"What are you hiding? Surrender it!"

"What did I hide? Stop bulls.h.i.+tting please!"

"Oh, asking me what you hid? I saw everything!"

"What the heck did you see? Me searching for things is equivalent to hiding things now? Watch your mouth, Ding Si!"

"Not hiding? Then take out your mustard seed pouch!"

"Who are you to ask me to do anything? If I suspect that you're hiding things, I can just ask you to take your mustard seed pouch out to have a search and you’ll do it?"

This attracted the attention of everyone present, and soon, the two people were surrounded.

"What's all this commotion about?" Ling Wuxia stepped in. "Calm down, guys."

Seeing Ling Wuxia coming over, the guy named Ding Si turned around to complain immediately. "Senior Sister Ling, I saw Shao Ziping hiding something. I imagine he wants the advantage for himself!"

"Ding Si is bulls.h.i.+tting!" Shao Ziping yelled back at him. "It's my own stuff, but he says I stole it after one glance. Senior Sister Ling, please administer justice!"

Ding Si was still unwilling to spare him. "I saw it with my own eyes. You said that you didn't hide anything, right? Just take out your mustard seed pouch and we shall see!"

"Who the h.e.l.l are you to do this…?"

And with that, they got into a fight.

"Chill out, guys! Miss Ling is here now, so what's there to fight over? Listen to her first."

Ling Wuxia bit her lips and turned to the guy called Shao Ziping. "Junior Brother Shao, if you don't do it, I'm afraid you won’t be able to convince the ma.s.ses…."

"Senior Sister Ling! Do you know what you’re asking? It's disrespectful to search someone's mustard seed pouch whenever you feel like it."

Ling Wuxia looked apologetic. "It's a different case right now. If you don't prove it, I'm afraid…"

Lu Mingshu stood at the side, watching as a bystander. The girl in black went over to her and sneered. "Crus.h.i.+ng her own foot while lifting a rock. She wants to be a middle-man, but now she has to offend someone, eh?"

Hearing no reply from Lu Mingshu, Ying couldn’t help but ask again, "What, are you upset about this?"

"One versus ten – who's more important?" Lu Mingshu side-eyed her.

"But offending someone like this, her perfect reputation would be no more…." The girl in black stared at her blankly.

"Since when is she perfect?" Lu Mingshu smiled thinly at her. "Do you know what's best about Ling Wuxia?"

"What?"

"She is always clearly aware of what the most important thing is for herself." After saying, she raised her chin slightly toward Shao Ziping. "Do you believe that he really hid something?"

The girl in black looked away uncomfortably before nodding with much hesitation.

"Once the item is found, Ling Wuxia would only be more prestigious, not less. Wait and see, there's a nice show coming up." Lu Mingshu winked.

One versus ten; how could Shao Ziping win over the majority? In no time, they s.n.a.t.c.hed his mustard seed pouch and rummaged through it.

"This!" Ding Si held something up high. "I saw him taking this from the statue of the Buddha!"

The item that Ding Si was holding was a wooden plate.

Ling Wuxia reached out for it, and Ding Si pa.s.sed it over on his own initiative. "It was on the statue."

At a corner of the first floor, there was a small shrine with an unknown statue. The statue's hand was spread out, but there was nothing on it.

Ling Wuxia flipped the wooden plate around. There were two words written on it.

"Remove half."

The crowd stared at each other weirdly.

What's the meaning behind that?

After a moment of silence, somebody broke it, "Does the Grandmaster want us to remove half of the group from here?"

n.o.body answered him, but their expressions gave them away.

Remove half, the meaning was obvious. Since there were sixteen people, quite a few people would have to leave.

However, n.o.body felt that they were the ones that should be removed.

"You get out first!" someone shouted. It was Ding Si, who was pointing a finger at Shao Ziping. "A snake like you should not stay!"

He was smart for choosing a good starting point. Many nodded in agreement.

Shao Ziping raised his head and had his arms akimbo. "Who said that I have to give whatever I found? There's only one winner, so why should I give you anything? It belongs to the one that found it!"

"You have a lot of nerve!" Ding Si laughed grimly. "We agreed to cooperate, but you're doing the opposite. You don't have the rights to get the Grandmaster's approval!"

"This is just my way of doing things! You don't have the right…"

But it was difficult for one Shao Ziping to win over the majority. Within no time, he was already at the door.

"Senior Sister Ling!" Even now, Shao Ziping still trusted Ling Wuxia fully. He pounced over to grab onto her, but he was pulled away by the others. Even so, he didn't stop trying. “Senior Sister Ling, there's lots of beasts outside, what if something happens to me…?"

Hearing this, those grabbing him stopped.

The test had been conducted so many times, and there was not one time that someone died.

Ling Wuxia stood at the window for a moment. "Look, the beasts seem to be leaving."

Others went up to have a look. That indeed seemed to be the case.

"So that means that we can leave now?"

"Or the ‘remove half’ has other meanings to it?"

"The ferocious beasts have left, which shows that we are right! Half of us must go!"

"Yes, this is it!" Ding Si yelled. "Shao Ziping, why are you still not going out!?"

Even with everything being said, why would Shao Ziping dare to do it? It was his life that he was betting!

"Junior Brother Shao, please try it. If there's something wrong, I'll save you immediately."

"This…" Shao Ziping hesitated. He knew that it was impossible to stay behind after all this, but the beasts were not a joking matter.

"Don't you trust my senior sister’s words?" Junior Sister Zuo shouted at him. "Me and Senior Brother He are here too. With three of us promising you, are you convinced?"

Shao Ziping was speechless. Under the eyes of all, he stepped out of the house.

He looked back with every step he took before disappearing into the woods.

After a few moments, they still didn’t hear his call for help. Everyone sighed in relief that they were safe, but they were internally panicking. One down, but who’s next?

Remove half – which meant, out of sixteen, eight had to go. Now they one had left, they still needed to get rid of seven. Who would be the ones to leave?

The crowd looked at each other, filled with alertness and evil intentions.

It was just a wooden tablet, but the temporary alliance of sixteen was about to turn into a bloodbath.

Ling Wuxia and her juniors, the Zhang twins, the Ye brothers, the Huo brothers – these made up nine. There were four disciples from Beiming's well-known sects, including Ding Si. Finally, there was Lu Mingshu and the girl in black.

All eyes looked around, then all stopped on the girl in black.

The Huo Family's elder's son, Huo Feng, pointed at the girl in black. "You, out!"

The others remained silent, but from their expressions, it was obvious that they had the same thought.

Ying rolled her eyes and turned a deaf ear to him.

"Can't you hear me?" Huo Feng yelled. "Not listening to me when I speak nicely, you feel like you’ve lived enough, huh?"

Ying side-eyed him. "May I know who you are?" In other words, why should I listen to you?

"You're just a small fry from Pure White Grace Pavilion, my dear," Huo Feng said sarcastically.