21
Ka ka ka! These sounds were what accompanied the start of the mechanism. Many metal platforms were suddenly pushed out of the side of the martial arts training hall that was close to the cliff. Each metal platform was only about one person in width, and a rope that was as thick as a person"s finger was hung at each of the edges.
All of the young boys and girls suddenly looked at each other. Those who were quick-witted already understood the role behind these things. Their faces all suddenly paled.
Xu Mo walked out of that room. When he saw how all of the people were still in the martial arts training hall, he slightly frowned. "What are you looking at? Shouldn"t you quickly depart?"
One of the youths swallowed. Scared witless, he asked, "Mo-shifu, we have to……go down from there?"
Xu Mo"s face sank. "Rubbish, did you think I opened the Dragon Rope Loop in order for you to have fun looking at it?"
A young girl walked to the edge of the cliff and took a look down. Underneath the jagged rocks, the height was enough to make one dizzy. She suddenly retreated before saying, "Mo-shifu, we can just climb down the mountain……"
"What d.a.m.n climbing!" Xu Mo abruptly yelled angrily. "You guys are a group of wastes! It"s not as if I"m asking you to jump down. Do you not know how to slide down using the Dragon Rope Loop? No matter what, all of you are already at least at the third layer of Qi Condensation Stage! You"re still afraid of height like this?"
The young girl lightly bit her lower lip as if she was still unwilling despite Xu Mo"s scolding. But when she saw that height that made people feel dizzy, she couldn"t help but back up a few more steps.
"Hurry up and don"t waste time. Those who are unwilling to go down from here, don"t come back tomorrow!" Xu Mo roared sternly as all the people in the area quieted down from fear.
Other than how they were all children from Xu family, the youths there could go and practice at the martial arts training hall because their talent was considered to be quite good. The number of cultivating disciples reflected the strength of a cultivation family. If they were driven out by Xu Mo, then that was equal to them giving up cultivating in the future. Not only were they unwilling, even their parents won"t let them go.
Being able to enter the martial arts training hall was a type of glory, but if they were to be banished from the martial arts training hall then that would be extremely shameful. It was practically the same as being banished from their home.
Many people were still hesitant, but some of the ones with more guts were already walking toward those metal platforms.
Precisely as what Xu Mo had said, among them, other than the Xu ZiRong who had unexpectedly joined them recently, the lowest cultivation level a disciple had was the third layer of Qi Condensation Stage. Sliding down the cliff with a rope didn"t pose any danger to them. It was just that before, all of their cla.s.ses consisted of practicing martial art forms in the martial arts training hall. So seeing the height of the cliff for the first time, they couldn"t help but feel scared in their hearts.
After the first person went, naturally a second would follow. After seeing three to four teenagers slide down the Dragon Rope Loop without gaining any injuries, the rest of the people began orderly lining up to also slide down.
Xu ZiYan looked at the Dragon Rope Loop before taking a look at Xu ZiRong. He couldn"t help but feel worried. When all was said and done, Xu ZiRong only had a single day"s contact with cultivating (not!). Even his body was not improved by spiritual energy yet. Telling him to use the Dragon Rope Loop now was beyond the other"s abilities, but if he didn"t go down it would again not meet the rules of Xu family.
Although Xu ZiRong entered the martial arts training hall halfway through, once he entered there, everyone was treated equally. Under limited conditions Xu ZiYan could give special treatment to Xu ZiRong and even cheat a little for him, but this time, it was impossible for him to allow Xu ZiRong take a detour and climb down the mountain.
"ZiRong ah, later if you"re scared just hug tighter onto big brother and close your eyes, alright?" Xu ZiYan said in a low tone. Right now he couldn"t think of any other plans so he could only bring ZiRong down himself. Although the weight of two people may be a bit risky, after pondering about it he believed that it wouldn"t be too dangerous.
Xu ZiRong nodded his head as he looked at Xu ZiYan. "I know, big brother."
"En, so obedient. Later you don"t have to think of anything, just hugging your big brother would be enough," Xu ZiYan took Xu ZiRong"s hand and led him to the side of the metal platform. Now that more than half the people there had already went down, the rest left also slowly inched toward their side under Xu Mo"s gaze.
Xu ZiYan took out a rope from his interspatial pouch before he tied himself tightly to Xu ZiRong. For this half-cheating trick he did, Xu Mo also pretended to not see it. After all, Xu ZiRong only arrived a day ago. Letting an eight year old child slide down like that, if there really was some danger then that wouldn"t be too good.
Xu ZiRong hugged Xu ZiYan tightly. The body of the teenager exuded a slightly warm feeling. He didn"t know if it was because he cultivated with the Blood Sea Heart Sutra, but Xu ZiRong"s own body temperature was a bit low. Usually, he didn"t think much of it but when he hugged such a big "hot water bottle", he inexplicably had a feeling of attachment.
It was very comfortable and very warm. And though the arm hugging him wasn"t very strong, it still held a sense of firm determination.
Xu ZiRong knew that Xu ZiYan would definitely not let him fall down. He himself did not understand why he had an idea like that, but he still believed it!
"Hold on tightly!" Xu ZiYan said the words in a low voice. Wrapping the Dragon Rope Loop around his wrist, he jumped down the cliff.
Xu ZiRong was of course not afraid of height like that, but he still closed his eyes to enjoy that sense of weightlessness as one fell down rapidly.
The arm wrapped around his waist held him very tightly. Since he was plastered to Xu ZiYan, he could even hear the other"s heartbeat. Beat, beat. It was strong, powerful and full of vitality……a sound that captivated people.
"Alright, we"re here. Uh……ZiRong, what are you doing?" Sliding down with the help of the Dragon Rope Loop didn"t take much time. When Xu ZiYan landed, he only felt some tremors because of the weight of two people. It couldn"t even be counted as a small injury.
Only……
What was ZiRong doing?
Xu ZiYan was a bit puzzled. A small child was sprawled on his chest, squinting his eyes as he wore a look full of enjoyment. If this was in the modern times and if Xu ZiRong was a woman, Xu ZiYan might have believed that he had just said some sweet and honeyed words and thus made this woman touched. But in this scene where both characters were completely wrong……so, in the end what the heck was Xu ZiRong doing?
"Have we already came down?" Before he opened his eyes, Xu ZiRong had already organized his feelings. He plastered a look of ignorance and slight surprise onto his face. "So we"ve already reached the bottom? It was so quick!"
Upon seeing that, Xu ZiYan didn"t think much about it and only placed down Xu ZiRong. Then he left the place to give enough landing s.p.a.ce for the next person.
Xu ZiRong felt a bit frustrated. Such a strong and lively heart, if he murdered Xu ZiYan and used his blood to cultivate, he could probably jump straight into the third layer of Qi Condensation Stage in one breath……Unfortunately, he still had to stay at Xu family. If he didn"t have Xu ZiYan"s protection, then that would really be something quite troublesome.
He did not think that "father" of his would, just because Xu ZiYan died, put his hopes onto Xu ZiRong. Instead, it was more possible that he would have to accompany Xu ZiYan in being buried.
Silently retrieving his wanting gaze, Xu ZiRong suppressed the abrupt feeling of violence in his heart. Really……if he wasn"t careful, this ball of anger would suddenly erupt. Although he had forcibly suppressed it last time, if he didn"t find somewhere to vent it out, perhaps it would unexpectedly burst out of him one day.
Nevermind, he could just find an opportunity to vent now. In any case there were numerous spiritual beasts in this forest. As long as he could find some time to slip away from Xu ZiYan, grabbing a low-level spiritual beast or regular beast wasn"t much of a problem.
"Let"s go now. We"ll head in that direction," the young girl and her two male companions had all slid down with the help of the Dragon Rope Loop. When they saw Xu ZiYan waiting for them at a side, they all came over one after another.
Because Xu ZiYan had voluntarily joined their team, the young girl was tacitly approved to be the captain of the team.
The name of the girl was Xu ZiJing. The two teenagers who followed her were called Xu ZiXue and Xu ZiLuo.
Both of these teenagers were the type that didn"t like to talk too much. In fact, including the girl Xu ZiJing, all three of them didn"t like talking. The three of them were born with ordinary talent and spiritual veins, so in terms of strength, in the Xu family they could only be ranked toward the end.
No matter how united a family was, there was no lack of comparisons between the other branches of the family. And for the children of the family, these comparisons were even more prominent.
Although there were many small groups and cliques in the martial arts training hall, it was as if the three of them drifted away from such groups. Normally, they didn"t mix with any of those clumps of people.
Contrary to what one may expect, Xu ZiYan was rather appreciative of their actions. After all, the other children were too young and their foresight did not extend far enough. They could only see the small grounds of Xu family, so they were already trying to pull people toward them when they were this young. However, these three were different. They didn"t take part in the struggle to recruit more followers. Instead, they only devoted everything they had to cultivating. As long as one"s strength was enough, any scheming and fighting like that were rubbish.
The group of five quickly walked into the forest. The edges of the forest were prepared for the children that didn"t have much power. Among the five of them, other than Xu ZiRong, the rest were at least at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation Stage and would naturally not waste time there.
When they entered the forest, all of them released their spiritual auras. With their strength, spiritual beasts below the fourth layer of Qi Condensation Stage wouldn"t dare come near them.
Without any interruptions from the spiritual beasts, their advancement into the forest was very quick. However, the preparation Xu ZiJing did beforehand was still sufficient.
n.o.body knew where, but she somehow managed to buy a map of the forest surroundings. In addition, she had very accurately circled some areas that had a lot of spiritual beast activity.
"Shh!" Xu ZiYan"s strength was the strongest and thus he was the most sensitive to his surroundings as well. The footsteps from a far immediately made him raise his guard.
The moment he reacted, Xu ZiJing and the other two instantly joined him in an alert state.
Once again, Xu ZiYan praised his wise choice of teammates. Teammates like these were the ones you could rely on. If he had banded up with those bootlicking guys, Xu ZiYan was afraid he could only cry now.
"Who is it?!" Xu ZiJing shouted loudly.
The sound of footsteps suddenly stopped. The trees from a far shook a bit before a boy cutting a sorry figure ran out.