Li Ruobing breathed a sigh of relief when the other party agreed to exchange hostages. She said to Gao Zhanxiang, "After the hostages are released, Captain Gao, Instructor Hong, please transfer them to a safe place inside the cave as soon as possible."

"Is this really a good idea?" Gao Zhanxiang was worried. "Using yourselves as hostages, won't that be sending you to your deaths, Dean Li?"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Li Ruobing pretended to be calm. "Once you rescue the hostages, we will find a way to escape on our own."

"Alright then, take care of yourselves," Gao Zhanxiang knew the plan was risky, but they had no other choice.

Li Ruobing, Lin Shiqi, and Qin Yan approached the entrance of the cave. Outside, a large group of people in white clothes surrounded them. A man wearing a white cloak and a face mask walked up to them, chuckling, "Impressive, quite courageous."

"Liu Shi, why did you betray us!" Li Ruobing said sternly. Although the man wore a mask, Li Ruobing recognized him immediately. The man with the mask hesitated for a moment, then took off the mask and hood, revealing a face full of scars. It was indeed Liu Shi.

"You forced me into this. I've been contributing to the academy for so many years, but you sided with an outsider against me. You were the ones who wronged me first," Liu Shi said with a resentful expression.

"You're distorting the truth," Li Ruobing's eyes seemed to shoot flames. "I haven't even settled the score with you for the incident outside the academy where you attacked Shiqi. And now, you are colluding with the Chiyou people to attack our academy. Do you have any conscience left?"

"Conscience?! Hmph, if you had a conscience, you would have made me the dean and given Miss Shiqi to me as my wife, instead of favoring this unknown outsider," Liu Shi retorted.

"You..." Li Ruobing felt Liu Shi was unreasonable.

"Enough, where are the hostages?" Qin Yan interjected, interrupting their argument. He knew arguing with someone like Liu Shi was pointless.

"Don't worry, they are all alive and well," Liu Shi smirked. Qin Yan looked around and saw over thirty people with bound hands sitting in an open space outside the cave. These hostages looked terrified, with varying degrees of injuries. Qin Yan immediately shouted to them, "Come over here, head towards the cave." The bound hostages cautiously stood up and walked towards the cave entrance.

"I've released the hostages, now it's your turn. You three, move to the side, no tricks, or I'll kill all the hostages immediately!" Liu Shi said rudely, pushing Qin Yan in the back. Concerned about the hostages' safety, Qin Yan had no choice but to walk to a spot away from the cave entrance, with Lin Shiqi and Li Ruobing following.

"Hey, why do you, you little brat, still have a weapon? Planning a rebellion?" Liu Shi noticed the strange-looking long spear in Qin Yan's hand. He immediately grabbed the handle of the spear, trying to wrest it away, but Qin Yan held on tightly, preventing him from taking it.

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"Don't you care about those hostages' lives? Let go!" Liu Shi shouted loudly. Seeing that not all the hostages had entered the cave yet, Qin Yan reluctantly let go to allow Liu Shi to take the spear. After examining the weapon for a while, Liu Shi found nothing special about it and sneered, "What a piece of junk weapon. Not even a knife or a gun. Do you think you can defeat me with this?" Suddenly, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he swung the long spear towards Qin Yan's head, but Qin Yan managed to dodge it.

Qin Yan quickly glanced at the cave entrance and saw that most of the hostages had already entered the cave. He no longer needed to hold back. He used his physical enhancement ability to strengthen his body, grabbed the long spear's handle with both hands, and kicked Liu Shi in the chest, sending him flying five or six meters away, regaining control of the long spear.

"Damn it! How dare you play tricks!" Liu Shi rubbed his sore chest and roared in anger. "Get them, give them a good beating!" Instantly, the group of people in white clothes outside the cave surrounded the three of them, brandishing metal weapons like knives and sticks, charging towards them.

"Shiqi, attack!" Li Ruobing had been on guard and immediately summoned a gust of wind towards the crowd. Lin Shiqi also summoned a gust of wind, trying to force the crowd back. However, these white-clothed individuals were all Espers, much stronger than ordinary people. They huddled together, and the combined wind summoned by Lin Shiqi and Li Ruobing couldn't budge them.

"Let's charge out!" Seeing the situation turning dire, Qin Yan took the initiative and rushed forward, slashing at one of the white-clothed individuals in the crowd. With a clear clang, the long spear hit the person's shoulder, bouncing back. The person's shoulder was only slightly scratched, with no significant bleeding.

"These guys are all Espers, not easy to deal with." Qin Yan felt the situation was tricky. The three of them were surrounded, and while he could handle himself, Lin Shiqi and Li Ruobing, as magic users, would sustain severe injuries from just a single blow. Their lives were in danger.

"No other choice. Shiqi, I'm counting on you!" Li Ruobing knew that close combat in this chaos was extremely disadvantageous for her. She immediately used her magic to generate a strong airflow below her, lifting herself about seven to eight meters above the ground, flying over the crowd and landing on a nearby large tree.

"Sis Bing, why did you leave me behind? I can't fly!" Lin Shiqi panicked. Unlike Li Ruobing, she couldn't fly using wind manipulation. She could only summon three palm-sized blue fireballs to attack the surrounding crowd. The white cloaks worn by the individuals had excellent fire resistance, and Lin Shiqi's fireballs couldn't ignite their clothes.

The white-clothed individuals quickly closed in on Qin Yan and Lin Shiqi, wielding metal knives and sticks, aiming at the two. Lin Shiqi was terrified, letting out a scream and crouching down, covering her head.

Worried about Lin Shiqi's safety, Qin Yan quickly stepped in front of her, using the long spear to block the attacks. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back. Without thinking, he knew he had been struck by a knife. The strength of these white-clothed individuals was astonishing. Even with his strengthened body, Qin Yan sustained a shallow wound on his back.

"Damn it! I'll fight you all!" In the critical moment, Qin Yan fully activated his physical enhancement ability, swinging the trident spear with all his might at the two individuals behind him. They hurriedly dodged and retreated.

The trident spear emitted a buzzing sound, and a silver energy shockwave suddenly burst from it, hitting the two retreating individuals. With a crisp tearing sound, their chests were cut open as if by a sharp blade, leaving deep red wounds spurting blood. Their white clothes were dyed a bright red.