He had solved five of the dozen problems in front of him, but he was stuck on the sixth question. The hourglass beside him did not show any signs of stopping. Seeing the layer of sand at the top half decrease at a visible rate, another layer of sweat appeared on Huai Boy’s forehead.

He had never thought that the prison-breaking battle of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard would require him to solve problems. In this era of yao art houses, intermediate yao arts made up the majority of yao arts, working cooperatively in groups was the mainstream. In the history of yao, there had never been such a time when teamwork had been so emphasized. To gather the power of a team to explore yao arts was the dominant method.

The yao art houses that understood this, and could teach their student very well . Analysis and deconstruction were techniques which every student was required to learn. In order to exercise the students’ skills, a rich library of problems could not be lacking. In addition to those public question banks, each yao art house had their own question banks.

As one of the top students of a yao art house, solving problems was a task that he was very familiar with and skilled in.

However, his confidence had been quickly crushed in front of the twelve questions of the prison battlefield. Truthfully, when he encountered the third question, he had started to sweat.

These problems were not esoteric. Quite the opposite, these questions were in an area every yao was very familiar with.

Little yao arts!

Even though he was at the sixth question now, it was still a problem about little yao arts.

To Huai Boy, the little yao arts that were the rudimentary and quite distant in his memory. He had finished learning little yao arts before he had entered the yao art house. How old had he been then?

Six? Seven?

Huai Boy himself couldn’t remember it.

However, these problems concerning the simple little yao arts made him feel helpless from the bottom of his heart. The problems that were formulated were not obscure, the ways of thinking were not weird, they were actually open and honest.

This made him feel the failure even more.

He encountered difficulty on simple and straightforward little yao art problems ... ...

Huai Boy’s face was slightly ashen.

———

Compared to Huai Boy’s nervousness and depression, the spectators outside felt this scene was very boring.

There were no dazzling lights, no murderous presences, no complex and profound changes ... ...

The honored prison-breaking battle was a student solving problems yet only Huai Boy could see the problems. They could only be bored and count how many beads of sweat were on Huai Boy’s forehead.

The fire-faced person was totally bored and complained, “What are they doing! I thought I could see something major. This long, and it’s so boring! If I knew it would be so boring, I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble.”

“Don’t be impatient,” Qian Liu could only comfort. “The result will be out soon.”

He hadn’t expected the prison-breaking battle of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard would be solving problems. He had never heard of such a peaceful and non-violent prison-breaking battle.

“That boy can’t do it.” The fire-faced person glanced over and snorted coldly, “Strong on the outside and dry on the inside!”

The fire-faced person suddenly changed his way of thinking and had a smile filled with schadenfreude. “Haha, there’s going to be drama to see now!”

“Drama?” Qian Liu did not react in time. Truthfully, he was slightly disappointed too.

“Think about it. The little guy that those old farts taught can’t even outcompete others on solving problems. Won’t their faces be even more ugly than they already are?” The fire-faced person was very smug. “In their style, solving problems is a fundamental skill. If their fundamentals are less than others, haha, is there anything that is more ironic than this?”

Thinking about it, the fire-faced person seemed to visualize the ugly faces of those old people and laughed freely.

Qian Liu finally reacted. The fire-faced person was not wrong. The old farts and the young brats shared a characteristic. They were conceited. Conceited yao always thought highly of their face. If they lost through yao spells, that was not anything major. But if they lost on solving problems, no matter if it was the old guys or the young brats, they definitely would not accept that.

Thinking about it, Qian Liu couldn’t help but feel anticipation.

“Ha, that guy came out!” The fire-faced person was very excited.

Qian Liu took back his thoughts as his eyes landed on the battlefield.

The prison-battlefield resumed its original appearance

Huai Boy dejectedly and woodenly stood in place.

He had failed.

———

In the fiendish mist, two figures flickered in and out of view.

A Wen’s speed was just slightly less than Zuo Mo’s Light Void Wings. Wearing black armour, it was as if he was a black bolt of lightning. A Wen was able to rival the fiend soul panther’s speed. It had explosive speed and power was. Each impact echoed like thunder.

Everyone’s expressions became serious. Shu Long tightly gripped the long ji in his hand, and prepared to give aid at any moment.

Both sides were amazingly fast. Even the members of Vermillion Bird Camp that always aspired towards rapid attacks had slightly changed expressions. Many people were judging inside. Could they retreat unharmed under such an explosive and sharp attack? Other than the small minority that could maintain their calm, the great majority had ugly expressions.

They did not have a grasp of the battle.

The rhythm was so fast it surpassed their imagination!

They gaped with wide eyes at A Wen’s light and rapid figure. Was this still the clumsy and slow Guard Camp? One person and one panther were like two bolts of black lightning that chased each other and struggled. The hard spear thrust randomly and could freely pass through the void, far and near without any dead spots. It was unable to be defended against.

The strength of the fiend soul panther also surpassed everyone’s expectations. Its speed was not any less, and its strength was greater than A Wen’s. The sharp spear that howled as it thrust looked like it would be shattered with a blow. People’s hearts felt cold when they saw this. If that blow really landed, they would instantly be crushed into powder.

A Wen hadn’t expected this fiend soul panther would be this hard to deal with.

He was much stronger than before, but he still could not do anything to the panther in front of him.

No, he had to battle quickly and not hinder the advance of the troop!

They had just entered the fiendish mist. The monsters that roamed the deeps of the fiendish mist would be even more powerful. If he could not defeat this panther, what would he do in the future? Thinking about it, A Wen’s presence suddenly became vicious and murderous.

“Hm!” Xie Shan’s expression was shocked. Ma Fan also had an astonished expression. They were very sensitive to presence and could clearly detect A Wen’s change.

To kill the other!

Boom!

The red tassel turned to a ball of red fire that enveloped the head of the spear. The black fiendish energy coiled around the pole of the spear and burrowed into the burning spearpoint.

The fiend soul panther showed desire to retreat. It was intelligent. The troop in front of it was enormous and not one he could tear something off. If it was wounded here, it wouldn’t just have lost its prey, even it would become the prey of the other fiend soul beasts.

It slowly retreated.

A Wen’s eyes were deep black, the black energy shrouding the black armor as the spearpoint burned.

A familiar feeling came. Every time he decided to go all out in the dueling stadium, he would enter this strange state. The killing essence in his body boiled, but the his heart was ice cold. This strange state was the talisman that saved his life and allowed him to fortunately survive so many cruel battles.

This was the first time A Wen decided to go all out after entering Guard Camp.

The contents of [Hardship Guard] flowed like water across his mind. His eyes became even deeper.

The black armour on his body was exquisite and light like it was made from layers of feathers. It was unique in Guard Camp. At this time, the black armour on his body slowly swayed as though it was alive. It caused the people watching to have goosebumps. The layers of metal feathers spread up A Wen’s face, and became a mask of small feathers.

Clang clang clang!

There was a string of sounds of iron brushing together like many blades being suddenly pulled out of their sheathes at the same time. Many long feathers suddenly bounced out of A Wen’s black armor. The long feathers were extremely thin, the edges as sharp as knives. In an instant, a vicious and murderous energy sudden spread out.

Arching his body and holding the spear, A Wen’s legs were slightly spaced apart as he bent down slightly.

A Wen raised his face. His slender black feathers of his mask had a fine shine that was savage and cold.

The fiend soul panther smelt the scent of danger and retreated even more quickly. In a blink, it disappeared in the fiendish mist.

Just at this time, the steel long feathers that rose up off A Wen’s black armour shook simultaneously .A power that could destroy mountains and upend seas instantly passed into his right arm. He yelled under his mask, “Kill!”

The black spear suddenly disappeared from his hand.

Pia!

A light sound of rupture came from the depths of the fiendish mist.

Everyone’s expressions changed.

A Wen fell down face first. Before his body could reach the ground, he was caught by a black-armoured hand. It was Shu Long who had managed to get to him.

Xie Shan’s figure flashed and burrowed into the fiendish mist. He returned after two breaths, and had a panther on his hands. There was a hole the size of an egg on the fiend soul panther’s forehead. The hole penetrated the entire head. On Xie Shan’s hands, the fiend soul beast quickly turned into threads of black energy.

Zuo Mo hurriedly ran over to Shu Long. “How is he?”

“No great harm. Just exhaustion,” Shu Long said respectfully.

Zuo Mo’s heart landed now. He had originally wanted A Wen to test the power of the fiend soul beast. He had not expected this handsome person to have such a fiery personality and actually kill the fiend soul beast.

Everyone was shocked by A Wen’s spectacular attack, especially Vermillion Bird Camp that usually had bug eyes. They received the greatest blow. The biggest impression they had of Guard Camp was the [Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation]. In their views, the individual combat abilities of the Hardship Guards was not strong.

But A Wen’s performance today completely flipped their entrenched impressions.

So Guard Camp had already grown to this level!

Zuo Mo’s attention was then put onto the fiend soul beast that Xie Shan had taken over. The fiend soul beast quickly dissipated, and only felt behind a paw and a bead.

The panther paw was covered in fine scales, and extremely hard. The sharp and curved long claws up to five cun long were the most eye-catching. The bead was the size of a thumb, glowing and transparent. It wasn’t ordinary. This was not the time to investigate these items so Zuo Mo carelessly threw them into his ring.

Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head, his eyes as sharp as a sword that pointed straight at the deeper parts of the fiendish mist.

Xie Shan and the others were only a beat behind Zuo Mo. They all raised their heads and looked with shock at the fiendish mist in front of them.

A black tide was quickly spreading from the deeps of the fiendish mist towards them with astounding speed. Everywhere it passed, everything turned to black void. This black tide came extremely quickly. In a blink, it came in front of Zuo Mo and the others. The void that seemed endless swallowed everything.

The fiendish mist that was so corrosive turned to nothing.

Zuo Mo’s procession seemed to be situated in a void.

A the middle of the void, an enormous sword reaching the sky entered everyone’s eyes.

Xie Shan, who was already in jindan, was completely pale now. Like his tail had been stepped on, he shouted in a high-pitch, “Sword essence!”

Ma Fan, Shu Long and the others had white faces.

Zuo Mo seemed to be struck by lightning. His body freezing suddenly, he dazedly murmured lightly.

“Eldest Shixiong... ...”

Translator Ramblings: Getting closer by the chapter if that is any consolation.

Zuo Mo’s new prison isn’t as easy as it first appears ... ...