Even though they had fully prepared themselves ntally, no one anticipated the trial would be so challenging. It hadn’t even officially started, yet everyone was already stuck outside the heavy cloud layers, caught between advancing and retreating.
"I wonder how Duan Xiao Jian is doing."
Xiao Xiao suddenly put away the divination tokens and looked down at the swirling sea of clouds beneath, muttering, "We need to know what’s happening below to make further plans."
Zheng Qing realized in just a second that the wizard who first stord into the clouds was Duan Xiao Jian! He wasn’t sure whether to praise his courage, lant his recklessness, or mourn his bad luck.
As the hunters of the Atonent Hunting Team hesitated, a few other young wizards bravely folded their wings and dived headfirst into the anvil-shaped, dark-gray storm clouds below.
However, apart from the slender lightning bolts and rolling mist, the observers obtained no more useful information. They couldn’t even spot a pattern in the lightning strikes—as if any foreign object entering the cloud layer would be attacked by lightning.
"I wish we could bring a Thunder-Safe Robe if the school had permitted."
"Ha, the trial is ant to test our ability to adapt. If we could bring external items freely, what would be the point of the assessnt?"
"You’re objective, you’re rational, so tell us what we should do?"
"Does anyone know any magic to avoid lightning?"
At this point, Zheng Qing scratched his ears and shook his head slightly, withdrawing his attention. He had been eavesdropping on the discussions of other teams; almost everyone had the sa opinion—use magic or magic potions to evade lightning attacks.
Yet, just like everyone knows the Philosopher’s Stone can grant immortality, the key is where to find the Philosopher’s Stone. Right now, the only question is which magic can avoid lightning.
"Mr. Zha, do you know how to use a Lightning Resistance Talisman?" Zhang Ji Xin interrupted the young scholarship student’s daydreaming and asked with a serious expression.
Zheng Qing felt like he had eaten dirt upon hearing that nickna, and he shook his head with a dark face: "I don’t, and there’s not enough ti... this is hardly a good place for talisman painting."
Indeed, he was skilled at talisman painting, but it was asking too much to make him draw an unfamiliar talisman in this place, far removed from the earth or sky.
"I wonder if we can bypass it..." Xin Fat Man didn’t finish his sentence before shaking his head.
Zheng Qing fully understood his frustration.
The swirling sea of clouds below had already exceeded the visual horizon, with no trace of the ground in sight, while sunlight gilded the edge of the clouds with a golden corona in the sky.
"It would be better if we were on the ground," Jiang Yu frowned slightly and sighed, "I do know so lightning-resistance magic circles, passed down from elders who survived heavenly tribulations at ho... But those Arrays require the support of earth veins and ground energy."
"Can Transformation evade lightning strikes?"
Zheng Qing’s eyes lit up: "I still have a few Transformation Potions here!"
Upon hearing the word ’tribulation’, he instinctively recalled the concepts that Professor Yao and Professor Yi had discussed with him long ago, such as Mules’ Law, information disturbance, or Subhuti conjecture.
"It can’t."
Xiao Xiao answered calmly: "Transformation can avoid catastrophes originating from the wizard himself, but it cannot avoid natural catastrophes... we are like foreign objects in nature’s eye."
The discussion fell into a stalemate again.
Everyone knew the path to a solution, but no one could provide a reliable answer. Only Li ng, with her little wings fluttering, was having a great ti flying around the few young hunters.
As ti ticked away, yet another team of young wizards attempted to set up a hunting array to storm through the thunderclouds. This ti, all the onlookers clearly saw that those hunting arrays were shredded by the swarming lightning soon after entering the thunderclouds.
"There is no ti left."
The red-faced male wizard took a deep breath, stepped forward, and looked around resolutely: "The school wouldn’t set an inescapable trial that leads to death by lightning, but we must descend quickly before our magic power is exhausted... Based on the previous teams’ explorations, both the hunting arrays and plants can provide so level of resistance against lightning attacks."
"For plants, you can choose the Binding Spell," Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses and quickly added: "Everyone should retract their flying curse later and curl up as much as possible, then wrap themselves in vines... encase as thickly as possible."
"I recomnd a Single-Line Snake Array for the hunting array," Xin Fat Man also gave his opinion: "The Elders and I have thick skin, so one can open the path at the front and one can guard the back, while you all stay in the middle..."
"I’ll take the rear."
Zheng Qing scratched his ears again, interrupted Xin’s suggestion, and shook his head: "I am the captain of the Atonent, this is not about playing the hero; I know what I’m saying."
He then tapped his head with his index finger and smiled: "I cherish my life more than all of you... As for you, Xin, if you get struck by lightning and turn into a Blue Giant, you’ll surely beco a roast pig."
"You’re the pig!" Xin muttered discontentedly, yet for a mont did not argue, clearly feeling there was so sense in what Zheng Qing was saying.
Ti was pressing.
The young wizards couldn’t further deliberate over the plan full of loopholes. After confirming the approach and sequence, they lined up in the air in the order of Zhang Ji Xin, Xin, Xiao Xiao, Jiang Yu (Li ng), and Zheng Qing.
"Rember, after retracting the flying curse, the first thing to do is to use the Binding Spell to catch your companions in front of and behind you!"
"Then start desperately stacking the Binding Spell around."
"The earth will guide us through the thundercloud layer."
"Now, everyone to your positions, ready!" Zhang Ji Xin hovered at the head of the line, his gaze landed on each teammate: "Five, four, three, two, one, retract!"
With the final shout, the two pairs of translucent mayfly wings disappeared behind the red-faced male wizard, and the magic envelope robe surrounding his body shattered slowly after a final struggle.
"Bind it to Xin!"
"Bind it to the Doctor!"
"Binding Spell!"
"Binding Spell!"
"Binding Spell!"
Five beams of green and blue light burst forth, and the sky seed to see a green rainbow appear. Various thick and thin vines suddenly erged, spreading fervently through the sky.
Seeing the summoned vines tightly bind Jiang Yu and Li ng ahead of him, Zheng Qing finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. But before the breath even had ti to escape, he felt his whole body suddenly sink as he was yanked down heavily by those vines.
Damn!
The young man cursed inwardly, suddenly realizing a major risk.
They had considered the connection of magic, the transformation of the hunting array, the different team mbers’ ability to withstand lightning, and also pondered the difficulty of casting the flying curse again after passing through the thundercloud layer—thus enduring until the last few minutes to ensure that each person’s law book had copied more than two flying curses.
The only thing overlooked was that the thin layer of magic envelope covering them was at an altitude of ten thousand ters.
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