Chapter 118: The Eternal Dam

"The Eternal Dam—?!" The teenagers exclaimed in shock. It was a massive dam spanning a long river, flanked by mountains hundreds of feet high. The dam held back the river, which teemed with countless ferocious beasts, the weakest of which were at least Tier 3. It was a forbidden zone for these youths.

Fortunately, most of these beasts were aquatic, and as long as no one stepped into the water or onto the riverbanks, they rarely ventured out beyond the river or the dam.

Of course, precisely because of the density of beasts here, many powerful individuals and groups hunted in this area. If Shangguan Feihong and his companions were trapped here, they would truly be cut off from heaven and earth, with no way to escape.

With enemies blocking them from both sides and the dam behind them—where the waters were thick with Tier 3 and common Tier 4 beasts—there was simply no path to survival.

Someone asked the man known as Old Hei, "How many people are surrounding them?"

"It is said that there are over seven thousand people in various groups, and with those just looking to fish in troubled waters, the number has already exceeded ten thousand. After all, they have too many points. They all hold purple-gold tokens. Even excluding the little girl in red, who has over nine thousand points, it takes at least one thousand points to earn a purple-gold token. The other seven, at the very minimum, have seven thousand points between them."

"That is a full sixteen thousand points! And how could those people only have one thousand points? A rough estimate puts it at at least twenty thousand points!"

"A total of seventy thousand people entered the trial space, which translates to seventy thousand points. Of course, it’s not as if these people haven't killed Tier 3 beasts; the points from those kills, plus points from clearing legacies, bring the total to around one hundred thousand."

"But the trial has only been going on for nearly a month, and these eight people hold over twenty thousand of those points. Everyone is green with envy. As long as they can take them down, a top-five-thousand ranking is basically guaranteed. So, out of the nearly forty thousand people remaining in the trial space, at least a quarter have mobilized."

"The rest who haven't moved are either in remote areas and haven't heard the news, or they don't belong to any organization and are too weak to dare participate. The others are the truly powerful ones, waiting to reap the rewards in the final half-month of the trial."

"For those strongest individuals, they need only hunt beasts to hone themselves, confident that they can seize points from others when the trial is nearing its end."

"It's like fattening up a chick and waiting for the right season to slaughter it—efficient and effortless... uh?"

As Old Hei spoke, he suddenly sensed something wrong. The voice that had asked him the question was one he had never heard before; it was not from anyone in his group. He jerked his head up and realized his companions were also looking around with wary expressions.

A figure leaped down from the treetop and stood before him, smiling. "May I ask, which way to the Eternal Dam?"

"Who are you—?!"

Old Hei tensed instantly. This youth had been hiding in the tree right above his head, yet he hadn't noticed a thing. Such terrifying stealth—if this person had attacked instead of asking, he would have been eliminated already.

"Who I am doesn't matter. If you tell me how to get to the Eternal Dam, I won't take your points!" Lin Fan shook his head, speaking calmly to Old Hei. Hongyi and the others were in danger, and he had to save them.

Unfortunately, for nearly a month, he had only been scrounging for food and healing his wounds. In his draws using over a million negative emotion points, he hadn't pulled a single Life Essence Pill.

But he couldn't worry about that now. He couldn't let Hongyi be pushed into a desperate situation. He feared that if those people drove her too far, more than ten thousand of the students taking the Heavenly Book Academy test might perish.

When entering the test, for the sake of fairness, personal equipment—including spatial rings and pets—was forbidden. Everyone was issued a storage ring by the academy, and all weapons were provided by the academy as well, unless they were found within the trial space.

Back then, the poisons and toxic items in Hongyi's possession had been confiscated. It had made many instructors break into a cold sweat; if those things were brought inside and used correctly, even those at the Pulse-Opening Realm would die.

He had instructed Hongyi not to use lethal poisons, as this was just a trial, though special circumstances were an exception.

The academy thought that confiscating her poisons was enough, but he was the one who had taught her the *Poison Scripture*. Beyond cultivation techniques, the scripture contained methods for refining various toxins. Entering this space, it was easy for her to extract deadly poisons from the local flora and fauna.

Take the Ten-Fragrance Soft-Bone Powder, for instance; it could be extracted from very common plants and, through the special refining methods of the *Poison Scripture*, rendered incredibly potent.

Moreover, Hongyi possessed the Heavenly Poison Absolute Pulse. Her true poison was her own body; she didn't even need to refine anything to release a lethal toxin!

If she were truly backed into a corner and released the poison within her, these students, whose cultivation was at most at the Qi-Pulse Realm, would likely die instantly, without even a chance to take an antidote.

That was exactly what he feared. Although he told her not to use poison lightly—sticking to the Soft-Bone Powder—and not to kill, he knew she saw him as her only family. She would stop at nothing to protect his friends if they were in danger.

If she released that poison, it would be over.

There would be no survivors. These so-called "heavenly prides" from every province would all perish, effectively wiping out an entire generation. The resulting catastrophe would be so great that not only his own family, but the families of Xiao Shuihan and the others would be destroyed!

He had to reach them as fast as he could to stop her, because he knew Hongyi wouldn't consider the consequences; she would only protect those she cared about.

And those she cared about were his friends.

This would be a bloodbath—a catastrophe that would shock the entire kingdom.

*Gulp.*

Old Hei swallowed hard. Seeing the signals from his companions, he let out a breath and pointed south. "Keep heading south; you'll see the Eternal Dam after a hundred miles."

"Good. Thanks!"

Lin Fan smiled faintly and vanished instantly.

"What speed!"

Old Hei and the others trembled. Even at the peak of the Qi-Pulse Realm, such speed would be impossible. They were lucky they hadn't chosen to attack!

Lin Fan left countless afterimages, weaving through the dense jungle. He was using his full strength, determined to cover the hundred miles in a straight line, as every second of delay could lead to an earth-shattering slaughter.

His wounds hadn't healed, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but he ignored it. He had to stop this disaster before Hongyi reached her breaking point.

"How about this? You hand over your points, and we'll let you go!" someone shouted below the Eternal Dam. A vast crowd blocked the front of the dam, and people covered the lower slopes of the mountains on both sides.

On the dam—three hundred meters long and fifty meters wide—eight figures stood back-to-back. Whenever a beast leaped out from the water, a flash of blade or sword light would strike it down.

None of the besiegers stood on the dam itself, because being there meant facing constant attacks from both the beasts and the eight defenders.

The eight were already at the end of their rope. Except for the little girl in red, everyone had serious injuries. They were like trapped beasts, and the crowd was too cautious to rush them.

If they really wanted to eliminate the eight, a single volley of long-range attacks from over ten thousand people would suffice. Why take the risk of getting close?

The reason the crowd hadn't launched their final attack was simple: fear. If they eliminated the group in one go, whose points would they count as? The points would scatter and be absorbed into the tokens of everyone who contributed to the attack!

Would they really divide twenty thousand points among ten thousand people, leaving each with less than two points? Or would the crowd start fighting each other for the points, only for the exhausted winners to be picked off by others hiding in the shadows?

They weren't fools; they wouldn't be "young experts" if they were.

They had already agreed to use their superior numbers to pressure the eight into surrendering their points willingly, ensuring the points wouldn't be split up. As for who would receive them, it would be the leaders.

The ten thousand people were divided into about fifty groups. Smaller groups had already merged into larger ones for profit. Among these, the ten strongest leaders held sway—all peak Qi-Pulse Realm experts, with one even at the Pulse-Connecting Realm. The points would go to them, and then be redistributed.

They would compensate the smaller groups with silver or other means.

Each of the ten leaders would take two thousand points. By doing this, they wouldn't be attacked while collecting, and the crowd wouldn't descend into a chaotic free-for-all. Whether they actually compensated the smaller groups afterward was another matter entirely.

"If you want the points, come up and take them yourselves!" Xiao Shuihan shouted coldly. His scabbard was gone, and his sword was driven into the ground before him, blood dripping down the blade. He leaned on the hilt, his face full of mockery.

"That's right! Muxia and I are right here waiting for you!" To one side, Li Ji held Princess Muxia’s left hand, his right hand resting on his sword, which he carried on his shoulder. His snowy robes were disheveled and stained with blood.

"Haha! Tiger Lord is here! Who among you dares to come up and fight?!" Ou Hu laughed loudly, his tiger-like eyes radiating ferocity. Two long wounds on his back were still bleeding, but he seemed not to feel the pain, glaring down at the crowd like a predator, his aura monstrous.