章 107: Fire and Spear in Disagreement
It was late afternoon as Ye Mo sprinted in the woods.
He advanced through the vastness of the Jade Forest while his score increased regularly from the blood beasts and the rare students he met on his way.
It certainly didn't progress as fast as when he was accompanied by Zhao Da Xiong, but it was still correct in his view and better than nothing.
At some point, the vegetation on his side rustled while plants and leaves were stepped on.
Ye Mo stopped on his tracks and stood on guard observing the place where it came from.
"Haha, I didn't expect it would be you, so you're still alive as I thought!" Soon two students stepped out and approached him.
They were familiar faces to Ye Mo, it was Ma Shinfei and Jin Hao Tian, the geniuses from the Tiger Martial Institute.
"You guys, where are you heading to?" Ye Mo asked them not the least bit bothered or afraid.
The first was very talkative and exuberant as he joined Ye Mo cheerfuly while Jin Hao Tian, although smiling and seemingly joyous, was much more calm and collected than his teammate.
"We were going westward to find more beasts and students when brother Jin noticed someone close by with his investigative battle skill, who thought it would be you. Talking about it, you seem really serene, aren't you afraid we would kill you and take your points?" Ma Shinfei asked in a pleased but somewhat incredulous manner.
All the students they met since the competition began ran away with all their forces at the sight of them and those from the Tiger Martial Institute were no exceptions. Ye Mo really stood out at this moment being indifferent in front of them.
"Well, I am not really worried about that. What truly preoccupy me is my score, do you guys know where the strongest students went?" Ye Mo tried to gain something out of this encounter as he questioned, always having his primary objective in mind.
He wasn't scared they would attack him, he had observed and talked with Ma Shinfei in the past and had an understanding of him. Although he could kill without a second thought, he was a honest boy, neither particularly murderous nor the kind who would suddenly lung at him without warning.
Concerning Jin Hao Tian, he knew nothing of him beside his background, but since he and Ma Shinfei striked a friendship and formed a team together, one wouldn't act without the assentement of the other.
The forest was covered with the shades of green trees so at worst, Ye Mo could still use Shadow Walk to escape and if even that wasn't enough then wether he ran away or not didn't matter.
Hearing the question, Jin Hao Tian answered truthfully, "You're in luck, if you asked to someone else, they probably would be unable to respond, but it just happen that I and brother Ma were at the lead of the students charging in the forest the first day. Aware of our own strength, we rushed fearlessly and struck down a dozen students that targeted us before going deep in the woods, not far from us were Shen Xue and Qiong Lieyu that we saw moving northwest followed by Zhang Xuanhan."
"We are going in this direction precisely to challenge them to a fight, the winner takes the points and gains the first place. As for Yan Mei, Li Qiang and Gao Lixin, they went northeast instead, but that's only what we saw at the start of the competition, it's been several days so some of them could have moved to a different area now, we can't be sure."
Ye Mo was delighted hearing this but didn't show it as he inquired again, "You guys must have a lot of points if you believe you will immediately reach first place after defeating one of them."
"Hehe, I haven't been idle all this time and gathered respectively thirty eight thousands for myself while brother Jin has thirty five thousands. He's still trying to find some blood beast to supass my score." Ma Shinfei mocked playfully.
Jin Hao Tian's lips twitched and he frowned deeply, clearly upset, but he didn't say anything.
Ye Mo finally clasped both his hands forward in a slight bow, expressing his gratitude, "Many thanks to the both of you for the informations, I shan't take any more of your time and resume my quest to increase my score."
He was just about to leave when Ma Shinfei placed his hand on his shoulder to retain him in place, "What are you saying brother Ye, both of us met in this endless forest, this is a fateful encounter. We should fight to our heart content and see for ourselves who's the strongest! It has always been a small wish of mine to have a go against you, surely you won't turn me down. You don't need to hold back, give it your all and show me what your guts are made of, I will make sure to not kill you so you don't have to worry about anything, if you fare good enough, I will let you join us." Ma Shinfei blurted out excitedly, taking the thick black stick that layed on his back in his hands and taking a ready stance.
His battle desire surged greatly in his heart as his trilled eyes locked on Ye Mo.
There were many tales about ancient body refining cultivators who could fight dragons with their fists and could jump in the sky, breaching the heavens, with their feets. No one denigrated their prowesses, yet, few would pick such lenghty and long-termed techniques, less wouldn't give up and only a small number would become famous through them.
Faced with a succesful body refining cultivator like Ye Mo who was more known for his physical abilities than his Qi cultivation, Ma Shinfei really wished to experience for himself what it was like to battle a beast in human skin. After all, there was no one else than him in Azure Water City who was known for sticking with body refining cultivation and achieved great strength through it.
"Wait!" Jin Hao Tian abruptly intervened, "Who says it should be you to fight him? I also want to see what he's capable of against my spear. You already fought the last student we encountered, this is my turn."
"What, I asked first!"
"I don't care, I should fight him."
"No, you don't. Let's decide who will do it!"
The two bickered back and forth at who would face Ye Mo before they suddenly outstretched their hands and started heatedly playing rock, paper, scissors in front of him, screaming and jumping up and down of nervousity as they made the same shape repeatedly.
They seemed entranced and deeply agitated playing their game like little kids as they deeply wished to be the one fighting.
Ye Mo was surprised and wondering how to escape this situation for a moment before he said, "Wait for me a second." then leapt up and climbed to the peak of the tallest tree in their surroundings.
This alarmed the two teens who stopped their play to look at him going up, but realizing he couldn't outrun them if they wished to chase him, they didn't get flustered anymore and observed.
At the top of the tree, Ye Mo looked around and could see no end to the Jade Forest, but he noticed a twenty meters high precipice westward that stood out in the distance.
Climbing down until he landed in front of the pair, Ye Mo told them, "I am busy right now and need to gain more points, I can't just stay here to fight with you when it's only the fourth day. How about that, there is a precipice straight west, you can't miss it if you go in that direction, let's do our stuff in the remaining time then meet each other at this place during the last day of the competition and have a go at it with easy mind."
"Hmm..." Ma Shinfei grumbled and looked down undecisive for some time before reluctantly agreeing.
He was already fired up at this point and really wanted a bout with Ye Mo, being more prone to action, he had difficulties being patient, but he wasn't a tyrant and decided he could wait two days rather than force Ye Mo to fight.
An important point in this conversation was that Ma Shinfei didn't doubt Ye Mo a single instant, wether it was blind naivety or extreme confidence, if the latter told him he would meet them at the precipice in three days, then it could only be so for him.
Only Jin Hao Tian whispered to Ye Mo when passing beside him, "A man's words cannot be taken back."
Then, the two talented youngsters and the body refining cultivator went on their separate ways, both leaving west while the other went east.
If Ye Mo chose to go east rather than west, it is because he didn't believe he would have much chances against Shen Xue or Qiong Lieyu, even Zhang Xuanhan would be very difficult to defeat, these guys were the best young cultivators of the city and the top students of their respective institute. He believed it was much more appropriate for him to battle someone like Li Qiang or Gao Lixin than to face these fellows.
"This is setting up well, even if I don't find any top ranked student to defeat after the sixth day, I can return to the precipice and fight with Jin Hao Tian and Ma Shinfei who will be waiting for me. With these guys characters, they will fight me one by one while life and death won't be involved, if I defeat both of them, I can still hope to attain the first place and if I don't then it's just a lack of abilities on my part. It would be a shame after all the efforts I have put in, but I can only give up on the peak-tier battle skill by then, at least I will keep my life and the limitless possibilities of the future. This is a failsafe plan in case everything else goes wrong."
Ye Mo pondered, feeling rather lucky he came across these two, if it was someone like Shen Xue, then battle would have been inevitable.
Now, he still needed to find strong participants so he spent a portion of his Qi and used Wind Flow to cover a greater distance faster.
While he moved at great speed, night eventually fell, blood beasts roared and roamed when students rest and hide.
Wether man or beast, Ye Mo slaughtered everything he encountered, stopping only to recover his Qi before setting out again.
Quickly, the moon's shift was completed and it was the turn of the sun to take its place, giving light to plants and heat to all creatures inhabiting the land.
It was already the fifth day of the competition.
After a two hours nap, Ye Mo rose up in the morning and went on east continously.
With his speed, several miles could be crossed in a few minutes and by now, the place where he encountered Ma Shinfei and Jin Hao Tian couldn't be seen even if one mounted the biggest tree.
Watch him as he fight against a rank 1 peak-tier Thunderous Baboon with coarse grey fur and sharp fangs jutting out of his mouth. Early in their battle, Ye Mo took the advantage in physical abilities and quickly supressed the beast.
The monkey, feeling it wouldn't be able to turn the tables with its strength and that he fell in an increasingly dangerous position, opened its mouth wide and let out a loud cry like thunder rumbled and lightnings fell at their position.
Many birds that flew a bit too low in the sky suddenly plummeted down and crashed dead against the earth.
Ye Mo recoiled stunned by the cry, two trails of blood running down his ears as he lost his audition, a ceaseless tinnitus buzzing in his head.
"His cry is dangerous, I better finish this fight quickly!" Ye Mo stepped forward, ignoring his pain as he rushed at the monkey.
The Thunderous Baboon, seeing him return, leaped around in fury, letting a second scream escape his mouth.
Ye Mo grimaced and gnashed his teeth in deep pain, the leaking blood of his ears increasing, but he stood in track and advanced nonetheless, a Qi blade surging from his wrist guards as he hacked at the monkey.
This one tried to place his arm forward in protection, but it was quickly sent flying as it met the blade before another followed and decapitated the beast.
Ye Mo didn't give any attention to the 500 points added to his score as he used Endless Vitality to heal his ears.
He slowly recovered his audition and as his hearing increased, he gradually made out a rasping sound behind him.
He turned around and saw not far from him, a cultivator in black robes approaching with lips curled up in a pleased and satisfied smile, the blade of his sword held down as he dragged it against the rocks and the earth on the ground while he walked towards Ye Mo making this harsh, grating noise.
With his long black hair, his snow-white skin and the air of hostility that surrounded him, anyone could make out the young master of the Li clan.
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