Where does that wicked woman get her conscience?

Guan Xun chuckled and thought to himself, "I look down on it too."

"Then why did you choose it?" Chi Rong muttered, his dissatisfaction evident.

Guan Xun didn't say anything more, and the others had all chosen the monsters they needed.

Zeng Qianxue and Lu Shenqu each chose a Taiji Tin Toad Bear and a Zhentian Lie Yuxiang respectively, while Qiu Chuan chose a Bifeng Ice Flower Giant Bee.

Although the giant ice flower bee was smaller than the other selected monsters, it was the boldest and most temperamental among them.

Perhaps noticing Guan Xun's surprised gaze, Qiu Chuan scratched his head sheepishly.

"The demonic beasts you have can quickly help you determine whether the demonic beasts you encounter have crystal cores." After closing the stone room door, Bonatian turned around and said to them, "These demonic beasts were originally supposed to be selected a few days after the competition, but the events that happened at the academy recently caused the competition to be postponed, which is why the time is so tight."

"Go back and pack your things now. We'll meet in the square in fifteen minutes and head to the Illusion Forest for the competition."

……

Guan Xun didn't have much to pack; everything she needed was in her storage ring. While others were packing, she went to the medical clinic.

The hospital truly lived up to its reputation as a place where only doctors stayed; the air was filled with the aroma of medicine.

Guan Xun stood at the door, her white gauze dress flowing gracefully, attracting the attention of men and women passing by.

"Winter Sun!"

Dongyang had just come out of the classroom. With his sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, his green robe looked exceptionally noble in the sunlight. He had become even more handsome than before.

Several girls surrounded him, asking him all sorts of questions. Even from a distance, Guan Xun could see the embarrassment on his face.

Upon hearing his sister's shout, Dongyang thought he was hallucinating and immediately stopped and looked around.

When he saw Guan Xun waving at him from the front, he was overjoyed. He apologized to the girl next to him and ran over.

"Xiao Xun? What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you." Guan Xun said, taking out a large package from her storage ring. Inside were the things she had just prepared, and she simply stuffed it into Dong Yang's arms. "Take this."

"What is this thing?" Dongyang asked, feeling around for a while.

"Didn't you bring me medicine last time? I'll bring you something too."

Guan Xun smiled, making Dong Yang lower her head shyly: "You're my only sister, isn't this what I should do?"

Ignoring his hesitation, Guan Xun said calmly, "I will be representing the academy in the competition in the Illusion Forest later, so I may not be here for a while. There's no need for you to come to the academy to look for me."

"Go to the Illusion Forest?" Dongyang couldn't help but worry.

"The teachers and students will all go together," Guan Xun said casually, reassuring the other party not to worry.

Dongyang was slightly relieved: "Then I'll go get you some more medicine, it'll be good if you can use it later."

"I still haven't touched the bottle you gave me last time," Guan Xun chuckled. "If I gave you any more, I could open a pharmacy."

"Alright, it's getting late, we need to get going, I'll be going now."

After saying that, she turned and left the hospital.

Dongyang watched his sister's graceful departure, his brows furrowed, and for some reason, he felt uneasy, with a bad premonition.

It's like... they'll never see each other again.

The girls who had been surrounding Dongyang earlier were standing not far behind him. When they saw that Guan Xun had left, they immediately came up to him again.

"Senior Brother Dongyang, who is that?"

"You're really good-looking. You're not from our medical school, are you?"

Dongyang snapped out of her daze, gently pulling her arm away from his, and a sense of estrangement returned to her eyes: "Oh, that's... my sister."

……

The route to the Illusion Forest for the competition is not the same route Guan Xun took; it's said to be the shortest route.

Bona Tian did not come with them. Instead, a teacher was assigned to supervise the competition and also to discuss the competition rules with other colleges.

In addition, more than a dozen guards were added to the mutual escort system.

There were three carriages in total. Unfortunately, Guan Xun was assigned to the same carriage as Ling Moyan, that talkative weirdo, and Qiu Tianchuan was also traveling with them.

"Junior Sister Guan Xun, are you nervous?" Ling Moyan asked with a smile, his arms behind his head and his body leaning against the road.

Before Guan Xun could answer, Qiu Chuan raised his hand: "I...I'm nervous."

"Are you nervous?" Ling Moyan immediately reached out and put her arm around the back of his neck. "None of the other junior girls said they were nervous, why are you nervous?"

"Because I've never participated before... that's why I'm nervous..." Qiu Chuan's voice lowered a few decibels, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

Guan Xun felt a headache coming on from their noise, so she leaned back and pulled up her sleeve. On her snow-white wrist, a small emerald green snake was coiled.

The other monsters were transported in cages at the back of the carriage because of their large size, but hers was carried on her person.

The little snake was sleeping soundly, seemingly undisturbed by the surrounding noise. Guan Xun gently pinched its little head and then sighed.

"How much longer until we get there?" she asked.

After traveling for half a day, it was now completely dark outside. It had taken her several days to get from there to the academy before. Would it take her several days to get here this time as well?

Upon hearing this, Ling Moyan straightened his clothes, sat up straight, and lifted the carriage curtain to look outside: "It won't be that fast, we still need to travel for a while."

“In previous years, time was not so tight, otherwise we wouldn’t have traveled at night, but would have stayed in the town ahead.”

It seems they're going to be making carriages for several days in a row?

As Guan Xun thought about it, she felt a sharp pain in her buttocks; she still couldn't get used to the jolting of the carriage.

"I heard from people at the academy that we have to pass through a city, don't we?" Qiu Chuan suddenly asked. "Aren't we going to rest when we pass through the city?"

“We have to pass through a city.” Ling Moyan frowned immediately and clicked his tongue. “Even in previous years when we had plenty of time, we wouldn’t stop in that city, let alone now that time is so tight.”

"Why?" Guan Xun couldn't help but ask curiously.

“You really don’t know anything…” Ling Moyan’s eyes widened slightly. “The city we’re going to pass through later is called Tu’an City. It’s the most difficult and chaotic of the five major cities to govern, and it’s also the city with the highest outcry against the current emperor.”

"Chaos?" Guan Xun raised an eyebrow. "How chaotic can it be? Are there bandits all over the streets? The kind who kill and set fires at will?"

“Hmm.” Ling Moyan nodded. “It’s a bit better during the day, but at night… I’ve never been here at night, but I can imagine it must be even worse than during the day.”

"No wonder the academy assigned us so many guards to escort us," Qiu Chuan murmured.

The fact that the academy is so tense suggests that those people are not ordinary people like the bandits they encountered before; there must be spiritual masters among them.

"There's nothing we can do. It's a chaotic place because it's adjacent to Prison City. We'll just stay quietly in the carriage for a while."

"Prison City?" Guan Xun exclaimed in surprise. What kind of place is this?

“A no-man’s land.” Ling Moyan nodded and said, then turned to lift the curtain of the carriage. When he saw the city with only a few faint lights in the distance, his voice lost its previous ease and became a little lower.

"We're about to enter Dark City."