Off in the distance, Xiao Hei could hear the scream of a few girls.

She didn't know who they were, nor did she care that they were in trouble, but she still got up to get a closer look.

Now sitting on a tree branch roughly a few hundred meters away from the girls that were in trouble, Xiao Hei could see what they were fleeing from.

'How troublesome,' Xiao Hei thought.

4 girls were running from a swarm of 2nd and 3rd tiered insect-type beasts.

Normally, 2nd tiered beasts could easily be handled by a refinement realm cultivator, but a refinement realm cultivator could only handle so many of them before getting overwhelmed by the numbers. A swarm this big was not something these girls were prepared to fight against. They were severely outnumbered. Not only were they outnumbered, but the swarm also contained a few 3rd tiered insects-type beasts as well. They were smart to flee.

The insects were 1 meter long with 6 wings, 6 sharp legs, and an ant shaped head.

The girls weren't weak, but the insects were just too quick, sturdy, and coordinated. Even after taking several attacks from girls they would still fly towards them as if nothing happened.

Happily swinging her legs off the tree branch, Xiao Hei watched in joy as the girls ran for their lives.

Although she liked Xiao Fang, Xiao Hei generally didn't like humans. From her personal experience, humans were deceitful, scheming, untrustworthy, and evil creatures.

Just when Xiao Hei was starting to get bored, one girl finally made a move.

The girl whipped her arm around, using a powerful spirit attack on another disciple. Since she was the slowest in the group, she was quickly falling behind from the other girls, so the only way to save herself was to throw someone else under the bus .

"What the hell are you doing!" The other 2 girls saw what she did.

The girl that was hit by the spirit attack was lying unconscious on the ground as her attacker finally ran past her. She simply ignored the 2 other girls as she continued her escape. This was no time for them to argue or fight amongst themselves. They needed to escape so the two other girls didn't bother helping the unconscious girl out.

Xiao Hei shook her head, she hated to see such betrayals, but it was commonplace amongst many humans. They often value their own lives over others.

After getting a better look at the girl that viciously attacked her own ally, she recognized her to be the same girl that tried to recruit Xiao Hei into her group.

"She said she wanted to protect me, but then she goes around doing stuff like this. Pathetic."

Even though Xiao Hei wanted to see the 4 girls get torn to shreds, the person she wanted to see suffer the most was the girl that had backstabbed her own ally.

The girl on the ground was seconds away from being overtaken by the swarm, while the backstabber was getting away as planned.

The other 2 girls in the group were hesitant. They wanted to help the girl that was unconscious, but they didn't think they would've been able to escape while carrying her.

"Let's go quick, we can't help her now."

The two girls seemed to have come to a decision to leave the unconscious girl for dead, but just as they were turning to escape, a figure suddenly rushed past them.

The two girls looked at each other for a brief moment before looking back at the swarm. It wasn't their imagination, someone really did run past them and they were headed directly towards the swarm!

It didn't take the 2 girls long to figure out who she was, she was the top genius in the outer court and her mother was a supreme elder. The girl running towards the swarm was none other than Bai Fan.

Bai Fan used one of her strongest techniques to clear a path. Suddenly, a bus-sized spirit attack was released from her palm, which killed a handful of the insects closest to the unconscious girl. The attack wasn't wide enough to hit too many of them, but it still bought her enough time to reach the girl on the ground.

Seeing Bai Fan use such a powerful attack got the 2 girls watching excited.

"It's Bai Fan! Bai Fan is going to save her!"

Bai Fan picked up the unconscious girl off the ground, but before she knew it she was already surrounded.

She began to execute her spirit techniques, killing any of the insects that got close to her. Even though the insects were quick, Bai Fan was quicker, and her movements were too unpredictable. Just from the calm disposition on her face, it really looked like she had everything under control.

However, the swarm became even more vicious and their attacks became even more difficult to dodge. She began to frown because there were just too many of them. Half the time she was getting hit by accident.

She wasn't able to fight all of the beasts with one hand. She needed to escape with the girl she was carrying first.

The girls thought Bai Fan was trapped, they didn't think it was possible for her to escape while carrying the girl, so they tried to help. They began executing all of their strongest techniques, but because they were so far away their attacks were easy to dodge and inflicted hardly any damage at all. They were too scared to get closer, so they felt useless.

"What do we do?"

"Go get help, tell them Bai Fan is in trouble," the other girl suggested.

"Alright, let's split up."

Everyone knew who Bai Fan was. If it meant making a favorable impression on Bai Fan, a few girls would even jump into a pit of fire for her.

The girls quickly left to get help.

Meanwhile, Xiao Hei watched from a far and scoffed when she saw the 2 girls leaving.

"Hmph, cowards. Do you really think she will survive for that long," Xiao Hei said to herself.

As much as Xiao Hei enjoyed watching humans suffer, she was actually beginning to frown.

Maybe it was because she liked Xiao Fang or just respected Bai Fan's bravado, she didn't enjoy watching this as much as she thought she would.

Without warning, Bai Fan was scratched again and she nearly dropped the unconscious girl. She didn't think she could keep this up for much longer. She needed to drop the girl.

'Dammit, do I need to use it already?' Bai Fan thought as her hand hovered over her spatial pouch.

[ Death Aura ]

Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming sensation, but it wasn't just her, the swarm suddenly stopped as well. They froze in the air as if they were deer in front of a headlight.

'What the-'

The killing intent was unlike anything she had ever felt before. It wasn't even directed at her, but it was making her eyes water, and her heart pound.

'How can someone's killing intent be this strong? No, this isn't killing intent, this is something else.' Bai Fan thought as beads of sweat began to form on her face.

Her eyes followed where the feeling was coming from till she saw a dark silhouette sitting on a tree branch a few hundred meters away. Since she was so deep in the woods, she couldn't make out Xiao Hei's face or what she was wearing, it was all dark. However, she could clearly see the shining red pendant hanging around her neck.

'Impossible! The exam just started.'

Bai Fan was in so much shock after seeing Xiao Hei's red pendant that she had completely forgotten about the situation she was currently in.

Suddenly, she heard a nonchalant voice sound out in her head. 

{"You should run."}

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