Even a Ghost Is Better Than a Cat

The sun has just set. As the road became dark, the disciples of the Cloud Moon Palace lit up the lantern one by one.

"Congratulations to my future juniors." One of the seniors spoke up. It was Li Lan, the one who guided Feng Ao Xiu previously. It was no wonder she was appointed as the representatives among the seniors, her beautiful face and melodious voice made everyone near her feels at peace.

"There's only two more tests to go. Fortunately, only the second test that places a limit on the number of person who passes. So, I hope all 1,000 of you can pass all the way to the end and officially became disciple of the Cloud Moon Palace."

All of them nodded at each other and a small cheer erupted in their heart. Looks like they won't have to compete with each other. If the situation allows, they could even work together and all 1,000 of them could pass together.

Li Lan smiled, then she continued as she pointed towards something, "Do you see the building on your left?"

Naturally, everyone nodded. The building was big and conspicuous, its pillar and gate were ornamented with luxurious gold coating with a dragon engraved on it. If someone didn't know that he's inside the Cloud Moon Palace territory, he might have though the building was the Imperial Palace.

"That building is the Supreme Martial Palace, one of the biggest building in Cloud Moon Palace. That's where your fourth and final test will be conducted."

Li Lan suddenly mentioned the fourth test, but the third test hasn't even been conducted yet. The smart ones knew that something fishy is going on. But, they were surprised at the next sentence that came out of Li Lan's mouth.

"For your third test, you just need to pass through the main door and enter the hall before sunrise.", said Li Lan.

As Li Lan finished her sentence, no one talks anymore. The place suddenly became silent, just like a graveyard.

"..."

"..."

"And then..." one young man could not help but asked.

"That's it!" Li Lan replied.

"Huh... What?"

"Is my explanation not clear enough?" she asked.

"...", the young man became silent again. It was not that her explanation was not good or not clear. It's just that he could not believe it was that easy. But, since he could not voice it out loud, he just kept it in his heart.

Since, there was no use just standing around, he might just as well start doing what must be done. Then, the young man said, "Everyone, let's go to the Supreme Martial Palace together!"

He continued, "There is no more competition, all of us can pass together! Let's watch our surrounding to not get ambushed on our way!"

Everyone looked at each other as they pondered on what the young man said. It was not long before the other also voiced out that it's better to move together. Their gate to the Supreme Martial Palace was only a bit more than 500 metres away. There's no way that the test will be that easy, perhaps some seniors will play as the bad guy and prevent them from entering the palace.

With the young man in the front as the unofficial leader of the group. All 1,000 of them move together as they watch with their surrounding. Meanwhile, Feng Ao Xiu's group and Tao Zhen's group were just following the others, but the former were ready to ran away to a safe place and the latter were ready to fight just in case something happened.

However, they were very extra careful. Their legs were moving in a snail pace, but their eyes were sharper than any falcon to watch for the enemies' movement.

"Something's there!!!" One person at the very right edge of the group shouted as he pointed to a shadow like object at the end of the street. The others became startled and were looking at the thing that he pointed.

The shadow started to shake left and right. The others readied their weapon, some started preparing to launch their technique. Then, it happened, the shadow started moving closer, it moved steadily heading towards them. They were too nervous to see clearly what it was, at least not until the body under the guise of the shadow was revealed under the lantern's light.

"Meow!" It was just an ordinary black cat.

"Oh... Everyone, don't worry. It's just a cat. Haha..."

But, no one was laughing. They were already pressured enough knowing that enemies will be coming. If they have to watch out for cats as well, they're going to go crazy.

In their little hearts, they wished that the enemies would appear instead of the cat, so they can just fight and get this over with. Even a ghost is better than a cat. At least ghost can be considered their enemy. But, with the current situation, they had no choice but to be more cautious.

At this time, Young Master Tao, Tao Zhen just got a wicked idea. He quietly moved to the side, and told his plan to his followers. "Hehe... What do you think of my plan?"

No need to be said, his followers endlessly licked his boots.

"Young Master Tao, your plan is the best."

"What a brilliant plan! Even if I study for a thousand years, I could not be as smart as Young Master Tao."

"All right, everyone, wait for my signal." said Tao Zhen looking satisfied. Then, he gave an order to his newest follower, Qian Hui, "You, go and catch that cat!"

"Me? Why me?" Qian Hui asked.

Tao Zhen creased his eyebrow, "Aren't you the new guy around here? Considering your cultivation level is pretty high, I gave you a gold tael, higher than my other followers. You already take my money, now you need to prove your loyalty to me."

However, Qian Hui was just too lazy, so he started making excuses, "Ahh... It's not that I don't want to help you, Young Master Tao. But, I have a cat allergy, I'm afraid that my sneezing will cost us your plan. I think you should ask someone else to do it in my stead."

Tao Zhen looked displeased, but he had no other choice and ordered his another follower to catch the cat.

Just when they were halfway on their way to the destination, someone shouted loudly. "Aaaahh! Enemies!!! The enemies grabbed my leg!"

However, the person who shouted was in the centre of the group. Knowing this, everyone became panicked. They were ready if the enemies came from the front, left, right, or behind. But, how could it come from the centre of the group? Could it be, there are spies among them? If so, this could be troublesome.

"Everyone, get away from there! Quickly!" The unofficial leader quickly said.

Following the unofficial leader's order, they quickly ran away from the source. While those who were already from a safe distance tried to locate their enemies.

While they were unordered, they could still follow instruction very well. It would only be a matter of time before they discovered their enemies. However, suddenly from among those who run away, a few people started punching others.

"Take my punch, enemy!"

"Eat my fist!"

The one who did the punching was Tao Zhen's followers. But, the one who got punched were too immersed in running away, so they didn't take a good look at their assailant. Then, they just accused at the first person they saw.

"You, how dare you hit me?!"

"Me? I didn't..."

"Shut up!!"

As the result, an innocent person got hit. And these events are happening in several places. As time passes, more innocent got involved. The bystander could not just sit still, they tried to defuse the situation, but only got hurt.

Soon it turned into an all-out brawl. They accused each other of being the enemies.

"You dare to hit me. You must be the enemy!"

"Don't pretend! You hit me first. That means you're the enemy!"

"Everyone, stop fighting!" At this stage, only the unofficial leader and a few others who were not involved. He tried to stop them, but they were too busy fighting to listen.

Among those who were not fighting were Feng Ao Xiu's group. Seeing the scene before him, Feng Ao Xiu could only shake his head left and right.

Jing Wu Chu was concerned, "What should we do? Perhaps we should fight as well. But, which one is the enemy?"

"Wu Chu, do not get involved. There are no enemy..." Feng Ao Xiu said.

"Then... Who's the one that grabbed his leg?" Jing Wu Chu asked, referring to the person who shouted that the enemies grabbed his leg.

"The centre was crowded, but no one could find the perpetrator. Then, it must be not a human, but by something small but have quite a strong grab like a cat... Even a fly will have trouble entering through this many crowds, most likely someone planted it."

Feng Ao Xiu was right on spot. It was Tao Zhen's follower who planted the cat and made a commotion bigger.

"Really?!" Jing Wu Chu was surprised by Feng Ao Xiu's explanation. "But, who would do that kind of thing? For what purpose?"

Feng Ao Xiu could only stay silent, he also didn't know the answer to that question. [All 1,000 people can pass together, there's no reason to do this wicked thing unless someone have an enmity against another.]

"Wait... An enmity..." Feng Ao Xiu just realised something. He quickly scanned all around, but he could not find a single person in that particular group. Although there should be more than twenty peoples in that group, everyone's missing.

"Fang Ye Na, get ready to fight!" Feng Ao Xiu said. "Young Master Tao will send his men after us. They're probably close."

There's someone who perfectly fit as the perpetrator and have an enmity against Feng Ao Xiu, that person was Young Master Tao.

Without he realised, two of Tao Zhen's follower closed in from behind and jumped toward Feng Ao Xiu.