"They seem to have split up?"
Xi Keyao looked at the three green dots that suddenly appeared among the yellowish tree canopies with surprise, which stood out starkly in the withered forest.
At this moment, Xiang Beifei's heart was once again seized by that eerie sensation.
"Damn it, here it comes again. Everyone, be careful."
He quickly scanned the surroundings and soon detected the presence of Ghostly Visage's Whiskers approaching them rapidly.
The others all became very solemn.
"It's getting closer to us!"
Li Zimu lowered his altitude slightly, focusing on the moving point of green light.
"Help them be freed! Help them be freed!"
Xi Keyao looked very anxious, mumbling to herself continuously. She had been remembering what Xiang Beifei said and her hand lit up with spiritual power.
Just then, a shadow ran through the forest below, a man drenched in blood, his body slashed with many wounds, some even exposing bits of bone, his face smudged with blood, looking terribly ferocious.
He dashed through the branches and also noticed Xiang Beifei and the others.
"Is this Ghostly Visage's Whiskers?"
Long Guocheng and the others were already preparing to face the enemy.
"Help them be freed!"
Xi Keyao kept whispering, repeating Xiang Beifei's words. Upon seeing the man's dreadful state, she remembered the pitiful pioneer and finally mustered the courage to shout and threw a cauldron at the man.
"Wait! He's a living person!"
Xiang Beifei hurriedly grabbed hold of Xi Keyao and pulled her cauldron back.
"A living person?" Xi Keyao was startled and quickly stopped herself, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I thought... I didn't know…"
She had assumed the man was the Ghostly Visage's Whiskers on first instinct, due to the dire state he was in and Xiang Beifei's warning of the approaching entity.
"It's okay, it's good that you tried to act."
Xiang Beifei still offered words of encouragement. At least Xi Keyao hadn't hesitated to act out of excessive compassion and hadn't been a drag on the team, which was a good thing.
The blood-covered man shouted urgently at them.
Xiang Beifei focused on the man, examining his system interface—
[SR rank, Po Jun Eye System]
[Realm: Late-stage Qi-Controlling]
Although Xiang Beifei could no longer see the man's specific appearance clearly, he could see his system interface distinctly, so he knew exactly what his abilities were.
"Who are you?" Li Zimu asked.
"I'm from Qingzhou University! I'm from Qingzhou University! My name is Tang He!" Tang He, covered in blood, looked as though he had seen a savior, his tense nerves finally relaxing a bit.
"What happened to you?" Xiang Beifei asked with furrowed eyebrows.
Just a moment ago, in the abyss, Tang He was among those preparing to attack them alongside He Qiutong, although now he looked quite pitiful.
How did this guy end up here?
Xiang Beifei clearly remembered that when He Qiutong led the group away, Tang He was among them. They were supposed to be taking away the body of Hou Chengwu, and logically, they should have rushed to report this event to the alliance.
"Desolate beasts! Strange desolate beasts! The desolate beasts attacked us!" Tang He said in a rush.
"Where is your team leader? How come you're the only one left?" Xiang Beifei inquired.
Tang He intended to reply but only then recognized Xiang Beifei, his expression subtly changed!
Just now, they had joined forces with Yanzhou University to deal with Xiang Beifei, but unfortunately, Hou Chengwu, an SSR, suddenly turned on those from Yanzhou University, leading to a deadly feud, and unexpectedly, Tang He encountered Xiang Beifei here.
"The leader, she... We were attacked by a very enchanting woman. I thought she was... she was a pioneer, but..."
Tang He stammered, omitting some of the most crucial details.
But Xiang Beifei continued, "Explain what happened clearly; it's for everyone's benefit."
"That pioneer woman, so strange! She wanted to capture us, the leader was dealing with her, and told us to go first... we separated, and then we encountered other bizarre people chasing after us," Tang He explained nervously, glancing back from time to time.
"Why didn't you use Forfeit Talismans or SOS Talismans when you encountered such danger?" Xiang Beifei asked.
"Those talismans were ineffective! I don't know why, but none of the talisman scripts worked!"
Tang He felt utterly desperate as he took out a piece of talisman paper, which was intact, but despite his frenzied efforts to infuse Spiritual Power into it, the talisman showed no response whatsoever.
Had the talismans become ineffective?
Xiang Beifei suddenly realized something, took Tang He's talisman paper, and carefully examined it. The talisman was unharmed, but when he tried to channel Spiritual Power into it, it didn't work at all.
He immediately took out his own talismans and tried to infuse them with Spiritual Power, but there was no reaction from any of them!
It was only then that Xiang Beifei realized the seriousness of the situation.
For the talismans to malfunction , there were only two possibilities: either they were beyond the range of transmission, rendering the Teleportation Talismans ineffective, or the space they were in had been sealed off.
With Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage nearby, the second scenario was very likely!
Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage possessed the ability to seal off space!
Last time in the City of the Old Days, Fan Kai had the ability to use earth evasion techniques, but still failed to lead them out of the ruined city, meaning the situation was likely the same this time.
No wonder Hou Chengwu, an SSR, had been killed, and there had been no news from the alliance until now—it must be because of their ability to seal off space!
If the Teleportation Talisman couldn't be used, it meant that all the students would be cut off, losing any chance of reinforcement!
"You all try one by one, see if your SOS Talismans are effective," Xiang Beifei said to Li Zimu and the others.
Li Zimu and the others quickly tested their own talismans. To avoid any accidents, they verified their talismans one by one, keeping a wary eye; in case Tang He had deceived them, they would look very passive, especially since using talismans would cost them points.
But soon, they found that all talismans' fluctuations were being restricted.
"Did this start after we entered this forest?" Long Guocheng asked.
Tang He shook his head anxiously, "No, at least we were restricted even before we got to this forest. I don't know how it's being restricted. We were being chased by a group of strange creatures, they..."
As Tang He said this, he turned to look at the patch of golden-yellow trees within the forest, as if searching for something, his expression becoming anxious, "We got separated. Just now, our team leader told us to split up and run. I don't know how they are now."
"So, the people chasing you are also in this forest?" Li Zimu asked.
Tang He nodded anxiously.
Everyone looked at Xiang Beifei, as it was now up to him to make a decision.
"To think that even the alliance's Teleportation Talismans can be blocked, the abilities of this desolate beast are beyond imagination," Xiang Beifei said, his expression grave.
He was well aware of the flaws in teleportation items; the exterior desolate wildlands were not human turf, with various interferences reducing the effectiveness of teleportation items. This was why the alliance had chosen to place the temporary camp in the exterior desolate wildlands.
The Teleportation Talismans this time weren't as limited as Yuchi Shen's makeshift transportation sphere during the last entrance exam.
Back then, Yuchi Shen's transportation sphere had to transport from the exterior desolate wildlands to Jiuzhou territory, and to prevent accidentally bringing large-scale desolate beasts into Jiuzhou territory, there were significant restrictions, and it could only function within a specific range.
But for this trial, since the area was large, the alliance's Teleportation Talismans had been specially enhanced. Moreover, the starting point had been moved here to the exterior desolate wildlands, staying within them during teleportation, greatly exceeding the school's transportation sphere's limits, hence fewer restrictions.
By Xiang Beifei's estimation, such an item was at least of SSR, if not UR level.
Yet, they were still being blocked by this desolate beast!
Such intelligent and rare desolate beasts should indeed not be underestimated.
Their records in the Jiuzhou Alliance were scarce; humanity's understanding of them was almost nil, and this place being the exterior desolate wildlands meant the desolate beasts understood the area far better than any human. Therefore, being able to block the Forfeit Talisman and the SOS Talisman also seemed comprehensible.
"First, stop his bleeding," Xiang Beifei said.
Although this guy was from Qingzhou University, the current situation was off, and Xiang Beifei needed Tang He to provide some information.
A small green cauldron appeared in Xi Keyao's hands, her cauldron possessing strong healing abilities. She quickly stopped Tang He's bleeding, and the gruesome wounds began to heal. Still, Tang He looked very weak, and even when Xi Keyao gave him medicine to restore his strength, he didn't seem to perk up.
While Xi Keyao was helping with the healing, Xiang Beifei flew up into the air again, scanning the withered woods. The aura that had tracked Tang He had vanished and seemed to be hiding; within a hundred meters of the yellow forest, there were no moving green trees to be seen.
Tang He had been separated from his companions after telling them to split up and run, and their fate was now unknown.
Tang He looked much better in color. He gratefully thanked Xi Keyao and then looked anxiously at Xiang Beifei.
They had originally planned to target Xiang Beifei first to push Liangzhou University out of the competition, but unexpectedly, the ones who had saved him turned out to be from the Liangzhou University team, leaving him feeling conflicted.
However, seeing that Xiang Beifei didn't seem intent on pursuing the matter provided him with some relief. After all, as an SR in the Qingzhou University team, he wasn't the one calling the shots; it was SSR Hou Chengwu and He Qiutong who had decided to target Liangzhou University.
"Let's leave this withered forest first," Xiang Beifei decided. Since the withered forest was sealed and they couldn't use teleportation items, the immediate priority was to retrace their steps out of the forest to find a point where they could teleport.
"But what about my companions..." Tang He hesitated.
"We're powerless to help," Xiang Beifei said.
The forest was too vast and strange, searching blindly might jeopardize his own team as well.
Xiang Beifei wouldn't take that risk.