Watch out! Something's wrong with this guard.

In the dense forest, Long Lingling's four friends were waiting for her to appear, feeling bored. As elementary students, they were eager to improve, but they had been in the academy for almost four years.

According to the academy's rules, if a student cannot break through to the late stage of Body Tempering within four years, they will be expelled from the academy.

The four of them had witnessed the cruelty of the outside world while they were still living outside. They also understood what kind of ants those mortals who were nominally protected by cultivators but had no cultivation were.

Having entered the world of cultivators, they were even more aware of how dangerous the outside world was.

Therefore, they were even more unwilling to leave. Although the competition within the academy was fierce, at least their lives were not in danger. Unfortunately, their talents were only so-so. Reaching the mid-stage of Body Tempering in three years was already quite remarkable, and breaking through to the late-stage of Body Tempering at the final moment was extremely difficult.

Unless we rely on those precious elixirs, but precious elixirs are not so easy to obtain.

The four of them painstakingly collected information on the relevant spiritual herbs, only to discover that several of them were guarded by a demonic beast—a beast that was in the late stage of Body Tempering and was about to break through to the Spirit Absorption stage. They dared not take the risk.

Just then, a fool showed up at their door, saying he wanted to be friends with them.

What a joke! This world of cultivation is full of deceit and treachery; where would you find friends?

Everyone is selfish and only cares about their own future and their own life. They are willing to betray anything or lose anything for this.

But it's rare to see someone as naive and foolish as Long Lingling. After confirming that she was truly foolish, the four of them quickly decided to take advantage of her.

"Sister Lanlan, what if that little fool doesn't come?" The shortest girl among the four suddenly looked at the woman with the best figure on her left and asked.

Before the woman called Sister Lanlan could answer, another red-haired woman spoke up first. "If you ask me, it's normal that she didn't come. I don't believe anyone is that stupid. Maybe she knows the location of the elixir and took it herself."

"Come on, she's really stupid, completely brainless. I think she's probably just lost. Let's wait and see." The last woman, wearing a blue bracelet, scoffed, then thought for a moment and continued.

"I'm more worried about whether she can defeat the monster inside than whether she comes or not. The four of us went to fight it together before, but we almost got wiped out. The strength of that monster is probably difficult for even a cultivator who has just broken through to the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm to deal with."

At this moment, Sister Lanlan, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up. "Even if she can't win, she can at least fight that monster to a draw, and then we can just clean up the mess."

As soon as she finished speaking, Sister Lanlan narrowed her eyes and her gaze sharpened as she stared toward the cave.

"She is coming."

Upon hearing Lanlan's words, the remaining three girls quickly perked up and looked towards the cave. Sure enough, they saw Long Lingling, who looked like a dog thief, silently groping her way towards the cave entrance, her face filled with genuine fear.

"Heh, this fool has finally arrived, and he's actually quite obedient," the red-haired woman said with a smile.

"Now, all we have to do is wait. Or we can start a game and see who wins," the short girl said.

Hearing this, Sister Lanlan shook her head, recalling the expression on Long Lingling's face when she entered the cave. "No need. It's most likely that the monster will win. That idiot said he was afraid of monsters, and it seems to be true, so be prepared."

"Ah?" The red-haired woman groaned upon hearing this. "Then do we have to fight again?"

Soon, the sounds of battle echoed from the cave. The roars of monsters reached the four people's ears, followed by the sound of something hitting the wall.

Just by listening to the noise, one could tell that a fierce battle was taking place inside the cave.

Twenty minutes passed as they waited, and the expressions on the four faces grew increasingly anxious, eager to know what was happening inside.

If possible, they would certainly prefer Long Lingling to win, since that way they wouldn't have to lift a finger.

Suddenly, the noise from inside the cave stopped. The four people froze, their hearts pounding. The next second, a figure flew out and fell heavily to the ground. It was Long Lingling.

"Looks like we've lost." Sister Lanlan pursed her lips, took a deep breath, looked at her three sisters, the four of them exchanged glances, nodded slightly, and ran together toward the cave.

After the four left, Lu Yunshi appeared from not far away. He looked down at the burning dark green incense candle in his hand and then quickly extinguished it.

"As expected, buy-one-get-one-free items are never good. This Chaotic Incense is clearly not as effective as the previous one, but oh well, it's achieved its purpose anyway."

After grumbling about the incense and candles' ineffectiveness, Lu Yunshi looked up at Long Lingling's location. The four women had just arrived beside Long Lingling and seemed to be asking her something.

"Heh, this is interesting. Perhaps we can see a good show."

At this moment, Long Lingling, who was lying on the ground with serious injuries, looked at her four friends running towards her. She was excited, but her face was also filled with doubt.

"How...how did you get here?"

"Um...we came to see you." After casually answering Long Lingling's question, Sister Lanlan immediately asked about what she really cared about.

"By the way, what's the situation with that monster inside?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Long Lingling coughed heavily and spat out a mouthful of blood curd.

"Sister Lanlan, it hurts so much, it's so scary, it hurts so much!"

Suppressing her disgust, Sister Lanlan continued to ask, "Alright, alright, I know you're in pain, but don't worry about the pain yet. Tell me first, how is the monster inside?"

Upon hearing this, Long Lingling took a deep breath and shook her head in disappointment. "It's too powerful. I can't beat it at all. Sister Lanlan, you should leave quickly. I feel like my body is about to shatter. Let's go back first. I'm badly injured."

Seeing that Long Lingling couldn't get to the point, the red-haired woman couldn't help but feel anxious and asked directly.

"Stop with all this nonsense, just tell me how the monster is doing? Is it badly injured?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Long Lingling suddenly showed a very ugly expression, then tilted her head and fainted.

Upon seeing this, the four women couldn't help but gasp, their expressions turning sour with anger that they couldn't maintain their composure.

"What should we do? This idiot didn't explain anything clearly. We don't know anything about the monster. Should we still fight?" the short woman asked.

"Fight!" Sister Lanlan said decisively. "Of course we have to fight. She's at the late stage of Body Tempering, after all. Even if she loses badly, she can't possibly have suffered no damage at all. Besides, that monster hasn't come out to eat her for so long, so it probably isn't in good condition. Now is the perfect time for us to go in."