Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

Chapter 97 There's a Place for Me Here

At this time, after taking attendance, Master Wu immediately led a group of Taoist priests and disciples to patrol the mountain path. At the same time, he arranged for people to watch over the young people to avoid unnecessary injuries or deaths. If anyone fell down the mountain path, they would be rescued and treated immediately, and every effort would be made to prevent anyone from dying on the mountain.

On the winding mountain path and stone steps, Qiu Bi and the young people climbed the mountain, initially splitting into two distinct groups.

The first group consisted of thirteen people, led by the four great families, who had the advantage of starting early and quickly established a lead, maintaining a steady pace of climbing.

This speed requires less physical exertion and can be sustained for longer periods. The downside is that it's not particularly fast, since it's a steep ladder and endurance is the most important factor.

The next group consisted of about thirty teenagers who were deliberately blocked by the two young disciples. In order to compete for the first seventeen spots, they did not dare to hold back and ran desperately, chasing each other non-stop.

They quickly caught up with Li Jing and his group.

The two groups that were originally clearly separated gradually came together. If it were before, with someone else taking the exam for them, they could easily take down any student without worrying about these newcomers stealing the spots.

However, Li Jing and his group do not have the absolute strength to overwhelm the enemy, so they can only rely on verbal intimidation. At first, they could stop them a little, but if they did not stop them, it would have been better, because the more they tried to stop them, the more people gathered behind them.

No one wanted to lose. As soon as there were many people, they quickly gathered together, forming a large group. With the principle of "the law does not punish the masses," the crowd suddenly felt emboldened and launched a mass uprising.

"Why did they win first? We refuse to accept this!"

"I refuse to accept this!"

"The autumn harvest should be given to the most capable person!"

"The capable should occupy the position!"

"Go, everyone!"

"kill!"

The group immediately launched a desperate mass charge, relentlessly pursuing and tearing at Li Jing and his companions.

Li Jing and his group were no match for the surging crowd and had no choice but to flee in disarray. The Zhang family members in front of them were also swept along by the crowd and ran forward with all their might.

In this race, no one dares to fall behind, and no one is willing to fall behind.

At this moment, Liang Feng and the others maintained a steady pace of climbing, while Lin Yuan and the other two followed closely behind in a triangular formation.

Liang Zhe kept glancing back, and seeing that the people behind him were getting closer and closer, he shouted anxiously, "They're catching up!"

"Should we stop them?" Zheng Zhiyi, tall and daring, wanted to kick the people behind him off the mountain to buy time for his companions in front.

Lin Yuan took in the entire situation and made a quick analysis. He realized that if he stayed behind to hold them off, the three of them would attract all the firepower and become the targets of the teenagers.

If the three of us are too exhausted, something unexpected might happen!

He immediately devised a strategy: to first create distance, let those behind chase for a while, exhaust their strength, incite them to fight amongst themselves, reduce their numbers, and then launch a surprise attack once they were tired.

"Brothers, don't rush into a fight, let's stall them for a bit!"

After saying that, Lin Yuan shouted to Liang Feng and the others ahead, "Feng Lang, run faster and create some distance!"

"Okay!" Liang Feng didn't hesitate and sped up, no longer holding back his energy.

In an instant, all the teenagers on the mountain path were speeding up at full speed. From a distance, they looked like a group of fish swimming upstream, vying to leap over the Dragon Gate along the mountain stream.

However, the mountain path and stream were too narrow and shallow, and the most young fish crowded in the middle, so it was inevitable that they would fight each other. They were wary of each other, banded together, confronted each other, formed alliances, and stabbed each other in the back.

Especially for the boys who are around seventeenth place, seventeenth place is a life-or-death line. Standing on it means entering the Immortal Temple, while falling behind means losing. Therefore, the competition is the most fierce.

The first few boys to be carried away were those ranked in this category.

Much later.

The boys carried bamboo baskets weighing half a stone each and ran uphill with all their might, which was extremely exhausting.

Even Lin Yuan, a martial arts master, felt exhausted. It was even harder for those young people in the Body Tempering Realm to keep going. Moreover, they rushed forward from the beginning and dealt with the mountain path battles one after another. Soon they ran out of energy and some were eliminated.

But the boys, caught between life and death, continued their pursuit, though the intensity of the fighting noticeably decreased.

At this moment, Liang Feng and the others who were running ahead were also starting to tire, and quickly turned around and shouted, "We can't run anymore! Slow down!"

Lin Yuan looked back and saw that there were far fewer boys behind him, and they were all exhausted and weak. Seeing that the time was right, he immediately said to Zheng Zhi and Liang Zhe, "Let's stop running and make our move!"

"I've been waiting for this for ages!" Zheng Zhi immediately stopped excitedly, turned around, and faced the foot of the mountain.

"Come on!" Liang Zhe twisted his neck, immediately made a starting gesture, and turned to meet the enemy.

Standing at the highest point of the "品" character, Lin Yuan observed the mountain path and noticed it was quite wide. He pointed to a narrow bend ahead and said, "You two stand side by side, rush downhill, and get to that bend! We'll block it!"

"good!"

The two rushed down in response, with Lin Yuan following closely behind, and the three of them cooperated to defend and attack each other.

At this moment, some members of the Zhang family caught up, but faced with the attack of the three, they collapsed and retreated after only a few moves, back to the bend in the road.

The three men formed a triangular battle formation to block the bend. On one side of the bend was a steep slope, and on the other side was a high mountain. In such terrain, one man could hold the pass.

Zhang Yan, a member of the Zhang family, was the first to start cursing, but Lin Yuan ignored him. Liang Zhe, however, said loudly, "I saw you were all too tired from running, so I specially let you all rest here! Instead of being grateful, you come here shouting nonsense—"

"Liang Zhe, you're not human!" Seeing that she couldn't break the three's pincer formation and that cursing was useless, Zhang Yan simply made room, sat down on the ground, and rested.

Their plan was simple: to have the people behind them break through the three-man battle formation.

Li Jing and the other members of the Li family caught up from behind, but faced with the unbreakable triangular battle formation, they didn't dare to charge. Instead, they chose to protect themselves, clearing the mountain path and sitting behind the Zhang family members to wait and watch the young men perform.

Taking advantage of the situation, Li Jing fanned the flames at the boys behind him, saying, "Didn't you want to compete for rankings? Kick those three down the mountain, and you'll get your rankings!"

"You keep your word!" The boy who caught up from behind was overjoyed.

"Of course!" Zhang Yan echoed.

The catching youths, refusing to believe in their fate, charged directly into the triangular battle formation. However, the bend was too narrow for them to set up their formation, and two of them were injured on the spot by Lin Yuan and his two companions.

The Taoist priest patrolling the mountain immediately ordered his young apprentices to carry the two men who had fallen to the ground away for medical treatment.

The teenagers weren't stupid, so they didn't dare to rush in again. They could only shrink to the side, staring at each other, each with their own thoughts.

For a moment, the atmosphere after the bend became heavy and stagnant, with everyone wary of each other.

Seeing that no one dared to rush, Lin Yuan immediately began his psychological warfare tactics, shouting towards the other side of the bend: "Zhelang said that we only want the top six, and you can divide the remaining eleven! Once you decide the rankings, we'll let you climb the mountain and pass."

Liang Zhe understood immediately and shouted, "You guys sort out your rankings now, and we'll let you go right away!"

A couple of teenagers got stuck on the small bend, making the total number of them significantly more than eleven.

The teenagers looked at each other, the atmosphere thick and heavy, and they all huddled together in small groups, wary of one another.

Faced with an insurmountable obstacle and lacking an overwhelming advantage, while the other side offered a compromise, everyone immediately began to have ulterior motives.

Zhang Yan spoke first: "The four of us from the Zhang family must all be accounted for!"

"The three of us from the Li family can't be missing either!" Li Jing quickly added.

"That won't work. There are only four spots for eight of us?"

"We're the first to qualify!" Zhang Yan said angrily.

"Who decided who would win first? It was just something you guys discussed behind my back. I don't accept that!"

"Then let's have a go!"

"you----"

Soon, the group started arguing.

Before long, Lin Yuan heard the sounds of fighting coming from the bend in the road.

After an unknown amount of time, the final rankings were determined.

When they returned to negotiate, they found that Lin Yuan and the other two had already left.

At this time, Liang Feng and the others rested for a while and recovered a lot of strength. They stopped running at full speed and maintained a steady pace to climb the mountain. Lin Yuan and the other two continued to follow closely behind in their triangular formation.

Eleven teenagers followed far behind them. Three of the children from the Zhang and Li families were missing, and the remaining spots were taken by the teenagers behind them.

They no longer ran at full speed to chase, but maintained a steady pace to climb the mountain and hold onto their positions. In order to prevent their positions from changing, they would also actively attack the boys who were catching up from behind.

Everyone seemed to have reached a tacit understanding and accepted this rule.

Zheng Zhi turned around and chuckled, "Hey, they've backed down. They don't dare charge anymore!"

Liang Zhe sneered at the crowd below and shouted, "Do you submit?"

Zhang Yan and the others heard this from afar, but dared not speak out in anger. They cursed inwardly, thinking, "You're so hateful! You won, but you still have to come and ridicule us?"

Even Li Jing took Liang Zhe to heart.

Lin Yuan shook his head inwardly. After all, they were just young men, full of youthful vigor.

Liang Feng quickly turned around and coughed twice, signaling Liang Zhe not to provoke them.

When they were almost at the top of the mountain, Li Jing's third brother was injured in the fight. Li Jing did not abandon him and personally helped him up the mountain.

The boy behind him actually stepped forward to help him up, a scene that showed that friendship came first and competition second, which moved all the boys present.

Suddenly, the estrangement caused by the conflict eased slightly.

"Look! They've actually gotten together! They really don't learn their lesson!" Liang Zhe said to Lin Yuan and the other person, somewhat amused.

Lin Yuan glanced back, smiled faintly, and said that when everyone had secured victory and there were no longer any vested interests involved, all moral considerations returned to normal.

I don't know how much time passed.

Liang Feng was the first to reach the mountaintop platform, where he saw the sun shining brightly in the east, and the gatehouse of "Linyuan Taoist Temple" standing in the morning sun.

Wu Daoshi and others stood below the gate tower, with many Daoist boys lined up on both sides.

Lin Yuan followed behind the crowd, gazing at the palaces and pavilions ahead, which stretched to the sky amidst the mist, bathed in the morning sun, evoking a sense of auspicious purple clouds rising from the east.

Here and now, I have a place!

"Congratulations, young men, on passing today's Autumn Competition!" At this opportune moment, Master Gao announced, "Please come in and observe!"

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