few more hours until their body was aching, and they felt the world spinning.
After being chased by the jade snakes for so long, it had been almost a day since the martial examination started.
They had not eaten anything and were famished.
"I wouldn't have thrown away those snakes If I knew this would happen. We could have grilled and eaten them," Ji Ruo mumbled while rubbing his stomach.
The martial arts examination was a comprehensive exam. Although the exam candidates were allowed to bring weapons, they were not allowed to bring basic living necessities like food.
Wilderness survival was also an essential testing criterion in the martial arts examination.
Candidates must survive on their own until the end of the exam in this primeval forest-like Myriad Beast Mountain, for 7 days.
Over the years, there had been many candidates who starved to death in the examination. Moreover, the emergency device was able to make simple judgments. If one was simply hungry, the device would not be activated. Anyway, that was what the teacher had said, but Ji Ruo felt that he was lying.
There was no turning back once the martial arts examination began.
A martial artist must have the courage to press forward all the way.
"I'm starving!" Ji Ruo could not help but complain.
He had triggered a total of three achievements ever since he got the system, and the conditions to trigger them were all very immature, so Ji Ruo changed his style as a result.
Ji Ruo treated himself as a child, and a child would speak when he was hungry.
The younger ones would even cry.
"Bear with it. If it really doesn't work, we can eat the turf. We can't eat mushrooms and demonic beasts casually." Liang Shixian added, "It's easy to get poisoned. Let's find a place to camp first."
Ji Ruo sighed. Perhaps Ji Ruo's desire to eat was too strong, but a blood-red paddy field appeared in front of them ten minutes later.