After emerging from the cave, Ye Xuan observed his surroundings for a moment.
He bent down and pinched a clump of grayish-brown, fern-like plants from the ground. It was Gray Rock Moss, which usually grew on the outskirts of mountain forests. 'This means I should be about a hundred miles within the forest's outer perimeter.'
The roar he had just heard belonged to a Tier One Demon Beast, the Black-striped Tiger. Black-striped Tigers were Tier One Demon Beasts with dull senses. Moreover, the roar had sounded like it was moving away. 'The probability of it finding this place is no more than ten percent. It's relatively safe for now.'
Relying on his experience as an Eighth Grade Soul Emperor from his past life, Ye Xuan quickly got his bearings and estimated how deep he was in the mountain forest.
After scouting the area, Ye Xuan had a clear grasp of the immediate vicinity. 'I have about a fifty percent chance of getting out of here,' he estimated.
Just as Ye Xuan was debating whether to go back and lead the other students out of the cave, he suddenly heard the faint sound of trickling water from a thicket not far ahead, accompanied by a RUSTLE, as if some animal was pushing through the bushes.
Ye Xuan instinctively looked in that direction.
There, amidst the dense bushes, a flash of snowy white caught his eye. A young woman in a green dress was squatting there, completely unaware, her back to him. Her figure was partially obscured by the dense shrubbery, and the sound of trickling water assailed his vision.
Her figure was exquisite. A single glance was enough to make one wonder what stunning beauty belonged to such a graceful silhouette.
The young woman was clearly unaware that someone was behind her. While relieving herself, she was also vigilantly scanning her surroundings, obviously well aware of her vulnerable state.
Ye Xuan froze for a second before realizing what was happening and quickly averted his gaze. 'I may not be a perfect gentleman, but I'm no voyeur. In my past life, I'd seen every kind of beauty imaginable. I have nothing but contempt for the sordid act of spying on a young woman relieving herself.'
SWISH!
But just then, a green shadow suddenly slithered into the thicket from the outside.
A bamboo pit viper!
Ye Xuan's eyes narrowed.
A bamboo pit viper wasn't a Demon Beast, just an ordinary snake, but it was highly venomous. A grown man would die shortly after being bitten. Even a Tier One Samurai would fall into a coma, a testament to its terrifying poison.
The viper's target was the young woman's graceful back. Having just finished, she was still completely oblivious. After wiping her hands, she was about to pull up her dress and tie her sash.
"Don't move."
Ye Xuan let out a sudden, low shout. His right hand flashed across his chest, unfastening a button. With a flick of his finger—WHIZ—the black button shot like a lightning bolt, disappearing into the bushes.
The entire sequence of movements was as smooth as flowing water, without a hint of hesitation.
Ye Xuan's voice wasn't loud, but to the young woman's ears, it was like a clap of thunder. She cried out in alarm, quickly tying her sash. Without any warning, she spun around, flicked her right wrist, and—WHIZ—a flash of white light shot straight for Ye Xuan's face. It was a three-inch-long throwing knife.
Ye Xuan shot out two fingers with lightning speed and, with a SNAP, caught the knife. It vibrated violently between his fingers, its tip less than a centimeter from the bridge of his nose, emanating a chilling aura.
His two fingers throbbed with a dull ache. Ye Xuan couldn't help but smile wryly. 'This body is too weak. If I hadn't used a special technique to diffuse the knife's momentum, anyone else who tried to catch it like this would've had their head pierced through.'
Only now did Ye Xuan get a clear look at the young woman's face.
She had an exquisite face, as bright as the full moon. Though only fifteen or sixteen, she was already 1.6 meters tall. She was still a girl, yet she possessed an incomparable beauty, with a full chest and a slender waist. She was clearly very well-developed.
"Ye Xuan, it's you... What were you just doing, you lecher!"
The beauty gritted her teeth, her expression as frigid as ancient, unmeltable ice. Her eyes, fixed on Ye Xuan, were filled with a murderous Evil Qi.
'Any woman would be furious if a man spied on her, just like this. And of all people, it's a student from the basic class. It's not like I haven't heard of him.' Leng Yingying thought. 'The most useless student in the entire academy, a piece of trash who's only opened a single Profound Vein. I never thought he'd be not only useless but also this disgusting.'
Ye Xuan frowned and said in a low voice, "Watch who you're calling a lecher. You'd better get your facts straight. Did your family never teach you not to relieve yourself in public?"
'She might be attractive, but that doesn't give her special privileges. I wasn't trying to peep; it was an accident. Besides, I just saved her life.'
"Get what facts straight? You were hiding here, doing something so despicable, and you're still this shameless! If I don't teach a scoundrel like you a lesson today, then my name isn't Leng Yingying!"
Leng Yingying was so angry she felt her lungs would explode. After being caught, Ye Xuan showed not a shred of shame and was even acting brazenly. The thought of her pristine reputation being ruined sent her into an uncontrollable rage.
"Senior Sister Leng Yingying."
"Senior Sister, what happened?"
Just then, several anxious voices called out as Chen Xing, Wang Yue, and the rest of the group quickly arrived at their location.
They had waited in the cave for a long time. After realizing the tiger-like Demon Beast wasn't coming, their nerves had gradually settled. But then they heard Leng Yingying's cry of alarm and had rushed out of the cave to find her.
Seeing so many people, Leng Yingying's expression changed, and she froze.
"Huh? Ye Xuan, you and Senior Sister are both here. What just happened?" Chen Xing asked as he walked up to Ye Xuan.
Leng Yingying's face paled. She looked nervously at Ye Xuan. If Wang Yue and the others found out what had just happened, her reputation would be utterly destroyed.
Ye Xuan said calmly, "It's nothing. Senior Sister Leng Yingying was just startled by a snake."
"A snake?"
The other two female students in the group turned pale. After scanning the ground, one of them leaped back in fright, pointing at Leng Yingying's feet. "Senior Sister, there really is a snake by your feet! It's so gross!"
Leng Yingying looked down, and her face instantly turned deathly white. By her feet, the head of a small, chopstick-sized green snake was separated from its body. Where its head had been, a black button was embedded deep in the rock. It was this tiny button that had swiftly decapitated it just a moment ago.
At that moment, Leng Yingying finally understood everything. When she heard Ye Xuan shout "Don't move," she had indeed heard a faint whistling sound, but in her anger, she hadn't paid it any mind. As someone who also trained with hidden weapons, she thought back and immediately realized that Ye Xuan must have thrown something.
She had, of course, heard of the bamboo pit viper, a lethally venomous snake. The mere thought of being bitten by it sent a chill down her spine.
At the same time, Leng Yingying stared in shock at the black button embedded in the rock. A mere button had decapitated a bamboo pit viper and embedded itself so deeply in stone. Utterly horrified, she found it hard to believe that Ye Xuan had been the one to throw it.
Even after noticing the missing button on Ye Xuan's shirt, Leng Yingying remained in disbelief. 'Such Finger Strength and keen eyes... Even a Tier One Samurai might not be able to do that, right?'
'Is Ye Xuan really a piece of trash who's only opened a single Profound Vein?'
A storm of shock raged in Leng Yingying's heart.
"Where's Ye Xuan?"
By the time she snapped out of it, Ye Xuan was gone.
"Senior Sister Leng Yingying, that kid went back to the cave. By the way, Senior Sister, did you find the way back?"
The students looked at Leng Yingying with hopeful eyes.
With a bitter smile, Leng Yingying shook her head. She had originally decided to lead the students out of there, consequences be damned. However, the bamboo pit viper incident had been a harsh awakening. In the perilous Black Wind Ridge, forget about powerful Demon Beasts; she couldn't even fend off ordinary venomous creatures and wild animals. If it weren't for Ye Xuan, she would be dead by now.
The jungle was far more terrifying than she had ever imagined.
Leading the dejected students, Leng Yingying and the others returned to the cave.
Ye Xuan was alone in the back of the cave, seemingly lost in thought.
Leng Yingying mustered her courage, walked over to Ye Xuan, and sat down beside him. In a low voice, she said, "I was wrong about you earlier. I'm sorry. And thank you for saving me."
After saying this, Leng Yingying felt a weight lift from her heart.
Ye Xuan gave her a cool glance before turning his head away. 'So this woman actually knows how to apologize. I guess she's not completely useless.' In truth, he hadn't given the earlier incident a second thought.
Seeing Ye Xuan remain silent, Leng Yingying stood up to leave. But then she stopped, hesitated for a moment, and looked back at Ye Xuan. Her face flushing slightly, she gritted her teeth, steeled herself, and whispered in his ear, "By the way... what exactly did you see earlier?"
After asking, Leng Yingying's heart began to beat wildly. THUMP-THUMP.
Ye Xuan glanced at her and said nonchalantly, "Everything that was exposed, I saw."
"Impossible." Leng Yingying's face turned sheet white.
"Why would I lie? Fair and full, perky and plump, smooth and supple. A masterpiece of the mortal realm," Ye Xuan commented in a deadpan voice, his gaze open and without a trace of embarrassment.
"You... shameless!" Leng Yingying's delicate body trembled, and she once again felt her lungs were about to explode from anger. She had met shameless people before, but she had never met anyone so shamelessly blatant about it.
Blushing furiously, she turned and stormed away.
Ye Xuan watched her go with a faint smirk. 'Consider that a small punishment,' he thought.
The other students in the cave stared blankly at this scene. Leng Yingying was one of the academy's three great beauties and had opened seven Profound Veins. She was the dream girl of countless students, yet no one had ever seen her take the initiative to speak to a boy. But now, before Ye Xuan... what on earth was going on?
Wang Yue and his cronies, in particular, wore expressions that were terrifyingly dark.