Chapter 453: “Battle Spirits Forest (3)”
“I….. I really can’t take another step.” Li Zi Mu cried, his face mournful. He felt as if his legs were about to break off.
All the other youths were also depleted. The jackals had pursued them relentlessly half the night and they had bashed their way through the dense forest in the darkness, looking for a way out and avoiding the jackals flanking attacks. They were all at the ends of the rope both physically and mentally.
“Growl!” A jackal leapt at Li Zi Mu who was still panting heavily and the blood drained from Li Zi Mu’s face and he fell back onto the ground in fright. His hand grabbed up the stone he had felt when he fell and threw it at the leaping jackal.
The jackal was extremely agile and avoided everything Li Zi Mu threw at him, its eyes fixated on the youth he was about to pounce on.
Li Zi Mu let out a shrill scream and was still grabbing whatever he could from the ground to throw when his hand closed over something rounded and cold to the touch, and by reflex he threw it out at the jackal as well!
The quick footed jackal dodged that as well and the unidentified white item thrown fell onto the ground and broke into pieces and a white cloud blew out and dispersed into the wind!
The highly aggressive jackal smelt the scent that had spread from the white cloud and suddenly gave out a sharp shrill whine. It stopped its advance and suddenly turned around to run away, its tail in between its legs. When the scent reached the other jackals, all of them suddenly turned tail and fled whining, quickly disappearing from sight.
One moment, the disciples found themselves about to be devoured by the jackals, and the next moment, they saw the jackals suddenly turn around and flee!
The unexpected turn of events had all the exhausted disciples stunned, and totally flabbergasted, including Li Zi Mu.
“Zi Mu, what was that that you threw out earlier?” The senior who was Li Zi Mu’s mentor asked in surprise.
“I….. “ Li Zi Mu gaped like a goldfish and his eyes finally fell on the unidentified item he had last thrown out on the ground.
Broken white porcelain pieces lay scattered and a white powdery substance could be seen on the dirt.
Li Zi Mu gulped and looked at all the other disciples staring at him.
Actually, he had been the one who had first attracted the attention of the jackals. He had been lost and had stumbled blindly into their territory. He was the one that had brought them that disaster that had almost killed them all. Even the senior that was his mentor had gotten himself bitten by the jackal to save Li Zi Mu. When the jackals had attacked, all the youths had summoned their ring spirits and they had asked Li Zi Mu to summon his as well. But Li Zi Mu had been too terrified when he saw the large number in the pack and he froze completely, incapable of any action.
As they were running for their lives, Li Zi Mu had trailed the others and dragged down the whole team. If he hadn’t been a disciple of the Spirit Healer faculty, the other disciples in the team would have long abandoned him.
Li Zi Mu knew at that moment that the whole team was dissatisfied with him, including his mentor, and he desperately needed to do something about it to improve his standing and image within the team. Afterall, they still had more than six days to go within the forest, which was filled with endless unknown dangers, and he needed the team’s protection to get through it.
“That….. That was something my father gave me. It can drive Spirit Beasts away. I did not have the time to take it out earlier. I’m sorry I caused my seniors to get hurt.” Li Zi Mu looked at the others guiltily and claimed the life saving treasure he had carelessly picked up to be his own without shame.
The other youths had been rather displeased with Li Zi Mu, and when they heard Li Zi Mu say he had been the one who had driven the jackals off, they decided not to pursue the matter further. They still harboured a little displeasure but the fact remained that Li Zi Mu was afterall a disciple of the Spirit Healer faculty and they gave in in the end.
They did not want to burn all bridges with potential Spirit Healer and the other disciples forced themselves to accept Li Zi Mu’s apology.