He knew that An Xiyu didn't think much of him, and he had no reason to force anything.
An Xiyu watched Xiang Beifei's retreating figure, her expression shifting uncertainly.
After a while, she walked beneath the branch, made some calculations, and a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes.
Using her spiritual power, she cut off the branch and then reattached it three inches to the left. She then pulled out a jammer and buried it where Xiang Beifei had just pointed out.
After all that was done, she silently followed after Xiang Beifei.
The two of them continued on, one after the other; the task of leading had shifted from An Xiyu to Xiang Beifei.
"I thought you didn't take Defense class seriously," An Xiyu broke the silence.
"I take anything I find useful seriously," Xiang Beifei responded briefly.
Survival in this world meant that rectifying one's deficiencies was of utmost importance.
He just didn't like being a class representative; that kind of work seemed to take up too much of his time. Sitting in the combat arena for an hour could at least earn some student credits, but being a class representative gained him nothing.
An Xiyu looked at Xiang Beifei strangely. He didn't turn around as he spoke, just kept walking.
She had been leading the way earlier and hadn't observed Xiang Beifei, merely instructing him to follow in her footsteps and avoid stepping on traps.
But now she realized that Xiang Beifei seemed to know exactly where every trap was buried underfoot. He nearly skirted each one, taking the shortest and most efficient path possible.
And he was even taking shortcuts!
"Have you been here before?" An Xiyu asked.
"This is my first time," Xiang Beifei said.
"Then how do you know the way?"
"I don't know the way, but I recognize traps. The traps here are much like the ones Professor Guo teaches about. If you understand Professor Guo's theories, it's clear where the way out is."
Xiang Beifei had the talent of 'Learn by Analogy', making him quick to learn new things. Recently, he had spent a day making sense of all the papers published by Professor Guo. Professor Guo's defensive concepts were numerous, and to this day, Xiang Beifei still had not finished reading all his papers.
But since An Xiyu had been trained by Professor Guo, her defenses were based on his theories, so understanding them a bit wasn't difficult.
"To think that you found a way out ?"
An Xiyu was genuinely surprised.
She thought she understood Professor Guo's theories best, but to her astonishment, this freshman, only one month into the semester, and having attended fewer than ten classes, seemed to have completely grasped the defenses she had spent half a year setting up for the beast tides.
This made her feel somewhat disgruntled.
To continue her deceased father's path and become a qualified guardian, she had taken Professor Guo as her role model, diligently learning all his defensive insights and knowledge, poring over all his literature.
She worked harder than anyone, managing to accumulate all required credits within one year at Liangzhou University, graduating successfully and becoming Professor Guo's teaching assistant.
Professor Guo himself had said that she was the most talented student he had ever seen in learning defensive knowledge in his many years of teaching.
But why then did this freshman, in just a month, seemingly catch up to her in the mastery of defensive theory? Even appearing to understand the canyon's traps better than her?
"No matter how much you understand defense knowledge, I won't easily acknowledge you," An Xiyu still didn't believe in Xiang Beifei at this point.
Because she had seen a talent like Xiang Beifei before.
That person was Wu Shixuan, an SSR! An exceptionally ungrateful person!
Xiang Beifei stopped walking, turned to look at An Xiyu, and said somewhat curiously, "You've always forgotten one thing—I don't need your recognition! In this world, if there's one person whose approval I truly desire, then that person can only be me, not you! What does your approval have to do with me?"
Seeing oneself clearly, understanding oneself, compensating for one's shortcomings, enhancing oneself—this was the way to better recognize oneself.
Like Elder Luo, he also didn't like living under the scrutiny of others. Therefore, how others viewed him was of no consequence, so long as he had his own standards.
After saying this, Xiang Beifei turned back and continued forward.
An Xiyu stood rooted to the spot.
She was choked by Xiang Beifei's words, feeling very annoyed inside, yet she couldn't find an excuse to retort. It turned out that Xiang Beifei simply didn't care about her gaze, he hadn't taken her opinion seriously at all.
"The person you most hope would acknowledge you, is that yourself?"
An Xiyu silently pondered over Xiang Beifei's words, feeling as if she could see through this boy one year her junior less and less.
After a long while, when she realized Xiang Beifei had already disappeared between the cliffs protruding from the canyon, she started to follow.
Along the way, Xiang Beifei pointed out seven errors in the traps An Xiyu had laid.
Seven errors, actually, were very minor, as there were at least ten thousand traps laid out throughout the great canyon, making the error rate quite low, and up to the standard for defense.
But An Xiyu was serious.
Just like Professor Guo, she took such buffer zone matters very seriously and would not allow even one mistake.
Right now, she wasn't quite sure what she felt about Xiang Beifei.
It seemed like defiance but also confusion, a mixture of complex emotions.
Upon leaving the great canyon, a thick, fifty-meter-tall city wall stood before them.
The city wall was massive and majestic, presented in deep black, exuding immense authority. This wall extended for thousands of miles, encircling the entire territory of Jiuzhou, separating Jiuzhou from the wild lands outside its domain.
Xiang Beifei, looking at this wall, was also quite astounded. It was like the true Great Wall, completely safeguarding Jiuzhou.
Constructing such a wall actually wasn't difficult, as this was a system world where everyone possessed supernatural abilities. By simply enlisting a few earth-element System Awakeners, such a wall could easily be erected.
But its impressive feature lay in each of the heavy bricks that interlocked, concealing extremely powerful formations capable of conjuring a transparent shield that totally enveloped the land of Jiuzhou.
Such a level of defense could stop even desolate beasts that could fly or burrow, tearing through space itself!
The towering wall, condensing various powerful defensive measures, blocked space, flight, elemental attacks, corrosion... in his eyes, it was nearly the toughest defense in the world.
If one could destroy such a wall, creating a large breach allowing a tide of beasts to flood into Jiuzhou territory, just how did those desolate beasts accomplish this?
Xiang Beifei couldn't comprehend; he still lacked a clear concept regarding the formidable beast tide.
Perhaps he would need to check if there were any videos available later.
An Xiyu had already caught up and said, "Follow me; my outpost is over there."
She leapt towards the wall, reaching its base with a few quick bounds. Xiang Beifei also jumped over, landing beside her.
But An Xiyu didn't immediately climb onto the wall. Instead, she reached out to touch the wall, upon which a strong and mysterious ripple spread, rapidly enveloping both of them as if inspecting their identities.
This terrifying pressure scrutinized them, leaving them without the slightest ability to resist.
Only something far beyond their imagination could exert such pressure.
After a while, the overwhelming pressure finally began to fade away.
"No one can forcefully breach the defensive wall, regardless of any ability to traverse space, it's impossible," An Xiyu said.
Xiang Beifei tilted his head, staring at the wall deep in thought.
Xiaohei seemed unconvinced by An Xiyu's statement, gearing up on Xiang Beifei's shoulder.
Xiang Beifei couldn't help but laugh wryly, saying, "I know you're capable, but no showing off."
Xiaohei claimed it had this ability, but it would have to wait until Xiang Beifei's cultivation was stronger. Xiaohei's strength depended on Xiang Beifei—the stronger Xiang Beifei was, the stronger Xiaohei would be.
But then Xiang Beifei suddenly realized something.
If Xiaohei had this ability, could there be beings among the desolate beasts like Xiaohei?