Chapter 599

A rope was thrown down from the cliff, and six people looked up.

Xi Jin leaned out from the cliff's edge, glanced down, and shouted: "Sanzhu Daozhang, it's not long enough—let it out more!"

Pan Yun tied the rope to a tree and pulled the knot tight, asking: "How much more?"

Someone below leapt upward, grabbing the rope mid-air for leverage, and landed lightly on the cliff: "Don't let it out any further—it's only a zhang or so short. The rocks below are uneven; they won't be unable to jump a zhang."

Pan Yun immediately dropped the rope and didn't bother untying it.

She happily pointed to several nearby trees: "Great heroes, I've already found good spots to tie the ropes—hurry over, hurry!"

The six had witnessed Pan Yun's skills and treated her with two degrees more respect, nodding and smiling warmly before approaching to tie their own ropes.

Pan Yun walked to the cliff's edge and looked down: the people on the boat had already begun leaping toward the cliff base.

One after another, they jumped from the boat, tapping their toes on the rocks for leverage, leaping to the next rock—seven or eight bounds carried them across the jagged reef, landing at the cliff's foot.

Then they leapt upward, grabbing the ropes Pan Yun had thrown down, and flew back up.

Pan Yun flew over and knew that with Miao Zhen's martial arts, crossing was no issue; she sat on the cliff's edge watching them hop like little rabbits.

Thud! A cry echoed from below.

Pan Yun instantly rose, furrowed her brow, and flew down the cliff.

Someone had fallen into the sea; Zhang Ning pulled the person out, his face grim.

Pan Yun flew over and saw the man's head bleeding profusely, his face covered in blood, tiny shell fragments embedded in his forehead.

Pan Yun reached out, took him, and carried him up to the cliff top.

Xue Shao also leapt to the cliff base, grabbed a rope, and climbed up like a monkey, jerking upward in fits.

Seeing the man Pan Yun brought back, he said: "The rocks in the sea are either slippery and impossible to stand on, or jagged and hard to land on. If they don't step on the same rocks you stepped on, and must find their own, someone's eyesight will inevitably fail."

They were the first group to emerge—all small boats, five in total.

Twenty people per boat.

Four more boats remain behind.

Pan Yun flew down and told Zhang Ning and Zhang Weiyi: "I can carry people—anyone with poor lightness skill, I'll take."

Gao Zhiming and the others also flew down; they couldn't carry people up the cliff, but could carry them to the cliff base.

They could also find multiple stable rocks in the jagged reef.

As Xue Shao said, not every rock in this reef was suitable to land on.

Some were slippery; step on them and you wouldn't just fail to gain leverage—you'd slip and feel yourself toppling backward.

From above, they watched several martial experts nearly fall, but held their composure, pretending nothing was wrong—yet their soles and hands were already injured.

They couldn't afford to lose combat strength before even landing; the six joined Pan Yun in lending a hand.

Zhang Weiyi looked at Zhang Ning.

His group had no issues; as students of the Academy, their first priority was learning to flee, so their lightness skills were all strong.

The lightness technique Pan Yun just used was taught by the Academy.

Zhang Ning pondered briefly, then went to the boat, soon returning with four people, then went to the next boat and found two more…

Gao Zhiming and the other six each carried one person; Pan Yun carried two at a time, directly bringing them to the cliff base.

Seven ropes hung from the cliff; they could grip them and leap upward.

Back and forth like this, all one hundred people climbed the cliff.

Only one was injured, and some had their shoes pierced by shells and rocks.

But they had physicians—Tao Yanbai and Seeing Miao Zhen.

The heroes watched as they opened their medicine chests, pulled out scissors, tweezers, and ointment, staring in stunned silence.

One sighed: "Now I finally understand why the Wu Lin Alliance sent the two young Daoists with us." Tao Yanbai smiled warmly: "Great heroes, my sister and I flew up ourselves—our feet weren't pierced."

The hero blushed.

The sky gradually brightened.

Zhang Ning walked over and said: "Stop chatting—bandage your wounds, eat your rations, then move out."

"So soon? Everyone stayed up all night—can't we rest a bit?"

"Yes, I see no one's spotted us here—why not hide for a day and strike when night falls?"

"Night is indeed better for action—we could scout the island's water sources first, poison the first batch, and if we find their kitchen, even better."

Everyone offered suggestions at once.

Xue Shao stood aside, stunned.

Pan Yun listened with interest, thinking their ideas were all good—just poorly timed.

!

Zhang Ning suppressed his temper and snapped quietly: "Obey orders. Fifteen minutes to bandage wounds and eat. Departure in fifteen minutes."

The group muttered under their breath but quickly pulled out their rations and bit into them.

Tao Yanbai and Seeing Miao Zhen also sped up their wound treatment.

The five boats remained below, tied to the rocks—no one knew how long they could remain hidden.

So they must strike swiftly.

This was the strategy set before they sailed: no matter how many survived to reach the island, they must assemble and act quickly.

Zhang Ning and Zhang Weiyi divided the group into five teams, twenty per team; Pan Yun led one.

Miao Zhen, Seeing Miao Zhen, Tao Yanbai, and Xue Shao and his servant were all assigned to her team—along with Qu Le.

Zhang Ning glanced at Qu Le once, then assigned the Hengshan senior brother and junior sister to them.

Zhang Weiyi quietly warned Pan Yun: "Kill the bandits—but protect Qu Le."

Pan Yun nodded vigorously, urging him: "I know, I know—go quickly, I'll protect him."

Team Five takes Route Five.

Because Pan Yun had just shown an impressive performance, no one questioned her ability; in their team, Hengshan's Gao Zhiming was the most famous, and since he remained silent, no one else would speak up either.

They only had grievances against Xue Shao and his servant.

"What are you scholars doing here?"

Xue Shao said solemnly: "To kill bandits and protect the people's livelihood is the duty of every common man—how much more so for us?"

The others, hearing him speak in flowery language, moved farther away from him.

Xue Shao didn't care; he pulled Xi Jin and followed behind Pan Yun.

The group walked forward for a while; since they were on the island's backside, the forest here was dense and the path hard to find, so Pan Yun pulled a cat from her bosom and tossed it onto a tree: "Find the way."

Pan Xiaohei turned back on the tree, let out a "Meow!" and dashed off.

Pan Yun and the others continued walking.

With Pan Xiaohei leading the way ahead, Pan Yun and the others soon spotted a row of wooden huts.

The four true Daoist Priests in the team looked up and instantly recognized their location: "We've circled around to the back of the huts—follow me."

Pan Yun led them left and right, quickly reaching a small gate; she pressed her ear to the door, listened briefly, then gently pushed it open and slipped inside.

The man inside stood with his back to her, stirring a pot and shouting loudly: "Today's porridge is thick—Brother Wu must've measured out extra rice."

When no one answered his remark, he turned around—and met a smiling face. His eyes widened, his mouth opened to scream, but before a sound could escape, he crashed to the floor with a thud. (End of Chapter)