The sage was determined to die.

When Ji Bai emerged from the depths of the woods, he was still pondering his conversation with the old woman he had just talked to.

Things turned out to be much more complicated than he had imagined.

In Yan Ming and the others' eyes, this person was too lazy to even be perfunctory; after going in for half a day, all he came out with was a tree branch.

This is just a deliberate prank on them.

Yan Ming couldn't hold back any longer and retorted, "Is this all you brought?"

Ji Bai gave him a look that suggested he was a country bumpkin, and then slightly weighed the branch in his hand. The translucent branch didn't seem particularly special at first glance, but it was something he had specifically asked the old woman for.

Ji Bai took a long stride and arrived next to a rock that was as tall as an adult's calf. He picked up a branch, aimed it at the rock, and with a flick of his wrist, the rock was torn in two as easily as paper.

It can cut iron like mud.

Everyone swallowed hard, and their gazes toward Ji Bai were no longer the same.

"This thing..."

Yan Ming's gaze involuntarily locked onto that branch, and he murmured, "Can we have that too?"

Ji Bai casually hung the tree branch on his waist. The place where a sword should have been hung was instead occupied by this incongruous object, which aroused the envy of many people.

"Is it that precious? I just asked my friend for it."

Ji Bai intentionally kept them guessing. He knew that sometimes the more you try to hide something, the more attention you attract. A half-truth made it harder for people to figure you out.

Sure enough, people immediately became curious about the friend he mentioned.

"Your friend wouldn't happen to be...that guy...?"

The scholar from Qi who spoke did not dare to call her by name, but his shifty eyes revealed the identity of the old woman who was talking to him.

Ji Bai crossed his arms and smirked, "When you're out and about, having more friends means having more options. I'm just popular, aren't I? Even the examiners are friends with me, so you don't need to be too envious."

Everyone secretly grumbled, they were envious... well, they were indeed quite envious.

As soon as he entered the mountain of books, Ji Bai mysteriously disappeared, and now he has mysteriously reappeared.

What Ji Bai went through during those few days is probably unknown to anyone but himself.

Now even the examiners at the Book Mountain are giving him gifts.

and many more.

Yan Ming broke out in a cold sweat as a possibility he didn't want to acknowledge surfaced.

Are the examiners at Shushan really that kind to the candidates?

Yan Ming looked up more cautiously, and as he looked at Ji Bai's ever-smiling face, he couldn't help but think of what the other person used to be like.

Did Ji Bai used to laugh this much?

……

A group of people with ulterior motives reluctantly left the forest.

It was impossible not to be annoyed. They had gained nothing in the Puppet Forest, wandered around like headless flies for several hours, and now they had to welcome a leader who had been parachuted in.

After a few crucial days of absence, Ji Bai's arrogance grew increasingly more pronounced.

"Why are you so dejected?"

Ji Bai walked at the front, then suddenly turned around to look at the low-quality team behind him, whose heights were uneven and whose formation was disorganized.

He thought for a moment, then reached out and untied the long tree branch that could cut through iron like mud, and handed it to Yan Ming.

Yan Ming didn't react for a moment, pointing to himself with a bewildered expression: "Why give it to me?"

"This thing can only reach its greatest value in the hands of someone with literary talent," Ji Bai said calmly.

"Don't you have literary talent yourself?" Yan Ming swallowed hard and took the paper with some trepidation.

Ji Bai sighed and looked at him with eyes full of pity for the weak.

"This thing doesn't give me much of a boost; I'm already too strong."

Yan Ming: "..."