"He's gone!" Hou Chengwu said.
"I told you, there's interference here, now we can only see traces intermittently." Chen Baiwen looked in the direction where Xiang Beifei had disappeared, his expression quite puzzled. He seemed to want to say more but hesitated, apparently worried about something.
"Forget about that, we have so many people, what's there to fear! Chase him." Zhu Xinjue said urgently.
How could they let an enemy right before their eyes escape?
Everyone steadied their nerves and quickly headed in the direction where Xiang Beifei had vanished. After chasing for about ten steps, Xiang Beifei's trace appeared again. This time, he seemed to have encountered something eerie, running while continuously looking back, his expression somewhat panicked.
"This trace is from ten minutes ago, it seems he was entangled by some desolate beast." Hou Chengwu said.
"Where's the trace of that desolate beast? Why can't we see it?" Hou Chengwu asked.
"I don't know, maybe it's this desolate beast that's interfering with my abilities, making it impossible to appear." The more Chen Baiwen thought about it, the more certain he became, "Anything that can make a person like Xiang Beifei panic , the desolate beasts here are not simple, I think we shouldn't continue."
Chen Baiwen was very cautious, his purpose for coming here was not to kill Xiang Beifei, but to force Xiang Beifei to withdraw from the Newcomer Contest.
Xiang Beifei was the most powerful student known in this batch of newcomers, if even he couldn't handle this kind of desolate beast, then the others stood even less of a chance.
Chen Baiwen was very clear about this, so he had no intention of continuing the chase.
However, Zhu Xinjue's eyes lit up: "Being able to make Xiang Beifei panic like that means this desolate beast must be powerful, now that Xiang Beifei is surely fighting with the beast, our chance has come!"
"Have you gone mad? If he can't handle it, what can we possibly do?" Chen Baiwen said.
Hou Chengwu snorted coldly: "The most powerful desolate beast here is only at the Meridian Opening phase, and we have four SSRs here, aren't we more than capable of handling one desolate beast together?"
His words made sense, four SSRs of the Meridian Opening phase were indeed a formidable force—but in fact, even Hou Chengwu didn't know that they were five Meridian Openers.
Without giving others a chance to explain, Hou Chengwu immediately chased ahead, Zhu Xinjue followed closely behind, He Qiutong and Yu Hongbo both frowned, but considering Xiang Beifei as a competitor too, they knew that if they wanted to get Xiang Beifei out of the contest, now was the best moment, so they also chased after, and Chen Baiwen had no choice but to follow.
Just then, a shadow suddenly flashed across the cliff face!
Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at the cliff on the left.
But there was nothing on the cliff, still filled with the mist.
"Did you guys see that just now?" Yu Hongbo asked.
"I sensed it, but couldn't see clearly."
"Probably just some desolate beast, no need to bother." Hou Chengwu said.
"No need to bother? We have four Meridian Opening practitioners here and not one of us saw that desolate beast clearly, and you still think it's nothing to worry about?" Chen Baiwen spoke sternly.
He had always maintained the appropriate level of rationality.
"What are you, so faint-hearted? Aren't you an SSR anymore? Our current target isn't the desolate beast, it's Xiang Beifei, why bother with anything else?" Hou Chengwu said impatiently.
After discussion, He Qiutong and Yu Hongbo both decided to quickly get Xiang Beifei out of the contest and go complete their own mission, so they continued forward.
But just then, a thunderous sound suddenly came from the narrow path ahead, as if something was rolling towards them. Everyone listened carefully, and suddenly felt something was amiss, but before they could react, a torrential flood surged from ahead!
Hou Chengwu and the others went pale, having not expected water to surge out from the depths of this abyss, but the water was furious, like a wave ten meters high, and it shocked them.
Everyone's face changed color, all relying on their Spiritual Power to resist the flood. Hou Chengwu and Zhu Xinjue, being high-level Meridian Openers, handled the flood with ease, but it was different for the other SRs.
The remaining SR students tried to withstand the flood, but it was too violent and swept them all away, totally beyond their capacity to resist.
Two or three SRs were directly swept away into the water, disappearing.
"Where did this flood come from?"
Hou Chengwu shouted, immediately retreating.
But like a shadow following form, the sound of waves crashing against the rocks immediately rose up sprays of water that chased them, not slower than their speed, quickly catching up and scattering the group of ten.
As an SSR, although defeated by Xiang Beifei, it didn't mean Hou Chengwu's capabilities were weak; he could appear in any spot that had a shadow, including shadows from various rocks or trees.
He was only focused on finding Xiang Beifei, hardly caring about the life or death of his SR teammates. Meanwhile, Yu Hongbo and He Qiutong quickly plunged into the flood to search for the other SRs, and with those who had fallen into the water, they leaped onto the cliff wall.
Zhu Xinjue and others were also swept into the midst of the flood, their vision obscured by the violent spray of water.
This flood had come too suddenly, and they had been scattered before they could react.
He Qiutong quickly grabbed his teammates, protecting them, then exclaimed, "There's something strange here, we must leave."