Chapter 580: Setting Off

Pan Yun knew nothing about it; once the hexagram reading showed they were in no mortal danger, she set her mind at ease and devoted herself wholeheartedly to preparing for the training exercise.

All the students taking part in the training were preparing.

For three days running, the mountain above and below was in an uproar.

Buying weapons, buying talismans, buying elixirs—some even spent money to buy magic treasures.

The money flowing in and out turned the once-quiet Long Hushan Academy into a noisy place; merchants were delighted, students were restless, and teachers were annoyed.

Under the envy and jealousy of the Academy's disciples, ninety-eight students assembled on the Academy plaza.

The leading teachers Zhang Ziming, Li Wenying, and Lou Tong stood up above; once Zhang Ziwang finished his speech, he stepped forward and waved crisply: "Each team, stick with your assigned teacher. Set off!"

Of the three teams, Pan Yun volunteered to join Lou Tong's team.

The three teams set off together and would only split up around Fuzhou; Pan Yun's team would head to Quanzhou.

Once the hundred and one people reached the foot of the mountain and passed through Shangqing Town, Zhang Ziming raised a hand to halt everyone and called out clearly: "Use whatever skills you have. You must reach the Sanli Pu relay station before nightfall."

After speaking, he, Li Wenying, and Lou Tong vanished—truly vanished; with a few whooshing sounds they were gone in an instant.

Pan Yun was still dumbfounded, but the fourth- and fifth-year students, who had experience with teacher-led training exercises, reacted swiftly. The moment the teachers disappeared, they immediately showed off their abilities and rushed off in pursuit.

Lightness skills, flash-dodging—including but not limited to earth-dodging, tree-dodging, and the like—in two or three breaths the dust flew up, and only twenty dumbfounded people remained where they had stood.

A quick glance showed they were all second- and third-year students—oh, and one hostage of the Wu Lin Alliance: Qu Le.

Pan Yun opened her mouth, then shut it again at once; there was too much dust.

The other second- and third-year students came to their senses now too. They looked at one another and quickly formed an alliance: "The teachers want us to make our own way to the relay station to regroup. This is part of the training too—let's go together!"

Naturally, when forming a team they picked people they knew and who complemented one another. They naturally passed over Qu Le, and as for the four martial nephews, their eyes swept past them and they went straight off to find others.

Who in the Academy didn't know those four martial nephews? They could form a fully capable team on their own, so the others didn't dare approach them either, lest they be suspected of clinging to a strong leg.

They were all fourteen- or fifteen-year-old youths, full of spirit, unwilling to let others think them sycophantic.

And so, before long, only five people remained where they had stood.

Qu Le pressed his lips together; this wasn't what he had imagined. He couldn't help but look at Pan Yun.

Seeing that Pan Yun also looked utterly blank, he felt a bit better—at least he wasn't the only one dumbfounded.

Qu Le steadied his composure and asked, "So what are we supposed to do next?"

Pan Yun looked at him as if he were a fool: "The teacher already pointed out the way—go to the relay station. What else could we do?"

Who would have thought Qu Le would return the look with one of his own: "You planning to get there on two legs like them?"

Pan Yun was about to open her mouth when Qu Le snorted and said, "I know—you Daoist priests don't just rely on two legs, but if you're not burning internal energy you're burning elemental energy. Are you all that full of vigor?"

Pan Yun swallowed back the words "flying magic artifact" and humbly asked for guidance: "Then what do you mean?"

A quarter of an hour later, five people stood by the road leading five horses.

Qu Le lifted his chin in a tsundere manner: "Mount up."

He frowned and said: "The horses in Shangqing Town still aren't good enough. Once we reach Dacheng, I'll swap you for better ones."

Pan Yun's eyes shone brightly: "Thanks, tycoon!"

Seeing Miao Zhen and the other two happily shouted after her: "Thanks, tycoon!"

Qu Le said unhappily: "What tycoon? My family has land, sure, but not that much. We mainly make money through our trading houses."

Miao He hesitated: "Thanks, merchant-tycoon?" Seeing Qu Le look even more displeased, Pan Yun called out loudly: "Thanks, young hero!"

Qu Le immediately beamed.

Seeing Miao Zhen and the others understood instantly and shouted after her: "Thanks, young hero!"

Qu Le laughed so hard his eyes narrowed into slits.

The four martial nephews sighed inwardly—so he loves being called a hero, not being called rich!

Still, the four of them cheered up too, patted the horses' necks, swung themselves into the saddle, and with a "Giddyap—" they shot off at full gallop.

Lightness skills were fast, but horses weren't slow either; most importantly, riding was far less tiring than running.

So even though they had wasted nearly half an hour, they quickly caught up with those ahead.

And along the way they overtook everyone and surged to the very front.

The senior brothers and sisters: …

The three teachers hiding among the tree branches, escorting and protecting the students, saw this and said nothing.

!

Zhang Ziming: "Having Qu Le follow them—I can't tell if that's right or wrong."

Li Wenying chuckled: "Those four martial nephews—Pan Yun for martial might, Seeing Miao Zhen for timing, Miao He and Tao Yanbai for healing. You could say they can advance to attack or retreat to defend, and they also hold the secrets of heaven. Their only weakness used to be running out of money from time to time. Now look—your side has patched up that one weakness. So tell me, is a team whose weakness keeps getting weaker good or bad?"

Zhang Ziming was silent.

If they were well-behaved, sensible students, then naturally it would be a good thing.

But Pan Yun and the others…

Zhang Ziming rubbed the bridge of his nose; even the most well-behaved among them, Tao Yanbai, would count as a troublemaker by the Academy's standards.

Don't be fooled by his usual mild temperament and obedient appearance—he has his own clear principles. He keeps things to himself, outwardly obeys, but in private still does things according to his own wishes.

He's practically the textbook example of paying lip service while defying orders in secret—exactly like his uncle.

Thinking of Tao Ji, Zhang Ziming suddenly remembered and frowned: "Still no word from Tao Ji and Zhang Li?"

Lou Tong, who had been silent all this while, spoke: "No. The last message we received said they had already crossed the sea. There are rumors in the jianghu that someone saw them sweep through three bandit dens in a row around Shimoda, which provoked a family on Tsushima Island to issue a kill order on them. After that we lost track of them—even the jianghu has no information on them."

Zhang Ziming and Li Wenying said "Oh" in unison, showing no urgency.

Zhang Ziming: "Sixth Uncle hasn't reacted at all, which shows they're still safe."

Li Wenying: "Mount Sanqing's quiet too. Pan Yun's been taking it easy—these past few days she's been busy preparing food and drink, and she bought plenty of talisman paper and cinnabar, but she didn't buy any medicine, and she's not in any rush to go overseas. Clearly, nothing's wrong."

With Wang Feiyin's abilities, if those two had run into trouble—even if the Sixth House hadn't moved, the moment he sensed it he would have acted. Pan Yun and the others couldn't possibly be so calm if something had happened.

Lou Tong nodded slightly as well: "No news is good news."

Watching Pan Yun and the others already disappear from sight, she said expressionlessly, "You'd better worry about Pan Yun and her group instead. Just hope they don't stir up trouble."

Zhang Ziming had already thought it through: "Let's hurry to the seaside. Throw them into the bandits' den, let them wreak havoc on the sea bandits. No matter how big a mess they cause, it's fine, as long as they keep their lives."

Li Wenying nodded in deep agreement.

Lou Tong glared at them: "They're in my team now."

Zhang Ziming and Li Wenying flashed her friendly smiles.

Lou Tong flicked her sleeve and left the two behind. (End of chapter)