When Wang Baole woke up again, a whole day had passed inside the dream-trial formation.
The snake venom turned out not to be as deadly as everyone had feared. Among the students there was someone skilled in treating snakebites, so Wang Baole's beautiful fantasy of "dying tragically and having his poison sucked out" completely fell apart.
Still, things weren't all bad.
After he woke, the soft, rabbit-like girl, Zhou Xiaoya, took care of him attentively. Even Du Min, for once, didn't argue with him. That alone made Baole feel a lot better. His mind quickly drifted back to more important matters—
Like how heroically he had saved them.Surely the teachers watching the assessment would be moved.Surely his score had skyrocketed.
Only one thing bothered him.
Over the next few days, while the group moved through the forest looking for other survivors, Liu Daobin suddenly went crazy.
Maybe it was guilt about not saving Du Min himself, maybe something else—but every time they ran into trouble, it was Liu Daobin who rushed ahead, barking orders and solving the danger quickly.
Meanwhile, Wang Baole, still recovering, had zero chance to "perform."
No giant snake tides, no life-and-death crises—just one small incident after another, all handled neatly by Liu Daobin.
To Baole, it felt like he had a full arsenal and nowhere to fire.
"If this keeps up, Liu Daobin's hidden assessment score might pass mine!"The thought made him anxious.
Fortunately, he didn't stay anxious for long.
On the second night, they camped beneath a narrow cleft between two cliffs. Around midnight, horrifying wolf howls tore through the air, like claws scraping stone, drilling straight into everyone's skulls.
Students jolted awake.
When they looked toward the forest—
Pairs of blood-red eyes lit up the darkness.
Under the moonlight, an endless pack of wolves formed a fan-shaped encirclement. Some sprinted along the ground, others leaped across branches. Their howls and bloodthirsty eyes made everyone turn pale.
It was as if a crushing wind of fear blew straight into their hearts.
"Run! Wolves!""It's a pack of Ghostbone Wolves—there's no end to them!"
Du Min had clearly grown since the snake incident. She reacted first, shouting:
"Into the pass! Use the cliff walls to block them!"
Liu Daobin's face shifted, struggling between fear and responsibility. In the end he gritted his teeth and didn't immediately retreat. Instead, he called others to help stall the wolves and buy time.
Zhou Xiaoya, panicked and trembling, helped Wang Baole hobble toward the narrow cleft with the others.
But Wang Baole… was already burning up inside.
Those minor "points" he let Liu Daobin have were one thing.But this? A full ghost-wolf pack?How could he let Liu Daobin steal this opportunity?
A holy fire seemed to ignite in his eyes.
He straightened, his steps suddenly firm. Then he stopped cold.
"Junior Sister Xiaoya, you go first!"
Leaving those words, Wang Baole turned and sprinted toward Liu Daobin. He grabbed him, and before the taller boy could react, Baole hurled him toward the narrow pass.
"Brother, you fall back! I'll hold the line!" he roared.
Liu Daobin was completely stunned.
By the time he regained his senses, Wang Baole was already charging alone toward the wolves.
"Everyone go! I'll cover the retreat!"
Justice and righteousness radiated from him again. From a distance, Zhou Xiaoya looked at him, heart trembling all over again.
Some male students, already inside the pass, were so riled up by his shout that their blood boiled. They turned around, wanting to join him.
But the red-eyed Wang Baole kicked them back one by one.
"Good brothers, you go first!" he shouted heroically—…while silently cursing them for trying to steal his points.
In his eyes, no matter how savage those wolves looked, they were all assessment points.
The students he kicked back staggered, eyes burning. In their minds, Wang Baole's figure—standing before a sea of wolves—had become heroic beyond words.
A few of them were so moved that they tried to rush out again.
Baole panicked.
He rushed over and shoved them back a second time. Worried they might surge out again, he clenched his teeth, planted himself at the mouth of the pass, and pressed both palms against the rock wall, forming a human barricade.
"You all know I'm still poisoned from the snake bite. I'll never outrun the wolves. Don't worry about me—just go!"
He sounded painfully sincere.
Those words sent shivers down everyone's spine.
At that moment the wolves accelerated, howling as they charged in waves. The sound alone could shake one's soul.
Students retreating deeper into the cleft could only watch, devastated.
"Wang Baole, get back here!""God… he's sacrificing himself so we won't be slowed down…"
Zhou Xiaoya, Du Min, and the others stared at his round body standing before the pack. For them, he now looked like a towering mountain, burned into their memories.
Even Liu Daobin was deeply shaken, his earlier resentment completely wiped away.
In his eyes, Wang Baole—arms outstretched against the rock face, blocking the wolf tide—looked like someone holding up the sky.
Baole himself was moved by his own performance.
If I were a teacher watching this, he thought smugly, I'd be in tears right now.
But more points were always better.
So he decided to flatter the Academy a little and shouted with tragic devotion:
"To enter the Ethereal Dao Academy is my honor! Even if I die here, I, Wang Baole, live as a child of the Academy—and die as its spirit!"
He was very satisfied with that line. He didn't believe the teachers could listen to this without being moved.
His satisfaction didn't last long.
Focused on the "assessment," he had completely forgotten one important detail:
Pain.
Although this was an illusion, the pain was indistinguishable from reality.
The wolves were almost on top of him. Their snarls and stench filled his ears and nose. In the next instant, more than a dozen Ghostbone Wolves leaped on him.
"OW!"
Baole's whole body convulsed. All he could see was gaping maws. All he could feel was teeth tearing into his flesh.
The pain was so overwhelming he almost forgot it was fake.
But his heart was stubborn.
Even as his body was shredded, flesh and blood flying, bones showing in several places, he clenched his teeth and refused to let go of the rock wall. The ripping, the howling, the smell of blood—everything blended into a single death knell in his ears.
For all his flaws, Wang Baole had one prominent trait:
He was incredibly stubborn.
"I finally got a big scoring event—no way I'm wasting it! I'm going to push my assessment score through the roof!" he howled internally, trying to hold on just a little longer.
But just then—
From behind the retreating students, a red shadow shot out of the forest like an arrow.
It was a short-haired boy of seventeen or eighteen, dressed in tight red clothes, handsome with a cold edge between his brows. A massive bow hung on his back.
He moved like an ape through the trees. As he charged, he pulled the bow from his back in one smooth motion and fired in rapid succession.
Nine arrows in a row.
They pierced the air with shrill whistles, streaking over the students' heads, threading past Wang Baole's scalp, armpits, and sides—
—before slamming into nine wolves in a chorus of screams.
None of the arrows missed. The impact flung the wolves away like rag dolls.
Everyone froze.
Even Wang Baole stared, dumbstruck. The arrows had passed so close to his body that his soul almost jumped out.
Before he could react, the red-clad youth exploded forward with even more speed. It was as though some immense power had erupted from within his body.
He ran with his arrows, leaping over Baole's head and firing nine more shots midair.
More wolves died screaming. The pack recoiled instinctively, startled by the sudden carnage.
The youth landed, grabbed Wang Baole like a sack of potatoes, and sprinted back into the narrow pass.
Baole jolted.
He could barely feel anything but pain, but his eyes were still fixed on the shrinking wolf pack behind him.
"Bro, put me down! I can still hold on a bit longer!" he yelled anxiously.
The red-clad youth—even with his cold personality—was moved by that.
"You've done enough. Leave the rest to me," he said seriously.
That line made Baole panic even more.Hey, that was supposed to be my line!
Before he could protest, the youth took a deep breath and raised his right hand. The muscles in his arm bulged, swelling several sizes in an instant. Veins burst into relief under his skin.
He gripped the giant bow like a club and swung it again and again against the cliff wall beside them.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Cracks spread through the rock. In a matter of breaths, a large section of the cliff collapsed with a thunderous roar, sending boulders crashing down and sealing the pass completely.
Wang Baole's eyes went wide.
He glanced at the shattered rock.
Then at the youth's swollen arm.
Every line he'd prepared to say died in his throat.
Everything had happened in the span of a few heartbeats. With the pass blocked, the red-clad boy steadied Baole and led him back to the group.
The students stared, stunned.
Liu Daobin sucked in a cold breath.
"Second stage of Ancient Martial… Body Seal!" he gasped.
"Not yet. I'm still only at the peak of the first stage," the youth corrected calmly, setting Wang Baole down.
"Even without the full second stage, your power already matches it. Thank you for saving us," Liu Daobin said, bowing deeply.
The other students followed respectfully.
Several girls looked at the red-clad youth with open admiration.
Just like that, he became the new center of attention.
Wang Baole lay on the ground, watching gloomily.
He knew the guy meant well. But he still felt that his perfect scoring opportunity had been stolen.
"Ancient Martial, huh…"Baole sighed.
Since the Federation entered the Spirit Energy Era, true cultivation had become possible—but for the vast majority, the only technique they could learn was the basic Qi Nourishing Art.
It let people absorb spiritual energy to prolong life and refine it into spirit stones for sale. Because of this, it was widely taught.
Real cultivation, however, required a foundation.And so, Ancient Martial Arts were revived.
After the Federation systematized everything, the Ancient Martial Realm was divided into three stages:
Blood & Qi, Body Seal, and Meridian Completion.
Only those who reached the third stage at full mastery were considered qualified to compete for true Daoist opportunities—like fish leaping the Dragon Gate.
But the methods of Ancient Martial cultivation were mostly controlled by major powers. For ordinary people, the most legitimate way to obtain them was to enter one of the Four Dao Academies. Otherwise, they could only join sects or great clans.
"He's about my age… probably from some powerful family," Wang Baole thought with a sour heart.
As the pain in his body flared up again, he couldn't help but groan a few times, drawing people's attention.
Seeing that he was still valued, his mood improved slightly.
But the pain was really intense, and he felt he'd earned plenty of points already.
Maybe… it's time to die dramatically, he thought.
Taking a deep breath, he let his voice quiver with emotion.
"I… I'm not going to make it."He looked around weakly."When you all officially become students of the Ethereal Dao Academy in the future, you must—"
He had carefully prepared his emotions. He was just about to burst into a grand, stirring speech.
But the red-clad youth cut him off.
Expression solemn, he stepped forward, pulled out a jade bottle, and poured a pill into Wang Baole's mouth.
"For someone willing to die for the Academy, I, Chen Ziheng, will never let him fall here. Good classmate, you can rest now. Leave the rest… to me."
His firm words, backed by his overwhelming strength, created a powerful sense of trust.
Students around them were deeply moved, thanking him over and over.
Wang Baole, however, lay there dumbstruck, mouth hanging open, staring at Chen Ziheng.
He stole my lines… again.
He wanted to salvage the scene, but the medicine spread swiftly. Darkness closed in at the edges of his vision. His body grew weak; he couldn't even speak.
He could only lie there, staring at the bright sky above, full of grief and indignation.
He must be cheating, just like me, he thought bitterly.