The moment the powerhouse’s voice faded away, Fang Ping hurriedly opened the door and rushed out.

　　It was not a tall building, and there was a small assembly ground right outside the door.

　　At that moment, quite a few rooms had people rushing out of them.

　　However, unless they had reached Upper-stage Rank-3 and had their bodies honed, the martial artists of the three lower ranks would just be walking blind.

　　Fang Ping was faring alright; he could see to a certain extent.

　　At first, Fang Ping looked at the north gate but he did not see anything. He lifted his head to scan the area before suddenly freezing and staring blankly!

　　There was someone in the air!

　　In the darkness of the night, the silhouettes of people were blurry, but Fang Ping was certain there was a person above his head!

　　There was a movement of energy particles!

　　“Royal stance!”

　　Fang Ping mumbled. It was a middle-ranked martial artist who had cultivated the Royal Step…

　　No, the height was too great. At the very least, the person was 50 meters or more in the air. This was not something that could be achieved by a middle-ranked martial artist. It was a high-ranked martial artist!

　　“Fang Ping, what did you see?”

　　Behind him, Fu Changding questioned anxiously. Being blind to the situation was really not a good feeling.

　　Just then, someone came springing over from in front of them. The person was moving at an incredible speed. The shadow of a body flashed for a moment before disappearing and reappearing in the next instant ten meters away.

　　Very quickly, the person reached the ground.

　　“All back to the house!”

　　Tang Feng’s voice traveled out as he shouted, “Don’t come out rashly at night!”

　　“Teacher, has the enemy been killed?”

　　“No, the enemy retreated.”

　　As Tang Feng’s words fell, there was another silhouette flickering into existence. The others could not see it, but Fang Ping could see something faintly and exclaimed in shock, “Teacher Zheng!”

　　The Rank-5 Zheng Longjiang staggered onto the ground, smiling as he said, “Go back in.”

　　“Teacher, you…”

　　Fang Ping saw that there were clear bloodstains on the teacher’s chest and his shirt had been shredded to pieces.

　　Seeing this scene, Fang Ping asked abruptly, “What about the other three teachers?”

　　Tang Feng said dismissively, “They’re fine, just some minor injuries that they’ve gone to get treatment for.”

　　He spoke casually, but Fang Ping did not believe it. The injuries that Zheng Longjiang had sustained were not light, yet he still came over.

　　The other three were just Rank-4 martial artists. It seemed as if their wounds were not minor.

　　“All back into the house. A bunch of people stumbling blindly in the night—do you all want to be easy targets? Cultivate yourselves to the middle ranks first!”

　　Tang Feng reprimanded them. As an Upper-stage Rank-3, Fang Ping’s achievement of being able to see ten meters in the dark was already pretty decent.

　　The others practically could not see a thing.

　　Only middle-ranked martial artists who had honed their bones and bodies to a certain extent could hone their vital organs to have better sight and vision, giving them the true ability of night vision.

　　Everyone felt uncomfortable being only able to hear and not see, so they went back to the house one after another.

　　Fang Ping did not go back, instead he waited until the others left before asking curiously, “Teacher, how was the battle situation, really?”

　　Tang Feng gave a low groan as Zheng Longjiang replied in a soft sigh, “One middle-ranked martial artist died, as well as a few guarding soldiers.”

　　“Middle-ranked…”

　　Fang Ping was stunned for a moment. He had never thought that even with such skills, a middle-ranked martial artist could be killed just like that!

　　Outside, that was basically unheard of. In the outside world, Fang Ping had really never heard of any middle-ranked martial artist being killed before, except for those evil sect martial artists.

　　Fang Ping’s mood had become a little solemn. “Does this happen often?”

　　“It’s normal. We’ve also done ambushes.”

　　Tang Feng spoke matter-of-factly, as if it were not a big issue. “In the Catacombs, death is common. This was just a small-scale ambush. There were also some deaths in the other party, and we did not suffer any truly significant losses.”

　　This ambush was not the first of its kind. This time, the enemy even suffered heavier losses than Hope City did.

　　“It was probably some casual martial artists, not Sky Gate City’s martial artist military. If not, they would not have ambushed the north gate, as that’s the gate with our strongest defense.”

　　Tang Feng gave a short explanation before waving his hand dismissively. “Go back to the house and rest. Tomorrow, we go out!”

　　“I’ll head back now, then.”

　　Fang Ping could not ask much more and turned to walk away, then he suddenly thought of something and asked, “Was the person in the sky a Grandmaster?”

　　“Huh…”

　　Zheng Longjiang looked at Fang Ping oddly. “You saw it?”

　　In the pitch black of the night, an Upper-stage Rank-3 like Fang Ping could actually see people?

　　“I felt it. There was a very strong movement of energy particles…”

　　Remembering that Fang Ping had also previously sensed the energy of the passageway, Zheng Longjiang smiled and said, “Interesting. Your… Mentality could sense it?”

　　Regarding this, not many of the instructors at MCMAU knew about it.

　　Tang Feng knew about it and he scoffed lightly. “Your Mentality is a little strong, but if your skills are low, Mentality means nothing.

　　“There’s no need for you to worry about the Grandmaster business. Go back!”

　　Fang Ping pursed his lips. Big Lion did not know at all how to care for his genius. Did he not know the principle of not bullying the poor youths?

　　Not continuing with any nonsense, Fang Ping lifted his head to take another glance before going back to the house.

　　…

　　The moment Fang Ping left, Zheng Longjiang spoke in a low voice. “Old Liu and the other two sustained pretty heavy injuries. What are we going to do?”

　　“It’s no problem. Just the two of us will suffice.”

　　“But…”

　　“No buts. There’s no way we can ask the school to send backup now. The school is also tight on manpower.”

　　Zheng Longjiang felt helpless. They had got off to a bad start.

　　Upon their first day entering the Catacombs, they had been ambushed and three Rank-4 martial artists had been heavily injured, while he himself had also been slashed, though it was not considered too serious of an injury.

　　The two of them, he and Tang Feng, had greater strength than others, but it was still beyond their power to look after a hundred students.

　　…

　　That night, Fang Ping and the others did not sleep well.

　　The next day, everyone woke up after a troubled sleep.

　　The energy sun seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, instantly splitting the darkness. The sky was bright!

　　The moment the sky brightened, all of them hastily ran out of their rooms.

　　Yang Xiaoman asked urgently, “What the heck happened last night?”

　　“Were there any deaths or injuries?”

　　“Hope City is our base camp. Does the enemy have a death wish, coming here?”

　　“…”

　　“Silence!”

　　Tang Feng had also woken up early, walking over and looking at everyone as he said, “Pack your bags. After you’ve all had breakfast, come with me immediately and leave the city!”

　　Zheng Longjiang had also come over. Having changed his clothes, no one could see his injury.

　　Among the crowd, some of the students glanced around before asking, “Teacher Tang, are our instructors not coming?”

　　“They have other things to do.”

　　Tang Feng did not explain much and said sternly, “Stop dragging your feet. How do you think it looks!”

　　Everyone hurried back to pack their things. In no time, they were carrying their respective weapons and bags and leaving the house.

　　As for breakfast, none of them went to eat at the cafeteria and instead made do with some hard biscuits.

　　Tang Feng paid them little attention and once he saw that they had packed, he turned and walked toward the north gate.

　　…

　　Approaching the north gate.

　　Fang Ping gazed around the area. When he saw what seemed to be faint bloodstains on the ground, he could not help but frown. Could the bloodstains no longer be washed clean?

　　In these few years, exactly how many people had died?

　　The guarding soldiers stood straight and saluted them, holding the salute until everyone had left the city before returning to their positions.

　　…

　　Outside the city.

　　This was everyone’s first time leaving the city, so they all felt a little curious.

　　Fang Ping turned back to take a glance and felt a little shocked, mumbling, “This is…”

　　He had not realized it when they were within the city.

　　Upon leaving the city only did he realize that the outside of the city walls was actually cast in steel!

　　A city of steel!

　　Zheng Longjiang gave a faint smile. “This is to defend against martial artist armies. Martial artists of Rank-1 and Rank-2 don’t have strong abilities in springing, but their limbs are strong, so they could damage the city walls and cause some damage.

　　“In these few years, through continuous shipping of supplies, we had made the exterior walls of Hope City into walls of steel.

　　“Though it could not block out middle or high-ranked martial artists, it’s enough to stop normal armies and Rank-1 and Rank-2 martial artists. It’s very thick, so it’d be very hard for them to damage these city walls.”

　　Fang Ping did not care about that and continued staring at the city walls. Even though it was cast in steel, at this point, the exterior of the city walls was full of bumps and holes, with plenty of knife marks and bullet holes.

　　The others were also a little shocked. This was the first time that they had seen a real steel city.

　　“Unfortunately, missiles and such are useless. If not, we could have shipped them over and blew the Catacombs flat!”

　　Someone muttered, and Tang Feng snapped, “Stop dreaming. Even if we had them shipped over, they might not have been a match.

　　“If these extremely lethal weapons could have been used, then it wouldn’t just be against one city, it’d be the entire Catacombs!

　　“Not to mention, it’s not like the other party doesn’t have a scheme to go against us. Once the purity of the energy ore reached a certain extent, high-ranked martial artists could channel the energy ore to release energy and cause an explosion of great power!

　　“Right now, they lack an energy ore with high purity, and they also can’t bear to waste such a large amount of energy ores to create an explosive.

　　“But once we start using weapons of mass destruction, don’t you think that the enemy would stake all they have and use the same methods to carry out a bombing on us?”

　　Fang Ping pursed his lips. “Since it’s all the Catacombs’ territory, if they want to blast their home to pieces then so be it.”

　　Tang Feng said wearily, “Anyway, we can’t even use those weapons here in the first place. What’s the use of thinking about it? Enough about that, let’s go.”

　　Everyone shuffled along as a team, marching forward.

　　…

　　As it was their first time in the wilderness, everyone was curious about everything they saw.

　　Among the plants in the Catacombs, some of them looked familiar, while some of them looked entirely foreign.

　　The animals, as well, looked similar to some of the Earth’s animals, but they were much larger.

　　Not to mention that due to long-term exposure to the energy sun’s rays, these animals also had some energy collected in their bodies.

　　These 10 kilometers were all within Hope City’s radius, so there was not too much danger and there were no large living creatures.

　　Here, the two instructors started to direct the group in finding a water source, observing the ambush points, setting up traps…

　　Including some ways to differentiate footprints, as well as tracking, Tang Feng and Zheng Longjiang taught them a bit of everything.

　　…

　　During the break.

　　“The air’s so nice…”

　　Yang Xiaoman gave a contented sigh. Fang Ping said teasingly, “How do you know this is air? Air is just what we say, perhaps what’s here isn’t air…”

　　Yang Xiaoman rolled her eyes at him and said huffily, “You were sleeping in class, weren’t you? They’ve done tests before. It’s air.”

　　“Did they?”

　　“Of course!”

　　“Quiet. No more sound. Keep silent during the resting period!” Tang Feng barked once again before warning them, “In the wild, it doesn’t matter whether you’re with a group just by yourself, you must always keep quiet and not make a noise!”

　　Fang Ping shrugged and said, “Teacher, aren’t there horses here we can ride?”

　　“There are.”

　　Fang Ping’s interest was piqued instantly and he said excitedly, “Then why don’t we ride horses…”

　　“You want to die?”

　　Tang Feng explained, “Normal creatures like horses have very strong Vitalities, but they don’t know how to hold it in, so they’re constantly releasing Vitality, which very easily attracts the attention of large and powerful creatures.

　　“Plus, their movements are too conspicuous, so it’s very dangerous.

　　“That’s why when martial artists move, most of the travel is by foot.

　　“There is a cavalry in the Military Department, but they’re not as effective as he hoped. In the Catacombs, there are too many large and powerful creatures. If they were to encounter these creatures, something would go wrong among the cavalry.

　　“High-ranked martial artists on the enemy’s side can release pressure to stun the horses so that before a single one of you could charge, the other party could oppress you with their Mentality. Just like that, the cavalry would be toast.”

　　Fang Ping was surprised. “Do high-ranked martial artists have a very large range of Mentality radiation?”

　　He knew that using Mentality could create an effect of oppression. Last time, Huang Jing had stunned him for a moment and he was pressured to the point of being unable to breathe.

　　However, was it possible that for high-ranked martial artists, they could have a very wide extension of Mentality?

　　“Very wide. A Rank-7 martial artist can easily radiate over 30 meters, while Rank-8 and Rank-9 martial artists could radiate even further. That’s why the cavalry can only be a branch of the army and not the decisive military force.”

　　“So that’s how it is.”

　　Fang Ping nodded before continuing, “Teacher, is there any creature in the Catacombs that could be mounted…”

　　“Mounted?”

　　With a faint smile, Tang Feng said, “There’s no value in taming normal creatures as they can’t run as fast as we can.

　　“Among the amateur-rank creatures, not many of them are suited for riding… And in the Catacombs, the larger the creature, the greater its strength. Before you could tame it, it would eat you first.

　　“These creatures don’t have very high intelligence.

　　“ON the other hand, high-ranked creatures possess a certain intelligence and there’s hope to tame them.

　　“With the prior condition being that you have enough strength, of course.

　　“A high-ranked creature is fairly intelligent and is extremely difficult to tame, even if you defeated it. Therefore, technically speaking, there are creatures you could mount, but you must also be prepared for some backlash.

　　“However, as far as I know, the few human Rank-9 High Grandmasters all have their own mounts.

　　“As for whether or not others have one, I have temporarily not seen any.

　　“The principal had previously wanted to tame a Rank-7 crocodile-dragon beast, but the moment he brought it to Hope City, chaos erupted… If it weren’t for the principal killing it, there might have been countless deaths and injuries.

　　“In your opinion, would you dare to bring such a creature into human society?

　　“Yet if you don’t bring it back and just always leave it here, then once you leave, are you going to specifically ask the Grandmasters to help you watch it?

　　“If you don’t watch it, these creatures would rebel. Who’d be able to stop them?”

　　“Then Rank-9 High Grandmasters…”

　　“They might have their own unique ways of taming creatures, though it’s unsuitable for the masses. Otherwise, we’d have established such a legion much earlier.

　　“That’s true.”

　　Fang Ping looked a little regretful as he thought, ‘My dreams of riding a mount are gone!’

　　If even the Rank-8 principal could not successfully tame one, then does that mean that there is only hope once he reached Rank-9?

　　…

　　In the next two days, everyone was exploring Hope City’s surroundings.

　　A familiar environment was the students’ road to survival.

　　They did not encounter any enemies and there were the Military Department’s arrest points within 10 kilometers of Hope City. There were not too many people from Sky Gate City who came to carry out an assault here.

　　However, on the third day, Fang Ping and the others still witnessed a battle!

　　It was the Military Department’s third army of defense who were outside.

　　By the time Fang Ping and the others had rushed over, they just happened to see the fight erupting on both sides!

　　In the third army of defense, there were more than ten martial artists and nearly a hundred fighters.

　　The other party was all martial artists. It was a martial artists team of over 30 people.

　　On the human’s side there were two middle-ranked martial artists, while on the other side, there were six or seven middle-ranked martial artists.

　　The moment the battle erupted, a few of the Catacombs’ middle-ranked martial artists dashed straight into the midst of the team of fighters, instantly killing four or five people.

　　Fang Ping and the others saw the scene from a distance and quickly rushed over, while with incredible speed, Tang Feng appeared almost in a blink of an eye, arriving on the battlefield.

　　“Die!”

　　Tang Feng gave an explosive shout, both to indicate to the Military Department that he was on their side, and also to attract the attention of the martial artists from the Catacombs.

　　It was the first time Fang Ping and the other students saw Tang Feng in action!

　　Tang Feng was unarmed. Everyone could only see his silhouette flash before he appeared on the top of someone’s head and cracked open the other party’s skull in just one stride!

　　In the next moment, he appeared in front of the eyes of another person, smashing their head into pieces with one punch.

　　Practically in a blink of an eye, Tang Feng continuously flashed into existence with no one able to oppose him. Just like that, the six or seven middle-ranked martial artists, as well as some martial artists of the lower three ranks, rapidly died at his hands.

　　Fang Ping and the others watched on, stunned.

　　“He’s so strong!”

　　Tang Feng was really strong, killing middle-ranked martial artists like chickens. His speed was also shocking. Fang Ping could barely see his shadow.

　　Before Fang Ping and the others arrived, the battle was already over.

　　Tang Feng casually wiped his hands on the body of his last victim, looking indifferent. He had quite the attitude of a master.

　　Fang Ping jogged over and glanced at him, murmurs rising from his heart. Big Lion had dispatched middle-ranked martial artists like chickens in a slaughterhouse. Even if Fang Ping entered Rank-4 or Rank-5, he would still be beaten. It looked like he still had to continue his act of being an obedient grandchild for quite some time.