Chapter 268 Burning Chains
Le Renkuang and Zhang Xuanyu were both embarrassed, but they showed no intention of giving the Blue Sea Wandering Dragon Daggers back to Han Fei. They simply put the daggers on their back, and they almost moaned in comfort.
Zhang Xuanyu said, “Han Fei, find out how many Fiery Mountain Tokens it takes for one to walk on the chain. The guy who just fell definitely had the Fiery Mountain Tokens too, but maybe not enough.” Luo Xiaobai said, “That’s right. You can test it out.”
Han Fei immediately recalled half of the Fiery Mountain Tokens and took a few steps. Sensing nothing wrong, he canceled another handful, but then his feet started to be scorched. He hurried to take a few tokens out. When the number of the Fiery Mountain Tokens was kept at ten, he felt that it was perfect. It was like walking on an asphalt road on a summer day, hot but not insufferable.
Eventually, Han Fei added the number to fifteen. At this point, he felt that he was walking on regular ground barefooted. It was neither too hot nor too cold.
Han Fei remarked, “Ten makes it only slightly hot, and fifteen won’t make you feel anything.” Le Renkuang said gloomily, “I need to borrow seven from you.”
Zhang Xuanyu said, “Six for me.”
Xia Xiaochan asked, “Xiaobai, how many do you have?”
Luo Xiaobai said, “I came to the mountain right away and only met one person, so I only have two tokens.”
Xia Xiaochan waved her hands casually, and thirteen Fiery Mountain Tokens were thrown to Luo Xiaobai. “These should be enough.”
Zhang Xuanyu immediately gasped. “Xia Xiaochan, how many Fiery Mountain Tokens do you have?”
Xia Xiaochan replied, “Thirty-seven!”
Everyone: “…”
Luo Xiaobai asked in surprise, “So many?”
Xia Xiaochan smiled. “Those I ran into had a lot of tokens, so I simply robbed them.”
Han Fei was rather delighted. “That’s great. The five of us have 84 Fiery Mountain Tokens in total, which is almost one third of the total. It means that the other 19 people have only eleven on average, but that’s unlikely, because Li Hanyi’s team must have plenty of Fiery Mountain Tokens too.”
Xia Xiaochan said unconcernedly, “That’s not our problem. I’m going to rob them one way or another.”
Luo Xiaobai considered for a moment and said, “If my guess is correct, only a handful of Fiery Mountain Tokens are required for someone to pass, especially for those who are intimate with fire like you, Xiaochan. So, most of the students can make it through, and we will have a lot of opponents later.”
“Ahhhh!”
While they were talking to each other, another one fell from the long chains, and the same scene happened again.
Le Renkuang trembled. “Forget it. Fifteen are perfect. What if it’s extra hot at the center? What if something goes wrong halfway? Don’t bother others. It’s fine as long as ours are enough.”
So, they divided their Fiery Mountain Tokens evenly and jumped on the chains.
But after only walking thirty meters, they sensed something wrong. The problem was not the chains below their feet, but their own weight.
Le Renkuang shouted first. “Something is wrong! I’m feeling more and more pressure. My body is getting heavier.”
Han Fei said, “Me too. No wonder they’re all walking step by step. This is meant to prevent us from playing any tricks.”
Luo Xiaobai said, “Be careful. Something else might happen when we reach the palace… I don’t think the chains will be the only test.”
Gritting their teeth, they moved forward step by step. Like Le Renkuang had foreseen, they sensed nothing in the first hundred meters, but their feet were hot when they were five hundred meters away.
After they walked a thousand meters, their feet were slightly burnt, even though all of them had more than fifteen Fiery Mountain Tokens.
“Ahhhh!”
Another exclamation burst out. Someone fell with fire all over his body. Unwilling to give up, he cast his fishing pole at the chain, hoping to land on it again.
However, his fishing line caught fire and was burnt apart one second later.
Le Renkuang swallowed hard. “Han Fei, do you have extra Fiery Mountain Tokens? Can I borrow two?”
Han Fei rolled his eyes. “Ask Xia Xiaochan.”
Xia Xiaochan didn’t really care. She threw two Fiery Mountain Tokens at Le Renkuang and said, “Fatty, you’re the weakest. It’s time for you to work out after we return.”
Le Renkuang said regretfully, “My body is actually very sturdy. However, fat people are scared of hotness, you know…”
Zhang Xuanyu snorted. “Enough. Just appreciate what you have. I don’t think everybody on the chains has fifteen Fiery Mountain Tokens, considering that there are only 305 Fiery Mountain Tokens in total and 24 candidates in this place.” Le Renkuang patted his chest and said, “Thank god we have Han Fei and Xia Xiaochan, or it would’ve been hard for us to pass the chains.”
They chit-chatted with each other, and the chains grew hotter still when they walked another thousand meters. The pressure had increased too, forcing them to step on the chain heavily. They couldn’t run at all.
A couple of chains away, two people were set on fire, but they were ruthless enough to turn on their spiritual energy protective covers. In the meantime, they fused themselves with their spiritual beasts, hoping to weather through it.
After another five hundred meters, those two people finally fell from the chain, unable to make it.
Han Fei had a lot of complicated feelings. Every opportunity for a cultivator to be stronger came with a price. Five of the 24 candidates had died on the chain, and they were almost the best students of the three academies.
Very soon, after they walked two thousand meters, they seemed to have reached the center. The chains here were burning their feet, and their Fiery Mountain Tokens were so red as if they were just fetched from the furnace.
Luo Xiaobai said, “Let’s continue. This must be the hottest part. Everything will be fine if we pass it.”
Han Fei felt that he could still persist. He looked back at Zhang Xuanyu and Le Renkuang, only to see that they had stuck his Blue Sea Wandering Dragon Daggers to their feet and showed great comfort.
“Look.”
Xia Xiaochan suddenly pointed at someone on a chain not far away. He was ablaze, but he was walking faster and faster.
In another direction, several people were doing the same thing.
The chains were gathering as they approached the palace, and Han Fei saw that Li Hanyi’s team were five hundred meters ahead of them.
The man wearing the mask was even faster than Li Hanyi’s team.
His face slightly changed, Han Fei whispered to his team, “Let’s accelerate, in case they ambush us after they arrive first.”
Luo Xiaobai was surprised. “You can still accelerate?”
Han Fei said, “I think I can deal with the pressure.”
Xia Xiaochan said, “I’m fine too.”
Zhang Xuanyu said, “I can’t catch up to them even if I accelerate!”
Le Renkuang, on the other hand, simply turned a deaf ear to Han Fei, as it was impossible for him to accelerate at all.
Luo Xiaobai said, “You and Xiaochan can go first. We’re too weak to go any faster for now.”
Han Fei nodded and unleashed his spiritual energy, allowing him to run on the chain.
Xia Xiaochan was even more unbelievable. She was a hundred meters away after one flash.
The three people behind were dumbfounded, and Zhang Xuanyu seemed fascinated. “Is there any battle technique about the flash ability? I really want to learn it!”
Le Renkuang remarked, “Han Fei’s body is truly extraordinary. He can still run under such pressure?”
On the other hand, Li Hanyi’s team noticed Han Fei too. They were all shocked to see that Han Fei was running.
Li Hanyi roared, “Accelerate. We have to arrive earlier than they do.”
The last two thousand meters seemed to have turned into a death race, and the rest of the walkers on the chains were lost for words, wondering why they were competing for the treasures with those freaks.
Han Fei was running like an ordinary person, but Xia Xiaochan was like a special athlete. She swooshed forward by a hundred meters much faster than Han Fei did.
Three minutes later, Xia Xiaochan reached the end of the chains first, and Han Fei had just finished half of the race.
Xia Xiaochan, on the other hand, ran to Li Hanyi’s team. She saw that Su Yebai in Li Hanyi’s team had darted dozens of spider threads to the stairs at the end of the chains. The man was rushing with the support of the spider threads and legs.
Seeing that Su Yebai was the first to arrive, Xia Xiaochan snorted. “You got me last time. Let’s see if you can poison me again.”
Xia Xiaochan disappeared, and in the next moment, a dagger suddenly appeared before Su Yebai.