“I have nothing more to say to a worm.”

Lee Huimun spread the side of his hand and took a stance. But his inner thoughts were different.

‘This is bad.’

To avoid wasting time clashing with the latecomers, he had deliberately tried to take a different side path he had seen on the way up, but to end up in this situation.

The path wasn’t wide to begin with, so it was difficult to avoid the guys who were firmly blocking the route.

“Come on. I’ll finish off whoever comes first.”

However, Lee Huimun decided to fight.

Of course, his disposition made him want to crush these despicable guys even more.

“You must be crazy.”

“Do you think you’re something?”

The two men sneered, holding tree branches like wooden swords, and slowly narrowed the encirclement towards him.

He was certainly at a disadvantage now. He was at a disadvantage both numerically and physically, and he didn’t even have a weapon.

‘Master, I will not yield.’

Nevertheless, Lee Huimun decided to fight. As a member of the Diancang Sect. And for his own revenge, he must not lose to the evil deeds of such ruffians.

Because the villains he had to defeat in the future were much stronger and more vicious monsters that couldn’t be compared to these guys.

The enemies are approaching. They were running towards him from both the left and right, swinging their tree branches.

‘Come on!’

It was soon his range. The moment the enemies entered his range, Lee Huimun infused all his internal energy into the side of his hand and struck.

‘I’ll take one hit.’

Give a bone and take the flesh. If he allowed the enemy’s attack, he would also be injured, but he was determined to take down at least one of them for sure.

The moment Lee Huimun’s hand-blade shot towards the man on the right, a strange sound of something cutting through the air was heard from the left.

‘Come on!’

At the sound of the wind being torn, Lee Huimun steeled his resolve and put strength into his left shoulder.

However, even as he broke the tree branch of the man rushing in from the right and drove the side of his hand into his abdomen, the impact that Lee Huimun had expected did not come.

Instead, only an unexpected scream was heard.

“Aaaargh!”

He quickly changed his stance and looked to the side, and what was there were dozens of leaves fluttering in the air and the figure of an enemy with blood gushing from various cuts on his face.

“What is this…?”

He was flustered, but there was no time for that.

Lee Huimun, who had quickly come to his senses, rushed towards the man who was retreating while covering his face and struck with the side of his hand.

The average level of the prospective students was around the second-rate. In the first place, they were not skilled enough to win a one-on-one fight against Lee Huimun, who was close to the first-rate.

Especially in a chaotic situation caused by a strange phenomenon.

Thwack!

Lee Huimun subdued the remaining one and glared at the bushes.

He still hadn’t let his guard down. The floating leaves and the multiple cuts on the enemy’s face were definitely unusual.

“Come out.”

Lee Huimun raised his voice towards the bushes. Although it was an unknown opponent, it was certain that they had helped him.

Rustle!

Soon, the bushes rustled, and he felt someone slowly approaching. The moment Lee Huimun was looking at the bushes with a tense expression, his eyes widened.

The person who emerged from the bushes was a completely unexpected figure.

“Zhuge Cheonwu?”

Lee Huimun made a surprised expression.

* * *

From the beginning, I had no intention of directly intervening in the battle.

‘Physically, I’m no help anyway.’

By nature, a mage is a class that specializes in rear support. Naturally, my job was also to assist Lee Huimun.

‘As expected, they’re attacking together.’

The two of them were rushing at Lee Huimun at the same time. I momentarily predicted the direction of the qi flow where Lee Huimun would attack.

‘Right!’

Then, naturally, the target I should aim for is the one attacking from the left.

The hesitation was short. I immediately shot a blade of wind, created by applying basic wind magic, at the opponent’s face.

At the same time, I sent the leaves I had torn off flying in the direction of his advance.

Due to the excessive use of mana, a chunk of mana from the circle was drained, but thanks to that, I was able to cause confusion in the opponent.

In particular, the fact that the first blade of wind grazed his eyelid was a big factor.

No matter how skilled he was at the second-rate level, the opponent was still a teenager with little experience.

After Lee Huimun took care of one of them and knocked down the last remaining opponent, he turned his head towards me and told me to come out.

‘I’m caught.’

It didn’t matter since I had to come out anyway. My goal was the bamboo plaque, after all.

As I came out of the bushes, I saw Lee Huimun’s surprised face.

As I was wondering what to say to claim the right to the bamboo plaque from him.

“Thank you.”

Lee Huimun surprisingly expressed his gratitude obediently. When we fought yesterday, I thought he was a pretty arrogant guy.

“We’re in the same class, we should help each other.”

I approached the fallen ones, showing a moderate amount of friendliness.

“These kinds of guys should be disqualified. Don’t you think?”

As I said that, I took out the bamboo plaque from one of the guy’s bosom. As if it were a punishment for cheating.

“That’s right.”

As Lee Huimun nodded in agreement, I slyly put the bamboo plaque into my bosom.

Perhaps because I had helped him, he didn’t point it out separately.

“It seems you were delayed because of me. I will repay this favor.”

I inwardly chuckled at Lee Huimun’s words. This guy, he doesn’t know that I haven’t even passed the halfway point yet.

From his perspective, I would be seen as a strong person who could handle sword qi and had helped him.

He would never dream that I had helped him just for the bamboo plaque.

In that case, there’s more to use.

“Wait a minute. I have something to ask before you go.”

“What is it?”

“Not you.”

At Lee Huimun’s words, I pointed at the two lying on the ground and said.

“To these guys.”

Slap!

The sound of a slap echoed. It was the sound of Lee Huimun waking up one of the men who had ambushed him.

Slap!

“Ugh!”

After another slap, the guy finally groaned and opened his eyes.

I looked down at him and said in a low voice.

“Quiet. From now on, you only answer what I ask.”

As I brought a tree branch to his neck, the guy nodded his head urgently.

There was only one reason for going to this trouble.

‘It’s strange.’

In fact, this was the question I had while watching them corner Lee Huimun.

‘They came up with this strategy just one day after entering the student building?’

Of course, it could be possible. But for that, the level of these guys’ response and thinking was suspicious.

It was a bit of a stretch to think that only these two had exceptionally brilliant minds.

‘No matter how I look at it, they’re extras among extras.’

I had a suspicion close to certainty that these guys couldn’t have come up with such a strategy.

And for good reason. The first day was chaotic with deciding the room head, and on the second day, they had to do training including the back mountain run from the morning and get used to the unfamiliar geography.

Moreover, from the second day, it’s a time when they would be busy getting to know their fellow prospective students due to the relaxed vigilance for a day.

To be able to pull off such a trick in the midst of that, one would have to be no ordinary cunning person. There must be someone behind them.

“Who told you to do this?”

At my words, the guy’s expression hardened slightly and his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about… Keok!”

I immediately put my whole body weight into it and drove the tree branch into the guy’s solar plexus. My wrists throbbed because of this, but it couldn’t be helped.

Because I had to seize the momentum here.

“Is that so? If it was your own decision, you might have a leg broken here today. If you weren’t used, you have to take responsibility. Isn’t that right?”

As I raised the tree branch high and threatened him, the guy hurriedly raised his voice.

“It wasn’t me! A senior told me!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Th-that, we have seniors who are a year above us, right? But the seniors who haven’t been promoted to intermediate students yet… the former junior students!”

At the unexpected answer, I asked back for a moment.

“A former junior student told you?”

My expression slowly hardened.

I had thought that the bamboo plaque scramble event was just arranged for the villains to be dealt with in the course of training, but I never knew there was such a behind-the-scenes story.

“Who exactly told you?”

“I don’t know, he just came to our student building secretly without telling us his name and told us. He said there was a way to get points easily and eliminate competitors.”

“Ha.”

I let out a dry laugh.

The junior students he was talking about were the students who had been held back because they couldn’t be promoted last year. And they were also the ones who would be expelled if they couldn’t qualify as intermediate students by this year.

“So the held-back students pulled a trick like this?”

From their perspective, it would have been a clever move to incite the so-so prospective students to keep the promising competitors who came in later in check.

Because a person who quickly shows their talent from the training would obviously become a strong competitor.

“Trash.”

Lee Huimun, who was listening from the side, muttered in a low voice.

I agreed. After questioning them about the appearance of the mastermind, I threw the tree branch to Lee Huimun and said.

“You take care of these guys.”

“What?”

“Because you were the one who was attacked from the beginning.”

As I said that, I disappeared into the bushes.

By entrusting the disposal of the enemies to Lee Huimun, I was able to avoid being caught taking the shortcut. Of course, the real reason was that I didn’t have the strength to swing a tree branch.

‘These damn wrists.’

They still throbbed. Yesterday, I had managed to do push-ups on my knees when no one was looking, but to be in this state. I still have a long way to go.

“By the way, the held-back students.”

I never thought they would kick the ladder away like this. For seniors, to sow discord among their juniors like this?

‘I’ll have to show them properly what happens when you pull a shallow trick.’

I continued my fast pace with a firm resolve.

First, I had to finish this damn morning training.

* * *

“That’s it! Those who came later than this will have additional training in the afternoon.”

Having barely made it in the last turn, I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

‘I barely survived.’

It seemed I had somehow escaped the training hell.

But I couldn’t be completely happy either. Considering that the shortcut was only about a third of the main training path, it was a disastrous result.

Even Lee Huimun was in the top group despite what had happened.

I hadn’t even stepped on the most difficult summit course, but to have such a gap. The difference in stamina with the other students was greater than I had imagined.

‘I have to grow as fast as possible.’

I ate my meal with trembling hands. But then, I felt a presence from behind that I couldn’t ignore.

“You’re finally here.”

A familiar voice. It was a voice I had heard during the straw cutting test before. Mainly from the side that pointed out my clumsy stance.

I said, conscious of the shadow cast over the top of my head.

“If you have something to say, why don’t you sit in front of me?”

“Oops, my apologies.”

Soon, a man with a large build and a firm impression sat opposite me. I slightly narrowed my brow as I looked at the man who was probably a head taller than me.

‘Peng Geun-u.’

He was a direct blood relative and the second son of the Hebei Peng family. As befitting the Peng family’s unique cheat-like physical abilities, this guy was in the top group in the training earlier. Along with Baek Cheong of the Mount Hua Sect.

‘Why is a guy like that talking to me?’

First of all, he was a second-day prospective student like me. But since our rooms were different, I thought there would be no opportunity to get acquainted, but for him to come and find me like this.

“What is it?”

“I have something I’m curious about.”

Peng Geun-u fumbled in his bosom and took out a book. Perhaps thanks to Zhuge Cheonwu’s memory, the Chinese characters were automatically read. It was a book on formations.

“I discovered a peculiar path during the morning training. It seems to be a place made of a formation, so I thought I should know something about it. I came to ask for a favor.”

Peng Geun-u’s eyes shone as he looked at me. I had a feeling that this would become troublesome.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep