Chapter 111: Turtles all the way down
——(POV third person, the northern walls)——
"Let me remind us what we are going to do, first—" Li Huang Was talking to Cai ZhenKang as they were using their Qi to stop the beasts from getting too close to them. Although this method was crude and would deplete their Qi fast, as they didn't plan on holding it up for long, it was alright. Li Huang was going to check the plan once over with Cai ZhenKang just to make sure but he didn't get to finish his sentence as Cai ZhenKang stopped him.
"Heavens! I was the one who came up with the plan, I don't think I need to go over it once again." Cai ZhenKang said.
Li Huang wanted to refute his words, but he couldn't come up with anything.
"Fair point. Alright, let's get to it." Li Huang said as he got ready to attack the beasts and apply the scrolls.
"Now let's make it more interesting." Cai ZhenKang nodded and then grinned.
"How would you make it more interesting?" Li Huang asked sarcastically. He didn't think anything could make jumping into the beast horde more interesting than it is.
"500 high-grade spirit stones for who gets to the end of this horde first." Cai ZhenKang said and used a scroll and ran into the horde.
"And of course you would cheat like always." Li Huang said and activated a scroll too.
…
For the next ten minutes, every disciple in the fort could hear the sounds of explosion as Cai ZhenKang and Li Huang were taking out the beast horde.
"He is taking too long to finish this." Li Wanrou said. Hu Anjing and her were cleaning the rest of the beasts that have survived the explosions.
"The horde is very big, should we do something?" Hu Anjing asked as she wasn't sure herself. on one hand, the fact that there were still explosions happening would prove that everything was fine on Li Huang's side, and on the other hand, the same thing would prove that there are many beasts and so everything shouldn't be alright.
"It would be hard to find them like this, it is better to wait and act if the explosions stopped for a while." Li Wanrou pondered on it a little and said. She didn't want to act carelessly right now.
"You are right." Hu Anjing said.
…
"Cai ZhenKang, I won!" Li Huang said as he got out of the horde first.
Cai ZhenKang reached him soon as he was just a few steps away from him.
"How is this even possible?" Cai ZhenKang couldn't believe that he lost. He was sure that Li Huang couldn't beat him with his first stage of meridian formation realm cultivation. There was no way, unless —.
"You— How did you break through this fast?" Cai ZhenKang couldn't believe his eyes when he checked Li Huang's cultivation and he was at the fifth stage of the meridian formation realm. After their fight, it only took a day or so for them to see each other again, so it is almost impossible to improve this much in such a short while.
"Well, I meditated rigorously." Li Huang didn't lie to him. He did meditate, for 12 hours.
"This is cheating, how is this even possible?" Cai ZhenKang said as he pointed a finger at Li Huang. He wanted to make some easy money, not to lose like this. Sure it wouldn't make him penniless but it is still a large sum of money to him.
"And it is not cheating that you got a head start? Come on, give me my spirit stones." Li Huang said and gestured to Cai ZhenKang to give him the money.
"*tsk* I will remember this." Cai ZhenKang said as he handed a pouch to Li Huang.
"Sure, you can remind me when I forget about it." Li Huang said with the best smile he could muster.
Cai ZhenKang thought that if he said this, Li Huang wouldn't take his money but he had no clue that Li Huang had a lot to buy for his new training and wouldn't say no to any additional funds.
The stunned Cai ZhenKang just stood there and looked at Li Huang.
"Let's get back my friend." Li Huang put a hand on Cai ZhenKang's shoulder and told him.
"What friends you schemer?" Cai ZhenKang said as he removed Li Huang's hand from his shoulder.
"Don't be like that, let's see who gets back faster." Li Huang said.
"I'm not in the mo—" Cai ZhenKang started talking but Li Huang didn't let him finish.
"If you win you get 500 high-grade spirit stones and if I win I get half of that? Good?" Li Huang said and used one of the oldest tricks in the book.
Cai ZhenKang thought about it a little and saw this as a light that would give him his money back. Surely Li Huang would let him win so that he can give him his money back, right?
"HAHAHA, good, I'm in." Cai ZhenKang said and started running back without waiting for Li Huang.
…
It didn't take them long to get back to the northern walls of the fort where Li Wanrou, Hu Anjing, and their teams were fighting the small number of the beasts that were still alive.
"How was your side?" Li Huang asked Li Wanrou after some small talks with Hu Anjing and her.
"Nothing that we couldn't handle." Li Wanrou said as she checked Li Huang with her eyes for any sign of injuries.
"Good, I think the leftover is easy to handle for other disciples too." Li Huang nodded.
"…What is wrong with him?" Hu Anjing asked about Cai ZhenKang who was taking his anger and grief out on the poor beasts.
Li Huang turned to see what Hu Anjing was talking about and saw Cai ZhenKang more ferocious than he usually was.
"Hmm, let's just say he is a sore loser." Li Huang said with a smile. Not only did Cai ZhenKang give him money to sponsor his training but Li Huang also taught Cai ZhenKang a lesson about bullying him and the outcome of doing so.
Hu Anjing looked at Li Huang for a moment and shook her head.
"How many beasts do you think we were facing this time?" Li Wanrou asked. She was moving her right hand to control her spear from a distance as she was talking.
"I can't give you an accurate number but I can estimate that it was at least a quarter of a million beasts." Li Huang said. The gravity of this punishment and the flaw of their plan got more clear to him.
Although they have the numerical advantage as they have gathered all the participants in a single place, this had a side effect. 300 years ago, the beasts couldn't create hordes this large as the participants were scattered around the trial space and each smaller horde would target one of them but now that all of the disciples are in one location, all of those small hordes would come together along the way and this would create these big hordes.
And the worst part is that it will only get larger.
"We need to change our plans, we have to let the disciples on the wall start using scrolls. We can't come out unscathed if we have to fight on two or more fronts." Li Huang said.
"Let's have an emergency meeting then. We have to let every leader know what we will be going through." Hu Anjing said and contacted the wall so that they can coordinate a meeting.
…
"Good thing that we know this now, we can arrange the scrolls better this way. I suggest that we double the quota from the last time." Hou Shuqing, the chief disciple of the Divine Arrow sect said.
"I too agree, there is no point in having resources when you are not alive." Li Wanrou said and put a storage ring on the table.
After that other holy lands added their quota to the table.
"Only a day and a half are left, let's show why our sects are the powerhouses of the world." Li Huang said to remind everyone what and who they represent.
…
"Li Huang, why did you do that?" Cai ZhenKang asked Li Huang as he didn't understand. Li Huang have given him a storage ring with scrolls before the meeting and there he told him to use that as their sect's quota.
"Well, first is that I know that your sect doesn't believe in scrolls so you wouldn't have that much on you." Li Huang explained. The Blue Bulls sect values personal strength the most so they rather not use scrolls that are an external source of power, "the other reason is that I didn't want your master to kill you for losing face for your sect if you didn't have the necessary number of scrolls." Li Huang said. He also felt a little bad that he emptied Cai ZhenKang's pockets.
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