"See that mountain peak? Those are the Ailao Mountains, and your first task is to go to them and obtain a stalk of Lingzhi, a woodland mushroom. Bring it back with you. During the test, you are not allowed to use any other form of movement—you must travel by foot. The time limit for the test is twelve hours! If you are not able to return within twelve hours, you will be disqualified for the second round of the test! The time begins now. You may start—"

At the sound of the man's order, the people who had long been ready were like a torrential flood surging forward when floodgates were lifted as they fought against each other, rus.h.i.+ng forward to be the ones in the lead. Even Qin Ying was no exception.

It was an extremely long way from the test grounds to the Ailao Mountains. If they had been ordinary people, it would have taken them a day and a half just to travel there and back.

But they had to travel there to complete a task and return within twelve hours, and it was mandatory for them to find the Lingzhi mushroom. This task was undoubtedly very arduous. They were absolutely not allowed to waste even the slightest bit of time.

If there was anyone among the crowd who was considered unique, it was naturally Lu Jiu Que, who was still standing in the same spot, and Ye Hui, who had been forced to stay by Lu Jiu Que.

When Ye Hui saw that all the people around them had run off so there wasn't even a shadow to be found, he immediately went into a state of panic. Angrily, he said, "Lu Jiu Que, what are you doing? Darn, if you don't let go of me, we aren't going to make it in time!"

Lu Jiu Que's eyes narrowed as she smiled. She said, "If you want to run, you can, but tell me, do you know what a streamer Lingzhi mushroom looks like? Is it red? Blue? Long? Squarish?"

Ye Hui froze. On the one hand, he was stumped into speechlessness by Lu Jiu Que's questions.

What a joke…

This was the first time he had heard of this nonsensical streamer Lingzhi or whatever it was. He simply had no idea what it looked like.

"Don't know? That's okay. But do you know what the growth characteristics of the streamer Lingzhi are? Where can it usually be found? Does it like dark areas? Or does it prefer the sunlight? Does it like to be in dry places? Or does it prefer a moist environment?"

Ye Hui's face expressed even greater embarra.s.sment. He could only make stammered utterances but was unable to voice an intelligible word.

Lu Jiu Que raised her brows and pretended to be surprised. With a smile, she said, "You actually don't know? Then what are you running for? Those people are running because they know the answers and are confident with their well-thought plans, but you are running out of foolishness and worry. Someone like you, an existence that only knows how to follow what the crowd is doing and always goes with the flow, will be the first person to fail this test."

Ye Hui's face flushed red instantly, just like a shrimp that instantly turned red the moment it was cooked.

It was unknown whether it was because these words had hit him with such a great impact or because he felt so humiliated by Lu Jiu Que that he was boiling mad inside.

She saw Ye Hui's beautiful eyes staring back at her with discomfort. They were teary as well, making him look like a little puppy that had been abandoned. As a loser who didn't want to lose all of his dignity, he roared, "Right. Indeed, I don't know that information. Since you're speaking like this, does that mean that you know?"

Darn it. He refused to believe that Lu Jiu Que would know.

What streamer Lingzhi? As a rightful son of the Ye family of the Qing Yan Empire, this was really the first time he was hearing about it!

Lu Jiu Que cast a contemptuous look at him and said, "Aha, you're the rightful son of a general who has such extensive knowledge and experience, yet you don't know anything. I'm just a little orphan who has no parents. How could I know anything at all?"

"Ah? I… I didn't mean that…" Ye Hui was fl.u.s.tered as he hurried to explain himself.

But Lu Jiu Que simply snickered and laughed tauntingly.

Ye Hui then knew that the other party was deliberately teasing him, and instantly, his face grew even redder. He really wished he could cover Lu Jiu Que's mouth.

Laughing, she was still laughing!

How could this girl become any more hateful than she had already been before? She was too unlikable!