As night fell, disciples who had gone out for training began to return to the camp one after another. Although each of them had torn clothes and messy hair, looking quite disheveled and exhausted to the point of collapsing on the ground unable to rise, their moods were quite good, clearly indicating their training tasks had gone well.
At a signal from Sima Luo, the disciples sluggishly handed over the parts they had cut from the fierce beasts.
Sima Luo assigned Li Tan to register the level and strength of each beast for every disciple, while he himself sat aside watching, confident that this young, inexperienced kid would mess up the detailed registration by merely looking at a foot or a claw, and he anticipated a good laugh while warning Li Tan not to get too cocky.
However, Li Tan diligently recorded each entry swiftly and effortlessly, one after another, even faster than Sima Luo himself would have done.
Was this bastard deliberately writing nonsense out of fear of embarrassment?
Sima Luo felt somewhat annoyed but refrained from commenting at this moment, choosing to wait until the registration was completed.
Among the second-tier fierce beasts, few had beast cores. The pile of claws and heads emitted a strong stench of blood that could be smelled from afar. If not for the surrounding fierce beasts mostly being eradicated, it would have been impossible to have a peaceful night’s sleep.
The items were piled into a large tent, and after completing their tasks, the disciples voluntarily exited to rest, leaving only Sima Luo and Li Tan inside.
“Finished registering?”
Sima Luo rudely snatched the notebook and flipped through it. Li Tan’s handwriting was neat, and the records were very clear, with detailed notes on the relevant beasts under each disciple’s name, including their levels and names.
Bang! Sima Luo slammed the notebook on the table and questioned, “If you don’t know, you should just say so. Why did you make up these records?”
Li Tan felt perplexed and retorted, “Senior, why do you say I made these records up?”
Sima Luo argued, “Even if I did it myself, it would take two or three hours to sort out all these details. You finished in less than an hour. How can you say you didn’t just make them up?”
“Senior, just because you can’t do something doesn’t mean others can’t.”
“Still trying to argue?”
“What I said is the truth, Senior. If you don’t believe me, you can verify it against those remains over there.”
Li Tan pointed toward the source of the blood stench.
After a moment’s thought, Sima Luo sneered, “Fine, I’ll verify it to make you admit defeat.”
Knowing he was wrong but unwilling to admit it, Sima Luo’s impression of Li Tan dropped further. He walked to the pile of remains, randomly picked one, and looked for the corresponding record.
He glanced at it with disdain but was startled to find the record completely accurate.
It must have been a coincidence.
Sima Luo switched to another claw, carefully cross-referencing the record, still finding no errors. His disdain gradually turned into confusion.
After verifying about ten examples, Sima Luo put down the notebook and walked back, his face filled with disbelief.
“There isn’t a single mistake,” Li Tan remarked. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave first.”
Sima Luo looked at Li Tan with a complex expression, nodded slightly, and after Li Tan had walked away, he reopened the notebook, carefully examining each example one by one.
If the records were indeed flawless, the person who made them must have an understanding of fierce beasts that was second to none within the Tianlang Sect.
If the recorder had been anyone else, it would have been understandable, but it was Li Tan, a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old kid, always seen by Sima Luo as an absurd figure. Now, Li Tan was shrouded in a veil of mystery.
The next day, under Sima Luo’s command, everyone packed up early and set off to find a new campsite, preparing for the second round of training.
As the team marched forward, Sima Luo, just like the day before, stared intently at the map. Li Tan asked him, “Is there a suitable location?”
Sima Luo tapped his right index finger on the map. “This place is good.”
Li Tan leaned closer to look. The spot Sima Luo had tapped was inside a small valley. According to the markings, there were many second-tier fierce beasts nearby.
“If we’re targeted by a powerful fierce beast in the valley, it will be troublesome. We should choose another place.”
Li Tan suggested.
Sima Luo shook his head. “No need. The map already indicates that there are only second-tier fierce beasts around here. Those animals value their territory highly, and there won’t be significant changes in the short term. Even if a third-tier beast appears, I’m confident I can drive it away. Besides, there’s no better alternative.”
Li Tan shifted his gaze from the hills to the entire map.
The best campsite for their current location was that valley. Although there were other places closer by with better terrain, they were all marked as areas where third-tier fierce beasts roamed.
Third-tier fierce beasts could be as terrifying as a master-level expert, and even the average ones were at the peak of the innate stage. If a battle broke out, it could easily involve ordinary disciples.
It seemed there was no choice.
The team continued marching forward, but Li Tan temporarily left the team under the pretext of scouting.
He headed toward the nearest location marked on the map as having third-tier fierce beasts. Upon reaching the area marked as the territory of the beasts, he directly expanded his spiritual consciousness and found that it was merely a stronger second-tier fierce beast.
Li Tan inwardly complained about the idiot who had marked the map and returned to the team, informing Sima Luo of this and suggesting they go to that location.
However, Sima Luo did not agree. He said that since the map marked it that way, there must be third-tier fierce beasts there, though they might be well hidden. After all, not all fierce beasts were easy to spot; snakes hiding in trees, for example, were hard to see.
Therefore, going to the valley was still the better option.
Li Tan couldn’t tell Sima Luo that he had used his spiritual consciousness to search the area, ensuring no omissions, and knowing he couldn’t convince Sima Luo, who stubbornly clung to his belief, he gave up on persuading him.
The valley it would be. After all, even if a third-tier fierce beast appeared, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the valley. All the disciples waited in place. Li Tan was responsible for guarding, while Sima Luo alone rushed in to clear out any overly powerful fierce beasts.
He soon returned, reporting that, as written on the map, there were no dangerous fierce beasts present. Then he led everyone inside to find a suitable place to set up camp.
By the time everything was ready, it was already noon. The disciples began to rest and eat dry rations, and reorganized into new teams as required.
Previously, they were divided into ten teams of five, but this time into sixteen teams of three, leaving one person extra.
Originally, this extra person could form a team of two, which would receive extra credit, but a team of one would be too dangerous to complete the mission. Therefore, this person was assigned to another team, forming a team of four, which would result in a deduction of some points.
Once the teams were organized, they all departed as they had the day before. This time, following the death of the disciple surnamed Zhang and Sima Luo’s harsh scolding the previous night, everyone remembered some of the taboos in the Domain of the Fallen Immortals, such as not lighting an open fire.
However, Li Tan still felt pessimistic because the death of the disciple surnamed Zhang wasn’t caused by lighting a fire but by the jealousy of others.
There had been five people the day before, but now only three. If a similar situation occurred again, tragedy would definitely repeat itself.
However, maybe Li Tan was overthinking. The Tianlang Sect’s training had continued for decades, and this was actually the first time anyone had died.
Surely they couldn’t be so unlucky that not a single person had died in decades, but several would die in this training session?
Once all the teams had left, Sima Luo began meditating again.
He truly hadn’t learned from yesterday’s lesson. Li Tan shook his head helplessly and, just like yesterday, began patrolling near the valley.
Because of his previous experiences, he was very concerned about the person who had drawn the map, so while patrolling, he also swept the entire valley with his spiritual consciousness.
On the ground and in the trees, there were indeed no overly dangerous fierce beasts. Some teams had already found targets and begun fighting, and everything seemed normal. That previous location was probably just a mistake.
But for some reason, Li Tan’s right eyelid kept twitching. He couldn’t shake off his unease. Had he been too deep in the wilderness, making him overly sensitive?
Sighing softly, Li Tan returned to the camp. There was indeed no danger to be found.
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