_Ten days later…_
Beneath the exuberant forest, on a curvy mountain path, a squad of twenty students wearing the uniform of Tian Lan Magic High stood near a mountain cliff…
No matter how much they complained and felt dissatisfied, they still trod upon the road of Bounty.
Ten days had passed in the blink of an eye.
In these ten days, they’d been advancing through obstacles, passing through large mountains and jungle. The bitterness they suffered was unbelievable.
“This freaking Chief Military instructor, I really want to curse him for sending us to such a sly place.” Wang Sanpang gasped for breath as he sat his butt down, while fanning himself with his cap.
“Yeah, freaking crap. Speaking of which, how have we not finished the 30 kilometers yet, isn’t this the tenth day?” Zhang Shuhua with the giraffe neck asked.
“The thirty kilometers is the distance if it was a straight line. We have had to climb hills, cross valleys, and take detours around mountains. This kind of road is more than 30 kilometers,” Zhang Xiaohou explained.
The squad Mo Fan was in had a total of twenty people. The Practical Mission needed to be completed by students, and thus no teachers were leading the squads, nor were any military instructors following. All they were given was a map to use.
The hardship of the journey for the past few days caused everyone to look like primitives, their faces were covered in filth and they were dripping with sweat.
“After crossing this river valley, we shouldn’t be too far from the Hundred Grass Valley that Chief Military Instructor mentioned,” class representative Zhoumin said as she held the map.
“Shit, how are we supposed to pass this river valley? Flying? In any case, it is at least 10 meters wide!” Wang Sanpang was the first to call out.
At this moment, there was a cliff in front of them!
The cliff on the opposite side of the mountain was right in front of them. However, the rapid and surging river below was fearsome. The roaring sounds of the water splashing against the rocks were very clear!
“What do we do? We can’t just give up halfway there.”
“How about we just go home. There are still other groups, it’s possible that they could finish this…” Zhang Shuhua the giraffe neck said.
“You lack spirit, how can you place your hope on other people?!” Zhoumin immediately reprimanded him.
“Then you tell us what to do. None of us are able to cross this cliff,” Zhang Shuhua complained.
“Oh right, Zhang Yinglu, aren’t you a Wind Magician, why don’t you try jumping over?” In this moment, Xu Zhaoting looked toward a girl with ponytails beside him.
The girl called Zhang Yinglu’s face immediately turned deathly pale as she shyly said, “N…no, I won’t jump. What if I fall?”
“We have ropes. The two cliffs have trees, as long as one person is able to directly jump to the other cliff on this valley and tie the ropes on the trees on the opposite side, then all of us will be able to use the ropes to cross over,” Zhoumin said, her eyes shining.
“Zhang Yinglu, don’t you want to get an A? You are jumping with a rope, even if you aren’t able to jump over, we are still able to pull you up. It’s only bungee jumping,” Xu Zhaoting continued.
“I don’t want to!” Zhang Yinglu was clearly a cowardly girl.
“Shit, when we need you, a Wind Magician, you don’t comply. What kind of Magician are you?” another Water elemental girl said.
“Let’s not force someone to do something they don’t want to,” Zhoumin said.
As everyone was still confused as to what to do, Mo Fan glanced at Zhang Xiaohou to his side.
Zhang Xiaohou wasn’t a very outstanding student within the Elite class. Everyone habitually placed their hopes on Zhang Yinglu who had the highest score in the Wind element. However, Zhang Yinglu was just a girl, how could she possibly do something that might risk her life.
“Monkey, do you dare?” Mo Fan opened his mouth to ask.
“What is there to be afraid of!” Zhang Xiaohou slapped his chest.
“Good!”
Zhang Xiaohou stood up and said to Zhoumin, Xu Zhaoting, and Zhang Shuhua, “Tie the rope around me, I’ll do it.”
Zhang Shuhua and Xu Zhaoting revealed doubtful expressions as they checked out the not-particularly-impressive Zhang Xiaohou.
However, someone volunteering was still better than standing there worrying helplessly.
Zhoumin’s movements were quite swift, she quickly tied one end of the rope around Zhang Xiaohou’s waist.
“Make way, make way, give Zhang Xiahou room for running.”
The other people immediately gave Zhang Xiaohou thumbs up. There were numerous people standing by the cliff and trembling as the wind blew past. Who would have the courage to jump in this situation?!
“Monkey, don’t worry. If you aren’t able to jump across, I will pull you up.” Mo Fan tied the other end of the rope onto a tree trunk, and he also used both of his hands to firmly grab the rope!
Zhang Xiaohou smiled at Mo Fan’s straightforwardness.
As Zhang Xiaohou took a deep breath, he slowly closed his eyes. No one knew whether he was connecting the star paths or emboldening himself.
Suddenly, Zhang Xiaohou opened his eyes. His pupils emitted a green radiance.
An indescribable gale began to swirl around Zhang Xiaohou!
Under the intent control of Zhang Xiaohou, the gale turned into a Wind Trail leading toward the cliff from the hillside of the mountain.
This Trail was invisible. However, the dust it scattered around allowed people to clearly see the extraordinary wind passage!
“Wind Trail, Swift Current!”
As Zhang Xiaohou yelled out, the star trail radiance around his body achieved an extremely bright level!
_Swoosh~_
A burst of wind sounded, and their clothes began to flutter!
Zhang Xiaohou’s body turned into an indistinct shadow as it quickly passed through the wind passage which he had created, swiftly following the current within the Wind Trail. Zhang Xiaohou’s speed grew increasingly faster!
The hill didn’t pose any problem for Zhang Xiaohou.
“Jump! Jump quickly!”
Xu Zhaoting, Zhoumin and Zhang Shuhua the three of them were closely fixated on Zhang Xiaohou. That Wind elemental girl, Zhang Yinglu, who was too scared to jump opened her eyes even wider!
Zhang Xiaohou arrived at the edge of the cliff and jumped with all his force using his right foot. He shattered a rock by the cliff as his body simultaneously began to leap!
“Ohh!!”
In the mid-air, Zhang Xiaohou welcomed the whistling gale from the top of the valley, the wind was so powerful that his face almost deformed.
His body arced between the two cliffs as he approached the other side.
At this moment, Mo Fan tightly grasped the rope. If Zhang Xiaohou didn’t make it, the he would have to pull him or else he might crash into the rugged stones beneath the cliff!
The remaining nineteen people raised their heads up as they looked at the leaping Zhang Xiahou, all of them were worried.
At last, Zhang Xiaohou began to roll.
His foot heavily stomped onto the edge of the other cliff, his body continued rolling forwards.
_Boom!_
In the end, he still crashed into a large tree on the other side of the cliff as everyone on the opposite side stared blankly.
Zhang Xiaohou’s eyes were crossed as he immediately turned around to look at the students on the other side of the cliff with a simple and honest smile. His appearance at the time looked extremely funny.
Although his appearance seemed funny, the students’ impressions of Zhang Xiaohou were much better.
Twenty people, and among them, there were only about four Wind Magicians. The only one who dared to jump over was Zhang Xiaohou.
In this kind of situation, so what if the other Wind Magicians’ grades were better?
“Monkey, good job!” Mo Fan was the first to yell out.
Zhoumin, Zhang Shuhua, Wang Sanpang, and others immediately give Zhang Xiaohou a thumbs up.
“We’re coming over!” Xu Zhaoting was the first to climb the ropes.
The remaining nineteen people also successfully climbed over to the other side of the valley. This would be a success on the first test of Practicals because they had arrived at their destination, Hundred Grass Valley!
* * *
Translator: Tofu
Editor: RED
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap