Through the forest, the horrific sound of metal clashing echoed.

While a few beasts were on the prowl for disciples, after hearing the frightening sound, many decided to retreat.

After cloaking his hands in metal, Liu Qiang had been clapping them constantly. It was many times louder than when she smacked his bum, and it was very obnoxious. Mei was very glad this wasn't the real world, or her ears would have numbed by now.

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The forest cleared, leading to rocky plains. There, only parched grey soil sat, countless boulders dotting the landscape. There was no plant life, save for a few dried weeds here and there.

Mei was rather surprised, as she thought the arena would be forest all the way through.

"I can't see any beasts or people in the distance." Wang Wei muttered, squinting as he looked into the distance. "Should we go back to the forest or head onwards?"

"Well, even with all the clanking, we didn't find any more beasts. I think maybe we should just go on." Liu Qiang sighed. "Maybe there's something hidden here?"

"Like?" said Zhang Ming.

"How would I know?"

Su Qing was very pleased, seeing so many rocks. He began picking up the new, prettier rocks. Unfortunately, there was only so much a basket could carry, so the little spirit began tossing out the uglier rocks; the misshapen ones covered in moss and dirt.

Rock birds... your mother is throwing you out for being ugly. Mei laughed to herself silently.

As they walked, the ground began to tremble gently.

Readying themselves, the group jumped back as something popped out of the ground. A disgusting mess of fleshy tendrils, with two slimy... nostrils? Mei reeled back in disgust.

Looking closer, Mei realised it was the nose of a huge black beast, apparently a mole of sorts. Mei couldn't help but had her eyes drawn to its massive, deadly looking claws.

"Ewww!" Wang Wei shouted.

Immediately, he blasted a huge wave of flames at it.

"Nyom!" the mole cried out.

It began flailing around as flames enveloped it, until it vanished.

"Nyom nyom... nyom."

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Mei and her group heaved a sigh of relief. But above them, a huge white spirit popped out of thin air.

"Assault of an innocent animal!" it boomed. "100 points deducted from Wang Wei!"

What?!

"A beacon of light will now show his location, and the team that defeats him will get double the points!"

"Huh? Hey, what's the big idea!" Wang Wei shouted.

"What did that mole do to you, huh?" the spirit shouted back.

"Eh?"

"Was it because he was ugly? Do you kill someone on sight for being ugly?" it continued to yell.

"But..."

"If so, then learn your lesson!"

And with that, the spirit vanished, too fast for Wang Wei to respond. Out of reflex, Mei checked her prize slip to see if she got any points. None, unfortunately.

"Uuuuu... it's too bright..." Wang Wei stumbled around. "I can't see..."

Mei couldn't but squint her eyes from the light as she looked at the overwhelmingly radiant beam that shot down from the skies, landing on Wang Wei.

If the sect didn't want to encourage disciples to fight spirit beasts, why did they need to fight beasts using the tournament? Stupid sect master...

Though, maybe it was to say that it was fine for them to fight back if beasts attacked first? Mei didn't know why she tried to justify the sect master's nonsense. He was probably just trying to mess with the disciples.

"Um, are you okay?" Xiuying asked. "Whoa!"

Before her eyes, Wang Wei tripped over a rock and fell on his face.

"No..." he groaned.

Great, now their main fighter was incapacitated for no good reason. At least they would be able to find disciples now, she supposed.

Xiuying walked forward to help him up, only to stumble on a rock. Apparently, just being near him was too blinding.

"This is unfair!" he shouted to the skies.

Immediately, the light lessened greatly, allowing him to see again. Wang Wei paused for a moment, his anger now confusion. The whole group paused as well, just as confused.

The ground began rumbling again, this time with stronger tremors.

"Nyom!"

Several other moles popped out, brandishing their huge claws. They were angered by the defeat of their friend!

"Dammit!" said Wang Wei.

Unsure if they were even allowed to fight back, Mei and the others could only run. Zhang Ming turned around and shot an icy wave at one of the mole's nostrils, freezing its snot. Yingyi kicked up the soil at them as he ran. Mei wasn't sure how useful that was against creatures that literally lived in dirt.

Before long, they ran back in the forest, panting. Oddly enough, the moles weren't willing to follow them, only making angry "nyomming" sounds from the grey soil.

"I guess we won't be exploring the rocky area then," said Xiuying.

"Hmph. I bet there wasn't anything useful there anyway." Wang Wei sulked.

"So do we just wait here, or do we try to move somewhere better?" Liu Qiang asked.

"There's no point in going anywhere since people are coming to us." Wang Wei said. "I have a better idea."

An idea?

Mei watched as he began spewing his flames at a nearby tree.

"I'll burn down all the trees, so we have more space to fight!" he said.

Su Qing, seeing that, hid behind Mei.

"Scary..."

Right, Su Qing was a wood spirit, so he was probably pretty close to trees.

Mei patted the puppet on the head. The little spirit was confused, not understanding the human gesture. Still, sensing Mei's intentions, he felt better.

As tree after tree fell, the air scorching, from a distance, she heard an animal running.

To her surprise, it was actually the Blackie. On its back, its owner, the chubby girl sat. Three other people followed from behind, and to her surprise, Junwei was one of them.

"Little missy, the time has come for my revenge!" he shouted, a triumphant look on his face.

Urgh, that annoying guy.

"Do you really have to call me that?" Mei said, frowning.

Junwei looked surprised for a moment.

"Ah, not you. I was talking to Guang Ai." he said, pointing to the chubby girl.

Mei: ...

"Don't ride him for too long." the girl said. "Blackie doesn't like it when strangers ride him."

Blackie barked in agreement.