Chapter 336 Final Trial!
“Why are we not moving on?”
Lu Zhiruo inclined her head and asked. This mountain was so tall. Its peak actually touched the clouds and it was scenery to behold. However, the mountain’s body was a little ugly, filled with a densely-packed mass of caves.
If one had trypophobia, they would definitely be so afraid that their scalps turned numb.
“There’s a note written in red words about the caves. This place is known as the Ten Thousand Snakes Cave.”
Li Ziqi stared at these caves and felt a little uncomfortable.
Girls would always feel afraid with regard to these slithering cold-blooded animals.
Zhang Yanzong took out the map and studied the terrain.
To travel the first path, they had to pass through the Ten Thousand Snakes Cave.
This meant that traversing through the cave would be able to save them the most time, however, it was also the most dangerous path. As for the second path, it was to travel across this gigantic mountain by climbing over the lowest places.
From the proportion, this would waste a lot of time, and they would at least need a day to traverse the second path.
“Let’s head through the Ten Thousand Snake Cave!”
Zhang Yanzong made the decision.
“Have you forgotten how we encountered danger in the human-faced canyon? The level of danger noted down for this place is even higher compared to the canyon!” Zhao Zhi glanced over and objected.
The expressions of everyone turned unsightly. When they were caught by spiders, they wouldn’t die immediately. However, things were different for snakes. If a poisonous snake bit them, they would immediately turn cold and die. There wouldn’t be enough time for medical aid.
“Tantai, can you concoct some snake repellent powder?”
Li Ziqi asked.
“If it is to repel normal poisonous snakes in grassy areas, there shouldn’t be any problems. But if you want to depend on the powder to repel poisonous snakes from the Ten Thousand Snake Caves...it’s going to be difficult.”
Tantai Yutang shrugged.
When the number of poisonous snakes reached a certain quantity, it couldn’t be solved by having some snake repellent powder.
“Go and prepare some!” Li Ziqi decided to take the path through Ten Thousand Snakes Cave as well.
“Do we have to be so hard on ourselves?”
Zhao Zhi mumbled, he had a depressed look on his face. “If we got bitten by a poisonous snake, even if we don’t die, wouldn’t we be handicapped?”
“Yup, some snake venom would numb our nerves. We would tremble unceasingly and it’s simply a type of suffering if we live on then.”
Tantai Yutang laughed.
“Can you not frighten people?” Zhang Yanzong frowned.
Actually, most of them didn’t wish to enter the Ten Thousand Snakes Cave, but the majority of them weren’t speaking. Their pride caused them to be unable to speak.
After all, no one wanted others to treat them as a coward.
Just when Tantai Yutang was searching for herbs to concoct the snake repellent powder, another student group suddenly rushed out with great speed from one of the large caves “F***, I almost got frightened to death!”
“Boohoohoo, mummy I want to go home!”
“Damn, if we were any slower, we would have become food for that gigantic snake.”
The group of students sat on the ground and panted heavily. Their faces were filled with joy after surviving a near-death ordeal. However, when they saw Li Ziqi’s group, they immediately stood up and got into a formation.
Both sides turned to look at the other group’s insignia to ascertain which schools they were from.
“They are students from Zhoushan!”
Zhang Yanzong reminded the others. This school was ranked #13 in the last league tournament and could almost ascend to the ‘C’ grade. One could say that their strength was relatively high.
“They are students from the Central Province Academy!”
After ascertaining each other’s identities, the students from Zhoushan relaxed. The Central Province Academy? Weren’t they ranked at the bottom...? Very good, they were not a threat. “What are you thinking?”
The last one to rush out from the large cave earlier was a tall and skinny guy. He didn’t sit down and pant like the others. Rather, he turned and stared at the cave’s entrance.
At this moment, when he saw his group members having contemptuous looks on their faces when they looked at the Central Province Academy’s student group, he frowned and started to berate them.
“Since they could reach here and catch up to us, this meant that they have some capabilities.”
After listening to the skinny guy’s words, the students from Zhoushan went as red as tomatoes as all of them lowered their heads.
“Group leader, we know our mistakes!”
The students apologized.
This guy was named Liao Wenbing, the group leader of Zhoushan. He came from a large clan, and his intelligence and cultivation base were both very outstanding.
“Damn, this fellow has so much prestige!
Wu Jitong was envious.
“Does anyone know him?”
Li Fen felt that other than being a little skinny, this guy was quite good-looking and had a refined and gentle aura.
“I don’t know him but he’s definitely a group leader!”
After Lu Zhiruo spoke, everyone rolled their eyes. (There’s no need for you to mention it, all of us can tell.)
“Everyone from the Central Province Group, I’m Liao Wenbing. Which of you is the group leader, can you step out so we can converse?”
Liao Wenbing surveyed all of them and didn’t wish to waste time. After attempting to barge through the snake cave once, he knew that it wasn’t easy to do so. Hence, he wanted to see if the Central Province Academy had any solutions.
If not, he would have no choice but to take a detour.
Shi Jiao subconsciously glanced at Li Ziqi. After that, he realized that his reaction was wrong and turned to Zhang Yanzong again.
Because Li Ziqi had been giving them orders for some time, all of them would immediately turn to seek the little sunny egg’s opinion every time they encountered a problem.
“What the hell?”
Liao Wenbing frowned. Could it be that there were two people with the authority to speak for the group?
“Be careful, this fellow is very scheming!”
Li Ziqi walked to Zhang Yanzong and reminded him in a low voice.
“Mn?!
Zhang Yanzong didn’t understand. (How can you tell this?)
However, his favorable impression of the little sunny egg had surged a lot.
Before outsiders, Li Ziqi wanted him to take charge. This was to give him face. After all, even if Li Ziqi stepped out now, the other group members wouldn’t say anything.
“Their group tried and clearly failed. This Liao Wenbing understands that they have no more hope left and when he saw that we didn’t enter immediately, he instantly managed to guess our thoughts. This is why he wants to try everything in a desperate situation!”
Li Ziqi explained.
“Understood!”
Zhang Yanzong responded. A person like Liao Wenbing, who didn’t care about face and was able to adapt to any situation, was the toughest to handle. In contrast, the group leader from Chongde was truly inferior. He didn’t know how to be flexible.
“The two of you, should we have a discussion?”
Liao Wenbing smiled, revealing a set of white teeth. He waved toward Li Ziqi and Zhang Yanzong. “I’m still quite familiar with the situation in the cave.”
This temptation was truly hard for anyone to resist.
Honestly speaking, Li Ziqi had planned to get Xuanyuan Po to go in first to scout. At the very least, they needed to know the species of the poisonous snake.
“Did you guys concoct snake repellent powder? How about giving us some?”
Liao Wenbing smiled, presenting a very good attitude.
“Let’s do an exchange then?”
Li Ziqi lowered her stance, presenting themselves in a more inferior position.
“Sure!”
Liao Wenbing didn’t mind diplomacy before using violence. He wanted to probe Li Ziqi.
If the little sunny egg didn’t agree, he would use ‘information’ about the cave as exchange material. If Li Ziqi replied that they didn’t have snake repellent powder, he would raise the price for his information.
Naturally, since her group had snake repellent powder, he displayed a more friendly attitude to convince her that they should work together.
“How many types of snakes are there in the cave? We have a doctor with us and can treat you guys!”
Li Ziqi had a worried look on her face and seemed as though she was concerned about the students from Zhoushan. In actuality, she was probing for information, but it was not that useful as she discovered that this Liao Wenbing was truly too scheming.
“I don’t know for sure but I saw three types.”
Liao Wenbing described.
“Speaking from how deep we entered the cave, the number of snakes we encountered isn’t considered a lot. However, there’s a large boa in there that’s extremely terrifying.”
Liao Wenbing sighed.
“That boa is extremely thick, so thick to the extent where two people are needed to hug it. It’s about 30 meters long and there are no problems for it to swallow a student alive. It can even spit out green venom.” While listening to Liao Wenbing’s introduction of the cave’s interior, she was surveying the expressions of the students from Zhoushan to judge whether the information given by Liao Wenbing was correct or not.
Very good, the students revealed an expression of lingering fear. This meant that there were no problems with the information given by Liao Wenbing.
The negotiation for both sides was very smooth.
Not long later, Tantai Yutang returned. “Give them half of the excess powder!” Li Ziqi instructed. She knew the sickly invalid’s personality. He would surely prepare some extras.
“Cough, cough. Take it!”
Tantai Yutang also didn’t inquire about the
reason.
Liao Wenbing couldn’t help but be astonished when he saw the sickly invalid coughing into a handkerchief stained with blood. (With such a weak body, you could even join the new student group of your school?)
“Give it to Old Xiao to inspect.”
Liao Wenbing passed the snake powder to his vice group leader. After giving the instruction, he walked back.
“The two of you, what’s your decision? It’s too dangerous for a group to barge through the Ten Thousand Snakes Cave. Why don’t we form an alliance? At that time, we can seek help from the teachers. With eight teachers aiding us, it would surely be easier for us to succeed!”
This was Liao Wenbing’s plan. He glanced at the signal tube of the Central Province Academy’s student group. He wanted more insurance.
“Group Leader Liao’s idea isn’t bad, but we wish to give it a try to see if we can succeed in barging through first!”
Li Ziqi rejected.
“Che, if we from Zhoushan cannot do it, there’s no need to mention you guys from the Central Province Academy!”
“How arrogant!”
“Ignore them, just let them try it. There would be a good show if a few of them died!”
After hearing Li Ziqi’s words, the students from Zhoushan started mocking them.
“Student Li, you are an intelligent person and should know how to choose a better option.”
Liao Wenbing frowned. He was worried that Li Ziqi would use the signal tube. If her group depended on the aid of their teachers to barge through the Ten Thousand Snakes Cave when they were inside, the damage his side would have to suffer later on would be too great.
“Sorry, we have to try!’
After Li Ziqi spoke, she started to gather the group. “Why don’t we travel together? There’s strength in numbers!”
Zhao Zhi grumbled. If a poisonous snake chased him, he might not be able to outrun the snake, but there would surely be people whose movement speed was slower than him, right?
“I don’t trust that Liao Wenbing!
Li Ziqi’s words were concise and comprehensive.
“Alright, rub the powder on your bodies and prepare some torches. Xuanyuan Po, Zhang Yanzong, Baiwu. The three of you will be the vanguard!”
Li Ziqi started to plan the group’s formation. Zhao Zhi didn’t want to go, but he had no choice. Hence, he could only put on a depressed face while fuming within.
After checking that everyone’s preparations were done, Li Ziqi gave the order to move out.
“Group leader, don’t persuade them, just let them enter!”
The vice group leader of Zhoushan came over. He coldly laughed when he saw the Central Province’s group enter the cave. “Later on, they will learn how the word ‘death’ is written!”
“Old Xiao, how is the snake repellent powder they gave us?”
Liao Wenbing turned and asked his vice group leader.
“Although I didn’t examine it too closely, I reckon that their effect is twice as strong compared to our powder. The smell from their powder is too strong.”
Old Xiao sighed in admiration. As a herbalist, Old Xiao still had some judgment abilities. After all, the herbs that could be used in the surroundings to concoct snake repellent powder were only those few types.
Liao Wenbing hesitated a little and gave the command. “Everyone gather, let us follow them!”