"Sigh, the Little Extreme Sacred Land is so huge. There’s no way Tang Yi will appear here. Let’s just accept our fate."
Hearing a North District examinee mention Tang Yi, everyone sighed softly. They stared at the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast before them, their faces filled with despair.
And among them, Bai Ye’s expression was the grimmest. Once, he was the number one genius of the Thirty-six Cities of the North District. Once, he was so proud. Once, he was so arrogant. Once, everyone would flatter him and try to curry favor with him.
He saw himself as superior to all, high and mighty like a reincarnated Divine Spirit. But now?
He was no different from those pathetic wretches. All his expectations, everything, had become meaningless. His once-dazzling brilliance was now bound to dim.
Moreover, it was one thing for him to be in danger, but Bai Ye was wracked with guilt for having dragged the other North District examinees into this predicament with him.
"Why don’t we all crush our Help Stones? That way, we might at least survive," Bai Ye suggested, his face devoid of any fighting spirit.
"Brother Bai..."
"Brother Bai, don’t!"
"No, I’d rather die than crush my Help Stone."
The North District examinees all shook their heads, protesting.
"Wh-Why?"
Bai Ye was extremely confused. He couldn’t understand why, even in a situation like this, the other North District examinees were still unwilling to give up.
"Brother Bai, I have no way out... My clan, my father, my mother—they’ve all placed their hopes in me, hoping I can enter the West Mansion. If I go back like this, what will everyone think of me? I’d rather die here."
"Me too. My clan’s rivals haven’t dared to make a move because I’m participating in the House Entrance Examination. If I go back now in disgrace, not only will our rivals laugh at me, but my clan will also face a fatal threat."
"Same here. No matter what, I won’t give up until my last breath."
"I’m scared of death, and I’m already holding my Help Stone, but crushing this Help Stone would be harder for me than drawing my blade to take my own life."
The crowd from the North District spoke one after another, their faces etched with determination.
"Everyone!"
"Sigh, it’s all my fault... If I hadn’t led you to join forces with the examinees from the other regions, you wouldn’t have ended up in this situation."
Hearing their words, Bai Ye blamed himself even more. Affected by his emotions, his movements slackened for a moment.
Because of that momentary lapse, Bai Ye was nearly struck by the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast’s wing and killed on the spot. Fortunately, a few North District examinees intervened in time and saved him.
"Brother Bai, stop blaming yourself. This wasn’t your fault. If we had also spoken up and advised against it, maybe this mistake wouldn’t have happened." Seeming to notice Bai Ye’s low spirits, a North District examinee said comfortingly, all while desperately resisting the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast’s attacks.
"That’s right, it’s not your fault, Brother Bai. You just wanted us to complete the West Mansion’s mission faster. You were doing it for our own good," another North District examinee added.
"Don’t blame yourself, Brother Bai. Even if I die, I won’t blame you. This was my own choice," a third North District examinee said as well.
"Thank you, all of you! I was being too sentimental."
Seeing that no one blamed him in the end, Bai Ye was deeply moved. He felt incredibly ashamed of his earlier thoughts of giving up.
’No one else has talked about giving up. I was once the number one genius of the Thirty-six Cities of the North District, for crying out loud. How could I be the first to quit?’
’If I don’t get into the West Mansion and just go back in disgrace, then just as that North District examinee said, what will everyone think of me?’
At this thought, the light returned to Bai Ye’s eyes, which became incredibly determined. He said to the others from the North District, "Since you’d all rather die than give up, let’s settle this with the Level 5 Demon Beast! We all basically died once already on the Void Warship anyway. This time, no matter the outcome, being able to fight alongside all of you here, just like on the Void Warship, means I can die with no regrets."
"Well said!"
"No regrets in death!"
"What does death matter if we don’t make a name for ourselves?"
"Kill! Today, either we die or this Level 5 Demon Beast dies! I’ll die before I crush my Help Stone!"
... The fighting spirit of the North District examinees was ignited. Their spirits soared, and they erupted with formidable combat power once more. Everyone went berserk, launching a frenzied, death-defying assault on the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast.
After the examinees from the other three regions had left, it was the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast that had been frantically attacking the North District examinees. Now, however, under the North District examinees’ explosive onslaught, the roles were reversed.
When the four regions had joined forces, it took over thirty examinees surrounding the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast to trap it, beat it to the point it could hardly retaliate, and suppress it.
But now, with just a few examinees, the North District had actually managed to suppress the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast with their frenzied eruption of power. It was simply astonishing.
’Not bad. It’s a good thing I didn’t step in to save them immediately. Otherwise, how would I have seen such a gutsy side to them?’
Up in a large tree, Tang Yi nodded, quite satisfied with the performance of Bai Ye and the North District examinees.
Originally, Tang Yi had wanted to save them right after the examinees from the other three regions fled. But after a moment’s thought, he felt that rescuing them immediately would bring them no benefit.
Living under the protection of others, without experiencing the trial of life and death, one can hardly grow.
Tang Yi might be here to save them this time, but what about the next?
Relying on others for rescue is not as practical as mastering great power and saving oneself.
Even if one’s strength is truly insufficient, one must still do their best.
It was with this goal in mind that Tang Yi had held back from intervening.
In any case, he wasn’t worried about any accidents befalling the North District examinees. The Golden-winged Black Wind Beast’s attack speed was fast relative to the examinees. However, to Tang Yi—who possessed an Earth Tier Upper Grade body technique like the Formless Divine Shadow Step and Divine-level equipment like the Divine Boots—it was far too slow.
Even without using a body technique, Tang Yi could save them just by leaping lightly to appear before the North District examinees in an instant.
Even if he were to fail and not save them in time, as long as a North District examinee still had a breath left in them, Tang Yi could use Golden Wound Medicine to pull them back from death’s door.
Of course, it was impossible for Tang Yi to fail.
Therefore, with all these techniques at his disposal, Tang Yi was perfectly calm and unhurried. He just sat in the tree, watching the North District examinees frantically attack the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast, wanting to see where their limits lay.
The North District examinees kept up their frenzied attack for a full ten minutes, beating the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast so badly it couldn’t even retaliate. Only when they had all exhausted their strength and began to falter did their assault weaken.
At this point, they didn’t even have the strength left to resist the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast.
However, they still hadn’t broken through the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast’s defense.
"Dammit, I did my best."
"We still can’t break its defense. What a pity."
"In the end, our strength just wasn’t enough."
"It’s okay. We did our best."
"This is the end, brothers. I hope we can be brothers again in the next life."
"Yeah, this is it. Let’s all be brothers again in the next life!"
The North District examinees all revealed gratified smiles, simultaneously preparing themselves for death.
Facing the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast’s terrifying wings, there was no look of despair in the eyes of any North District examinee. Instead, there was relief and satisfaction. They had done their best.
"The end? Did I say you could end it?"
However, just as the North District examinees thought they were about to die at the hands of the Golden-winged Black Wind Beast, a faint voice drifted down from the sky.

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