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Chapter 32
(TLN: Second extra chapter. Also, unique chapter titles disappear for the next ten or more chapters for whatever reason the author had.)
In the jungle, after hearing the exchange between the two, everyone stopped fighting and came closer to each other. More people approached from behind the duo. The two groups stood, facing each other. Long Shiyan was not unfamiliar with these people, after all, they were genius students from the same school as hers.
“Hehe, Dinas, I don’t think this was just a prank.” It wasn’t Long Shiyan who answered, but Edgar, who had rushed over to her side. He sneered in dissatisfaction. “You even used the Dimension Wind Blade to attack us, yet you chose to call this our assessment.”
“Examination! Of course, this is the genuine one, or rather…one to prove yourselves?” Dinas’s hands wrapped around her sword with a beautiful smile. Long Shiyan glanced at the enemy’s group of six people, which consisted of two women and four men. In their group were two magicians, one archer, two warriors, and an assassin.
“Where is the head of the group’s badge?” Long Shiyan only stated a brief inquiry, nothing more.
“The head of the group’s badge? I don’t know.” Dinas’s lips curled as she shrugged. She said, “Isn’t that something only people with enough strength and a high status deserve? You’re just a fallen aristocratic little girl who will merely stain the honor of the badge.”
Long Shiyan’s complexion was solemn, and Zi Linglong’s qi aura spread around her body. With a chilling voice, she responded, “If that is the case, then I understand what will happen next!” After her words, she took two long swords out of her spatial ring.
“Hey!” When Dinas noticed Long Shiyan’s lack of hesitation, she couldn’t help but take a step back. But, her mind was still calm. She did not think Long Shiyan would be so decisive, however, there was no time to ponder any more about it. No! It could be said that both sides were ready to fight from the start, but their team was exposed right away.
It was a pity that their preparations to kill Long Shiyan and her group didn’t have any effect, and they revealed their intentions of killing the group too early.
Her eyes glanced at her teammates beside her. Their assassin was injured. Their wind magician, who used the Dimension Wind Blade, suffered from a great mental strain. If they really wanted to duke it out, then the fight will definitely hurt both sides. She closed her eyes, took out a badge, threw it away, and then sneered. “This time, you guys are lucky. But the next time we face each other, you won’t be as lucky. The position as the head of the group may not be as wonderful as you believe.”
When she finished, she turned around and departed.
Her team members also took a few steps back and then quickly disappeared into the jungle. Zi Linglong moved towards Long Shiyan and grasped her. She really couldn’t understand them. “Elder Sister, you were almost killed by them. If you weren’t so lucky, then you really would have been killed! Now, how could we let them go? If we let them escape, then the next time they come back, I don’t know if you will still be lucky. What if…”
“Elder Sister!”
Before Zi Linglong’s words were finished, Long Shiyan unsteadily swayed as she fell down again. Just a moment ago, she appeared so strong and imposing, yet now, she could no longer stand.
Zi Linglong was frightened as she picked Long Shiyan up in a panic. She looked at her teammates with worried eyes. Her three other teammates were also anxious, but they all calmed down once they heard Edgar’s words. “Before anyone takes advantage of our weak state, we have to leave quickly.”
System Qian Qian also floated in front of them and comforted, “The host only used up her Douqi and mental energy. With her physical body, she will be fine after a few days of rest. Don’t worry.”
After those words, they quickly followed Edgar’s commands. As they supported the wounded, they disappeared into the afterglow of the setting sun, leaving only a slight breeze that danced in the air.
The air was filled with the smell of grass, and the low-pitched songs of the birds could be heard along with the several roars of beasts. When Long Shiyan woke up, she discovered that she was alone in a quiet mountain, lying on a soft bed made up of leaves and animal hides.
She did not move, just quietly looking up at the blue sky.
The sky was cloudless and colored in an endless blue. The world seemed serene. The sounds of footsteps grew closer as Zi Linglong quickly ran to her side.
Long Shiyan looked beside her and saw that she had caught a pheasant. Now, she began plucking its feathers and cleaning out its organs. In a few moments, she had completely finished handling the pheasant meat. There was a fire in the distance with a pot over it. Inside, the water was boiling and bubbling over the heat.
Long Shiyan watched as Zi Linglong placed the pheasant into the pot, covered it with a lid, and continued to add firewood. Then, Zi Linglong walked over to her side, crouching down as she asked carefully, “Elder Sister, are you feeling alright?”
“I only collapsed from exhaustion, it’s nothing to worry about.” Long Shiyan looked around. “Where are Edgar and the others?”
“They went to bathe and said that they were going to catch some fish while they were at it.” Zi Linglong kneeled on the grass, allowing her head to rest on Long Shiyan’s chest. She listened carefully to her lively heartbeat. Long Shiyan smelled a fragrant scent, like the scent of blooming jasmine scent, in which she could not help but immerse herself in.
Long Shiyan wanted to console her, but she felt that the cloth around her chest area had become wet. She became silent for a long time. A very small system decided to handle the cooking herself as she carried a piece of wood bigger than her body to the fire!
Zi Linglong rubbed against her chest as she wiped her tears away. She raised her head and formed a smile. “Elder Sister’s smell has never changed. Always so warm and tender. I am familiar with this warm feeling.”
Long Shiyan blinked and helplessly answered, “I will need to take a shower. My body is exhausted. Ling’er, could you help me get up and refresh myself?”
“Yeah.” Zi Linglong nodded heavily, holding her hand without speaking.
The three big men came back and helped prepare the meal. They simultaneously rained curses at that treacherous Dinas and her group, talking about how they wanted to destroy them. Fortunately, their heads were still rational and they soon stopped cursing.
Long Shiyan’s eyes closed, listening to their apprehensive mumbling while not talking herself. She merely waited for the food to be cooked. In the original story, there were a few people, along with Dinas, who were mentioned. Inside, they were the new leaders of the groups, but the number of their appearances were relatively small.
In the current world, Dinas and Long Shiyan both ran for the same position during elections, but she lost. For this reason, she and her group always hated Long Shiyan and now even tried to remove her.
It was a pity that Long Shiyan’s strength made her hesitate before acting rashly. In the past, their relationship only consisted of how Long Shiyan gave her a slap in the face. She did not expect that it would escalate into a life-or-death confrontation.
Dinas really did try to murder her. This was one of the situations that Long Shiyan couldn’t predict. If it wasn’t for her wits that scared them off with tactical psychology, then she didn’t know what the outcome would have been.
Fortunately, Dinas had always been afraid of the consequences of her actions, otherwise, her plan wouldn’t have been so effective.
After eating a hearty meal, the three big men went off to cultivate on their own. System Qian Qian checked the barrier, temporarily surveying the area.
Zi Linglong took Long Shiyan to the creek and cleaned her body.
Long Shiyan also enjoyed the bath massage, closing her eyes and thinking carefully about why Dinas would try to kill her. Was it really because of her feelings of jealousy? Or was there…some other special reason? Because Long Shiyan interacted with them for her own benefits and basically destroyed the original plot setting, did these actions lead to the butterfly effect?
Even with the system, they could not figure out why as this strange phenomenon could remain unanswered within Long Shiyan’s heart.
“What is Elder Sister thinking about?” Zi Linglong gently patted her little buttocks with a threat that resulted from her dissatisfaction. “If a child refuses to be obedient and allows her imagination to run wild without telling anyone, then she will be spanked by an adult.”
Long Shiyan stroked her own buttocks, feeling a phantom pain when she heard those words. She shot a glance at Zi Linglong, but could only helplessly sigh. “Okay, okay, just don’t hit my butt. I won’t think about doing reckless things anymore.”
“Hehe…” Zi Linglong’s face revealed a smile as she extended her arms out to grope her little body. “Elder Sister’s body is so soft and nice to feel.”
Long Shiyan gasped heavily as she could not use her Douqi to struggle away from Zi Linglong while she was injured. Her face continued to flush as she was mercilessly washed. Speaking of this girl, Zi Linglong was completely spoiled rotten by her and would now ignore her elder sister’s status and dignity.
But it could not be helped, she herself was the one who let Zi Linglong become her closest relative.
After a few days of rest, they left the relatively safe mountains and entered the jungle.
The Magical Beast Forest was the most dangerous area in the continent. There were many magical beasts, but not all places had truly formidable magical beasts. Generally, the more you moved closer to the center, the stronger the magical beasts would be.
The forest was divided into five levels. Starting from strong to weak, these levels included the core, center, inner clearing, outer periphery, and the borders. Among them, the core was the most dreadful area of Magical Beast Forest, containing Saint-level magical beasts. The center had levels eight to nine of magical beasts and the inner clearing contained sixth or seventh-level magical beasts. In general, high-level magical beasts would normally not enter the low-level magical beast areas. Other than those rules, the level of the magical beast that one could come across would depend on luck.
For example, the three-eyed leopard that Long Shiyan encountered before was a result of her bad luck. Meanwhile, the Earth Bear that Zi Linglong and others came across was also based on their luck. Normally after a berserk ant wave occurs, encountering violent and powerful magical beasts was normal.
After staying in the Inner Clearing for a period of time, they began heading back.
They returned to the outer area faster than when they came into the inner clearing area of the forest. After half a month, the group of five entered the outer periphery of the Magical Beast Forest, which had an abundance of third to fifth-level magical beasts.
During the evening, a few people roasted meat around the fire and made jokes. They spent a more interesting night than usual. Speaking of creating fires at night, she did not dare to make any in the inner clearing for fear of attracting terrible magical beasts. So, at most, it was only bright during the day.
However, the outer region didn’t have many strong magical beasts, so they don’t need to be as cautious as they were in the inner clearing. Assassins also wouldn’t dare to attack a group with a lot of people, which made their group more unrestrained and relaxed.
Of course, they still needed to be somewhat wary.
Long Shiyan leaned against a large tree, closing her eyes yet not sleeping. She was on watch duty right now and will rest later around midnight. The fire screamed within the wind as the unusually quiet night went on. This evening was safe enough for them to rest peacefully.
“Elder Sister, wake up! The sun is up! If you don’t obediently wake up, then your buttocks will be spanked,” she gently called out. Early in the morning, Zi Linglong defeated several magical beasts and then squatted in front of Long Shiyan, pinching the sleeping girl’s nose.
Long Shiyan was exhausted as she only went to sleep in the middle of the night. When she was called out to, she could not get up at all. Even Zi Linglong’s strange words had no effect on her.
Around the two, the three large men also looked around in a muddle-headed state. This was a safe area, yet they could not awaken right away. Perhaps, this result occurred because they all relaxed after weeks of having to be constantly alert for danger.
When Zi Linglong saw that Long Shiyan still did not get up, she puffed her cheeks and grabbed the sleeping girl.